Capturing the unusual cultural character of a formative period and its intellectual ferment across multiple disciplines.

Assessing Learners’ Competence in L2 Chinese is the first book intended to answer the question on whether existing standardised and classroom-based assessments can reflect learners’ competence in L2 Chinese. The Chinese language has enjoyed increasing global popularity amongst second/foreign language learners and has become one of the major modern languages for school and university curricula. However, to many teachers and researchers, it has been difficult to answer with confidence whether the existing standardised and classroom tests can reflect learners’ competence in L2 Chinese. This book defines and redefines the constructs for assessing L2 Chinese competence that have been overlooked or misplaced because of the unique features of the Chinese language. The book provides theoretical backgrounds and practical methodologies for assessing competence in L2 Chinese trainees and experienced teachers of Chinese as a second language. It will provide invaluable guidelines and ready-made workshop materials for postgraduate teacher training programmes. Researchers and academics will find innovative frameworks on the subject for further studies and debates.

This book explores the challenges Japan has been facing as a post-industrialized society that is characterized by a declining population rate, an aging population, and an increased reliance on imports, and seeks to learn lessons on sustainability from Japan's experiences.

As two Asian giants and rising power, the interactions between India and China have global significance. This book analyses the multifaceted and multi-layered character of Sino-Indian relations since the beginning of the 21st century in a period marked by cooperation and competition. Positioned in a social constructivist framework that emphasizes mutual perceptions and socialization, the book draws analytical leverage from two core concepts – national identity and national interest – to form the basis of the research inquiry. The author argues that the dynamics of national identity and national interest play an important role in determining their relations and shows how and why in the current international structure, including a context of accelerated globalization, their national identities as rising power and emerging power coupled with national interest of economic development have defined and directed their international positions and foreign policy-making. A unique approach to analysing Sino-Indian relations, this book is of interest to academics in the fields of Asian Politics and International Relations.

Les pathologies de la paroi abdominale représentent un problème fréquent auquel tous les chirurgiens, même non spécialisés, sont confrontés, et la chirurgie pariétale, fréquente en nombre d'actes pratiqués, a connu des progrès importants depuis vingt ans (prothèses, coelioscopie, nouvelles techniques pour les éventrations...). Des questions demeurent cependant, dans la pratique quotidienne, selon le contexte, sur l'utilisation ou non d'une prothèse, et de quel type, avec quelle technique ?... En tenant compte des progrès réalisés, des connaissances actuelles et de l'expérience clinique, l'ouvrage présente :• l'anatomie, la biomécanique et l'imagerie de la paroi abdominale ainsi que les définitions et classifications des hernies primaires et incisionnelles et les différents types de prothèses ;• les différentes approches opératoires des hernies de l'aine ;• les hernies ventrales primaires et incisionnelles ;• les cas particuliers et urgences (hernies chez le cirrhotique, réparation pariétale et grossesse, traumatismes de la paroi abdominale, prise en charge d'une éventration, etc.) S'appuyant sur une abondante iconographie (dessins anatomiques, imageries et photographies opératoires) et un texte résolument didactique, cet ouvrage propose aux chirurgiens un exposé clair, étape par étape, des différentes techniques de la chirurgie pariétale.Cet ouvrage complet aborde ainsi tous les aspects théoriques et pratiques de la prise en charge d'une pathologie de la paroi abdominale et propose des algorithmes pour de nombreuses situations. POINT CLÉS :¿ Tous les aspects théoriques et pratique de la chirurgie pariétale.¿ Une iconographie didactique pour guider les praticiens.¿ Des algorithmes de prise en charge pour de nombreuses situations.