Primary School Teachers’ and Parents’ Discipline Strategies in China

There is no doubt that the personal and social development of children is influenced by the schooling and parenting they receive in their daily lives both at home and at school. One central aspect, which underpins the process of schooling and parenting, is discipline. Discipline is a prevailing theme in educational research, and has been investigated for a long time in many countries throughout the world; however, there is little research reported to date that attempts to involve teachers, parents and pupils at the same time in a single study, either internationally or in the specific context of China. The main aim of the present study, therefore, is to investigate both teachers’ and parents’ discipline strategies in Chinese primary schools and families, with a particular focus on the shift in teachers’ and parents’ discipline strategies when children misbehaved for a second time in classroom or at home, and the difference between teachers and parents in their self-reported use of discipline strategies; and furthermore to explore how teachers and parents view each other’s discipline strategies, as well as pupils’ perceptions of their teachers’ and parents’ discipline strategies. The present study firstly conducted questionnaire research among 148 Chinese primary school teachers and 142 parents of Chinese primary school pupils. It then conducted interviews with 36 Chinese primary school teachers, 34 parents of Chinese primary school pupils, and 60 Chinese primary school pupils. The research findings clearly identified the dominance of non-aggressive discipline strategies among Chinese primary school teachers and parents. The discipline behaviours of both teachers and parents appeared to be affected by the occurrence of children’s misbehaviours. In addition, the personal attributes of teachers and parents (e.g. gender and age), as well as the pupils’ personal attributes (e.g. gender, age and usual behaviour) were also found to be influential for the teachers’ and parents’ choice of discipline behaviour. The interviewed teachers and parents expressed an understanding of most of the discipline behaviours that they reportedly used when pupils misbehaved, although they both expressed worries about the effectiveness of using similar discipline behaviours for dealing with children’s repeated misbehaviours. Interviewed pupils reported receiving more confrontational discipline behaviours than their teachers and parents admitted to using. Moreover, children seemed to believe that boys and girls should be disciplined in the same way at school, as pupils, but in different ways at home, as sons and daughters

Mapping the time-varying functional brain networks in response to naturalistic movie stimuli

One of human brain’s remarkable traits lies in its capacity to dynamically coordinate the activities of multiple brain regions or networks, adapting to an externally changing environment. Studying the dynamic functional brain networks (DFNs) and their role in perception, assessment, and action can significantly advance our comprehension of how the brain responds to patterns of sensory input. Movies provide a valuable tool for studying DFNs, as they offer a naturalistic paradigm that can evoke complex cognitive and emotional experiences through rich multimodal and dynamic stimuli. However, most previous research on DFNs have predominantly concentrated on the resting-state paradigm, investigating the topological structure of temporal dynamic brain networks generated via chosen templates. The dynamic spatial configurations of the functional networks elicited by naturalistic stimuli demand further exploration. In this study, we employed an unsupervised dictionary learning and sparse coding method combing with a sliding window strategy to map and quantify the dynamic spatial patterns of functional brain networks (FBNs) present in naturalistic functional magnetic resonance imaging (NfMRI) data, and further evaluated whether the temporal dynamics of distinct FBNs are aligned to the sensory, cognitive, and affective processes involved in the subjective perception of the movie. The results revealed that movie viewing can evoke complex FBNs, and these FBNs were time-varying with the movie storylines and were correlated with the movie annotations and the subjective ratings of viewing experience. The reliability of DFNs was also validated by assessing the Intra-class coefficient (ICC) among two scanning sessions under the same naturalistic paradigm with a three-month interval. Our findings offer novel insight into comprehending the dynamic properties of FBNs in response to naturalistic stimuli, which could potentially deepen our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying the brain’s dynamic changes during the processing of visual and auditory stimuli

The feasibility of a cashless society : Singapore context

This study seeks to gather public’s opinion of the possibility of a completely cashless society, and the feasibility of the abolition of cash usage in Singapore. The conclusion shows an exponential growth in the usage of alternative payment methods relative to cash. Further investigation on Singapore as a completely cashless society in was conducted

Drilling process simulation and dynamic characteristic analysis of soft-hard-staggered strata based on Abaqus

Objective With the development of drilling technology for deep strata, the study of the dynamic characteristics and parametric response law of drill bits and deep complex strata during drilling has become a key and difficult point in research. Methods In this paper, a combination of numerical simulation and response surface analysis was used to study the dynamic characteristics of PDC bits and typical complex strata in the drilling process, and parametric analysis was carried out. In this paper, soft-hard-staggered strata with dip angles as a typical complex formation were studied, the dynamic damage finite element simulation model between the PDC drill bit and the soft-hard-staggered strata with the full real size was established based on Abaqus, and the dynamic characteristics of the drill bit subjected to the reaction force of the strata during drilling were derived. Numerical simulation experiments were also conducted by orthogonal tests to investigate the dynamic characteristics of the PDC bit under different formation parameters and drilling parameters. Results The single factor analysis and response surface analysis were used to model and identify the relationship between drilling parameters and stratigraphic parameters and the reaction force on the drill bit by the stratum and to obtain the changing trend and regression model of the reaction force on the drill bit by the stratum under multiple parameters. The results showed that the higher the inclination angle of soft-hard-staggered strata, the higher the average value and peak impact value of the bit subjected to the stratigraphic reaction force. The larger the ratio of softness to the hardness of the strata is, the larger the average and peak reaction forces on the drill bit. Within a certain range, increasing the rotational speed will reduce the impact of the reaction force on the drill bit. Conclusion The research results provide a basis for predicting the bit reaction force during drilling in deep and complex formations and guide the control of the drilling trajectory in deep and complex formations, which is of great significance for deep geological drilling

Diversity of internal structures in inhibited epoxy primers

Computed tomography is making a significant impact in the field of materials science in recent years. In this paper the authors report on advances made in three areas of characterization and also identified where further research needs to be focused. First we report on a new approach to data analysis called “Data Constrained Modelling (DCM)” in which compositional tomography can be undertaken rather than adsorption or phase contrast tomography. This is achieved by collecting X-ray CT data at different energies and then combining the datasets to reconstruct 3D compositional tomography. Second, on the application of this approach to inhibited primers typical of those used in the aerospace industry. Aerospace primers are effectively composite materials containing inorganic phases which are bound together with a polymer. Understanding the materials science of these systems requires information over several orders of magnitude in length-scale. In this paper we report on how DCM can be used to extend our understanding at the smaller length scales at the limits of resolution of the technique. The third and final advance is in extending the approach to include 4-dimensional studies. In this case we examine the primer before and after leaching. This process causes changes in the primer which can be both detected and quantified using the above approach

Diversity of internal structures in inhibited epoxy primers

Computed tomography is making a significant impact in the field of materials science in recent years. In this paper the authors report on advances made in three areas of characterization and also identified where further research needs to be focused. First we report on a new approach to data analysis called “Data Constrained Modelling (DCM)” in which compositional tomography can be undertaken rather than adsorption or phase contrast tomography. This is achieved by collecting X-ray CT data at different energies and then combining the datasets to reconstruct 3D compositional tomography. Second, on the application of this approach to inhibited primers typical of those used in the aerospace industry. Aerospace primers are effectively composite materials containing inorganic phases which are bound together with a polymer. Understanding the materials science of these systems requires information over several orders of magnitude in length-scale. In this paper we report on how DCM can be used to extend our understanding at the smaller length scales at the limits of resolution of the technique. The third and final advance is in extending the approach to include 4-dimensional studies. In this case we examine the primer before and after leaching. This process causes changes in the primer which can be both detected and quantified using the above approach

Activity Guided Isolation of Phenolic Compositions from Anneslea fragrans Wall. and Their Cytoprotective Effect against Hydrogen Peroxide Induced Oxidative Stress in HepG2 Cells

Anneslea fragrans Wall., commonly known as “Pangpo Tea”, is traditionally used as a folk medicine and healthy tea for the treatment of liver and intestine diseases. The aim of this study was to purify the antioxidative and cytoprotective polyphenols from A. fragrans leaves. After fractionation with polar and nonpolar organic solvents, the fractions of aqueous ethanol extract were evaluated for their total phenolic (TPC) and flavonoid contents (TFC) and antioxidant activities (DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP assays). The n-butanol fraction (BF) showed the highest TPC and TFC with the strongest antioxidant activity. The bio-guided chromatography of BF led to the purification of six flavonoids (1–6) and one benzoquinolethanoid (7). The structures of these compounds were determined by NMR and MS techniques. Compound 6 had the strongest antioxidant capacity, which was followed by 5 and 2. The protective effect of the isolated compounds on hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced oxidative stress in HepG2 cells revealed that the compounds 5 and 6 exhibited better protective effects by inhibiting ROS productions, having no significant difference with vitamin C (p > 0.05), whereas 6 showed the best anti-apoptosis activity. The results suggest that A. fragrans could serve as a valuable antioxidant phytochemical source for developing functional food and health nutraceutical products

Psychological changes in athletes infected with Omicron after return to training: fatigue, sleep, and mood

Background This study aims to analyze the changes of approximately 1 month in fatigue, sleep, and mood in athletes after returning to training following infection with the COVID-19 Omicron strain and provide recommendations for returning to training after infection. Methods Two hundred and thirty professional athletes who had returned to training after being infected with COVID-19 in December 2022 were recruited to participate in three tests conducted from early January 2023. The second test was completed approximately 1 week after the first, and the third was completed about 2 weeks after the second. Each test consisted of completing scales and the exercise-induced fatigue measure. The scales included a visual analog scale, the Athens Insomnia Scale for non-clinical application, and the Depression-Anxiety-Stress scale. The exercise task was a six-minute stair climb test, and athletes evaluated subjective fatigue levels before and after exercise using another Visual Analog Scale and the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale. Results After returning to training, athletes’ physical fatigue decreased initially but increased as training progressed. Cognitive fatigue did not change significantly. The exercise task led to elevated levels of physical fatigue after a longer duration of training. Sleep quality problems decreased rapidly after the start of training but remained stable with prolonged training. Depression levels continued to decline, while anxiety levels only reduced after a longer duration of training. Stress levels decreased rapidly after the start of training but did not change with prolonged training. Conclusion Athletes who return to training after recovering from COVID-19 experience positive effects on their fatigue, sleep, and mood. It is important to prioritize anxiety assessment and interventions during the short period after returning and to continue monitoring fatigue levels and implementing recovery interventions over a longer period of time