Social and emotional learning in a classroom: Language arts and literacy teachers’ perceptions and practices in South Korea and the United States

The purpose of this study is to understand how language arts and literacy teachers of South Korea and the United States of America (USA) perceive the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL), and in what ways these teachers support the development of students’ social and emotional skills. As a comparative inquiry, the study explores teacher perceptions and practices regarding an integrated approach of SEL and literacy instruction. Language arts and literacy teachers were recruited to participate in the survey. The findings show that the participants valued the use of SEL strategies and activities to support students’ social and emotional development. Specifically, the participants responded they incorporate academic and nonacademic strategies for students to practice social-emotional skills in a classroom. Although specific SEL strategies vary, teachers in both countries agree on the importance of SEL and appraise its positive impacts on students and the classroom environment. This study is meaningful to inform future research efforts that explore an integrated approach of SEL and literacy from a cross-cultural perspective

A STUDY ON THE FACTORS INFLUENCING THE INTENTION OF BLOG USAGE

Blogs are a new type of media that have recently become popular users on the World Wide Web and have influence throughout society. The purpose of this study is to examine social motivations influencing intention of blog usage. Based on Technology Acceptance Model and Motivation Theory, This study considered perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, reputation, reciprocity, enjoyment of helping, social identity as the determinants of influencing the intention of blog usage. The purposed model was empirically evaluated using online survey data collected from 342 user of popular blog site in Korea (NAVER Blog , cyworld mihompy, daum blog, yahoo blog etc) The results revealed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, reciprocity, social identity affected directly the intention of blog usage. Also social identity has moderate effect via reciprocity and enjoyment of helping on blog usage. This study contributes to a theoretical understanding of the factors as social motivation that affect the usage of blogs. Practically this study results provide blog service providers useful strategic insights and service guideline to enhance user\u27s intention of blogs

Insight into highly conserved H1 subtype-specific epitopes in influenza virus hemagglutinin

Influenza viruses continuously undergo antigenic changes with gradual accumulation of mutations in hemagglutinin (HA) that is a major determinant in subtype specificity. The identification of conserved epitopes within specific HA subtypes gives an important clue for developing new vaccines and diagnostics. We produced and characterized nine monoclonal antibodies that showed significant neutralizing activities against H1 subtype influenza viruses, and determined the complex structure of HA derived from a 2009 pandemic virus A/Korea/01/2009 (KR01) and the Fab fragment from H1-specific monoclonal antibody GC0587. The overall structure of the complex was essentially identical to the previously determined KR01 HA-Fab0757 complex structure. Both Fab0587 and Fab0757 recognize readily accessible head regions of HA, revealing broadly shared and conserved antigenic determinants among H1 subtypes. The beta-strands constituted by Ser110-Glu115 and Lys169-Lys170 form H1 epitopes with distinct conformations from those of H1 and H3 HA sites. In particular, Glu112, Glu115, Lys169, and Lys171 that are highly conserved among H1 subtype HAs have close contacts with HCDR3 and LCDR3. The differences between Fab0587 and Fab0757 complexes reside mainly in HCDR3 and LCDR3, providing distinct antigenic determinants specific for 1918 pdm influenza strain. Our results demonstrate a potential key neutralizing epitope important for H1 subtype specificity in influenza virus

Sp1 up-regulates cAMP-response-element-binding protein expression during retinoic acid-induced mucous differentiation of normal human bronchial epithelial cells.

CREB [CRE (cAMP-response element)-binding protein] is an important transcription factor that is differentially regulated in cells of various types. We recently reported that RA (retinoic acid) rapidly activates CREB without using RARs (RA receptors) or RXRs (retinoid X receptors) in NHTBE cells (normal human tracheobronchial epithelial cells). However, little is known about the role of RA in the physiological regulation of CREB expression in the early mucous differentiation of NHTBE cells. In the present study, we report that RA up-regulates CREB gene expression and that, using 5\u27-serial deletion promoter analysis and mutagenesis analyses, two Sp1 (specificity protein 1)-binding sites located at nt -217 and -150, which flank the transcription initiation site, are essential for RA induction of CREB gene transcription. Furthermore, we found that CREs located at nt -119 and -98 contributed to basal promoter activity. Interestingly, RA also up-regulated Sp1 in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Knockdown of endogenous Sp1 using siRNA (small interfering RNA) decreased RA-induced CREB gene expression. However, the converse was not true: knockdown of CREB using CREB siRNA did not affect RA-induced Sp1 gene expression. We conclude that RA up-regulates CREB gene expression during the early stage of NHTBE cell differentiation and that RA-inducible Sp1 plays a major role in up-regulating human CREB gene expression. This result implies that co-operation of these two transcription factors plays a crucial role in mediating early events of normal mucous cell differentiation of bronchial epithelial cells

An Energy Efficient Turning Process for Hardened Material with Multi-Criteria Optimization

This paper presents a systematic procedure for the optimization of machining parameters such as cutting speed, feed rate, nose radius, edge radius, and rake angle to reduce specific material removal energy and improve energy efficiency in the hard turning of AISI 4140 steel. A simulation approach was applied in conjunction with the design of experiment (DOE), mathematical approximation with a meta-model to develop specific energy as well as an energy efficiency model in terms of cutting parameters. A hybrid approach that combines the Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) using entropy weights was adopted to determine the best solution from the Pareto set. The results showed that energy efficiency could be improved by 11%, whereas specific energy decreased by approximately 15% compared to a non-optimal case. Therefore, this study is expected as a contribution to making the turning process of hardened materials greener and more efficient