China has the highest adoption rate in the world for technology-enabled payment systems, according to a report released on Wednesday. The report, from the market research firm Nielsen, is based on a survey of 13,000 respondents in 26 countries.

    The survey showed that 86 percent of Chinese respondents said they paid for online purchases during the past six months via digital payment systems compared with a global average of just 43 percent.

    "Chinese consumers have more payment choices for products and services than ever while digital payments will continue to win over more Chinese consumers due to its convenient nature," said Kiki Fan, managing director of Nielsen China.

    The increasingly popular payment method is part of the rapidly evolving purchasing behavior of Chinese consumers. About 98 percent of the respondents in China, the world's largest e-commerce market, said they had made purchases online.

    The majority of them still make online purchases via computers, but the number of those who use mobile devices to make purchases is growing fast and is significantly higher than the average in other surveyed countries.

    At 71 percent, food-related businesses topped the list of purchases made via smart phones while event ticket purchases stood at 51 percent.

    The rising use of digital payments has attracted numerous players to the Chinese market.

    Apple Inc launched its contactless payment system Apple Pay in the Chinese mainland last month. It allows users of the iPhone 6 or more advanced versions, certain iPads and Apple Watches to pay by their devices in bricks-and-mortar stores.

    Apple's rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is expected to bring its own mobile payment service to China in mid-March—Sam-sung Pay.

    China's Internet giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd have already taken about 90 percent of the mobile payment market, but industry observers said the competition is just about to start.

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    Washington—Wild applause broke out at the Parent Teacher Association national offices when several government spokespeople announced a decision to return the subject of civics(公民学) to high school curricula nationwide.

The decision is symbolic of the new agenda to restore(恢复) the United States Constitution to its pre-Bush-era status. In a joint statement, Senators Harry Reid, Republican of Kentucky, said that the decision proves the two parties can work together on an issue of national importance.

    The announcement came following a series of school strikes organized by parents angered by a recent study by the National Opinion Research Center. The findings showed a total ignorance of government structure and citizens rights by graduating high school seniors.

    Some of the fallacious opinion and beliefs mentioned in this cross-country study included: the president has the power to interpret treaties(条约); the president is not bound（约束） by law; the vice president is independent of all three branches of government; torture（刑讯） is not a punishment and therefore cannot be considered “cruel and unusual”.

    The study noted that many students' political consciousness dated back only three years — in other words, their awareness of constitution rights had been entirely formed during the Bush administration.

    The study also found that students were growing incapable of telling the difference between living figures, historical figures, and corporate-licensed figures such as cartoon characters.

    The revived civics courses will teach students about the structure and function of each branch of government, the theory of checks and balances, theories of the role of government, and constitutional(宪法的) law.

    "We have so much work in front of us." said Los Angeles area high school teacher Roberta Morales. "Trying to develop students' sense of citizenry and the public good and undo so many self-centered individualistic messages will take great effort."

    The Golden Week holiday is extended to eight days this year, as China is ushering in two celebrations from Oct. 1-8: the National Day holiday and the Mid-Autumn Festival. For anyone who is looking forward to a rich，refreshing break, here is a list of some of the best exhibitions, shows and things to do around town.

    Qin and Han dynasties relics

    The Civilizations of Qin and Han celebrates the glory of those two dynasties (221BC-AD2 20) in terms of politics，economics, arts and culture. More than 300 artifacts from 30 museums and institutions across the country are on show through Nov. 30.

    If you go: 9am-5pm till Nov. 30. Closed on Mondays. National Museum of China, 16 East Chang'an Avenue，Dongcheng District. 010-6611-6188.

    Ticket: Free

    Artist's solo show

    Chen jialing is a famous artist who seeks a connection between Chinese and Western art, and demonstrates and excellence for industrial design. He will show dozens of ink paintings. Also on display are his designs on decorative works for daily use, such as bowls, furniture pieces and silk scarves.

    If you go: 9am-5pm till Oct. 8. National Museum of China, Dongcheng District.

    Walk into a time machine at Beijing Design week

    This year's Beijing Design Week is allowing visitors to explore exhibitions and events in the city's Dashilar area with interactive experiences that apply advanced technology, such as virtual reality.

    By simply scanning a QR code, information about exhibitions and events linked to the Beijing Design Week being held in the Dashilar Design Community pop up. Push the button on your screen, and you can use the “time machine” to wander through the alleys of Dashilar area.

    If you go: till Oct. 5.3 Cha'er Hutong, Xicheng District.

    Ticket: Free

    German designer Weingart's works at Beijing Design Week

    Another highlight of this year's Beijing Design Week is an exhibition from German - born designer Wolfgang Weingart. His style has been influencing designers and his students in Europe and North America over the years.

    If you go: 9:30 -5:30 pm till Oct 8. Art Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts, 8 Huajiadi South Street, Chaoyang District 010-6577-1018.

    Ticket: 120 yuan per person.

    Waiter Scott was born on August 15, 1771 in Edinburgh, Gotland. At the age of two, Scott suffered from polio (小儿麻痹症) which left him with a limp. He was sent to live with relatives to try and find a cure. In 1783 he attended the University of Edinburgh. He had to leave for a year because of health problems. In 1786, Scott worked in his father's law firm. He returned to the university in 1789 to study law, graduating in 1792. The same year he became a lawyer and was accepted into the Faculty of Advocates (苏格兰律师公会).

    Scott did some translation work from 1796-1798. In 1799, Scott became sheriff-deputy of Selkirkshire, a post which he held until he died. In 1800, Scott rewrote a ballad collection called Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. In 1805, he became part owner of The Ballantyne Press which had published his The Eve of St. John in 1799. His poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel was published that same year and became very popular. He was a co-founder of the Quarterly Review, a literary journal. Scott continued to write poems and ballads, each one becoming more popular than the last. In 1810, The Lady of the Lake was published and sold 25,000 copies in less than 9 months.

    Scott moved his family to Abbotsford in 1812. In 1813, The Ballantyne Press collapsed, which caused Scott to have serious financial problems. In 1814, he wrote a novel called Waverley to earn money and it became the most successful English novel of the time. He went on to write 26 novels in the series.

    In 1826, Scott faced financial ruin again when his publisher failed, which him to work even harder. In 1830, he began suffering from diseases and he died at home on September 21,1832.

    Larger brain size linked to longer life in deer. The size of a female animals' brain may determine whether they live longer and have more healthy later generations, according to new research led by the University of Cambridge.

    The study, published in the Royal Society Open Science journal, shows that female red deer with larger brains live longer and have more surviving later generations than those with smaller brains. Brain size is heritable and is passed down through the generations. This is the first extensive study of individual differences in brain size in wild mammals and draws on data comparing seven generations of deer.

    Across species of mammals, brain size varies widely. This is thought to be a consequence of specific differences in the benefits and costs of a larger brain. Mammals with larger brains may, for example, have greater abilities that enable them to adapt better to environmental changes or they may have longer lifespans. But there may also be disadvantages: for instance, larger brains require more energy, so individuals that possess them may show reduced ability to give birth to young babies.

    The researchers, based at the University of Cambridge's Zoology Department and Edinburgh University's Institute of Evolutionary Biology, wanted to test if they could find more direct genetic or non-genetic evidence of the costs and benefits of large brain size by comparing the longevity(长寿) and survival of individuals of the same species with different sized brains. Using the skulls of 1,314 wild red deer whose life histories and breeding success had been monitored in the course of a long-term study on the Isle of Rum, they found that females with larger endocranial volumes(脑腔容量) lived longer and produced more surviving offspring in the course of their lives.

    Lead author Dr Corina Logan, a Gates Cambridge Scholar, says, "The reasons for the association between brain size and longevity are not known, but other studies have suggested that larger brains are a consequence of the longer-lived species having longer developmental periods in which the brain can grow. These predictions were generated from cross-species correlations; however, testing such hypotheses requires investigations at the within-species level, which is what we did. "

    Dr Logan adds, "We found that some of the cross-species predictions about brain size held for female red deer, and that none of the predictions were supported in male red deer. This indicates that each sex likely experiences its own set of trade-offs(权衡,协调) with regard to brain size. "The study also showed that females' relative endocranial volume is smaller than that of males, despite evidence of selection for larger brains in females.

    Professor Tim Clutton Brock, who set up the Rum Red Deer study with Fiona Guinness in 1972 and started the work on brain size, points out, "The reason that this kind of study has not been conducted before is that it requires long term records of a large number of individuals across multiple generations and data of this kind are still rare in wild animals."

    The clock always seems to be ticking rather too fast in the doctor's office and the queue of patients outside the door seems to be pressing rather too hard. Some say it's high time for the model of short, sharp one-to-one appointments to give way to shared medical appointments (SMAs).

    SMAs are doctor-patient visits in which a group of patients receive patient education and counseling (咨询),physical examination and medical support in a group setting. Typically SMAs are designed to have one or more doctors attend to a group of patients who share a common illness or medical condition. In contrast to one-to-one visits, SMAs provide a longer appointment time-frame as well as the opportunity for patients to have improved access to their physicians and meanwhile pick up additional information and support from peers.

    However, doctors who have pioneered the shared appointment approach report that there are significant challenges involved. Dr. Sumego, director of shared medical appointments, Cleveland Clinic, identifies culture change as the most significant challenge. Physicians and nurses are trained in a model of personal service and privacy; the SMA approach is a fundamental challenge to those fixed ideas. They need shared goals and a way of testing the innovation against agreed standards. Dr. Sumego says, "The physicians may be worried about the possible chaos and efficiencies that are marketed. They also have to make the patients understand what their appointment is, and what the expectation is."

    "So, if an organization was looking to start shared medical appointments, I would advise them to start the buy-in from a few champion physicians, develop the work-flow and develop some experience. Provide some support behind what that best practice should look like. Create some standards so that, as the concept spreads, you can employ that experience to start the next shared medical appointments and the next."