A Theology of Divine Calling in Light of Karl Barth, A.N. Whitehead, and Meister Eckhart’s Theological Forms

This dissertation aims to show how divine calling can be considered a multifaceted reality. The theory of divine calling includes God, humans, the content of the call, and the interaction between God and humans. It embraces a wide range of data: theology, anthropology, metaphysical considerations, and subjective experience. As this dissertation wants to understand divine calling in a multifaceted way, this dissertation examines it from three different perspectives. The theology/philosophy of Karl Barth, A. N. Whitehead, and Meister Eckhart is utilized. They represent three distinctive theological forms: revelational, metaphysical, and experiential. This dissertation studies their theology/philosophy according to their forms and creates conservations among them so that they can mutually illuminate each other. A theology of divine calling is constructed by cross-examining the insights from the three perspectives. Lastly, this dissertation concludes that the divine calling is an ontological relation between God and humans. It can be understood from two perspectives. From the divine perspective, the entire Trinity involves the divine call. God evolves with humans in the cycle of divine call. From the human perspective, humans interact with the divine call and experience the transfiguration of identity

Challenges of cultivating critical citizens in Hong Kong: Voices from Liberal Studies pre-service teachers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer the latest empirical findings of the difficulties and challenges in teaching New Senior Secondary (NSS) Liberal Studies in Hong Kong from the perspective of pre-service teachers. Design/methodology/approach – This qualitative study is based on Danielewicz’s critical pedagogy framework for identity development. A sample of four pre-service teachers were recruited from the last cohort of final-year bachelor of education students at the University of Hong Kong. They were invited to engage in dialogues of enquiry, through which they recount their teaching encounters during their teaching practices. Emphasis would be put on two relevant pedagogical principles, including deliberation and reflexivity, which are of particular relevance to the case of Liberal Studies. Findings – Challenges revealed the dispositions of conformist learning among the students, manifested in forms of misquoted information and the populist sentiments mirrored from mainstream media, which cost teachers extra efforts to facilitate inquiry-based learning. Adopting deliberation and reflexivity as pedagogical principles, student–teachers responded with attempts to reconnect daily life experiences to teaching, bringing back the social context of knowledge and seeking synergy between traditional and liberatory teaching methods. Research limitations/implications – This study is drawn from a relatively small sample of pre-service teachers and may run the risk of over-generalization. Moreover, this study tends to neglect other factors such as classroom dynamics, school culture, colleagues’ rapport and students’ responses. Originality/value – Given the novelty of Liberal Studies as a compulsory subject under the NSS curriculum and its specificity in Hong Kong education system, the amount of literature devoted to this area has been inadequate; among the available studies, the majority tend either to focus on the macro level, addressing the broader narratives of education policies and curriculum studies (e.g. Fung and Yip, 2010; Cheung and Leung, 1998) or to discuss the topic with exclusive reference to political transition and post-colonialism in the 1980s and 1990s (e.g. Morris and Chan, 1997). Studies on the micro level have generally paid little attention to the dynamics of Liberal Studies teaching, focusing instead on its relationships with other aspects such as private tutoring (Chan and Bray, 2014) and cultural representations of religion in Liberal Studies textbooks ( Jackson and Han, 2016); pedagogical studies on the subject remain a minority

The E-Commerce Application Experience in Selected Asian MBA Programmes

The objectives of the paper are: (1) to analyse the effects of changing towards a knowledge economy and the development of MBA programmes in selected Asian countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, China; (2) to study how e-commerce applications can be applied to MBA programme studies; (3) to find out what kinds of competitiveness are derived from MBA education with e-commerce facilities; and (4) to conclude lessons learnt from applying e-commerce technology into MBA programmes. A stakeholders approach has been used to conduct a primary research and a secondary research during the period between April and May 2002. 107 were interviewed, and 174 questionnaires returned. E-commerce technology has positively affected the rapid growth of MBA programmes, particularly distance learning and online programmes. An e-commerce education model can help to better understand how we can utilize the concepts of supply chain and e-commerce technology in MBA programmes. The supply chain of distance learning and online MBA programmes rely heavily on e-commerce technology. In full-time, part-time, and distance learning MBA programmes, teachers required students to access information from the Internet. Many MBA courses must have university technical support to be successful. Globalisation of MBA programmes cannot be successful without e-commerce technology. This globalisation knowledge will give MBA graduates a competitive advantage after graduation. In the design of MBA curriculum, teachers must have some knowledge about the technical aspects of e-commerce. In MBA education, speed of information is crucial to students and teachers, and will change their needs and wants. Online distance learning MBA programme is still unpopular. The combination mode of teaching is dominating the trend in distance learning MBA education. Government regulations on e-commerce can affect information flow, and adversely affect the development of MBA programmes. Security of information is always a concern of the users

THE EFFECT OF LOAD CARRIAGE ON GAIT PATTERN AND TRUNK POSTURE IN SCHOOL CHILDREN

The purpose of this study was to examine the way in which the weight of schoolbags combined with walking distance effects the gait pattern and trunk posture of school children over a long period of time in field situations. Twenty-three male primary school students were randomly assigned to carry loads of 0%, 10%, 15% and 20% of their body weight. Subjects were required to walk along a basketball court for 22 laps, i.e. 1892 meters were analyzed, using natural cadence for the duration of the session. The gait pattern and trunk posture at about 10, 700, 1300 and 1890 meters were analyzed. From the data that was obtained it was apparent that there were significant differences in trunk inclination angle, stance duration, double leg support duration, and swing duration between the loads of 0% and 20% body weight

ELECTROMYOGRAPHIC RESPONSES OF BACK MUSCLES DURING LOAD CARRIAGE WALKING IN CHILDREN

Eleven primary school boys aged between 9 and 10 years old completed carrying backpack loads of 0%, 10%, 15%, and 20% of their body weight while level walking using natural cadence. Electromyographic signals from the upper trapezius, thoracic erector spinae and lumbar erector spinae were analyzed. Results showed that under the carrying conditions of this study, load significantly influenced the degree of fatigue and muscular activity in upper trapezius, while walking distance significantly influenced degree of fatigue and muscular activity on lumbar erector spinae. This suggested that long distances and heavy loads might lead to low back pain or muscular disorder

Professional identity of liberal studies teachers in Hong Kong : tension and negotiation amid social change

Liberal Studies is a compulsory subject under the New Senior Secondary curriculum, which aims at promoting critical thinking and cultivating students to be active citizens in the future. Using Danielewicz’s pedagogy for identity development as the framework, this study aims to identify the tension and negotiation experienced by pre-service Liberal Studies teachers amid the heightened political atmosphere in Hong Kong. Through engaging in dialogues of inquiry with the interviewees, it was found that student-teachers generally faced the challenges of classroom misbehaviour and the decline of criticality among secondary school students. In light of the enquiry-based and cross-disciplinary nature of Liberal Studies, the pre-service teachers were able to devise various strategies to negotiate with the challenges, including the use of questioning skills and reflexive practices to improve teaching. Moreover, it was discovered that the integrity of teacher lay in the capacity to connect with students, both within and beyond lesson time, which ultimately affirmed the indiscernibility and emotional infusion of teaching.published_or_final_versionEducationBachelorBachelor of Education in Liberal Studie

FactLLaMA: Optimizing Instruction-Following Language Models with External Knowledge for Automated Fact-Checking

Automatic fact-checking plays a crucial role in combating the spread of misinformation. Large Language Models (LLMs) and Instruction-Following variants, such as InstructGPT and Alpaca, have shown remarkable performance in various natural language processing tasks. However, their knowledge may not always be up-to-date or sufficient, potentially leading to inaccuracies in fact-checking. To address this limitation, we propose combining the power of instruction-following language models with external evidence retrieval to enhance fact-checking performance. Our approach involves leveraging search engines to retrieve relevant evidence for a given input claim. This external evidence serves as valuable supplementary information to augment the knowledge of the pretrained language model. Then, we instruct-tune an open-sourced language model, called LLaMA, using this evidence, enabling it to predict the veracity of the input claim more accurately. To evaluate our method, we conducted experiments on two widely used fact-checking datasets: RAWFC and LIAR. The results demonstrate that our approach achieves state-of-the-art performance in fact-checking tasks. By integrating external evidence, we bridge the gap between the model's knowledge and the most up-to-date and sufficient context available, leading to improved fact-checking outcomes. Our findings have implications for combating misinformation and promoting the dissemination of accurate information on online platforms. Our released materials are accessible at: https://thcheung.github.io/factllama.Comment: Accepted in APSIPA ASC 202

Ethical Implications of Upāya-Kauśalya: Helping Without Imposing

Upāya-kauśalya has been examined as a hermeneutical device, a Mahāyānic innovation, and a philosophy of practice. Although the paternalism of upāya-kauśalya employed in the Lotus Sūtra has been analyzed, there is little attention paid to bringing these ethical implications into a practical context. There is a tension between the motivation, even obligation, to help, and the potential dangers of projecting or imposing one’s conception of what is best for others or how best to help. I examine this issue through various parables. I argue that ordinary people can use upāya-kauśalya and that the ethical implications of upāya-kauśalya involve closing two different gaps in knowledge. This has potential applications not just for individuals, but also for organizations like NPOs or NGOs that try to assist large communities