Article
Assessing college critical thinking: preliminary results from the Chinese HEIghten® Critical Thinking assessment
Assessing student learning outcomes has become a global trend in higher education. In this paper we report on the validation of the Chinese HEIghten™ Critical Thinking assessment with anationally representative sample of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science students from 35 institutions in China. Key findings suggest that there was a test delivery mode effect favoring the paper tests over the online tests. In general the psychometric quality of the items was satisfactory for low-stakes, group-level uses but there were a few items with low discrimination which awaits further investigation. The relationships between test scores and various external variables such as college entrance examination scores, university elite status, and student perceptions of the test were as expected. We conclude with speculations for the key findings and discussion of directions for future research.
The article dwells on the organization and activities of the Soviet advisors group, which assisted to the South China government of Sun Yatsen, its participation in financing Kuomintang political and military projects. The author pointed out that the main aim of the advisors group efforts was to form new Kuomintang power institutions and to bring its policy and army under control, for all that the tactics of implementation of strategy aim were constantly changing.
The article gives an overview of influence of stock market discrimination on market value of companies in China. There are two types of shares on Chinese stock market: class A shares, which are available for domestic investors, and class B shares, which are available for foreign investors. Such market structure is not a unique Chinese market's feature. It is also used in such countries as Finland, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, etc. What differs Chinese market from markets with similar structure is the fact that class B shares are traded with substantial discount to class A shares. Such a situation is explained by such factors informational asymmetry between domestic and foreign investors; different liquidity of different classes of shares; diversification effect, connected with investment in Chinese stock market; size of companies; ratio of amounts of shares of different classes; stock exchange where company's shares are traded.
The paper explores the evolution of trade and economic relations between Russia and Myanmar in 1948-2018. The author compares the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Myanmar cooperation with China, India and Russia, highlighting their features and prospects. Summarizing the results, the author states that, despite the currently modest volumes of trade and investment, the potential for developing foreign economic relations between Russia and Myanmar is very high. However, Myanmar is an important link in the regional strategies of China and India, which also belong to the BRICS and the SCO. Therefore, it is impossible for Russia to build its political and economic ties with Myanmar without taking these aspects of regional relations into account.
Modern capitalism favors values that undermine our face-to-face bonds with friends and family members. Focusing on the post-communist world, and comparing it to more 'developed' societies, this book reveals the mixed effects of capitalist culture on interpersonal relationships. While most observers blame the egoism and asocial behavior found in new free-market societies on their communist pasts, this work shows how relationships are also threatened by the profit orientations and personal ambition unleashed by economic development. Successful people in societies as diverse as China, Russia, and Eastern Germany adjust to the market economy at a social cost, relaxing their morals in order to obtain success and succumbing to increased material temptations to exploit relationships for their own financial and professional gain. The capitalist personality is internally troubled as a result of this "sellout," but these qualms subside as it devalues intimate qualitative bonds with others. This book also shows that post-communists are similarly individualized as people living in Western societies. Capitalism may indeed favor values of independence, creativity, and self-expressiveness, but it also rewards self-centeredness, consumerism, and the stripping down of morality. As is the case in the West, capitalist culture fosters an internally conflicted and self-centered personality in post-communist societies.