Balancing academia and family life: The gendered strains and struggles between the UK and China compared

Purpose: This paper aims to explore and compare academics’ experiences of managing work-life balance (WLB) in the British and Chinese contexts. The authors have three specific purposes. Firstly, to investigate whether there are marked gender differences in either context, given female and male academics’ work is considered fully comparable. Secondly, to examine contextual factors contributing to gender differences that influence and shape decisions in WLB and career paths. Thirdly, to explore the gendered consequences and implications. Design/methodology/approach: A cross-national and multilevel analytical approach to WLB was chosen to unpick and explore gender land contextual differences and their influence on individual academics’ coping strategies. To reflect the exploratory nature of uncovering individual experience and perceptions, the authors used in-depth, semi-structured interviews. In total, 37 academics participated in the study, comprised of 18 participants from 6 universities in the UK and 19 participants from 6 universities in China. Findings: This study reveals gendered differences in both the British and Chinese contexts in three main aspects, namely, sourcing support; managing emotions; and making choices, but more distinct differences in the latter context. Most significantly, it highlights that individual academics’ capacity in cultivating and using coping strategies was shaped simultaneously by multi-layered factors at the country level, the HE institutional level and the individual academics’ level. Originality/value: Very few cross-cultural WLB studies explore gender differences. This cross-national comparative study is of particular value in making the “invisible visible” in terms of the gendered nature of choices and decisions within the context of WLB. The study has significant implications for female academics exercising individual scope in carving out a career, and for academic managers and institutions, in terms of support, structure and policy

Walking the tightrope between work and non-work life: strategies employed by British and Chinese academics and their implications

Drawing on in-depth interviews with 30 academics from various disciplines in both UK and Chinese universities, this comparative study aims to offer new insights into how academics in British and Chinese universities maintained work–life balance and the similarities and differences experienced between academics of both countries. This study finds that both British and Chinese academics adopted a range of approaches to cope with work–life imbalance, and the approaches fall into three types of coping strategies, namely behavioural, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Whilst convergence occurs in coping strategies adopted by the two groups of academics, this study uncovers greater divergence. This can be explained by differing institutional, legal and political arrangements, and cultural values and attitudes to work and life in the two contexts. All of these have practical implications for institutions and managers in both higher education sectors

A critical examination of women's work-family conflict and career aspirations in the Chinese airline industry

Work demands and family responsibilities are often seen to be incompatible and, in the light of increasing female participation in paid employment, there is a growing concern about work-family conflict for women worldwide. Western literature suggests that both work and family-related factors give rise to women's work-family conflict. Also, the persistence of a gendered division of domestic labour - mainly arising from the role of women as the principle child-rearers and carers - have provided explanations for the continued disadvantage that women experience in the workplace. This study examines the extent to which these Western experiences prevail in modern China and considers the full range of factors within the Chinese context in order to develop an understanding of how work and family conflict for Chinese women. The empirical evidence reported was collected from case studies conducted in three Chinese airlines. Through the use of a multi-method approach - including questionnaires, qualitative interviews and documentary analysis - rich data has enabled insights to be gained into the issue of work-family conflict in the Chinese airline industry in particular and the Chinese context more broadly. The research shows that Western findings are not wholly applicable in the Chinese context because of a unique mix of traditional Chinese values alongside contemporary social, political and economic changes which enable women to participate more freely in the labour market. While it is found that family to work conflict is diminishing, significant work to family conflict is experienced mainly as a consequence of negative gendered organisational attitudes. This research builds upon Venter's (2002) three-level model of women's work-family experiences by developing a six-factor analytical model which enables a fuller understanding of women's work-family conflict and other relevant issues. The six-factor model also provides a framework for enhancing current knowledge about the lives of Chinese working women more generally.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

A critical examination of women's work-family conflict and career aspirations in the Chinese airline industry

Work demands and family responsibilities are often seen to be incompatible and, in the light of increasing female participation in paid employment, there is a growing concern about work-family conflict for women worldwide. Western literature suggests that both work and family-related factors give rise to women's work-family conflict. Also, the persistence of a gendered division of domestic labour - mainly arising from the role of women as the principle child-rearers and carers - have provided explanations for the continued disadvantage that women experience in the workplace. This study examines the extent to which these Western experiences prevail in modern China and considers the full range of factors within the Chinese context in order to develop an understanding of how work and family conflict for Chinese women. The empirical evidence reported was collected from case studies conducted in three Chinese airlines. Through the use of a multi-method approach - including questionnaires, qualitative interviews and documentary analysis - rich data has enabled insights to be gained into the issue of work-family conflict in the Chinese airline industry in particular and the Chinese context more broadly. The research shows that Western findings are not wholly applicable in the Chinese context because of a unique mix of traditional Chinese values alongside contemporary social, political and economic changes which enable women to participate more freely in the labour market. While it is found that family to work conflict is diminishing, significant work to family conflict is experienced mainly as a consequence of negative gendered organisational attitudes. This research builds upon Venter's (2002) three-level model of women's work-family experiences by developing a six-factor analytical model which enables a fuller understanding of women's work-family conflict and other relevant issues. The six-factor model also provides a framework for enhancing current knowledge about the lives of Chinese working women more generally

Noninteractive Verifiable Outsourcing Algorithm for Bilinear Pairing with Improved Checkability

It is well known that the computation of bilinear pairing is the most expensive operation in pairing-based cryptography. In this paper, we propose a noninteractive verifiable outsourcing algorithm of bilinear pairing based on two servers in the one-malicious model. The outsourcer need not execute any expensive operation, such as scalar multiplication and modular exponentiation. Moreover, the outsourcer could detect any failure with a probability close to 1 if one of the servers misbehaves. Therefore, the proposed algorithm improves checkability and decreases communication cost compared with the previous ones. Finally, we utilize the proposed algorithm as a subroutine to achieve an anonymous identity-based encryption (AIBE) scheme with outsourced decryption and an identity-based signature (IBS) scheme with outsourced verification

An efficient optimized independent component analysis method based on genetic algorithm

Three simulation experiments are designed to evaluate and compare the performance of three common independent component analysis implementation algorithms – FastICA, JADE, and extended-Infomax. Experiment results show that the above three algorithms can’t separate the mixtures of super-Gaussian and sub-Gaussian precisely, and FastICA fails in recovering weak source signals from mixed signals. In this case an independent component analysis algorithm, which applies genetic algorithm to minimize the difference between joint probability and product of marginal probabilities of separated signals, is proposed. The computation procedure, especially the fitness evaluation when signals are in discrete form, is discussed in detail. The validity of the proposed algorithm is proved by simulation tests. Moreover, the results indicate that the proposed algorithm outperforms the above three common algorithms significantly. Finally the proposed algorithm is applied to separate the mixture of rolling bearing sound signal and electromotor signal, and the results are satisfied

Genetic algorithm for Lagrangian support vector machine optimization and its application in diagnostic practice

In this article a genetic algorithm optimized Lagrangian support vector machine algorithm and its application in rolling bearing fault diagnosis is introduced. As an effective global optimization method, genetic algorithm is applied to find the optimum multiplier of Lagrangian support vector machine. Synthetic numerical experiments revealed the effectiveness of this genetic algorithm optimized Lagrangian support vector machine as a classifier. Then this classifier is applied to recognize faulty bearings from normal ones. Its performance is compared with that of backpropagation neural network and standard Lagrangian support vector machine. Experimental results show that the classification ability of our classifier is higher and the computing time required to find the separating plane is relative shorter

Women's experiences of work and family conflict in a Chinese airline

Established literature on work–family conflict concentrates on the experiences of women and organizational equalities policies in Western contexts. This article examines the experiences of women working in a Chinese airline. Drawing on questionnaires and interviews with female employees and managers, we explore work–family conflict and gendered organizational perceptions of women's needs. Our findings suggest that work rather than family-related factors are the most influential causes of conflict for Chinese women in our case study. Cultural and social factors that shape familial relationships prove important in explaining these differences, but we also highlight the significant role played by gendered organizational culture

Engineering the Biosynthesis of prFMN Promotes the Conversion between Styrene/CO₂ and Cinnamic Acid Catalyzed by the Ferulic Acid Decarboxylase Fdc1

Enzymatic decarboxylation and carboxylation are emerging as prospective processes to produce high-value compounds under mild conditions. Ferulic acid decarboxylase Fdc1 catalyzes broad substrate tolerance against α, β-unsaturated carboxylic acids, and provides green routes for carbon dioxide fixation with the reversible carboxylation, while the activity of the enzyme is limited by the indispensable cofactor prenylated flavin (prFMN), which is unstable and is rarely detected in nature. In this study, a prFMN efficient synthesis route was built using six exogenous enzymes introduced into E. coli cells, leading to the construction of a powerful cell catalyst named SC-6. Based on the metabolic analysis, the results indicated that the reduction of FMN to FMNH2 was the bottleneck in prFMN synthesis pathway, and introducing FMN reductase increased the production of prFMN 3.8-fold compared with the common flavin prenyltransferase UbiX overexpression strain. Using SC-6 cell catalyst, the decarboxylation activity of Fdc1 increased more than 20 times with cinnamic acid and 4-acetoxycinnamic acid as substrates. Furthermore, the reversible carboxylation reaction was carried out, and the cell catalyst presented 20 times carbon dioxide fixation activity using styrene to produce cinnamic acid. Finally, the maximum yield of cinnamic acid catalyzed by SC-6 achieved 833.68 ± 34.51 mM·mg−1 in two hours. The constructed prFMN pathway in vivo provides fundamentals for efficient decarboxylation and carbon fixation reactions catalyzed by prFMN-dependent enzymes

Baseline BMI is associated with clinical symptom improvements in first-episode schizophrenia: a longitudinal study

Background: There is sufficient evidence of the high prevalence of obesity in schizophrenia (SZ) compared to the general population. Previous studies have reported that weight gain correlated with the response to antipsychotics in patients with SZ. Nonetheless, the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and therapeutic benefits remains unclear. This study was designed to investigate the association between baseline BMI and improvements in clinical symptoms after treatment with antipsychotics in first-episode and medication-naïve SZ (FEMNS).Methods: A total of 241 FEMNS patients were enrolled and received risperidone over 12 weeks. The severity of symptoms was assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and BMI was measured at baseline and 12-week follow-up.Results: We found that risperidone treatment raised the body weight of FEMNS patients and baseline BMI was negatively correlated with the improvement in negative symptoms (r = −0.14, p = 0.03) after 12-week treatment. Linear regression analysis indicated that baseline BMI was an independent predictor of response to risperidone in the early stage of SZ.Conclusion: The current study suggests a close relationship between baseline BMI and improvement in negative symptoms in SZ