Teachers as Researchers: Discovery of Their Emerging Role and Impact through a School-University Collaborative Research Project

This study explored the impact of the role of teacher-researchers on in-service teachers’ professional development, as well as the reasons behind the lack of a teacher-as-researcher ethos in schools. In the study, teachers from four Hong Kong primary schools participated in a school-university collaborative research project that promotes collaborative inquiry projectbased learning (inquiry PjBL). During the project implementation period, the teachers took the dual role of the teacher and researcher. Six focus group interviews were conducted with the teachers to collect in-depth qualitative data on their experiences. The impact of this experience on teacher professionalism was examined from four dimensions: knowledge enrichment, school culture, teaching practice and curriculum design. The study provides evidence for the benefits of teacher research and sheds light on how university-school collaboration could contribute to engaging teachers in action research in their everyday classroom.published_or_final_versio

Zero Sound in Effective Holographic Theories

We investigate zero sound in $D$-dimensional effective holographic theories, whose action is given by Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton terms. The bulk spacetimes include both zero temperature backgrounds with anisotropic scaling symmetry and their near-extremal counterparts obtained in 1006.2124 [hep-th], while the massless charge carriers are described by probe D-branes. We discuss thermodynamics of the probe D-branes analytically. In particular, we clarify the conditions under which the specific heat is linear in the temperature, which is a characteristic feature of Fermi liquids. We also compute the retarded Green's functions in the limit of low frequency and low momentum and find quasi-particle excitations in certain regime of the parameters. The retarded Green's functions are plotted at specific values of parameters in $D=4$, where the specific heat is linear in the temperature and the quasi-particle excitation exists. We also calculate the AC conductivity in $D$-dimensions as a by-product.Comment: 29 pages, 1 figur

Clinical characteristics and risk behavior as a function of HIV status among heroin users enrolled in methadone treatment in northern Taiwan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Methadone treatment was introduced in Taiwan in 2006 as a harm-reduction program in response to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which is endemic among Taiwanese heroin users. The present study was aimed at examining the clinical and behavioral characteristics of methadone patients in northern Taiwan according to their HIV status.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study was conducted at four methadone clinics. Participants were patients who had undergone methadone treatment at the clinics and who voluntarily signed a consent form. Between August and November 2008, each participant completed a face-to-face interview that included questions on demographics, risk behavior, quality of life, and psychiatric symptoms. Data on HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections, methadone dosage, and morphine in the urine were retrieved from patient files on the clinical premises, with permission of the participants.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 576 participants, 71 were HIV positive, and 514 had hepatitis C. There were significant differences between the HIV-positive and HIV-negative groups on source of treatment payment, HCV infection, urine test results, methadone dosage, and treatment duration. The results indicate that HIV-negative heroin users were more likely to have sexual intercourse and not use condoms during the 6 months prior to the study. A substantial percent of the sample reported anxiety (21.0%), depression (27.2%), memory loss (32.7%), attempted suicide (32.7%), and administration of psychiatric medications (16.1%). There were no significant differences between the HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients on psychiatric symptoms or quality of life.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>HIV-positive IDUs were comorbid with HCV, indicating the need to refer both HIV- and HCV-infected individuals for treatment in methadone clinics. Currently, there is a gap between psychiatric/psychosocial services and patient symptoms, and more integrated medical services should be provided to heroin-using populations.</p

Proton pump inhibitors and risk of Clostridium difficile infection: a multi-country study using sequence symmetry analysis

Background: Research showing an association between proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and Clostridium difficile infections has largely been undertaken in Europe and North America. Clostridium difficile strains vary by region and may influence risk estimates across regions. Aim: To determine the association between incident proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use and Clostridium difficile infections across multiple countries Method: National data covering the total population in Australia and Korea, the Canadian population over 65 years and a 3 million person random sample data set from Taiwan were assessed, as were data from a worker insurance population and a hospital inpatient/ outpatient population in Japan. Sequence symmetry analysis was used to assess the association with oral vancomycin dispensing as the outcome of interest. Results: 54,957 patients were included. Positive associations were observed in Australia; adjusted sequence ratio (ASR) 2.48 (95% CI 1.90, 3.12), Korea ASR 2.15 (95%CI 2.11, 2.19), Canada ASR 1.45 (95% CI 1.16, 1.79), Japan hospital dataset ASR 3.21 (95%CI 2.12, 4.55) and Japan worker insurance dataset ASR 5.40 (95% CI 2.73, 8.75). The pooled result was ASR 2.40 (95%CI 1.88, 3.05) and 3.16 (95%CI 1.95, 5.10) when limited to Asian countries. Results did not vary by individual PPI. The temporal analysis showed effects within the first two weeks of PPI initiation. Conclusion: When analysis was limited to the Asian countries, pooled risk estimates were higher than those which had been observed in European and North American populations. Research to identify reasons underpinning any risk difference in the Asian region is required.postprin

Serendipitous alkylation of a Plk1 ligand uncovers a new binding channel

We obtained unanticipated synthetic byproducts from alkylation of the δ[superscript 1] nitrogen (N3) of the histidine imidazole ring of the polo-like kinase-1 (Plk1) polo-box domain (PBD)-binding peptide PLHSpT. For the highest-affinity byproduct, bearing a C[subscript 6]H[subscript 5](CH[subscript 2])[subscript 8]– group, a Plk1 PBD cocrystal structure revealed a new binding channel that had previously been occluded. An N-terminal PEGylated version of this peptide containing a hydrolytically stable phosphothreonyl residue (pT) bound the Plk1 PBD with affinity equal to that of the non-PEGylated parent but showed markedly less interaction with the PBDs of the two closely related proteins Plk2 and Plk3. Treatment of cultured cells with this PEGylated peptide resulted in delocalization of Plk1 from centrosomes and kinetochores and in chromosome misalignment that effectively induced mitotic block and apoptotic cell death. This work provides insights that might advance efforts to develop Plk1 PBD-binding inhibitors as potential Plk1-specific anticancer agents.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant GM60594)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant GM68762)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant CA112967

Behavioural and educational outcomes following extremely preterm birth : current controversies and future directions

As a consequence of improved survival rates for extremely preterm (EP; <28 weeks of gestation) births, there is a growing body of evidence detailing the impact of extreme prematurity on outcomes throughout childhood and adolescence. Historically, attention first focused on documenting rates of sensory impairments and severe neurodevelopmental disabilities. However, over recent years, there has been growing interest in the impact of EP birth on long term mental health and educational outcomes. In this chapter we review literature relating to the impact of EP birth on attention, social and emotional problems, psychiatric disorders and educational outcomes. We also outline current controversies in the field. In particular, we present emergent research exploring developmental trajectories to determine whether the sequelae associated with EP birth represent a developmental delay or persistent deficit, and we consider what approaches to intervention may be most fruitful in improving behavioural and educational outcomes in this population

Adaptive semantic data broadcast in a mobile environment

Department of ComputingRefereed conference pape

An efficient algorithm for predictive continuous nearest neighbor query processing and result maintenance

Predictive continuous nearest neighbor queries are concerned with finding the nearest neighbor objects for some future time period according to the current object and query locations and their motion information. Existing continuous query processing algorithms are not efficient enough, requiring multiple dataset lookups to evaluate the query results throughout the duration of a continuous query. More importantly, the complete result for the whole query time interval is only available at the moment when all object motion updates have been examined, based on which adjustment of the query result is made. In this paper, we propose an algorithm which requires only one dataset lookup to deliver a complete predictive result. We then apply a differential update technique to maintain the query results incrementally in the presence of object location and motion updates.Department of ComputingRefereed conference pape