Interview by Chan, Grace Siu Wai

The interviewee (Anita) is my mother who spent her childhood in a boat. She was borned in a fishing family. It is a big family that includes ten people in total, her parents, two elder brothers, five younger brothers (it should be six in total actually, but one of them died because of sickness) and one younger sister. Her family was a poor family, as what she described, we could earn the breakfast but dinner or the dinner but breakfast . Therefore, Anita did not have chance to go to the school (so was her eldest brother), besides, she had to take care of her younger siblings. The only entertainment or hobby for her was making clothes and seeing films and she learned clothing by herself. Her friends were those girls from other boats but they have not contacted each other after marriages. They could not contact each other since they didn\u27t have telephones that time. Compared to her younger sister and other siblings those who had studies she felt they were luckier. She has not blamed her parents this since she felt her parents had worked very hard already. There was once Anita\u27s eldest brother dropped the fishing founding carelessly back into the sea, she tried very hard to jump into the sea to get them back, this event was vivid in Anita\u27s mind. Overall, Anita could not say whether her childhood a happy one or not, she said there was nothing she could regards as happy or unhappy

PARTISIPASI MASYARAKAT LOKAL DALAM PENGELOLAAN EKOWISATA MANGROVE DI KELURAHAN OESAPA BARAT KOTA KUPANG

Ecotourism in the Mangrove area of West Oesapa Village can be an advantage of alternative to the development of ecotourism within the framework of tourism management and its development by the area manager and the local community. The development of ecotourism is undivided by the participation or social involvement in planning and implementing program to support the preservation of mangrove forests, the preservation of the coastal environment, and the fulfillment of the socio-economic requirement. Therefore, social participation is primary element to analyzed data. This research used descriptive qualitative methods through the distribution of questionnaires to related parties and then compiled them quantitatively to showed certainty value. As a result, the level of social participation in the management of mangrove ecotourism in order to develop ecotourism areas in West Oesapa Village is poor. Supporting of the preservation is required by all related parties to provide knowledge and concern so that, programs of the ecotourism development program in the West Oesapa Village can run as expected. Keywords: Ecotourism, mangrove ecotourism, social participationEkowisata di kawasan mangrove Kelurahan Oesapa Barat dapat menjadi alternatif manfaat pengembangan ekowisata dalam rangka pengelolaan dan pengembangan wisata dari pihak pengelola kawasan maupun pihak masyarakat sekitar. Pengembangan ekowisata ini tidak dapat dipisahkan dari partisipasi atau keterlibatan masyarakat dalam perencanaan maupun implementasinya guna mendukung pelestarian kawasan hutan mangrove, pelestarian lingkungan pesisir, dan pemenuhan kebutuhan sosial ekonomi masyarakat. Oleh karena itu, partisipasi masyarakat menjadi unsur penting dalam pengelolaan data. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif kualitatif melalui penyebaran kuisioner kepada pihak terkait dan kemudian dikaji secara kuantitatif untuk menunjukkan nilai nyata. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan tingkat partisipasi masyarakat dalam pengelolaan ekowisata mangrove guna mengembangkan kawasan ekowisata di Kelurahan Oesapa Barat sangat rendah. Dukungan dari pengelola dibutuhkan oleh semua pihak terkait untuk memberikan pengetahuan dan kepedulian agar program pengembangan ekowisata Kelurahan Oesapa Barat dapat berjalan sesuai harapan.Kata kunci: Ekowisata, ekowisata mangrove, partisipasi masyarakat

Effect of chemical mechanical planarization processing conditions on polyurethane pad properties

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-59).Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) is a vital process used in the semiconductor industry to isolate and connect individual transistors on a chip. However, many of the fundamental mechanisms of the process are yet to be fully understood and defined. The difficulty in analyzing the CMP process lies in the fact that many factors, such as properties of consumables, polishing speed, polishing pressure, etc, can affect the outcome of the CMP process. This paper focuses on the thermal and mechanical properties of one of the consumables - the CMP soft pad. During the CMP process, the pad is subjected to high temperatures and chemicals from the slurry. Thus, the properties of the pad can be irreversibly changed, affecting the planarity of the resultant wafer. In this study, the CMP processing conditions were simulated in the laboratory by annealing the pad at high temperatures and soaking the pad in slurry and DIW for up to two months. The properties of the CMP pad were then measured using four thermo analytical tools - dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA), thermo-gravimetric analyzer (TGA), thermomechanical analyzer (TMA), and modulated differential scanning calorimeter (MDSC). Results suggested that both annealing at temperatures above 140 °C and soaking in slurry for up to two weeks significantly increase the storage modulus of the sample and promote pad shrinkage in the transverse dimension. Thus, it is not recommended that the soft pad be used at operating temperatures above 140 °C and for polishing times of more than two weeks (336 hrs).by Grace Siu-Yee Ng.S.M

Exome Sequencing as a Diagnostic Tool for Pediatric-Onset Ataxia

Ataxia demonstrates substantial phenotypic and genetic heterogeneity. We set out to determine the diagnostic yield of exome sequencing in pediatric patients with ataxia without a molecular diagnosis after standard-of-care assessment in Canada. FORGE (Finding Of Rare disease GEnes) Canada is a nation-wide project focused on identifying novel disease genes for rare pediatric diseases using whole-exome sequencing. We retrospectively selected all FORGE Canada projects that included cerebellar ataxia as a feature. We identified 28 such families and a molecular diagnosis was made in 13; a success rate of 46%. In 11 families, we identified mutations in genes associated with known neurological syndromes and in two we identified novel disease genes. Exome analysis of sib pairs and/or patients born to consanguineous parents was more likely to be successful (9/13) than simplex cases (4/15). Our data suggest that exome sequencing is an effective first line test for pediatric patients with ataxia where a specific single gene is not immediately suspected to be causative. © 2013 The Authors. *Human Mutation published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Towards a global partnership model in interprofessional education for cross-sector problem-solving

Objectives A partnership model in interprofessional education (IPE) is important in promoting a sense of global citizenship while preparing students for cross-sector problem-solving. However, the literature remains scant in providing useful guidance for the development of an IPE programme co-implemented by external partners. In this pioneering study, we describe the processes of forging global partnerships in co-implementing IPE and evaluate the programme in light of the preliminary data available. Methods This study is generally quantitative. We collected data from a total of 747 health and social care students from four higher education institutions. We utilized a descriptive narrative format and a quantitative design to present our experiences of running IPE with external partners and performed independent t-tests and analysis of variance to examine pretest and posttest mean differences in students’ data. Results We identified factors in establishing a cross-institutional IPE programme. These factors include complementarity of expertise, mutual benefits, internet connectivity, interactivity of design, and time difference. We found significant pretest–posttest differences in students’ readiness for interprofessional learning (teamwork and collaboration, positive professional identity, roles, and responsibilities). We also found a significant decrease in students’ social interaction anxiety after the IPE simulation. Conclusions The narrative of our experiences described in this manuscript could be considered by higher education institutions seeking to forge meaningful external partnerships in their effort to establish interprofessional global health education

Sleep problems in children with autism spectrum disorder in Hong Kong: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a growing prevalence of sleep problems associated with significant behavioral problems and more severe autism clinical presentation. Little is known about the relationships between autism traits and sleep problems in Hong Kong. Therefore, this study aimed to examine whether children with autism have increased sleep problems than non-autistic children in Hong Kong. The secondary objective was to examine the factors associated with sleep problems in an autism clinical sample.MethodsThis cross-sectional study recruited 135 children with autism and 102 with the same age range of non-autistic children, aged between 6 and 12 years. Both groups were screened and compared on their sleep behaviors using the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ).ResultsChildren with autism had significantly more sleep problems than non-autistic children [t(226.73) = 6.20, p < 0.001]. Bed -sharing [beta = 0.25, t(165) = 2.75, p = 0.07] and maternal age at birth [beta = 0.15, t(165) = 2.05, p = 0.043] were significant factors associated with CSHQ score on the top of autism traits. Stepwise linear regression modeling identified that only separation anxiety disorder (beta = 4.83, t = 2.40, p = 0.019) best-predicted CSHQ.ConclusionIn summary, autistic children suffered from significantly more sleep problems and co-occurring separation anxiety disorder brings greater sleep problems as compared to non-autistic children. Clinicians should be more aware of sleep problems to provide more effective treatments to children with autism