Effects of Home-school Partnerships on the Academic Performance of Urban and Rural Junior Secondary School Students

The analyses of factors in the disparity between urban and rural compulsory education are beneficial for developing a more balanced and high-quality education, improving social mobility of rural youngsters, and halting intergenerational transmission of poverty among rural families. It is well acknowledged that family capital is the most significant contributing factor in the academic performance gap between urban and rural students, outweighing school resources, particularly the quality of teachers. This study is a discourse on the two forms of home-school partnership, namely, the family-school communication and parental voluntary participation in school activities as well as their effects on the academic achievements of urban and rural middle school students

Student oriented education for China : a Whiteheadian proposal

In this thesis I argue in favour of student-oriented education for China based on the educational philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. Whitehead’s educational thought, while Western in origin, has a strong appeal for Chinese educators because of its openness to other cultural traditions. My own experience as a student and teacher, coupled with a general review of the history of education in China, shows how education is, and has been, exclusively defined by students’ success in exams. This approach, which I refer to as test-oriented education, is problematical because, by overemphasizing students’ performance in exams, it abstracts learning from their experience. The result is that learning becomes boring and useless to most students, and they do not see the relevance of education to life. In contrast, Whitehead proposes that education be based on students’ rich experience and that its aim should be their full self-development as beings imbued with body, mind and spirit. I refer to this approach as student-oriented education, and I believe it would provide more humane, well-rounded, and culturally appropriate forms of learning to Chinese students. More specifically, Whitehead’s protest against inert ideas underlines the importance of two key concepts in education, namely the interest of students and the usefulness of knowledge. Second, his conception of learning, or “the rhythm of education,” works as a guide in making education interesting and useful. Third, his account of technical education helps to restore a balance between abstraction and concreteness, precision and romance, discipline and freedom, education and life, and his insights on arts and aesthetic appreciation strengthen the life of the spirit by directing students’ attention to the value and beauty in their lives. Finally, his advocacy of a balanced education enables a balanced development of students by paying equal attention to their bodily feelings, spiritual cultivation, and intellectual capabilities. In this manner, education can “evoke into life wisdom and beauty” which otherwise “would remain lost in the past”

What Role Does School Play in Helping Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Students Succeed against the Odds?

Based on the data of a large scale survey conducted by Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment Toward Basic Education Quality at Beijing Normal University, this study examined the role of school in reducing education inequality. The results showed that schools concentrated with resilient students had higher mean socioeconomic status (SES) and SES heterogeneity, more education resources, higher teaching quality, and more positive school climate, and these factors also functioned as significant predictors of academic resilience. Provid-ing socioeconomically disadvantaged students with access to both high SES schools and enriched school resources can even the education ine-quality related to family background. In order to promote education equality, policymakers and education practitioners should take measures to reduce the degree of stratification and encourage student integration, promote equal distribution of high quality education resources among schools, enhance teachers’ ability to effectively use individualized, coop-erative and inquiry teaching methods, and build a supportive climate

Channel selection in e-commerce age: a strategic analysis of co-op advertising models

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop and compare two co-op advertising models: advertising model under traditional channel and co-op advertising model under dual channel, to select optimal channel structure to sell products for manufacturer and to derive optimal co-op advertising strategies for the manufacturer and the retailer. Design/methodology/approach: Stackelberg game theoretical is used to develop two co-op advertising models: co-op advertising model under traditional channel and co-op advertising model under dual channel. Then we compare the two models to select optimal channel structure to sell products for manufacturer and to derive optimal co-op advertising strategies for the manufacturer and the retailer. Furthermore, we analyze the impact of product web-fit on these optimal strategies and illustrate by some numeral examples. Based on our results, we provide some significant theories and managerial insights, and derive some probable paths of future research. Findings: We provide a framework for researching optimal co-op advertising strategies in a two-level supply chain considering different marketing channel structures. First, we discuss the traditional channel co-op adverting model and the dual channel co-op advertising model based on Stackelberg game theoretical, and we derive optimal co-op advertising strategies. Next, comparisons of these two channel structures are discussed and we find that the manufacturer always benefits from dual channel. But the retailer not always benefits from dual channel structure, and dual channel structure is better than retail channel with certain conditions. Also, the optimal co-op advertising strategies for the manufacturer and the retailer are obtained. Research limitations/implications: First, we focus on the aforementioned two channel structures; a further comparison with other channel structures can be investigated. Second, we ignore some factors that influence the demand of product, such as service and price. We can do some researches from the point of these factors. Third, how demand uncertainty affects the channel selection and co-op advertising strategy is another interesting research item. Practical implications: The manufacturer and the retailer know that the impact of co-op adverting on the demands of traditional channel and direct channel, both would like to choose reasonable strategies to improve the channel coordination. Therefore, it would be best if business managers conduct market survey before they start their co-op advertising campaign. Originality/value: Two new co-op advertising models in E-commerce age are developed, and the impact of product web-fit on these optimal strategies are analyzed and illustrate by some numeral examples. In addition, optimal channel structure in E-commerce age are selected for manufacturer and the retailerPeer Reviewe

Naturally Occurring Core Protein Mutations Compensate for the Reduced Replication Fitness of a Lamivudine-Resistant HBV Isolate

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) replicates its DNA genome through reverse transcription of an RNA intermediate. The lack of proofreading capacity of the viral DNA polymerase results in a high mutation rate of HBV genome. Under the selective pressure created by the nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) antiviral drugs, viruses with resistance mutations are selected. However, the replication fitness of NA-resistant mutants is markedly reduced compared to wild-type. Compensatory mutations in HBV polymerase, which restore the viral replication capacity, have been reported to arise under continuous treatment with lamivudine (LMV). We have previously identified a highly replicative LMV-resistant HBV isolate from a chronic hepatitis B patient experiencing acute disease exacerbation. Besides the common YMDD drug-resistant mutations, this isolate possesses multiple additional mutations in polymerase and core regions. The transcomplementation assay demonstrated that the enhanced viral replication is due to the mutations of core protein. Further mutagenesis study revealed that the P5T mutation of core protein plays an important role in the enhanced viral replication through increasing the levels of capsid formation and pregenomic RNA encapsidation. However, the LMV-resistant virus harboring compensatory core mutations remains sensitive to capsid assembly modulators (CpAMs). Taken together, our study suggests that the enhanced HBV nucleocapsid formation resulting from core mutations represents an important viral strategy to surmount the antiviral drug pressure and contribute to viral pathogenesis, and CpAMs hold promise for developing the combinational antiviral therapy for hepatitis B

Progress in the Application of Gait Analysis in Orthopedics and Physical Rehabilitation

Human walking function is the biggest characteristic that distinguishes other animals, and it needs the coordination of multiple parts of the body to complete the movement.Gait analysis is a new method to study walking function and state, and it is also a hot topic of medical researchers and medical workers in orthopedics, physical rehabilitation and other fields in recent years.After hundreds of years of development, the medical field has realized the accurate and objective measurement of gait, and developed a variety of gait analysis systems suitable for different needs, such as plantar pressure measurement system, unmarked gait analysis system, wearable sensor system, etc.In the context of the continuous progress of related hardware and software technology, the scope of application of gait analysis is also gradually expanding. This paper mainly combined with the research situation of gait analysis in orthopedics and physical rehabilitation in recent years, to review the new progress of related research

A comment on "Ab initio calculations of pressure-dependence of high-order elastic constants using finite deformations approach" by I. Mosyagin, A.V. Lugovskoy, O.M. Krasilnikov, Yu.Kh. Vekilov, S.I. Simak and I.A. Abrikosov

Recently, I. Mosyagin, A.V. Lugovskoy, O.M. Krasilnikov, Yu.Kh. Vekilov, S.I. Simak and I.A. Abrikosov in the paper: "Ab initio calculations of pressure-dependence of high-order elastic constants using finite deformations approach"[Computer Physics Communications 220 (2017) 2030] presented a description of a technique for ab initio calculations of the pressure dependence of second- and third-order elastic constants. Unfortunately, the work contains serious and fundamental flaws in the field of finite-deformation solid mechanics.Comment: 3 pages, 0 figure