Harrisburg Area Community College

BackgroundCOVID-19 epidemic has lasted for nearly 3 years, and revolutionized social life. In the study, in-depth interviews were conducted with Chinese undergraduate students to explore their understanding and experience of meaning in life. Meaning of life is interpreted from four aspects: life goals, life value, life enthusiasm, and life freedom. These four aspects are independent yet interrelated. Based on the free grasp of life, individuals explore and pursue the true meaning of life goals, acquire life value in evaluating the completion of life goals, and subsequently experience enthusiasm for life. Life enthusiasm and the perception of life value can help individuals to further understand and possess their meaning of life.Materials and methodsThe present study adopts the qualitative method to understand the experience of meaning in life among Chinese undergraduate students. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and six people participated the study. The Grounded Theory was adopted to analyze the qualitative data.Results(1) Chinese undergraduates had clear life goals and obtained a certain sense of achievement and satisfaction when striving for these goals. (2) The life value of Chinese undergraduates was mainly to their families, but there was also a willingness to make due contributions to the country and society. (3) Chinese undergraduates’ feelings about life were polarized, but they all expressed the view of “living in the moment and cherishing the present.” (4) Chinese undergraduate students see life freedom as freedom of choice and generally believed that COVID-19 did not restrict their lives very much. (5) Chinese undergraduate students gained a deeper understanding of meaning in life after this major public health emergency.

BackgroundThe stigma of internet surfing is a relatively new area of study arising from the popularity of the internet. The Questionnaire on the Internal Stigma of Internet Surfing-9 (QISIS-9) was developed for the Chinese culture, so its suitability for use in other cultural contexts is uncertain. This paper examines the measurement invariance of the QISIS-9 among Sino-Australian undergraduates to verify the cross-cultural measurement invariance of QISIS-9 and promote cross-cultural (nationality) research regarding the internal stigma of internet surfing.MethodsThe Internal Stigma of Internet Surfing-9 (QISIS-9) was used to assess 200 Chinese undergraduates (50% female, Mage = 19.78) and 204 Australian undergraduates (76% female, Mage = 21.10), respectively.ResultsA confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated that the single-factor model of QISIS-9 is acceptable with both Chinese and Australian undergraduates. However, the factor loading of Item 9, to which a reverse score is assigned, is not ideal for both samples. Thus, the item should be deleted. According to a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA), QISIS-8, the revised version of QISIS-9, meets the strict measurement invariance among the Chinese and Australian participants. The QISIS-8 demonstrated appropriate internal consistency in the scores for both the Chinese and Australian undergraduates.ConclusionThe new QISIS-8 can effectively assess the internal stigma of internet surfing among Chinese and Australian undergraduates, and it provides a frame of reference for further cross-cultural (border) comparisons.

Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought about radical changes in social life. The study focuses on a special group, Chinese undergraduate students with left-behind experiences. Specifically, the study addresses how such students feel and grasp the meaning in life and how they adapt to the current social environment after experiencing the impermanence of life. The correlation between the meaning in life and social adjustment in the post-epidemic period is evaluated.Methods: The Meaning in Life Scale and the Social Adjustment Scale were used to test 988 undergraduate students. Multi-factor analysis, correlation, regression, and dominance analysis were performed on the test results.Results: (1) During the epidemic, Chinese undergraduate students generally had low meaning in life scores, including below-average values for life goals, and middle-range scores for social adjustment. (2) Having or not having left-behind experiences had an important influence on the meaning in life and social adjustment of undergraduates: undergraduates with left-behind experiences performed better than those without left-behind experiences in terms of meaning in life, while their social adjustment was weaker than those without left-behind experiences. (3) The zest for life and freedom of life of undergraduates in both groups negatively predicted social adjustment, and zest for life preferentially influenced social adjustment. Zest for life also had a significant effect on life value in the group without left-behind experiences. Zest for life was a priority factor influencing social adjustment.Conclusion: The epidemic and left-behind experiences are important factors influencing the relationship between meaning in life and social adjustment among Chinese undergraduate students.

Data mining methods in biomedical research might benefit by combining genetic algorithms with domain-specific knowledge. The objective of this research is to show how the evolution of treatment rules for autism might be guided. The semantic distance between two concepts in the taxonomy is measured by the number of relationships separating the concepts in the taxonomy. The hypothesis is that replacing a concept in a treatment rule will change the accuracy of the rule in direct proportion to the semantic distance between the concepts. The method uses a patient database and autism taxonomies. Treatment rules are developed with an algorithm that exploits the taxonomies. The results support the hypothesis. This research should both advance the understanding of autism data mining in particular and of knowledge-guided evolutionary search in biomedicine in general.

This article demonstrates geography's role as an integrative discipline and its utility in connecting students to the world around them. A case study links China's demography and its geopolitics to the lives of U.S. students. The relationship of China's population pressures to its resulting economic growth, need for economic resources, and geopolitical efforts are examined using the concepts and holistic capabilities that are the academic strength of geography.

Many contemporary theologies have given considerable attention to the inbreaking work of God whereby the Spirit imbues creation with life and vitality, but in the process the seriousness of the destructive forces that plague the world has been overlooked. This oversight not only has significant theological consequences, but it also generates a tension with scientific postulates about physical reality. Paradoxically, increasing complexity, including emergent life systems, arise in spite of the overarching conditions. I posit from a theological perspective that the Spirit acts within the world to generate pockets of organization out of disorder. The Spirit not only was present and active at initial creation but also continues to act within the cosmos, sustaining the natural order and giving rise to innovative acts of creation. The world, which groans for and anticipates transformation, experiences local decreases in entropy as proleptic events of God's inbreaking kingdom. This theological hypothesis provides the framework for considering an eschatological response to the world's decay.

An 18-year-old stunt water-skier collided with a stationary boat, causing an impact to his right flank and thigh. Imaging studies revealed spondylolisthesis, fractures to the transverse processes of three lumbar vertebrae, and a single right kidney, which was uninjured. The kidney lay slightly anterior to the normal position, making it more vulnerable to injury. Consequently, the patient was advised to avoid water- skiing and all collision sports. This case points up the dilemmas physicians may face when treating athletes who have just one member of a paired organ.

Abstract No administrative position appears to be more pivotal in facilitating grassroots change in the community college than that of the department or division chairperson. However, no one, until the present effort, has systematically assessed two-year college chairpersons to determine what they perceive their staff development needs to be. The results of the present study indicate that preservice and inservice training received by chairpersons was generally nominal, and that self-improvement activity appears weak. Further, the respondents reported extensive and serious needs related to knowledge of the community college, managerial skills, personnel matters, administrative matters, curriculum and instruction, student personnel services, and some 18 other possible training needs ranging from the law and higher education to the effective use of a secretary. Chairpersons were also asked to indicate what they consider to be the most convenient times and conditions for inservice training. They suggest that they would seek out substantially more training than they do if better funding, time, and site configurations were made available. Finally, concrete recommendations are made to increase the availability of training of two-year college chairpersons.

While the need for community college faculty development has evolved into a top priority issue over the last decade, collective bargaining has become a significant influence on the programs and policies of two-year campuses in many states. The following study examines the trends of collective negotiations as they affect inservice education, through an examination of collective bargaining agreements. The findings indicate that few colleges declare the purpose of faculty development to be increased teaching effectiveness or link participation in professional growth activities with reward for that participation. Few colleges include faculty on inservice planning bodies. However, facilitating policies for staff development exist in significant numbers of agreements, providing for inservice days, leaves of absence, sabbaticals, tuition reimbursement for formal study, and released time for innovative program development. In all, the trend is presently one of negotiation of provisions in a piecemeal fashion rather than one with the goal of establishing comprehensive professional improvement programs.