This article provides a meta-analysis of research conducted on distributed leadership from 2002 to 2013. It continues the review of distributed leadership commissioned by the English National College for School Leadership (NCSL) (Distributed Leadership: A Desk Study, Bennett et al., 2003), which identified two gaps in the research during the 1996-2002 period. The review found that the studies had been unable to conceptualise distributed leadership or empirically outline its application. The two research gaps identified by Bennett et al. (2003) constitute the focus of the present review, which attempts to determine whether recent research has been able to fill these gaps. Based on the findings of the present meta-analysis, the authors recommend directions for future studies on distributed leadership.

Action video game (AVG) has attracted increasing attention from both the public and from researchers. More and more studies found video game training improved a variety of cognitive functions. However, it remains controversial whether healthy adults can benefit from AVG training, and whether young and older adults benefit similarly from AVG training. In the present study, we aimed to quantitatively assess the AVG training effect on the cognitive ability of adults and to compare the training effects on young and older adults by conducting a meta-analysis on previous findings. We systematically searched video game training studies published between January 1986 and July 2015. Twenty studies were included in the present meta-analysis, for a total of 313 participants included in the training group and 323 participants in the control group. The results demonstrate that healthy adults achieve moderate benefit from AVG training in overall cognitive ability and moderate to small benefit in specific cognitive domains. In contrast, young adults gain more benefits from AVG training than older adults in both overall cognition and specific cognitive domains. Age, education, and some methodological factors, such as the session duration, session number, total training duration, and control group type, modulated the training effects. These meta-analytic findings provide evidence that AVG training may serve as an efficient way to improve the cognitive performance of healthy adults. We also discussed several directions for future AVG training studies.

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The failure rate of fintech platforms is disproportionately high, which may be because (1) there is a lack of published knowledge on the appropriate strategies to adopt and/or (2) the traditional prescriptions for strategy may be less relevant in the context of fintech platforms. To ascertain either or both of these possibilities, we conducted a comprehensive review of the fintech literature and found that not only is there a relative paucity of research on Fintech Strategies, but there are also important limitations associated with the existing works. To address these limitations, we first identified the unique characteristics of fintech platforms and the strategic implications of those characteristics. Next, we adapted a framework made up of six conventional core logics of strategy and juxtaposed the prescriptions of those logics with the unique characteristics identified. Finally, we constructed a research agenda consisting of a number of open questions based on our analysis to provide directions for future research in this area. The agenda suggests that fintech platform strategies have to account for competing institutional logics stemming from the platforms' dual identity and the tensions between conforming for legitimacy and differentiating for competitive advantage. There is also a need to account for an exceptionally dynamic and unpredictable regulatory landscape, as well as the responses and competitive actions of influential market incumbents.

The role of the counselor's experience in building an alliance with the clients remains controversial. Recently, the expanding nascent studies on interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) on human subjects have hinted at the possible neural substrates underlying the relationship qualities between the counselor-client dyads. Our study assessed the clients' selfreport working alliance (WA) as well as simultaneously measured IBS by fNIRS in 14 experienced vs. 16 novice counselor-client dyads during the first integrativeorientation psychological counseling session. We observed that synchronous brain activity patterns were elicited from the right temporo-parietal junction across counselor-client dyads. Furthermore, such IBS, together with alliance quality, was especially evident when counselors had more psychotherapy experience. Time-lagged counselor-client brain synchronization might co-vary with the alliance (goal component) when the client's brain activity preceded that of the counselor. These findings favor the notion that the IBS between counselor-client associated with the WA is an experience-dependent phenomenon, suggesting that a potential adaptive mechanism is embedded in psychological counseling. Public Health Significance Statements: Recent expanding nascent studies on interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) during the interpersonal communication process using functional near-infrared spectroscopy(fNIRS) have hinted at the possible neural substrates underlying the effective relationship/alliance between the counselor-client dyads. By using fNIRs, our study found that the experienced counselors could build better alliance and stronger IBS of the right temporo-parietal 4 junction (rTPJ) with the clients vs. novice counselors, at least in the first session. This result supports the notion that a counselor's level of experience is important in establishing positive alliance and the increased IBS of the rTPJ in the experienced counselor group vs. the novice counselor group might indicate the neural basis of the better alliance during the psychological counseling process.

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This study mapped the international knowledge base of educational leadership, administration and management (EdLAM) from a topographical perspective. Altogether 1,651 publications from 18 peerreviewed English journals published between 2007 and 2016 were reviewed. Combining bibliometric and content analyses, we identified 55 countries and regions that produced EdLAM publications. About half of the publications came from five Anglo-Saxon countries, a quarter from Europe and a quarter from four emerging regions (Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America). In each cluster of countries, key EdLAM research themes were identified and illustrated with reviewed literature. The overall development trends of EdLAM research include the continuous theorisation and empirical investigation of EdLAM, the increasing critical voices against Neoliberalism and the New Public Management in education, the growing awareness of contextualising EdLAM research locally, and the rising value of comparative studies.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the development of educational leadership, administration and management (EdLAM) research by identifying thematic strands that hallmark key publications and synthesise major research findings and limitations. Design/methodology/approach This study combines bibliometric and content analysis methods to review 2,347 publications from 15 core EdLAM journals published from 2007 to 2016. Findings The bibliometric analysis identified five EdLAM thematic strands: school leadership for enhancing students’ academic achievement and teachers’ effectiveness; leadership for educational change, accountability and promoting democratic values; leadership for social justice, equal education and narrowing achievement gaps; principal’s instructional leadership for school improvement; and distributed leadership and its impact on organisational climate and teachers’ attitudes and stress. The content analysis revealed that the EdLAM research from 2007 to 2016 further developed the following research areas: the dynamics between leaders and teachers in leadership work, the potential risks of distributed leadership and the EdLAM challenges brought by the New Public Management and neoliberalism. Originality/value This study depicts state-of-the-art EdLAM research. It confirms the combination of bibliometric and content analyses as a useful approach for large-scale review studies. Finally, this review suggests future research directions.