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This study examined (1) whether working memory and higher-level languages skills--inferencing and comprehension monitoring--accounted for individual differences among Chinese children in Chinese reading comprehension, after controlling for age, Chinese word reading and oral language skills, and (2) whether children with specific language impairment (SLI) or dyslexia showed deficits in these skills. Eighty-two Cantonese Chinese-speaking children between the age of 7; 8-9; 5 were assessed. Regression analyses on the full sample offered support for the first question. The children were also classified into four groups: Typically-developing (TD; N = 34), specific language impairment-only (SLI-only; N = 18), SLI-dyslexia comorbid (SLI-D; N = 22) and dyslexia-only (D-only; N = 8). Pair-wise comparisons focusing on the second question revealed that both the SLI-only and the D-only group performed worse than the TD group in reading comprehension after controlling for age and nonverbal intelligence. The SLI-only and the D-only group showed a different profile of deficits: only the SLI-only group performed worse than the TD group in working memory, comprehension monitoring, and inferencing. The SLI-D comorbid group did worse than the SLI-only, but not the D-only group, in reading comprehension. The SLI-D comorbid group did not do worse than either single diagnosis group in the higher-level language skills associated with reading comprehension. These findings suggested adopting different intervention approaches for reading comprehension difficulties in children with SLI versus children with dyslexia.

Specific language impairment (SLI) and dyslexia are found to co-occur in school-aged children learning Chinese, a non-alphabetic language (Wong, Kidd, Ho, & Au in "Sci Stud Read" 14:30--57, 2010). This paper examined the "Distinct" hypothesis--that SLI and dyslexia have different cognitive deficits and behavioural manifestations (e.g., Catts, Adolf, Hogan, & Weismer in "J Speech Lang Hear Res" 48:1378-1396, 2005) in Chinese children in Primary 1. Ninety-four six- to seven-year-old Chinese children completed a norm-referenced test for oral language and for literacy, as well as cognitive tasks related to reading development. Based on results from the norm-referenced tests, 40 children fell in the typically-developing Control group, 10 children in the dyslexia-only (D) group, 19 in the SLI-only group and 25 children in the SLI-D group. Orthographic skills and lexical access and retrieval skills were found to be associated with dyslexia. Phonological memory and morphological awareness were associated with SLI. Phonological awareness was associated with both SLI and dyslexia. SLI and dyslexia in Chinese did not seem to be distinct disorders as they were both characterized by a deficit in phonological awareness. Implications for clinical practice were discussed.

While Service-Learning projects implemented by university students are common, there are very few attempts for university students to work together with high school students to deliver Service-Learning projects. This collaboration can help university students to polish their leadership skills. At the same time, high school students can learn about community service through such projects. In summer 2023, students from three high schools admitting students with behavioral and emotional problems joined the Service- Learning projects implemented by university students in three sites in mainland China (Hangzhou, Xi'an and Chengdu). In this study, we conducted focus group interviews with the high school students and their teachers on their experience of joining the Service-Learning projects. Results showed the high school students and teachers generally had a positive experience about the collaboration and they also perceived its positive impact on the development of high school students and themselves. They also suggested some areas for refinement. This study underscores the value of collaborative Service-Learning projects involving university and high school students to serve the needy in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of Quality of life (QOL) has received considerable attention from different disciplines. The aim of this study was to identify what are the correlates of QOL among Chinese new immigrants in Hong Kong. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey among 449 Hong Kong new immigrants from Mainland China. Bivariate and multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the association between immigrants' QOL and their demographic characteristics, socio-economic factors, optimism, sense of control, perceived social support, perceived neighborhood disorder, collective efficacy, pre-migration planning, depressive symptoms and acculturation stress. Our findings demonstrated that depressive symptom is the most prominent factor in reducing immigrants' level of QOL, perceived social support and optimism are the two important factors that enhance the QOL of these depressed immigrants. Our results indicate that preventive measures must be developed, and professional counseling and psychological support services must be provided to new immigrants in Hong Kong, especially those who have depressive symptoms. (Contains 3 tables.)

Background: In recent years, there has been a global effort to support the inclusion of students with intellectual disabilities (ID) in schools and classrooms. China in particular has recently enacted laws that provide for inclusive educational opportunities for students with ID. There are many barriers, however, to successfully including students with ID in regular education schools and classrooms, one of which is negative attitudes. Over the past decade, much research has focused on documenting the attitudes of the adult public; however, adults only represent one segment of society as it is youth who play a critical role in the successful inclusion and acceptance of students with ID in schools and classrooms. The aim of this study was to replicate a previous study of middle school-aged youths' attitudes towards the inclusion of peers with ID conducted with youth in the USA with similar aged youth in China. Methods: A survey was conducted with a random sample of 4059 middle school-aged youth in China on their attitudes towards students with ID. Students' attitudes were measured in terms of their perceptions of the capabilities of students with ID, their beliefs about and expectations regarding the inclusion of students with ID and their willingness to interact with students with ID both in and out of school. Results: The findings indicated that youth in China (1) perceive students with ID as moderately, rather than mildly, impaired; (2) believe that students with ID can not participate in their academic classes; (3) view inclusion as having both positive and negative effects on them personally; and (4) do not want to interact with a peer with ID in school, particularly on academic tasks. Structural equation modelling showed that youths' perceptions of the competence of students with ID significantly influenced their willingness to interact with these students and their support of inclusion. Conclusions: The findings replicated previous research conducted with middle school-aged youth in the USA and are discussed from a cultural perspective and in terms of the current special education policies and practices in China.

The beliefs teachers have about assessment influence classroom practices and reflect cultural and societal differences. This paper reports the development of a new self-report inventory to examine beliefs teachers in Hong Kong and southern China contexts have about the nature and purpose of assessment. A statistically equivalent model for Hong Kong and southern China teachers had three factors (i.e., improvement, accountability, and irrelevance). The Chinese teachers very strongly associated accountability with improvement (r = 0.80). This is consistent with the Chinese tradition and policy of using examinations to drive teaching quality and student learning and as a force for merit based decisions. Small differences between the two groups of teachers are consistent with assessment policy differences in the two jurisdictions. (Contains 4 tables.)

This article argues and explores how popular Catholic piety can serve as an agent to create life-giving communitas for women in Macao, China. This research uses the narratives of six Catholic women about how their immersion in various public and private devotional practices creates solidarity and communities that are inclusive, empowering, and nurturing during the outbreak of COVID-19. Besides petitioning their long-lasting devotional images such as St Roch and Our Lady of Fatima, women learn and move on to a new model of online and live stream religious response and ritual innovations at the time of coronavirus in Macao. The digitisation of gathering strengthens the global connection among women to the rest of the world, shaping a new form of devotional culture and community ties that are not necessarily institutionalised. Devotional practices act as a spiritual oasis, personally and communally, for women coming together and bring hope, strength, and consolation to this unprecedented time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the subtropics, a few tropical tree species are distributed and planted for ornamental and horticultural purposes; however, the photosynthesis of these species can be impaired by chilling. This study aimed to understand how these species respond to chilling. Light-dependent and CO2 assimilation reactions of six tropical tree species from geographically diverse areas, but grown at a lower subtropical site in China, were monitored during a chilling (≤ 10°C). Chilling induced stomatal and nonstomatal effects and moderate photoinhibition of PSII, with severe effect in Ixora chinensis. Woodfordia fruticosa was little affected by chilling, with negligible reduction of photosynthesis and PSII activity, higher cyclic electron flow (CEF), and oxidation state of P700 (P700+). Photoinhibition of PSII thus reduced electron flow to P700, while active CEF reduced oxidative damage of PSI and maintained photosynthesis during chilling. Studied parameters revealed that coupling between light-dependent and CO2 assimilation reactions was enhanced under chilling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the use of modal verbs in Chinese-English government press conference (GPC) interpretation. Modal verbs mark the speaker's opinion of or attitude toward the event described in a sentence. Interpreters also use modal verbs to indicate the stances of the source language speakers. The use of modal verbs has been examined in such contexts as research papers, textbooks, and second language learners' output; however, studies that compare differences in modal verbs between source and target languages in the context of interpreting are sparse. The investigation being reported is based on a comparable corpus--an original Chinese GPC and its Englishtranslated version--and a parallel corpus--a translated English GPC and the original English version from the US. The results of the comparable corpus analysis indicate that the frequency of modal verbs in translated English is significantly higher than in original Chinese, in which only 40% of the modal verbs in translated English are consistent with their Chinese counterparts, while others are employed through amplification and value variation. The results of the parallel corpus analysis suggest that the increase of modal verbs in the target texts may help to achieve certain types of pragmatic functions in English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To evaluate the longitudinal association of eggs consumption with cognitive function in Chinese elderly. Design: Prospective cohort study. Participants: 9028 participants aged ≥60 years from Zhejiang Ageing and Health Cohort Study without cognitive impairment at baseline survey. Measurements: Cognitive function was assessed through the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) at baseline and three waves of follow-up (2015, 2016, and 2019–2020). Data on eggs consumption was collected in the diet habits section within the questionnaire at baseline. Log-binomial regression models with the Generalized Estimating Equations, controlled for an extensive range of potential confounders, were used to evaluate the association and estimate relative risks (RRs). Results: After 6 years of follow-up, 3266 (36.18%) participants were indicated as cognitive impairment by MMSE at least once. Compared with non-consumers or less-than-weekly consumers, participants consuming 0.1–2.9 eggs/week and 3.0–5.9 eggs/week had 18% (RR=0.82, 95%CI 0.76–0.89) and 9% (RR=0.91, 95%CI 0.84–0.99) lower risks of cognitive impairment respectively, whereas no association was found in those consuming ≥6.0 eggs/week (P=0.32). Moreover, infrequent lower-quantity consumption (1–2 days/week and 0.1–1.9 eggs/day), infrequent higher-quantity consumption (1–2 days/ week and ≥2.0 eggs/day), and frequent lower-quantity consumption (≥3 days/week and 0.1–1.9 eggs/day) were associated with better cognitive performance, whereas null association was found among frequent higher-quantity consumers (≥3 days/week and ≥2.0 eggs/day). The sensitivity analyses yielded consistent results to the main analysis. Conclusion: Limited eggs consumption is prospectively related to a lower risk of cognitive impairment in Chinese elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Q fever has been widely reported in the rural areas of China, there is a paucity of data on the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of this disease in large metropolitan cities. In this study, we profile the epidemiology and clinical manifestations of Q fever from a tertiary hospital in Shenzhen, a Southern Chinese metropolitan city with a large immigrant population from other parts of China. A total of 14 patients were confirmed to have Q fever during a nine-year-and-six-month period, five of whom were retrospectively diagnosed during case review or incidentally picked up because of another research project on unexplained fever without localizing features. Some patients had the typical exposure histories and clinical features, while a few other patients had rare manifestations of Q fever, including one with heart failure and diffuse intracapillary proliferative glomerulonephritis, a patient presenting with a spontaneous bacterial peritonitis-like syndrome, and another one with concomitant Q fever and brucellosis. Using a combination of clinical manifestation, inflammatory marker levels, echocardiographic findings and serological or molecular test results, nine, three and two patients were diagnosed to have acute, chronic and convalescent Q fever, respectively. Seven, five and two patients were diagnosed to have Q fever by serological test, nested real-time PCR and next-generation sequencing respectively. Diverse and atypical manifestations are associated with Q fever. The incidence of Q fever is likely to be underestimated. Next-generation sequencing is becoming an important diagnostic modality for culture-negative infections, particularly those that the physicians fail to recognize clinically, such as Q fever. Author summary: We describe the epidemiology and clinical manifestations of Q fever from a tertiary hospital in Shenzhen, a Southern Chinese metropolitan city in China. A total of 14 patients were confirmed to have Q fever during this study period. Notably, five of them were retrospectively diagnosed during case review or incidentally picked up because of another research project on patients with unexplained fever. Interestingly, some patients had rare manifestations of Q fever, such as heart failure and diffuse intracapillary proliferative glomerulonephritis and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. One patient had concomitant Q fever and brucellosis. Half of the patients were diagnosed by traditional serological test, while the other half by PCR or next-generation sequencing. Clinicians should have a high index of suspicion of Q fever because of its diverse and atypical manifestations. The incidence of Q fever is likely to be underestimated. Next-generation sequencing is becoming increasingly important for diagnosis of culture-negative infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infectious diseases, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, pose a significant threat to public health globally. Fatality rate serves as a key indicator for the effectiveness of potential treatments or interventions. With limited time and understanding of novel emerging epidemics, comparisons of the fatality rates in real-time among different groups, say, divided by treatment, age, or area, have an important role to play in informing public health strategies. We propose a statistical test for the null hypothesis of equal real-time fatality rates across multiple groups during an ongoing epidemic. An elegant property of the proposed test statistic is that it converges to a Brownian motion under the null hypothesis, which allows one to develop a sequential testing approach for rejecting the null hypothesis at the earliest possible time when statistical evidence accumulates. This property is particularly important as scientists and clinicians are competing with time to identify possible treatments or effective interventions to combat the emerging epidemic. The method is widely applicable as it only requires the cumulative number of confirmed cases, deaths, and recoveries. A large-scale simulation study shows that the finite-sample performance of the proposed test is highly satisfactory. The proposed test is applied to compare the difference in disease severity among Wuhan, Hubei province (exclude Wuhan) and mainland China (exclude Hubei) from February to March 2020. The result suggests that the disease severity is potentially associated with the health care resource availability during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of a sport and exercise participation questionnaire, samples of Hong Kong high school students (n = 1,496) and high school students entering university (n = 862) completed the Motivational Style Profile (MSP; 4). In addition, 1,493 high school and 848 university entrants completed the MSP-SE, a sport and exercise version of the MSP. Students also completed six extra items related to general life motivational orientations (LMOs) and one other item relating to the frequency of their sport and exercise participation. Based on their answers to this latter item, students were divided into inactive, active, and very active groups and their metamotivational profiles tested for differences. MANOVA techniques produced several significant differences among activity groups in metamotivational dominance and state balance dimensions. The results are presented, and then they are discussed in terms of their implications for sport and exercise provision in high school, university, and more general contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the link between listeners' perceptions of the quality of interpretation and their beliefs about the interpreter. Two groups of Mandarin-speaking participants were shown a video of a speech by President Obama being interpreted into Mandarin Chinese by a non-native Mandarin-speaking interpreter. The participants in one group were shown a photo of a Chinese-looking man alongside the video and those in the other group were shown a photo of a non-Chinese-looking man. The quantitative results showed that those who believed they were listening to a non-Chinese interpreter judged the interpretation more positively than those who believed they were listening to a Chinese interpreter. The qualitative results showed that the participants in the non-Chinese condition attributed the non-native features of the interpretation to the interpreter's being a foreigner, and that they naturally used the language competence of non-native speakers as the standard of comparison. In this case, the participants' perceptions of quality could also be explained by the interpreter's perceived association with a highly esteemed group in China, and his ability to interpret into Chinese generated a sense of national self-esteem among the participants. Overall, the findings show that factors other than the features identifiable in an interpretation can influence the perception of quality of interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spurred by the policy of China's Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese e-Commerce companies have found great opportunities in selling goods overseas. The cross-border e-Commerce shares similarities of launch and marketing strategies with domestic e-Commerce, but also has substantial differences. How to make strategic adjustments to better adapt to the overseas market is of great concern to cross-border e-Commerce companies. Analyzing behaviors of overseas consumers could offer an effective way to address this issue and has attracted great interest of researchers. Consumer comments, cheap and abundant by its nature, provides an easy access for analysis of consumer behaviors. In this paper, we focus on consumer reviews of a specific product, the cellphones, and apply topic modeling techniques to investigate the differences between behaviors of domestic and overseas consumers. We find that consumers from domestic and overseas focus on different aspects of product. In addition, the foreign consumers care more about product quality and tend to make description of technique details. On the contrary, domestic buyers pay more attention on consumer services and intend to comment in generalities. All these findings could help e-Commerce companies design better launch strategies in cross-border e-Commerce market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adjuvant chemotherapy improves outcome of patients with early breast cancer. However, chemotherapy may be associated with long term toxicities. In this retrospective cohort study, the objectives were to determine body weight, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure and fasting lipids levels of young premenopausal Chinese breast cancer patients after adjuvant chemotherapy. Potential factors associated with these parameters were identified.Methods: Eligibility criteria include premenopausal Chinese patients who were diagnosed to have stage I-III breast cancer within 3-10 years, age < 45 and having received adjuvant chemotherapy at the time of breast cancer diagnosis. Information at initial breast cancer diagnosis were retrieved from patients' medical records and include age at diagnosis, tumor characteristics, anti-cancer treatments, blood pressure and body weight and height. At study entry, all patients had additional background demographics collected, as well as blood pressure, body weight and fasting serum lipid profiles measured. Incidence of chemotherapy-related amenorrhoea (CRA) and menopause were determined. Factors associated with weight gain, hypertension and dyslipidaemias were analyzed.Results: Two hundred and eighty patients were studied. The median age at breast cancer diagnosis was 41 years (range: 24-45). The median time from breast cancer diagnosis to study entry was 5.0 years. The median age at study entry was 46.5 years (range: 28-54). 91.1% developed CRA; 48.9% had become menopausal and 10% were peri-menopausal. Between initial breast cancer diagnosis and the time of study entry, the median weight gain was 1.8 kg; 63.2% gained weight by >2%; 52.1% were overweight/obese; 30.7% had hypertension. Abnormal total-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol occurred in 34.3% and 56.1% respectively. On multivariate analyses, older age was associated with reduced risk while occurrence of CRA and having received taxane-containing regimens were associated with increased risk of weight gain. Oestrogen-receptor positivity was associated with reduced risk while overweight/obese statuses were associated with increased risk of hypertension. Use of tamoxifen was associated with reduced risk of abnormal LDL-cholesterol. Weight gain, overweight/obese, older age, progression to post/peri-menopausal status at study entry, having received corticosteroid premedication before adjuvant chemotherapy and having received taxane-containing adjuvant chemotherapy were associated with increased risk of dyslipidaemias.Conclusion: Among young premenopausal Chinese breast cancer patients who had received adjuvant chemotherapy, the current study has revealed that although there was only a median weight gain of 1.8 kg, there was a nearly 60% increase in abnormal BMI. Further, a significant proportion of patients were detected to have hypertension and dyslipidaemias. Interventional studies with lifestyle modifications are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the improvements in the efficiency of resequencing technologies, discoveries and analyses of rare variants in sequencing-based association studies at the gene level, or even exome-wide are becoming increasingly feasible. Powerful association tests have been suggested in literature for testing whether a group of variants in a gene region is associated with a particular disease of interest. Their performance depends on the correct assumption of regression model and conditions such as the size of the case and control sample, numbers of causal and noncausal variants (rare or common), variant frequency, effect size and directionality, rate of missing genotype, etc. Most of these model-based tests require genotype data to be complete at each variant. Our previous results showed that in the case of no covariate, the power of these tests might be greatly influenced, when there were missing genotypes and only simple imputation was used. In this paper, we demonstrate by simulations that in the presence of covariates, the type I errors of these approaches might be inflated, even when genotype missing rate was very small. We present an association test based on testing zero proportion of causal variants in the gene region, and show this test to be almost uniformly most powerful among the competing tests under very general simulation conditions. This test does not require genotype to be complete and hence is robust against missing genotype. We discuss how to adjust for population stratification based on principal components and show the power loss of this approach was small when the population stratification effect was moderate. We use a Shanghai Breast Cancer Study to demonstrate application of the tests and show the proposed test is more powerful in detecting variants related to breast cancer, and robust against the inclusion of noncausal variants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By examining the types and frequencies of non-renditions in a 100-hour corpus of court interpreting records from Hong Kong, this study demonstrated that court interpreters actively coordinate communication when carrying out their interpreting duties. Non-renditions are interpreters' utterances that do not have a corresponding counterpart in the source language, and such renditions are ordinarily used to coordinate interpreter-mediated exchanges. This analysis revealed that in the Hong Kong court setting, non-renditions were less common in English (the court language) than in Cantonese (the main language of the witnesses and defendants). In the Cantonese subsample, interactional nonrenditions were more common than textual non-renditions, and most of these utterances were self-initiated rather than prompted by others. In the English subsample, textual non-renditions were more common than interactional nonrenditions, and most of them were other-prompted. The skewed distribution of non-renditions, and particularly the tendency to address non-renditions to the lay participants, suggests that court interpreters may not be absolutely impartial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposed a holistic approach to understanding the usage of travel guidebooks. Guidebooks were revealed to outperform other travel information sources in the stages of “during” and “post-travel” but lost their competitiveness in the pre-trip planning to the Internet, especially on the search for information on destination and accommodation. A factor analysis on an 18-item instrument concluded that travelers possess six underlying need dimensions when using guidebooks: reflective, security, confirming, destination, itinerary, and functional needs. Therefore, recommendations were provided for practitioners to reconsider the positioning of travel guidebooks when formulating product development and marketing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: China is facing the challenges of an expanding ageing population and the impact of rapid urbanization, cancer rates are subsequently increasing. This study focuses on the changes of the ageing population and projects the incidence of common ageing-related cancers in the urban regions in China up to 2030. Sources of data: Cancer incidence data and population statistics in China were extracted from the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Areas of agreement: Due to improving longevity in China, continuous and remarkable increasing trends for the lung, colorectal and prostate cancers are expected. Growing points: The rate of expanding ageing population was taken into account when predicting the trend of cancer incidence; the estimations of ageing-related cancers were more factual and significant than using the conventional approach of age standardization. Areas timely for developing research: The incidence rates of lung, colorectal and prostate cancers will continue to rise in the future decades due to the rise of ageing population. Lifestyle modification such as cutting tobacco smoking rates and promoting healthier diets as well as cancer screening programs should be a health system priority in order to decrease the growing burden of cancer-related mortality and morbidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality of life (QOL) in cancer survivorship is a multidimensional and subjective concept, which represents the personal sense of the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual consequences of cancer diagnosis and its treatment. This mixed method study aimed to explore the QOL of Chinese breast cancer survivors. Participants were recruited from a cancer self-help organization in the central area of China. QOL was assessed using the QOL–Cancer Survivor Scale and subsequently elicited by in-depth interviews. Results showed that participants had good overall QOL but with unfavorable aspects in psychological and social well-being. Interview data revealed that participants seldom attended spiritual activities. Instead, they actively reconnected with their “self” to create a positive meaning from their cancer experience. Understanding how Chinese breast cancer survivors perceive QOL is important for health professionals to address survivorship in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: Although we acknowledge the negative and positive aspects of the cancer survivorship experience, we have little information on this issue from the perspective of Chinese breast cancer survivors. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of negative and positive life changes following treatment completion among this population.Methods: Using purposive sampling, 29 breast cancer survivors were selected from the attendees of a local cancer self-help organization in middle China and proceeded with semi-structured in-depth interviews. Each interview was transcribed verbatim and analyzed using directed content analysis.Results: Two predetermined categories were identified to represent participant perception of the breast cancer survivorship experience, namely, negative life changes and positive life changes. The first category included fear of recurrence, symptom experience, poor body image, altered sexuality and intimacy, and financial burden. The second category consisted of new life perspective, personal growth, and enhanced relationships with family.Conclusions: Our findings contribute to the emerging evidence on the duality of breast cancer survivorship. This enhanced understanding of the specific negative and positive changes experienced by Chinese breast cancer survivors can assist health professionals in addressing survivorship issues by designing appropriate interventions to minimize negative consequences and enhance positive growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The study aims to provide an inventory of the existing English and Chinese research on service quality in China’s hospitality and tourism industry. The study aims to identify the reasons for the lack of research on service quality in China’s hospitality and tourism industry and the ignorance of the Chinese language literature in the field. Design/methodology/approach – A synthesis review is conducted of 31 articles published in 11 leading Chinese and English academic journals from 1998 to 2013. Findings – Popular research themes are service quality management and evaluation in the hotel sector. The majority of the reviewed articles are empirical studies that adopt quantitative methods, and none of the English articles use qualitative methods. Recent studies tend to use sophisticated statistical techniques such as confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Changes in disciplines, publication trends and statistical techniques are observed. The theoretical and practical contributions of the Chinese and English publications are compared, and recommendations are made for future research. Originality/value – This study is one of the first to review and compare the existing publications in the leading Chinese- and English-language journals. It provides a platform for scholars, especially non-Chinese literate researchers, to understand the research on service quality in the China hospitality and tourism industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During winter 2013, extremely high concentrations (i.e., 4-20 times higher than the World Health Organization guideline) of PM2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 μm) mass concentrations (24 h samples) were found in four major cities in China including Xi'an, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Statistical analysis of a combined data set from elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), 14C and biomass-burning marker measurements using Latin hypercube sampling allowed a quantitative source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosols. Based on 14C measurements of EC fractions (six samples each city), we found that fossil emissions from coal combustion and vehicle exhaust dominated EC with a mean contribution of 75 ± 8% across all sites. The remaining 25 ± 8% was exclusively attributed to biomass combustion, consistent with the measurements of biomass-burning markers such as anhydrosugars (levoglucosan and mannosan) and water-soluble potassium (K+). With a combination of the levoglucosan-tomannosan and levoglucosan-to-K+ ratios, the major source of biomass burning in winter in China is suggested to be combustion of crop residues. The contribution of fossil sources to OC was highest in Beijing (58 ± 5 %) and decreased from Shanghai (49 ± 2%) to Xi'an (38 ± 3%) and Guangzhou (35 ± 7 %). Generally, a larger fraction of fossil OC was from secondary origins than primary sources for all sites. Nonfossil sources accounted on average for 55 ± 10 and 48 ± 9 % of OC and total carbon (TC), respectively, which suggests that non-fossil emissions were very important contributors of urban carbonaceous aerosols in China. The primary biomassburning emissions accounted for 40 ± 8, 48 ± 18, 53 ± 4 and 65 ± 26 % of non-fossil OC for Xi'an, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, respectively. Other non-fossil sources excluding primary biomass burning were mainly attributed to formation of secondary organic carbon (SOC) from non-fossil precursors such as biomass-burning emissions. For each site, we also compared samples from moderately to heavily polluted days according to particulate matter mass. Despite a significant increase of the absolute mass concentrations of primary emissions from both fossil and non-fossil sources during the heavily polluted events, their relative contribution to TC was even decreased, whereas the portion of SOC was consistently increased at all sites. This observation indicates that SOC was an important fraction in the increment of carbonaceous aerosols during the haze episode in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: A meta-analysis may provide more conclusive results than a single trial. The major cost of meta-analysis is the time of waiting before the meta-analysis becomes available and resources spent on consequent trials that may not be necessary. The objective of this study is to address how often the result of a single trial, in particular the first trial, differs from that of its corresponding meta-analysis so as to reduce unnecessary waiting time and subsequent trials. Study Design and Settings: A meta-epidemiologic study was conducted by collecting meta-analyses from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and five major medical journals. Effect size of a single trial was compared with that of its corresponding meta-analysis. The single trial includes the first trial, last trial and any trial randomly selected from the meta-analysis. Results: 647 meta-analyses are included and the median number of trials in a meta-analysis is 5. 233 (36.0%) meta-analyses have the first trial with a statistically significant result. When the first trial is statistically significant, 84.1% (95% CI: 79.4%, 88.8%) of the corresponding meta-analyses is both in the same direction and statistically significant. When the first trial is statistically insignificant, 57.9% (95% CI: 53.2%, 62.8%) of the meta-analysis is also statistically insignificant regardless of direction. The median number of years is 6.5 years from the first to the 5th trial. Conclusion: The conclusion of the first trial that the treatment is effective or harmful is mostly likely correct. A statistically significant trial agrees more often with its corresponding meta-analysis than a large trial. These findings imply that particularly in some urgent, life-saving or other critical circumstances for which no other effective methods are available, cautious recommendation based on the significant result of the first trial seems justifiable and could start use of an effective intervention by 5–8 years earlier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a number of genetic studies have attempted to link the multidrug resistance ( MDR1) C3435 T polymorphism to risk of leukaemia, the results were often inconsistent. The present study aimed at investigating the pooled association using a meta-analysis on the published studies. 1933 cases and 2215 controls of 11 published studies in English before June 2012 were involved in the updated meta-analysis. Furthermore, subgroup analysis was performed in different ethnic and leukaemia subtype groups. This meta-analysis suggests that the MDR1 C3435 T polymorphism associate with risk of leukaemia. The effect of the variant on the expression levels and the possible functional role of the variant in leukaemia should be addressed in further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the spatial distribution of inbound and domestic tourist flows to cities in China and their growth rates using exploratory spatial data analysis. This method is a set of GIS spatial statistical techniques that are useful in describing and visualizing the spatial distribution, detecting patterns of hot-spots, and suggesting spatial regimes. The global Moran's I statistics for inbound and domestic tourist flows reveal strong positive and significant spatial autocorrelation. Furthermore, the Moran significance maps indicate four significant inbound tourism hot-spot areas in 1999 and 2006 (the Beijing-Tianjin cluster, the Yangtze River Delta cluster, the Fujian coast cluster and the Pearl River Delta cluster), and five significant domestic tourism hot-spot areas in 2002 and 2006 (with the addition of the Chengdu cluster). Based on the results, we show that tourism flows are polarized into clusters and remain very stable over time. As has been seen in other countries, hot-spots tend to be in insular and coastal areas, and associated with cities that are higher in China's urban hierarchy. Implications are drawn, such as priority of resource allocations for hot-spot area and the utilization of spillover effects from hot-spots. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We calculated the organic matter to organic carbon mass ratios (OM/OC mass ratios) in PM2.5 collected from 14 Chinese cities during summer and winter of 2003 and analyzed the causes for their seasonal and spatial variability. The OM/OC mass ratios were calculated two ways. Using a mass balance method, the calculated OM/OC mass ratios averaged 1.92±0.39 year-round, with no significant seasonal or spatial variation. The second calculation was based on chemical species analyses of the organic compounds extracted from the PM2.5 samples using dichloromethane/methanol and water. The calculated OM/OC mass ratio in summer was relatively high (1.75±0.13) and spatially-invariant due to vigorous photochemistry and secondary organic aerosol (OA) production throughout the country. The calculated OM/OC mass ratio in winter (1.59±0.18) was significantly lower than that in summer, with lower values in northern cities (1.51±0.07) than in southern cities (1.65±0.15). This likely reflects the wider usage of coal for heating purposes in northern China in winter, in contrast to the larger contributions from biofuel and biomass burning in southern China in winter. On average, organic matter constituted 36 % and 34 % of Chinese urban PM2.5 mass in summer and winter, respectively. We report, for the first time, a high regional correlation between Zn and oxalic acid in Chinese urban aerosols in summer. This is consistent with the formation of stable Zn oxalate complex in the aerosol phase previously proposed by Furukawa and Takahashi (2011). We found that many other dicarboxylic acids were also highly correlated with Zn in the summer Chinese urban aerosol samples, suggesting that they may also form stable organic complexes with Zn. Such formation may have profound implications for the atmospheric abundance and hygroscopic properties of aerosol dicarboxylic acids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the urban area of Guangzhou, observations on aerosol light extinction effect were conducted at a monitoring site of the South China Institute of Environmental Sciences (SCIES) during April 2009, July 2009, October 2009 and January 2010. The main goal of these observations is to recognise the impact of relative humidity (RH) and particles number distribution on aerosol light extinction. PM2.5 was sampled by Model PQ200 air sampler; ions and OC/EC in PM2.5 were identified by the Dionex ion chromatography and the DRI model 2001 carbon analyser, respectively; particles number size distribution was measured by TSI 3321 APS, while total light scattering coefficient was measured by TSI 3563 Nephelometer. Chemical composition of PM2.5 was reconstructed by the model ISORROPIA II. As a result, possible major components in PM2.5 were (NH4)2SO4, Na2SO4, K2SO4, NH4NO3, HNO3, water, POM and EC. Regarding ambient RH, mass concentration of PM2.5 ranged from 26.1 to 279.1 μgm-3 and had an average of 94.8, 44.6, 95.4 and 130.8 μgm-3 in April, July, October and January, respectively. With regard to the total mass of PM2.5, inorganic species, water, POM, EC and the Residual accounted for 34-47 %, 19-31 %, 14-20 %, 6-8% and 8-17 %, respectively. Under the assumption of "internal mixture", optical properties of PM0.5-20 were estimated following the Mie Model. Optical refractive index, hygroscopic growth factor and the dry aerosol density required by the Mie Model were determined with an understanding of chemical composition of PM2.5.With these three parameters and the validated particles number size distribution of PM0.5-20, the temporal variation trend of optical property of PM0.5-20 was estimated with good accuracy. The highest average of bep,pm0.5-20 was 300 Mm-1 in April while the lowest one was 78.6 Mm-1 in July. Regarding size distribution of bep,pm0.5-20, peak value was almost located in the diameter range between 0.5 and 1.0 μm. Furthermore, hygroscopic growth of optical properties of PM0.5-20 largely depended on RH. As RH increased, bep,pm0.5-20 grew and favoured a more rapid growth when aerosol had a high content of inorganic water-soluble salts. Averagely, ƒbep,pm0.5-20 enlarged 1.76 times when RH increased from 20% to 90 %.With regard to the temporal variation of ambient RH, ƒbep,pm0.5-20 was 1.29, 1.23, 1.14 and 1.26 on average in April, July, October and January, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An intensive investigation of carbonaceous PM2.5 and TSP (total suspended particles) from Pudong (China) was conducted as part of the MIRAGE-Shanghai (Megacities Impact on Regional and Global Environment) experiment in 2009. Data for organic and elemental carbon (OC and EC), organic species, including C17 to C40 n-alkanes and 17 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and stable carbon isotopes OC (δ13COC) and EC (δ13CEC) were used to evaluate the aerosols' temporal variations and identify presumptive sources. High OC/EC ratios indicated a large fraction of secondary organic aerosol (SOA); high char/soot ratios indicated stronger contributions to EC from motor vehicles and coal combustion than biomass burning. Diagnostic ratios of PAHs indicated that much of the SOA was produced via coal combustion. Isotope abundances (δ13COC=-24.5±0.8‰ and δ13CEC=-25.1±0.6‰) indicated that fossil fuels were the most important source for carbonaceous PM2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter), with lesser impacts from biomass burning and natural sources. An EC tracer system and isotope mass balance calculations showed that the relative contributions to total carbon from coal combustion, motor vehicle exhaust, and SOA were 41%, 21%, and 31%; other primary sources such as marine, soil and biogenic emissions contributed 7%. Combined analyses of OC and EC, n-alkanes and PAHs, and stable carbon isotopes provide a new way to apportion the sources of carbonaceous particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this research is to investigate and estimate the spillover effects in inbound and domestic tourism flows to 341 cities in mainland China. In conjunction with this, the key determinants of tourism flows are also studied in the spatial econometric model. The results confirm the existence of spillover effects in both inbound and domestic tourism flows, and suggest that physical infrastructure factors, tourist attractions, and the SARS outbreak are significant determinants of inbound and domestic tourism flows. In addition, it is found that although the degree of openness to inbound tourists is important for inbound tourism flows, a city’s income is the key to enhancing domestic tourism flows. Significant differences in spillover effects and determinants of tourism flows are also discovered between cities in different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: The genome of P. marneffei, the most important thermal dimorphic fungus causing respiratory, skin and systemic mycosis in China and Southeast Asia, possesses 23 polyketide synthase (PKS) genes and 2 polyketide synthase nonribosomal peptide synthase hybrid (PKS-NRPS) genes, which is of high diversity compared to other thermal dimorphic pathogenic fungi. We hypothesized that the yellow pigment in the mold form of P. marneffei could also be synthesized by one or more PKS genes. Methodology/Principal Findings: All 23 PKS and 2 PKS-NRPS genes of P. marneffei were systematically knocked down. A loss of the yellow pigment was observed in the mold form of the pks11 knockdown, pks12 knockdown and pks11pks12 double knockdown mutants. Sequence analysis showed that PKS11 and PKS12 are fungal non-reducing PKSs. Ultra high performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detector/electrospray ionization-quadruple time of flight-mass spectrometry (MS) and MS/MS analysis of the culture filtrates of wild type P. marneffei and the pks11 knockdown, pks12 knockdown and pks11pks12 double knockdown mutants showed that the yellow pigment is composed of mitorubrinic acid and mitorubrinol. The survival of mice challenged with the pks11 knockdown, pks12 knockdown and pks11pks12 double knockdown mutants was significantly better than those challenged with wild type P. marneffei (P<0.05). There was also statistically significant decrease in survival of pks11 knockdown, pks12 knockdown and pks11pks12 double knockdown mutants compared to wild type P. marneffei in both J774 and THP1 macrophages (P<0.05). Conclusions/Significance: The yellow pigment of the mold form of P. marneffei is composed of mitorubrinol and mitorubrinic acid. This represents the first discovery of PKS genes responsible for mitorubrinol and mitorubrinic acid biosynthesis. pks12 and pks11 are probably responsible for sequential use in the biosynthesis of mitorubrinol and mitorubrinic acid. Mitorubrinol and mitorubrinic acid are virulence factors of P. marneffei by improving its intracellular survival in macrophages. Author Summary: Penicillium marneffei is the most important thermal dimorphic fungus causing respiratory, skin and systemic mycosis in China and Southeast Asia. Its genome possesses a large number of polyketide synthase (PKS) genes, which should be responsible for synthesis of secondary metabolites such as pigments, antibiotics and mycotoxins. Using state-of-the-art gene knockdown and ultra high performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detector/electrospray ionization-quadruple time of flight-mass spectrometry technologies, we discovered that the yellow pigment of P. marneffei was composed of mitorubrinol and mitorubrinic acid and was synthesized by two PKS genes, named pks12 and pks11. This represents the first discovery of PKS genes responsible for mitorubrinol and mitorubrinic acid biosynthesis, in which pks12 and pks11 are probably responsible for sequential use in the biosynthesis of mitorubrinol and mitorubrinic acid. Using a mouse model and human and mouse macrophage cell line models for P. marneffei infection, we also discovered that mitorubrinol and mitorubrinic acid are virulence factors of P. marneffei by improving its intracellular survival in macrophages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the intercomparison of the data for tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) vertical column density (VCD) from satellite sensors, Ozone Monitoring Experiment (OMI), Global Zone Monitoring Experiment (GOME), and scanning imaging absorption spectrometer for atmospheric cartography (SCAMACHY). It states that the satellite sensors were used to qualitatively evaluate the biases in the data. It mentions that the data and comparisons focus mainly in China.

Faced with keen competition in the theme park operating environment, operators have realized the necessity of maintaining a high standard of service quality in order to survive. Because of the scarcity of literature on theme park service quality, the present study adapts the SERVQUAL model and modifies it as the THEMEQUAL model to measure the gap between perceived service quality and expected service quality from visitors under the theme park setting. The Hong Kong Disneyland is selected due to its importance to the Hong Kong tourism industry. The impact of the dimensions of the model on visitor satisfaction is also examined. Results expressed visitor satisfaction in terms of physical environment, but signified dissatisfaction on employee performance. Among the six dimensions of the model, “responsiveness and access,” “assurance,” and “empathy” are the critical predictors of visitor satisfaction. Discussions on the findings are presented and managerial implications are explained in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Summary: Countermeasures are desirable to retard bone loss during long-term space flight. We evaluated the effect of an intervention protocol on bed rest-induced bone loss. Introduction: We developed a resistive vibration exercise (RVE) platform to test if an intervention RVE protocol would be effective to protect bed rest-induced bone loss. Methods: Fourteen male subjects were assigned randomly to either the RVE group ( n = 7) that performed daily supervised resistive vibration exercise or to the no any exercise control (CON) group ( n = 7). Both dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and peripheral quantitative computed tomography were used to monitor changes in bone mineral density. Results: RVE significantly prevented bone loss at multiple skeletal sites, including calcaneus, distal tibia, hip, and lumbar spine (L2-L4). The ratio of urinary calcium and creatinine was found higher after starting bed rest in CON group while no significant changes were observed in RVE group. No significant temporal change was found for osteocalcin-N during and after bed rest in CON group. However, a significant increase was shown after bed rest in RVE group. In both groups, the urinary concentration of bone resorption markers, such as C-telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX-I) and deoxypyridinoline (DPD), were significantly elevated after bed rest. In the CON group, no significant temporal effect was found for hydroxyproline (HOP), CTX-I, and DPD during bed rest and the serum concentration of HOP and TGF-β significantly increased about 52.04% and 24.03%, respectively only after bed rest. However, all these markers tended to decrease in the RVE group. Conclusions: Our results might imply that the intervention of RVE retarded bone loss induced by simulated microgravity in humans that was mainly attributed to its anabolic effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evacuated tube solar water heaters are widely in use today. But so far their thermal performance has not been systematically evaluated, despite the increased popularity. An experimental solar hot water system including two collector types, namely water-in-glass and heat-pipe, of evacuated tube solar water heater has been set up. Their capacity is typical for serving single family domestic hot water system. Performance tests were carried out in Hong Kong and under almost identical boundary conditions by placing the two collectors side-by-side. The energy performance has been analysed and the daily efficiency, transient efficiency and night-time heat loss were compared. While the energy acquisition performance of the heat-pipe collector design is found slightly better, the heat loss performance is found weaker than the water-in-glass collector design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The purpose of this study of human papillomavirus (HPV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), p21, and p53 in sinonasal inverted papilloma (IP) was to help elucidate its pathogenesis. Methods Seventy-three IPs, 48 nasal polyps, and 85 hypertrophied turbinates were subjected to HPV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) study. Seventy-three IPs, 30 nasal polyps, and 32 hypertrophied turbinates were subjected to EBV in situ hybridization (ISH), p21, and p53 immunohistochemical (IHC) studies. Results HPV was positive in 3 of 73 IPs (4.1%). All specimens were EBV negative. In all, 99% of IPs showed strong and diffuse p21 nuclear reactivity. Most nasal polyps and hypertrophied turbinates showed weak to moderate immunoreactivity of the basal and parabasal cells. Only focal p53 immunoreactivity of the basal and parabasal cells was found in 19% of IPs and 40% of nasal polyps. Conclusions HPV prevalence of our IP is low. EBV is not present in IP. High p21 and low p53 expression in IP suggests a non-p53-dependent regulation pathway. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2012 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study design:Lithium has attracted much attention as a neuroregenerative agent for spinal cord injury in animal models. We hypothesized that the lithium can be beneficial to patients with spinal cord injury. The safety and pharmacokinetics of lithium has been studied in our earlier phase I clinical trial, indicating its safety. This is a phase II clinical trial to evaluate its efficacy on chronic spinal cord injury patients.Objectives:The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of lithium on chronic spinal cord injury patients.Setting:A major spinal cord injury rehabilitation center in Beijing, China.Methods:Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled 6-week parallel treatment arms with lithium carbonate and with placebo. A total of 40 chronic spinal cord injury subjects were recruited. Oral lithium carbonate was titrated or placebo was simulated to maintain the serum lithium level of 0.6-1.2 mmol l−1 for 6 weeks, followed by a 6-month follow-up. The functional outcomes and the neurological classifications, as well as the safety parameters, adverse events and pharmacokinetic data were carefully collected and monitored.Results:No significant changes in the functional outcomes and the neurological classifications were found. The only significant differences were in the pain assessments using visual analog scale comparing the lithium and the placebo group. No severe adverse event was documented in the study.Conclusion:The lithium treatment did not change the neurological outcomes of patients with chronic spinal cord injury. It is worth to investigate whether lithium is effective in the treatment of neuropathic pain in chronic spinal cord injury.Sponsorship:China Spinal Cord Injury Network Company Limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at assessing the existing effort in civic education in Hong Kong secondary schools after the implementation of the 3-3-4 educational reforms from 2009 onwards. The assessment framework is based on the IEA civic education model (Torney-purta et al., 2001). Qualitative data were collected from focus group interviews from 18 Form 3 students of four schools. The findings support the previous research that adolescents engaged actively in the process of political socialization. Rather than political activities, the majority of interviewees preferred to engage in social activities. Moreover, interviewees held positive beliefs in civic efficacy in changing school policies though they might not be confident to change government policies when they became adults. Interviewees suggested having more "space" in the present civic curriculum by allowing more discussion / activities on current issues or news. Finally, students had positive comments about existing efforts in civic education during Liberal Studies lessons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a cohort of hospitalized adults with seasonal influenza A in Hong Kong, viral RNA was frequently (47%) detected in stool specimens. Viable virus was rarely isolated. Viral RNA positivity had little correlation with gastrointestinal symptoms and outcomes. In vitro studies suggested low potential for seasonal influenza viruses to cause direct intestinal infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that investigated the short form with 8 items (RSF:8) in measuring the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) between boys and girls and the measurement invariance of RSF:8 in measuring OHRQoLfor adolescents in Hong Kong, China over time. A measuring instrument was used on 542 adolescent aged 12 years and re-applied to the same participants 3 years later. Results revealed that the RSF:8 measured OHRQoL for adolescents in Hong Kong consistently across gender.

Brand management stresses the importance of satisfying the needs of external customers. Employee branding management shows an evolving trend as employees begin living the brand. It is, therefore, necessary that employees are convinced by the hotel brand prior to having confidence to 'sell' the brand to customers. The present study aims to investigate employee perception toward hotel brand equity, particularly in the Hong Kong hotel industry. Factor analysis is used to identify four underlying factors-namely, employee commitment, employee engagement, employee identification, and service quality. The four constitute the perception of the employee on the evaluation of the brand. Correlation analysis is employed to examine relationship among the underlying factors and three dimensions of hotel brand equity-including brand image, brand awareness, and perceived quality. Moderate association is generally noted, and perceived quality has the most significant relationship with employee perception on brand equity. Managerial implications on employee branding management are introduced to hotel management. Topics for future research are also recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One hundred and thirty-eight Hong Kong and 195 Shanghai in-service teachers participated in this study. Three different scales were used namely the trait anxiety scale, the self-esteem scale and the teaching anxiety scale. Each scale was translated from English into Chinese. This study aims to compare the teaching anxiety level of in-service teachers in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and from a psychological perspective, it also aims to find out if trait anxiety and self-esteem can predict teaching anxiety. Overall, the study found that Hong Kong in-service teachers had higher teaching anxiety than their Shanghai counterparts. In addition, it was found that teaching anxiety was predicted by both trait anxiety and self-esteem as assumed. Teaching anxiety has been found to have many negative effects on both students and teachers. Thus, based on results from the questionnaires, factors that may reduce teaching anxiety of Hong Kong in-service teachers were suggested by interviewing 10 Hong Kong in-service teachers who also participated in the first part of the study, and their suggestions could be applied to professional developmental courses in reducing teaching anxiety for in-service teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shopping has long been recognized as an indispensable tourist activity. Hong Kong's open-air markets, where a multitude of bargaining activities can be observed, ranked as the second most popular of the island territory's diverse range of attractions in 2008 in terms of tourist arrivals. To develop cutting-edge marketing strategies that promote tourists' enjoyment of their bargaining adventure and ultimately enhance the overall shopping experience, the study reported in this article was aimed at identifying the dimensions underlying tourists' perceptions of the importance of 18 bargaining motivators and 12 bargaining attitudes and types of bargaining behavior, respectively, and subsequently evaluating the predictability of these underlying dimensions on tourists' shopping contentment indicators (overall bargaining satisfaction, the likelihood of a subsequent visit, and the likelihood of recommending open-air markets to others). A non-probability quota sampling technique was used to survey 203 Asian and non-Asian tourists in Hong Kong. A multivariate approach encompassing factor analysis and multiple regression was employed: Factor analysis delineated four underlying dimensions of factors affecting bargaining intentions. 'Value for money' was shown to be the factor rated most important to tourists' bargaining intention; similarly, two underlying dimensions of bargaining attitudes and behavior-'bargain for psychological well-being' and 'bargaining intensity'-were identified. Multiple regression results indicated the statistical significance of 'bargaining for psychological well-being' and 'bargaining intensity' to the existence of positive relations between shopping contentment indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, there has been a rapid increase in the numbers of research manuscripts from China published in international English language journals with a focus on plant ecology. This reflects the growing numbers of research and research-training institutions, the improved capacity of Chinese researchers to communicate their findings in English, and an expansion of international research collaborations. These trends may be partly attributable to more outward-looking government policies that recognize the broader economic, environmental and cultural values of international engagement, and policies that encourage talented scientists to stay in, or return to China, as well as the raised scientific prestige associated with publication of research in highly ranked international journals. With this increased international perspective, Chinese researchers are benefiting from greater access to plant ecological research in other parts of the world, while researchers from other parts of the world are discovering more about the plant ecology of China. Publication statistics suggest a trend of continued momentum from researchers in China to contribute to international journals related to plant ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a centralised HVAC system, the refrigeration system would consume less energy if the chilled water supply temperature could be elevated. The room air temperature could be raised, but the thermal comfort could be maintained by increasing the air speed without annoyance. In order to study the influence of acclimatisation in a subtropical climate and expectation of an airconditioned environment for people in Hong Kong, a thermal comfort survey was carried out. In this study, 203 human subjects aged 19-50 participated. A thermal sensation model was then developed, and a 90% comfort zone for the air speeds at different temperatures established. The results of this study were also compared with the comfort zone derived by the predicted mean vote (PMV). It was found that the PMV model did not give an effective reflection of the thermal sensation reported by people in Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the factors affecting the service quality of the tour guiding profession in Macau. In-depth interviews were conducted with representatives from the Macau Tourist Guide Association, the Macau Government Tourist Office and selected practising tour guides to explore the issues from multiple insiders' perspectives. The factors identified were classified into six categories: unhealthy business practices, market domination, immaturity of tourist market, changing tourist behaviour, intense competition between inbound tour operators and human resource issues. The findings suggest that a number of these problems actually originated from the unhealthy business practices of the tourist-generating country, namely mainland China in this study. Considering the growing importance of the Chinese outbound tourism market, the study findings will be of significant value to Macau and to other destinations targeting the Chinese market. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the study which explores the application of observation-based model (OBM) on identifying the ozone (O3)-precursor relationship in Pearl River Delta, China. It notes that anthropogenic hydrocarbons and nitric oxide emissions promote ozone production. Moreover, it emphasizes that carbonyls, volatile organic compounds (VOC), and hydrocarbons contribute to O3 formation.