Food safety is a global public health issue, which often arises from asymmetric information between consumers and suppliers. With the development of information technology in human life, building a food traceability information sharing platform is viewed as one of the best ways to overcome the trust crisis and resolve the problem of information asymmetry in China. However, among the myriad information available from the food supply chain, there is a lack of knowledge on consumer preference. Based on the best-worst scaling approach, this paper investigated consumer preferences for vegetable, pork, and dairy product traceability information. Specifically, this paper measured the relative importance that consumers place on the traceable information. The results indicate that consumers have varying priorities for information in different cases. “Pesticide/veterinary use,” “picking/slaughtering date,” and “fertilizer/feed use” are the most preferred traceable information for Chinese consumers in the case of vegetables, while “picking/slaughtering date” and “history of illness and taking protective measures” are the most preferred information in the case of pork. In the case of dairy products, consumers prefer “processing information,” “environmental information of the origin,” and “traceable tag certification information” most. The results of this study call for the direct involvement of the Chinese government in the food safety information sharing system as following. First, given consumers’ diverse preferences, different types of traceable information should be recorded into the information sharing platform depending on food types. Second, the government could promote the step-by-step construction of such a platform based on the priority of consumers’ preferences. Third, new technology should be applied to guarantee the reliability of traceable information. Finally, local preferences in terms of the way consumers receive and understand information should be taken into consideration. Being challenged nowadays by the global dimensions of food supply chains, food safety issues are an increasingly essential public health issue worldwide. Unsafe food poses global health threats, endangering everyone . In 2015Food markets in developing countries, which are markets with a lemons problem, are characterized by limited information and an absence of regulation ,7. An imThere are already many studies about consumer preferences for food safety related information, but these vary by food type and region. For example, Ortega et al.  assessedAs food traceability is considered as an indispensable feature of food safety, numerous studies have been performed on consumer preferences for food traceability information ,15,16. HDiscrete choice experiments (DCEs) are increasingly used in food safety information research. DCE is a powerful method, which closely simulates real-world purchasing decisions by assessing the utility of attributes in various combinations. Researchers are cautioned against eliciting preference information for a large number of attributes  when using the DCE methodology ,23. AnotOur objective was to identify which traceable information, for different types of food, consumers would prefer to know in China. To do this, we used the best-worst scaling object case method to reveal the magnitude of importance for each type of food traceability information in terms of different foods categories . Here we chose pork as a representative for meat for two reasons. On the one hand, among all types of meat, pork is the most favored animal protein in China. China is also a large producer of pork. According to the statistics released by the China Statistics Bureau in 2016, pork production in China is about 52.99 million tons, which accounted for approximately 62% of the total domestic production of meat and 48% of the total production in the world. On the other hand, in China, pork is a food that frequently suffers from food safety problems, such as the Shuanghui clenbuterol incident in 2011, excessive antibiotic residues in 2012, the dumping of dead pigs into the Huangpu River in Shanghai in 2013, and the selling of pork from diseased or dead pigs, or “zombie meat,” which has been occurring since 2014.BWS development began with a review of prior literature on food safety issues, especially in China ,11,16–18Generating the choice sets is a key stage in implementing a BWS study, in which an optimal experimental design is needed to meet three criteria as follows ,26. Firsk attributes, a BIBD design will create s choice sets with m attributes in each choice set, which implies that the number k is always larger than the number m. We then assume that each attribute appears r times, and each pair of attributes occurs λ times. A BIBD design has the following characteristics: (1) Each attribute occurs in each comparison set at most once, and (2) each of the m attributes appears exactly r times across the choice sets and co-occurs exactly λ times with other (m − 1) attributes [λ and r are integers, and λ can be calculated according to the equation of λ = r × (m − 1) / (k − 1). An ideally preferred BIBD design is symmetrical (when s = k), which is also known as a Youden square [The commonly used standard design in BWS surveys is a balanced incomplete block design (BIBD) design. The main advantage of adopting a BIBD design is that it not only satisfies the three important criteria above, but can also largely reduce the number of comparison sets to be evaluated ,30. Givetributes . Note, nn square . With 11In 2016, surveys were administered in three Chinese cities  by trained research assistants. These three cities were designated by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce as pilot cities for constructing a meat and vegetable traceability system. This traceable information sharing platform is highly likely to be adopted by the local government in these cities. The three cities are located in the eastern, south central, and north central regions of China, and each have different levels of economic development, living habits, and culture. Thus, the findings based on the survey data collected from these three cities may be able to capture the regional diversity of consumer preferences.The whole survey procedure, including the procedure for obtaining informed consent, was conducted in the participants’ native language- Chinese under the approvement by the China Agricultural University institutional review board. Before the survey, all participants were both verbally and in writing informed that their participation was completely based on free will, and that the data were collected anonymously on paper questionnaires. Verbal consent was provided by all the respondents at the beginning of the survey. Respondents were asked to finish three tasks for the three types of foods , respectively. In each task for a certain food, respondents were showed a sequence of 11 different scenarios, one at a time, and asked to choose the best and worst attribute (information) from each of the five attributes (information) within each task. All items were read aloud to participants to ensure that persons of varying degrees of literacy comprehended the material.To maximize variation, a purposive sample that included people with variations in socio-demographic characteristics  was recruited from one farmer’s market, one domestic supermarket, and one local butcher shop in each of the three cities. In all, a total of 108 consumers were interviewed in three cities, with 36 consumers in each city. Three, six, and nine respondents were excluded respectively for pork, vegetables, and dairy because they were missing information on major variables, resulting in a final study sample of 105 participants for pork, 102 for vegetables, and 99 for dairy products. The statistical sample size of consumers obtained in the pork, vegetable, and dairy traceable information survey is 1,155 , 1,122 , and 1,089 , respectively.Countbest is equal to the total number of times each attribute was chosen as the “best” (most preferred), Countworst is equal to the total number of times each attribute was chosen as the “worst” (least preferred), the best-worst score measures the difference between Countbest and Countworst, and r is the times each type of information appears (in this case r = 5). n is the number of observations.BWS assumes that respondents can easily make reliable and valid choices as they are required to choose the “best” and “worst” options in each choice set. By repeatedly asking them to choose the two most extreme attributes from a series of choice sets, we can tell the level of importance of each attribute. This is determined by the number of times an attribute is chosen as the “best” and “worst” option, the number of respondents, and the number of times that each item occurs in the choice sets. Hence, the level of importance of a particular attribute can be calculated by the following equation:A total of 102 respondents completed the vegetable survey, 105 respondents completed the pork survey, and 99 respondents completed the dairy survey between June and July 2016. For the vegetable survey, the ages ranged from 15 to 62, with a mean of 32.9 ± 9.9. Of the 102 participants, 60 (58.8%) were men and 42 (41.2%) were women. More than half (59.8%) were married, and 47 (46.1%) had a tertiary education level or above. Only 18 (17.6%) of the respondents’ jobs were related to the food industry. For the pork survey, the average age of the respondents was 32.7 ± 9.9. Of the 105 participants, 61 (58.1%) were men and 44 (41.9%) were women. More than half (59.0%) were married, and 48 (45.7%) had a tertiary education level or above. For the dairy survey, the average age of the respondents was 33.0 ± 9.9. Of the 99 participants, 58 (58.6%) were men and 41 (41.4%) were women. More than half (59.6%) were married, and 45 (45.5%) had a tertiary education level or above. Almost half  of the participants were the family food buyer. Characteristics of study participants are shown in r × n  to +r × n .According to s × n. What is more, the sum of the “Best-worst score” across all the items should be zero  and “Worst” (least preferred information) in n) is 102, and the number of choice sets (s) is 11. Thus, the result of s × n is 1,122. As expected, the sum of both the most preferred and least preferred information in In the vegetable survey, the sample size . In the case of pork, people show very similar results to the vegetable survey when choosing the information they dislike, while the results for “best information” are totally different . The mosThe graphical representation in The results showing the importance of order for each type of information source are presented in The graphical representation in We can see the comparison results in For lesser preferred information, “producers’ information,” “packaging information,” “transportation information,” and “retail information” are cited as the least preferred by consumers. The vegetable and pork surveys show the same order for least preferred information, while the dairy survey does not. For dairy, “packaging information” moves to the top of the less appealing information, which is about 61% less likely to be chosen as the least preferred information than “transportation information” . In terms of the magnitude of importance for the types of information, the different types of the food show differing results.In this paper, 11 types of food traceability information were defined for vegetables, pork, and dairy products. On this basis, we applied BWS, a simple but powerful way to analyze consumer preferences on traceable food information in China to be used in the construction of an information sharing platform. Our results show that the preference order for traceable information is quite different depending on the type of food, with the exception of “picking/slaughtering date,” which is the preferred information in all three cases. “Pesticide/veterinary use,” “picking/slaughtering date,” and “fertilizer/feed use” are the most preferred traceable information items for Chinese consumers in the case of vegetables. These findings are similar to those of Jin et al.  who alsoIt is worth noting that the relative importance of the preferred food traceability information was able to be revealed here via the new method of BWS. The results show a large discrepancy. For vegetables, “pesticide/veterinary use” is about 21% more likely to be cited as the most appealing information when compared to “picking date,” 71% more likely when compared to “fertilizer/feed use,” and 84% more likely when compared to “environmental information.” For pork, “picking/slaughtering date” is only about 3% more likely to be chosen as the most preferred information when compared to “history of illness and taking protective measures,” and it is 48% more likely when compared “pesticide/veterinary use.” For dairy, “processing information” is the most preferred information, which is 12% more likely to be chosen when compared to “environmental information,” and 73% more likely to be chosen when compared to “traceable tag certification information.” The results imply that “pesticide/veterinary use” is the most important information for consumers, and much more important than other information for consumers of vegetables; “picking/slaughtering date” and “history of illness and taking protective measures” are of almost the same important for consumers of pork; and “processing information” is much more important in the case of dairy.In this study, we identified the main types of information about which consumers are concerned and the relative importance of various types of information, and we found consumers showed varying preferences regarding different food categories. The results of this study should encourage both the Chinese government and industry to present information that meets consumer demands via a traceable information sharing platform that will reduce consumer information asymmetries, increase the reliability of products , and lesIn China, the government is an important driver in the development of a safe food market. Beyond the implementation of a traceable information sharing platform, the conclusions from this research may improve relevant support policies. The following policy implications are proposed.First, in terms of the diverse consumer preferences for food traceability information depending on food type, different types of traceable information should be recorded when establishing the  traceable information sharing platform. Policy measures, such as encouraging food firms to adopt traceability system and record food traceability information, should be introduced to promote the construction of a traceable information sharing platform.Second, because it is time-consuming and costly to construct such a complicated information sharing platform, the government should begin by recording information that is already available based on its relative importance to accommodate budget constraints and to encourage all food production stakeholders to join in on efforts to establish and apply such a platform.Third, to guarantee the reliability of traceable information recorded and the efficacy of the information sharing platform, policy instruments should be better designed to encourage the adoption of internet technology and Blockchain technology in the food industry as well as promote the application of Internet Technology (IT) and Artificial Intelligence Technology (AIT) to communicate information. Because consumer trust in the information sharing platform is important, once the contents are deemed inaccurate or inadequate, consumer confidence in the effectiveness of traceability is likely to diminish very quickly .Finally, it should be noted that there are inter-regional and individual differences among Chinese consumers. In the development of a traceable information sharing platform, the government should account for local preferences and the differing ways consumers receive and understand traceable information when the platform is designed.As with any research study, there are several limitations that should be noted. The first limitation in this research was its use of a small sample size, and participants were selected from only three cities. A larger and more representative sample in a future study would be expected to give more reliable results. Second, this study used the BWS (object case) method to measure the relative importance that consumers place on traceable information. However, the BWS (object case) design will not allow us to estimate consumers’ willingness to pay for the traceable information. Based on the results of this study, our next plan is to estimate consumer willingness to pay using the DCE method, which could aid in finding out the economic values of the different types of traceable information, which will better assist future decision making and priority setting. Last, but not least, as the first step of our project, this study aims to understand Chinese consumers’ overall preferences on food traceability information for different food types. Examining the preference heterogeneity among consumers via including more sociodemographic factors   and psycS1 File(PDF)Click here for additional data file.S2 File(PDF)Click here for additional data file.S3 File(XLSX)Click here for additional data file.


Since the population continues ageing and the number of patients with multiple chronic diseases is rising in Western countries, a shift is recommended from disease oriented towards goal-oriented healthcare. As little is known about individual goals and preferences of older hospitalised patients, the aim of this study is to elucidate the goals of a diverse group of older hospitalised patients.Qualitative descriptive method with open interviews analysed with inductive content analysis.A university teaching hospital and a regional teaching hospital.Twenty-eight hospitalised patients aged 70 years and older.Some older hospitalised patients initially had difficulties describing concrete goals, but after probing all were able to state more concrete goals. A great diversity of goals were categorised into wanting to know what the matter is, controlling disease, staying alive, improving condition, alleviating complaints, improving daily functioning, improving/maintaining social functioning, resuming work/hobbies and regaining/maintaining autonomy.Older hospitalised patients have a diversity of goals in different domains. Discussing goals with older patients is not a common practice yet. Timely discussions about goals should be encouraged because individual goals are not self-evident and this discussion can guide decision making, especially in patients with multimorbidity and frailty. Aids can be helpful to facilitate the discussion about goals and evaluate the outcomes of hospitalisation. Qualitative descriptive research stays close to the perspective of the older patient.We interviewed a broad variety of older patients during their hospitalisation, in a real life situation.It is difficult to reach saturation on level of goals. Although the categories became clear, there might always emerge new specific individual goals when approaching new patients.Since the population continues ageing and the number of patients with chronic diseases is rising in Western countries, a shift is recommended from disease oriented towards goal-oriented healthcare. Questioned is whether healthcare always aims for the desired outcomes for patients.Goals are the personal health and life outcomes that people hope to achieve through their healthcare.The need for and emphasis on social and physical activities and to live at home are also reflected in other studies. A study into patient goals after aortic aneurysm repair revealed that patients prioritise functional outcomes and recovery time after the operation, as well as energy levels, pain and the ability to walk again. In this study, recovery time was found more important than survival.To take account of the perspective of the older patients, a qualitative descriptive method was used.Patients were recruited during their hospitalisation in a university teaching hospital in the northern part of the Netherlands and a regional teaching hospital in the central part of the Netherlands.Inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) hospitalisation expected for at least 48 hours; (2) aged 70 years and older; (3) being able to speak and understand Dutch; (4) not expected to die within the next 48 hours; (5) informed consent to the interview and audio-recording.et alA purposive sample was used. Within the group of eligible patients, we aimed for maximum variation in age, frailty, living at home or in a nursing home, planned and unplanned admissions, university hospital or regional hospital. Frailty was determined by the Fried criteria as operationalised by Avila-Funes Data gathering and analysis were alternated. We aimed to continue sampling until saturation was achieved, meaning no new information emerged from the patients. Since it appeared during the study difficult to reach saturation on goal level, we decided to aim for saturation on category level.In total, 28 patients were interviewed. Details of the sample are shown in After establishing inclusion criteria by the staff nurse, eligible patients were given an information letter and were approached by the interviewer (MJvdK) for further information about the procedure and to obtain informed consent during their hospitalisation. The Medical Ethics Research Committee of the University Medical Center Groningen confirmed that the Medical Research Involving Human Subjects Act did not apply to the research project. Official approval by the committee was hence not required.Open interviews were conducted during hospitalisation by MJvdK. MJvdK is an experienced nurse, but not working as a nurse in the hospitals where the interviews took place. MJvdK is trained in qualitative research and interviewing. To comfort the patient, the interviews started with giving the patient the opportunity to explain the reason for hospitalisation. After that, the main question posed by the interviewer was: What do you hope to accomplish with this hospitalisation? Probes were used to clarify the goals of the participants, like ‘what do you mean with…’, ‘can you give an example of…’, summarising. The interviews took place in the patient’s room or, when the patient shared a room, in a family or examination room on the ward. The interviews took 15 to 60 min and wereaudio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. After each interview, an interview memo was written to gather initial impressions of the interview.Since little is known about the goals of older hospitalised patients, an inductive content analysis was used.Data gathering and data analysis were alternated. The analysis started with open coding; the codes were then grouped into categories and data were compared within and between categories and the categories were described.All transcripts were read by the first (MJvdK) and second (GJD) authors independently and then the goals and codes were compared. The grouping of the codes into categories was also done by the first and second authors independently, the differences were then discussed and solved by consensus.During the entire process, memos were written about the interviews and coding process. Data analysis and organisation were supported by the use of Atlast.ti V.5.2.18.Interviews and analysis were all in Dutch. The categories, codes and quotes were translated into English in the final stage and checked and edited by a native English speaker.Patients or public were not involved in the design and conduct of this study.After the question ‘What do you hope to accomplish with this hospitalisation?’, some participants replied with clear, concrete answers while others initially started with broad, abstract answers like ‘getting better’ and ‘recovering’. With probing, all participants were able to explain what, for example, ‘getting better’ meant for them and were able to state more concrete goals, except for one patient with delirium.For example:Interviewer: Because what is your goal with this hospitalisation? Patient: Goal? Interviewer: Yes. Patient: That I am getting better. Interviewer: And what is better for you, can you describe that? Patient: Yes, that I … well … get my appetite back and drink well, because I am not interested in whether I get anything or not at the moment. I am not hungry, I am not thirsty and that has to change. Interviewer: Yes. Patient: And if I then grow stronger again. I have lost a lot of weight. From 88 to 82, I believe. Interviewer: In how much time? Patient: About a week. I was still very weak yesterday. Interviewer: Yes Yes. So grow stronger. Patient: To grow stronger. And that I am back on my feet, that I can walk with a crutch and I’m done here as soon as possible and that I can go back home. That is my goal. The goals patients had were grouped into the following categories: wanting to know what the matter is, controlling disease, staying alive, improving condition, alleviating complaints, improving daily functioning, improving/maintaining social functioning, resuming work/hobbies, regaining/maintaining autonomy . In tablSeveral patients indicated that they wanted to know what was the cause for their complaints or the patient wanted to rule out severe other explanations. For example:That pain is caused by something. And I would really like to know what that is. The group ‘Controlling disease’ is used for medical control of diseases. Some patients aimed for complete cure, like people with cancer. But for most the goal was to stop or slow down the disease progression because they knew their chronic condition was not curable. For example:That the process of … Or the consequences of the diabetes, that those will be stopped, eh. That it does not get worse or that the sugars are all the time too high. Several patients stated that they hoped to stay alive or to live a few more years due to hospital admission. For some patients, the argument to stay alive was the main reason to go to hospital. For example:No, I had to stay alive. I felt. And nothing more. I mean, yes, no, that is, of course, everything. This category is a subjective experience by the patient and contains codes like improving condition, augmenting energy, feeling better, reducing uncertainty and regaining weight. For example:Patient: Yes, enhancing condition and that I can cope a bit more, actually much more. But yes, that I have to, to, to play a football match, no, that time does not return. Interviewer: That is pretty far-fetched? And what would be a realistic goal for you? Patient: Being able to walk a bit more decently, and sustaining, my fitness, building that up again. Yes, to be able to do a little bit more conditionally. A broad variety of complaints were described, which participants wished to alleviate, including pain, shortness of breath, vomiting, dizziness, obstipation, diarrhoea, sweating, lack of appetite and insomnia. For example:That diarrhoea must stop. That's what it's all about. While some patients stated improving functioning in general, others named specific functions like walking, moving, housekeeping, shopping, cooking and self-care. For example:That I can function independently again with a walker. Participants mentioned various social activities they wanted to be able to participate in again, like visiting family or friends or making a day trip. For example:Meeting friends and taking a drive around and perhaps drink a cup of tea somewhere, it does not have to be luxurious or fancy at all. But enjoying things. Going to the theatre once and yes, those things. For some, just enjoying the presence of their partner and close family members was very important.Several participants indicated that they wanted to resume their work, for example, volunteer work, assisting in the family business or scientific work. Others wanted to resume their sports, working in the garden or hobbies. For example:And, uh, now I hope to achieve, that I can go outside more and enjoy my garden too, because I love gardening a lot and so, that was all gone. This category was used for statements of participants about maintaining or regaining their independence or freedom. Also the code ‘going back to own house’, was placed into this category. For example:Yes, a bit more freedom, going somewhere alone once again. Yes, I just can’t. (…) Yes, then I have to take a taxi. Yes, then I also lost my freedom. Because then you also need certain … And I love my freedom. If I want to go somewhere, I have to be able to do that. And not arranging everything in advance. As far as we know, this is the first study investigating the goals of already hospitalised older patients admitted for a broad diversity of reasons. It was remarkable that some patients initially had difficulties stating concrete goals, but after probing all were able to state more concrete goals.Patients reported a variety of goals, which could be grouped into the categories ‘wanting to know what the matter is’, ‘controlling disease’, ‘staying alive’, ‘improving condition’, ‘alleviating complaints’, ‘improving daily functioning’, ‘improving/maintaining social functioning’, ‘resuming work/hobbies’ and ‘regaining/maintaining autonomy’.et al categorised the goals of older adults eligible for an aortic valve replacement into the groups: ‘staying alive’, ‘reducing/eliminating pain or symptoms’, ‘maintaining independence’ and ‘ability to do a specific activity’.Since we used an inductive method, our categorisation is different from other studies, but also showed some similarities. Coylewright Goals of community-dwelling older adults were placed in the categories ‘health problems’, ‘mobility’, ‘emotions’, ‘independence and autonomy’, ‘social and family relationships’, ‘activities’, ‘living accommodation’, ‘healthcare services’ and ‘finances’.et al investigated patient goals from the perspective of general practitioners and geriatricians and came to the following categories: ‘fundamental goals’, ‘functional goals’ and ‘disease-specific or symptom-specific goals’.Vermunt The goals set during hospitalisation also are in line with what community-dwelling older adults find important in quality of life or well-being, namely ‘staying independent’, ‘social life’, ‘hobbies’, ‘activities’, ‘health’ and ‘own environment’.Setting goals is not yet common practice, not from the perspective of the patient, nor from the healthcare professional. This could be explained because historically patients presented with acute problems and it was expected that the healthcare professional would solve the acute problem and the patient would return to a normal healthy state. However, nowadays many complaints of older patients are caused by, often multiple, chronical diseases, which can only be controlled but not completely cured. Probably this shift still has not entered completely into daily clinical practice.The strengths of our study include that we interviewed older patients during their hospitalisation, in a real life situation, at different hospital wards, and we included a broad variety of patients. This led to a broad overview of categories of goals, but did not lead to very specific individual goals. Another limitation is that it is difficult to reach saturation on level of goals. Although the categories became clear, there might always emerge new specific individual goals when approaching new patients.Older hospitalised patients have a diversity of goals in different domains. Discussing goals with older hospital patients is not common practice yet, and many patients and healthcare professionals are not familiar with discussing personal goals. Timely discussions about goals should be encouraged because individual goals are not self-evident and this discussion can guide decision making, especially in patients with multimorbidity and frailty. Aids are needed to facilitate the discussion about goals and the evaluation of goals of hospitalisation.


Multiple descriptors of desired 21st century skill sets have been identified through various wide-scale studies  and consistently within the context of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning, the ability to problem solve, particularly complex problem-solving, remains a crucial competency. In this paper, we look at how current contemporary spaces such as the immensely popular, massively multiplayer online role-playing game(MMORPG), World of Warcraft, (WoW) afford problem-solving skill acquisition in the context of Singaporean youth learners. Given that WoW exists as a contextual space with an overarching narrativized problem to be solved, our investigation focused on two important related constructs that underpin learners’ problem-solving trajectory—learning and identity becoming within contemporary domains of technology learning. We present findings of an ethnographic investigation of one youth gamer within the affinity spaces of WoW. Moving away from traditional mentalistic construals of problem-solving, our findings indicate that problem-solving within WoW may be characterized by a triadic-D model of domain, disquisitional, and discursive practices within self, social, and structural dialectics. Theoretical considerations for broadening the understanding of a situated and embodied notion of problem-solving and identity becoming within STEM learning are proposed.Identifying educational competencies for the 21 The twenty-first century learning evolves from new cultural forms of digital literacy and marks a significant shift from the conventional accessing of information to solving routine problems. Rather, contemporary work environments revolve around the management of complex information streams aligned with complex problem-solving tasks that require expertise across multiple cultures of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning. Complex problems may be characterized as typically ill-structured, with unknown elements or elements not known with any degree of confidence Reitman . Many inother. The success or failure of such self-socio-interplays is rapidly evidenced within the game through twofold trajectories of questing and raiding where success is represented by uplevels and failure by group wipeouts. While questing involves semi-defined problem quests embedded within the gaming narrative that each player has to “solve” to level up or move to other more advanced areas of the game, raiding involves a competitive interaction among players requiring large group of players to come together and collaborate in defeating computer-generated monsters. Problems embedded for the latter are more complex in that greater sophistication of player strategies are required to address dynamically interrelated factors such as the strength of a raid group  and knowledge of “boss” fights (determined by a synergization of players’ experience points).Within contemporary narrativized problem spaces such as World of Warcraft (WoW), youths are developing sophisticated competencies coupled with new cultural norms and social practices inherently disparate from that of school practices , this paper presents our ethnographic investigation of one youth gamer across the affinitive problem-based spaces of WoW. An analysis of the problem space shows the dialectical relations between self, social, and the structural dialectics that are largely shaped by domain, disquisitional, and discursive practices. Theoretical considerations for broadening the understanding of identity and problem-solving are proposed.In a sense, a higher degree of sociality in terms of communication, collaboration, and cognizance of oneself as Anderson —identityContemporary youth culture such as active engagement in massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) activities reflects the growing collection of technologies within popular culture that is profoundly affecting the development and expression of human lives Levinson  and broabecoming. Identity in this sense plays out in terms of self-understanding as bound to particular contexts, practices, or environments. Traversing between digital spaces and the schooling milieu, identity from a social constructivist point of view is not definitive in that an individual possesses only one identity, but rather identity is multiple (and situative) and dialogically constructed. The phenomena in MMORPGs are consistent to situated cognition where human knowledge and interaction cannot be divorced from the world  as well as collective (guild or raid instance) enactments. These levels, however, are not merely an aggregation, in that the social effects at the collective level cannot merely be described as individual contributions and volitions at the personal level. Rather, an interaction at these two levels may more aptly be characterized as dialectical and an emergence of rhizomatic relations embedded in and performed by shifting connections and interactions . In this regard, gameplay in MMORPGs in WoW may thus be characterized as processes of becoming against a system of relations, arising from a narrativized problem context.Implicit to this relationality, we recognize that players—as learners—are perpetually in a creative state of attari’s  sense, iTheories of problem-solving have traditionally placed focus on individual characteristics such as self-efficacy, goal setting, and achievement. For instance, cognitive psychologist Wallas  developeproblem players are faced with—the hordes and alliance races are in feud and there is a need to restore peace in the land of Azeroth. In attempting to achieve the utopian stage where races are at peace, players are expected to move through trajectories of game play where they are faced with: (i) problem quests at different levels of the games, (ii) instances problems where they have to come together in groups of between five and ten players, and (iii) raiding problems in groups of 25 or more players before they are able to reach the end-game stage. Figure In the WoW gaming space, a narrative structure exists to explicate the overarching In a sense, through embodied avatarial interfaces, players are frequently engaged in non-linear functions of learning that are inherently problem-based. For example, in undertaking a specific quest, players are presented with a problem to be solved where the process to achieve goal involves exploring , communicating , regulating , and strategizing . In taking on different characters through various embodied representations, one’s game play problem-solving experience may essentially be construed as a deeply embedded practice that is intimately linked to his/her identity construction processes rooted within a social context. Given the limited research that takes into account the recognition or know-how of cultural-contextual structures assumed in the social others and in the cultural resources/environment for processes of problem-solving, we argue that there is a need to address this gap through a shift towards a more structurally situated and embodied view of problem-solving.becoming and learning processes as a player navigates the narrativized problem spaces of WoW. Learning in game play spaces such as WoW has been recognized to potentially arise from the interaction between both the game play  and the social practices going on in and around the game. Gee and Hayes  trajectories as he engaged in the various problem-solving processes. At an initial level, identification of participatory spaces that the player frequently engaged in, in relation to WoW, were conducted. Based on Wenger’s  the construction and negotiation of the player’s identities and (2) player’s Wenger’s  work, thWenger’s  was emplWenger’s  semioticThe focal player in this study was 14-year-old Danny (pseudonym), a male student in secondary 2, equivalent to grade 10 of a local public school. His foray into online games started since the age of ten and he spends up to 6 h daily online. His first game was Maplestory, introduced by his best friend in primary school. Danny was selected because he was a relatively new WoW player which enabled us to trace his trajectory as he leveled up within the game space. Our initial observation and informal conversations with Danny uncovered somewhat related challenges that he faced. For example, being a relatively new WoW player, Danny had the ability to immediately understand the interactive properties that account for movement and positioning within the game environment; yet, he struggled while orienting himself to the game constraints and affordances needed to level up. In the following section, we further provide an analysis of Danny’s constructed and negotiated identities as he engaged in problem-solving based on the constant comparative categories of domain, disquisitional, and discursive practices.We observed that although the narrativized problem-based structure in WoW is characterized by tractable problems spaces within the respective questing zones, there is rarely one optimal trajectory to the solution. Instead, the meaning of problem-solving in the WoW context hinges on successfully solving a plethora of related ill-defined problems such as the synergization dynamics between the various damage and healer class, and honoring in-situ player honor codes while raiding—what may be termed as the semiotic “grammar” Gee  of gamepInterlocutor: get out of my way you spastic noob. Those are my gold.Danny: there’s no law saying I can’t takeInterlocutor: you are obviously an idiot. You want gold, you get your own bl**dy quest. don’t live off me. Your XP sucks and obviously you are zero DPS type impederDanny transports away from the arena.In a post interview with Danny (time 2), we surfaced this antagonistic exchange between him and his interlocutor, and Danny portrayed a nonchalant attitude towards gaming norms and practices.“…that was one of my first quest, and when I saw gold, I immediately took them, but then that guy called me a noob and idiot. Quite aggressive, he kept poking me to duel so I went off. Then my friends told me I cannot be like that. My friends, they are already advanced and they like to tell me what to do and how to play but I was like heck... I continued”.However, in a later post interview with Danny (time 4), the nonchalance towards gaming “norms” was observed to have shifted into a cognizance for what other players may construe of his game play strategies in solving the quests.Danny: “…posted about me on the wowhead and some people remembered… Its like sometimes I go co-quest, then some of them tell me don’t take my loot and they guard fiercely then I can’t move and I ask them why bother. And last time I didn’t know what he’s talking about. Now I can program my own mount path”.In tracing his gaming trajectory, we observed that beyond time 2 (where collaboration for questing and instantiation objectives intensifies), Danny evolved to manifest a strong affiliation with his character class. For example, he posted on the WoW forum space his explications and “debriefings” of the instantiation episodes he experienced and even theorized about the problem space, in terms of simulating specific “quest helpers” to speed up the “loot” attainment process.Danny: …“gala, in getting the marines not to sink the voyager, you have to 50dps up one level while I remain below. You need to do your Math. We are not going to hit 4 k dps if your XP goes down ¾. Look at markam’s guide, I think we have two options here. 1) if you want the cross projectile to land just below, I think you have to aim behind 40, 55 (check your carto). Quite standard right? Gravity pulls you down. 2) go via kreekoak 22, 41 we can hit the front asypiate, or go behind take off the ramp, and you push off 157, 33. From qc99 you can get this”.The shift in his stronger identification with his character and its strength and weaknesses is coupled with his increasing skills within the game, that is indicated by his leveling up paths (game level), his experience (XP) points, as well as the sophisticated armory and mount which he managed to obtain. At time 4, Danny has managed to achieve level 65 status, with a high level of 85 % experience points. In asking to him to explicate his view of himself as a WoW player, Danny cited not only his level and experience but also several instantiation accounts where he aided other players in solving the quests and attaining the sought-after loots. Apart from manifesting an awareness of being able to communicate within the genre of WoW, utilizing acronyms and game-specific terms, we observed that Danny is also able to acknowledge and align himself with the cultural norms of the gaming space and in sharing seemingly consistent values of achieving end-game raids through non-violation of player’s (tacit) honor code.The game design affordances and the narrativized problem structure of WoW seeds participation structures that are inherently discursive in nature. Our constant comparative analysis indicated that Danny’s problem-solving trajectory is mediated by discursive practices oriented towards the construction and negotiation of his identity. We termed verbal descriptions used by other members within the affinity space to talk about the focal member’s discursive identities with regard to his competencies  as discursive practices. At time 1, Danny is observed as nonchalant and unaffected by other’s construal of his player characterization. At time 2, Danny indicated self-affectedness as he recalled a conversation between his school friends who are also in WoW, who labeled him as a “looter”. A “looter” has negative connotations in that it represents a player who leverages and takes advantage of others. With respect to his relations with his peers, Danny shared that being placed in a negative light diminished his “privilege and self-worth”.Danny: “…they labeled me looter, I think its unfair because I was just trying to level up as fast as I can. After they called me that, the rest did not allow me to access their cheat page, they removed my privilege….because earlier I was in there because I knew Kory. Sometimes in the canteen, I can see that Kory doesn’t want to sit with me because the rest told him that I’m making use of him which is not true…feel like so useless….no self-worth like that. They are just like that don’t know Mrs what Tang, always say bad things about me.”The latter sentence in Danny: “I mean they can say I’m a looter or whatever, but for example taking the mob boss down, I did not loot and my healing XP helped Runkar….SteathThrift asked me to join as their chief healer. I didn’t even post or say anything…they just asked…”Observed here, Danny’s skills and experience in his healing class were recognized as valued symbolic resources within the game space (despite him being identified negatively by his peers). As articulated, Danny “didn’t even post or say anything…” but that did not hinder his performative enactments, characterized by non-explicit tacit knowledge, built up in repeated practice and experience (XP points), to be honored and rewarded .Within the contexts of affinity spaces, the participation boundaries are less structured implicating upon the massive kinds of “reifications” that may evolve as a process of participation. In conducting our constant comparative analysis, we observed that the WoW context Danny was immersed in revolved around text-walkthrough, guides, and manuals (reifications of others) that do not make sense to him unless he has experienced and lived in the game world for a while (embodied experience) to situate and construct meanings. For example, a leveling guide on the healer class did not appear lucid and meaningful to Danny until sometime after time 2, after which he has gained embodied experience through his healer characterization to situate its meaning in specific ways.Danny: “…Pagin gave me his healing guide to level up to 3100DPS in 30…I did not get what he is talking about, but then after ScreeThor roped me in the boss raid, I remember Pagin doing the same boss thing, so I was reading it up for days…which really helped, we cleared 52000dps in 3secs. I just tried different ways, didn’t work, do again...”Danny went on to create not only his own “formal” leveling guides, but also formal write-ups of his quest-solving processes. Within the gaming space, these “formal” writings, which we term as disquisitions, afford a player with not only traction as a skillful gamer but also elevates his identity to be one of the master gamers—much like being certified as a master teacher after one has fulfilled certain criteria, conditions, and certifications. At time 1, Danny’s disquisitional practice was confined to only “formal write-ups” to his guild members. At time 4, the reach of his disquisitions extended to players from other countries . Table knowing in that it cyclically seeds the establishment of trust, confidentiality, willingness to be within the unknown again. As Danny puts it in In analyzing the disquisitional practices, we noted the reciprocal forms of teaching and learning that occur in all directions throughout the social network , the game environment , as well as the social context. This tripartite relationship may be further unpacked by the 3D: domain-discursive-disquisitional practices that provide an analytical lens into the problem-solving trajectory of a youth gamer in WoW, as illustrated in Fig. In classifying Danny’s game context as his affinity space, we see his shift towards making meaning of norms and disciplines and what counts as acceptable and recognizable. What is critical to note here is that, prior to time 2, as a (relatively) new gamer, Danny is of course not totally uninformed of certain norms and practices that gamers adopt. Furthermore, he has the resource of his “more advanced” gaming friends who try to tell him how to play and what to do, but Danny was seemingly uninterested and never valued their “instructions”/“directions”/“guidance” see . HoweverSeveral implications from this study may be drawn for institutionalized learning within the STEM domain. Specifically, the findings indicate how meaning-making in the narrativized structures of WoW is characterized by processes of narrativity that underpin the three nested levels as domain-related, discursive, and disquisitional practices, as captured in Fig. knowing in WoW is inherently and inextricably linked with concept of self and the emergence of conscious control over one’s actions. This includes cognizance of one’s abilities in enacting performance within a particular context and a consciousness in terms of one’s actions and motives to confront new challenges and goals and willingness to learn, unlearn, and relearn (reflective and regulatory capabilities). When individuals are faced with new challenges, meanings in the form of reifications are constructed as to what these goals mean in terms of performance and action. These reifications become psychological artifacts from which cognition and action are mediated. The appropriate development of one’s concept of self is thus critical towards greater expertise in one’s metacognitive and self-reflective capabilities. Mead  thus may ultimately hinge on prior social consciousness or what Ricouer  how his character has fared, (ii) the discursive identities surrounding his character, (iii) simplifying the gameplay process for others, and (iv) caring enough to impact upon the game design through his respective disquisitions. In a sense through the triadic interplay between self-social and the structural, underpinned by domain-disquisitions-discursive practices, Danny was able to form his own “meta trajectory” appropriated through enactive embodying practices of game play, as arising from technology-afforded problem-solving interplays. Importantly, we posit that Danny’s trajectory represents a microcosm of the crux of knowing and becoming that are integral for the fundamental basis of problem-solving for STEM learning.While Danny started off playing WoW from a simple gameplay of attempting to survive till the end-game level, his


Experiments on flies suggest that a gain-of-function mechanism in a protein called CSPɑ contributes to the progressive brain disease CLN4. Related research article Imler E, Pyon JS, Kindelay S, Torvund M, Zhang YQ, Chandra SS, Zinsmaier KE. 2019. A Drosophila model of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis CLN4 reveals a hypermorphic gain of function mechanism. eLife8:e46607. doi: 10.7554/eLife.46607Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL) refers to a group of progressive brain diseases that affect between 1 and 30 per 100,000 people and are characterized by a decline in motor abilities, seizures, dementia and premature death . Most NCMutations in this gene have been associated with both loss and gain of function. In theory, the mutations could deplete normal CSPɑ, and this loss of function could contribute to disease pathology. Alternatively, the mutations could enhance the normal activity of CSPɑ or lead to an additional, toxic function to drive disease pathology. Now, in eLife, Konrad Zinsmaier and colleagues at the University of Arizona and Yale University – including Elliot Imler as first author – report the generation of a new animal model to investigate the biological mechanisms underlying CLN4 disease .Imler et al. started by expressing either the normal or mutant human forms of CSPɑ in flies and confirming that both were functional in fly cells. Next they confirmed that mutant forms of CSPɑ could mimic pathological features seen in CLN4 patients. Interestingly, they found that the severity of the disease correlated with the copy number of the mutated gene: a single copy of the mutated gene did not affect lifespan, but two copies led to more severe phenotypes and early death. To confirm that these results were not an artifact of expressing a human protein in flies, Imler et al. repeated many of their experiments using mutant versions of fly CSPɑ.The Arizona–Yale team then looked at where mutant CSPɑ resides in neurons. Normally, one would expect to find CSPɑ at nerve terminals, but the mutations resulted in lower levels of the protein at nerve terminals and higher levels in regions of the cell that contained other proteins that had been marked for degradation. By using markers of different cellular components, the researchers demonstrated that mutant CSPɑ was accumulating on prelysosomal endosomes. An endosome is a mini-compartment within a cell that internalizes molecules from the cell membrane: the endosome then fuses with an organelle called a lysosome, and the molecules inside it are broken down and recycled. Imler et al. hypothesize that mutant CSPɑ may be re-routed from nerve terminals through the endolysosomal pathway. Consistent with this, electron microscopy revealed the formation of abnormal membrane structures in cells, which may be due to mutant CSPɑ congesting the trafficking system.Next, Imler et al. modulated the levels of normal and mutant CSPɑ in cells. Reducing the level of normal CSPɑ reduced the mutant phenotypes, while increasing it exacerbated the mutant phenotypes. Similarly, reducing the level of a heat shock protein that normally interacts with CSPɑ attenuated mutant phenotypes, suggesting that the heat shock protein may play a role in disease biology. The Arizona–Yale team suggests that the disease-causing mutations in CSPɑ enhance its normal activity to disrupt the function of neurons. This gain-of-function mechanism is distinct from that found in the other NCLs, which typically arise from a deficiency in the function of the mutated gene.The results of Imler et al. demonstrate the value of the fruit fly model to study CLN4 disease pathology. However, these results also paint a complex picture of CLN4, and much work remains to be done to understand how each molecular or cellular pathology contributes to the devastating cognitive and motor deficits found in patients. Future work can now focus on how these biochemical disruptions impact neuronal function over time, taking advantage of the many tools and techniques available in fly genetics in order to interrogate pathways that have additive or compensatory mechanisms that may someday yield therapeutic potential.


Purpose: A review of literature reveals that stress is prevalent among PhD students who are experiencing higher levels of stress than age-matched general population normative data, and has drawn attention worldwide. However, few studies have examined the factors influencing the psychological well-being of Chinese PhD students and the type of supports most needed.Method: This study was conducted by a qualitative method employing the Grounded Theory. Through purposive sampling, 10 Chinese PhD students were selected on the basis of theoretical sampling, and data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with the participants.Results: Chinese PhD students experienced stress of nuanced nature at their varied years of PhD study. The obtained codes were categorized under four themes, including graduation, job prospects, relationship and other factors.Conclusion: Chinese PhD students experienced stress from a variety of sources, corroborating with and reinforcing previous research findings. By exposing the explanations of the factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students, this study compels us rethink the relationship between the widely existing stress and relevant policy or regulations, and proposes suggestions for counselling and policy reform. A PhD, as the highest degree in academic career one could have, is a title that carries prestige and respect; as a result, PhD holders, who are the backbone of the research industry, have earned the societal right to be addressed as “Doctor”; as a result, they can make more money on average compared to those without, and are always admired and envied by those who do not have a PhD. With so many encouraging stories around, it is easy to overlook stress that lies hidden behind a superficial glory of having a doctoral degree. The astonishing fact is that PhD students, faced with a large number of challenges during their candidature, have to forgo much toil, many tears, as well as sweat even blood to jump through many hoops of graduate school!Compared with other professions or occupations, sources of stress, anxiety, apprehension or exhaustion (hereinafter collectively referred to as “stress”) in academia are more prominent, as is evidenced by the findings of two studies, conducted in 1998 and 2004, of academic staff in British universities, which revealed that academics were often more stressed than nurses and social workers and there had been little change in the levels of most stressors experienced over the 6-year period  reveals that students face significant mental health challenges. According to the survey, approximately one-third of PhD students studying science and social sciences are at risk of having or developing a common psychiatric disorder like feeling under constant strain, being unhappy or depressed; 51% of respondents had experienced at least two symptoms of poor mental health in recent weeks leading up to the study, indicating psychological stress. Moreover, 32% reported at least four symptoms, indicating a risk for procuring a common psychiatric disorder, which was more than twice the prevalence among highly educated comparison groups  during their candidature, and, exerts negative impacts on PhD students. Nevertheless, psychological stress among PhD students in institutions of higher education is a relatively unexplored area of research in China, especially lack of research under grounded theory. In this study, a grounded theory approach is used to delineate and understand the sources of, or causes for, stress among PhD students, so as to inform the type of supports most needed to address the issue.In this study, stress is confined to negative emotional experiences that can make people feel exhausted and edgy, steal their focus, or leave them spending their nights sleepless and frantic, not including distress or psychological disorder in psycho-oncology literature as suggested by Stein et al. .This study is not intended to measure the ratio of stress experienced by PhD students and provide further rigorous statistical data for future study, so a qualitative approach using the grounded theory proposed by Strauss and Corbin  is adoptTo streamline and validate semistructured one-on-one interviews that were to be used in the major study, a pilot study was conducted due to its various functions Dikko, .First, we determined clearly initial interview questions on issues related to causes for psychological stress. The interview protocol, encompassing semi-structured and open-ended questions, was sent for expert reviews of its wording and relevance, and was modified accordingly. Then, interview questions were tested in the pilot work, and we used probing questions to get further views or clarifications from the participants;Second, we carefully selected participants who were introduced to us by our colleagues, friends and classmates and conducted piloting interview. To ensure the informants to share as similar criteria as possible to the group of participants for the major study as suggested by Hennink, Hutter, and Bailey , we had The pilot test offered us an opportunity to refine and clarify some interview questions. For example, “why” questions were replaced with “how” questions (How did you come to do a PhD?) to get stories of process rather than acceptable accounts of behaviour, and the logical flow of the interview was reconsidered ; Further, pilot test also helped draw our attention to questions ought to have been included in the interview guide interviews . Anyway, the pilot study pretested the appropriateness of the interview questions, provided us with certain early suggestions on the viability of the research, helped us obtain experience in conducting in-depth, and learn the skills in interviewing and the flow of conversation.Following the pilot test which determined that the interview protocol satisfied the requirements for validity and reliability within the parameters of a qualitative research, the major study commenced. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants recruited through seven universities in three provinces of the People’s Republic of China. Purposeful sampling of interviewees occurred chosen at the outset of the study, subsequently, theoretical sampling was adopted until theoretical saturation of the main body of data occurred Charmaz, . The DemIn China, there is no IRB  in the American sense, but at the outset of the interview, each participant was informed of the purpose of the study, and that the interview would be taped and take approximately half to 1 h. Further, they were informed of the voluntary and confidential nature of the interview, i.e., their name, affiliation, residence or other personal information would be completely anonymized in the research, and that they may refuse to answer questions or drop the interview at any time.We interviewed the participants individually in private places at different time in the past 12 months, by asking them open-ended questions in a face-to-face manner. These semi-structured, in-depth interviews varied in length from 30 min to nearly 1 h and were audio recorded, then each interview was allocated a number to its transcript.The interviews were conducted in Chinese and translated in English, then back-translation method was used to ensure linguistic equivalency of instruments before and after translation , he has got lots of administrative work to do…, while what stresses me out most is I must publish one more paper in the coming year, for this is the fifth year of my PhD program. Otherwise I would be terminated from the doctoral program”. After all, according to the Procedures for the Award of the Doctor of Philosophy Degree promulgated by most universities in China, all program and university requirements for the PhD must be completed in 6 years from start of the doctoral program. Failure to meet the requirements for the PhD within the timeframe delineated is interpreted as a withdrawal from the doctoral program or failure to graduate, and no doctoral degree will be conferred.Although the participants varied in a number of social or cultural dimensions , but their stories overlapped or converged. They all acknowledged that the extent or degree of stress experience was different for each individual but shared some common characteristics. For example, Participant No.10 remarked, “No people may be immune to stress. Once you choose to do a PhD, you will experience stress or anxiety of this kind or that… and that’s for sure.” During the interviews, participants dictated varied source of, and factors for stress. For example, Participant No.9 said, “One of my classmates is crazy about article publication… he can’t submit his dissertation proposal for lack of articles; another classmate has trouble concentrating on dissertation writing…as a leader in his The GT emerging from the data is considered to be at substantive level as suggested by Glaser and Strauss , for theIn China, full-time doctorate program is normally designed to be completed in 3 years, but the program duration of a professional doctorate is rather flexible, i.e., comprising a minimum of 3 years full-time-equivalent (FTE) study and a maximum of 6 years from the date of commencement of candidature, so PhD students have adequate time to complete the work for the degree and submit the thesis, totally in command of every situation. However, the government scholarships (covering the intuition fee) and incentives (aimed at helping support the living costs of PhD students) for PhD programs usually last at most 3 years. Namely, if students fail to graduate within 3 years, they no longer receive any funds to cover any expenditure incurred during candidature; consequently, they must do something to sustain themselves financially or to make ends meet, which in turn takes up much time they should spend studying. As a result, all PhD students are eager to graduate on time, for graduation within the time limit not only means a saving of time and money, but also is an indicator of personal competence; after all, in people’s eyes, only the most outstanding or distinguished students can graduate on time.During the interviews, participants repeatedly asserted that pressure to graduate on time was the key cause for stress. Each participant was worried that failure of degree conferral within the 3-year time limit would entail termination of his/her PhD program. Completing a PhD is hard, and getting harder, as universities attach greater importance to the domestic ranking which is mostly based on research quality and revenue . In accordance with the procedures and criteria for the conferral of a doctoral degree widely applicable in almost all institutions of higher education in China, doctoral degree is conferred on two conditions, i.e., (1) a thesis of no less than 100,000 words, which should be independently developed and publicly defended, containing original research results and new insights in their respective fields or subfields; and (2) at least two articles published or accepted for publication in core periodicals in the fields related to their major  or periodicals listed in SSCI.Near all the participants asserted that it was hard to satisfy the first requirement, due to personal reasons , supervisor omission, or other provisions. During the 3-year doctoral program, the first year started with heavy duty coursework and a lot of specific requirements, such as attending training seminar led by the supervisor, participating in research projects conducted by the supervisor, participating various social activities, etc., and ended with qualifying exams on all the core tutorials or lectures. In the second year, students can shift to conducting independent research by submitting thesis proposal. Almost all students agreed that they were suffering or had suffered the common ailments known as PhD fatigue and PhD blues when choosing a subject satisfaction to themselves and their supervisors, as Participant No. 3 put it, “…my supervisor wanted me to choose a subject which could sustain interest for several years…I have to spend days alone in front of my computer, surfing the internet. Now, 5 months have passed, the topic is not as gripping as initially believed. I am desperate, not knowing what to do.” Participant No. 4 also remarked, “… thesis proposal rarely passes without an objection from your supervisor requiring a modification to the proposal. I have modified my thesis proposal for 3 times before attending thesis proposal defence. It really drove me crazy.” Students would be in possibly a more desperate situation when their supervisors gave no or little advice for revision and merely refused to let them stand for a defence. This is the case with Participant No.8, who submitted her thesis proposal for four times, only to be rejected by her supervisor who, obsessed with his career as lawyer, gave no suggestions for revision. Feeling extremely exhausted and suffering from severe insomnia, she was considering withdrawing from the PhD program.Stress also came from vigorous blind peer review by external examiners selected by the graduate school board, failing which graduation would be postponed, and originated from the oral defence when students were at the end of a long period of grappling with dozens of tricky and detailed problems and issues pointed out by internal examiners. Just as Participant No.5 said, “I was so anxious about the defense, for some weeks before the oral defense, I thought ahead to the issues that examiners would have, for example, why you chose to adopt this approach instead of that. These kinds of concerns buzzed around my head, even prompted me to lie awake at night rehearsing answers to the examiners.” Further, stress also originated from the spot-checking arranged for by the Ministry of Education, failing which the already awarded degree would be cancelled.Meanwhile, no participants denied that it was even harder to satisfy the second requirement. To publish two articles in non-core periodicals were nothing hard, but to get two articles published in periodicals listed in CSSCI or SSCI was another thing, even impossible when they received no help from supervisors. At a time when publication output has become a milestone for academic selection and promotion , access to future research funding, or professional development opportunities in institutions of higher education in China, it is really a great challenge or unfair for PhD students to compete with numerous academic scholars to get articles published in limited core periodicals. As a result, students were desperate for publication. Just as Participant No. 6 said, “…My manuscripts have been rejected by five periodicals, while my supervisor does nothing about it. I’d love to pay RMB 30,000, or even more, to a periodical listed in CSSCI in exchange for publication of one article, if it is possible.” When talking of article publication, we obviously perceived a pervading mood of gloom and sullenness among the participants.Job-related stress mainly lied in the discrepancy between the career aspirations and the actual situations of employment. Interviews revealed that students had a varying spectrum of motivation for choosing PhD program, e.g., to find a job in outstanding institutions of higher education, research institutes or prominent institutions or corporations, get promotion, receive a pay raise, etc., consequently to change their social status and improve their living standard. It was and still is widely perceived among the PhD students that a PhD degree means higher career aspirations and expectations. After all, the PhD forms a watershed period where PhD candidates’ professional identities are established and their career aspirations and expectations are developed , but they were pessimistic about their prospects of doing so, due to the ever-outstanding surplus of doctorates compared to traditional academic jobs in China. According to the statistics revealed by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 53,139 people graduated with a PhD in China in 2014, compared with 53,653 in 2015, 53,778 in 2016, and 55,011 in 2017 (see: en.moe.gov.cn). Meanwhile, in 2014, 2015 and 2016, the numbers of teaching staff in all institutions of higher education or research institutes increased by 37,600, 38,100 and 29,400 (including those graduates with master’s degree), respectively (see: en.moe.gov.cn), which means more than 30% of doctoral graduates each year failed to work in academia as they expected;http://www.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2015-06/29/c_127961858.htm). In recent years, higher education landscape has become even more increasingly competitive, as colleges and universities strive to recruit and retain high-quality graduates to be qualified as “Double First-Class University” (Chinese:双一流大学), which is a plan conceived in 2015 to create world-class universities and disciplines in China by the end of 2050. Thus, those foreign graduates and Chinese returnees holding a PhD from western top universities and several academic publications get the edge on domestic PhD graduates, for they can be readily recruited by top universities in China and appointed at a higher level, or even at full professor level immediately.Second, the fear of lack of personal competitive force intensified their stress or anxiety. PhD students of non-“Project 211 or 985” Universities, compared with those of “Project 211 or 985” University, had greater stress or anxiety, due to the fact that the latter were recognized as superior to the former, for “‘Project 211 or 985ʹ University graduates only or preferred” was highlighted by staff recruitment advertising on the websites of almost all institutions of higher education; Meanwhile, PhD students of “Project 211 or 985” Universities felt stressful when competing with PhD returnees. Since the early 1990s, Chinese government has given generous funds to Chinese “star” academics working abroad if they return to China; In 2005, China established “Plan 111”, which was set out jointly by Ministry of Education and State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, intended to bring in about 1,000 overseas talents from the top 100 universities and research institutes worldwide and to upgrade the scientific renewal and peers’ competition of Chinese universities by establishing innovation centers and gathering groups of first-class minds from around the world. According to the Report on Employment &Entrepreneurship of Chinese Returnees 2017 produced by CCG , the number of Chinese returnees registered at Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange reached 370,000 in 2014, of which 22,000 held a PhD, and the number of returnees reached 432,500 in 2016, and would reach 666,000 in 2017, as predicted by the Ministry of Education , but made unrealistic demand on their progress ; alternatively, some supervisors showed little interest in students’ work, provided no feedback to students’ academic inquiry, repeatedly disapproved thesis proposal without any suggestions, committed sexual harassment ranging from verbal abuse to molestation, required students to help do research work or teach in supervisor’s stead, or even required students to do some personal things irrelevant to study . Some participants exclaimed that this tricky relationship that fell into either of the cases above was a contributory factor in increasing their stress.Second, family or marriage concern, including mate selection criteria, age for marriage and child-bearing age, and relation between family members, also triggers stress. Most single PhD students remarked that theoretically speaking, a higher academic degree should have enabled them to be more advantageous in mate selections . But ironically, they could not take out time from their busy schedule to date frequently. As they were growing old, mate selection range would dramatically narrow down, consequently, they felt greatly stressed. Compared with male students, female students, frightened of being left on the shelf, were all the more stressed out. As Participant No. 4 said, “…So busy with my PhD study, I haven’t got a boyfriend yet. I am over 30…I don’t know when I can tie the knot and give birth to a child. … I like child, but I am worried that no one would marry an old maid.” This worry was quite prevalent among female single PhD students who were struggling between career, study and marriage, and worried that while they might succeed in study, they would lose their lifelong happiness due to the contraction of prospective better halves. After all, in Chinese culture, it is quite shameful for a man to marry a woman who is superior to him, especially in respect to academic degree; Meanwhile, married participants were troubled by complaints or dissatisfaction from their family members, for throwing themselves into PhD study thus not accompanying or caring for the family, having nearly no social life, spending so much money on buying books, etc. Some family members even suspected it was worthwhile to embark on a PhD at a sacrifice of time, energy, money, happiness, etc., which inevitably resulted in fighting and bickering between PhD students and their family or mates. Some participants remarked that it was stressful to strike a balance between family and study. Their role as a parent, spouse or mate was considered to be a major stumbling block to realizing their PhD study. As Participant No. 7 said, “Being a father and husband while trying to complete a PhD is really tricky. I must devote more attention to my study to graduate on time. That is the top priority. But my wife always complains for not caring about her and our kids …she doesn’t know I am in a terrible situation. People who haven’t done PhDs cannot understand why we still want to read theses or articles at night—when we had the whole morning and afternoon to do it. Her lack of understanding drives me crazy!”The third factor is the tension between roommates. Data revealed that tension between PhD students was unavoidable when they shared a dorm, due to different personal hygiene habits, living habits or personal characters, e.g., staying up late, being hospitable (so receiving friends and dining in the dorm frequently), snoring loudly, smoking in the room, etc. As a result, participants involved felt stressed out, and could not focus on writing or getting enough sleep, and even suffered from insomnia when mediation failed and the relationship between roommates became more intense.During the process of axial coding, we found some sub-categories overlapping and converging. Some factors were not uniformly applicable to all the participants, namely, only part of the participants claimed these factors to be the sources of stress. Following the suggestions of Strauss and Corbin in case of tight integration and dense development between core categories and subcategories, “financial factors” was categorized as “other factors”.The above-mentioned factors apart, there were other contributing factors for their stress. Three participants remarked that they were in a stressful plight whether to continue or quit. Just as Participant No.2 said, “I am not well-prepared for the PhD study, not recognizing that it is so hard to get articles published and complete the thesis, although I had full knowledge of the Doctorate Conferral requirements when I began the PhD program. I feel regretful for pursuing a PhD, while it is a shame to quit now. I really don’t know whether to hang on or not”;Second, personal characters  also accounted in part for their stress. As Participant No.5 said, “I am green with envy and stressful when I see my classmates at college are well-settled down in their career while I am still struggling for a PhD, my career still being an illusion. You know, while in college, they were no match for me in any respect. I feel I am such a loser.” The feeling of being a loser was also fundamentally reflected in cases where some fragile PhD students failed to make true of their expectations; Two participants also claimed that when their peer PhD classmates published articles or made any other achievements, they could not fall in sleep, feeling depressed and stressed, and one participant even suffered from long-term insomnia.Further, the economic plight they were in  and having no-sex (which is exclusive to single participants) also contributed to their stress.As is revealed from the data, the triggers for PhD stress were diverse and complex. The participants interpreted or dictated their own ascription of what caused their stress, and all participants experienced at least one source of stress.Pain . This stress is closely related to academic policy, personal factors, and supervisor guidance. After all, to complete a thesis of 100,000 words and get two articles published in core periodicals indexed in CSSCI in 3 years is rather tough  for inexperienced students. Our survey revealed that the thesis requirement stressed them out, in that they felt there was not adequate time for them to complete a thesis to the satisfaction of their supervisors, internal and external examiners on the oral defence panel or examiners spot-checking PhD thesis for assessment, due to such reasons as lack of clear objective for enrolling on a PhD program, being engaged in other activities irrelevant to PhD study , not well-prepared for the toil and hardship of embarking on a PhD , receiving little or no guidance from supervisors, or negatively affected by other factors. As the time to finish their PhDs was quickly running out, they had to rush through completing their thesis; as a result, some of the rushed theses were “nothing more than a casual compilation of words or slapdash”, as remarked by a professor at Nanjing Normal University who was quite annoyed by the poor quality of a PhD thesis when spot-checking PhD theses for assessment and doubted the true value of doctors whose PhD theses were written poorly. His view was shared by scholars of other institutions of higher education  practice is widely prevalent in research-oriented universities, this requirement results in inevitable ambivalence and resistance among doctoral supervisors and candidates about the place of publication in doctoral work , which makes article publication by PhD students almost an illusion. Interviews revealed that, except for those students who studied hard while their supervisors were considerate or had good “guanxi”  with the chief editors of core periodicals, PhD students could hardly have publications. After all, “guanxi” plays a significant role in personal development, for it is essentially a set of interpersonal connections that facilitate exchange of favours between people on a dyadic basis; it is not merely a relationship, but a tie through which parties exchange valued materials or favours  and a recent alleged sexual harassment scandal involving a professor  improving supervisor training and management to ease the intense relationship between students and supervisors; 2) adopting a more flexible PhD program or reforming current PhD education policy to improve student outcomes whilst provide strong incentives for candidates to finish in a timely manner; and 3) establishing relatively complete counselling service. Participants in this study described stress as a salient experience closely related to their interpersonal relationships , identity development, and career decision-making processes, etc. As a result, career practitioners, psychotherapists, family and supervisors are encouraged to provide counselling. After all, counselling is necessary and vital for the psychological well-being of PhD students  have reported academic concerns about the psychological well-being of PhD students, arousing much concern at national and international levels. Relatedly, the first limitation of this study is that data collection at such a time may have heightened sensitivity to experiences related to stress for PhD students and influenced participants’ responses; The second limitation involves sampling. All participants, recruited from seven universities in three provinces in China, were majoring in humanities and social science. Thus, lack of diversity of various backgrounds means these findings represent an incomplete dictation of triggers for anxiety or stress, thus cannot be generalized to PhD students of other backgrounds. Further research with more diverse samples, e.g., geographic region, students of other backgrounds, etc., is needed.Recently, some influential periodicals (e.g.,