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This study quantifies second language (L2) knowledge of aural single words and aural phrasal verbs (PVs) and investigates their relationship with L2 listening comprehension. An aural first language (L1) meaning recall test format was used to measure knowledge of 81 single-word and 81 PV target items (with equivalent frequencies of occurrence) among 224 Chinese tertiary-level learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Participants' L2 listening was measured with a version of the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC). Participants' aural single-word and aural PV knowledge were compared, and their relationship with L2 listening were examined using correlation and multiple regression analysis. These analyses also included comparison between participants of relatively high (Independent Users) and relatively low (Basic Users) L2 listening proficiency. Although regression modelling showed that single-word test scores were most predictive of L2 listening comprehension, it also showed that PV test scores made a substantial contribution to the model's predictive capacity. In combination, single-word and PV test scores could predict 42.7% of the variance observed in the listening scores. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

This empirical study, using Western concepts incorporated into the Dimension of Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) instrument and data collected from 919 employees in nine companies located in Guangdong Province, China, explored organizational learning culture in Chinese business settings. Findings suggest that the DLOQ is applicable to the Chinese context, and demographic variables, such as age and educational level, and the type of ownership of Chinese companies (state-owned enterprises and privately owned enterprises), show differences in organizational learning culture. Discussions and implications are provided.

A large-scale magnetite deposit containing scandium oxide is located in Yunnan province of China. The reserves of scandium oxide in the deposit are estimated to be > 40,000 tons. With the aid of EDS analysis and polarizing microscopy, samples of the ore were examined, and the different types of minerals containing scandium were identified together with their disseminated features. The results reveal that the useful minerals for scandium pre-concentration are pyroxene, tremolite, hornblende and clay. Based on the sample's composition, particle size distribution and the occurrence state of scandium, studies were conducted of the pre-concentration of scandium oxide from the low-grade magnetite ore. From the results of these experiments, a beneficiation process was developed and validated based on low-intensity magnetic separation for iron recovery and high-intensity magnetic separation for scandium enrichment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tephra dispersed during the Millennium eruption (ME), Changbaishan Volcano, NE China provides one of the key stratigraphic links between Asia and Greenland for the synchronization of palaeoenvironmental records. However, controversy surrounds proximal-distal tephra correlations because (a) the proposed proximal correlatives of the distal ME tephra (i.e. B–Tm) lack an unequivocal chronostratigraphic context, and (b) the ME tephra deposits have not been chemically characterized for a full spectrum of element using grain-specific techniques. Here we present grain-specific glass chemistry, including for the first time, single grain trace element data, for a composite proximal sequence and a distal tephra from Lake Kushu, northern Japan (ca. 1100 km away from Changbaishan). We demonstrate a robust proximal-distal correlation and that the Kushu tephra is chemically associated with the ME/B–Tm. We propose that three of the proximal pyroclastic fall units were erupted as part of the ME. The radiocarbon chronology of the Kushu sedimentary record has been utilised to generate a Bayesian age-depth model, providing an age for the Kushu tephra which is consistent with high resolution ages determined for the eruption and therefore supports our geochemical correlation. Two further Bayesian age-depth models were independently constructed each incorporating one of two ice-core derived ages for the B–Tm tephra, providing Bayesian modelled ages of 933–949 and 944–947 cal AD (95.4%) for the Kushu tephra. The high resolution ice-core tephra ages imported into the deposition models help test and ultimately constrain the radiocarbon chronology in this interval of the Lake Kushu sedimentary record. The observed geochemical diversity between proximal and distal ME tephra deposits clearly evidences the interaction of two compositionally distinct magma batches during this caldera forming eruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a response to the preceding article (Alagaraja & Wang, 2012) on developing a National Human Resource Development Strategy Model. While the article makes significant contributions to the body of literature on National Human Resource Development, there are some limitations to the article, including the selection of the two countries of India and China; unaddressed challenges in these two countries; an imprecise application of the concept of a model; the attempt to create a model based on only two countries; the databases used for the literature review; and the inadequacy of the model developed in the article. Several recommendations for future research are also proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This empirical study, using Western concepts incorporated into the Dimension of Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) instrument and data collected from 919 employees in nine companies located in Guangdong Province, China, explored organizational learning culture in Chinese business settings. Findings suggest that the DLOQ is applicable to the Chinese context, and demographic variables, such as age and educational level, and the type of ownership of Chinese companies (state-owned enterprises and privately owned enterprises), show differences in organizational learning culture. Discussions and implications are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores the participation of the British Royal Navy in the Opium War in China. Recruitment of doctors by the Royal Navy for the war; Challenges encountered by the Navy during the war; Duties of Navy surgeons during the war.

The article presents a case study on the international law, telemedicine and health insurance in China. In developing countries, the characteristics of effective healthcare systems includes the equitable access to quality care, affordable health insurance, financial sustainability. Though the country experienced an unprecedented economic growth in the year 1999, the average Chinese citizen have not benefit from the growth than can be reflected in the country's expensive health care.

A random sample of 177 U.S.-People's Republic of China joint ventures was selected from 705 such undertakings identified. The questionnaire was based on three forms of Training Magazine's annual survey. It was translated into Chinese, and cross-translated to insure accuracy, after validation by U.S. managers with experience in China and Chinese business experts. After many follow up efforts, a response rate of 36% was achieved. The survey revealed types of training currently offered and planned during the next two years, and the methods used. Comparisons were made with similar studies conducted in the United States and the Republic of Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

COVID-19 is a pandemic disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2, which continues to cause global health and economic problems since emerging in China in late 2019. Until now, there are no standard antiviral treatments. Thus, several strategies were adopted to minimize virus transmission, such as social distancing, face covering protection and hand hygiene. Rhamnolipids are glycolipids produced formally by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and as biosurfactants, they were shown to have broad antimicrobial activity. In this study, we investigated the antimicrobial activity of rhamnolipids against selected multidrug resistant bacteria and SARS-CoV-2. Rhamnolipids were produced by growing Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain LeS3 in a new medium formulated from chicken carcass soup. The isolated rhamnolipids were characterized for their molecular composition, formulated into nano-micelles, and the antibacterial activity of the nano-micelles was demonstrated in vitro against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive drug resistant bacteria. In silico studies docking rhamnolipids to structural and non-structural proteins of SARS-CoV-2 was also performed. We demonstrated the efficient and specific interaction of rhamnolipids with the active sites of these proteins. Additionally, the computational studies suggested that rhamnolipids have membrane permeability activity. Thus, the obtained results indicate that SARS-CoV-2 could be another target of rhamnolipids and could find utility in the fight against COVID-19, a future perspective to be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the situation of commerce, finance and British diplomatic support in China from 1885-1886. China, in the mid-nineteenth century, was a classic illustration; while attempting to preserve their territorial integrity and to control a serious traffic in drugs, the Chinese appeared to close the door in the face of British trade, and thereby to deny the mainstay of Britain's imperial and world position. There were already some indications prior to 1886 that the government was concerned for the future of commercial and financial interests. Despite the early awareness of the difficulties faced by British commerce or financial interests in West Africa, Persia, and Turkey, there were as yet no signs of any relaxation from the rigid principle of non-intervention in the case of China. The most influential source of commercial opinion, however, proved to be the London Chamber of Commerce. Events in Europe necessitated even more fundamental steps for the support of British interests. The political importance which became attached to loans and financial concessions in China after 1895 is, of course, well known, and Foreign Office policy of giving full diplomatic support to the strongest British syndicates in their applications for the most strategically important concessions indicates how closely politics and finance were interwoven in the late 1890's.