This open access book provides a comprehensive overview of education in China, covering 12 critical topics including basic education, higher education, professional education, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education, mental health education, and international education and excellence initiatives. Drawing from current research, theoretical literature, and real-life stories, this book examines the developmental trajectories, achievements, and best practices in the above-mentioned topics, to reflect realities of education transformation in China. It also incorporates a global comparison of key indicators to explore strengths of and gaps in Chinese education with its global counterparts. Setting its context in an ever-changing world, this book intends to explore conceptual support to develop “a modern education system with Chinese features and world standards”, to provide implications for further developing quality education in all sectors, and to promote understanding and inspire critical discussion on education development in China and around the world. This book serves as a valuable resource for students, scholars, and policy makers in the field of education studies, as well as for the general public who are interested in Chinese education.

This open access book provides a comprehensive overview of education in China, covering 12 critical topics including basic education, higher education, professional education, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education, mental health education, and international education and excellence initiatives. Drawing from current research, theoretical literature, and real-life stories, this book examines the developmental trajectories, achievements, and best practices in the above-mentioned topics, to reflect realities of education transformation in China. It also incorporates a global comparison of key indicators to explore strengths of and gaps in Chinese education with its global counterparts. Setting its context in an ever-changing world, this book intends to explore conceptual support to develop “a modern education system with Chinese features and world standards”, to provide implications for further developing quality education in all sectors, and to promote understanding and inspire critical discussion on education development in China and around the world. This book serves as a valuable resource for students, scholars, and policy makers in the field of education studies, as well as for the general public who are interested in Chinese education.

This book examines the field of surrounding rock control mechanisms and support technologies in underground engineering, and proposes a high-strength support system to address the complex conditions in underground engineering, such as high stress, extremely soft rocks, fault fracture zone and strong mining activity. It also comprehensively discusses the concept and bearing mechanisms of the supporting system, design calculation methods, field application and key construction technologies. The book describes the design and construction of a large-scale mechanical test system, independently developed by the author for high- strength confined concrete arches, which can also be used to define the mechanism of deformation and failure of confined concrete arches. Further, the book explores the application of the confined concrete support system in underground engineering with complex conditions, and its control effect on soft surrounding rock. The first international book presenting the theory and key technologies of high-strength, confined concrete support, it is a valuable reference resource for design, construction and supervision staff in the field of geotechnical engineering, as well as for teachers, students and researchers.

In this volume, Qi Wang traces the developmental, social, cultural, and historical origins of the autobiographical self - the self that is made of memories of the personal past and of the family and the community. Wang combines rigorous research, sensitive survey of real memories and memory conversations, and fascinating personal anecdotes into a state-of-the-art book. As a "marginal woman" who grew up in the East and works and lives in the West, Wang's analysis is unique, insightful, and approachable. Her accounts of her own family stories, extraordinarily careful and thorough documentation of research findings, and compelling theoretical insights together convey an unequivocal message: The autobiographical self is conditioned by one's time and culture. Beginning with a perceptive examination of the form, content, and function of parent-child conversations of personal and family stories, Wang undertakes to show how the autobiographical self is formed in and shaped by the process of family storytelling situated in specific cultural contexts. By contrasting the development of autobiographical writings in Western and Chinese literatures, Wang seeks to demonstrate the cultural stance of the autobiographical self in historical time. She examines the autobiographical self in personal time, thoughtfully analyzing the form, structure, and content of everyday memories to reveal the role of culture in modulating information processing and determining how the autobiographical self is remembered. Focusing on memories of early childhood, Wang seeks to answer the question of when the autobiographical self begins from a cross-cultural perspective. She sets out further to explore some of the most controversial issues in current psychological research of autobiographical memory, focusing particularly on issues of memory representations versus memory narratives and silence versus voice in the construction of the autobiographical self appropriate to one's cultural assumptions. She concludes with historical analyses of the influences of the larger social, political, and economic forces on the autobiographical self, and takes a forward look at the autobiographical self as a product of modern technology.

One of the widely acknowledged consequences of the economic reforms in China over the past four decades has been widened social-gender gap and hence increased gender inequalities. In recent years, there is a rising concern of inequality in China and a mounting intellectual reflection and critique of the growth-focused development path China has followed so far. This collection can be seen as a part of this critique, but the focus is on gender and various forms of inequality pertaining to gender and gender relations. The book shows how various gender inequality issues are approached and analysed in the location of China by Chinese gender/social science scholars and how studies of gender inequality constitutes an astute critique of the neo-liberal capitalist development in China. The book brings forth a distinctive gender perspective to the Chinese intellectual and political analysis of social inequality and a Chinese perspective to the bulks of international scholarship on gender inequality in China.

This book continues the groundbreaking work begun in Intercultural Public Relations: Theories for Managing Relationships and Conflicts with Strategic Publics (Routledge, 2018), by applying the theoretical framework of intercultural public relations to actual practice. Practical public relations contexts examined by the contributing chapter authors-both scholars and practitioners-include corporations, government, military, healthcare, education, and activism. The book covers real-world situations, including the training of practitioners to become more interculturally competent, identifying and understanding publics or stakeholders with different cultural backgrounds and identities, building and maintaining relationships with these publics/stakeholders, and managing conflicts with them. Offering practical guidance while examining both best practices and difficult challenges, this book is useful for public relations researchers, practitioners, and students as they explore how intercultural public relations contributes to organizational effectiveness and social change.

This book brings together scholarship that contributes diverse and new perspectives on childhood amnesia - the scarcity of memories for very early life events. The topics of the studies reported in the book range from memories of infants and young children for recent and distant life events, to mother-child conversations about memories for extended lifetime periods, and to retrospective recollections of early childhood in adolescents and adults. The methodological approaches are diverse and theoretical insights rich. The findings together show that childhood amnesia is a complex and malleable phenomenon and that the waning of childhood amnesia and the development of autobiographical memory are shaped by a variety of interactive social and cognitive factors. This book will facilitate discussion and deepen an understanding of the dynamics that influence the accessibility, content, accuracy, and phenomenological qualities of memories from early childhood. This book was originally published as a special issue of Memory.

Among various applications, solar cells for photovoltaic solar energy and thin-film transistors for flat-panel display have been the two major driving forces for research and development of thin-film silicon materials and devices. In the last few years, the thin-film silicon community has mainly focused on thin-film silicon solar cells to address the issues of efficiency, manufacturing capability and manufacturing cost. This volume includes sixty-eight papers presented at Symposium A, 'Amorphous and Polycrystalline Thin-Film Silicon Science and Technology - 2011', which took place April 25-29, during the 2011 MRS Spring Meeting in San Francisco, California. The symposium covered the science and technology of thin-film silicon-based materials, reviewed recent progress, addressed the scientific and technical issues in the field and, this year, focused sessions were held on the topic of solar cell efficiency.

This book continues the groundbreaking work begun in Intercultural Public Relations: Theories for Managing Relationships and Conflicts with Strategic Publics (Routledge, 2018), by applying the theoretical framework of intercultural public relations to actual practice. Practical public relations contexts examined by the contributing chapter authors-both scholars and practitioners-include corporations, government, military, healthcare, education, and activism. The book covers real-world situations, including the training of practitioners to become more interculturally competent, identifying and understanding publics or stakeholders with different cultural backgrounds and identities, building and maintaining relationships with these publics/stakeholders, and managing conflicts with them. Offering practical guidance while examining both best practices and difficult challenges, this book is useful for public relations researchers, practitioners, and students as they explore how intercultural public relations contributes to organizational effectiveness and social change.

This book presents cutting-edge research on memory in the age of the Internet and social media. The empirical studies reported in the ten chapters address the influence of the digital age on remembering in three broad areas: offloading memory and the associated costs, benefits, and boundary conditions; autobiographical memory online; and false memory at a time of fake news and misinformation. These studies employ innovative and rigorous methodological approaches that are ecologically valid in the online context. Their findings reveal complex and dynamic characteristics of human memory in a digitally mediated world that shapes our learning, our sense of self, and our beliefs and decision making. Collectively, the chapters in this volume provide rich theoretical insights into the workings and functions of memory. This book ushers in a new era of research on memory in the age of digitization. Memory Online will be a beneficial read for students and scholars of Psychology, Cognitive Science, Communication, and Media Studies. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Memory.

This comparative volume examines the ways in which current controversies and political, legal, and social struggles for gender equality raise conceptual questions and challenge our thinking on political theories of equality, citizenship and human rights. Bringing together scholars and activists who reflect upon challenges to gender equality, citizenship, and human rights in their respective societies; it combines theoretical insights with empirically grounded studies. The volume contextualises feminist political theory in China and the Nordic countries and subsequently puts it into a global perspective. It tackles a complex set of tensions across a dense and shifting landscape and addresses issues including labour, health, democracy, homosexuality, migration and racism. By cutting across geographical and disciplinary boundaries, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, gender studies, human rights and also those interested in Scandinavian and Asian politics.

This comparative volume examines the ways in which current controversies and political, legal, and social struggles for gender equality raise conceptual questions and challenge our thinking on political theories of equality, citizenship and human rights.

Bringing together scholars and activists who reflect upon challenges to gender equality, citizenship, and human rights in their respective societies; it combines theoretical insights with empirically grounded studies. The volume contextualises feminist political theory in China and the Nordic countries and subsequently puts it into a global perspective. It tackles a complex set of tensions across a dense and shifting landscape and addresses issues including labour, health, democracy, homosexuality, migration and racism.

By cutting across geographical and disciplinary boundaries, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, gender studies, human rights and also those interested in Scandinavian and Asian politics.

This book brings together scholarship that contributes diverse and new perspectives on childhood amnesia - the scarcity of memories for very early life events. The topics of the studies reported in the book range from memories of infants and young children for recent and distant life events, to mother-child conversations about memories for extended lifetime periods, and to retrospective recollections of early childhood in adolescents and adults. The methodological approaches are diverse and theoretical insights rich. The findings together show that childhood amnesia is a complex and malleable phenomenon and that the waning of childhood amnesia and the development of autobiographical memory are shaped by a variety of interactive social and cognitive factors. This book will facilitate discussion and deepen an understanding of the dynamics that influence the accessibility, content, accuracy, and phenomenological qualities of memories from early childhood. This book was originally published as a special issue of Memory.

This book examines the field of surrounding rock control mechanisms and support technologies in underground engineering, and proposes a high-strength support system to address the complex conditions in underground engineering, such as high stress, extremely soft rocks, fault fracture zone and strong mining activity. It also comprehensively discusses the concept and bearing mechanisms of the supporting system, design calculation methods, field application and key construction technologies. The book describes the design and construction of a large-scale mechanical test system, independently developed by the author for high- strength confined concrete arches, which can also be used to define the mechanism of deformation and failure of confined concrete arches. Further, the book explores the application of the confined concrete support system in underground engineering with complex conditions, and its control effect on soft surrounding rock. The first international book presenting the theory and key technologies of high-strength, confined concrete support, it is a valuable reference resource for design, construction and supervision staff in the field of geotechnical engineering, as well as for teachers, students and researchers.

Symposium C, 'Thin-Film Compound Semiconductor Photovoltaics' and Symposium FF, 'Compound Semiconductors for Generating, Emitting, and Manipulating Energy - II' were held on April 1-5 at the 2013 MRS Spring Meeting in San Francisco, California. This combined symposia Proceedings represents the latest technical advancements and information on compound semiconductors for generating, emitting, and manipulating energy from universities, national laboratories and industries. It provides insight into emerging trends in these exciting technologies.

One of the widely acknowledged consequences of the economic reforms in China over the past four decades has been widened social-gender gap and hence increased gender inequalities. In recent years, there is a rising concern of inequality in China and a mounting intellectual reflection and critique of the growth-focused development path China has followed so far. This collection can be seen as a part of this critique, but the focus is on gender and various forms of inequality pertaining to gender and gender relations. The book shows how various gender inequality issues are approached and analysed in the location of China by Chinese gender/social science scholars and how studies of gender inequality constitutes an astute critique of the neo-liberal capitalist development in China. The book brings forth a distinctive gender perspective to the Chinese intellectual and political analysis of social inequality and a Chinese perspective to the bulks of international scholarship on gender inequality in China.

Intercultural Public Relations: Theories for Managing Relationships and Conflicts with Strategic Publics develops a coherent framework to unify the theories of public relations and intercultural communication, and, within the framework, examines empirical studies of intercultural interactions. This book follows an intercultural approach, which considers how individuals and entities with dissimilar cultural identities interact and negotiate to solve problems and reach mutually satisfying outcomes. This work provides a theory-driven, empirically supported framework that will inform and guide the research and practices of intercultural public relations. Furthermore, it provides numerous levels of analysis and incorporates the use and challenges of social media. The book examines theories and issues in three integrated processes: Identification of publics Relationship management Conflict resolution These areas represent the most critical functions that public relations contributes to organizational effectiveness: scanning the environment, identifying strategic publics, and building long-term, quality relationships with these publics to reduce costs, gain support, and empower the publics themselves. In doing so, the book adopts simultaneously public-centered and organization-centered perspectives. This unique work will serve as an essential reference for students, practitioners, and scholars in today's global public relations environment.

The MRS Symposium Proceeding series is an internationally recognised reference suitable for researchers and practitioners.

Thin-film silicon materials and their alloys underpin a diverse range of electronic systems, from active matrix flat-panel displays, through solar panels for the 'green-power' generation, to surface micromanaged MEMS devices. Thin-film silicon can possess a diverse range of structures, from being fully amorphous to fully polycrystalline, as well as allowing mixed-phase states, such as micro- and nanocrystalline silicon. Such diversity has made large-area electronics one of the fastest growing semiconductor technologies, although not without introducing some complexity. This book addresses issues related to both fundamental materials science and applied technology and offers an overview of studies on film growth and crystallization, materials characterization, defects, metastability and carrier transport, as well as devices such as solar cells and thin-film transistors. The importance of developing efficient solar cells is reflected in the number of reports that seek to improve lifetime and efficiency, as well as light trapping, in solar cells.

Intercultural Public Relations: Theories for Managing Relationships and Conflicts with Strategic Publics develops a coherent framework to unify the theories of public relations and intercultural communication, and, within the framework, examines empirical studies of intercultural interactions. This book follows an intercultural approach, which considers how individuals and entities with dissimilar cultural identities interact and negotiate to solve problems and reach mutually satisfying outcomes. This work provides a theory-driven, empirically supported framework that will inform and guide the research and practices of intercultural public relations. Furthermore, it provides numerous levels of analysis and incorporates the use and challenges of social media. The book examines theories and issues in three integrated processes: Identification of publics Relationship management Conflict resolution These areas represent the most critical functions that public relations contributes to organizational effectiveness: scanning the environment, identifying strategic publics, and building long-term, quality relationships with these publics to reduce costs, gain support, and empower the publics themselves. In doing so, the book adopts simultaneously public-centered and organization-centered perspectives. This unique work will serve as an essential reference for students, practitioners, and scholars in today's global public relations environment.

Memory, Subjectivity and Independent Chinese Cinema provides a historically informed examination of independent moving image works made between 1990 and 2010 in China. Showcasing an evolving personal mode of narrating memory, documenting reality, and inscribing subjectivity in over sixteen selected works that range from narrative film and documentary to experimental video and digital media (even including a multimedia avant-garde play), this book presents a provocative portrait of the independent filmmakers as a peculiarly pained yet active group of historical subjects of the transitional, post-socialist era. Through a connected investigation of cultural and cinematic concepts including historical consciousness, personal memory, narrative, performance, subjectivity, spatiality, and the body, Wang weaves a critical narrative of the formation of a unique post-socialist cultural consciousness that enables independent cinema and media to become a highly significant and effective conduit for historical thinking in contemporary China.
Covering directors such as Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Jia Zhangke, Jiang Wen, Lou Ye, Meng Jinghui, Wang Bing, Wang Guangli, Duan Jinchuan, Cui Zi'en, Shi Tou, and Tang Danhong, this book is essential reading for all students and scholars in Chinese film.