An Analysis on Sino-UK Cultural Differences in Education from the Perspective of Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory (A Case Study of Are Our Kids Tough Enough?)

Based on the Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory, the paper aims to analyze the cultural difference in education between China and the UK on a documentary Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Which was made by BBC. Comparative study method was undertaken for illustrating the date of culture dimensions difference of the UK’s and China’s. The result shows that the obvious difference lies on Collectivism and Individualism, Power distance, as well as long-time orientation and short-time orientation. The documentary was thus analyzed from these three perspectives. The conclusion was that 1) Chinese teachers wanted to utilize power to control British students, but students refused to obey them for their low power distance. 2) Many activities were held in the whole class by Chinese teachers for their collectivism, but the British students could not accept them and pursue their own right. 3) Chinese teachers took the the final exam seriously because of long-term orientation but the British students were reverse for their short-term orientation. 4) The date of uncertainty avoidance and Masculinity are almost the same in these two countries, but they were reflected in different ways. And with the conclusion, the effective strategies to overcome culture conflict will be offered to Chinese teachers and all other teachers in the cross-culture communication context

Analysis of spatial patterns in the problem of biological invasion

Biological invasion of alien species usually has an adverse impact on ecology as alien species are often regarded as harmful species to the local ecosystems. A comprehensive understanding of spatial patterns of species spread during biological invasion is needed for efficient monitoring and control of harmful alien pests. Various growth-dispersal-type models of population dynamics predict that invasive species spread can follow two qualitatively different scenarios: propagation of a continuous population front and 'no-front' patchy invasion. Distinguishing between those two types of spatial pattern is important as patchy invasion may require a different approach to monitoring and control. However, a mathematical theory of patchy invasion is still missing and it remains unclear which parameter values in the underlying model result in the formation of patchy spatial patterns and how much this dynamical regime is different from the continuous front propagation. In this thesis we address the problem of spatial patterns recognition in biological invasion in terms of two biologically meaningful mathematical models. We employ several topological characteristics of spatial pattern to investigate various spatial density distributions. The topology of continuous front and patchy spatial structures will be carefully compared and conclusions about sensitivity and 'topological stability' of those spatial patterns will be derived

Will Chinese working system be convergent to the West: the effects of two-child policy on flexible working system in China

This dissertation argues for a diverse understanding to the two-child policy and its effects on Chinese working system. This is discussed within the context of Chinese youths’ opinion on the policy and the experiences of work-life balance. The key aim of this research is to specify the opinion towards the two-child policy, focusing almost exclusively on female, childcare and working system to explicit the possibility of Chinese working system being convergent to the West. Primary data were collected in the form of semi-structure, in-depth interviews with 10 Chinese participants who were studying in the University of Nottingham and planning to work back to China, five of them were male and five were female. The empirical data have indicated that both male and female have similar attitudes towards the two-child policy, most of them would like to have two child and had a high level of demand of time and energy which can be putted into their childcare and family. It is argued that a deeper understanding of the effects of two-child policy for both employers and employees is necessary. It is important to the employees’ needs, realize the potential management problems, learn from the West, introduce the flexible working system properly. By acknowledging various limitations of the study, a more realistic and sophisticated analysis can be taken in the further research