Data envelopment analysis is a popular mathematical tool for analyzing the relative efficiency of homogenous decision-making units. However, the existing DEA models cannot tackle the newly confronted applications with imprecise and negative data as well as undesirable outputs simultaneously. Thus, we introduce undesirable outputs into modified slack-based measure model and propose an interval-modified slack-based measure model, which extends the application of interval DEA in fields that concern with less undesirable outputs. The novelties of the model are that it considers the (...) undesirable outputs while dealing with imprecise and negative data, and it is slack-based. Furthermore, the model with undesirable outputs is proven translation-invariant and unit-invariant. Moreover, a numerical example is provided to illustrate the changes of the lower and upper bounds of the efficiency score after considering the undesirable outputs. The empirical results show that, without considering undesirable outputs, most of the lower bounds of the efficiency scores will be overestimated when the DMUs are weakly efficient and inefficient. The upper bound will also change after considering undesirable outputs when the DMU is inefficient. Finally, an improved degree of preference approach is introduced to rank the DMUs. (shrink)

The biology major has developed rapidly in recent years. Biology is a science that penetrates every aspect of human life and is one of the core majors in most agricultural colleges and universities. However, many teachers lack practical experience in the subject. To overcome this problem, in recent years, we have been trying to introduce new reforms into our teaching. This article provides some insight into the way that biology majors have been reformed, which will help educators in agricultural colleges (...) and universities. At present, teachers implement the “Industrial Innovation and Entrepreneurship Talent Cultivation” model, but it is not clear whether this helps biology majors to master the course and improve their practical skills. In this study, the IIETC model is outlined, and the academic achievement and satisfaction of students taught under the IIETC model are assessed. A T-test is used to examine potential differences between IIETC and traditional teaching models. In-depth interviews and questionnaires were given to two groups of students who followed different teaching models as part of an exploratory study. The aim was to explore how effective IIETC is at helping biology majors master the course and improve students’ wellbeing. Our results show that compared with traditional teaching methods, the IIETC model has a significant positive impact on the academic performance and happiness of biology students. Students trained under the IIETC model were more active and scored more highly in their final exams. They were more likely to feel that they had achieved success and happiness through the course. The outcomes of this research reveal a novel teaching reform that improved students’ enthusiasm for innovation and entrepreneurship during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The effects are very encouraging and deserve further exploration and expansion in future work. (shrink)

Social attachment can explain well the bond between users and social media, but existing research lacks measures of social attachment scales. To this end, this study takes attachment theory as the basis for scale development. On the basis of the development of multidimensional scales for adult, brand, and local attachment, it combines existing relevant studies on social attachment, selects three representative social media such as TikTok, WeChat, and MicroBlog as theoretical samples, explores the concept and structure of social attachment, and (...) develops a social attachment scale through qualitative interviews and open-ended questionnaires. This study applied SPSS 24.0 and Mplus 7.0 to test the social attachment scale. The findings reveal that social attachment consists of three constructs: social connection, social dependence and social identity, and the scale possesses high reliability and validity. This study has developed and validated a social attachment scale in the context of social software use, realizing a quantitative study of social attachment and providing a basis for future empirical research related to social attachment. (shrink)

Grit, as an important positive psychological quality, has rarely been studied for its role involved in the mechanism between stress and psychological security. This article explores the moderating and mediating role of grit in the relationship between interpersonal stress and psychological security of freshmen through two studies. In study 1, freshmen from several Chinese universities were recruited to complete a battery of questionnaire, including assessments about interpersonal stress, grit, and psychological security. The moderating effect analysis showed that grit moderated the (...) relationship between interpersonal stress and psychological security. Specifically, grit buffered the negative effects of interpersonal stress on freshmen’s psychological security, but this effect was obvious only when the level of interpersonal stress was relatively low, and decreased when the level of interpersonal stress was high. In study 2, college freshmen from another university apart from above ones were recruited, and we verified the results of study 1 and further explored the mediating role of grit in the relationship between interpersonal stress and security. The moderating effect analysis of study 2 also verified that of study 1. The mediating effect analysis showed that interpersonal stress not only negatively predicted psychological security, but also affected psychological security through the mediation of grit. In general, grit played a mediating and moderating role in the relationship between interpersonal stress and psychological security. This study provides first-hand evidence to explain the multiple roles of grit in the relationship between interpersonal stress and psychological security. (shrink)

It can be a great challenge for second language learners to comprehend meanings that are implied in utterances rather than the surface meaning of what was said. Moreover, L2 learners’ attitudes toward pragmatic learning are unknown. This mixed-methods study investigates L2 learners’ ability to comprehend conversational implicatures. It also explores their beliefs about and intentions to develop this ability using Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior. A total of 498 freshmen from a public university in China participated in the study. Data (...) were collected using a web-based test, stimulated recall tasks and semi-structured interviews. Results show that the participants differed in recognizing the intended meanings. Complicated factors account for the variations. In addition to the types of implicature, learners’ beliefs about developing pragmatic comprehension also influence their learning intention, and subsequent performance. These beliefs include learners’ multi-layered, complex attitudes toward the outcomes of pragmatic learning, perceived self-efficacy beliefs regarding language proficiency and L2 cultural knowledge, actual behavioral control over opportunities and resources for pragmatic learning, and perceptions of less social pressure on pragmatic learning. The use of TPB may help language teachers and test designers to understand learners’ beliefs about L2 pragmatic learning in the English as a foreign language context. Understanding the factors influencing learners’ intention will help design more effective teaching curricula that may integrate pragmatic instruction and testing in the future. (shrink)

Understanding the role of teachers’ facial expressions in students’ learning is helpful to improve online teaching. Therefore, this study explored the effects of teacher’s facial expressions on students’ learning through analyzing three groups of video lectures. Participants were 78 students enrolled in three groups: one with an enhanced-expression teacher, one with a conventional-expression teacher, and one with the teacher’s audio only. ANOVA was used to explore whether video lectures instructed by the enhanced-expression teacher were better than those instructed by the (...) conventional-expression teacher and the audio-only teacher for facilitating students’ learning, and what is the role of the teacher’s emotions in students’ perceived social presence, arousal level, cognitive load, and learning. The results showed that the video lecture by the enhanced-expression teacher was better than those with the conventional-expression teacher and with the audio-only for facilitating students’ social presence, arousal level, and long-term learning. Interestingly, it was found that the teacher’s emotions could relieve students’ cognitive load. These results explained the inconsistency of existing studies by exploring the mechanism of teachers’ emotions in students’ learning. It also provides teachers with practical guidance for video lecture design. (shrink)

As more organizations adopt telecommuting or working from home, the work-connected behavior of their employees during non-working hours increases, weakening the boundary between work and family. However, no study has clearly identified whether and how work connectivity behavior after-hours affects employees’ work and family status. Therefore, using role theory, we explored the mechanisms by which WCBA affects employees’ thriving at work and family through work–family enrichment and work–family conflict, and compared the impact of different levels of support for family members (...) on work–family enrichment and conflict, using the Johnson–Neyman method. Our analysis of two-wave data from 257 employees led to the following findings. WCBA had a positive impact on thriving at work, but not on family. There is a ‘double-edged sword’ effect on the impact of WCBA on thriving at work, meaning that work–family enrichment can positively influence thriving at work and negatively influence work–family conflict. There is a double-edged sword effect on the impact of WCBA on thriving at family, meaning that work–family enrichment can positively influence thriving at family and negatively influence work–family conflict. The support of family members moderates the double-edged sword effect between WCBA and thriving at work, in that it can strengthen the positive effects of work–family enrichment and weaken the negative effects of work–family conflicts. Support from family members reinforces the positive impact of work–family enrichment on thriving at family. Thus our study reveals the mechanisms by which WCBA affects the thriving at work and family of employees, and identifies potential methods for managing different levels of work–family enrichment and work–family conflict from the perspective of family member support. (shrink)

Entrepreneurship of college students has always been a hot topic in families, schools and society. Massive studies aim to explore entrepreneurial behavior. However, under the condition of the 10% success rate of student entrepreneurship, the adverse impact of COVID-19 and the changed circumstance of domestic entrepreneurship, this exploration aims to study the factors that influence college students’ entrepreneurial behavior choices under the epidemic. First, through the retrieval of relevant literature and theoretical study, the variable factors that affect behavior choices are (...) sorted and summarized. It is assumed that the factors that affect behavior choices are entrepreneurial motivation, entrepreneurial ability, willingness to behave, and entrepreneurial environment. Second, a questionnaire is designed to investigate the choice of entrepreneurial behavior for students who are starting a business or going to start a business. The standard effect values of the survey results are calculated by using structural equation modeling. The results reveal that the effect values of the nine hypothetical results are all in line with the prediction, which prove a positive impact of the four variable factors on the choice of entrepreneurial behavior. The experimental parameters set are as follows. The standardized effect value of Hypothesis 1 is 0.216; that of Hypothesis 2 is 0.221; that of Hypothesis 3 is 0.284; that of Hypothesis 4 is 0.329; that of Hypothesis 5 is 0.247; that of Hypothesis 6 is 0.339; that of Hypothesis 7 is 0.357; that of Hypothesis 8 is 0.336; that of Hypothesis 9 is 0.485. Besides, the entrepreneurial environment has the greatest impact on behavior choice. Therefore, it is believed that the government, society, schools need to strengthen the correct guidance of entrepreneurial students and create a good entrepreneurial environment to cope with economic changes under the epidemic. (shrink)

This paper first shows that some versions of the logic R of Relevance do not satisfy the relevance principle introduced by Anderson and Belnap, the principle of which is generally accepted as the principle for relevance. After considering several possible (but defective) improvements of the relevance principle, this paper presents a new relevance principle for (three versions of) R, and explains why this principle is better than the original and others.

We show that the formulations of non-relativistic quantum mechanics can be derived from an extended least action principle. The principle can be considered as an extension of the least action principle from classical mechanics by factoring in two assumptions. First, the Planck constant defines the minimal amount of action a physical system needs to exhibit during its dynamics in order to be observable. Second, there is constant vacuum fluctuation along a classical trajectory. A novel method is introduced to define the (...) information metrics to measure additional observability due to vacuum fluctuations, which is then converted to an additional action through the first assumption. Applying the variational principle to minimize the total actions allows us to recover the basic quantum formulations including the uncertainty relation and the Schrödinger equation in the position representation. In the momentum representation, the same method can be applied to obtain the Schrödinger equation for a free particle while further investigation is still needed for a particle with an external potential. Furthermore, the principle brings in new results on two fronts. At the conceptual level, we find that the information metrics for vacuum fluctuations are responsible for the origin of the Bohm quantum potential. Even though the Bohm potential for a bipartite system is inseparable, the underlying vacuum fluctuations are local. Thus, inseparability of the Bohm potential does not justify a non-local causal relation between the two subsystems.responsible for manifesting entanglement effects without underlying physical interactions, implying that entanglement effects are non-causal. At the mathematical level, quantifying the information metrics for vacuum fluctuations using more general definitions of relative entropy results in a generalized Schrödinger equation that depends on the order of relative entropy. The extended least action principle is a new mathematical tool. It can be applied to derive other quantum formalisms such as quantum scalar field theory. (shrink)

The development of CSR reflects the level and characteristics of professional sports organizations, and the CSR of professional sports clubs varies among different countries and regions. In order to explore the content of the CSR of Chinese professional sports clubs in a more comprehensive and systematic way, this study organizes previous studies on the CSR of clubs in different countries and regions, and analyzes the differences between Chinese professional sports clubs and clubs in Europe, North America, Japan, and other countries (...) and regions. We collected the opinions of 20 experts through semi-structured interviews and combined them with the “Five in One” overall layout to construct and explain the CSR system of professional sports clubs in China in the new era, filling the gaps in research on this topic. Research suggests that social economic responsibility, social political responsibility, social cultural responsibility, social construction responsibility, and social ecological responsibility constitute the CSR system of professional sports clubs in China. Within a certain range, the larger the scale and stronger the comprehensive strength of a club, the stronger its ability to fulfill its responsibilities, the more targets it fulfills, and the richer its content. The institutional environment and social awareness may account for this difference, and in a government-led social environment or in the case of nationalized club ownership, the Chinese plan may be more applicable. Our research not only provides theoretical reference for subsequent research on the CSR content of professional sports clubs but also helps guide the CSR practice of clubs of different sizes, thereby promoting the exploration of diversified CSR development patterns of professional sports clubs in the academic community. (shrink)

Background Community advisory boards have expanded beyond high-income countries and play an increasing role in low- and middle-income country research. Much research has examined CABs in HICs, but less is known about CABs in LMICs. The purposes of this scoping review are to examine the creation and implementation of CABs in LMICs, including identifying frequently reported challenges, and to discuss implications for research ethics. Methods We searched five databases for publications describing or evaluating CABs in LMICs. Two researchers independently reviewed (...) articles for inclusion. Data related to the following aspects of CABs were extracted from included publications: time, country, financial support, research focus, responsibilities, and challenges. Thematic analyses were used to summarize textual data describing challenges. Results Our search yielded 2005 citations, 83 of which were deemed eligible for inclusion. Most studies were published between 2010 and 2017. Upper-middle-income countries were more likely to have studies describing CABs, with South Africa, China, and Thailand having the greatest numbers. The United States National Institutes of Health was the main source of financial support for CABs. Many CABs focused on HIV research. Thirty-four studies reported how CABs influenced the informed consent process for clinical trials or other aspects of research ethics. CAB responsibilities were related to clinical trials, including reviewing study protocols, educating local communities about research activities, and promoting the ethical conduct of research. Challenges faced by CABs included the following: incomplete ethical regulations and guidance; limited knowledge of science among members of communities and CABs; unstable and unbalanced power relationships between researchers and local communities; poor CAB management, including lack of formal participation structures and absence of CAB leadership; competing demands for time that limited participation in CAB activities; and language barriers between research staff and community members. Several challenges reflected shortcomings within the research team. Conclusions Our findings examine the formation and implementation of CABs in LMICs and identify several ethical challenges. These findings suggest the need for further ethics training among CAB members and researchers in LMICs. (shrink)

This study explored the relationship between social support and job satisfaction in kindergarten teachers, and the mediating role of coping styles in this relationship. A sample of 617 kindergarten teachers from kindergartens in mainland China completed questionnaires measuring social support, job satisfaction, and coping style. The results showed that social support was positively related to job satisfaction and positive coping style was positively associated with social support and job satisfaction. Furthermore, the results revealed that positive coping style, but not negative (...) coping style, had a mediating effect on the relationship between kindergarten teachers’ social support and job satisfaction. This study provides initial evidence that coping style mediates the link between social support and job satisfaction in kindergarten teachers, and suggests that increasing social support and encouraging positive coping style could improve kindergarten teachers’ job satisfaction. (shrink)

In epistemic logic, the beliefs of an agent are modeled in a way very similar to knowledge, except that they are fallible. Thus, the pattern of an agent’s true beliefs is an interesting subject to study. In this paper, we conduct a systematic study on a novel modal logic with the bundled operator ⊡ϕ:=□ϕ∧ϕ as the only primitive modality, where ⊡ captures the notion of true belief. With the help of a novel notion of ⊡-bisimulation, we characterize the expressivity of (...) this new language on relational models, and offer various completeness results. We also discuss some interesting connections between our work and previous works on reflexive-insensitive logics and the so-called boxdot conjecture. Finally, we study two generalizations of the ⊡-operator: one is the iterated true belief operator □nϕ:=ϕ∧□ϕ∧⋯∧□nϕ, the other is the neighborhood semantics for the ⊡-operator. (shrink)

Within the context of China, this study seeks to examine the relationship between English language proficiency, the native dialect of the learner, and the learner’s reason, or motivation for learning English. English language proficiency can be an important vehicle for accessing high quality higher education, for interacting with non-Chinese, and for enhancing employment and career opportunities Data was gathered through an online survey with 985 usable responses recorded. Respondents included a distribution of speakers from five of the major distinct dialects (...) of China. The analysis provides empirical evidence of a diversity of propensities and motivations for English language acquisition among learners from different regions and native dialects. Access to international higher education as a type of motivation is found to have a moderating effect on English proficiency. Other findings suggest that learners in regions with more historic exposure to foreign interaction are more likely to be motivated for social reasons, those from regions with export focused commerce will be motivated for business related reasons. The results of this study may be of interest to policy makers, linguists, educators, and those with an interest in socioeconomic sustainability through language acquisition and education as a method of socioeconomic mobility. (shrink)

System justification theory holds that disadvantaged groups rationalize the current social system, even if it is unfavorable to them. Epistemic, relational, and existential needs are factors that explain this phenomenon. However, the literature has not yet examined and explained when disadvantaged groups no longer rationalize current social systems. This study uses a questionnaire survey method to study the moderating effect of collectivism on disadvantaged mindset and system-justifying beliefs. It found that collectivism can influence the predictive effect of disadvantaged mindset on (...) system-justifying beliefs. For people who scored low in collectivism, a disadvantaged mindset can significantly negatively predict system-justifying beliefs; for those who scored high in collectivism, a disadvantaged mindset no longer predicts system-justifying beliefs. Therefore, these results show that collectivist values are important for explaining system justification in disadvantaged groups. When collectivist values decline, the level of rationalization of the social system by disadvantaged groups also decreases. (shrink)

With the emergence of organ donation and donation technology, the previous indivisibility of the human body becomes divisible, and different human organs form a new life subject. With reference to specific case studies in China, a new life, consisting of donated organs from different bodies by donation, can be called “donated life.” Donated life is a win‐win action between altruism and egoism, that is, to save the lives of others and to regenerate the organs of donors or their relatives. Due (...) to the emergence of this kind of life, traditional social ethics theories based on the marriage‐related family find it difficult to difficult to explain the new realities. Thus, new thinking about social ethics is necessary. (shrink)

本书着力讨论法律制度及其理念趋变的道理,逻辑,原则,可能性;对传统的主体构成性的法律体系,既有评判解析,又有引申;还而探讨了人类制度文明走向法治化的前景.从法治概念的探讨切入,大致介绍了中西方法治的发 展历程,再引入不同法治类型背后隐含的法哲学基本问题,从静态到动态审视了自然法学说与法律实证主义的关系;接着讨论了法律规范的逻辑结构,详述权利与权力之间的渊源及其实践类型;然后以较多笔墨着重叙述法治与公 正,法治的制度基础,在法治框架下衍生出的司法能动主义;最后从法治文化论角度重新审视法治,并回顾中国法治思想发展与制度实践的历程.

Public health emergencies can trigger individual death anxiety. Most previous studies focus on the negative effects of death anxiety via the Western materialistic view, neglecting both the positive aspects of death anxiety within the Chinese cultural background and the positive effects of death anxiety upon environmental consumption. By implementing the unique Chinese cultural background for the concepts of justice and interests, this study explores the positive influence of individual death anxiety on altruistic environmental consumption during the COVID-19 crisis by analyzing (...) personal life reviews and other sources. The results show that under the guidance of the correct concept of justice and benefit, individuals with high death anxiety during the epidemic period not only enhance their self-esteem through positive self-perception and social evaluation, but they are more inclined to benefit from other environmental consumption behaviors and attain a symbolic self-survival; and during the epidemic period, mental resilience, as a transformation mechanism of external defense and the internal growth of death psychology, can directly affect altruistic environmental consumption by consumers without relying on external standards. In the context of the Chinese culture’s concept of justice and interests, this study enriches the knowledge of fear management theory and the positive impact of death anxiety on environmental consumption. The introduction of mental resilience as a boundary condition has important theoretical and practical significance within the study of consumer behavior in public health emergencies and post-epidemic economic recovery. (shrink)

With the rise of positive psychology, the role of teachers’ emotions and interpersonal communication skills has been recently highlighted in the literature. However, the preventive role of teacher enthusiasm and clarity in reducing EFL students’ boredom has not caught sufficient attention among L2 scholars. Against this gap, this article, first, presented the definitions, dimensions, and conceptualizations of teacher enthusiasm, clarity, and students’ boredom. Next, theoretical and empirical backgrounds were provided to support the claim that enthusiasm and clarity of EFL teachers (...) can stop students’ classroom boredom. Additionally, the study presented the implications and future directions of this line of research for different people such as EFL teachers, teacher trainers, and L2 scholars. The ideas can improve their awareness of teachers’ positive emotions, interpersonal skills, and their roles in L2 education. (shrink)

Due to extensive product differentiation and the personalized aesthetic needs of consumers, modern enterprises need different expressions of information to attract consumers’ interest and improve their purchase intention. This study draws from the elaboration likelihood model, anchoring theory, and media richness theory to explore how the expression of advertised information can be effectively matched to the product type to enhance consumers’ purchase intention. The mediating effect of information-processing fluency and moderating effect of consumers’ personal involvement on this relationship is also (...) explored. Data from experiments and questionnaires involving 1,292 participants were analyzed. The results show that direct expression of advertised information is more suitable for advertising search products, while metaphorical expressions of advertised information are more suitable for advertising experience products. These combinations of product type and expression of advertised information can effectively improve consumers’ purchase intention. Meanwhile, the main combined effect of the product type and expression of advertised information is mediated by consumers’ information-processing fluency, and moderated by consumers’ personal involvement positively. (shrink)

The present work aims to efficiently carry out life-death education for college students, improve their psychological problems, and reduce suicide accidents by combining LDE with Dance Movement Therapy. DMT is a psychosomatic cross therapy that treats mental or physical diseases through dance or improvisation. Firstly, this paper introduces LDE and DMT and designs the activities of DMT intervention. Secondly, the relationship between DMT and LDE is analyzed. Finally, a questionnaire survey is conducted on the research objects. The research objects are (...) divided into the experimental group receiving DMT intervention, the control group participating in sports dance courses, and the benchmark group. The research data show no significant difference in interpersonal skills and emotional psychology among the three groups. The DMT intervention group has substantial changes in other factors except for the conflict control ability before and after the intervention. In addition, the questionnaire survey results after the intervention demonstrate that the DMT intervention group gets a significantly higher score in the interpersonal relationship, interpersonal relationship building ability, moderate rejection ability, self-disclosure ability, and emotional support ability. Therefore, DMT intervention positively impacts college students’ interpersonal relationships. After the sports dance course, there are differences in the total score of interpersonal ties and scores of interpersonal relationships building ability, self-disclosure ability, and emotional support ability in the control group, but with no significant difference in moderate rejection ability and conflict control ability. Therefore, compared with traditional psychotherapy methods, the DMT method reported here is conducive to releasing pressure and alleviating physical and mental anxiety. The research content provides new ideas for psychological education in colleges and universities and contributes to improving college students’ suicidal tendencies and helping college students grow up healthily. (shrink)

Despite its association with individual health, few studies have focused on the relationship between adolescent self-control and individual physical and mental health in adulthood. We aimed, therefore, to explore the impact of adolescent self-control on individual physical and mental health in adulthood. We employed the dataset of China Labor-Force Dynamics Surveys [CLDS]. 13,389 respondents with an average age of 45.621 years are consisted in this study. The respondents were asked to report their adolescent self-control through recall. The ordered probit and (...) the ordinary least squares models were employed to estimate the effects of adolescent self-control on physical and mental health in adulthood, respectively. We adopted the propensity score matching method to address the self-selection bias of samples. The results indicated that adolescent self-control significantly affected individual physical health and mental health in adulthood. The mechanism analysis suggested that adolescent self-control partially promoted physical and mental health in adulthood by education and income instead of self-control in adulthood. In conclusion, paying attention to the cultivation of self-control before adulthood may be an effective way to improve individual physical and mental health in adulthood. (shrink)

This study explored the factorial and concurrent validity of a scale developed for assessing teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in engaging with diversity in early childhood education settings. According to tests of measurement invariance, the conceptualization of the constructs varied to some extent between Finnish student teachers and qualified teachers. Qualified teachers reported, at the item level, higher confidence in engaging with diversity in mainstream early childhood classrooms than student teachers. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that for both groups, higher levels of reported (...) confidence in planning and implementing inclusive teaching–learning interactions were related to a higher level of closeness during interactions with children. The evidence for concurrent validity may imply beneficial and reciprocal influences between teachers’ confidence in their professional competence and close teacher–child relationships. The implications of the study are discussed from the perspective of teacher training and professional development in the early childhood education context. (shrink)

Global warming and other climate issues seriously threaten global sustainable development. As citizen environmental behavior can have a positive impact on the environment, it is of great theoretical significance and practical reference value to study the impact of psychological distance theory on citizen environmental behavior. This study obtained 2,633 related studies from 1980 to 2020 from the Web of Science as research objects, and used CiteSpace, VOSviewer, Netdraw, and other software programs to perform a bibliometric analysis, which can show the (...) complex relationship implied in the citation, intuitively grasp the development context and hot frontier in this field, and help scholars better study citizen environmental behavior. The results and conclusions are as follows. The related research covered three periods: infancy, growth, and outbreak. Chronologically, the relevant research evolved from building models to analyze the impact of environmental enrichment on human environmental behavior, to studying the motivation behind citizen environmental behavior, and finally to paying attention to sustainable development. A cluster analysis of high-frequency keywords identified three research hotspots: “drivers of psychological distance of environmental change perception on citizen environmental behavior,” “impact of social distance on adolescents’ behavior,” and “construal level theory and citizen green behavior.” Based on these findings, possible future research directions were identified, including changing from a single theory to a combination of multiple theories to comprehensively study citizen environmental protection behavior; analyzing the motivation of citizen environmental behavior and summarizing the general motivation of environmental behavior according to its internal relationship; and determining how to narrow the global psychological distance, strengthen the awareness of the community of human destiny, and explore the establishment of an efficient global climate cooperation mechanism. (shrink)

Based on applied linguistics, this study looked at the decision support system for emphasizing self-assurance in academic writing. From a generic perspective, academic writing has been considered both a process and a product. It has highlighted the planning composite processes, editing, composing, revising, and assessment, which depend upon the familiarity of someone with confidence in their capability for engagement in these activities. As a product, it has focused on the writing results through the product’s characteristics. These contain specific content areas (...) in acceptable depth and well-structured technical vocabulary. Higher education aims to support students in optimizing their potential for achieving satisfactory outcomes. For example, the assessment of grades involves academic writing, contributing to the degree course classification. Students have differences in many respects, such as expectations, background knowledge, and study and learning approaches. There were varying students’ beliefs about what academic writing is for evaluation. Modern-day motivations and theories highlight the significance of students’ confidence in their studies. The role of high confidence can support students to apply more effort toward setting challenging goals. Students may find it more difficult to succeed in higher education if they lack confidence in their academic writing abilities. A DSS has many applications in diverse areas and can play a significant role in the ranking and prioritization process. The current study has considered the DSS for prioritizing self-assurance in academic writing based on applied linguistics. Various criteria were considered for the evaluation of the research. The Super Decision software was used for the experimental process of the proposed research. The results of the study show the effectiveness of the proposed research. (shrink)

Studies have shown that teachers’ wellbeing has a positive effect on teachers’ learning quality and learners’ performance. Nevertheless, teaching is a stressful and exhausting profession at all academic level with special difficulties about the nature of language education. Tension and fear are still classic challenges in learning, though the concepts such as hope and optimism are core issues in assisting teachers to feel happy during instruction and work longer. The present review makes efforts to provide the most current confirmation on (...) the interface of hope and optimism with educational issues since they are progressively documented as significant emotional capitals for educational success, job growth, and presentation. It is worth mentioning that the current review of research can benefit educational administrations, and other stakeholders and officials in the educational community to contemplate the functions of constructive emotions in the process of learning to decrease and even diminish stress and apprehension that consequently lead to flourishing. (shrink)

This study seeks to explore the impact of learning burnout on university students’ English learning effect in the online environment. Through a large sample questionnaire survey, the study uses structural equation modelling to measure the interactions amongst university students’ English online learning burnout, academic self-efficacy, and teacher emotional support, thereby analysing and summarising the characteristics of their impacts on students’ online learning satisfaction. The results from the data analysis show that AEE plays a mediating role between students’ EOLB and learning (...) satisfaction, and TES plays a moderating role between students’ EOLB and AEE, which all eventually influence students’ online learning effect manifested in aspects such as behaviour, cognition, and emotion. Given the results, the study further provides suggestions for alleviating university students’ EOLB, which can be used to optimise English online teaching design and learning practice. (shrink)

In the context of the knowledge economy, the role of traditional leadership for enterprises is questioned. Based on contingency theory and the resource-based view, this paper proposes the important role of platform leadership, a new leadership type in line with the context of the times, for a sustainable competitive advantage. We conducted an empirical study to examine and confirm the positive effects of platform leadership on sustainable competitive advantage and ambidextrous learning. We also verified the mediation effect of exploratory and (...) exploitative learning on platform leadership and sustainable competitive advantage. Additionally, relevant discussion and research contributions are put forward. (shrink)

Prior experimental studies have shown that individuals' actual ordering decisions significantly deviate from the theoretical optimum in newsvendor problems and show the robust pull-to-centre effect. Several human behaviours have been confirmed to be the causes of the PTC. However, most newsvendor experiments have been conducted in multicultural countries. As there exist mutual influences between culture and behaviour, in this study, we revisit the ordering biases in a monocultural country to examine the robustness of the PTC and whether the causes can (...) still explain this phenomenon. Our results show that the PTC still prevails and heuristics still work. However, overconfidence cannot perfectly interpret the PTC in China for probable inconsistent confidence levels in individual judgments and decisions. Moreover, the “centre" may no longer be the mean demand but the average value of the realised demand. We explain these changes from the perspective of cultural differences. To be more specific, collectivism, holistic style, and Doctrine of the Mean play vital roles in Chinese newsvendors' decisions. (shrink)

The issue of left-behind children has become a key focus in China. In this study, we investigate the mediating role of social support between social anxiety and the subjective quality of life among left-behind children in China. A total of 710 junior high school students were recruited using clustering random sampling from five middle schools in China and investigated using the Social Anxiety Scale for Children, Social Support Rating Scale for Adolescents, and Inventory of Subjective Life Quality. The results show (...) that social anxiety is negatively associated with social support and subjective quality of life, and social support is positively correlated with subjective quality of life. In addition, social support partially mediates the relationship between social anxiety and subjective quality of life. In conclusion, these findings provide new insights to improve the subjective quality of life of left-behind children. The focus should be on alleviating social anxiety and increasing social support in order to help left-behind children improve their subjective quality of life. (shrink)

In the context of China’s online technology business, this study explores the linkages between knowledge acquisition via social media, two modes of market orientation, social media strategic capability, and brand innovation strategy. Data were collected from 853 Chinese technology firms with the help of questionnaire. To analyze the collected data structure, equation modeling was applied using smart-PLS 3.3 version. Results indicate that knowledge acquisition from social media, market orientation, and strategic capability has significant impact on brand innovation in the context (...) of social media. Furthermore, strategic capability on social media moderates the relationship between knowledge, market orientation, and brand innovation in the context of social media. This study offers new perspectives on market orientation and brand innovation strategy by extending the literature and testing key assumptions. Moreover, using social media knowledge in social media marketing and innovation management is a sensible approach for making changes and transforming an organization. (shrink)

In this study, we used data from the second wave of Midlife in the United States Study, MIDUS Biomarkers and MIDUS 3. We applied the serial mediation model to explore the serial mediating effects of perceived stress and depressive symptoms on the relationship between sleep quality and life satisfaction. A total of 945 participants were included in our study. The total indirect effect of sleep quality on life satisfaction through perceived stress, depressive symptoms and the combination of perceived stress and (...) depressive symptoms accounted for within the overall model was 45.5%. At the intervention level, programs designed to improve the level of life satisfaction among adults should focus on perceived stress and depressive symptoms. The prevention of perceived stress and depression contributes to improving life satisfaction and wellbeing. The serial mediation results should be confirmed by further longitudinal study. (shrink)

With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual simulation games have provided an effective teaching method for online entrepreneurship education. By exploring the mechanisms that influence student engagement and learning outcomes from different perspectives, such as game design, team and individual perspectives, numerous scholars have demonstrated that such a teaching method can effectively improve students’ engagement and learning performance. However, the existing studies are relatively scattered, and there is a scarcity of studies in which the effects of said factors are (...) considered. Based on the learning process 3P model proposed by Biggs, students’ perceived experience of game design, teamwork and self-efficacy were taken as variables in the early learning stage in the present study, and the influence mechanism of virtual simulation game learning experience on students’ engagement and entrepreneurial skill development was explored, so as to close the gap in existing research. In the present study, 177 college students from Chinese universities were surveyed and the data were surveyed using AMOS 23.0 software. Although the empirical results show that students’ “goal and feedback” and “alternative” experience of game design did not have a significant positive impact on students’ engagement, there was a direct and significant effect the development of entrepreneurial skills. Students’ experience of teamwork and general self-efficacy could not only directly and significantly affect the development of entrepreneurial skills, but also indirectly affect the development of entrepreneurial skills through learning engagement. The research results are practically significant for teachers in the selection and development of virtual simulation games, can be effectively applied in teaching process management, and can improve students’ engagement and learning performance. (shrink)

ObjectiveFew research efforts have substantially introduced relevant studies on Chinese students’ adaptability in relation to the ineffectiveness of blended learning mode in College English. This study is guided by social cognitive theory, and related literature has been reviewed concerning adaptability. In this study, we aim to examine the involved relationships among contextual factors, self-efficacy, motivation, and adaptability to blended learning mode among non-English majored Chinese learners in the College English course.MethodsThe quantitative research method was employed in this study, and 595 (...) respondents were eventually collected to enable the data analysis. The structural equation modeling approach was used to analyze the data.Results The non-English majored learners’ adaptability to blended learning mode in College English was at a low level with a mean value of 2.26, indicating that students still suffer difficulties from class conducted in blended learning; the fit indices were at the level of good fit, and it suggested the structural model had an overall good fit to the data as shown: x2/df = 2.496, RMESA = 0.050, GFI = 0.956, AGFI = 0.936, NFI = 0.968, RFI = 0.959, IFI = 0.980, TLI = 0.975, CFI = 0.980; adaptability was positively related to contextual factors, self-efficacy, and motivation ; contextual factors exerted an indirect effect on the adaptability not only through the separate mediating role of self-efficacy and motivation, but through the chain mediating role of self-efficacy and motivation.ImplicationsThis study theoretically extends previous studies on adaptability by investigating the affecting factors in the framework of social cognitive theory. More practically important is that this study sheds light on the impact mechanism of positive and enjoyable environment, self-efficacy and motivation on non-English majored learners’ adaptability to blended learning mode in English course, which would provide a vital insight for administrators and College English instructors to reconsider the role of learners’ responses in the mixed mode to improve their English achievement more effectively, as well as to enhance and promote their user experience of the offered blended learning service. (shrink)

Delay discounting is a common phenomenon in daily life, which refers to the subjective value of a future reward decreasing as a function of time. Previous studies have identified several cortical regions involved in delay discounting, but the neural network constructed by the cortical regions of delay discounting is less clear. In this study, we employed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) to measure the spontaneous neural activity in a large sample of healthy young adults and used the Monetary Choice (...) Questionnaire to directly measure participants’ level of delay discounting. To identify the neural network of delay discounting at rest, we used an individual difference approach to explore brain regions whose spontaneous activities were related to delay discounting across the whole brain. Then, these brain regions served as seeds to identify the neural network of delay discounting. We found that the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) of the left insula were positively correlated to delay discounting. More importantly, its connectivity to the anterior cingulate cortex was read out for participants’ behavioral performance in the task of delay discounting. In short, our study provides empirical evidence that insula-anterior cingulate cortex connectivity may serve as a part of the neural network for delay discounting. (shrink)

The aim of developing academic resilience and motivational intensity, as two constructs of positive psychology, is to increase learners' capability to compete with each other even in adverse conditions. Different types of academic resilience are conceptualized and germane literature about the relationship between academic resilience and academic achievement is provided. Literature showed that some socio-affective factors, socio-economic factors, and affective factors can influence learners' academic achievement and policy makers' decision in providing an appropriate context for learning. In the end, the (...) pedagogical implications are expounded to foster the language learning quality and to develop a language educational system. Suggestions for further research are provided to develop the existent literature on the relationship between academic, motivational intensity, and learners' academic achievement. (shrink)

Video games are popular and ubiquitous aspects of human culture, but their relationships to psychological and neurophysiological traits have yet to be analyzed in social-evolutionary frameworks. We examined the relationships of video game usage, motivations, and preferences with autistic and schizotypal traits and two aspects of neurophysiology, reaction time and targeting time. Participants completed the Autism Quotient, Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire, a Video Game Usage Questionnaire, and two neurophysiological tasks. We tested in particular the hypotheses, motivated by theory and previous work, (...) that: participants with higher autism scores would play video games more, and participants with higher schizotypy scores would play video games less; and autism and positive schizotypy would be associated with opposite patterns of video game use, preferences and motivations. Females, but not males, with higher autism scores played more video games, and exhibited evidence of relatively male-typical video game genre preferences and motivations. By contrast, positive schizotypy was associated with reduced video game use in both genders, for several measures of game use frequency. In line with previous findings, males played video game more than females did overall, preferred action video games, and exhibited faster reaction and targeting times. Females preferred Puzzle and Social Simulation games. Faster reaction and targeting times were associated with gaming motives related to skill development and building behavior. These findings show that gaming use and patterns reflect aspects of psychology, and gender, related to social cognition and imagination, as well as aspects of neurophysiology. More generally, the results suggest that video game use is notably affected by levels of autistic and schizotypal traits, and that video games may provide an evolutionarily novel medium for imaginative play in which immersive play experiences can be decoupled from social interaction. (shrink)

Schopenhauer's pessimism in the Western rationalist philosophy from the traditional to the modern Christian faith and doctrine of the will of the process of changing. In this sense, it is both traditional Western philosophy, the inevitable result of development, but also a departure from traditional Western philosophy of the product. New understanding and evaluation of Schopenhauer's pessimism for us today a correct understanding of the situation of human beings to overcome the current crisis faced by an important inspiration.

John Dewey's sojourn to China created a historical moment between the United States and China. Therefore, some of the recent scholarship on the topic aims to uncover the social and historical implications behind Dewey's Chinese trip, centering on how intercultural conversations occurred between "Confucius" and "John Dewey" during the period of May Fourth/New Culture Movement. Much research also reflects an attempt to synthesize and unify Western and Eastern education. This book spotlights a cross-cultural "encounter" between Confucius and John Dewey by (...) studying the four well-known Chinese scholars Hu Shih, Liang Shuming, Tao Xingzhi, and Jiang Menglin, who exerted a profound impact on many aspects of Chinese society during the May Fourth/New Culture Movement period. The study explores answers to a crucial question: What motivated Dewey's Chinese disciples to forge a synthesis of Confucian traditions and Deweyan ideas to purse of the goals of Chinese educational and cultural reformation? Simultaneously, based on an in-depth historical, philosophical, and cultural analysis of Dewey's visit to China, this study aims to disclose how our education has evolved in the context of cultural pluralism The book seeks to contribute provocative ideas to today's educators: any school of thought can renew and update itself if it maintains an open dialogue with a different civilization. Dynamic and transparent intercultural communication enables us to develop a sense of understanding and respect for cultural diversity, all of which are of great benefit to the construction of a stable and healthy international order. (shrink)