Validating the Chinese-translated version of the Spiritual Health and Life-orientation Measure (SHALOM) amongst the Chinese youth populations in 2010 and 2018

This cross-sectional study validated the Chinese-translated version of the Spiritual Health and Life-orientation Measure (SHALOM) in two samples of university students in Hong Kong. The first sample comprised 546 Chinese university students who were educated under the old educational system (i.e. 3 + 2 + 2 + 3 scheme) and are known as ‘Generation Y’. Data for this sample were collected in 2010 for Fisher and Wong. The second sample involved 474 Chinese university students educated after educational reform in 2009 (i.e. 3 + 3 + 4 scheme) collected in 2018. Results in both years revealed high internal consistency. Whereas the SHALOM model proposes four domains of spirituality (personal, communal, environmental and transcendental), exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a three-factor model provided the best fit to the data, with the personal and communal domains combined as one domain. This three-factor model was identified in both the 2010 and 2018 samples, and in both males and females. Findings indicated that compared to non-religious participants, religious participants had significantly higher scores in the transcendental domain of spiritual health on both the ideal values and lived experience subscales. The results are discussed in relation to Confucian philosophy. Future research on the spiritual health of youth in Hong Kong is suggested

Cross‑sectional study of the relationship between trait emotional intelligence and career adaptability of Chinese youths

Background Young people often experience dramatic changes, both psychologically and physically, as they are transiting from students to working adults. However, there is still a lack of empirical studies on the relationship between the trait emotional intelligence and the career adaptability of youths in the Asia-Pacific region. This research examines that relationship in Chinese youths in Hong Kong. Method Cross-sectional data (N = 500) was collected from two universities in 2019 and 2020. The 2019 sample was made up of 256 Chinese university students (117 males, 139 females; ages 21-25). The 2020 sample included 244 Chinese university students (132 males, 112 females; ages 21-25). The participants were asked to complete the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS) to evaluate their emotional intelligence in the domains of self-emotion appraisal, other people’s emotion appraisal, regulation of emotion, and use of emotion. Participants completed the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) to assess their career adaptability in the areas of concern, control, curiosity, and confidence. Results All domains of trait emotional intelligence were positively associated with career adaptability. Multiple Regression analysis showed that self-emotion appraisal and appraisal of other people’s emotional were the most predictive factors in terms of career adaptability. Together, these two dimensions of emotional intelligence explain 12.5%, 26.2%, 13.4% and 69.4% respectively of the variance in students’ concern, control, curiosity, and confidence in relation to career adaptability. Conclusion The results highlight the importance of emotional intelligence in career adaptability. It is thus of value to study further whether career adaptability of young people may improve if emotional intelligence is incorporated into the student curriculum. The findings offer valuable insights for educators and teachers who are responsible for wellrounded development of students, and will thereby foster healthy lifestyles, stable emotional well-being and greater career adaptability in adolescents

The impacts of community-service learning on career adaptability and on ethics and social responsibility of university students: an experimental study

The aim of this study was to determine the impacts of community servicelearning (CSL) on the career adaptability, ethics, and social responsibility of Chinese undergraduate students studying business in Hong Kong. The CSL program was a credit-bearing program lasting two to three months (not less than 80 service hours). In a pre-test-post-test experimental design, students who enrolled in the class were the experimental group (n = 147; 67 male, 80 female) and students who did not enrol in the class were the control group (n = 104; 47 male, 57 female). The students completed the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) China Form and the Perceived Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility Scale (PRESOR) before and after the CSL program. At pre-test there were no significant differences between the two groups in CAAS or PRESOR scores. However, at post-test, mixed Group x Time ANOVAs showed that students in the experimental group had greater increases in career adaptability (including concern, control, curiosity, and confidence) and perceived role of ethics and social responsibility (including stockholder and stakeholder view), than those in the control group. The results show that CSL has positive impacts on students’ career adaptability, ethics, and social responsibility

The Emergence and Development of Social Assistance in Beijing

As an integral part of the social protection system, the social assistance program in China was fully implemented in all cities in 1999. In recent years, the government has made a further commitment to guide its development, extension, and institutionalization. Accordingly, it has grown dramatically in recent years both in terms of expenditure and number of recipients. It acts as a last resort ‘safety net’ for urban poverty-stricken residents and as a ‘shock absorber’ mitigating social tensions resulting from market-oriented reforms. This paper presents an analysis of the background and development of the social assistance program in Beijing, focusing on issues related to the design and implementation of the program. Relying as it does on a decentralized delivery structure at the neighborhood level, Beijing social assistance programs can have substantial variations in terms of practice and outcomes. This paper proposes that in the long term, China needs to design a more coherent and integrated social protection system

C60 adsorption on an aperiodically modulated Cu surface

Copper deposited on the ve-fold surface of icosahedral Al-Pd-Mn forms domains of a structure whose surface has a one-dimensional aperiodic modulation. It is shown that C60 deposited on this aperiodic film has highly reduced mobility as compared to C60 deposited on periodic Cu surfaces. This fnding is explained in terms of the recently proposed structural model of this system

Development and validation of an instrument to measure Chinese post-secondary and part-time students’ motivation to learn accounting in Hong Kong

In the current research, we developed and validated a questionnaire to measure Chinese working adults’ motivation to study accounting on a path of lifelong learning in Hong Kong, China. We conducted individual in-depth interviews with adult learners (n = 30) and professionals (n = 12) in study 1 and study 2. Qualitative analysis showed six specific common themes for Chinese working adults’ motivation to learn accounting. Based on these results and the research literature, we developed a list of 31 provisional items for the questionnaire. In Study 3, we administered the provisional questionnaire to students (N = 426) from sub-degree, undergraduate, and graduate programs. These data were analyzed using quantitative analysis. Exploratory factor analysis showed a sixdimensional structure. Removal of redundant items resulted in a 17-item questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence of the reliability and validity of this measure, which assesses six domains of adult learners’ motivations for pursuing continuing education in accounting: development of knowledge and skills; family cohesion; reinforcement of social networking and communication; career development; enrichment of life; and self-development. This measure in the Chinese cultural context can be used for research purposes and for assessing students’ motivation in accounting programs in Hong Kong

Ion source for neutral beam injection meant for plasma and magnetic field diagnostics

At the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) a diagnostic neutral beam injection system for measuring plasma parameters, flow velocity, and local magnetic field is being developed. The systems is designed to have a 90 % proton fraction and small divergence with beam current at 5-6 A and a pulse length of {approx}1 s occurring once every 1-2 min. The ion source needs to generate uniform plasma over a large (8 cm x 5 cm) extraction area. For this application, we have compared RF driven multicusp ion sources operating with either an external or an internal antenna in similar ion source geometry. The ion beam will be made of an array of six sheet-shaped beamlets. The design is optimized using computer simulation programs

Macro Aspects of Housing

This paper aims to achieve two objectives. First, we demonstrate that with respect to business cycle frequency (Burns and Mitchell, 1946), there was a general decrease in the association between macroeconomic variables (MV) and housing market variables (HMV) following the global financial crisis (GFC). However, there are macro-finance variables that exhibited a strong association with the HMV following the GFC. For the medium-term business cycle frequency (Comin and Gertler, 2006), we find that while some correlations exhibit the same change as the business cycle counterparts, others do not. These “new stylized facts” suggest that a reconsideration and refinement of existing “macro-housing” theories would be appropriate. We also provide a review of the recent literature, which may enhance our understanding of the evolving macro-housing-finance linkage

Tree management and the greening of the environment in Hong Kong : a study of collaborative governance

published_or_final_versionPolitics and Public AdministrationMasterMaster of Public Administratio