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Background: Determining the core competence of advanced practice nurses is foundational for promoting optimal design and implementation of advanced practice nursing roles. Core competencies specific to the contexts of the advanced practice nurse in Hong Kong have been developed, but not yet validated. Thus, this study aims to assess the construct validity of advanced practice nurse core competence scale in Hong Kong. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study using an online self-report survey. Exploratory factor analysis was used to examine the factor structure of a 54-item advanced practice nurse core competence scale through principal axis factoring with direct oblique oblimin rotation. A parallel analysis was conducted to determine the number of factors to be extracted. The Cronbach's α was computed to evaluate the internal consistency of the confirmed scale. The STROBE checklist was used as reporting guideline. Results: A total of 192 advanced practice nurse responses were obtained. Exploratory factor analysis led to the final 51-item scale with a three-factor structure, which accounted for 69.27% of the total variance. The factor loadings of all items ranged from 0.412 to 0.917. The Cronbach's alpha of the total scale and three factors ranged from 0.945 to 0.980, indicating robust internal consistency. Conclusion: This study identified a three-factor structure of the advanced practice nurse core competency scale: client-related competencies, advanced leadership competencies, and professional development and system-related competencies. Future studies are recommended to validate the core competence content and construct in different contexts. Moreover, the validated scale could provide a cornerstone framework for advanced practice nursing roles development, education, and practice, and inform future competency research nationally and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to potential adverse effects on the mental health status of a wide range of people. This study aimed to identify factors associated with psychological distress, fear and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among general population in Hong Kong. Psychological distress was assessed using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale; level of fear was evaluated using the Fear of COVID-19 scale; and coping strategies were assessed using the Brief Resilient Coping Scale. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify key factors associated with these mental health variables. Of the 555 participants, 53.9% experienced moderate to very high levels of psychological distress, 31.2% experienced a high level of fear of COVID-19, and 58.6% showed moderate to high resilient coping. Multivariable logistic regression indicated that living with family members, current alcohol consumption, and higher level of fear were associated with higher levels of psychological distress; perceived stress due to a change in employment condition, being a frontline worker, experiencing 'moderate to very high' distress, and healthcare service use to overcome the COVID-19 related stress in past 6 months were associated with a higher level of fear; and perceived better mental health status was associated with a moderate to high resilient coping. This study identified key factors associated with distress, fear and coping strategies during the pandemic in Hong Kong. Mental health support strategies should be provided continuously to prevent the mental impact of the pandemic from turning into long-term illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stock market plays a leading and crucial role in the market mechanism, which connects the savers and investors. So far, there is no uniform regulation on the disclosure requirement of environmental protection information in China. But companies are increasingly concerned about environmental protection and are committed to disclosing more information about environmental protection. It is important to analyze the information on stock market opening and environmental protection by computing technology. For the stock market, as voluntary disclosure of non-financial information, environmental protection information is an important supplement to financial information and is essential for the investors to make decisions. And it is the important content of capital market information. This article through the capital market opening opportunity: Shanghai (Shenzhen) Hong Kong stock connect (the stock market opening mentioned later in this paper all refers to the Shanghai (Shenzhen) Hong Kong stock connect), empirically investigates the stock market opening that affects the environmental protection information disclosure of the company. Our conclusion supports the views that the stock market opening improved the environmental protection information disclosure of the company and promotes the environmental protection behavior of enterprises. Through further analysis, this paper finds that after the officially carried out the stock market opening policy, the attention of many analysts and the participation of foreign institutional investors urge the management to take the initiative to reduce agency costs, which is an important influence mechanism for the stock market opening to affect the disclosure of enterprises' environmental protection information. The evidence of this study indicates that the stock market opening has an important impact on enterprises in China from the following aspects: improving the information disclosure of environmental protection, thus enhancing the company's awareness of environment protecting, and improving the information quality of stock market in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Literature on siting conflicts related to locally unwanted land uses (LULUs) abounds. While factors like risk perceptions, trust in the government and environmental injustice have been found to play significant roles in shaping local resistance to LULUs, they are rarely jointly employed for analysing conflicts of LULU siting in an integrative manner. In this light, this study attempts to extend the applicability of the institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework, which has been widely employed to analyse issues related to common-pool resource management (e.g., fisheries and forest management) to LULU siting. By looking into a recent case in Hong Kong in which local residents successfully stopped a plan proposed by the Hong Kong government to extend an existing landfill, this article integrates a range of concepts including risk perceptions, trust and environmental injustice with the aid of the IAD framework to develop a more coherent understanding of the complexity of the LULU siting process. Specific emphasis is given to how institutions shape local residents' attitudes and actions. The case study reveals that institutional inadequacies in the siting process and distrust in the government contributed to strong local opposition to the extension proposal, and thus eventually led to a complete deadlock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present longitudinal study examined life satisfaction and the related socio-demographic, family, and positive youth development correlates in junior secondary school students in Hong Kong. Results showed that adolescents perceived life satisfaction decreased in their junior secondary school years. Several socio-demographic correlates of life satisfaction were identified from the results of mixed effects ANOVAs and multiple regression analyses: girls showed higher life satisfaction than did boys; adolescents in non-intact families had lower life satisfaction than did adolescents in intact families; adolescents experiencing economic disadvantage showed relatively lower life satisfaction. Results also showed that both family functioning and positive youth development had generally positive predictive relationships with adolescent life satisfaction over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic activities have accelerated the movement of non-indigenous species throughout the world. One approach to predict the spread of non-indigenous species is to employ bioclimatic envelope models which often assume niche conservation among sympatric, closely related species. Here, we test this assumption by comparing early developmental progress of two non-indigenous calcareous biofouling tubeworms Hydroides elegans and H. dirampha. In the subtropical Hong Kong monsoon climate, H. dirampha and H. elegans experience dramatic seasonal fluctuations in temperature (from 17 to 30 °C) and salinity (from 15 to 34 psu). Hydroides elegans was previously shown to be sensitive to lower salinity and warmer temperature while H. dirampha persisted in the field under these seasonal conditions. Thus, we hypothesize that the observed shift in abundance is due to the resilience of early stages of H. dirampha to the interactive stress of warming and lower salinity. Larval survival, growth, clearance, and settlement rate of H. dirampha were quantified in a 2 × 3 factorial experiment (24 and 28 °C; 20, 26, 32 psu). Stage-dependent tolerance was observed: cleavage was hindered by low salinity. However, larval growth and clearance did not follow this trend and instead peaked at 26 psu. Similarly, settlement rate did not decrease with freshening; rather, it peaked at 26 psu under warming. The salinity tolerance of H. dirampha is compared with that determined by Qiu and Qian (Mar Ecol Prog Ser 168: 127–134, 1998) for H. elegans. Differences in larval physiological tolerances could shape abundance and distribution of a single species as well as broader community structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Teacher–child relationships predicted and were predicted by toddlers' comprehension and personal-social skills. • Teacher-child relationships predicted but were not predicted by motor and self-help skills. • Expressive language skills predicted but were not predicted by teacher-child relationships. This study examined the dynamic association between teacher–child relationship quality and Chinese toddlers' developmental functioning. The participants, located in Hong Kong, consisted of 82 Chinese toddlers and their teachers. With a two-wave longitudinal design, teachers rated the children's developmental functioning and their own relationships with each child. The results showed that the relations between teacher-child relationships and developmental functioning differed across aspects of child development. Specifically, teacher–child relationship quality predicted and was predicted by toddlers' comprehension and personal-social skills; teacher-child relationship quality predicted but was not predicted by motor and self-help skills; finally, expressive language skills predicted but were not predicted by teacher-child relationship quality. Follow-up analyses suggested that the observed relations operated similarly for boys and girls, but differently between younger and older age groups. We conclude by discussing the study's limitations and offering suggestions for promoting developmentally appropriate childcare experience for toddlers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses boys' love (BL), a subculture focusing on romantic relationships between men as expressed in mass media. BL developed in Japanese manga and has expanded to China and Hong Kong, China, where fan interest has led to increased censorship by authorities. The interest of Chinese women in BL and suggestions in Chinese mass media that BL promotes gender equality and negatively affects moral standards of youth are noted.