Minority Language Issues in Chinese Higher Education:Policy Reforms and Practice among the Korean and Mongol Ethnic Groups

The purpose of this study is to compare Korean and Mongol minorities in the People’s Republic of China in terms of their native language preservation and educational experiences at the higher education level,and to investigate differences and similarities between Korean and Mongol minorities’language issues.Content area experts on Chinese minority education from China,South Korea,and the United States were interviewed for this study.Findings include suggestions for helping to formulate government educational policies regarding issues related to language in Chinese minority education at the higher education level.This information is helpful to better understand and educate others in school and home settings where Chinese ethnic minority students reside.The advancement of Chinese minority education knowledge related to higher education will significantly strengthen and empower individuals,families,and communities throughout the People’s Republic of China.

Inter-observer Reliability of Indicators and Decision of Pattern Identification Using Diagnostic Flowchart with Traditional Korean Medicine

Objective： To evaluate the consistency of patterns and pattern identification（PI）, and the improvement in the diagnosis of blood stasis after the standard operating procedures（SOPs） were enhanced by using a diagnostic flowchart. Methods： A total of 358 subjects who were admitted by the Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine between June 2013 and December 2014 were included in the study. Each patient was independently diagnosed by two experts from the same department. In 2014, the SOPs included the use of a diagnostic flowchart for each indicator. Inter-observer consistency was assessed by simple percent agreement and by the kappa and AC1 statistics. Results： The improvements in inter-observer agreement for the indicators（for al patients） and PI were greater in 2014 than in 2013. In 2013, the j-value measure of agreement between the two experts ranged from ＂poor＂（κ=–0.051） to ＂good＂（κ=0.968）. The AC1 measure of agreement between the experts was generally high for the indicators and ranged from –0.010 to 0.978. In most cases, agreement was considerably lower when it was assessed by the j-values compared with the AC1 values. In 2014, the j-value measure of agreement on the indicators（for the subjects） general y ranged from poor to good, with the values ranging from –0.007 to 0.994. Moreover, the AC1 measure of agreement between the experts was general y high for al of the indicators and ranged from ＂moderate＂（AC1=0.408） to ＂excel ent＂（AC1=0.996）. Conclusions： In four examinations, there was moderate agreement between the clinicians on the PI indicators of blood stasis. To improve clinician consistency（e.g., in the diagnostic criteria used）, it is necessary to analyse the reasons for inconsistency and to improve clinician training.（Trial registration No. KCT0000916）

Adjuvant Effects of Fermented Red Ginseng Extract on Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Treated with Chemotherapy

Objective： To investigate the adjuvant therapeutic effects of fermented red ginseng（FRG） extract on non-small cell lung cancer（NSCLC） patients treated with chemotherapy. Methods： A total of 60 patients with advanced NSCLC were assigned to two groups using a random number table, i.e., the gemcitabine plus cisplatin（GP） chemotherapy alone group（26 patients） and the FRG ＋ GP chemotherapy group（34 patients）, for 60-day treatment. Patients were then assessed according to the Fatigue Symptom Inventory, Chinese medicine symptoms score, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Self-Rating Depression Scale, Karnofsky Performance Status Scale, and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung. In addition, chemotherapy toxicity and tumor biomarkers were measured. Results： For NSCLC patients after chemotherapy, FRG extract significantly improved the FSI score, CM symptoms score, psychological status, physical conditions, and quality of life and reduced chemotherapy toxicity（P〈0.01）, but the expression levels of carcinoembryonic antigen, cytokeratin-19 fragments, and neuron-specific enolase were not significantly different between the chemotherapy alone and the FRG ＋ chemotherapy groups or between pre-and post-treatments（P〉0.05）. Conclusions： This study demonstrated that FRG extract had an adjuvant effect on advanced NSCLC patients treated with chemotherapy. Further studies with a larger sample size will verify the current findings.

The Effects of Recasts and Working Memory on the Development of Implicit and Explicit Knowledge

This paper aims to investigate the effects of recasts and working memory on the acquisition of Korean morphological causatives by advanced Chinese learners of Korean. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups： A experimental group and a control group. The experimental group received intensive recasts during task-based interaction, whereas the control group did not. The effects of recasts were measured by two types of tests： An elicited imitation test, as a measure of implicit knowledge, and an untimed grammaticality judgment test, as a measure of explicit knowledge. The findings are as follows. First, from the pretest to the delayed posttest, recasts facilitated the learners＇ acquisition of causative construction by developing both their implicit and explicit knowledge. Second, the results of delayed posttests showed that recasts were more effective in aiding the development of implicit knowledge than explicit knowledge. Third, working memory was found to be a significant covariate in the facilitative effects of recasts on explicit knowledge; that is, it mediated the development of explicit knowledge via recasts as a significant individual difference factor. The effects of recasts were maintained even when the impact of working memory was controlled. （189 words）

Pictorial Versions of the Mulian Story in East Asia （Tenth--Seventeenth Centuries）： On the Connections of Religious Painting and Storytelling

In this paper, I analyze pictorial representations of the Buddhist story of Mulian rescuing his mother in China, Japan, and Korea in the pre-modern and early modern periods. I have collected several pictorial versions of the Mulian story in these countries, and comparison shows close proximity of several such works. All of them are related to the narrative texts that represent elaboration of the originally scriptural story （it originated in the apocryphal Buddhist scripture that circulated in China） in vernacular languages. Images of the Mulian story in the countries of East Asia had diverse nature： they could appear as separate scenes in devotional religious paintings, multi-scene handscrolls, and illustrations in the manuscripts and editions. I argue that the subject of Mulian rescuing his mother was of primary importance in the popularization of Buddhist ideas among different layers of society. The related images were used for both storytelling and reading practices and helped different audiences to comprehend the Mulian story.

Distributions of Sasang constitutions and six syndromes in patients with functional dyspepsia and healthy subjects

OBJECTIVE:To investigated the characteristics of patients with functional dyspepsia(FD)in terms of Sasang constitutional medicine.METHODS:A total of 116 patients with FD were recruited based on diagnosis by gastroscopy and symptomatic measurements.The distributions of Sasang constitutions and six syndromes in terms of TKM theory in the patients was compared with those from 1423 healthy subjects.RESULTS:The distribution of Sasang constitutions for the patients with FD significantly differed from that for healthy subjects,especially among women;36.7%vs 45.6%for Taeumin,28.9%vs 33.9%for Soumin,and 34.4%vs 20.4%for Soyangin.Our results assumed a high prevalence in Soyangin women(around 1.7 folds),and Soumin(45.2%),inparticular,had a high prevalence of"deficiency and coldness of spleen and stomach"compared with Taeumin(14.9%)and Soyangin types(15.7%).CONCLUSION:This study identified a trend for the frequency of FD and the Sasang constitutions.The findings may provide new ideas for the study of prevention and management of FD.

Persistent low fertility among the East Asia descendants in the United States:perspectives and implications

We focus on a small but growing segment of the U.S.population,those who identify as Chinese,Japanese and Korean(CJK),and compare CJK fertility to other race/ethnic groups in the United States.CJK women in the U.S.exhibit a distinct,pervasive,and persistent pattern of late and low fertility with nearly all births occurring within marriage;this pattern displays a strong parallel to their counterparts in their countries of origin.To accompany this description,we offer a perspective on fertility difference that has broad applicability and that does not consistently predict that differences will disappear/remain.This discussion unites the literature on assimilation,segmented assimilation and pluralistic outcomes and processes.We also discuss the possible implications of these findings for country level policies to increase fertility.Most generally,these discussions are a corrective to demographer’s penchant for predicting secular change and convergence.