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Introduction: Open access to digital research output is increasing, but academic library policies can place restrictions on public access to libraries. This paper reports on a preliminary study to investigate the correlation between academic library access policies and institutional positions of openness to knowledge. Method: This primarily qualitative study used document and data analysis to examine the content of library access or use policies of twelve academic institutions in eight countries. The outcomes were statistically correlated with institutional open access publication policies and practices. Analysis: We used an automated search tool together with manual searching to retrieve Web-based library access policies, then categorised and counted the levels and conditions of public access. We compared scores for institutional library access feature with open access features and percentages of open access publications. Results: Academic library policies may suggest open public access but multi-layered user categories, privileges and fees charged can inhibit such access, with disparities in openness emerging between library policies and institutional open access policies. Conclusion: As open access publishing options and mandates expand, physical entry and access to print and electronic resources in academic libraries is contracting. This conflicts with global library and information commitments to open access to knowledge.

Drawing on a broader study that focused on understanding rural college students for equity and personal growth in higher education, this paper presents Ying's story of learning and living as a female college student from rural China. Adopting the thinking tools of habitus and reflexivity, the paper aims to understand the constraints Ying has gone through in China's higher education and her various response amidst them. The findings illustrate how the intersectionality of rural dispositions and gender has put her at a disadvantage and how she constantly mediates her surroundings through internal conversations. The paper discusses the intricate interplay between habitus and reflexivity during the mediation. The conclusion affirms the relevance of both habitus and reflexivity in our understanding of the rural student's educational experiences and argues for the role of education and society in challenging the social structure and promoting social change.

This article examines relationships between children and youths' judgments and their justifications of truth telling and verbal deception, in situational and cultural contexts. Han Chinese, Euro-Canadians and Chinese-Canadians, seven- to 17-years of age were presented competitive scenarios in which protagonists told either lies to protect, or truths to harm, various levels of collectivity. Participants evaluated protagonists' statements, using a 7-point scale, and justified their judgments. Cultural variations in moral evaluations emerged among the three groups of participants. Older Chinese participants reflected significant collective cultural values in their judgements; by contrast, Euro-Canadians identified more individualistically; and Chinese-Canadians demonstrated notable variability between these perspectives in their judgments. The article enhances understanding of situational and cultural sources in the development of moral reasoning within a sociocultural framework.

There is substantial evidence that supports the theory that higher education and democracy are highly correlated. Throughout modern history, students have been at the forefront of democratic movements, including the 1989 pro-democracy uprising in China. Since then, and despite the increased availability of Western-style education within and without its borders, China has bucked the trend. Using system justification theory as its theoretical framework, this study investigates why a Western-style education in China has done little to inculcate revolutionary movements. Findings indicate that a Western-style education does not facilitate student desire for democratisation in China because of the control imposed on student behaviour by Chinese authorities, including student subscription to Chinese Communist Party endorsed notions of national pride and student ambition for postgraduate socioeconomic reward. Culturally grounded notions of social harmony were less evident than might have been expected.

Confronted with the challenge of increasing globalization, the institution of education needs to answer the call and become better equipped with global dimensions in today's globally interdependent world. The internationalization of education should not remain as an optional attribute of education; rather, it is integral. In addition to emphasizing the essentiality of internationalizing education, this article, employing narrative inquiry, tells of the storied experiences of Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Houston, as well as the two authors in internationalizing education through a variety of China's experiences. It is hoped that this article can serve as an appeal to a more articulate commitment to internationalizing education from colleagues of education worldwide.

Occupational therapy is a profession with origins rooted in Western values. As culture plays an important role in shaping theory and practice, the curriculum design of academic programs that train future rehabilitation professionals should reflect the local context. As part of an international partnership, a dual-degree graduate program in occupational therapy was established between a Chinese and an American university. A team composed of members from both institutions collaborated on culturally adapting an entry-level master's program in occupational therapy for China, based on a U.S. program, which welcomed its first cohort in September 2019. This article details the timeline and process of program design and adaptation from conception, through implementation to evaluation and revision, with the aim of offering a framework for curriculum adaptation of other academic programs in the U.S. and internationally. The adapted curriculum includes the program mission, vision, and philosophy; the curriculum model with program outcomes and threads; the program scope and sequence; materials and resources; and course-specific objectives, learning activities, and assessments. The authors also share lessons learned through this experience of international collaboration as well as next steps for program evaluation and sustainability. The detailed overview of this international collaboration offers suggestions for individuals and institutions seeking to develop global partnerships and adapt curricula across cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of natural disasters on the pricing of audit services. Using a staggered difference-in-differences (DiD) design and a sample of 1481 firm-year observations over the period 2014–2019 in China, we find that firms headquartered in areas affected by natural disasters are charged lower fees by auditors. This fee discount is not likely to be driven by a decrease in audit efforts exerted by auditors. We document that the negative relation between natural disasters and audit fees is more pronounced among (i) client firms that are audited by top domestic audit firms, (ii) client firms that are economically and politically important to auditors, and (iii) larger and more complex client firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose an extrapolative model of bubbles to explain the sharp rise in prices and volume observed in historical financial bubbles. The model generates a novel mechanism for volume: because of the interaction between extrapolative beliefs and disposition effects, investors are quick to not only buy assets with positive past returns but also sell them if good returns continue. Using account-level transaction data on the 2014–2015 Chinese stock market bubble, we test and confirm the model's predictions about trading volume. We quantify the magnitude of the proposed mechanism and show that it can increase trading volume by another 30 |$\%$|⁠. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers socio-ecological, situated perspectives on adolescent resilience derived from an application of interpretive visual methodologies to deepen understanding of adaptive youth development in diverse majority-world cultural contexts (South Africa, Thailand, China, Mexican migration to Canada). The research is not "cross-cultural"; by contrast, it situates youth engagement contextually, using local perspectives, especially perspectives of adolescents themselves, on "growing up well" under adverse circumstances, to interrogate conceptions of resilience in cultural context. Participants are viewed as members of cultural communities: observations with a small number of individuals are not generalized to national groups. Rather, knowledge gained by these methods is employed to enrich knowledge of the processes of majority-world youth thriving despite such adversities as poverty and social displacement. (Contains 3 tables.)

In order to improve CO2 capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) to solve carbon emission, sandstone from the Triassic Liujiagou Formation (LF) from the Ordos Basin in China was investigated using permeability tests and computed X‐ray tomography (CT) scanning. The presence of reactive minerals within the geological CO2 sequestration target storage formation can allow reaction with injected CO2, which changes the porosity and permeability of the LF beds, affecting storage effectiveness. To investigate the effect of chemical reactions on the pore structure and permeability of sandstone cores representing the LF CO2 storage, tests were conducted to analyze the changes in porosity and permeability of sandstone cores induced by CO2‐saturated brine at different reaction times (28‐day maximum reaction period). Porosity and permeability of the sandstone increased after reaction with CO2‐saturated brine due to mineral dissolution. The sandstone exhibited an increase in porosity and permeability after 15 days of reaction with CO2‐saturated brine. Moreover, there was an increase in the volume of large pores in the sandstone after the 28‐day period. The pore network of the sandstone was established through CT results, and the porosity calculated based on the obtained pore network was close to that measured in the test, demonstrating the feasibility to use CT to study the evolution of the microstructure of sandstone after long‐time exposure to CO2‐saturated brine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cross-cultural study of the moral judgements of Mainland Han-Chinese, Chinese-Canadian, and Euro-Canadian children aged seven to 11 examined the evaluations of narrative protagonists' modest lies and self-promoting truthful statements in situations where they had done a good deed. The story characters had thus either lied or told the truth about a prosocial act that they had committed. Chinese children judged modest lies more positively and boastful truths less positively than Euro-Canadian children. Chinese and Chinese-Canadian children rated immodest statements more negatively than did Euro-Canadian children. The cultural differences were greatest with the oldest children. Chinese children rated modest lies significantly more positively than either Canadian group who did not differ from each other but an interaction between age and culture revealed the three groups to be significantly different at age 11 with Chinese children most positive, followed by Chinese-Canadian children, and with Euro-Canadian children evaluating modest lies least positively. Cultural strictures and acculturation factors respecting modesty and self-enhancement are reflected in these differences. (Contains 5 tables and 4 figures.)

Little is known about how components of executive function (EF) jointly and uniquely predict different aspects of academic achievement and how this may vary across cultural contexts. In the current study, 119 Chinese and 139 American preschoolers were tested on a battery of EF tasks (i.e., inhibition, working memory, and attentional control) as well as academic achievement tasks (i.e., reading and mathematics). Results demonstrate that although working memory performance in both cultures was comparable, Chinese children outperformed American children on inhibition and attentional control tasks. In addition, the relation between components of EF and achievement was similar in the two countries. Working memory uniquely predicted academic achievement, with some intriguing patterns in regard to tasks requiring complex processing. Inhibition uniquely predicted counting but did not uniquely predict calculation. Attentional control predicted most aspects of achievement uniformly and was the most robust predictor for reading in both countries. In sum, the data provide insight into both cultural variability and consistency in the development of EF during early childhood. (Contains 4 tables.)

This study investigated variation in students' behavioral engagement across mathematics classes in China and the United States. Student behavioral engagement was examined along with two aspects of the classroom (group size and teacher instructions given about classroom behavior). Video observational data were collected and coded over 1051 time intervals in 35-minute mathematics sessions in Chinese classrooms (n = 8) and comparable American classrooms (n = 7). Latent growth analyses revealed that overall, behavioral engagement declined over time, although the drop-off was dramatically sharper in American classrooms relative to Chinese classrooms. In addition, larger group size and the timing of teacher instructions (given before versus after the behavior) were significantly associated with increased engagement. This study revealed compelling cultural differences as well as patterns in student and teacher behaviors associated with students engaging in on-task behaviors in the classroom. Implications for ways to promote effective classroom behavior are discussed. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)

This study examined cross-cultural differences and similarities in children's moral understanding of individual- or collective-oriented lies and truths. Seven-, 9-, and 11-year-old Canadian and Chinese children were read stories about story characters facing moral dilemmas about whether to lie or tell the truth to help a group but harm an individual or vice versa. Participants chose to lie or to tell the truth as if they were the character (Experiments 1 and 2) and categorized and evaluated the story characters' truthful and untruthful statements (Experiments 3 and 4). Most children in both cultures labeled lies as lies and truths as truths. The major cultural differences lay in choices and moral evaluations. Chinese children chose lying to help a collective but harm an individual, and they rated it less negatively than lying with opposite consequences. Chinese children rated truth telling to help an individual but harm a group less positively than the alternative. Canadian children did the opposite. These findings suggest that cross-cultural differences in emphasis on groups versus individuals affect children's choices and moral judgments about truth and deception.

When do socialisation efforts succeed? This paper fills a theoretical gap by theorising effective state socialisation in international relations while also tackling an empirical puzzle: why do the EU's and the US's respective socialisation efforts towards China produce inconsistent outcomes? We argue that the efficacy of socialisation depends on the socialisee's perception of whether the norms or roles the socialisers advocate are appropriate, and the socialisee's perception of whether the socialisers' behaviours are consistent with those norms or roles. By innovatively structuring Mill's methods in a two-level hierarchy that accommodates equifinality, we investigate three sets of cases of socialisation outcomes between China and the EU as well as China and the US. The empirical analysis supports our theoretical argument that effective socialisation is a process of constituting the socialisee's interests and perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared Chinese and Canadian 7-, 9-, and 11-year-olds' moral evaluations of lie- and truth-telling in stories involving pro- and antisocial behavior. Found that Chinese children rated truth-telling less positively and lie-telling more positively in prosocial settings than Canadians. Both rated truth-telling positively and lie-telling negatively in antisocial situations. Findings suggest a close relation between sociocultural practices and moral judgment. (Author)

Large scale rural-to-urban migration and China's household registration system have resulted in about 61 million children being left-behind in rural villages when their parents migrate to the cities. This paper uses survey and experimental data from male rural-urban migrants – prison inmates and comparable non-inmates – to examine whether parental absence in childhood as a result of migration is associated with increased criminality in adulthood. Control functions and sibling fixed effects are used to identify causal impacts. Parental absence due to migration is found to increase the propensity of adult males to commit crimes. Being left-behind decreases educational attainment and increases risk-loving behavior, both of which increase criminality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased availability of quantitative historical datasets has provided new research opportunities for multiple disciplines in social science. In this article, we work closely with the constructors of a new dataset, CGED-Q (China Government Employee Database-Qing), that records the career trajectories of over 340,000 government officials in the Qing bureaucracy in China from 1760 to 1912. We use these data to study career mobility from a historical perspective and understand social mobility and inequality. However, existing statistical approaches are inadequate for analyzing career mobility in this historical dataset with its fine-grained attributes and long time span, since they are mostly hypothesis-driven and require substantial effort. We propose CareerLens, an interactive visual analytics system for assisting experts in exploring, understanding, and reasoning from historical career data. With CareerLens, experts examine mobility patterns in three levels-of-detail, namely, the macro-level providing a summary of overall mobility, the meso-level extracting latent group mobility patterns, and the micro-level revealing social relationships of individuals. We demonstrate the effectiveness and usability of CareerLens through two case studies and receive encouraging feedback from follow-up interviews with domain experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, populations are ageing and the estimated number of hip fractures will increase from 1.7 million in 1990 to more than 6 million in 2050. The greatest increase in hip fractures is predicted in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), largely in the Asia-Pacific region where direct costs are expected to exceed $US15 billion by 2050. The aims of this qualitative study are to identify barriers to, and enablers of, evidence-informed hip fracture care in LMICs, and to determine if the Blue Book standards, developed by the British Orthopaedic Association and British Geriatrics Society to facilitate evidence-informed care of patients with fragility fractures, are applicable to these settings. This study utilized semi-structured interviews with clinical and administrative hospital staff to explore current hip fracture care in LMICs. Transcribed interviews were imported into NVivo 12 and analysed thematically. Interviews were conducted with 35 participants from 11 hospitals in 5 countries. We identified five themes-costs of care and the capacity of patients to pay, timely hospital presentation, competing demands on limited resources, delegation and defined responsibility and utilization of available data-and within each theme, barriers and enablers were distinguished. We found a mismatch between patient needs and provision of recommended hip fracture care, which in LMICs must commence at the time of injury. This study describes clinician and administrator perspectives of the barriers to, and enablers of, high-quality hip fracture care in LMICs; results indicate that initiatives to overcome barriers (in particular, delays to definitive treatment) are required. While the Blue Book offers a starting point for clinicians and administrators looking to provide high-quality hip fracture care to older people in LMICs, locally developed interventions are likely to provide the most successful solutions to improving hip fracture care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce our approach to the nominative linkage of records of Qing officials who were included in the China Government Employee Datasets-Qing (CGED-Q) Jinshenlu (JSL) and Examination Records (ER). We constructed these datasets by transcription of quarterly rosters of civil and military officials produced by the government and by commercial presses, and records of examination degree holders. We assess each of the primary attributes available in the original sources in terms of their usefulness for disambiguation, focusing on their diversity and potential for inconsistent recording. For officials who were not affiliated with the Eight Banners, these primary attributes include surname, given name, and province and county of origin. For the small subset of officials who were affiliated with the Bannermen, we assess the available data separately. We also assess secondary attributes available in the data that may be useful for adjudicating candidate matches. We then describe the approach that we developed that addresses the issues we identified with the primary and secondary attributes. The issues we have identified and the approach that we have developed will be of interest to researchers engaged in similar efforts to construct and link datasets based on elite males in historical China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What explains the backlash against the liberal international order? Are its causes economic or cultural? We argue that while cultural values are central to understanding the backlash, those values are, in part, endogenous and shaped by long-run economic change. Using an original survey of the British population, we show that individuals living in regions where the local labor market was more substantially affected by imports from China have significantly more authoritarian values and that this relationship is driven by the effect of economic change on authoritarian aggression. This result is consistent with a frustration-aggression mechanism by which large economic shocks hinder individuals' expected attainment of their goals. This study provides a theoretical mechanism that helps to account for the opinions and behaviors of Leave voters in the 2016 UK referendum who in seeking the authoritarian values of order and conformity desired to reduce immigration and "take back control" of policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on a broader study that focused on understanding rural college students for equity and personal growth in higher education, this paper presents Ying's story of learning and living as a female college student from rural China. Adopting the thinking tools of habitus and reflexivity, the paper aims to understand the constraints Ying has gone through in China's higher education and her various response amidst them. The findings illustrate how the intersectionality of rural dispositions and gender has put her at a disadvantage and how she constantly mediates her surroundings through internal conversations. The paper discusses the intricate interplay between habitus and reflexivity during the mediation. The conclusion affirms the relevance of both habitus and reflexivity in our understanding of the rural student's educational experiences and argues for the role of education and society in challenging the social structure and promoting social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background China's capacity to control and prevent emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases is critical to the nation's population health. This study aimed to explore the capacity of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCs) in China to deal with infectious diseases now and in the future. Methods A survey was conducted in 2015 among 973 public health professionals at CDCs in Beijing and four provinces, to assess their capacity to deal with emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Results Although most professionals were confident with the current capacity of CDCs to cope with outbreaks, nearly all indicated more funding was required to meet future challenges. Responses indicated that Yunnan Province faced more challenges than Anhui, Henan and Liaoning Provinces in being completely prepared and able to deal with outbreaks. Participants aged 20–39 years were more likely than those aged 40 and over to believe strategies such as interdisciplinary and international collaborations for disease surveillance and control, would assist capacity building. Conclusion The capacity of China's CDCs to deal with infectious diseases was excellent. However, findings suggest it is imperative to increase the number of skilled CDC staff, financial support, and strengthen county level staff training and health education programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions: Plant community stability is threatened by increasing numbers of simultaneously changing factors such as increased precipitation and nitrogen (N) deposition. Despite the pivotal roles of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) for plant community dynamics, only few studies have paid attention to their roles in maintaining plant community stability under global change. We therefore assessed the interactive effects of a realistic N deposition and AMF on plant community temporal stability under future increased precipitation scenarios. Location: Gurbantunggut desert, China. Methods: We conducted a four‐year field experiment simulating a realistic N deposition and with/without AMF treatments in one typical ephemeral plant community, dynamically monitoring the changes in plant community biomass and composition. Results: We found that suppression of AMF significantly reduced Shannon–Wiener diversity and evenness while the realistic N deposition only marginally reduced the Shannon–Wiener diversity. Suppression of AMF and increased N deposition highly increased the species turnover. Particularly, the stability of subordinate plant species significantly correlated to the community‐level stability. AMF were able to buffer the negative effects of increased N deposition on plant community diversity, to maintain community‐level stability. Conclusions: Our study supports the subordinate insurance hypothesis, highlighting the considerable roles of subordinate plant species in maintaining community stability. Furthermore, our results indicate the joint roles of AMF and N deposition in regulating plant community stability, and point to the importance of taking AMF and the realistic N deposition into account for understanding the responses of community stability to multiple global change scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cryptic diversity not only introduces confusion to taxonomic studies, but it also poses major challenges to conservation and environmental legislation. One such troubling group are the Mountain Dragons in the genus Diploderma in Southwest China. Previous studies have suggested that the genus contains considerable cryptic diversity, particularly in the D. flaviceps complex. Owing to taxonomic confusion, micro‐endemic lineages are still neglected by the Chinese wildlife protection laws, despite their urgent conservation needs. Combining multivariate morphological and multi‐locus phylogenetic data, we provide the first integrative systematic revision of the genus Diploderma. Specifically, we confirm that the six examined populations of D. cf. flaviceps from the upper Jinsha and Yalong River Valleys in Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces represent six cryptic, undescribed lineages, and we describe each of them as a new species. With the updated taxonomy and distribution information, we discuss the taxonomy of the D. flaviceps complex in Southwest China, provide an updated diagnostic key along with distributional ranges for all species of the genus, and discuss some of the suspicious records of other congeners in China. Lastly, we evaluate the IUCN status of each of the six new species and highlight the major challenges for Diploderma conservation in China due to delayed environmental legislation and misleading conservation assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction is presented to the article "China's Sex Ratio and Crime: Behavioural Change or Financial Necessity?" which appeared in the November, 2017 issue.

Purpose: This article is a reply to "On theoretical engorgement and the myth of fair value accounting in China" Nobes (2019) from the authors of "Adaptability to fair value accounting in an emerging economy: A case study of China's IRFS convergence" (Peng and Bewley, 2010) and "The Winding Road to Fair Value Accounting in China: A Social Movement Analysis" (Bewley et al., 2018). Design/methodology/approach: This article engages directly with the arguments of the criticism. Findings: This article argues that the author of the commentary misunderstands the purpose, content and findings of both papers. By providing only a narrowly focused technical analysis of the new Chinese accounting standards, the author fails to see that their qualitative research approach reveals important, complex social and political factors at play in China's attempts to adopt modern international accounting principles. The commentary expresses a view that accounting is a neutral technology that needs only to be clearly defined and enumerated to be correctly implemented, whereas this research takes a much broader and deeper perspective. The authors seek to understand how China was able to successfully adopt fair value accounting standards in 2006, whereas an earlier attempt to introduce fair value in 1998 had led to abuse of fair value measurements and the eventual repeal of fair value regulations in 2001. Practical implications: This article helps clarify the purpose of qualitative accounting research, the role of theory in such research and the usefulness of theory in describing and explaining empirical case facts related to changes in accounting standards, particularly in an international context. Originality/value: This article contributes to a better appreciation of qualitative accounting research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In this study, we compare the clinical characteristics, intraoperative management, and postoperative outcomes of patients with acute type A aortic dissection (ATAAD) between two academic medical hospitals in the United States and China.Methods: From January 2011 to December 2017, 641 and 150 patients from Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital (NDTH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) were enrolled. Patient demographics, clinical features, surgical techniques, and postoperative outcomes were compared.Results: The annual number of patients presenting with ATAAD at MGH remained relatively stable, while the number at NDTH increased significantly over the study period. The average age was 51 years at NDTH and 61 years at MGH (P < .001). The percentage of patients with known hypertension at the two centers was similar. The time interval from onset of symptoms to diagnosis was significantly longer at NDTH than MGH (11 vs 3.5 hours; P < .001). Associated complications at presentation were more common at NDTH than MGH. More than 90% of patients (91% NDTH and 92% MGH) underwent surgery. The postoperative stroke rate was higher at MGH (12% vs 4%; P < .001); however, the 30-day mortality rate was lower (7% vs 16%; P = .006).Conclusions: There was a significant increase in the number of ATAAD at NDTH during the study period while the number at MGH remained stable. Hypertension was a common major risk factor; however, the onset of ATAAD at NDTH was nearly one decade earlier than MGH. Chinese patients tended to have more complicated preoperative pathophysiology at presentation and underwent more extensive surgical repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship management theory and contingency theory of conflict management, as two dominant approaches in the field of public relations, bolstered by a tapestry of literature from cross-disciplinary fields, were brought together to conceptualize the concept of contingent organization–public relationships (COPR). To generate the theoretical robustness of COPR and test its practical applicability, we selected a social-mediated crisis occurring in China and collected data through mixed-methods, including both content analysis and in-depth interviews. Quantitatively, content analysis of 338 Red Cross's press releases and 4003 media coverage and 136,754 public posts during a 3-year time range provided a natural history of the application of COPR in crises. Qualitative interviews also offered in-depth information on the perceptions of stances and relationships from each party in this incident. Findings concluded that COPR addressed the dynamic and contingent multi-party relationships in contemporary China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Plateau Pit Viper, Gloydius strauchi, from southwest and central China has long been considered a single, widespread species despite suspicion that it represents a potential complex of distinct evolutionary lineages. Although series of works were published on the G. strauchi species complex over the last 10 yr, species boundaries and diagnostic features of different members of the complex have remained poorly understood. Combining both morphological and genetic data, we re-evaluate taxonomic statuses of populations of G. strauchi in southwest China and describe the eastern Tibetan populations as a new species. The new species is most closely related to G. monticola phylogenetically, and it differs from all congeners by having a matte dorsal body scale texture, oval and robust head shape, distinct body ornamentation and coloration, and unique hemipene morphology. In addition, we provide the first updated diagnostic key to all recognized members of the G. strauchi species complex, and discuss ongoing taxonomic problems associated with cryptic diversity within the genus in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With stroke being one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, families and social systems may face strain as they adjust to a caregiving role. This strain may be amplified in family systems living in rural areas due to limited access to resources. Thus, it is important for helping professionals such as couple, marriage, and family therapists to understand what facets of this disability are linked with caregiver strain as well as to explore and understand various interventions that may ease caregiver burden. Using existing data from 177 pairs of stroke patients and their family caregivers in rural Mainland China, the present study utilized a moderation analysis to examine (1) the association between stroke patient physical functioning, patient mental health, and their family caregiver burden and (2) how a developed patient rehabilitation intervention program for caregivers moderated the association between patient physical functioning as well as mental health and caregiver burden 6-month post intervention. Results suggested that better patient physical functioning were related to lower levels of caregiver burden (b = − 1.418, p <.001, β = − 0.33). However, the developed rehabilitation intervention program did not significantly moderate the association between stroke patient physical functioning as well as mental health and caregiver burden. These findings provide insight into correlates of stroke patients' caregiver burden in rural China. Development of more effective rehabilitation programs and interventions for stroke patients and their family caregivers as well how couple, marriage, and family therapists may be uniquely qualified to contribute to such interventions is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A review the public sources for zirconium and titanium production and resources. • A discussion of factors affecting zirconium and titanium resource availability. • A discussion of the complexity of titanium and zirconium feedstocks. • A thorough history of the titanium and zirconium industry. • An overview of deposit geology and ilmenite alteration terminology. • An overview of logistics, mining and processing techniques. • An examination of each of the major co-products of titanium and zirconium extraction. Recent zircon supply disruptions and the increasing demand for TiO 2 in pigments has focused attention on the adequacy of known and anticipated resources, and the ability of current suppliers to meet future demand. Additionally, there is now a greater focus on the environmental impact of sulfate- and chloride-route pigment production, especially in China. These methods require different types of titanium feedstocks, each having different levels of availability. Despite investigation by various government groups, consultants, and scholars, there remain significant discrepancies in both production and resource assessments. The few publically available studies do not take into account these complexities. Here we review the public sources for information on zirconium and titanium production and resources using Australia as a case study, factors affecting resource availability, the complexity of titanium and zirconium feedstocks, their suitability for end-uses, their commercial properties, supply drivers. We also provide a thorough history of the titanium and zirconium industry, an overview of deposit geology & ilmenite alteration terminology, logistics, mining and processing techniques, as well as an examination of each of the major co-products of titanium and zirconium extraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Existing analyses of US-China relations in matters of space policy have overwhelmingly focused on the contemporary relationship, with a tendency to represent the interaction between the 2 states as primarily competitive for its entire existence. By making use of American archival materials, this article argues that these characterisations are misleading. Instead, the historical evidence shows that an iteration of a 'Chinese space threat' predates contemporary threat perceptions by almost 5 decades. Crucially, however, this first iteration of a 'Chinese space threat' was side-lined to such an extent in the 1970s that cooperation in space policy became possible, leading to some significant technology transfer. This cooperation lasted until the modern articulation of a 'Chinese space threat' began to make such exchanges controversial once again. Analysis of these archival materials, therefore, shows that, while contemporary tensions between the United States and China in outer space are not new, they are also not the norm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses survey and experimental data from prison inmates and comparable non-inmates to examine the drivers of rising criminality in China. We find that China's high sex ratios are associated with greater risk-taking, greater impatience and greater neuroticism amongst males. These underlying behavioural impacts explain some part of the increase in criminality. The primary avenue through which the sex ratio increases crime, however, is the direct pressure on men to appear financially attractive in order to find a partner in the marriage market. These marriage market pressures result in a higher propensity to commit financially rewarding crimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine China’s stop-start adoption of fair value accounting (FVA) into its national accounting standards. The paper analyzes how FVA standards promoted by transnational organizations were eventually adopted in China despite its conservative accounting traditions.Design/methodology/approach The study uses archival records and an analytic framework adapted from the studies of social movements to identify the institutional factors that differ between China’ first unsuccessful attempt to adopt FVA and its second successful attempt.Findings Shared interests of elite national and international groups, creation of social infrastructure, marshaling of key resources, and specific actions to frame FVA standards are found to be crucial factors supporting FVA reform in China.Practical implications The study helps advance our understanding of dissemination of international accounting regulations in non-Western societies. The findings can help accounting standard setters to avoid costly failures.Originality/value The study provides a structured analysis of the propagation of global accounting regulations. It exposes the factors in the failure and success of FVA adoption in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigate the effect of early-life coresidence with paternal grandparents on male mortality risks in adulthood and older age in northeast China from 1789 to 1909. Despite growing interest in the influence of grandparents on child outcomes, few studies have examined the effect of coresidence with grandparents in early life on mortality in later life. We find that coresidence with paternal grandmothers in childhood is associated with higher mortality risks for males in adulthood. This may reflect the long-term effects of conflicts between mothers and their mothers-in-law. These results suggest that in extended families, patterns of coresidence in childhood may have long-term consequences for mortality, above and beyond the effects of common environmental and genetic factors, even when effects on childhood mortality are not readily apparent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND There is considerable debate about whether Manchu and associated non-Han ethnic groups in China maintained a distinct identity in the late 19th century or were 'sinicized' and assimilated into the Han majority. OBJECTIVE We assess the boundaries between Han and non-Han groups by examining the determinants of interethnic marriage in China in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in a setting where Han, Manchu, and other non-Han were free to intermarry, without being subject to institutional restrictions that limited such marriages elsewhere in China. METHODS We make use of the China Multi-Generational Panel Dataset, Shuangcheng (CMGPDSC), which consists of roughly 1.3 million observations of 107,890 Han, Manchu, Mongol, Xibo, and other individuals who lived in rural Northeast China between 1866 and 1913. We apply logistic regressions to examine the determinants of ethnic intermarriage and contingency table analysis to examine trends over time. RESULTS Marriage between Han and non-Han was not uncommon and increased over time. The chances of ethnic intermarriage were affected by village and family context by and individual characteristics. CONCLUSIONS In a setting where Han, Manchu, and other ethnicities were free to intermarry, they did so in large numbers, suggesting that by itself ethnicity was not a salient boundary when it came to marriage in Northeast China in the late 19th century. CONTRIBUTION This is one of the first quantitative studies of ethnic intermarriage in China before the 20th century and one of only a small number of such studies for historical non-Western populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zoonotic diseases transmitted by arthropods and rodents are a major public health concern in China. However, interventions in recent decades have helped lower the incidence of several diseases despite the country's large, frequently mobile population and socio-economic challenges. Increasing globalization, rapid urbanization and a warming climate now add to the complexity of disease control and prevention and could challenge China's capacity to respond to threats of emerging and re-emerging zoonoses. To investigate this notion, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 30 infectious disease experts in four cities in China. The case study diseases under discussion were malaria, dengue fever and haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, all of which may be influenced by changing meteorological conditions. Data were analysed using standard qualitative techniques. The study participants viewed the current disease prevention and control system favourably and were optimistic about China's capacity to manage climate-sensitive diseases in the future. Several recommendations emerged from the data including the need to improve health literacy in the population regarding the transmission of infectious diseases and raising awareness of the health impacts of climate change amongst policymakers and health professionals. Participants thought that research capacity could be strengthened and human resources issues for front-line staff should be addressed. It was considered important that authorities are well prepared in advance for outbreaks such as dengue fever in populous subtropical areas, and a prompt and coordinated response is required when outbreaks occur. Furthermore, health professionals need to remain skilled in the identification of diseases for which incidence is declining, so that re-emerging or emerging trends can be rapidly identified. Recommendations such as these may be useful in formulating adaptation plans and capacity building for the future control and prevention of climate-sensitive zoonotic diseases in China and neighbouring countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Article assesses China's legal and strategic responses to the recent financial sanctions imposed against Iran. The Article traces the legal structure of the sanctions regime, arguing that the structure could prevent an effective "snapback" of sanctions. Then, drawing upon the writings of Chinese legal scholars, the Article analyzes the way in which US sanctions have strengthened China's interest in the internationalization of the yuan. Uncovering a divergence between the United States and China on the legality of secondary sanctions and on the rationale of yuan internationalization, this Article concludes that future sanctions risk bi-polarization of international financial infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a micro energy grid to a community and estimates the effect of the urban micro energy grid on the reduction of energy demand and carbon emissions. Micro energy grid enables to share various energy sources generated at local plants and renewable sources for multiple buildings with different energy profiles. A community in China was selected for the implementation of the micro energy grid. A number of key performance indicators(KPIs) were developed to act as a framework for the overall community micro energy grid design. Site-wide strategies were selected to meet the KPIs and minimize the capital cost of the project. Financial analysis on the community micro energy grid model was performed and different scenarios were set up in order to find the optimalconditions for the government incentive, the investment discount rate, system capacity and development (demand) size of the project. It was found that a community in China adopting micro energy grid can achieve 26% carbon emissions reduction and 25% energy consumption savings compared to the conventional building energy systems and its payback period is 51 years with 10% discount rate and a government incentive of $0.052 per kWh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fear appeal approach has been used in health promotion, but its effectiveness has been mixed. It has not been well applied to HIV prevention among men who have sex with men (MSM). The present study developed and evaluated the relative efficacy of three online interventions (SC: STD-related cognitive approach, SCFI: STD-related cognitive plus fear appeal imagery approach, Control: HIV-related information based approach) in reducing prevalence of unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) among 396 MSM using a randomized controlled trial design. Participants' levels of fear-related emotions immediately after watching the assigned intervention materials were also assessed. Participants were evaluated at baseline and 3 months after the intervention. Results showed that participants in the SCFI scored significantly higher in the instrument assessing fear after the watching the intervention materials. However, no statistically significant differences were found across the three groups in terms of UAI at Month 3. Some significant within-group reductions in some measures of UAI were found in three groups. Further studies are warranted to test the role of fear appeal in HIV prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]