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First conceived as spaces stocked with D.I.Y. tools and materials for community members to join together in the activity of making, makerspaces have begun popping up in schools, libraries, universities and museums across the world. The maker mindset summarizes the ideology of the maker movement—a set of values predicated on making, sharing, learning and playing. Through a critical review of research and practices of makerspaces in the U.S., Singapore, China and Ghana, this paper explores the respective national discourses surrounding the maker movement and maker education. By revealing some of the ways that the values have been embraced, reinterpreted, remixed or rejected as the movement has gained global momentum, this paper intends to establish a greater appreciation for the diversity and complexity of the maker movement and maker education in the global context. Ultimately, this complex, multifaceted remixing reveals a deeper understanding of why the movement has been or may be embraced by diverse nations across the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The northeastern China, the United States, and the western Europe are important agricultural regions both on the global and regional scales. The western Europe has a longer history of agricultural land development than the eastern United States. These two regions have changed from the deforestation and reclamation phase in the past to the current land abandonment and reforestation phase. Compared with the two regions, large-scale land exploitation has only been practiced in the northeastern China during the last century. After a short high-intensity deforestation and reclamation period, agricultural and forest lands are basically in a dynamic steady state. By comparing domestic and international agro-forestry development and considering the ecological environment and socio-economic benefits that can be derived from agro-forestry, this paper suggests that large area of reforestation would be inevitable in future though persistent and large agricultural demand in coming decades even more. And local reforestation at slope farmland with ecological vulnerability should be imperative at present to avoid severer damage. At the same time, from the perspective of Land Change Science, the results demonstrate that the research on land use change in the agro-forestry ecotone is typical and critical, particularly those dealing with the analysis of spatial and temporal characteristics and the simulation of climate, hydrology, and other environmental effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of a longitudinal study carried out in urban China on the health and mental status of 200 elders 70 years of age or older and focuses on the experience of dementia. While older people and their families are aware of the phenomenon of dementia, it does not evoke the kind of dread that is common among Americans. This different response can be traced to beliefs about dementia, cultural values, and situational features of contemporary Chinese life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]