Ethnic background differences in college students’ self-compassion and general well-being

textIn considering current college students’ general well-being, their diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds need to be considered as an important contributor. Previous research revealed that certain ethnic grouops had more difficulty adjusting to college life. This study examined the contributors to general well-being by introducing self-compassion as an important contributor for college students from three different ethnic backgrounds as determined by their self-identified choices. Data came from the online survey responses of 95 college students attending a southwestern university. Correlations between self-compassion and the nine subscales of general well-being yielded a positive relationship as in previous studies, with six of them meeting the previous criterion ( r = .60). Results showed that etnic groups and degree of ethnic identification did not, for these students, moderate the relationship between self-compassion and general well-being..Educational Psycholog

Improving Older Adult Learners’ Motivation: Developing A Model of Teaching and Learning through Art Activities in the UK

There is a limited amount of literature that has discussed ways in which older adult learners could be motivated to engage in lifelong learning activities, particularly those in the age groups identified by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) as Stage 3, 50-74 and Stage 4, 75+ (Schuller and Watson, 2010). Currently learners in the UK may face an issue when seeking to join an activity as there is a lack of any collaborative or coherent model of delivery in this sector. This is caused by the fact that providers, such as further and higher education institutions, as well as community and care home providers all operate within separate systems and there is little or no joint provision. Moreover, the rationale of this study argues that, within the context of an ageing society, engaging in learning activities at Stages 3 and 4 can provide older adults with a stimulating experience, which enables them not only to meet their personal growth needs through a positive and meaningful experience of ageing, but also increase their sense of well-being. This study develops a collaborative model of teaching and learning for this age group, based on detailed feedback from learners and educational professionals, which will enable teachers, facilitators and providers to work in a novel collaborative way to improve their learners’ motivation. The study seeks to obtain a fuller understanding of older adults’ learning motivation in the context of Art activities through inductive and evaluative methods. The initial findings revealed that these learners were willing to engage in Art activities with the learning and teaching Model. The benefits from socialising are significant for society, as it enables learners both at Stages 3 and 4 to relax physically and also improve their mental health, for instance by preventing loneliness

Mixed principal eigenvalues in dimension one

This is one of a series of papers exploring the stability speed of one-dimensional stochastic processes. The present paper emphasizes on the principal eigenvalues of elliptic operators. The eigenvalue is just the best constant in the $L^{2}$-Poincar\'e inequality and describes the decay rate of the corresponding diffusion process. We present some variational formulas for the mixed principal eigenvalues of the operators. As applications of these formulas, we obtain case by case explicit estimates, a criterion for positivity, and an approximating procedure for the eigenvalue.Comment: 45 pages; Front. Math. China, 201

Comparison of domiciliary oxygen using liquid oxygen and concentrator in northern Taiwan

Background/PurposeLong-term oxygen therapy has become standard treatment for patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency. However, patterns of long-term home oxygen therapy have not been well studied in Taiwan. Oxygen concentrator systems are commonly used in Taiwan, but liquid oxygen delivery systems are portable and may provide advantages over the concentrator system. This study compared oxygen usage between patients from a liquid oxygen group (LOG) and an oxygen concentrator group (OCG). The authors also assessed the physiologic responses of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to ambulatory oxygen use at home.MethodsThe study used a retrospective, cross-sectional, observational survey design. The LOG comprised 42 patients, and the OCG comprised 102 patients. We recruited participants in northern Taiwan from July 2009 to April 2010. The questionnaire instruments that were used to collect data consisted of three parts: demographic characteristics, devices used in respiratory care, and activity status with portable oxygen. Two-minute walking tests were performed on COPD patients in their homes.ResultsCOPD was the most common diagnosis in our study, with more than 50% of patients who received oxygen long term in both groups having received this diagnosis. The LOG used oxygen for an average of 21.7 hours per day, whereas OCG averaged 15.2 hours per day (p<0.001). In the OCG, 92.2% of patients used a concentrator alone, whereas 23.8% of the LOG used liquid oxygen alone (p<0.001). The LOG patients were involved in significantly more outdoors activities (p=0.002) and reported traveling with oxygen more often (p<0.001) than the OCG patients. For patients with the same dyspnea level of COPD severity, those using liquid oxygen had a lower increase in pulse rate after the walking test, in comparison with the concentrator users.ConclusionPatients in the LOG used oxygen for longer hours, went on more outings, and were more likely to travel with oxygen than patients in the OCG. Being ambulatory with liquid oxygen might enable patients with COPD to walk more effectively

STRATEGIC ORIENTATION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THEIR EFFECTS ON PERFORMANCE

Recently, a great number of theoretical frameworks have been proposed to develop the linkages between knowledge management (KM) and organizational strategy. While there has been much theorizing and case study in the area, validated research models integrating KM strategy and information technology (IT) strategy for empirical testing of these theories have been scarce. It is though that the rapid progress of IT has been provided a good solution to support KM practices. Choosing the proper ITs to fit with different KM strategies is critical for organizations. Effective KM activities require employing KM strategies, as well as IT, appropriately. That is, as long as the KM strategy has been determined within an organization, the IT strategy must be followed. In this present research, we try to develop and examine a research model for explaining the relationships between KM strategy, IT strategy, and their effects on performance. Empirical data for hypotheses testing are collected from top-ranked companies in Taiwan; yielding 161 valid samples. The findings showed that KM strategy has a positive direct effect upon IT strategy; KM strategy and IT strategy have significant positive effects upon KM performance and IT performance respectively, and then collectively, have impact upon business performance. Finally, from the empirical data analysis, meaningful findings and conclusions are derived, and suggestions for future research are proposed and discussed

Microplastics in the Langat River Basin, Malaysia: sources, loads and fate

Microplastics (commonly defined as plastic particles smaller than 5mm in size) are widely recognised as a global concern. However, studies of the occurrence of microplastics in freshwater systems, particularly in Malaysia, are limited. This study aims to assess the sources and levels of microplastic contamination within the Langat River Basin, Malaysia. This study presents the first comprehensive empirical assessment of the contribution of different sources of microplastic as well as the first systemic data on spatio-temporal variability in microplastic concentrations in a Malaysian river. Such data is crucial for the identification of contamination hotspots and, in turn, the development of management strategies. This study is also the first to evaluate the degree of correspondence between microplastics in river water and bed sediments, which is critical for monitoring and assessment of potential risks posed by microplastics to acquatic organisms and human health. A total of 656 water and sediment samples were collected from 33 sites spread across the Langat River Basin. The samples were treated with Fenton reagent to remove organic material and filtered onto glass microfiber filter papers before enumeration under a stereoscopic microscope. Road runoff, residential and industrial areas, atmospheric deposition and wastewater treatment plants were significant sources of microplastics in the Langat River, with road runoff being the main contributor. The Langat River had a mean concentration of 4.39±5.11 particles/L, which varied spatially (associated with differences in land-use) and temporally (associated with flow changes). Microplastic was deposited on the bed of the Langat with a mean of 6027.39±16585.87 particles/m2, which did not correspond to the concentrations in the water either at site-scale or patch-scale, suggesting that sampling designed to assess risks posed by microplastic should assess both concentrations in the water and on the bed. Efforts to reduce microplastic contamination should be focused on upstream intervention, including law enforcement, endorsing proper management systems and creating public awareness. Such efforts are sorely needed in Malaysia, due to the rapid pace of development set against limited awareness and poor waste management