The subject conceptions and practice of pre-service geography teachers in Singapore

This thesis focuses on understanding the complex relationships between geography teachers’ conceptions and practice. Through the use of a Foucauldian (1971, 1979) perspective on discourse, knowledge and power, it examines the discursive structures that produce knowledge about geography and ‘good’ geography teachers (Moore, 2004) in Singapore. The research explores why pre-service teachers conceive geography in particular ways, and the links between their conceptions and practice. It emphasises the ways in which discursive power affects this relationship. The study focuses on six geography pre-service secondary school teachers over the course of one year of teacher education. Utilising concept maps, elicitation exercises and in-depth interviews, it highlights that the national curriculum was powerful in shaping respondents’ discussions of geography, but its impact was mediated by their own professional identities and past experiences of geography. The data also suggests that these conceptions did not always translate into practice because of discourses operating in the school context, which placed respondents in asymmetrical power relationships with their mentors. The mentors’ conceptions of ‘good’ geography teaching usually influenced respondents’ practice more than their own conceptions of geography. Nevertheless, respondents sometimes resisted their mentors, especially if they experienced conflict between the type of teaching that was demanded of them and their own professional identities. iv The research calls on teacher educators and policy makers to acknowledge that programmes to develop teachers’ knowledge in their academic disciplines can be undermined by powerful competing discourses that stress examinable content in school curricula. It highlights the need for teacher education institutions to examine their partnerships with schools for possible conflicts between discourses about ‘good’ teaching in schools and institutional intended outcomes. It suggests that there is a need to strengthen the professional identities of teachers as ‘geographers’ given that identity forms an important base from which teachers respond to discourse

Enhancing patient and organizational readiness for cardiovascular risk reduction among Black and Latinx patients living with HIV: Study protocol.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an increasingly important cause of morbidity and mortality among people living with HIV (PLWH) now that HIV is a manageable chronic disease. Identification and treatment of comorbid medical conditions for PLWH, including CVD and its risk factors, typically lack a critical component of care: integrated care for histories of trauma. Experiences of trauma are associated with increased HIV infection, CVD risk, inconsistent treatment adherence, and poor CVD outcomes. To address this deficit among those at greatest risk and disproportionately affected by HIV and trauma-i.e., Black and Latinx individuals-a novel culturally-congruent, evidence-informed care model, "Healing our Hearts, Minds and Bodies" (HHMB), has been designed to address patients' trauma histories and barriers to care, and to prepare patients to engage in CVD risk reduction. Further, in recognition of the need to ensure that PLWH receive guideline-concordant cardiovascular care, implementation strategies have been identified that prepare providers and clinics to address CVD risk among their Black and Latinx PLWH. The focus of this paper is to describe the hybrid Type 2 effectiveness/implementation study design, the goal of which is to increase both patient and organizational readiness to address trauma and CVD risk among 260 Black and Latinx PLWH recruited from two HIV service organizations in Southern California. This study is expected to produce important information regarding the value of the HHMB intervention and implementation processes and strategies designed for use in implementing HHMB and other evidence-informed programs in diverse, resource-constrained treatment settings, including those that serve patients living in deep poverty. Clinical trials registry: NCT04025463

You are Given the Choice: Which do you Like the Most? (Linking Learning Styles with Technology Preferences)

AbstractThis study explored the preference for learning styles of ICT students in university of Malaya. Two separate questionnaires were used in the study in order to list down the students’ learning styles preferences and their technology preferences to explore the technology preferences for different learning style categories. Through a analysis of the data, students preferred integrated technology were highlighted. The study emphasizes the importance of students being actively involved in the teaching-learning process by highlighting their preferred mood of technology involved in teaching. This may enhance teacher's ability to integrate technology with their teaching based on their class majority

Portfolio Vol. IV N 2

Mahood, Danner L. War Sonnets. Poetry. 2. Lenser, Eugene. Landscape. Picture. 2. Lay, Mary Virginia. Damned Laughter. Prose. 3-4. Card, Dorothy. They Call It Love. Prose. 5. Kinney, John. Maestro. Prose. 7-9. Anstaett, Joe. Styleglance. Picture. 6. Beckham, Adela. Still the Echo. Poetry. 10. Bridge, Robert. Design for Life. Prose. 11. Seagrave, Dr. Gordon. Letter from Burma. Prose. 12-13. Chin, David K. To know their theatre is to know the Chinese people. Prose. 15. Jones, Charles. The Bookshelf. Prose. 16. Smith, Duke. Keeping the Records Straight. Prose. 17. Beckham, Adela. If Love Could Be. Prose. 19. Raymond, Toby. The Courtship of Miles Standish. Poetry. 20. King, Horace. The Case for Modern Art. Prose. 21-22. Elliot, Frances Gray. Black and White Dancers. Picture. 10

Global atmospheric black carbon inferred from AERONET,

AERONET, a network of well calibrated sunphotometers, provides data on aerosol optical depth and absorption optical depth at >250 sites around the world. The spectral range of AERONET allows discrimination between constituents that absorb most strongly in the UV region, such as soil dust and organic carbon, and the more ubiquitously absorbing black carbon (BC). AERONET locations, primarily continental, are not representative of the global mean, but they can be used to calibrate global aerosol climatologies produced by tracer transport models. We find that the amount of BC in current climatologies must be increased by a factor of 2-4 to yield best agreement with AERONET, in the approximation in which BC is externally mixed with other aerosols. The inferred climate forcing by BC, regardless of whether it is internally or externally mixed, is Ϸ1 W͞m 2 , most of which is probably anthropogenic. This positive forcing (warming) by BC must substantially counterbalance cooling by anthropogenic reflective aerosols. Thus, especially if reflective aerosols such as sulfates are reduced, it is important to reduce BC to minimize global warming. It is difficult to determine the BC climate forcing by using emission estimates and aerosol transport models, because of imprecise knowledge of BC sources and uncertainties in simulation of aerosol removal mechanisms. We propose an alternative empirical approach for estimating the BC amount that uses photometer data in the long wave (red) portion of the spectrum. This approach is based on the fact that BC absorption exhibits a 1͞ spectral dependence over this entire wavelength range (5). This makes it possible to distinguish BC from other absorbing aerosols, specifically organic carbon (OC) and soil dust, which have appreciable absorption only at Ͻ 600 nm (6). We employ the optical depths for aerosol absorption ( a ) measured by AERONET photometers The aerosol compositions are treated as if they were externally mixed in the aerosol climatologies and in our radiative forcing calculations. This assumption does not affect our resulting estimate for the BC climate forcing, because both the forcing and the AERONET-measured a depend on the BC absorption, not the BC mass. However, it means that, because internally mixed BC absorbs more effectively (3, 11), the BC mass may be less than obtained in the externally mixed approximation. We first describe the AERONET data and the aerosol climatologies. We discuss assumed optical properties for soil dust and OC, because the absorption by these aerosols is not negligible in comparison with that of BC. We then estimate the amounts of BC and OC that provide the best match to aerosol absorption measured by AERONET. Finally we calculate the climate forcing associated with the inferred BC amount and discuss implications for strategies to minimize anthropogenic climate effects. AERONET Data AERONET is an internationally federated, globally distributed network of automatic sun and sky scanning radiometers that routinely observe and transmit observations for processing and posting to the AERONET web site (7). The instruments are returned annually to Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, for calibration against Mauna Loa Langley calibrated reference instruments for aerosol optical depth (Ϯ0.01) and a National Institute of Standards and Technology referenced integrating sphere for sky radiances (Ͼ5% absolute accuracy). Our analysis uses the quality assured data that were available in late November of 2002, when there were 322 AERONET sites, of which 263 had data available for at least 1 month. The processing method for the AERONET data (8, 12) involves fitting the multiangle multiwavelength observations with Mie scattering calculations, yielding best-fit values for aerosol (extinction) optical thickness () and aerosol absorption optical thickness ( a ). We employ the AERONET calculated monthly means of and a . These data are available for four narrow wavelength bands centered at 440, 670, 870 and 1,020 nm. We prepare the AERONET data for map display and comparison with aerosol model climatologies as follows. If there are two or more stations within a 1°ϫ 1°box for any given month, their data (for and a ) are combined with equal weights. Further, data for the 1°ϫ 1°boxes within each 4°ϫ 5°box are combined with equal weights. If there are at least 2 months with data in a given season for a given (4°ϫ 5°) grid box, we calculate the seasonal means of and a . The number of 4°ϫ 5°boxes with seasonal mean data are thus 102 (March-April-May), 117 (June-July-August), 108 (September-October-November), and 81 (December-January-February). Annual means are calculated for the 95 4°ϫ 5°boxes with at least three seasons of data. There are 3,312 4°ϫ 5°grid boxes on the globe, so the 95 boxes with annual data cover Ϸ3% of the world. The locations of the boxes with data are shown in later figures in this paper. Coverage is good in the United States, Europe, and most of South America and Southern Africa. We do not imply that a single station should be taken as providing a representative mean for a 4°ϫ 5°region. One can Abbreviations: BC, black carbon; OC, organic carbon

Look, the World is Watching How We Treat Migrants! The Making of the Anti-Trafficking Legislation during the Ma Administration

Employing the spiral model, this research analyses how anti-human trafficking legislation was promulgated during the Ma Ying-jeou (Ma Yingjiu) presidency. This research found that the gov- ernment of Taiwan was just as accountable for the violation of mi- grants’ human rights as the exploitive placement agencies and abusive employers. This research argues that, given its reliance on the United States for political and security support, Taiwan has made great ef- forts to improve its human rights records and meet US standards for protecting human rights. The reform was a result of multilevel inputs, including US pressure and collaboration between transnational and domestic advocacy groups. A major contribution of this research is to challenge the belief that human rights protection is intrinsic to dem- ocracy. In the same light, this research also cautions against Taiwan’s subscription to US norms since the reform was achieved at the cost of stereotyping trafficking victimhood, legitimising state surveillance, and further marginalising sex workers

The Rat Genome Database (RGD): developments towards a phenome database

The Rat Genome Database (RGD) (http://rgd.mcw.edu) aims to meet the needs of its community by providing genetic and genomic infrastructure while also annotating the strengths of rat research: biochemistry, nutrition, pharmacology and physiology. Here, we report on RGD's development towards creating a phenome database. Recent developments can be categorized into three groups. (i) Improved data collection and integration to match increased volume and biological scope of research. (ii) Knowledge representation augmented by the implementation of a new ontology and annotation system. (iii) The addition of quantitative trait loci data, from rat, mouse and human to our advanced comparative genomics tools, as well as the creation of new, and enhancement of existing, tools to enable users to efficiently browse and survey research data. The emphasis is on helping researchers find genes responsible for disease through the use of rat models. These improvements, combined with the genomic sequence of the rat, have led to a successful year at RGD with over two million page accesses that represent an over 4-fold increase in a year. Future plans call for increased annotation of biological information on the rat elucidated through its use as a model for human pathobiology. The continued development of toolsets will facilitate integration of these data into the context of rat genomic sequence, as well as allow comparisons of biological and genomic data with the human genomic sequence and of an increasing number of organisms

Factors affecting the prevalence of strongly and weakly carcinogenic and lower-risk human papillomaviruses in anal specimens in a cohort of men who have sex with men (MSM)

Background: MSM are at higher risk for invasive anal cancer. Twelve human papillomaviruses (HPVs) cause cervical cancer in women (Group 1 high-risk HPVs (hrHPVs)) and 13 HPVs are probable/possible causes (Group 2 hrHPVs) of cervical malignancy. HPVs rarely associated with malignancy are classified as lower-risk HPVs (lrHPVs). Materials and Methods: Dacron-swab anal-cytology specimens were collected from and data complete for 97% (1262/1296) of Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) men tested for HPVs using the Linear Array assay. Multivariate Poisson regression analyses estimated adjusted prevalence ratios for Group 1/2 hrHPVs and lrHPVs, controlling for the effects of age, race, ethnicity, sexual partnerships, smoking; HIV-infection characteristics, treatment, and immune status among HIV-infected men. Results: HIV-infected men showed 35-90% higher prevalence of Group 1/2 hrHPVs and lrHPVs than HIV-uninfected men, and higher prevalence of multi-Type, and multiple risk-group infections. CD4+ T-cell count was inversely associated with HPV Group 2 prevalence (p<0.0001). The number of receptive anal intercourse (RAI) partners reported in the 24 months preceding HPV testing predicted higher prevalence of Group 1/2 hrHPVs. Men reporting ≥30 lifetime male sex partners before their first MACS visit and men reporting ≥1 RAI partners during the 24 months before HPV testing showed 17-24% and 13-17% higher prevalence of lrHPVs (p-values ≤0.05). Men reporting smoking between MACS visit 1 and 24 months before HPV testing showed 1.2-fold higher prevalence of Group 2 hrHPVs (p = 0.03). Both complete adherence to CART (p = 0.02) and HIV load <50 copies/mL (p = 0.04) were protective for Group 1 hrHPVs among HIV-infected men. Conclusions: HIV-infected men more often show multi-type and multi-group HPV infections HIV-uninfected men. Long-term mutual monogamy and smoking cessation, generally, and CART-adherence that promotes (HIV) viremia control and prevents immunosuppression, specifically among HIV-infected MSM, are important prevention strategies for HPV infections that are relevant to anal cancer. © 2013 Wiley et al