Volume 16 Issue 6

As a form of heterotopian narrative within female-oriented online literature, ABO fiction reconstructs gender roles and social power relations through its triadic gender system of Alpha, Beta, and Omega. Based on an analysis of 35 texts and 279 survey responses, this paper examines the differences in physiological traits, personality types, and social status within ABO narratives. The power dichotomy between Alpha and Omega, alongside the marginalization of Beta, mirrors structures of oppression and resistance found in real-world gender systems. Meanwhile, non-mainstream pairings (such as AA and OO) offer narrative possibilities for gender equality. Although the entertainment-oriented nature of these stories may dilute their critical edge, ABO fiction nonetheless provides a space for young women to project emotional desires and engage in gendered social imagination.

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Primary-level governance concerns the well-being of the people. The community, as the core of primary-level governance, serves as the fundamental unit connecting the public with Party organizations and safeguarding people’s happiness. In response to the call for Party building serving the people, community governance experiences such as Wenzhou’s "Shared Society · Happy Neighborhood" have emerged at the social level; however, they face difficulties in effectively transitioning from "management" to "good governance." Based on this, relevant communities need to be guided by the goal of people's happiness, deepening multi-dimensional shared well-being collaboration under the leadership of branded primary-level Party building, to construct an ecosystem of happy communities. In the process of joint construction, governance, and sharing, community governance collectives, happy community collectives, and harmonious social collectives are built, thus helping to realize the free and comprehensive development of individuals.

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Against the backdrop of accelerating population aging in China and the multifaceted challenges confronting traditional elderly care models, the "home-institution integration" elderly care model has emerged. This model combines the warmth and familiarity of home-based care with the professional services offered by institutional care, serving as a crucial pathway for advancing the transformation and upgrading of elderly care services. Taking Ningbo City as a practical case, this study employs literature analysis, questionnaire surveys, and case studies to systematically examine the connotations, implementation pathways, and optimization strategies of the "home-institution integration" model. Findings suggest that by integrating resources through community platforms and extending institutional services to the household level, this model effectively enhances the accessibility and satisfaction of elderly care services. Ningbo’s efforts in policy support, smart platform development, and diversified service pilots provide replicable experiences that offer valuable insights for establishing a multi-tiered and sustainable elderly care service system in China.

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The rite of passage into adulthood is one of the most important rites of passage for the Mosuo people. The rite of passage into adulthood ceremony is held in the Spring Festival at the age of thirteen to declare that they have a complete life and have become adults with responsibilities from now on. Changing clothes is the core of the ceremony, in which the Daba and the Daba Scriptures play an important role in the ceremony. The rite of passage into adulthood has the unique functions of strengthening self-knowledge, family education, and transmission of Mosuo culture. The exploration of the origin, process, cultural significance and cultural connotation of rite of passage into adulthood can deeply reflect the value of Mosuo culture with ‘harmony’ as the main connotation, which is of great significance to the inheritance and promotion of the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation.

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This research focuses on the phenomenon of "refined egoism" and adopts Marxist theory as its analytical framework to construct a "logic-effect-dilemma-path" model. It systematically deconstructs the three-tiered generative logic of refined egoism, reveals its four-dimensional disintegration effect on collectivist values, and subsequently diagnoses five major structural dilemmas currently faced by Ideological and Political Education (IPE) in universities. Based on this, the paper innovatively proposes a six-dimensional path of integration. The aim is to respond to the construction demands of the "Great Ideological and Political Course" system, rebuild the spiritual cornerstone of collectivism in an era of growing individualism, and ultimately achieve a dialectical unity between personal pursuit and social contribution.

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In 2004, Japan enacted the Comprehensive Legal Aid Act. In the same year, its criminal legal aid system underwent a major reform: for the first time, the court-appointed defense counsel system for criminal suspects was incorporated into the Code of Criminal Procedure. Subsequent amendments have gradually expanded the scope of suspects eligible for court-appointed defense, marking a significant breakthrough in the development of Japan’s court-appointed defense counsel system. This reform further affirmed the state’s primary responsibility in providing criminal legal aid. Alongside the enactment of the Comprehensive Legal Aid Act, the Japan Legal Support Center was established as an operational and administrative body for various legal aid services. It is responsible for specific tasks such as the appointment of court-appointed attorneys and the payment of their remuneration, thereby ensuring the independence and professionalism of the court-appointed defense system. This institutional arrangement has led to a comprehensive enhancement of Japan’s legal aid mechanism and has created broader room for the application of court-appointed defense. According to the White Paper on Attorneys in Japan published by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations in 2021, the proportion of criminal cases in district courts where suspects applied for court-appointed counsel at the pre-indictment stage has been increasing year by year. This trend vividly illustrates the profound impact of Japan’s court-appointed defense reform on judicial practice. The concept of the court-appointed defense system may be understood in both a narrow and a broad sense. In the narrow sense, it generally refers only to the systems of court-appointed counsel for defendants and suspects. In the broader sense, however, Japan’s court-appointed defense system is a composite of multiple specific legal aid systems and should also include the system of court-appointed victim participation attorneys and court-appointed assistants. In practice, the Japanese legal community tends to operate based on this broader conception. A comprehensive understanding of the components of Japan’s court-appointed defense system, as well as a brief examination of its coordination with other criminal legal aid systems—such as the duty attorney system and the private defense counsel system—can offer valuable insights into the development and characteristics of Japan’s criminal legal aid framework.

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In view of the limitations of traditional empathy measurement methods—such as self-report questionnaires—due to social desirability bias and insufficient capture of dynamic processes, this study adopted an objective, video-based analysis approach to explore the behavioral characteristics of nursing students’ clinical empathy. Twenty-six undergraduate nursing students with no internship experience participated. Their interactions in six standardized simulated scenarios were video-recorded, followed by facial expression analysis and text analysis. NVivo 22.0 was used for linguistic emotion coding, combined with independent dual-coder behavioral coding (Kappa = 0.87). The results identified three core behavioral indicators of empathy in nursing students: nonverbal expressions of care, emotional synchrony, and collaborative problem-solving. Female students outperformed male students in nonverbal expressions of care and emotional synchrony, whereas male students showed stronger performance in collaborative problem-solving behaviors. In summary, this study is the first to systematically apply video analysis to assess nursing students’ empathy, providing a quantifiable behavioral observation tool for nursing education. It is therefore recommended that video feedback be incorporated into empathy training courses.

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Since the 1980s, countries around the world have gradually recognized the urgency of climate change and begun implementing various measures in response. As a key participant in global climate governance, the United States has nonetheless exhibited a lack of policy continuity. In the 1990s, the Clinton administration actively engaged in global climate governance, yet his successor, George W. Bush, immediately reversed this stance upon taking office by announcing the U.S. withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol. From the Bush administration to the Biden administration, the United States has continued to oscillate between “active climate policies” and “passive climate policies.” This paper draws on the theoretical framework of historical institutionalism to analyze this phenomenon. Over the past two decades, the trajectory of U.S. climate policy reveals an alternating interplay between two institutional logics: “critical junctures,” which represent moments of significant change, and “path dependence,” which reflects continuity shaped by past decisions. The partisan contestation between Democratic and Republican leaders over climate issues both reflects institutional ruptures caused by critical junctures and reveals the underlying path dependence beneath these ruptures.

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This study focuses on the localized practice of the "Post-View-Purchase-Post" consumption loop (also referred to as the “Pretty Food Cycle”) driven by the Xiaohongshu platform within the context of Guangzhou's food consumption. By deconstructing the loop’s operational dynamics across three dimensions—power agents, behavioral logic, and spatial order—empirical analysis reveals a structural conflict between the standardized digital loop logic (visual-first and fast-paced) and the genetic traits of Cantonese food culture (“wok hei” authenticity and slow-paced social dining). On the one hand, the loop mechanism reshapes culinary authority through a value definition model led by KOLs/KOCs (Key Opinion Leaders/Consumers) and collectively scored by users. On the other hand, it encounters strong resistance and revision from local cultural genes. For instance, the cultural reverence for “wok hei” leads to collective downrating of photogenic dishes that lack authentic cooking essence, while pragmatic consumerism gives rise to phenomena such as the popularity of the “8-yuan pork knuckle rice,” which deconstructs the aesthetic elitism of food presentation. This research reveals the dual effects of the loop mechanism in both adapting to and dissolving regional cultural symbols (such as "yāt jūng léuhng gin", i.e., a pot of tea and two dim sum pieces). It also develops a “Cultural Discount Rate” evaluation model to assess cultural risks (mild symbolization ≤ 20%, moderate authenticity loss 20–50%, severe alienation ≥ 50%). Furthermore, it proposes three principles for building a sustainable consumption loop: authenticity anchoring, intergenerational permeability, and algorithmic fairness. The study argues that the “Pretty Food Cycle” essentially functions as a tool of digital colonization. Ignoring the cultural discount effect may lead to a spatial restructuring characterized by “digital eateries displacing wok hei small shops”—as seen in the wave of dessert shop closures on Baohua Road. However, through the assertion of user rating rights (e.g., the 4.8 score comeback of “Ma Ji Store”), consumers demonstrate the counter-disciplinary potential of digital civic sovereignty against platform hegemony.

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This paper examines the financial crisis triggered by the collapse of Baring Brothers in 1890 due to failed investments in Argentina. It analyzes the historical context, the unfolding of the crisis, and its profound implications for the political and financial institutions of the British Empire. The study reconstructs in detail how the Bank of England, operating as an informal institution, organized the rescue and market intervention, thereby establishing its core function as the “lender of last resort.” In the aftermath of the crisis, Britain’s imperial capital strategy shifted from a model of global liberal expansion to one emphasizing institutionalization and controllability, marking a turn toward more prudent investment practices. This transformation contributed to the development of central banking and financial regulatory thought. The study argues that the Baring Crisis not only altered the trajectory of Britain’s financial policy but also provides a critical historical lens for understanding fragility and crisis management in the modern global financial system.

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