ObjectiveThe psychological condition of healthcare workers since the COVID-19 pandemic has attracted the attention of many studies. However, few have reported on psychosocial problems of primary healthcare workers in the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to examine the mediating roles of social support and resilience in COVID-19-related work stress and symptoms of anxiety and depression.MethodsA total of 840 primary healthcare workers in 17 community health centers in Guangzhou, China, were recruited from May to July 2021. Data on demographic characteristics, COVID-19-related (...) work stress, social support, resilience, anxiety and depression were collected. A structural equation model was used for mediation analysis.ResultsMore than half of participants reported mild or more severe symptoms of anxiety and depression. Social support and resilience mediate the association between COVID-19-related work stress and symptoms of anxiety and depression, respectively. Furthermore, the association between work stress and symptoms of anxiety and depression was also mediated by an accumulation of social support and resilience. The indirect effect of COVID-19-related work stress on anxiety and depression through resilience was much greater than other indirect effects.ConclusionAnxiety and depression were prevalent among primary healthcare workers. This study highlights the psychological impact of the COVID-19-related psychosocial work environment on primary healthcare workers. There is an urgent need to improve working conditions for primary healthcare workers in the COVID-19 and to implement intervention strategies aimed at increasing individual resilience alongside the establishment of external supportive work environments. (shrink)

Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, Volume 31, Issue 2, Page 562-576, April 2022.

Conceptual metaphor is characterized by two important features—systematicity and complexity. This article is primarily concerned with IDEA metaphors in Chinese and attempts to explore how systematicity and complexity have structured the IDEA metaphorical hierarchical system. Four principal IDEA metaphors are investigated, namely, “IDEAS ARE PEOPLE”, “IDEAS ARE PLANTS”, “IDEAS ARE OBJECTS”, and “IDEAS ARE FOOD”. It is found that the relationship between metaphors and human thought is systematic as well as complex and that systematicity and complexity of IDEA metaphors intertwine (...) with each other. (shrink)

Based on the institutional theory, this article attempts to examine two consecutive questions regarding the impact of various factors on corporate decision in environmental information disclosure (EID): (1) whether or not to disclose; and (2) the level of disclosure. The relevance of these factors is empirically tested using data collected from publicly listed manufacturing companies from 2006 to 2008 in China. Some interesting findings appear. We find that firms that are state-owned, those that operate in environmentally sensitive industries, those having (...) more industrial peers engaged in EID, and those with better reputation are more likely to disclose environmental information. When it comes to the content of EID, variables that attempt to capture external institutional pressures exhibit either no or weak explanatory power. Only the variable of organizational image and reputation is demonstrated to have a significant impact on both the act and the content of EID. This study provides a snapshot of the dialogues between constituencies in the organizational field and EID development. (shrink)

This study explores the relationship between individual birthplace [rural birthplace (RB) and urban birthplace (UB)] and consumer unethical behavior (CUB). As a result, CUB is verified to closely relate to individual birthplace, and those new urban residents with RB are found to behave more ethically than the patrimonial urban residents with UB in CUB4 (“no harm/no foul”). This study also finds that the differentiation of CUB between two categories of consumers is correlated with the personal moral ideology or Machiavellianism (MA) (...) functioning with varying degree, which idealism ideology is a main variable impacting on the unethical behaviors of the members born in the rural subculture while MA for those in the urban one. Additionally, the “no harm/no foul” (CUB4) and the “actively benefiting from a questionable action” (CUB3) in the list of CUBs are found to be more efficient in discriminating the two groups than the other two kinds, the “passively benefiting at the expense of others” (CUB2) and the “actively benefiting from an illegal activity” (CUB1). The results shed light on the roles of individual birthplace in influencing CUB and contribute to a better understanding on the effects of subculture on CUB. (shrink)

This paper examines the TCCEC (Traditional Chinese Culture Element Clothing) brand's challenges in integrating traditional Chinese cultural elements within a modern fashion context. Despite a unique artistic appeal, TCCEC faces market performance issues due to unclear positioning, misaligned product development, unengaging marketing, and subpar customer service. The study identifies these shortcomings using qualitative research methods and proposes strategies to enhance brand resonance, product relevance, marketing creativity, and customer satisfaction. The recommendations aim to improve TCCEC's market adaptability and serve as a (...) guide for other brands blending tradition with modernity. (shrink)

In decision-making involving multiple criteria or attributes, a decision maker first identifies all relevant evaluative attributes in making decisions. Then, a dominance principle is often invoked whenever applicable: whenever an option x is better than an option y in terms of some attribute and no worse than y in terms of any other attributes, x is judged to be better than y. If, however, this dominance principle is not applicable, then the decision maker determines the relative importance between the identified (...) evaluative attributes, consults with contextual features of the options under consideration, and makes a decision. It is shown that the combination of these principles runs into problems in the presence of rationality properties, such as transitivity, and a weak continuity requirement on decisions. The paper gives examples from welfare economics, and theories of individual and group decisions. (shrink)

Background Informed consent is often cited as the “cornerstone” of research ethics. Its intent is that participants enter research voluntarily, with an understanding of what their participation entails. Despite agreement on the necessity to obtain informed consent in research, opinions vary on the threshold of disclosure necessary and the best method to obtain consent. We aimed to investigate Australian researchers’ views on, and their experiences with, obtaining informed consent. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 researchers from NSW institutions, working (...) in various fields of research. Interviews were analysed and coded to identify themes. Results Researchers reported that consent involved information disclosure, understanding and a voluntary decision. They emphasised the variability of consent interactions, which were dependent on potential participants’ abilities and interests, study complexity and context. All researchers reported providing written information to potential participants, yet questioned the readability and utility of this information. The majority reported using signed consent forms to ‘operationalise’ consent and reported little awareness of, and lack of support in implementing more dynamic informed consent procedures, such as verbal informed consent, that was fit for the purposes of their studies. Views on Human Research Ethics Committees varied. Some reported inconsistent, arduous inputs on the information form and consent process. Others expressed reliance on HRECs for guidance, viewing them as institutional safeguards. Conclusions This study highlights the importance of transparent relationships, both between researchers and participants, and between researchers and HRECs. Where the relationship with study participants was reported as more robust, researchers felt that they were better able to ensure participants made better, more informed decisions. Where the relationship with HRECs was reported as more robust, researchers were more likely to view them as institutional safeguards, rather than as bureaucratic hindrances. Conscientious and mindful researchers are paramount to ensuring the procedure accommodates individual requirements. This study advocates that when designing ethical informed consent practices, researchers should be integrated as autonomous players with a positive input on the process, rather than, in the worst case, predatory recruiters to be curtailed by information forms and oversight. (shrink)

To explore the motivations underpinning corporate social responsibility (CSR) decisions in China, a country characterized by extensive government intervention, this paper investigates whether building a good relationship with the government is a political incentive that is driving firms to conduct CSR by examining the effects of political connections on the latter. Our results indicate that politically connected firms exhibit better CSR. However, the effect is considerably more significant for firms with existing political relationships. Additionally, findings show that the effect is (...) more prominent in firms for which political connections are more valuable, namely, non‐state‐owned enterprises, small firms, and firms operating in less market‐oriented cities, indicating that CSR can serve as a differentiation strategy to compete against other bidders. Dividing CSR activities into economic, environmental and social aspects, we find that the social‐based activities are more likely to be driven by political motivations. By categorizing CSR and political connections, this paper not only expands the scope of political CSR and renders the generated results that have been mixed together more distinguishable, but also provides a more precise understanding of the fundamental drivers of CSR in China from the perspective of resource exchange. (shrink)

Herring and mackerel are two of the most important pillars of Scottish fisheries. In recent years, global warming has caused a gradual rise in ocean temperatures. In order to survive and reproduce, herring and mackerel populations will migrate. This will have a huge impact on Scotland’s fisheries. Therefore, we need to predict the relocation of fish stocks in advance, make timely adjustments to the fishing range, and minimize the loss of the fishing industry. In this article, we subdivide the research (...) target sea area into 39 regions, establish the optimal SARIMA model for each region based on the collected seawater temperature time series data, and take region 13 and region 15 as examples to fit the ARIMA and ARIMA models with a period of 12. The results show that the SARIMA model fits well in all regions and predicts the temperature changes in the studied sea area from 2021 to 2050. Finally, according to the predicted sea temperature in different periods, the migration position of the fish school is predicted. (shrink)

Using a panel data of 806 U.S. firms from 2006 to 2015, we find that in their ratings of corporate social responsibility performance, firms with top managers who attended religiously affiliated schools outperform their peers with no such managers. The positive relationship between religious school attendance and CSR performance is stronger among firms with lower level of community religiosity or less external monitoring. Our findings lend support to early theoretical work that suggests managerial CSR-oriented values can be key motivating factors (...) for CSR initiatives. (shrink)

In this paper, finite-time tracking problem of nonholonomic mobile robots for a moving target is considered. First of all, polar coordinates are used to characterize the distance and azimuth between the moving target and the robot. Then, based on the distance and azimuth transported from the sensor installed on the robot, a finite-time tracking control law is designed for the nonholonomic mobile robot by the switching control method. Rigorous proof shows that the tracking error converges to zero in a finite (...) time. Numerical simulation demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed control method. (shrink)

Introduction : towards philosophy of scientific practice -- The origin of the concept of practice -- Scientific practice: significance, types and scopes -- The nature of scientific practice -- The nature of knowledge : the local knowledge -- Knowledge and power -- The contextual normativity of scientific practice -- Philosophy of scientific practice and naturalism (I) -- Philosophy of scientific practices and naturalism (II) -- Philosophy of scientific practice and relativism -- Partner of philosophy of scientific practice : philosophy of (...) scientific experimentation -- New empiricism : close relative of philosophy of scientific practice -- The starting point of scientific research: opportunity, question, or observation? -- New solution for the old problem : the relationship among observation, experiment and theory -- New studies on replicability of scientific experiment -- Local knowledge (I) : traditional chinese medicine (TCM) -- Local knowledge (II) : chinese theory of fengshui -- Local knowledge (III) : ethnobotany -- Conclusion : scientific practice in ongoing and unlimited process. (shrink)

In this paper, the stabilization problem of nonholonomic chained-form systems is addressed with uncertain constants. In this paper, the active disturbance rejection control is designed to solve this problem. The proposed control strategy combines extended state observer and adaptive sliding mode controller. The control of nonholonomic chained-form systems with dynamic nonlinear uncertain terms and uncertain constants is first discussed in this paper. In comparison with existing methods, the proposed method in this paper has better performance. It is proved that, with (...) the application of the proposed control strategy, semiglobal finite-time stabilization of the systems is achieved. An example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. (shrink)

The present study investigates reciprocal influences of parental homework support, effort, and math achievement, using two waves of data from 336 9th-graders. Results revealed that higher prior autonomy-oriented support and homework effort resulted in higher subsequent achievement. Higher prior content-oriented support led to higher subsequent effort, but lower subsequent achievement. Additionally, higher prior effort led to higher subsequent autonomy-oriented support. Furthermore, our results supported the structural path invariance over gender. The current investigation advances extant research, by differentiating two forms of (...) parental homework support (autonomy- and content-oriented support), and by showing their respective influences on subsequent homework effort and math achievement. (shrink)

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the decision regret scale. Methods: The data of 704 patients who completed the DRSc were used for the analyses. We evaluated the construct, convergent/discriminant, and known-group validity; internal consistency and test–retest reliability; and the item invariance of the DRSc. A receiver operating characteristic curve was employed to confirm the optimal cutoff point of the scale. Results: A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a one-factor (...) model fits the data. The internal consistency and test–retest reliability [intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.71] of the DRSc were acceptable. The DRSc demonstrated unidimensionality and invariance for use across the sexes. It was confirmed that an optimal cutoff point of 25 could discriminate between patients with high and low decisional regret during clinical practice. Conclusion: The DRSc is a parsimonious instrument that can be used to measure the uncertainty inherent in medical decisions. It can be employed to provide knowledge, offer support, and elicit patient preferences in an attempt to promote shared decision-making. (shrink)

With modern technological advances, distance education has become an increasingly important education delivery medium for, for example, the higher education provided by open universities. Among predictive factors of successful learning in distance education, the effects of non-cognitive skills are less explored. Grit, the dispositional tendency to sustain trait-level passion and long-term goals, has raised much research interest and gained importance for predicting academic achievement. The Grit Questionnaire, measuring Perseverance of Effort and Consistency of Interests, has been shown to be a (...) reliable instrument in traditional university student populations. However, the measurement and predictive validity of this questionnaire is still unknown for adult distance education university students who differ from traditional students in various ways. Based on a sample of 2,027 students from a distance education university, this study assessed the psychometric properties of the two-factor structure grit measured by the Grit Questionnaire. The findings suggest that the short form of the Grit Questionnaire is a potentially useful assessment tool for measuring the grit construct for distance learning higher education and that the Consistency of Interests factor is especially relevant to consider the improvement of learning performance for distance education in terms of courses credit and exam attempts. The measurement precision of the Perseverance of Effort factor, however, should be improved in future research to provide higher measurement accuracy and broader item coverage. (shrink)

In this article, based on the previous works, a new fractional-order financial model is put up. The chaotic behavior of the fractional-order financial model is suppressed by designing an appropriatePDϑcontroller. By choosing the delay as the bifurcation parameter, we establish the sufficient condition to guarantee the stability and the existence of Hopf bifurcation of fractional-order financial model. Also, the influence of the delay and the fractional order on the stability and the existence of Hopf bifurcation of fractional-order financial model is (...) revealed. An example is given to confirm the effectiveness of the analysis results. The main findings of this article play an important role in maintaining economic stability. (shrink)

In this paper, dynamic behavior analysis has been discussed for a class of switched complex-valued neural networks with interval parameter uncertainties and impulse disturbance. Sufficient conditions for guaranteeing the existence, uniqueness, and global robust exponential stability of the equilibrium point have been obtained by using the homomorphism mapping theorem, the scalar Lyapunov function method, the average dwell time method, and M-matrix theory. Since there is no result concerning the stability problem of switched neural networks defined in complex number domain, the (...) stability results we describe in this paper generalize the existing ones. The effectiveness of the proposed results is illustrated by a numerical example. (shrink)

This paper focuses on performance assessment of a freight network with stochastic capacities by using reliability analysis, in which a node denotes a supplier, a transfer center, a distribution center, or a market, while an arc denotes a logistics service provider offering the freight traffic service for a pair of nodes. Due to some uncertainties in real environment, the available capacity of the provider along each arc is stochastic. Thus, network reliability that at least d units of commodity demand can (...) be successfully delivered from the source to the destination denotes the operational performance of such a freight network. A d-minimal path–based method is developed to evaluate the freight network reliability. To advance the efficiency of solving d-minimal paths, an improved model is established by redefining capacity bounds of arcs and minimal paths. Furthermore, a new concept of expected capacity grounded on network reliability is presented to measure the service performance of the freight network. A practical case related to the coal delivery network is studied to demonstrate the implications of both network reliability and expected capacity. (shrink)

In this paper, the stability of switched neural networks with interval parameter uncertainties and time delays is investigated. First, the conditions for the existence and uniqueness of the equilibrium point of the system are discussed. Second, the average dwell time approach and M-matrix property are employed to obtain conditions to ensure the globally exponential stability of the delayed SNNs under constrained switching. Third, by resorting to inequality technique and the idea of vector Lyapunov function, sufficient condition to ensure the robust (...) exponential stability of the delayed SNNs under arbitrary switching is derived. The form of the constructed Lyapunov functions is simple, which has certain commonality in studying delayed SNNs, and the proposed results not only are explicit but also reveal the relationship between the constrained switching and the arbitrary switching of the SNNs. Finally, two numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness and less conservativeness of the main results compared with the existing literature. (shrink)

Resumen: Como educación estética, la educación musical no sólo necesita transmitir la belleza del arte, sino que también es una forma educativa de transmitir la belleza de la vida. Por lo tanto, con base en la estética de la vida y la connotación de la vida de la educación, la investigación discute la orientación de la vida de la educación musical de varios niveles desde múltiples perspectivas. La investigación analiza la estética vital de la música desde tres aspectos: lo limitado (...) y lo infinito, la existencia cultural del espíritu humanista y el isomorfismo del estado de vida. La discusión sobre la connotación de la vida educativa parte de tres aspectos: sobrevivencia, vivir y vivir. Sobre esta base, la investigación integra las dos teorías anteriores y discute la experiencia subjetiva-comunicación, cogniy emoción cognitiva en la educación musical. A través de la elaboración básica de la visión de vida de la educación musical, se puede encontrar que la educación musical es ayudar a los estudiantes a seguir una vida llena de arte, ayudándoles a desarrollarse armoniosamente. (shrink)

Community detection is one of the key research directions in complex network studies. We propose a community detection algorithm based on a density peak clustering model and multiple attribute decision-making strategy, TOPSIS. First, the two-dimensional dataset, which is transformed from the network by taking the density and distance as the attributes of nodes, is clustered by using the DBSCAN algorithm, and outliers are determined and taken as the key nodes. Then, the initial community frameworks are formed and expanded by adding (...) the most similar node of the community as its new member. In this process, we use TOPSIS to cohesively integrate four kinds of similarities to calculate an index, and use it as a criterion to select the most similar node. Then, we allocate the nonkey nodes that are not covered in the expanded communities. Finally, some communities are merged to obtain a stable partition in two ways. This paper designs some experiments for the algorithm on some real networks and some synthetic networks, and the proposed method is compared with some popular algorithms. The experimental results testify for the effectiveness and show the accuracy of our algorithm. (shrink)

Time-varying formation-containment problems for a second-order multiagent system are studied via pulse-modulated intermittent control in this paper. A distributed control framework utilizing the neighbors’ positions and velocities is designed so that leaders in the multiagent system form a formation, and followers move to the convex hull formed by each leader. Different from the traditional formation-containment problems, this paper applies the PMIC framework, which is more common and more in line with the actual control scenarios. Based on the knowledge of matrix (...) theory, algebraic graph theory, and stability theory, some sufficient conditions are given for the time-varying formation-containment problem of the second-order multiagent system. Some numerical simulations are proposed to verify the effectiveness of the results presented in this paper. (shrink)

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis, the public keeps getting epidemic-related information on the media. News reports on the increasing number of fatalities have exposed individuals to death, which causes negative emotional experiences such as tension, anxiety, and fear. This study aimed to investigate whether creativity could serve as an anxiety-buffer when mortality is salient. Based on previous findings, the present study utilized type of creative task and personal search for meaning as moderators. In Study 1, a 2 × (...) 2 between-subject design was utilized, and 168 subjects were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions. In Study 2, 221 subjects were recruited. The experimental procedure was similar to Study 1, except that the priming paradigm of mortality was changed and search for meaning was included as an additional moderating variable. State anxiety was measured as the dependent variable in both studies. Results of Study 1 showed that, while the benevolent creative task could buffer anxiety in the mortality salience condition, the malevolent creative task did not have the same effect. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction between mortality salience, type of creative task, and search for meaning in life on anxiety. In Study 2, the buffering function of benevolent creativity was more intense for participants with a higher level of search for meaning. Together, these findings reveal the influence of different types of creative tasks on individual anxiety levels under death priming conditions and the moderating effect of search for meaning in this relationship. Further, they suggest the need to focus on the role of creativity in terror management. (shrink)

Mechanical pain sensing, adipogenesis, and STING‐dependent innate immunity seem three distinct biological processes without substantial relationships. Intriguingly, TMEM120A, a transmembrane protein, has been shown to detect mechanical pain stimuli as a mechanosensitive channel, contribute to adipocyte differentiation/function by regulating genome organization and promote STING trafficking to active cellular innate immune response. However, the role of TMEM120A as a mechanosensitive channel was challenged by recent studies which cannot reproduce data supporting its role in mechanosensing. Furthermore, the molecular mechanism by which TMEM120A (...) contributes to adipocyte differentiation/function and promotes STING trafficking remains elusive. In this review, we discuss these multiple proposed functions of TMEM120A and hypothesize the molecular mechanism underlying TMEM120A's role in fatty acid metabolism and STING signaling. (shrink)

This study enriches the literature on entrepreneurial decisions by investigating the antecedents of the synergetic use of causal and effectual logic. Based on entrepreneurial metacognition and emotional complexity theories, we argued that the emotional complexity of an entrepreneur, referred to as the granular experience of, or variety in, experienced emotions during the entrepreneurial task, would contribute to the synergetic use of decision logic. With survey data gathered from 218 Chinese entrepreneurs, we found that entrepreneurs with higher emotional complexity are more (...) likely to adopt two types of entrepreneurial logic in tandem, and cognitive flexibility mediates this positive relationship. Thereby, this study helps to unravel some of the complexities behind the choice of decision logic of entrepreneurs. (shrink)

This study explorers whether the relative impacts of brand identification and identification with other users of brand pages on brand loyalty vary according to consumers’ regulatory focus. By integrating social identification theory with regulatory focus theory, this study adopts a dual identification framework to compare the differential impacts of promotion regulatory fit and prevention regulatory fit on brand loyalty. Besides, the moderating effects of product type on the relationship between promotion/prevention regulatory fit and brand loyalty are further investigated. Finally, this (...) study uses different combinations of information technology affordances in order to examine their influences on each identification target. The current study adopts a qualitative methodology and involved conducting semi-structured interviews with 27 brand page users in regard to IT affordances and their subdimensions. The research model was empirically tested using a cross-country comparison of data collected from surveys conducted in China and the United States. The results support our hypotheses and confirm the differential effects of promotion and prevention regulatory fit on brand loyalty. Theoretically, our study enhances our understanding of the relative effect of dual identification on brand loyalty on social media. Practically, our study delivers insights for companies into how social media brand pages can be used as a strategic tool to achieve brand values. (shrink)

Application of artificial intelligence is accelerating the digital transformation of enterprises, and digital content optimization is crucial to take the users' attention in social media usage. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate how social media content reaches and impresses more users. Using a sample of 345 articles released by Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises on their official WeChat accounts, we employ the self-determination theory to analyze the effects of content optimization strategies on social media visibility. It is found (...) that articles with enterprise-related information optimized for content related to users' psychological needs achieved higher visibility than that of sheer enterprise-related information, whereas the enterprise-related information embedded with material incentive brings lower visibility. The results confirm the positive effect of psychological needs on the diffusion of enterprise-related information, and provide guidance for SMEs to apply artificial intelligence technology to social media practice. (shrink)

This study develops a short Creative Expression Interest Scale among Chinese freshmen based on the perspective of item response theory. Nine hundred fifty-nine valid Chinese freshmen participated in the Creative Expression Interest survey. Researchers applied the initial data for unidimensionality, item fit, discrimination parameter, and differential item functioning to obtain a short CEIS. The results show that the Short CEIS meets the psychometric requirements of the IRT. Pearson correlation coefficient of theta between the short and long CEIS is 0.922. The (...) marginal reliability of the short CEIS is 0.799. These indicate that the short CEIS developed in this study among Chinese freshmen, meets the psychometric requirements. Although the Short CEIS can eliminate redundant, uninformative items, save time, and improve the quality of data collection. However, the validity of this short scale needs further validation. (shrink)

NIMBY projects are easily stigmatized due to their environmental risk. Stigmatization enlarges residents’ risk perception, urges residents to spread information, and takes actions to resist project implementation, causing environmental mass emergency. Taking paraxylene project as an example, information dissemination model of NIMBY project under stigmatization based on SEIR model in small world network was established, and the information dissemination process and characteristics of NIMBY project under stigmatization were simulated and analysed. The results show that the public risk perception deviation caused (...) by stigmatization promotes residents to disseminate information; stigmatization has a greater impact on the information dissemination of NIMBY project with low environmental risk; stigmatization accelerates the speed of information dissemination and increases the number of residents participating in information dissemination in different dissemination environment. The contribution of this paper is that SEIR model in small world network is used to verify the role of stigmatization in promoting information dissemination of NIMBY project by comparing the information dissemination before and after stigmatization. (shrink)

In order to solve the problem of node information loss during user matching in the existing user identification method of fixed community across the social network based on user topological relationship, Two-Stage User Identification Based on User Topology Dynamic Community Clustering algorithm is proposed. Firstly, we perform community clustering on different social networks, calculate the similarity between different network communities, and screen out community pairs with greater similarity. Secondly, two-way marriage matching is carried out for users between pairs of communities (...) with high similarity. Then, the dynamic community clustering was performed by resetting the different community clustering numbers. Finally, the iteration is repeated until no new matching user pairs are generated, or the set number of iterations is reached. Experiments conducted on real-world social networks Twitter-Foursquare datasets demonstrate that compared with the global user matching method and hidden label node method, the average accuracy of the proposed UIUTDC algorithm is improved by 33% and 26.8%, respectively. In the case of only user topology information, the proposed UIUTDC algorithm effectively improves the accuracy of identity recognition in practical applications. (shrink)

The study examined the development of Chinese as a second language learners’ formulaic knowledge through comparing the processing of Chinese idioms versus non-idiomatic formulaic sequences (FSs) by advanced-level learners (ALs), super-advanced learners (SLs), and native speakers (NSs). Using two phrase acceptability judgment tasks with and without think-aloud protocols, we collected data on participants’ processing accuracy, processing speed, and processing strategies of reading the two types of FSs. Four processing patterns emerged from the analyses of the datasets. First, learners’ processing accuracy (...) and speed increased along with their proficiency. Second, learners’ idiom processing ability was generally lower than that of non-idiom processing ability, but they demonstrated an improving trend as their proficiency level increased. Third, learners’ use of processing strategies did not change much as proficiency rose and demonstrated a categorical difference from NSs. Fourth, all three groups exhibited poorer productive idiom knowledge than productive non-idiom knowledge. The overall findings denote that second language learners’ formulaic knowledge can evolve beyond the lexical plateau as learners move from the advanced to a higher proficiency level, but the productive idiom knowledge can be a long-term problem. The findings provide implications for measuring and teaching Chinese formulaic knowledge at the higher-than-advanced stage. (shrink)