Cross-cultural adaptation of Chinese international students: Effects of distant and close support-seeking

IntroductionSocial support-seeking is considered to be an effective way for international students to cope with their acculturative stress and contribute to cross-cultural adaptation. In addition to support from people in the host country (close support), the ease of online communication now allows international students to receive additional support from people back in their home country (distant support). However, little research has investigated whether distant support works as effectively as close support. In two studies, we examined the differential effect of distant and close support-seeking on the psychological adaptation of Chinese international students in the host country and how acculturation orientations relate to the use of these two types of support.MethodsChinese international students in Japan (Study 1; N = 172) and the United States (Study 2; N = 118) completed an online survey that assessed participants’ host/home culture orientation, distant emotional/instrumental support-seeking, close emotional/instrumental support-seeking, and psychological adaptation.ResultsResults showed that distant emotional support-seeking negatively predicted psychological adaptation in the host country. Nevertheless, distant emotional support-seeking alleviated feelings of loneliness in Chinese international students as close emotional support-seeking did (Study 2). Also, the results showed that international students with higher home-culture orientation sought more distant support, whereas those with higher host-culture orientation sought more close support. Further, Chinese-culture orientation increased distant emotional support-seeking, decreasing psychological adaptation as well as loneliness.DiscussionThese findings highlight the importance of considering the source and types of support when discussing the implications of social support for the cross-cultural adaptation of international students

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Chinese Version of the Life Skills Scale for Physical Education

Research on life skills in physical education (PE) has gained great attention in recent years. However, there is a need to translate life skills measures for PE into other languages. This research adapted the Life Skills Scale for PE (LSSPE) into Chinese and provided evidence for its validity and reliability. In Study 1, the scale was cross-culturally adapted through translation and back-translation, expert feedback, pilot testing, and scale refinement to provide evidence for the content validity of the scale. Study 2 provided evidence for the factorial validity, internal consistency reliability, and test–retest reliability of the scale by testing it with 583 students. Study 3, with 390 students, provided evidence for the nomological validity of the measure, with results showing perceived teacher autonomy support and students’ basic need satisfaction were positively associated with life skills development in PE, and that controlling teaching and basic need frustration were negatively associated with life skills development. In conclusion, the results illustrate that the LSSPE can be used to evaluate Chinese-speaking students’ life skills development in PE

The Impact of Information and Communication Technology on the Technical Efficiency of Smallholder Vegetable Farms in Shandong of China

Farmers have started to adopt Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which has considerable potential to impact farm performance. This study uses data from a 2018 survey of 763 vegetable smallholder farms in China to estimate the impact of ICT on technical efficiency (TE). We adopt propensity score matching to create a balanced sample of ICT users and non-users, and a stochastic frontier model with sample selection correction to compare the two groups’ TE. After accounting for self-selection bias from both observables and unobservables, the study finds a positive effect of ICT use on TE. On average, the TE score of ICT users is 0.64, whereas ICT non-users have a lower score of 0.57. A quantile regression analysis further reveals a heterogeneous impact of ICT on TE, with the largest effects among less efficient farms. These results suggest that vegetable farmers’ performance could be fostered by the widespread use of ICT

Perceptions of the motivational climate, basic psychological needs, and life skills development in Chinese physical education students

IntroductionLife skills can have a positive impact on young people’s mental health, academic performance, and overall well-being. Physical education (PE) is viewed as a promising setting for developing students’ life skills, but less is known about this in non-English speaking countries such as China. Based on the integration of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Achievement Goal Theory (AGT), we aimed to examine the relationships between students’ perceptions of the teacher-initiated motivational climate (mastery- or performance-oriented) and their life skills development in PE, as well as the mediating role of their basic psychological needs (BPNs) (satisfaction or frustration).MethodsWe employed a cross-sectional survey. Chinese students (N = 533, Age range = 13–18 years) completed measures assessing these variables. We fulfilled correlational and mediational analyses.ResultsThese findings showed that mastery climate was positively associated with needs satisfaction (r = 0.66) and eight life skills (r range = 0.44–0.61), whereas negatively associated with needs frustration (r = −0.49). Performance climate was positively related to needs frustration (r = 0.52), but negatively related to needs satisfaction (r = −0.38) and eight life skills (r range = −0.28 – −0.15). Needs satisfaction was positively (r range = 0.44–0.65), while needs frustration was negatively (r range = −0.50 – −0.34) linked with eight life skills. Furthermore, needs satisfaction positively mediated the effect of mastery climate on life skills development, but it is not found that needs frustration mediated the effect of performance climate on life skills besides goal setting, social skills, and time management.ConclusionIn conclusion, our study extended the previous literature on life skills in PE, and highlighted the roles of motivational climate and BPNs on students’ life skills development. In practice, PE teachers should be encouraged to create a mastery climate as well as avoid a performance climate, to foster students’ BPNs satisfaction, which in turn, promote their life skills development

Glycyrrhizic Acid for COVID-19: Findings of Targeting Pivotal Inflammatory Pathways Triggered by SARS-CoV-2

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is now a worldwide public health crisis. The causative pathogen is severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Novel therapeutic agents are desperately needed. Because of the frequent mutations in the virus and its ability to cause cytokine storms, targeting the viral proteins has some drawbacks. Targeting cellular factors or pivotal inflammatory pathways triggered by SARS-CoV-2 may produce a broader range of therapies. Glycyrrhizic acid (GA) might be beneficial against SARS-CoV-2 because of its anti-inflammatory and antiviral characteristics and possible ability to regulate crucial host factors. However, the mechanism underlying how GA regulates host factors remains to be determined.Methods: In our report, we conducted a bioinformatics analysis to identify possible GA targets, biological functions, protein-protein interactions, transcription-factor-gene interactions, transcription-factor-miRNA coregulatory networks, and the signaling pathways of GA against COVID-19.Results: Protein-protein interactions and network analysis showed that ICAM1, MMP9, TLR2, and SOCS3 had higher degree values, which may be key targets of GA for COVID-19. GO analysis indicated that the response to reactive oxygen species was significantly enriched. Pathway enrichment analysis showed that the IL-17, IL-6, TNF-α, IFN signals, complement system, and growth factor receptor signaling are the main pathways. The interactions of TF genes and miRNA with common targets and the activity of TFs were also recognized.Conclusions: GA may inhibit COVID-19 through its anti-oxidant, anti-viral, and anti-inflammatory effects, and its ability to activate the immune system, and targeted therapy for those pathways is a predominant strategy to inhibit the cytokine storms triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection

Facile Preparation of Stereoblock PLA From Ring-Opening Polymerization of rac-Lactide by a Synergetic Binary Catalytic System Containing Ureas and Alkoxides

Ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of cyclic esters/lactones by efficient catalysts is a powerful method for synthesis of biodegradable and biocompatible polyesters with well-defined structures. To develop catalytic systems that are fast, selective and controlled is a persistent effort of chemists. In this contribution, we report a binary urea/alkoxide catalytic system that could catalyze ROP of rac-LA in a fast (over 90% conversion within 1–2 min), stereoselective (Pi up to 0.93) and controlled manner, indicated by narrow MW distributions, linear relationship between the monomer conversions and Mns, end-group fidelity, and chain extension experiments. Remarkably, the catalytic system described here is simple, easily prepared, and structurally tunable and thus has versatile catalytic performances