Emotional Competence as a Positive Youth Development Construct: A Conceptual Review

The concept of emotional competence as a positive youth development construct is reviewed in this paper. Differences between emotional intelligence and emotional competence are discussed and an operational definition is adopted. Assessment methods of emotional competence with an emphasis on its quantitative nature are introduced. In the discussion of theories of emotional competence, the functionalist and developmental perspectives and the relationships with positive youth development are highlighted. Possible antecedents, especially the influence of early child-caregiver, and expected outcomes of emotional competence are examined. Practical ways to promote emotional competence among adolescents, particularly the role of parents and teachers, and the future direction of research are also discussed

Hope, Aspirations, and Resilience in Children and Adolescents: A Review of Research on Measurement and Related Antecedents

Hope, aspirations, and resilience are important developmental assets for children and adolescents. Based on the existing Western and Chinese literature, this review aims to identify instruments used to assess hope, aspirations, resilience, and conceptually related constructs as well as antecedents of the constructs in adolescents. A systematic literature search in the major databases was conducted. A total of 223 articles, with 144 being retrieved from international databases and 79 from China’s database, met the criteria and were included in the present review. Findings revealed that the majority of the existing scales were developed predominantly in the West and there were few validated Chinese hope and aspirations scales. Indigenous measures were also not identified in the literature. In terms of antecedent studies, predictors at different levels including the personal, family, school, and community were found. Implications on the development of hope-based interventions and recommendations for future research are discussed

Dreams, Aspirations and Related Behavior in Children and Adolescents: Impacts on Child Developmental Outcomes

“Dreams”, “aspirations” and related constructs are traditionally regarded as facilitators of adolescent educational attainment in the Chinese context. Besides, there is an emergent need to widen the understanding of such constructs and their impact on children and adolescent developmental outcomes. This paper discusses the developmental outcomes of dreams, aspiration and related concepts based on a thorough review of the literature. Besides outlining the impacts of aspirations, dreams and related constructs on children and adolescents, features of related intervention programs, including themes of the intervention programs, program participants, methods of implementation and evaluation in both Western and Chinese contexts are also documented

Dreams, Aspirations and Related Constructs in Children and Adolescents: A Literature Review

Although children and adolescents are often asked about their “dreams” about life, scientific studies of “dreams” and related constructs are grossly inadequate. This paper describes the findings arising from a review study exploring the concepts of dreams, aspirations and related constructs in children and adolescents. Besides an overview of the concept of dream, conceptual features and unique underpinnings of other concepts commonly related to dream, such as “aspirations”, “hope”, “future orientation” and “resilience” are presented in this paper. The research questions surrounding “dream” and related constructs in children and adolescents are presented and future research directions are discussed

General Education Program in a New 4-Year University Curriculum in Hong Kong: Findings Based on Multiple Evaluation Strategies

Since the 2012−2013 academic year, undergraduate programs in Hong Kong have been changed from 3 years to 4 years, with the additional year focusing primarily on general education. A new general education framework entitled General University Requirements (GUR) implemented at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) was examined in a 5-year longitudinal project. Based on different evaluation strategies, including objective outcome evaluation, subjective outcome evaluation and qualitative evaluation (focus groups, case studies, and document analyses), findings consistently showed that students had positive perceptions of the subject content, teachers as well as teaching and learning methods in GUR subjects. A large majority of students perceived that the GUR subjects were effective in promoting the five desirable graduate attributes defined by PolyU (i.e. problem solving, critical thinking ability, effective communication, ethical leadership, and lifelong learning)

Students\u27 Views on General Education: Insights Gained from the Narratives of Chinese Students in Hong Kong

The General University Requirements (GUR) is a component of the new 4-year undergraduate program at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). This study examined students’ views and experiences of the GUR using a qualitative methodology. Written comments of 240 freshmen, sophomores, and senior-year students with reference to open-ended questions on their memorable experiences in the GUR study were collected. The qualitative findings suggested that students generally had positive views on the GUR in terms of its widely adopted active and experiential learning pedagogy, useful and attractive contents, caring teaching staff, and rich learning outcomes. Challenges were also identified for further improvement of the GUR

Evaluation of the Project P.A.T.H.S. in Mainland China: Findings Based on Student Diaries

Objectives: Based on 859 student diaries, the present study evaluated a positive youth development program entitled “Tin Ka Ping (TKP) Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social programs (P.A.T.H.S.) ” project implemented in mainland China during the 2015–2016 academic year. Method: To understand the perceived effectiveness of the students, the study analyzed quantitative as well as qualitative data derived from the student diaries. Results: The students held very positive views toward the program and the implementers. The narratives of the students also showed that they perceived improvement in the intrapersonal, interpersonal, familial, and societal domains after joining the program. Conclusion: In conjunction with the subjective outcome evaluation findings, the present findings suggest that the “TKP P.A.T.H.S.” project is able to promote holistic development of secondary school students in mainland China

Immunofluorescence Assay for Serologic Diagnosis of SARS

We evaluated a virus-infected cell-based indirect immunofluorescence assay for detecting anti–severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) immunoglobulin (Ig) G antibody. All confirmed SARS cases demonstrated seroconversion or fourfold rise in IgG antibody titer; no control was positive. Sensitivity and specificity of this assay were both 100%. Immunofluorescence assay can ascertain the status of SARS-CoV infection

Microtubule Actin Crosslinking Factor 1 Regulates the Balbiani Body and Animal-Vegetal Polarity of the Zebrafish Oocyte

Although of fundamental importance in developmental biology, the genetic basis for the symmetry breaking events that polarize the vertebrate oocyte and egg are largely unknown. In vertebrates, the first morphological asymmetry in the oocyte is the Balbiani body, a highly conserved, transient structure found in vertebrates and invertebrates including Drosophila, Xenopus, human, and mouse. We report the identification of the zebrafish magellan (mgn) mutant, which exhibits a novel enlarged Balbiani body phenotype and a disruption of oocyte polarity. To determine the molecular identity of the mgn gene, we positionally cloned the gene, employing a novel DNA capture method to target region-specific genomic DNA of 600 kb for massively parallel sequencing. Using this technique, we were able to enrich for the genomic region linked to our mutation within one week and then identify the mutation in mgn using massively parallel sequencing. This is one of the first successful uses of genomic DNA enrichment combined with massively parallel sequencing to determine the molecular identity of a gene associated with a mutant phenotype. We anticipate that the combination of these technologies will have wide applicability for the efficient identification of mutant genes in all organisms. We identified the mutation in mgn as a deletion in the coding sequence of the zebrafish microtubule actin crosslinking factor 1 (macf1) gene. macf1 is a member of the highly conserved spectraplakin family of cytoskeletal linker proteins, which play diverse roles in polarized cells such as neurons, muscle cells, and epithelial cells. In mgn mutants, the oocyte nucleus is mislocalized; and the Balbiani body, localized mRNAs, and organelles are absent from the periphery of the oocyte, consistent with a function for macf1 in nuclear anchoring and cortical localization. These data provide the first evidence for a role for spectraplakins in polarization of the vertebrate oocyte and egg

Diet supplementation for 5 weeks with polyphenol-rich cereals improves several functions and the redox state of mouse leucocytes

BACKGROUND: Cereals naturally contain a great variety of polyphenols, which exert a wide range of physiological effects both in vitro and in vivo. Many of their protective effects, including an improvement of the function and redox state of immune cells in unhealthy or aged subjects come from their properties as powerful antioxidant compounds. However, whether cereal-based dietary supplementation positively affects the immune function and cellular redox state of healthy subjects remains unclear. AIM OF THE STUDY: To investigate the effects of supplementation (20% wt/wt) for 5 weeks with four different cereal fractions on healthy mice. METHODS: Several parameters of function and redox state of peritoneal leukocytes were measured. The cereals, named B (wheat germ), C (buckwheat flour), D (fine rice bran) and E (wheat middlings) contained different amounts of gallic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, vanillic acid, sinapic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, quercetin, catechin, rutin and oryzanol as major polyphenols. RESULTS: In general, all cereal fractions caused an improvement of the leukocyte parameters studied such as chemotaxis capacity, microbicidal activity, lymphoproliferative response to mitogens, interleukin-2 (IL-2) and tumor necrosis factor (TNFα) release, as well as oxidized glutathione (GSSG), GSSG/GSH ratio, catalase (CAT) activity and lipid oxidative damage. We observed similar effects among the cereal fractions. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that some of these effects may due, at least partially, to the antioxidant activity of the polyphenols naturally present in cereals. Since an appropriate function of the leukocytes has been proposed as marker of the health state, a short-term intake of cereals seems to be sufficient to exert a benefit in the health of the general population. However, further studies are needed to assess the optimal doses and to find out which active polyphenols are able to mediate the observed physiological effects before recommending their regular consumption