BiciLine x University Nike Icon

Background A sustainable city can be built by the collaboration of social enterprises and businesses. In this proposal, TWGHs BiciLine Cycling Ecotourism Social Enterprise and University Nike Icon (UNI) are chosen to be matched. BiciLine in Yuen Long is established by Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. In order to promote cycling eco-tourism in West New Territories, BiciLine provides bicycles and trains tour guides, who are the low income, low education and skill level marginalized youth. On the other hand, UNI is an apprenticeship program organized by Nike yearly. The participants, who are the undergraduates and keen on sports, would join some sports activities to raise Nike\u27s brand popularity and make more people work out. Discussion focus Being difficult to expand the service internationally is the common hardship of social enterprise, and BiciLine is not the exception. The person in charge said that they were not able to embrace the opportunity of serving the foreigners due to the limited capability of providing eco-tours in English. How to help BiciLine tackle the problem becomes the basic focus question. On the other hand, how to make good use of the UNI’s strengths is crucial. The undergraduates are fluent in English and have the passion for sports, probably including cycling. Suggestions It is suggested that UNI participates work as an eco-tour guide in BiciLine for two months. For BiciLine, the managers need to offer information about their daily operation and cycling routes, while UNI participants should teach the existing young eco-tour guides how to introduce the natural ecology in English and how to get along with foreign tourists. Nike can also sponsor the sports supporters for BiciLine such as helmet. Not only can the social enterprise expand its service, but also UNI will establish a positive image and reputation by shouldering the share of social responsibility. Last but not least, corporate partnership increases the awareness of social enterprise and the social obligation of students

Intracellular Trafficking Governs the Processing of the Amyloid Precursor Protein and the Secretion of Beta-Amyloid

One of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the pathological accumulation of β-amyloid (Aβ) in the brains of AD patients. Oligomeric and fibrillar aggregates of Aβ have been shown to be neurotoxic to neurons and hippocampal slices. Therefore, limiting Aβ production is an important area of research in order to delay or stop AD progression. Aβ is produced by amyloidogenic cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP). Amyloidogenic cleavage requires ectodomain removal by β-secretase and intramembrane γ-cleavage by γ-secretase to release Aβ products ranging from 38-43 residues. Work from our lab has shown that APP and γ-secretase are resident proteins of the lysosome. Furthermore, the acidic environment of lysosomes that promotes the aggregation of Aβ. While many lines of evidence demonstrate that APP internalization is important to the Aβ production, the intracellular itinerary of APP, from production to cleavage, is unclear. In order to follow the intracellular trafficking of APP and Aβ, we have applied various microscopy techniques, in combination with fluorescently-tagged proteins. Using a photoactivatable mutant of GFP (paGFP), we accurately photoactivated nascent APP and followed its trafficking to lysosomes. To our surprise, we found that APP was delivered to lysosomes, where it is cleaved by γ-secretase, through an entirely intracellular pathway. This intracellular pathway was dependent upon an interaction between APP and adaptor protein 3. We found that the interaction between APP and AP-3 is dependent on the 709YTSI712 tyrosine motif. Furthermore, phosphorylation of the serine within this motif, by PKCε, can disrupt this interaction. By decreasing APP trafficking to lysosomes, through disrupting the APP/AP-3 interaction we decreased the production of Aβ. While lysosomes have traditionally been thought to be responsible for cellular waste disposal, they also have a secretory role in a number of cell types; including neurons. We demonstrate that lysosomes are not only responsible for the production of Aβ, but may also be responsible for the secretion of lysosomal Aβ into the extracellular space. This research may provide new therapeutic targets to limit the production and release of Aβ

What Do We Mean By Support? A Discourse Analytic Study of Practitioners’ Talk about Facilitating Support Groups for Eating and Body Image Issues

SOWK 6100, Award Nominated Practice-based Research Paper, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, School of Social Work, York University, Year 2014The purpose of this research is concerned with the ways service providers define, construct, and understand their practices and approaches in facilitating support groups in community-based settings for adults living with eating and body image issues. It aims to identify the discourses and power relations that both give shape to and are continually shaped by facilitators’ understanding and practices. Critical feminist analyses have found that psychomedical treatment models for ‘eating disorders’ often paradoxically reinforce the gendered discourses and discursive practices that constitute eating and body image issues in the first place. Examining the ways that group facilitators understand and define their practices through a critical feminist perspective and discourse analytic framework opens up new possibilities in practices of support to disrupt the discourses and power relations that contribute to eating and body image problems. The findings of this study suggest that psycho-medical, humanist, and gender discourses are dominant in participants’ constructions of their practices of support. Particularly, individualized understandings about eating and body image issues are reproduced. At the same time, individualizing and psychologising ideas are also challenged and resisted, especially in the ways participants question social and cultural norms and contemporary treatment methods when describing their understandings of support. The participants’ practice contexts outside of medical institutions may position them as having less expertise in relations to those afforded higher statuses within discourses of medicine and psychiatry, yet their discursive positions also seem to allow space for alternative ways of working

Semantic categorization of Chinese character semantic radical plays an important role?

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2004.Also available in print."A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, December 31, 2004."published_or_final_versionSpeech and Hearing SciencesBachelorBachelor of Science in Speech and Hearing Science

Individual attentional capacity to perform safely : developing the workplace attention trifactor scale

xi, 184 leaves : ill. ; 29 cmIncludes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-146).A self-reported measure of work-related attention capacities was developed and validated in the current dissertation. The 12-item Workplace Attention Trifactor Scale (WATS) was created from the conceptual integration of two streams of psychological research: James Reason’s occupational safety work on human errors, and Posner and Petersen’s cognitive neuroscience work on the three attention networks. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated the WATS to have three attentional domains. Alerting attention referred to the vigilance and sustained wakefulness during working hours (e.g., “I stayed attentive at work”). Orienting attention referred to the prompt and accurate alignment of attention to the source of the stimuli (e.g., “My eyes were quick to pick up on important details in my work”). Executive control of attention referred to adaptive resolution of conflicting or competing stimuli (e.g., “I was able to prioritize the work tasks that required my immediate attention”). All three domains of the WATS had indirect effects on reports of incidents and injuries at work through work-related cognitive failures of attention. The WATS had good test-retest reliability over a three-month period, with the orienting domain being the most stable (r = .69), alerting (r = .66), then executive control (r = .38). Self-reports on the WATS was compared to performance scores on the Attention Network Test (ANT), a cognitive task that test for the efficiency of the three attention networks. The lack of convergent validity between the two forms of measurement suggested that the WATS and the ANT were tapping into different aspects of attention. In a field setting, the WATS, rather than the ANT, was predictive of informant-reported safety compliance and participation. Theoretical implications of a three-factor model of workplace attention and practical utility of a self-assessed work-related attention measure were discussed

Capturing the dynamics of a work day : ecological momentary assessment of work stressors on the health of long-term caregivers

vi, 72 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm.Includes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 52-63).The long-term care sector in Canada is undergoing fundamental transformation. Despite these changes, there is a scarcity of empirical research about the psychological and physiological demands of working in long-term care. The current study aimed to gain a better understanding of this issue by investigating the relationships between experiences at work and psychological and physiological outcomes. Hourly perceived experiences and cardiovascular reactivity during the workdays of 30 female long-term care workers were obtained using diaries and ambulatory blood pressure monitors. Multi-level modeling revealed that work overload, and noisy, fast-paced environments led to higher stress, more negative affectivity, and exacerbated systolic blood pressure reactivity. High quality interactions with residents and break times at work lowered stress and increased positive affectivity. Furthermore, negative affectivity increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure reactivity. Implications for long-term care practices and for occupational health psychology are discussed

INTEGRATED ECOLOGICAL PLANNING IN SINGAPORE: NEOTIEWPIA ECO-VILLAGE IN BUSTLING METROPOLITAN

ABSTRACT :The Neotiewpia Eco-Village is located within the Lim Chu Kang district at the north of Singapore. The Eco-Village only comprised of 3.5 sq km. Meanwhile the area was dominated by farms, chalets and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. In 2006, National University of Singapore, School of Design and Environment (SDE), MSc. Environmental Management and Nature Society of Singapore initiated an ecological planning exercise within the Neotiewpia site to reduce the environmental impact from the development while providing Eco-friendly Tourism and R&D activities that feasible in the site. We did participate in the exercise and we tried explaining the ecological process, the limitation and potential development for integrated ecological planning framework in Developing Countries like Indonesia, Brazil, etc with high ecological-values ecosystems. The Vision of Neotiewpia was “A Model Eco-Village that Respects its Natural Heritage, Builds Strong Community Links and Promotes Economic Development on Nature’s Premises." And Neotiewpia was successfully planned and designed with integrated ecological planning approach. It embraced the land evaluation and impact assessment. Further the plan was found feasible by the Singapore Government by earmarking the Lim Chu Kang and Kranji for Agri-tainment development in 2008 (although partially implemented). The Neotiewpia or Lim Chu Kang area was found thriving with Green-Economy and Agro-Tourism. This integrated ecological planning could be translated to other areas in Developing Countries with agriculture potential and facing development pressures such as Neotiewpia. This concept would give alternate Green-Solution to the current economic crisis

Pavlovian fear memory induced by activation in the anterior cingulate cortex

Identifying higher brain central region(s) that are responsible for the unpleasantness of pain is the focus of many recent studies. Here we show that direct stimulation of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in mice produced fear-like freezing responses and induced long-term fear memory, including contextual and auditory fear memory. Auditory fear memory required the activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in the amygdala. To test the hypothesis that neuronal activity in the ACC contributes to unpleasantness, we injected a GABA(A )receptor agonist, muscimol bilaterally into the ACC. Both contextual and auditory memories induced by foot shock were blocked. Furthermore, activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors in the ACC enhanced behavioral escape responses in a noxious hot-plate as well as spinal nociceptive tail-flick reflex. Our results provide strong evidence that the excitatory activity in the ACC contribute to pain-related fear memory as well as descending facilitatory modulation of spinal nociception

Influence of non-feedback variations of radiation on the determination of climate feedback

Recent studies have estimated the magnitude of climate feedback based on the correlation between time variations in outgoing radiation flux and sea surface temperature (SST). This study investigates the influence of the natural non-feedback variation (noise) of the flux occurring independently of SST on the determination of climate feedback. The observed global monthly radiation flux is used from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) for the period 2000–2008. In the observations, the time lag correlation of radiation and SST shows a distorted curve with low statistical significance for shortwave radiation while a significant maximum at zero lag for longwave radiation over the tropics. This observational feature is explained by simulations with an idealized energy balance model where we see that the non-feedback variation plays the most significant role in distorting the curve in the lagged correlation graph, thus obscuring the exact value of climate feedback. We also demonstrate that the climate feedback from the tropical longwave radiation in the CERES data is not significantly affected by the noise. We further estimate the standard deviation of radiative forcings (mainly from the noise) relative to that of the non-radiative forcings, i.e., the noise level from the observations and atmosphere–ocean coupled climate model simulations in the framework of the simple model. The estimated noise levels in both CERES (>13 %) and climate models (11–28 %) are found to be far above the critical level (~5 %) that begins to misrepresent climate feedback.Korea. Meteorological Administration. Research and Development Program (grant CATER 2012–3064)National Research Foundation of Korea (MSIP) (2009-83527

The protection of Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong : an analysis of civic engagement strategies

published_or_final_versionPolitics and Public AdministrationMasterMaster of Public Administratio