In order to reduce the influence of athlete’s body shape on the difficulty coefficient of diving, a more reasonable calculation method of body shape correction coefficient is proposed based on the original calculation rules of diving difficulty coefficient. First, the composition of the original diving difficulty coefficient and influencing factors is analyzed and the relationship between the various structural parts is fully clarified. Second, a coupled nonrigid body dynamics model is established and a 2-body model is used to simulate complex (...) diving actions, and it is concluded that diving time is positively correlated with body shape. Finally, the air movement part and the water entry part of diving are discussed separately, the calculation model of the difficulty coefficient of body shape correction is established, and the original difficulty coefficient is corrected. The results show that the difficulty coefficient of each movement is obviously increased. This effectively avoids the influence of body shape on the diving difficulty coefficient. (shrink)

“Moral capital” is a concept emerged in the China ethical community at the end of the 20th century. The issue of moral capital arises from discussions about economy and ethics. The controversial point in this concept consists in that morality is a kind of capital. Will morality become a capital? I think it is possible. The interpretation of the concept “capital” should go back to the logical starting point of economics, namely, “rational-economic man.” From the perspective of moral philosophy, every (...) economic activity is committed to morality. The maximization of self-interest is only a part of rationality. Rationality should also cover the acquisition of no self-interest valuable goals. People’s economic behaviors may also be connected with culture, ethics, intelligence, aesthetic appreciation or emotions. I think it is time to radically reform rationality. The issue of moral capital reinterprets capital by basing on humanity. The core of moral capital consists in the revealing of capital’s property of value; this value functions against the background of the socialist market economy system. It is the issue of economic justice in the context of contemporary China. (shrink)

The development of local ethnic music culture is affected by the impact of foreign music culture, the establishment of the teaching system of music culture knowledge, understanding of history, culture, social background to mobilise the sensory mechanism, based on the popular elements of ethnic music innovation, as well as enrichment of the regional ethnic music and cultural activities, and active promotion of the protection of the local ethnic music culture of the five factors. The five factors relationship value are 0.440, (...) 0.517, 0.541, 0.498 are all greater than 0, and there is a significant relationship between the factors. The path coefficients of the refinement factors on the protection of local ethnic music culture are all greater than 0, and p=0.000. (shrink)

Music education has a profound impact on creativity and emotional development in teaching and learning, and helps to cultivate creativity and promote the development of self-awareness and social skills among primary school students by providing opportunities for creative expression and emotional release. In this study, four schools were selected as research subjects, and music education scale, students' creative self-efficacy scale, and students' creativity cultivation scale were used as measurement tools, respectively, and random sampling was used to conduct surveys. Correlation and (...) regression analyses of music education, students' creative self-efficacy, and creativity were carried out by using the SPSS software. The matching mediation model was constructed to investigate the correlation and regression analysis of music education, students' creative self-efficacy, and creativity cultivation of students. Creative self-efficacy, and creativity development. The results showed that music education, students' creative self-efficacy and students' creativity cultivation are all at the upper average level and still need to be developed. Music education will positively and positively promote college students' creativity as well as increase creative self-efficacy, which positively promotes creativity, and creative self-efficacy has a partial mediating effect in the relationship between classroom teaching strategies and creativity. (shrink)

It is well known that the computational complexity of propositional knowledge base revision is at the second level of polynomial hierarchy. A way to solve this kind of problems is to introduce approximate algorithms. In this paper, an approximate approach is introduced for belief change. Operators, which satisfy the AGM rational postulates, are defined to change belief sets or belief bases. Furthermore, approximate algorithms to implement the revision of finite belief bases are presented. The time complexities of the approximate algorithms (...) shown in this paper are at lower level than the time complexities of the existed approaches in literatures, although they may not generate the optimal solution, and this is meaningful from the theoretical point of view. (shrink)

Despite the role of public health interventions in controlling disease transmission and protecting the public during the COVID-19 emergency, the implementation of quarantine restrictions has raised serious ethical concerns, especially in relation to the well-being of vulnerable populations. Drawing on the lived experiences of rural Chinese migrants who are subject to pandemic control, the authors highlight their inadequate capacities to manage the risks associated with the pandemic and adjust to quarantine restrictions. Informed by an ethical discourse of vulnerability, we show (...) that underpinning this group’s deficient coping strategies is a range of detrimental social structures and institutions that have developed under the persistent rural–urban divide in China. These structural constraints and pathologies expose rural migrants to serious risks and uncertainties while depriving them of the means and resources necessary to protect their own interests in the process of complying with quarantine restrictions. Understanding the plight of rural Chinese migrants as a structural problem also has implications for the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We further suggest a need for state intervention to mitigate structural deficiencies and empower the vulnerable during the COVID-19 era. (shrink)

Firms use A/B testing, a methodology to compare two or more versions of ideas to see which one performs better, to decide on features of their digital products and services. Although A/B testing brings benefits, some A/B testing can lead to digital exploitation (i.e., appropriating resources from users to increase firms’ performance). We explicate why A/B testing can lead to digital exploitation, suggest mitigation options by establishing Institutional Review Boards, explicitly seeking users’ consent, and implementing incentive schemes, and conclude with (...) research directions on this topic. (shrink)

The purpose of this note is to study impulsive control and synchronization of memristor based chaotic circuits shown by Muthuswamy. We first establish a less conservative sufficient condition for the stability of memristor based chaotic circuits. After that, we discuss the effect of errors on stability. Meanwhile, we also discuss impulsive synchronization of two memristor based chaotic systems. Our results are more general and more applicable than the ones shown by Yang, Li, and Huang. Finally, several numerical examples are given (...) to show the effectiveness of our methods. (shrink)

Zou Rong received a classical education but, uninterested in an official career and frustrated by the irrelevance of his schooling to the day's issues, traveled to Japan in 1901 to further his studies. There he wrote The Revolutionary Army, which was published in Shanghai after his return to China in 1903. The Revolutionary Army, which was scathingly critical of the Manchu rulers of China, enraged government authorities who sought his immediate arrest. Zou was protected by authorities of the International Settlement (...) in Shanghai, and eventually sentenced to only two years in jail. Be this as it may, Zou contracted an illness in prison and died in April of 1905. The Revolutionary Army is far more than an anti-Manchu racist tract. It advocates political and social revolution, and Zou's account of the justification for and goals of these revolutions rests in no small part on natural rights and independence, as discussed in the two chapters from the work that we translate here. (shrink)

This study via the sensemaking perspective examines whether spiritual leadership can influence employee workplace spirituality and employee corporate social responsibility (CSR) participation. We also examine the joint effects of spiritual leadership and employee Machiavellianism on employee workplace spirituality. Using a sample of 556 employees from four commercial banks in China, analyses demonstrate that employee workplace spirituality mediates the relationship between spiritual leadership and employee CSR participation and that the indirect effect of spiritual leadership on employee CSR participation is dependent on (...) the level of employee Machiavellianism. These results shed light on how and why spiritual leadership and employee Machiavellianism influence employee workplace spirituality and employee CSR participation. The theoretical and practical implications of these finding are discussed along with directions for future research. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Crystal Order That Is Most Concrete:The Wittgenstein HouseHui Zou (bio)IntroductionIn the instruction of architectural history, some historical references have to be mentioned in terms of the relationship between building and language. In Chapter I, Book II, of The Ten Books on Architecture, the ancient Roman theorist Vitruvius discussed the "origin of the dwelling house." According to him, the "primitive hut" originated from the gathering of men around a (...) fire through communicating in language.1 In the primitive hut, the origin of architecture was co-presented with the origin of language; the language helped establish a harmonic relationship, which developed builders' construction collectivity. Such a language-collectivity relationship was witnessed in the record of the Tower of Babel in the biblical scripture where the Lord decided to stop the human beings' construction of the tower by "confus[ing] their language there."2 During the Renaissance, the alphabetic language and the design of buildings were correlated through the application of geometry that was supposed to embody the "divine proportion." In the Franciscan professor Luca Pacioli's book On Divine Proportion, letters of the alphabet were geometricized to become objects of contemplation for tracing "God's light."3 In Chinese gardens, there has been a long tradition of naming a specific view with a poetical phrase that thematicized the scene into a meaningful unity of the view and the viewer—jing.4 In all these historical cases, language and building were integrated into a cosmological picture grounded in divine transcendence.After the modernism in architectural history of the 1960s and 1970s, a loss of meaning in architecture was widely observed,5 and the interrelationship between language and architectural design began to emerge as a prominent issue. Several trends in architectural theories during the 1960s and 1970s studied how meaning was created through architectural design. One was the post-modern development in architecture that sought to apply classic architectural elements to the facades of new buildings as gestures to [End Page 22] the past.6 Another trend was phenomenological, which attempted to discover a common language of building contexts that led to building humanized living environments.7 Yet another trend was to apply linguistic approaches to the rational methodology of architectural analysis.8 The analogy of building with language was provoked by an impelling sense of the crisis that the traditional embodied order was being lost in the prevalent instrumentalized practice of architecture.The predicament of the loss of meaning in contemporary architecture can be traced as far back in philosophy as the splitting of mind and body proposed by René Descartes in the seventeenth century. This split began to distance architecture from its traditional embodiment of transcendental meanings in the second half of the eighteenth century9 and finally led to the division of the metaphysical and physical parts in modern architecture, especially after the industrialization of the nineteenth century. Correspondingly, language became an instrumental means for architecture to impose posterior "ideas" to the material bodies of buildings rather than acting as an inherent component of architectural design for the creation of meaning in architecture. The desire for meanings in modern architecture, based on the split of the metaphysical and physical, theoretically catered to linguistic research, such as semiotics, and tended to define architecture as a symbol. The linguistic structure of signifier-signified was, however, coarsely transplanted into architectural theory and reduced architectural symbolism to a simple dualism of idea and form in which the former was usually arbitrarily applied to the latter by a designer. Such an arbitrary imposition of external "meanings" onto an architectural form through language intensified their separation, which in turn produced nihilism in architecture.The lessons learned from the transplantation of linguistic studies into architectural theories remind us that we need to pay close attention to the historical events that could open up the interaction between language and building and reveal the "fundamental linguistic character of our experience of the world" in Gadamer's sense.10 A house designed and built by Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) provides a unique case for us to contemplate this issue. My historical study of the Wittgenstein House is not to understand Wittgenstein's subjective intentions... (shrink)

The thesis pseudofinite structures and counting dimensions is about the model theory of pseudofinite structures with the focus on groups and fields. The aim is to deepen our understanding of how pseudofinite counting dimensions can interact with the algebraic properties of underlying structures and how we could classify certain classes of structures according to their counting dimensions. Our approach is by studying examples. We treat three classes of structures: The first one is the class of H-structures, which are generic expansions (...) of existing structures. We give an explicit construction of pseudofinite H-structures as ultraproducts of finite structures. The second one is the class of finite difference fields. We study properties of coarse pseudofinite dimension in this class, show that it is definable and integer-valued and build a partial connection between this dimension and transformal transcendence degree. The third example is the class of pseudofinite primitive permutation groups. We generalise Hrushovski’s classical classification theorem for stable permutation groups acting on a strongly minimal set to the case where there exists an abstract notion of dimension, which includes both the classical model theoretic ranks and pseudofinite counting dimensions. In this thesis, we also generalise Schlichting’s theorem for groups to the case of approximate subgroups with a notion of commensurability.prepared by Tingxiang Zou.E-mail: [email protected]: https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-02283810/document. (shrink)

Journal of Mathematical Logic, Ahead of Print.

This paper examines older people’s access to care experiences in rural China by integrating anthropological investigation with ethical inquiry. Six months of fieldwork in a post-reform primary hospital show how rural residents struggle to access gerontological and nursing care under socially disadvantageous conditions. This anthropological investigation highlights the unmet needs in medical and nursing care for older people, as well as some social, institutional and structural elements that impede access to care. Centring on protecting the vulnerable as informed by feminist (...) ethics scholarship, this paper argues that the failure to meet older people’s dependency needs is unjust, on the premise that it suggests a denial of the inherent value, rights and dignity of older people. This paper appeals for the provision of greater care and support by the state through putting in place social arrangements that better advance older people’s access to care. Some policy recommendations concerning health and social care reform for older people in rural China are also proposed. (shrink)

In this article we explore some properties of H-structures which are introduced in [2]. We describe a construction of H-structures based on one-dimensional asymptotic classes which preserves pseudofiniteness. That is, the H-structures we construct are ultraproducts of finite structures. We also prove that under the assumption that the base theory is supersimple of SU-rank one, there are no new definable groups in H-structures. This improves the corresponding result in [2].

In China's healthcare sector, a popular and socio-culturally distinctive phenomenon known as guanxi jiuyi, whereby patients draw on their guanxi with physicians when seeking healthcare, is thriving. Integrating anthropological investigation with normative inquiry, this paper examines medical guanxi through the lens of patient–physician trust and mistrust. The first-hand empirical data acquired – on the lived experiences and perspectives of both patients and physicians – is based on six months' fieldwork carried out in a county hospital in Guangdong, southern China, which (...) included in-depth interviews with 20 patients and 20 medical professionals. Patients who emphasized the positive effects of guanxi on patient–physician trust believed that it facilitates access to experienced medical specialists, enhances clinical communication, and reduces the financial and medical risks of over diagnosis and overtreatment by physicians. At the same time, these findings reveal patients' strong sense of mistrust, not only towards individual health professionals but also to the medical profession and China's commercialized healthcare industry. While some health professionals in the study responded favourably to medical guanxi, most were opposed to it on the grounds that it undermines professional standards and equitable healthcare. We found that the practice of medical guanxi is not morally justifiable, chiefly because it reinforces the present high levels of patient–physician mistrust and erodes trust between patients and the medical profession as a whole. In China, both the medical profession and the state need to promote patient–physician trust based on medical professionalism and institutional norms, rather than on guanxi or individual relationships. (shrink)

Transhumanism is a movement that advocates for the enhancement of human capabilities through the use of advanced technologies such as genetic enhancement. This article explores the definition, history, and development of transhumanism. Then, it compares the stance on genetic enhancement from the perspectives of bio-conservatism, bio-liberalism, and transhumanism. This article posits that transhuman evolution has twofold implications, allowing for the integration of transhumanist research and evolutionary biology. First, it offers a compelling scientific framework for understanding genetic enhancement, avoiding technological progressivism, (...) and incorporating concepts of evolutionary biology. Second, it represents a new evolutionary paradigm distinct from traditional Lamarckism and Darwinism. It marks the third synthesis of evolutionary biology, offering fresh perspectives on established concepts such as artificial selection and gene-culture co-evolution. In recent decades, human enhancement has captivated not only evolutionary biologists, neurobiologists, psychologists, and philosophers, but also those in fields such as cybernetics and artificial intelligence. In addition to genetic enhancement, other human enhancement technologies, including brain-computer interfaces and brain uploading, are currently under development, which the paradigm of transhuman evolution can better integrate into its framework. (shrink)

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has significant social, educational and psychological impacts. While teachers are key agents to promote CT at the curriculum level, little is known about how English language teachers engage with CT in the wake of COVID-19. Drawing on teacher interviews and classroom observations, the study found that the participating teachers navigated the various affordances and constraints of COVID-19 and implemented CT instruction primarily by integrating CT skills in language learning and assessment, emphasizing skepticism, fostering reflection and (...) hope, and legitimating students’ voice in the online environment. It suggests that teachers should be conscious of the affordance and constraints of online teaching and attend to students’ emotions and life experiences at the curriculum time to transform students into critical thinkers who can agentively, responsibly and positively engage with their situated reality. (shrink)

The Type VI secretion system is a multiprotein and mosaic apparatus that delivers protein effectors into prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells. Recent data on the enteroaggregative Escherichia coli T6SS have provided evidence that the TssA protein is a key component during T6SS biogenesis. The T6SS comprises a trans-envelope complex that docks the baseplate, a cytoplasmic complex that represents the assembly platform for the tail. The T6SS tail is structurally, evolutionarily and functionally similar to the contractile tails of bacteriophages. We have shown (...) that TssA docks to the membrane complex, recruits the baseplate complex and initiates and coordinates the polymerization of the inner tube with that of the sheath. Here, we review these recent findings, discuss the variations within TssA-like proteins, speculate on the role of EAEC TssA in T6SS biogenesis and propose future research perspectives. In the environment, bacteria have to cope with other microbial species and therefore have evolved anti-microbial mechanisms. The bacterial Type VI secretion system transports toxins into bacterial and/or eukaryotic cells using a contractile mechanism. At the architectural level, the T6SS could be viewed as a nano-speargun assembled in the bacterial cytoplasm and anchored to a trans-envelope complex. We describe and speculate on recent findings demonstrating that the TssA subunit is involved in the different stages of T6SS biogenesis. (shrink)

In the traditional Chinese conception, ‘things’ (wu 物) serve as the fundamental ‘components’ of order. Moreover, it is through things and their changes that humans can grasp moral and political norms based on the notion of resonance (ganying 感應). This implies that human society and the world of things are necessarily interconnected. In opposition to this view of order Xiong Bolong 熊伯龍 (1617–1670) in his work Wuhe ji 無何集 (Collected Passages on Being without Causes) critiqued the notion of resonance and (...) arrived at a more ‘disenchanted’ approach to ‘things’ by incorporating the idea of contingency from Wang Chong’s 王充 (27–c. 97) philosophical thought. However, Xiong’s view of order full of contingency does not entirely diverge from the traditional mainstream Chinese view, because in his world of thought, a belief in the underlying necessity of a perfect order within the holistic arrangement of myriad things including humans remained. (shrink)

B a c k g r o u nd. The article critically examines the concept of peace in the context of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance. This study delves into the historical, diplomatic, and philosophical dimensions of the Treaty between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China in the mid-twentieth century. M e t h o d s. The study is based on a systematic analysis of the original documents of the Sino-Soviet Treaty and (...) other primary sources that record the context and content of the agreement. The article uses a comprehensive analysis of primary sources, diplomatic correspondence, political discourse, and philosophical narrative to illuminate various interpretations and implementations of the treaty's peace provisions. Analyzing the philosophical basis of the agreement, it is taken into account how the ideas and concepts of friendship, union and mutual assistance were interpreted in the philosophical context of both countries. The article uses methods of comparative analysis to establish common and distinctive features between the ideology of the Sino-Soviet Treaty. Re s u l t s. The study provides valuable information about the geopolitical dynamics of the 20th century, shedding light on how the two major communist powers managed their diplomatic relations. By examining the ideological underpinnings and practical implications of the Treaty's peace-oriented provisions, the article contributes to understanding the broader landscape of international relations in this dynamic period. C o n c l u s i o n s. The study provides important information about the geopolitical dynamics of the 20th century, revealing how the two leading communist states managed their diplomatic relations. The article also considers the prospects for the development of dynamics between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, examining the difficulties and problems that arose in maintaining peaceful relations between powerful states with common political ideologies based on the principles of Marxism. Analyzing the ideological foundation and practical consequences of the peacekeeping principles in the treaty, the article contributes to a better understanding of the broad context of international relations and philosophical narrative. (shrink)

This brief essay aims to interpret the fourth chapter “In the Human World” of Zhuangzi by analyzing the seven fables in philosophical terms. The seven fables can be divided into two groups: the first three are concerned with how to be useful ( youyong zhi yong 有用之用); the following four with “the use of the useless” ( wuyong zhi yong 无用之用). From those two groups of fables, two different ways of life are identified in relation to the world. Zhuangzi’s choice (...) between them can be revealed in light of his art of speaking. (shrink)

We explored the division of parenthood in Chinese families with adolescents by identifying the parental involvement patterns in the data obtained from 786 pairs of parents. Division-of-parenthood patterns were created via factor mixture modeling using self-reported three dimensions of father and mother involvement. Three differential division-of-parenthood patterns were identified: (a) parent-cooperation pattern, where moderate and equivalent involvement existed between mothers and fathers; (b) mother-dominated pattern, where mother involvement was particularly greater than father involvement; and (c) father-dominated pattern, where father involvement (...) was particularly greater than mother involvement. Families were more likely to be in the mother- or the father-dominated pattern as their levels of positive coparenting behaviors increased. By contrast, as the levels of paternal conflict behavior increased, families were likely to be in the mother-dominated pattern. This study highlighted parents’ individual parenting role, the diverse division-of-parenthood patterns in the family, and the important role of coparenting behavior. (shrink)

Background: The pressing issue of aged care has made gendered caregiving a growing subject of feminist bioethical enquiry. However, the impact of feminism on empirical studies in the area of gendered care in Chinese sociocultural contexts has been less influential. Objectives: To examine female members’ lived experiences of gendered care in rural China and offer proper normative evaluation based on their experiences. Research design: This article adopted an empirical ethical approach that integrates ethnographical investigation and feminist ethical inquiry. Participants and (...) research context: This article focused on three cases of gendered caregiving for sick older members collected from a 6-month fieldwork conducted in a primary hospital in rural China. Ethical consideration: Approval was obtained from the university ethics committee. Findings: The empirical work highlights caregivers’ voices of weiqu (a sense of unfairness) resulting from their constrained choice when being pressured to engage in caregiving, which is associated with a disadvantageous socio-institutional and structural backdrop in current rural China. Informed by the conception of structural injustice, the normative analysis of this article traced various forms of social norms, structural deficiencies and ageing welfare institutions, as they intertwine and transmit into additional care deficiencies against rural families and their female caregivers. Conclusion: This article identified the constraint of gender hierarchy and its intersection with external social structure that exacerbate gendered oppression and exploitation of female labour in rural China. Normatively, this article argues that the current configuration of rural family care, featured by structural impediments and exploration of female labour, is unjust. Some policy recommendations are proposed to empower caregivers and advance care for rural older people. (shrink)

We extend Savage et al.'s music and social bonding hypothesis by examining it in the context of Chinese music. First, top-down functions such as music as political instrument should receive more attention. Second, solo performance can serve as important cues for social identity. Third, a right match between the tones in lyrics and music contributes also to social bonding.

Strong emotional relationships between parents and children are thought to be essential for developing a child's emotion of mattering, according to earlier research. Through the investigation of these relationships, the study aims to improve knowledge of the psychological and emotional elements that support normal growth in the population. To offer regulation for reinforcement of parental support networks in marginalized groups, it draws attention to the importance of these variables in determining the quality of attachment. This study explores the connection among (...) mattering (MAT) and Parental Attachment (PA) with a focus on the dynamics that affect Social Support (SS) and Self Efficacy (SE) between rural Chinese children. Validated questionnaires assessing PA, MAT, SS, SE, and Parental Support (PS) are utilized to collect data from a sample (190) of Chinese children living in rural areas. Significantly favourable connections, especially between MAT and PA, are revealed by correlation analysis. These results reveal avenues for improving the development of rural Chinese children by underlining the significance of social networks and emotional attachments in fostering psychological well-being. (shrink)

as "Zhuangzi" miscellaneous articles of, has always been, "Chuang Tzu", the miscellaneous articles of value, because after learning of the ideas for the works of Chuang Tzu, and more can not be restored by belittling its proper position. I intended to point of view of the text, faithfully showing Line in the narrative and the system, trying to whole text structure for their own "explanation", and then find out from its inside and outside the chapter even Department of points for (...) the macro view. This article discusses the steps: first, to reveal chapter of the subject, and a chapter author of the era, for a basic understanding; then its narrative form and content of the article to clarify the basic structure of argumentation, as indicators of this paper; final for direction of the overall discussion, summarize the central thesis, stated idea where. The "Old Fisherman" is the first chapter of Zhuang Zi's "Miscellaneous Chapters". Because of this, scholars have relegated it to an unimportant part of Zhuang Zi's thought. In this article, I hope to extract the logic and structure of Zhuang Zi's " Old Fisherman ". This in an attempt to show the" Old Fisherman "chapter contains a self-explanatory structure, which would link it to Zhuang Zi's" Inner Chapters "and" Outer Chapters ". This article would like to first show the importance of the "OId Fisherman" chapter giving a basic outline. Then I would like to expound on the method and contents of the "Old Fisherman", making clear its basic structure. Finally, I would like to address the question of the "Old Fisherman" chapter's purpose, sum up its basic tenets, and elucidate its philosophy. (shrink)

Blended learning motivation (BLM) is crucial for the success of blended learning, especially for students in higher vocational education and training institutions (HVETIs). This study investigates the impact of perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEU), and social presence (SP) on blended learning motivation. An online survey collected data from 714 students across 36 HVETIs in Chongqing City, China. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling to examine the relationships among the study variables. The findings indicate social presence, (...) perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness positively influence blended learning motivation. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use enhance blended learning motivation through social presence, even though the direct effect of perceived ease of use on social presence was unsupported, with perceived ease of use indirectly influencing social presence through perceived usefulness. This study highlights the social presence's pivotal role in promoting blended learning motivation and offering insights for developing a motivational, trust-based blended learning community for students, educators, and policymakers within blended learning environments. (shrink)

There are at least five kinds of causative constructions in Chinese, the constructions of the collocation of verbs and prepositional phrases, verb-copying constructions, “ba” constructions with an object ahead, verb-copying constructions with their complements, and pivotal constructions with commands. But the current type-logical grammar has no tools representing the meanings of causative constructions. It would be neither intuitive nor simple to describe these constructions by means of the current type-logical grammar. So we intend to improve the type-logical grammar by adding (...) CAUSE as a logical constant, complementing the structure rules about the movement and addition or deletion of some components of causative constructions, assigning categories to Chinese nouns and prepositions; then we give an intuitive as well as simple analysis on these causative constructions. Based on this work we shall extend the multimodal system of type-logical grammar, increase structure postulates, make constraints on frame semantics, and then prove the soundness and completeness of that system. (shrink)