Does the bracket-ligature combination affect the amount of orthodontic space closure over three months? A randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of bracket-ligature combination on the amount of orthodontic space closure over three months. DESIGN: Randomized clinical trial with three parallel groups. SETTING: A hospital orthodontic department (Chesterfield Royal Hospital, UK). PARTICIPANTS: Forty-five patients requiring upper first premolar extractions. METHODS: Informed consent was obtained and participants were randomly allocated into one of three groups: (1) conventional pre-adjusted edgewise brackets and elastomeric ligatures; (2) conventional pre-adjusted edgewise brackets and Super Slick((R)) low friction elastomeric ligatures; (3) Damon 3MX((R)) passive self-ligating brackets. Space closure was undertaken on 0.019x0.025-inch stainless steel archwires with nickel-titanium coil springs. Participants were recalled at four weekly intervals. Upper alginate impressions were taken at each visit (maximum three). The primary outcome measure was the mean amount of space closure in a 3-month period. RESULTS: A one-way ANOVA was undertaken [dependent variable: mean space closure (mm); independent variable: group allocation]. The amount of space closure was very similar between the three groups (1 mm per 28 days); however, there was a wide variation in the rate of space closure between individuals. The differences in the amount of space closure over three months between the three groups was very small and non-significant (P = 0.718). CONCLUSION: The hypothesis that reducing friction by modifying the bracket/ligature interface increases the rate of space closure was not supported. The major determinant of orthodontic tooth movement is probably the individual patient response

Instant messaging for enquiry-based learning and peer learning communities

Instant Messaging (IM) tools such as Telegram may effectively be used to engage students in their learning. This paper explored how IM can enhance traditional teaching and learning in higher education by creating additional informal learning spaces, rather to disturb the existing classroom practices. There are three objectives that this paper was expected to achieve:- • To measure the student Response rate in using IM for the assessment of effectiveness in enquiry-based learning; • To evaluate the impact of IM on peer-to-peer participation through the analysis of dialogues among the learning communities; and • To discuss the essentials of successful application of IM in informal learning spaces. A module named Highway Engineering (CON4381) of Higher Diploma in Civil Engineering at the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education was selected with a large class size of over 300 students. The results were encouraging with over 100 students participated in the learning communities and more than 200 number of questions posed and interaction counts. The activities trends and students’ feedbacks showed positive perception and acceptance of the use of Telegram for teaching and learning. A questionnaire designed by the authors was used at the end of the semester and the participants showed positive perception and acceptance of the use of Telegram for teaching and learning. It was revealed that IM tools could elicit new learning opportunities, foster enquiry-based learning, offer informal and formal learning opportunities, and support peer learning community. A valuable discussion was conducted to address challenges in adopting IM as transmission pedagogy including merging of academic and non-academic contents, perceived distractive nature and potential to trigger off-task behaviours and sometimes limited participation of all students etc. Although such challenges exist in adopting IM as pedagogy, the potential to foster an effective learning environment should not be underestimated. Together with the widespread participation of all students and enhanced willingness on public expression of silenced voices, the utilization of instant messaging was found to be reasonably valid. Furthermore, an investigation into a mobile app which supplemented Vocational Training Council\u27s Moodle learning management platform was made so as to explore further usability whenever appropriate

L’identité insulaire dans la campagne présidentielle de 2004 à Taiwan

La campagne présidentielle de 2004 à Taiwan opposait l’alliance du Kuomintang, du Parti du peuple et du Nouveau Parti d’une part, à celle du Parti démocratique progressiste et de l’Alliance pour l’union de Taiwan (TSU) de l’autre. Basé sur des matériaux iconographiques, cet article examine la taiwanisation de l’île, sous quatre aspects : la consolidation de l’identité locale ; la capacité de l’île à faire face aux défis ; le Président Chen Shui-bian en tant que figure identitaire ; l’hostilité et la méfiance envers la Chine continentale

L’identité insulaire dans la campagne présidentielle de 2004 à Taiwan

La campagne présidentielle de 2004 à Taiwan opposait l’alliance du Kuomintang, du Parti du peuple et du Nouveau Parti d’une part, à celle du Parti démocratique progressiste et de l’Alliance pour l’union de Taiwan (TSU) de l’autre. Basé sur des matériaux iconographiques, cet article examine la taiwanisation de l’île, sous quatre aspects : la consolidation de l’identité locale ; la capacité de l’île à faire face aux défis ; le Président Chen Shui-bian en tant que figure identitaire ; l’hostilité et la méfiance envers la Chine continentale

Chinese-style Democracy as a Political Project for Meaning-Construction: Old Wine in a New Bottle?

Drawn from the textual data in the online and printed media from mainland China and Hong Kong, this article aims to identify and feature how Chinese-style democracy is constructed by engaging in discourse analysis, arguing that China-style democracy is not a political experiment aiming to critically reflect upon the weaknesses of democracy in conceptual and procedural aspects, and not a creative project focusing on how the Chinese experiences can refresh and reframe the conventional wisdom. Instead, it is a meaning-construction project surrounding the following themes explored: (1) negative Western democracy versus positive Chinese-style democracy in terms of efficiency, (2) Western democracy as the symbol of political failure, such as street politics, domestic struggles, chaos, (3) positivity of Chinese-style democracy with China’s rise brought by reform and opening-up since 1978, and (4) perverting the language of Western democracy to construct Chinese-style democracy, such as rule of law, human rights. Specialty, uniqueness and adaption, in the main, are the common ground during the process of meaning reconstruction, with the intention to conduct the political performance for an undemocratic, illiberal and autocratic regime

Development Discourse on Language of Instruction and Literacy: Sound Policy and Ubuntu or Lip Service?

Both humanist and quality concerns should have made language of instruction a priority in educational development, yet there has been no clear trajectory. This study explores whether the advantages of L1-based approaches as documented in the scholarly literature have been reflected in the development discourse over time, based on an analysis of all twelve UNESCO Global Monitoring Reports. We investigated three hypotheses using macro-analyses on the frequency of language-in-education mentions and the co-occurrence of these with mentions of early grade reading, and a micro-analysis of content associated with language. While we found no consistent trend in language-in-education terms over time, there has been more mention in reference to early grade reading, challenging support for longer-term use of L1 to support learning. More detailed mentions of language, however, appear to be aligned with sound policies and practices, and simple mentions presume that L1-based approaches are important for effective educational development

Localisation in the 2004 Presidential Election Campaign in Taiwan

The 2004 presidential election campaign in Taiwan brought head to head the political alliance of the Kuomintang (KMT), the People’s First Party (PFP) and the New Party (NP) on one side, and of the Democracy Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) on the other. Adopting an iconographic approach, this article looks at four aspects of “Taiwanisation”: a stronger Taiwan identity, the island’s ability to face political challenges arising from democratisation and political unrest, Chen Shui-bian as the symbol of Taiwan, and the Taiwanese hostility towards and distrust of mainland China

The effective stability parameter for two-component galactic discs: Is 1/Q ~ 1/Q_stars + 1/Q_gas ?

The Wang-Silk approximation, 1/Q ~ 1/Q_stars + 1/Q_gas, is frequently used for estimating the effective Q parameter in two-component discs of stars and gas. Here we analyse this approximation in detail, and show how its accuracy depends on the radial velocity dispersions and Toomre parameters of the two components. We then propose a much more accurate but still simple approximation for the effective Q parameter, which further takes into account the stabilizing effect of disc thickness. Our effective Q parameter is a natural generalization of Toomre's Q, and as such can be used in a wide variety of contexts, e.g. for predicting star formation thresholds in galaxies or for measuring the stability level of galactic discs at low and high redshifts.Comment: MNRAS, in pres