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From ancient times to the early twentieth century, nearly 40 distinct ancient writing systems of China’s ethnic minorities coexisted with Chinese characters, forming a richly diverse “garden of scripts.” From the perspective of the general theory of writing systems, this paper examines the relationship between language and mnemonic symbols as exemplified by the Poya Songbook, the Ersu Shaba pictographs, and the Naxi Dongba pictographs. It argues that the evolution from mnemonic symbols to syllabic writing systems inherently involves the process of homophonic borrowing. The antiquity of a writing system should not be evaluated solely based on its appearance or communicative function; rather, greater emphasis should be placed on its connection to fixed speech units. Furthermore, this paper explores how the word-formation methods of these ancient writings have enriched the traditional Chinese theory of Liushu (the “Six Methods” of character formation) and investigates the factors and primary motivations driving an ethnic group’s decision to adopt a script for recording their native language.

As the popularity of project‐based learning grows, so does the importance of understanding how this instructional approach can support students’ learning and development. The authors describe a project‐based approach to literacy and social studies instruction that research has shown to be effective. Key characteristics of the approach and illustrations of how those characteristics are enacted in a project‐based learning geography unit are identified. In the unit, students develop informational reading and persuasive writing skills and learn key social studies content and skills by engaging in the development of brochures about their local community for an authentic audience. The authors also describe how educators can navigate common challenges that can arise when transitioning to a project‐based approach.

The global burden of disease attributable to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) remains unknown. We aimed to estimate the global incidence of and mortality from episodes of acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) due to RSV in children younger than 5 years in 2005. We estimated the incidence of RSV-associated ALRI in children younger than 5 years, stratified by age, using data from a systematic review of studies published between January, 1995, and June, 2009, and ten unpublished population-based studies. We estimated possible boundaries for RSV-associated ALRI mortality by combining case fatality ratios with incidence estimates from hospital-based reports from published and unpublished studies and identifying studies with population-based data for RSV seasonality and monthly ALRI mortality. In 2005, an estimated 33·8 (95% CI 19·3–46·2) million new episodes of RSV-associated ALRI occurred worldwide in children younger than 5 years (22% of ALRI episodes), with at least 3·4 (2·8–4·3) million episodes representing severe RSV-associated ALRI necessitating hospital admission. We estimated that 66 000–199 000 children younger than 5 years died from RSV-associated ALRI in 2005, with 99% of these deaths occurring in developing countries. Incidence and mortality can vary substantially from year to year in any one setting. Globally, RSV is the most common cause of childhood ALRI and a major cause of admission to hospital as a result of severe ALRI. Mortality data suggest that RSV is an important cause of death in childhood from ALRI, after pneumococcal pneumonia and Haemophilus influenzae type b. The development of novel prevention and treatment strategies should be accelerated as a priority. WHO; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Opioids are one of the most important and effective drug classes in pain medicine with a key role in most medical fields. The increase of opioid prescription over time has led to higher numbers of prescription opioid misuse, abuse and opioid-related deaths in most developed OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries around the world. Whilst reliable data on the prevalence of opioid treatment is accessible for many countries, data on Germany specifically is still scarce. Considering Germany being the largest country in the European Union, the lack of evidence-based strategies from long-term studies is crucial. The aim of this work is to review and summarise relevant published literature on the prevalence of opioid prescription in Germany to adequately inform health policy strategies. A systematic review of the epidemiology of opioid prescription in Germany was conducted, searching PubMed and Web of Science. Eligibility criteria were defined prior to conducting the search. Literature concerning Germany, published in English and German was included and the search was replicated by three independent researchers. Two levels of screening were employed. Disagreement was resolved by face-to-face discussion, leading to a consensus judgement. Our electronic search yielded 735 articles. Reviewing titles and abstracts yielded 19 relevant articles. Three authors examined each article's full text more closely and determined that twelve papers should be included. Of the twelve identified studies-with publication dates ranging from 1985 to 2016-six were retrospective cross-sectional studies and six were retrospective repeated-measures cross-sectional studies. Sample sizes ranged from 92,842 to ≈ 11,000,000 participants. Data sources of included studies showed vast heterogeneity. The reviewed literature suggested an increase in the number of patients with opioid prescriptions and defined daily doses of opioids per recipient in Germany over time. The majority of opioid prescriptions was used for patients with non-cancer pain. Opioid use was more common in older people, women and in the north of Germany. Fentanyl was shown to be the most prescribed strong opioid in outpatient settings in Germany, despite not being the first-line choice for chronic pain conditions. All data published before 2000-but none of the more recent studies-suggested an insufficient treatment of pain using opioids. There were no signs for a current opioid epidemic in Germany. Despite some limitations of the review and the heterogeneity of studies, it can be stated that the number of opioid prescriptions overall as well as the number of people receiving opioid treatment have increased over time. Most prescriptions were found to be for strong opioids and patients with non-cancer pain. Even though patterns of opioid prescription follow trends observed in other developed countries, there are no signs of an opioid epidemic in Germany. Therefore, this review could currently not find a need for urgent health policy interventions regarding opioid prescription practices. However, critical gaps in the literature remain and more research is needed to make more reliable judgements.

TESOL professionals have published extensively in the last two years about AI's benefits for teaching and learning English, with critique for the use of AI in TESOL mainly focusing on its implications for classrooms and schools. Using Paris and Alim's framework for culturally sustaining pedagogies (CSP), I argue that the outsized environmental impact of AI compared to other classroom tools ought to be considered, especially regarding AI's environmental impact on non-English speaking countries and the forced migration that is often the result of climate change. A natural extension of CSP is to consider the global impact of an instructor's choices, with the express intention of maintaining the viability of students' home countries. Although I do not advocate for instructors never using AI, I argue that just like any other tool, it is worth weighing its pros and cons prior to its implementation, and, for AI, this includes the magnitude of its environmental impact compared to other tools.

Generative models are artificial intelligence systems that can create humanlike text, pictures, and videos by learning from complex datasets. They use deep learning techniques to understand and replicate the patterns, contents, and structure of language. The research aims to investigate the attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of science educators in Lagos State regarding the use of Generative AI (GAI) in the teaching of Chemistry. The study adopted a well-structured electronic questionnaire for data collection. Then it was subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics using one-way Analysis of variance (ANOVA). The study revealed no significant difference in Chemistry educators' perception of GAI between educators' gender and teaching experience. This implies that the gender and experiences of the Science educators do not determine the possession of GAI knowledge or enthusiasm to teach it in teaching and learning. In conclusion, 21st-century science educators are more conversant with GAI and are ready to explore its use. Furthermore, administrators with 10 years and above experience are very enthusiastic about the technology due to the ease of delivering their duties. One hundred (100) educators are chosen from the district (V) out of 140 teachers registered with the state public school in Lagos state using simple random techniques.    

This qualitative study examines moments in the multilingual classroom when materials become prominent in whole-class interactions. Despite the critical impact that materials can have on classroom discourse and learning/teaching, research on actual usage of materials in second language (L2) classroom interactions has been scarce compared with the effort devoted to the development and assessment of L2 materials (Guerrettaz & Johnston, 2013). This study examines students' and instructors' use of materials in a multilingual writing classroom, focusing on the roles of textbooks, teacher-prepared worksheets, and a projection screen. The study illustrates the relationship between materials and miscommunication—specifically, how materials can contribute both to resolving miscommunication among students and their instructor and to creating miscommunication when students employ materials differently than intended by the instructor. This study employs the concepts of adaptation, improvisation, and attractor states from complexity theory (e.g., Larsen-Freeman, 2017) to analyze L2 classroom interactions. A sequential, multimodal analysis demonstrates that students and their instructor seem to be aware of materials as interactional resources and actively coordinate them with speech and nonverbal, embodied resources for meaning making. The findings improve our understanding of how L2 teachers and students can attend to materials and adapt such interactional resources for their own purposes.

Abstract Scientific writing is an important skill for cancer researchers. The training and mentoring of researchers in their early careers can positively impact both their short- and long-term goals in sharing science and consequently improving cancer care for their societies. In this reflection, we outline top ten lessons that we learned from the scientific writing workshop held in September and November 2021 by the American Association for Cancer Education (AACE). We hope that this reflection might inform early-career cancer researchers about the importance of writing in science and strengthen the skills they need to develop in order to get their research published.

Purpose: Following the outcry of several employers that many higher education (HE) graduates do not possess employability skills and therefore are not employable, the purpose of this paper, therefore, is to examine what the labour market (LM) actually demands from the higher education institutions (HEIs) and how the demands of the LM can be met by the HEIs in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on interviews and focus group with 28 university professors, executives of the students' industrial work scheme (SIWES), industry executives, executive officers of the Directorate of Employment and the HE course/programme leaders that revealed substantial information about what the LM actually requires from the HE, and how the HE can meet the demands of the LM in terms of supply of quality graduates. Findings: The key findings reveal that with adequate teaching resources and competent teachers, graduate employability skills (technical and soft), which the LM demands from the HEIs, can be imparted to the students. Concerning LM and HEIs partnerships, it is found that understanding the demands of the LM by the HEIs can enhance the graduates' outcomes and their prospects in the LM. Research limitations/implications: The study argues that the graduate employability is still relevant to the existing practice, but further engagement and research surrounding how the HEIs in the developing countries, especially Nigeria, can meet the actual demands of the LM in terms of competent graduates are needed to examine this range of HE. Originality/value: The study provides significant suggestions on the improvement needs of the HE teachers to inspire and motivate students to increase the knowledge (know-how), skills (how to do), self-efficacy (effectiveness) and qualities (technical and creative knowledge) required by the LM.

PurposeThis study contributes to the current body of literature on students' understanding of academic misconduct, plagiarism, forms of plagiarism, the reasons they plagiarize, the sanctions imposed by academics for plagiarizing and the methods to address plagiarism in written assessments within the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Guyana, which was investigated in 2021.Design/methodology/approachThe research design was descriptive and grounded in the pragmatism paradigm. The methodology employed was quantitative, consisting of the collection of data through an online, self-administered questionnaire-based survey.FindingsThe results showed that despite students having a conceptual understanding of academic misconduct and plagiarism, they intentionally and unintentionally plagiarized their written assessments, mainly because of the assessment workload (64.9%), busy schedule (52.8%), not understanding the assessment (46.3%) and not knowing how to correctly cite sources (44.6%). Prevalent forms of plagiarism committed by students included finding synonyms for the author’s language while keeping to the same general structure and meaning of the original work (48%) and neglecting to cite sources, misquote sources or unintentionally paraphrase a source by using similar words, groups of words and/or sentence structure without attribution (42%). Academic sanctions commonly include giving an overall reduced grade, giving a warning and asking the student to redo the plagiarized work. The study showed that students preferred flexible and lenient penalties to address plagiarism and objected to sanctions that may jeopardize their academic progression.Originality/valueAn international literature review will demonstrate extensive research on academic misconduct, particularly plagiarism, emphasizing attitudes and perceptions. Despite Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies and limited software subscriptions, academic misconduct in Guyana is still poorly understood. Therefore, this study adds to the literature by evaluating tertiary education students' perceptions of plagiarism, given the growing concerns and negative repercussions of plagiarism and student use of AI to produce assignments at this university.