Agency work is one of the most rapidly growing forms of employment in leading economies over the past two decades, signifying a global shift towards non-standard flexible employment modes. The rapid growth of agency work has become one of the most notable global employment trends and is set to become a permanent feature of the modern workplace. The growth of agency employment raises a number of ethical challenges for governments and businesses. A key emerging challenge is to identify firm-level HRM (...) strategies to effectively manage and protect agency employees. Based on an extensive review of the existing research on agency work, this article develops an organizational-level flexicurity model of HRM as a promising answer to effectively manage agency employees in responsible ways within the context of increasing employment flexibilization. This article also develops a research agenda, providing a platform to inform future research. (shrink)

High-performance work systems -performance research has dominated innovative human resource management studies for two decades. However, mainstream HPWS research has paid little attention to employees’ perceptions of HPWS, or to the relationship between HPWS and corporate social performance. The influence of CSP on employee outcomes such as organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behaviour has thus been similarly neglected. This paper seeks to investigate these missing links in literature using data collected from a sample of 700 employees in China. The findings (...) demonstrate that HPWS is positively related to HPWS satisfaction and employees’ perceptions of CSP. HPWS satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between HPWS and employees’ affective commitment. There are multiple mediators between HPWS and OCB, indicating more complicated mechanisms through which HPWS leads to desired HR outcomes. Employees’ perceived CSP has a significant influence on HPWS satisfaction, AC and OCB, suggesting firms should place a premium on achieving a reputation as being socially responsible. (shrink)

The Biliu River is the largest river in Dalian. The occurrence of floods and droughts in this basin has extremely important impacts on local industry, agriculture, and urban development. For a long time, the annual distribution of precipitation in the Biliu River Basin is extremely uneven, the river runoff varies greatly from year to year and season to year, floods and droughts occur frequently, and serious soil erosion results in fragile ecological environment and severe shortage of water resources. In this (...) paper, the spatial and temporal changes of rainfall and runoff in the Biliu River Basin are studied through the coupling of the MIKE 11 model and the MIKE SHE model. The hydrological changes in the Biliu River Basin are simulated. The coupled model is verified by monthly runoff data from 1996 to 2015, and the simulation values are found to be true. The values match well. Based on the cyclical pattern of precipitation and runoff in the Biliu River Basin, the rainfall and runoff data in the Biliu River Basin from 2016 to 2030 are derived. The MIKE SHE/MIKE 11 coupling model is used to predict the Biliu River from 2016 to 2030. The results show that flood disasters are expected to occur in August 2020, July 2025, and July 2030, which can provide a basis for hydrological management in the Biliu River Basin. (shrink)

Test anxiety is a widespread and primarily detrimental emotion in learning and achievement settings. This research aimed to explore the autonomic nervous system response patterns of test-anxious individuals in response to evaluative stress. By presenting a standard interview task, an evaluative scenario was effectively induced. Heart rate variability, a biomarker that can accurately reflect the ANS activity, was used to reflect the physiological responses of 48 high test-anxious subjects and 49 low test-anxious subjects. Results indicate that: both groups show a (...) significantly increased emotional arousal in the evaluative scenario; high test-anxious individuals show a significantly decreased emotional pleasantness in the evaluative scenario, whereas low test-anxious individuals show no significant changes; both groups show a significantly increased low-frequency HRV; high test-anxious individuals show a significantly decreased high-frequency HRV and root mean square of successive heartbeat interval differences, whereas low test-anxious individuals remain stable. These findings suggest that high test-anxious individuals display an increased sympathetic nervous system activity and a decreased parasympathetic nervous system activity in response to evaluative stress, while low-anxious individuals display an increased SNS activity and a stable PNS activity in response to evaluative stress. (shrink)

Experimental results in Ultimatum, Trust and Social Dilemma games have been interpreted as showing that individuals are, by and large, not driven by selfish motives. But we do not need experiments to know that. In our view, what the experiments show is that the typical economic auxiliary hypothesis of non-tuism should not be generalized to other contexts. Indeed, we know that when the experimental situation is framed as a market interaction, participants will be more inclined to keep more money, share (...) less, and disregard other participants’ welfare [Hoffman et al., 1994]. When the same game is framed as a fair division one, participants overall show a much greater concern for the other parties’ interests. The data thus indicate that the context of an interaction is of paramount importance in eliciting different motives. The challenge then is to model utility functions that are general enough to subsume a variety of motives and specific enough to allow for meaningful, interesting predictions to be made. For the sake of simplicity (and brevity), in what follows we will concentrate upon the results of experiments that show what appears to be individuals’ disposition to behave in a fair manner in a variety of circumstances [Camerer, 2003]., though what we are saying can be easily applied to other research areas. Such experimental results have been variously interpreted, each interpretation being accompanied by a specific utility function. We shall consider three such functions and the underlying interpretations that support them, and assess each one on the basis of what they claim to be able to explain and predict. (shrink)

Among all forms of city planning, the grid plan appears, historically, to be the most measurable and recognizable system of civic geography. This paper will explore how and why different social groups have been able to define the symbolism of the grid to suit their own political purposes and how governments and patrons have utilized the grid as the spatial manifestation for their political ideologies. This paper will be based on case studies of cities operating under very dissimilar political systems, (...) i.e., the cities of ancient China and the city of Chicago in the Unites States. I argue that the American grid plan focuses on its peripheries, and that the expansive instinct of the American grid was effective in building a coherent American nation, transcending regional and class divisions. By contrast, the Chinese grid plan emphasizes the center, and the practices of urban planning in ancient China symbolized the evaluative tactics of the elite. (shrink)

If we inspect closely the works that ascend to world literature from the peripheral, David Damrosch’s well-recognized argument that “world literature is writing that gains in translation” may need some revision, because apparently translation is not the sole factor that decides the formation of world literature. Translated works do not necessarily represent the best part in one national literature. Damrosch’s overemphasis on translation differences and untranslatability in world literature tends to overlook the syncretism of heterogeneous literatures: The influence of Roman (...) Empire on Indian Buddhism, the influx of elements from Indian, Arabic, and Persian stories into European writers’ creation, the genres of China’s ancient literature influenced by Buddhism, etc. Furthermore, a great deal of Chinese idioms and allusions appearing in Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese literatures provide us a general view of how world literature forms through exchange and syncretism. On this account, Damrosh’s argument may be reformulated as “world literature is writing that gains in variation.” Variation reflects the ability to absorb otherness and then to create something new. Meanwhile, the perspective of literary syncretism will help us reasonably distinguish world literature and national canons. (shrink)

ObjectivesTo describe reporting of informed consent in pragmatic trials, justifications for waivers of consent and reporting of alternative approaches to standard written consent. To identify factors associated with (1) not reporting and (2) not obtaining consent.MethodsSurvey of primary trial reports, published 2014–2019, identified using an electronic search filter for pragmatic trials implemented in MEDLINE, and registered in ClinicalTrials.gov.ResultsAmong 1988 trials, 132 (6.6%) did not include a statement about participant consent, 1691 (85.0%) reported consent had been obtained, 139 (7.0%) reported a (...) waiver and 26 (1.3%) reported consent for one aspect (eg, data collection) but a waiver for another (eg, intervention). Of the 165 trials reporting a waiver, 76 (46.1%) provided a justification. Few (53, 2.9%) explicitly reported use of alternative approaches to consent. In multivariable logistic regression analyses, lower journal impact factor (p=0.001) and cluster randomisation (p<0.0001) were significantly associated with not reporting on consent, while trial recency, cluster randomisation, higher-income country settings, health services research and explicit labelling as pragmatic were significantly associated with not obtaining consent (all p<0.0001).DiscussionNot obtaining consent seems to be increasing and is associated with the use of cluster randomisation and pragmatic aims, but neither cluster randomisation nor pragmatism are currently accepted justifications for waivers of consent. Rather than considering either standard written informed consent or waivers of consent, researchers and research ethics committees could consider alternative consent approaches that may facilitate the conduct of pragmatic trials while preserving patient autonomy and the public’s trust in research. (shrink)

Wet markets, a ‘traditional’ form of food retail, have maintained their popularity in urban China despite the rapid expansion of ‘modern’ supermarket chains. Their continued popularity rests in the freshness of their food. Chinese consumers regard freshness as the most important aspect of food they buy, but what constitutes ‘freshness’ in produce is not simply a given. Freshness is actively produced by a range of actors including wholesalers, vendors as well as consumers. The paper examines what fresh food means to (...) consumers in the Chinese market. It argues that wet markets create a sense of freshness that resonates with this culinary culture through their sensoria, atmosphere, and trust between food vendors and consumers. Together these respond to desires for and reproduce criteria used to evaluate freshness. Within a fragmented food trade system, wet market vendors have an advantage in offering ‘freshness’ through their ability to connect various wholesalers, agencies, and middlemen, and shorten supply chains. The paper is based on participatory observation, a consumer survey and in-depth interviews of various stakeholders in southern China, especially Sanya in Hainan and Guangzhou in Guangdong. This study suggests that this cultural construction of freshness creates a niche for small-scale players and ‘traditional’ markets in an increasingly concentrated global food system. (shrink)

Employing theoretical resources from Transactional Analysis and drawing from interviews with managers dealing with social or environmental issues in their role, we explain how CSR activity provides a context for dramas in which actors may ignore, or discount aspects of self, others, and the contexts of their work as they maintain and reproduce the roles of Rescuers, Persecutors and Victims. In doing so, we add to knowledge about CSR by providing an explanation for how the contradictions of CSR are avoided (...) in practice even when actors may be aware of them. Specifically, we theorise how CSR work can produce dramatic stories where adversity is apparently overcome, whilst little is actually achieved at the social level. We also add to the range of psychoanalytic tools used to account for organisational behaviours, emphasising how TA can explain the relational dynamics of CSR. (shrink)

Taking credit for digitalization and platformization, China has initiated its open science infrastructure implementation and made an effort to focus on open access (OA) journals and data sharing over the past two decades. With the continuous development need, issues and concerns have caught in attention, including data accessibility, research transparency, general population awareness and communication of science, public trust in science, and scientific research and innovation efficiency. This paper has unfolded the maze of open science stance in China and elaborated (...) on its current economy, openness and freedom extents, and future innovation potential towards a global open science community, within depth and scope of both the Chinese and Western scholars’ interpretations. (shrink)

At present one of the important tasks of the scholarly world is to reevaluate objectively the teachings of Confucius. The discussions of Confucius during the 1960s made a certain amount of progress, but a number of problems remain that were not truly debated in accord with the policy of "let a hundred schools contend." At the time, the self-appointed authority on theory, Guan Feng, disseminated a series of arbitrary theories that had a very unhealthy influence. The later movement to criticize (...) Confucius which was controlled by the "gang of four" included some themes that expanded upon the theories of Guan Feng and which still act as mental blocks to the reopened debate on Confucius. Thus it is essential that we engage in a thorough review of Guan Feng's criticism of the thought of Confucius and liquidate the remaining effects of ultraleftist thought. The present article suggests a few views of my own in an attempt to undertake a preliminary critique of Guan Feng's theory of what he called the three types of "humaneness" [ren] of the Spring and Autumn era [722-481 B.C.]. (shrink)

Ben shu gong jiu zhang, nei rong bao gua : dao lun ; fu za xing shi jiao xia de fa gai nian li lun ; zhe xue shi jiao xia fa gai nian li lun ; jing ji xue shi jiao xia de fa gai nian li lun ; zheng zhi xue shi jiao xia de fa gai nian li lun ; she hui xue shi jiao xia de fa gai nian li lun ; shu xue shi jiao (...) xia de fa gai nian li lun deng. (shrink)

We discuss the cardinalities of maximal cofinitary groups under the assumption of $\neg CH$ . We also discuss various open questions in this area.

This presentation explains how problem-based learning and the World Wide Web may be used in collaboration to shift student learning experiences in dramatic ways and to encounter the tasks and concerns of philosophy. We will provide a guided tour of the web site and the problems used in the course, and will describe how these pedagogical strategies may be used to complement traditional classroom venues without making a commitment to offering a course completely on-line for distance learning scenarios. Problem-based learning (...) will also be described and its importance to philosophical instruction will be emphasized. We argue that teaching philosophy by means of problems is more philosophically sound than taking a discrete topical or textual approach. Challenges to this pedagogy are uncovered and discussed. (shrink)

Alcohol displays on Facebook are ever present and can be socially desirable for college students. Because problematic drinking is a concern for college students, this research sought to understand how different types of information on a Facebook page influence first year college student likelihood to drink. Telephone interviews were conducted with 338 incoming college freshmen from two large national universities. Data were obtained from a vignette prompt that presented a scenario in which a senior college student’s Facebook profile displayed wall (...) posts, pictures, and status updates that were drinking related or prosocial in nature. Participants were asked to report intention to drink alcohol with that student if they were together at a party. Findings supported the following hypotheses: Wall posts were most influential (the stickiest), followed by pictures, followed by status updates. Findings provide additional empirical support for established online impression formation patterns, and also provide evidence that virtual cues are being ingrained as schemas in interpersonal communication. These results are discussed in relation to the concept of sticky cues in impression formation. (shrink)

Ben shu zuo zhe tong guo zi shen de li jie he jing yan dui " dao de jing " jin xing le jie shuo he chan shi, bing jiang qi yu tai ji quan de lian quan dao li lian xi de si si ru kou. quan shu gong fen ba shi yi zhang, ji dui " dao de jing " de ba shi yi zhang fen bie zuo jie, ti lian qi zhu yao jing shen, jiang (...) zhi yu tai ji quan de xiang si quan li jie he chan shi. (shrink)

Based on work-family border theory and work-home resource theory, this paper examines the impact of border keeper’s support on work-family enrichment and whether or how work-family boundary flexibility mediates the relationship between border keeper’s support and work-family enrichment. A sample of 504 preschool teachers in Guangdong province, China completed questionnaires. The research results show a two-way process of work-family enrichment for preschool teachers in China. Organizational support was directly and significantly correlated with work-to-family enrichment, and family support was significantly and (...) directly correlated with family-to-work enrichment. Organizational support had no significant positive predictive effect on work boundary flexibility which has a significant positive predictive effect on WFE. Family support had a significant positive predictive effect on family boundary flexibility which had a significant positive predictive effect on the FWE. In addition, the study found that family boundary flexibility mediates the relationships between family support and FWE whereas work boundary flexibility did not mediate the relationships between organizational support and WFE. The above research results are partly consistent with the existing research, and partly inconsistent, which is related to the profound influence of traditional culture in Chinese society and the current situation of preschool teachers in China. Such findings have important implications for improving the work-family enrichment of preschool teachers. (shrink)

Although some cognitive studies provided reasons that children with low socioeconomic status (SES) showed poor mathematical achievements, there was no explicit evidence to directly explain the root of lagged performance in children with low SES. Therefore, the present study explored the differences in neural correlates in the process of symbolic magnitude comparison between children with different SES by the event-related potentials (ERP). A total of 16 second graders from low SES families and 16 from middle/high SES families participated in this (...) study. According to the results of anterior N1 (early attention) and P2 (extraction of numerical meaning) over frontal region, the differences among children with different SES were manifested as differences in general neural activities in terms of attention and top-down cognitive control. In the late stage of cognitive processing, there was no significant difference in the average amplitude of the LPC between the children with different SES, indicating that low SES did not influence the information encoding and memory updating of numerical representation responsible by the parietal lobe. The educational implications of this study were mentioned in the discussion. (shrink)

We investigate the interaction between compactness principles and guessing principles in the Radin forcing extensions. In particular, we show that in any Radin forcing extension with respect to a measure sequence on [Formula: see text], if [Formula: see text] is weakly compact, then [Formula: see text] holds. This provides contrast with a well-known theorem of Woodin, who showed that in a certain Radin extension over a suitably prepared ground model relative to the existence of large cardinals, the diamond principle fails (...) at a strongly inaccessible Mahlo cardinal. Refining the analysis of the Radin extensions, we consistently demonstrate a scenario where a compactness principle, stronger than the diagonal stationary reflection principle, holds yet the diamond principle fails at a strongly inaccessible cardinal, improving a result from [O. B. -Neria, Diamonds, compactness, and measure sequences, J. Math. Log. 19(1) (2019) 1950002]. (shrink)

Against the backdrop of COVID-19, the mental health of college students with financial difficulties deserves scientific attention. This paper on the relationship between mental resilience and the mental health of students with financial difficulties summarizes the research on the psychological resilience of students with financial difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also suggests ways in which to improve the mental health levels of students with financial difficulties by improving their mental resilience.

DNA polymerases which duplicate cellular chromosomes are multiprotein complexes. The individual functions of the many proteins required to duplicate a chromosome are not fully understood. The multiprotein complex which duplicates the Escherichia coli chromosome, DNA polymerase III holoenzyme (holoenzyme), contains a DNA polymerase subunit and nine accessory proteins. This report summarizes our current understanding of the individual functions of the accessory proteins within the holoenzyme, lending insight into why a chromosomal replicase needs such a complex structure.

The present study analyses the psychometric properties of the irrational procrastination scale in a sample of United States college students using the Rasch modeling approach. Results showed that the IPS items had a high level of reliability, good content validity, structural validity, and substantive validity, and no differential item functioning effects in terms of gender. The IPS was found to be unidimensional, supporting the originally proposed theoretical structure by Steel. Finally, psychometric implications derived from the results and study limitations are (...) discussed; recommendations for future investigations are also offered. (shrink)

Most of the existing literature on social preferences either tests whether certain characteristics of the social context influence individual decisions, or tries to estimate parameters of social preference functions describing such behavior at the level of the entire population. In the present paper, we are concerned with measuring parameters of social preference functions at the individual level. We draw upon concepts developed for eliciting other types of utility functions, in particular the literature on decision making under incomplete information. Our method (...) derives parameters of social preference functions from indifference statements about the distribution of payoffs a group. We apply our method in a controlled social preference experiment to establish the external validity of estimated parameters. Our results show the expected relationships to some external factors and also a strong correspondence between parameter estimates and factors that, according to the subjects’ own descriptions, influenced their behavior. We also find that some concepts discussed in the literature on social preferences, in particular envy toward players receiving a larger payoff, have very diverse and complex effects at the individual level. (shrink)

This article reports pretest and posttest results of the infusion of engineering principles and design into an existing ninth-grade integrated science class. The results indicated that more knowledge of engineering makes attitudes of high school students more favorable toward engineering. The results of infusing engineering topics into an existing science curriculum were also compared with an earlier study of a formal 3-week engineering unit taught to ninth-grade students in another high school. The results of that comparison indicated that a formal (...) unit on engineering was more successful in improving student attitudes toward engineering than the infusion of engineering topics into an existing science unit. The article also presents information on a capstone engineering course for preservice and in-service science and mathematics teachers. That course was designed with collaboration from the colleges of engineering and education with the goal of increasing the interest of high school students in careers in engineering. (shrink)