Male marriage squeeze and a sociodemographic portrait of involuntary bachelors in rural China

This study uses,primarily,the 2020 National Population Census data to comprehensively examine the phenomenon of the“male marriage squeeze”and provide a socio-demographic portrait of involuntary bachelors in rural China.The descriptive findings make clear the pronounced male marriage squeeze in rural China.In 2020,China recorded its highest historical sex ratio of marriageable population,reaching 110.The age-specific proportions of never-married men surpass those of women,particularly in rural areas where a significant proportion of men remain unmarried throughout their lives.Between 2010 and 2020,men in rural areas exhibited a notable trend of delayed marriage.The likelihood of rural men getting married steadily declined during this decade,with rural men significantly less likely to get married than urban men.In China,the concentration of involuntary bachelors is mainly in rural areas,characterized by lower socioeconomic status,and inferior living conditions.While educational qualification among involuntary bachelors in rural areas has improved,it still lags behind that of currently or previously married men.Another problem is that the elderly population in rural areas faces resource scarcity,increasing the reliance on the minimum subsistence allowance.Elderly involuntary bachelors are generally in poorer health than their married peers,and the health disparity is widening.To make matters worse,a high percentage of these men live alone.

Enhancing Evidence-Based Practice and Critical Thinking Skills of Nursing Students: Lessons from the Review of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Curriculum of the University of Zambia

Background: Making changes in the existing curriculum aims, objectives, course contents learning outcomes and assessment strategies have become a fact of life for nurse educators. Purpose: To enhance the existing Bachelor of Science (BSc) in nursing curriculum through integration of evidence-based practice (EBP) and teaching of critical thinking skills. Materials and Methods: A needs analysis was conducted using a five-phased approach to review the BSc in nursing Curriculum. Kern’s six-step model was adapted and introduced through a series of workshop exercises that highlighted the application of each step: 1) Desk review of the BSc curriculum offered globally;2) Administration of the needs assessment questionnaire to key informants;3) Strengths, weakness, opportunities and threat analysis;4) Consultative meeting with major stakeholders;5) Curriculum review. Results: The five-phased approach established some gaps in existing curricula, and identified critical core competences and best practices in integrating EPB and critical thinking in the BSc undergraduate curriculum and some “A” level content that was not in tandem with the practice of nurses. New courses were developed to support students in academic writing and enhance professionalism and duration of training was reduced from 5 to 4 years. Conclusion: The process demonstrated that BSc curriculum review, in fact, should be thoroughly scrutinized to encourage positive changes to the curriculum, provide opportunities for team building and the development of leadership skills and a whole-of course perspective on the curriculum.

The dichotomy that faces nursing tutorial staff

There is a requirement for tutorial staff teaching on a degree programme to be engaged in research activity on a continuing basis. This is often in conflict with the demands that tutors in the Bachelor of Nursing programme are required to have academic ability and clinical skills whilst at the same time, engage in meaningful research activity. This does not occur. A study of the literature finds a commonality of this dichotomy throughout the world. A question is raised as to the impact of the increasing age of the nursing workforce;does this have an impact on the develop-ment of a research culture? It is suggested that the joint project approach adopted by the WITT (Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki) School of Nursing will assist in overcoming some of the identi-fied issues and begin the development of a research culture within the School that will be ongoing.

Application of the Objective Structure Clinical Evaluation in Evaluating Clinical Competence for a BSN Program

Given the complex clinical situations and the dynamic nature of nursing, the greatest challenge for nursing educators is performing objective evaluation of students’ clinical competence. The Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE) is designed to address this challenge and it has been widely used in nursing education. However, its implementation in nursing education in Taiwan has been limited. Accordingly, a quasi-experimental design was utilized to examine students’ clinical performance and stress levels using a 12-station OSCE assessment. Further, we investigated the inter-rater reliability and internal consistency of the OSCE. After controlling for scores of clinical performance, overall differences in pre- and post-practicum stress in the OSCE group were significantly higher than in the control group (F (1, 89) = 4.89, p = 0.03). There was no group effect on practicum performance after controlling for grade point average (F (1, 89) = 2.69, p = 0.14). Cronbach’s alpha for 12 OSCE stations ranged from 0.22 to 0.80 and inter-rater reliability for all 12 stations showed Pearson’s r ranging between 0.76 and 1.00. Cohen’s kappa ranged from 0.70 to 1.00

A Contrastive Genre Analysis of English Abstracts of Bachelor's Degree Thesis:Economics and Humanities & Social Sciences

The move identification of the present study followed the four-move model of V.K.Bhatia who is the representative personage of ESP.It is composed of four moves(1993):Introducing purpose,Describing methodology,Summarizing results and Presenting conclusions.According to the above theory,Principles of the scientific method of sampling suggested by Nwogu(1997:121)as to the selection of journal were adopted in the study—representativity,reputation,accessibility.The focus is the analysis of move structures of abstract sections of them and contrastive studies between Economics and Humanities&Social Sciences of Lanzhou Jiaotong University in different moves of abstract sections.We find there are some similarities and differences between them.In general,the abstracts of Humanities&Social Sciences are more standard than Economics,which suggested English abstract sections of some Economics bachelor’s degree thesis need to be improved.

The Training of Future Teachers in Ukraine and China

This paper explores distinctive features of Bachelor of Education(B.Ed.)training at several well known Ukrainian and Chinese universities.Comparative analysis was performed taking into consideration important criteria in the educational process of the degree programs(legislative,social,organizational,technological).The Chinese experience is of particular interest to Ukrainian educators because of China’s ancient history and educational traditions.Radical changes took place in the education systems of both countries in the period of transition to a market-based economy in the 1990s and to knowledge-based societies.The contribution of the educational system to fast economic development of China has brought the county to second place among the largest economies in the world.The authors found similarities in the documentation on the organization of educational processes at the universities,the shared purpose of the training,the use of traditional forms of education,and the emphasis on the practical part of the training.At the same time,different features were found in the content of theoretical training,the organization of practical training,the approaches to innovation,the social benefits provided to teachers,the prestige of the teaching profession,principles of moral education,as well as financial and technical support.The authors considered a number of progressive ideas in China’s B.Ed.training,the implementation of which,at national and institutional levels in Ukraine,might contribute considerably to the modernization of pedagogical education.

The 7th Pong Ding Yuen International Symposium on Traditional Chinese Medicine cum the 10th Anniversary of the Full-time Bachelor of Chinese Medicine Programme Was Successfully Organized by the School of Chinese Medicine,the University of Hong Kong

The School of Chinese Medicine, the University of Hong Kong has organized the 7th Pong Ding Yuen International Symposium on Traditional Chinese Medicine cum the 10th Anniversary of the Full-time Bachelor of Chinese Medicine Programme on 1 December, 2012, and 2 December, 2012, in Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong.