Can Collaborative Knowledge Building Promote Both Scientific Processes and Science Achievement?

This study investigated the role of collective knowledge building in promoting scientific inquiry and achievements among Hong Kong high-school chemistry students. The participants included 34 Grade 10 (15-16 years old) students who engaged in collective inquiry and progressive discourse, using Knowledge Forum@, a computer-supported learning environment. A comparison class of 35 students also participated in the study. The instructional design, premised on knowledge-building principles including epistemic agency, improvable ideas and community knowledge, consisted of several components: developing a collaborative classroom culture, engaging in problem-centered inquiry, deepening the knowledge-building discourse, and aligning assessment with collective learning. Quantitative findings show that the students in the knowledge-building classroom outperformed the comparison students in scientific understanding with sustained effects in public examination. Analyses of knowledge-building dynamics indicate that the students showed deeper engagement and inquiry over time. Students’ collaboration and inquiry on Knowledge Forum significantly predicted their scientific understanding, over and above the effects of their prior science achievement. Qualitative analyses suggest how student’s knowledge-creation discourse, involving explanatory inquiry, constructive use of information and theory revision,can scaffold scientific understanding

Behavioral Couple Therapy: Partner-Involved Treatment for Substance-Abusing Women

Among the various psychosocial interventions presently available to treat alcohol and drug abuse, it could be argued that partner-involved treatments are the most broadly efficacious. There is not only substantial empirical support for the use of couple-based treatments in terms of improvements in primary targeted outcomes, such as substance use and relationship adjustment, but also in other areas that are of clear public health significance, including intimate partner violence (IPV), children\u27s adjustment, and cost-benefit ratio and cost-effectiveness. During the last few decades, programmatic research on the application of partner-involved therapies for substance abuse has been among the most active and fruitful. Although marital and family therapies for substance abuse have been used with a wide variety of patient populations, the purpose of this chapter is to focus on the application of partner-involved interventions with women who abuse substances and are in intimate relationships. More specifically, we (1) provide a conceptual rationale as to why couple therapy for female patients with substance abuse problems may be particularly appealing, compared to more traditional individual-based approaches; (2) describe theoretical and practical considerations involved when implementing couple therapy with these patients; (3) examine available evidence for the efficacy of couple therapy with female patients who abuse alcohol and drug; and (4) discuss future directions with respect to partner-involved therapies with these patients

Theoretical study of the absorption spectra of the sodium dimer

Absorption of radiation from the sodium dimer molecular states correlating to Na(3s)-Na(3s) is investigated theoretically. Vibrational bound and continuum transitions from the singlet X Sigma-g+ state to the first excited singlet A Sigma-u+ and singlet B Pi-u states and from the triplet a Sigma-u+ state to the first excited triplet b Sigma-g+ and triplet c Pi-g states are studied quantum-mechanically. Theoretical and experimental data are used to characterize the molecular properties taking advantage of knowledge recently obtained from ab initio calculations, spectroscopy, and ultra-cold atom collision studies. The quantum-mechanical calculations are carried out for temperatures in the range from 500 to 3000 K and are compared with previous calculations and measurements where available.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, revtex, eps

Surveillance of emerging drugs of abuse in Hong Kong: Validation of an analytical tool

© 2015, Hong Kong Academy of Medicine Press. All rights reserved. Objective: To validate a locally developed chromatography-based method to monitor emerging drugs of abuse whilst performing regular drug testing in abusers. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Eleven regional hospitals, seven social service units, and a tertiary level clinical toxicology laboratory in Hong Kong. Participants: A total of 972 drug abusers and high-risk individuals were recruited from acute, rehabilitation, and high-risk settings between 1 November 2011 and 31 July 2013. A subset of the participants was of South Asian ethnicity. In total, 2000 urine or hair specimens were collected. Main outcome measures: Proof of concept that surveillance of emerging drugs of abuse can be performed whilst conducting routine drug of abuse testing in patients. Results: The method was successfully applied to 2000 samples with three emerging drugs of abuse detected in five samples: PMMA (paramethoxymethamphetamine), TFMPP [1-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)piperazine], and methcathinone. The method also detected conventional drugs of abuse, with codeine, methadone, heroin, methamphetamine, and ketamine being the most frequently detected drugs. Other findings included the observation that South Asians had significantly higher rates of using opiates such as heroin, methadone, and codeine; and that ketamine and cocaine had significantly higher detection rates in acute subjects compared with the rehabilitation population. Conclusions: This locally developed analytical method is a valid tool for simultaneous surveillance of emerging drugs of abuse and routine drug monitoring of patients at minimal additional cost and effort. Continued, proactive surveillance and early identification of emerging drugs will facilitate prompt clinical, social, and legislative management.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Physical activity intervention in cancer survivors : a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Proffered paper session: Information, patients and the public/ Survivorship and end of life careBackground The aim was to systematically review all published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which tested the effect of a physical activity intervention in adult cancer survivors after the main cancer treatment. Method Relevant RCTs were located by: (1) systematic searching of electronic databases (PUBMED and Google Scholar) using cancer-related and exercise-related search terms; and (2) scanning the references of retrieved RCTs and relevant reviews. All relevant RCTs were retrieved and assessed to determine if they met the selection criteria. Data extraction was independently performed by two investigators and followed by a discussion to reach consensus. The main outcome measures were cancer outcome (survival and recurrence), quality of life (QoL), body composition and functional capacity. Results A total of 2,447 citations were identified of which 170 potentially relevant ones were examined in detail. Forty-five papers met the selection criteria of which 41 reported data on at least one relevant outcome. These encompassed 18 papers not included in previously published reviews. Twenty-six papers (63.4%) were on breast cancers and the remaining papers were on other cancers. There was a paucity of published data on the effects of physical activity interventions on cancer outcome. Various instruments were used to assess the other outcomes (QoL and functional capacity) limiting the pooling of data for meta-analysis. Estimates of the effects of physical activity interventions on QoL, body composition and functional capacity were determined. Potential determinants of the effect heterogeneity across studies were evaluated. Conclusion Moderately-strong-to-strong evidence was found for a positive effect of physical activity interventions on QoL of adult cancer survivors following main cancer treatment. Clinically meaningful associations were identified between such interventions and improved functional capacity. The observed heterogeneity in study design and outcome parameters highlighted the need for the development of a standardized protocol to facilitate meta-analysis on the effects of physical activity in cancer survivors. Acknowledgements This study has been supported by WCRF UK, WCRF International and WCRF Hong Kong

SARS-CoV Antibody Prevalence in All Hong Kong Patient Contacts

A total of 1,068 asymptomatic close contacts of patients with severe acute respiratory (SARS) from the 2003 epidemic in Hong Kong were serologically tested, and 2 (0.19%) were positive for SARS coronavirus immunoglobulin G antibody. SARS rarely manifests as a subclinical infection, and at present, wild animal species are the only important natural reservoirs of the virus

Measurement of the branching fraction for Υ(1S)→τ+τ−\Upsilon (1S) \to \tau^+ \tau^-

We have studied the leptonic decay of the $\Upsilon (1S)$ resonance into tau pairs using the CLEO II detector. A clean sample of tau pair events is identified via events containing two charged particles where exactly one of the particles is an identified electron. We find $B(\Upsilon(1S) \to \tau^+ \tau^-) = (2.61~\pm~0.12~{+0.09\atop{-0.13}})$. The result is consistent with expectations from lepton universality.Comment: 9 pages, RevTeX, two Postscript figures available upon request, CLNS 94/1297, CLEO 94-20 (submitted to Physics Letters B

Production and Decay of D_1(2420)^0 and D_2^*(2460)^0

We have investigated $D^{+}\pi^{-}$ and $D^{*+}\pi^{-}$ final states and observed the two established $L=1$ charmed mesons, the $D_1(2420)^0$ with mass $2421^{+1+2}_{-2-2}$ MeV/c$^{2}$ and width $20^{+6+3}_{-5-3}$ MeV/c$^{2}$ and the $D_2^*(2460)^0$ with mass $2465 \pm 3 \pm 3$ MeV/c$^{2}$ and width $28^{+8+6}_{-7-6}$ MeV/c$^{2}$. Properties of these final states, including their decay angular distributions and spin-parity assignments, have been studied. We identify these two mesons as the $j_{light}=3/2$ doublet predicted by HQET. We also obtain constraints on {\footnotesize $\Gamma_S/(\Gamma_S + \Gamma_D)$} as a function of the cosine of the relative phase of the two amplitudes in the $D_1(2420)^0$ decay.Comment: 15 pages in REVTEX format. hardcopies with figures can be obtained by sending mail to: [email protected]