Preparing Teachers for Culturally Responsive/Relevant Pedagogy (CRP): A Critical Review of Research

Context: Proposed more than two decades ago, culturally relevant/responsive teaching or pedagogy (CRP) is one promising approach to transform education experiences of historically marginalized groups. The development of CRP has since inspired changes in teacher education programs and resulted in considerable research on preparing teachers for CRP. However, critics have argued that much work on CRP has not fulfilled its transformative potential of addressing racism and the white-supremacist foundations underlying teacher education research and practice, and have urged CRP research to grow from the existing knowledge base and to innovate. Purpose of Study: This study critically examines the research practices of empirical studies on preparing K–12 pre-service teachers for CRP in the United States by merging ideas of research as social practice with critical race theory, critical whiteness studies, and Indigenous epistemologies to argue for research as racialized social practice. The goal is to provide perspectives and lines of research that are true to the radical shifts the original theories called for, yet might not have been fully fulfilled. Research Design: This critical literature review applies the research-as-racialized-social-practice lens to examine how CRP research studies frame problems and research questions, elaborate theoretical frameworks and research methodology, and discuss findings and implications. Our analysis positions CRP research on the research-as-racialized-social-practice continuum, ranging from maintaining the racist status quo to intentionally disrupting it. Findings: Our analysis reveals that dominant research practices—emphasizing the problem of individual deficiencies rather than inequitable systems, employing a research logic focusing on linearity rather than complexity, and lacking in-depth examination of racialized and cultural ways of knowing for both researchers and participants—maintain the inequitable status quo rather than disrupting taken-for-granted assumptions and practices. While we recognize the important work and useful knowledge accumulated by this body of literature over two decades, we urge teacher educators and researchers to stay vigilant and resist research epistemologies and practices that recenter, recycle, and maintain whiteness, perpetuating the racist status quo. Conclusions: We recommend that teacher education researchers can construct research questions capable of generating new knowledge to disrupt racial injustice; utilize and further develop critical theoretical frameworks that sufficiently attend to various aspects of race and racism in teaching, learning, and society, and are meaningfully linked to disruptive research methodologies; and, finally, attend clearly to the ability of research to disrupt the racist status quo within their findings and implications

Low-complexity face-assisted video coding

[[abstract]]This paper presents a novel face-assisted video coding scheme to enhance the visual quality of the face regions in video telephony applications. A skin-color based face detection and tracking scheme is proposed to locate the face regions in real-time. After classifying the macroblocks into the face and non-face regions, we present a dynamic distortion weighting adjustment (DDWA) scheme to drop the static non-face macroblocks, and the saved bits are used to compensate the face region by adjusting the distortion weighting of the face macroblocks. The quality of face regions will thus be enhanced. Moreover, the computation originally required for the skipped macroblocks can also be saved. The experimental results show that the proposed method can significantly improve the PSNR and the subjective quality of face regions, while the degradation introduced on the non-face areas is relatively insensitive to human perception. The proposed algorithm is fully compatible with the H.263 standard, and the low complexity feature makes it well suited to implement for real-time applications[[fileno]]2030144030041[[department]]電機工程學

Modelling the Asymmetric Volatility in Hog Prices in Taiwan: The Impact of Joining the WTO

The hog industry, where prices are determined according to an auction system, is of vital importance to the agricultural industry in Taiwan by providing significant production and employment. In particular, there were significant impacts on daily hog prices in the periods before, during and after joining the WTO, which we will refer to as periods of anticipation, adjustment and settlement. The purpose of the paper is to model the growth rates and volatility in daily hog prices in Taiwan from 23 March 1999 to 30 June 2007, which enables an analysis of the effects of joining the WTO. The paper provides a novel application of financial volatility models to agricultural finance. The empirical results have significant implications for risk management and policy considerations in the agricultural industry in Taiwan, especially when significant structural changes, such as joining the WTO, are concerned. The three sub-samples relating to the period before, during and after joining the WTO display significantly different volatility persistence, namely symmetry, asymmetry but not leverage, and leverage, respectively, whereby negative shocks increase volatility but positive shocks of a similar magnitude decrease volatility.Hog prices, joining the WTO, conditional volatility models, asymmetry, leverage, moment conditions.

Modelling the Asymmetric Volatility in Hog Prices in Taiwan: The Impact of Joining the WTO

Prices in the hog industry in Taiwan are determined according to an auction system. There are significant differences in hog prices before, during and after joining the World Trade Organization (WTO). The paper models growth rates and volatility in daily hog prices in Taiwan from 23 March 1999 to 30 June 2007, which enables an analysis of the effects of joining the WTO. The empirical results have significant implications for risk management and policy in the agricultural industry. The three sub-samples for the periods before, during and after joining the WTO display significantly different volatility persistence of symmetry, asymmetry and leverage, respectively.Hog prices; joining the WTO; conditional volatility models; asymmetry; leverage; moment conditions

"Modelling the Asymmetric Volatility in Hog Prices in Taiwan: The Impact of Joining the WTO"

The hog industry, where prices are determined according to an auction system, is of vital importance to the agricultural industry in Taiwan by providing significant production and employment. In particular, there were significant impacts on daily hog prices in the periods before, during and after joining the WTO, which we will refer to as periods of anticipation, adjustment and settlement. The purpose of the paper is to model the growth rates and volatility in daily hog prices in Taiwan from 23 March 1999 to 30 June 2007, which enables an analysis of the effects of joining the WTO. The paper provides a novel application of financial volatility models to agricultural finance. The empirical results have significant implications for risk management and policy considerations in the agricultural industry in Taiwan, especially when significant structural changes, such as joining the WTO, are concerned. The three sub-samples relating to the period before, during and after joining the WTO display significantly different volatility persistence, namely symmetry, asymmetry but not leverage, and leverage, respectively, whereby negative shocks increase volatility but positive shocks of a similar magnitude decrease volatility.

Headteachers’ views on the inclusion of students with special educational needs in Taiwan

The main aim of this research is to offer a sociological analysis of Taiwanese headteachers’ views of the inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools. Taiwan is a country which combines Confucian and westernised traditions, and these are reflected in its education systems, including SEN provision. To date, there is little research on headteachers’ views of inclusion and most studies involve attitudinal surveys. By way of contrast, this qualitative research, which adopts a neo-marxist theoretical perspective, is based on twenty five in-depth interviews with school headteachers, who are regarded as having high social status in Taiwan. In addition, the research presents two case studies of schools implementing inclusive practices, based on interviews with headteachers, analysis of the school websites and media reports. Critical discourse analysis is used to analyse the twenty five interview texts and the case studies. Three major discourses of inclusion are identified: the managerialist discourse, the critical discourse and the school as social microcosm discourse. The extent to which headteachers employ these discourses appears to be influenced by various personal and social factors. Headteachers’ understanding of disabled students is the key personal factor influencing their views on inclusion. Further, their unfavourable attitudes towards the inclusion of disabled students may be influenced by the views of parents with non-disabled children, competitive credentialism and the government’s stance. With regard to the inclusion of gifted students, the discourses employed are he following: the school as social microcosm discourse, the privileged class discourse and the dilemmatic discourse. The first two discourses are articulated by headteachers holding favourable attitudes towards the inclusion of gifted students whilst the third discourse is articulated by those holding uncertain attitudes. Headteachers’ understanding of gifted students is the key personal factor influencing their views on inclusion. Competitive credentialism has a major influence on attitudes towards the inclusion of disabled students as well as gifted students. With regard to the two case studies of schools exemplifying inclusive practices, it is argued that the wider applicability of their approaches is questionable. Overall, the results highlight the Taiwanese government’s unclear stance on promoting inclusion. This research has also suggested that a clear operational definition of inclusion is necessary and urgent before the comprehensive implementation of inclusion in wider educational arenas

Measuring the complexity of teachers' enactment of practice for equity: A Rasch model and facet theory-based approach

Thesis advisor: Larry H. LudlowPreparing and supporting teachers to enact teaching practice that responds to diversity, challenges educational inequities, and promotes social justice is a pressing yet daunting and complex task. More research is needed to understand how and to what extent teacher education programs prepare and support teacher candidates to enhance the achievement of all learners while challenging systematic inequity (Cochran-Smith, Ell, Ludlow, Grudnoff, & Aitken, 2014). One piece of empirical evidence needed is a measure that captures the extent to which teachers enact teaching practice for equity. This study developed an instrument – the Teaching Equity Enactment Scenario Scale (TEES) - to measure the extent of equity-centered teaching practice by applying Rasch measurement theory (Rasch, 1960) and Guttman’s facet theory (Borg & Shye, 1995). The research question addressed whether the TEES scale can measure teachers’ self-reported enactment of practice for equity in a reliable, valid, and authentic manner. This study employed a three-phase design, comprising an extensive process of item development, a pilot study and a final full-scale administration. Fifteen scenario-style items were developed to capture the enactment levels of six interconnected principles of teaching practice for equity. Using the Rasch rating scale model the outcome was a 15-item TEES scale that reliably and validly measures increasing levels of teaching practice for equity progressing through low, moderate, and high levels of enactment. The distribution of the scenarios confirmed their hypothesized order and the instrument development principles of Rasch measurement - unidimensionality, variation and a hierarchical order of the items, as well as a uniform continuum defining the construct. The scale also provides meaningful interpretations of what a raw score means regarding one’s equity-centered teaching practice. The overall findings suggest that the novel approach of combining Rasch measurement and facet theory can be successful in developing a scenario-style scale that measures a complex construct. Moreover, the scale can provide the evidence needed in research on preparing and supporting teachers to teach with a commitment to equity and social justice

Dynamic region of interest transcoding for multipoint video conferencing

This paper presents a region of interest transcoding scheme for multipoint video conferencing to enhance the visual quality. In a multipoint videoconference, usually there are only one or two active conferees at one time which are the regions of interest to the other conferees involved. We propose a Dynamic Sub-Window Skipping (DSWS) scheme to firstly identify the active participants from the multiple incoming encoded video streams by calculating the motion activity of each sub-window, and secondly reduce the frame-rates of the motion inactive participants by skipping these less-important subwindows. The bits saved by the skipping operation are reallocated to the active sub-windows to enhance the regions of interest. We also propose a low-complexity scheme to compose and trace the unavailable motion vectors with a good accuracy in the dropped inactive sub-windows after performing the DSWS. Simulation results show that the proposed methods not only significantly improve the visual quality on the active subwindows without introducing serious visual quality degradation in the inactive ones, but also reduce the computational complexity and avoid whole-frame skipping. Moreover, the proposed algorithm is fully compatible with the H.263 video coding standard. 1

"An Econometric Analysis of SARS and Avian Flu on International Tourist Arrivals to Asia"

This paper compares the impacts of SARS and human deaths arising from Avian Flu on international tourist arrivals to Asia. The effects of SARS and human deaths from Avian Flu will be compared directly according to human deaths. The nature of the short run and long run relationship is examined empirically by estimating a static line fixed effect model and a difference transformation dynamic model, respectively. Empirical results from the static fixed effect and difference transformation dynamic models are consistent, and indicate that both the short run and long run SARS effect have a more significant impact on international tourist arrivals than does Avian Flu. In addition, the effects of deaths arising from both SARS and Avian Flu suggest that SARS is more important to international tourist arrivals than is Avian Flu. Thus, while Avian Flu is here to stay, its effect is currently not as significant as that of SARS.

Functional pathway mapping analysis for hypoxia-inducible factors

Background: Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are transcription factors that play a crucial role in response to hypoxic stress in living organisms. The HIF pathway is activated by changes in cellular oxygen levels and has significant impacts on the regulation of gene expression patterns in cancer cells. Identifying functional conservation across species and discovering conserved regulatory motifs can facilitate the selection of reference species for empirical tests. This paper describes a cross-species functional pathway mapping strategy based on evidence of homologous relationships that employs matrix-based searching techniques for identifying transcription factorbinding sites on all retrieved HIF target genes. Results: HIF-related orthologous and paralogous genes were mapped onto the conserved pathways to indicate functional conservation across species. Quantitatively measured HIF pathways are depicted in order to illustrate the extent of functional conservation. The results show that in spite of the evolutionary process of speciation, distantly related species may exhibit functional conservation owing to conservative pathways. The novel terms OrthRate and ParaRate are proposed to quantitatively indicate the flexibility of a homologous pathway and reveal the alternative regulation of functional genes. Conclusion: The developed functional pathway mapping strategy provides a bioinformatics approach for constructing biological pathways by highlighting the homologous relationships between various model species. The mapped HIF pathways were quantitatively illustrated and evaluated by statistically analyzing their conserved transcription factor-binding elements