Family Policy, Family Resources, and Children\u27s Educational Achievement: A Comparative Study of 18 Rich Countries

Educational achievement among children is one of the most important concerns for most contemporary societies. While numerous studies have explored factors associated with children\u27s educational achievement, little research fully incorporated multi-level, multi-faceted contexts of child education. More specifically, less attention has been paid to the role of macro-level, policy contexts and their interactions with various aspects of family-level resources. To help fill the gap in the literature, this study investigates: 1) the role of various aspects of family-level resources, that is family financial, human, and social capital, in children\u27s educational achievement,: 2) mediating pathways among those family-level resources, and: 3) the moderating role played by family policy contexts in the relationships between family-level resources and child achievement. This study utilized data from the Program for International Student Assessment: PISA), large scale survey data containing information on students\u27 academic achievement as well as other contextual information on students, families, and schools for 18 affluent countries. Data on family policy, derived from various other sources, were merged into the PISA. The dependent variable was standardized test scores of reading literacy. To measure various aspects of family-level resources, this study included a series of independent variables such as family financial capital: e.g., family income and wealth), human capital: parents\u27 education), and social capital: e.g., maternal work, single-parent family, sibling size, parent-child interaction). Two alternative family policy measures were included as country-level, independent variables:: 1) a series of single family policy indicators, and: 2) family policy regimes grouped based on characteristics of family policy settings using the hierarchical cluster analysis. Missing data were imputed using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo: MCMC) multiple imputation. Random-effect multilevel modeling was mainly employed, and, to address potential endogeneity in random-effect modeling, a series of alternative econometric procedures were used including fixed-effect multilevel modeling, the Hausman-Taylor estimator, and the Bartel\u27s approach. Mediating pathways among family-level resources were tested using the Baron and Kenny\u27s approach reformulated for multilevel modeling. Study findings supported a significant role of family financial, human, and social capital in children\u27s educational achievement. Further, family social capital: e.g., parent-child interactions) partially mediated relationships between other family-level resources and children\u27s educational achievement. Findings also supported a positive role of family policy contexts; children in countries with generous family policy perform better in terms of reading achievement, compared to those in countries with weak family policy. Family policy contexts were also found to moderate the relationships between family-level resources and child achievement. For example, the negative impact of maternal full-time work on child achievement was mitigated by availability of generous family policies. Findings from this study provide additional empirical evidence to understand multilevel, multifaceted contexts of child education. This study also provides policy implications for the United States; that is, study findings calls for introducing and expanding family policies building on the current policy measures to enhance children\u27s educational achievement

Experience Corps: Pathway to New Engagement

Experience Corps: Pathway to New Engagemen

Characterization of GDP-mannose Pyrophosphorylase from Escherichia Coli O157:H7 EDL933 and Its Broad Substrate Specificity

GDP-mannose pyrophosphorylase gene (ManC) of Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157 was cloned and expressed as a highly soluble protein in E. coli BL21 (DE3). The enzyme was subsequently purified using hydrophobic and ion exchange chromatographies. ManC showed very broad substrate specificities for four nucleotides and various hexose-1-phosphates, yielding ADP-mannose, CDP-mannose, UDP-mannose, GDP-mannose, GDP-glucose and GDP-2-deoxy-glucose

Characterizations of realized metal-insulator-silicon-insulator-metal waveguides and nanochannel fabrication via insulator removal

We investigate experimentally metal-insulator-silicon-insulator-metal (MISIM) waveguides that are fabricated by using fully standard CMOS technology. They are hybrid plasmonic waveguides, and they have a feature that their insulator is replaceable with functional material. We explain a fabrication process for them and discuss fabrication results based on 8-inch silicon-on-insulator wafers. We measured the propagation characteristics of the MISIM waveguides that were actually fabricated to be connected to Si photonic waveguides through symmetric and asymmetric couplers. When incident light from an optical source has transverse electric (TE) polarization and its wavelength is 1318 or 1554 nm, their propagation losses are between 0.2 and 0.3 dB/mu m. Excess losses due to the symmetric couplers are around 0.5 dB, which are smaller than those due to the asymmetric couplers. Additional measurement results indicate that the MISIM waveguide supports a TE-polarized hybrid plasmonic mode. Finally, we explain a process of removing the insulator without affecting the remaining MISIM structure to fabricate similar to 30-nm-wide nanochannels which may be filled with functional material.open8

Experience Corps: Effects on Student Reading

Experience Corps: Effects on Student Readin

Change in the height of Korean children and adolescents: analysis from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey II and V

PurposeThe mean adult height of Koreans has increased since nationwide anthropological measurements began in 1967. The objective of this study was to evaluate differences in heights of Korean late adolescents and young adults within and between the Second and Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (KNHANES II and V).MethodsKoreans aged ≤22 years with available measurements of height were enrolled from the KNHANES surveys (KNHANES II: n=3,372 [1,732 males and 1,640 females]; KNHANES V: n=6,190 [3,198 males and 2,992 females]). Differences in the height of KNHANES respondents within and between surveys were evaluated according to age and sex.ResultsIn KNHANES II, there was no significant difference in height between males aged 17-19 years and those aged 20-22 years (174.3±0.5 cm vs. 174.3±0.6 cm, P=0.995). Females aged 20-22 years were taller than those aged 17-19 years (159.8±0.4 cm vs. 161.0±0.4 cm, P=0.017). Females aged 17-19 years were significantly taller in KNHANES V than in KNHANES II (161.2±0.3 cm vs. 159.8±0.4 cm, P=0.004). Respondents aged 20-22 years were taller in KNHANES V than in KNHANES II, although not significantly so; the difference was 0.3±0.8 cm in males (P=0.721) and 0.5±0.6 cm in females (P=0.386).ConclusionKoreans appear to continue growing even in their late adolescence and early twenties. Consequently, it may be necessary to expand the reference age ranges of the Korean growth chart. Additionally, a longitudinal growth survey is needed to determine growth patterns and secular trend in height among Koreans

Clinical Usefulness of Preoperative and Postoperative Chest Computed Tomography for Colorectal Cancer

Purpose: This research sought to identify the utility value of chest computed tomography (CT) when it comes to the diagnosis of lung metastasis in cases of colorectal cancer. Methods: From September 2004 to January 2008, 266 patients who were treated for colorectal cancer at Department of Surgery, Hanyang University College of Medicine, were divided into two groups: one that underwent preoperative and postoperative periodical chest CT (periodical inspection group, PIG; May 2006 to January 2008, 135 patients) and one that did not undergo periodical chest CT (non-periodical inspection group, NPIG; September 2004 to April 2006, 131 patients) for comparison. Results: The overall lung metastasis diagnosis rates did not manifest any significant difference. The times to diagnose lung metastasis patients were 6.3 months and 15.7 months for the PIG and the NPIG, respectively (P = 0.022). The size of the metastatic lung nodule was smaller in the PIG than in the NPIG (< 1 cm in 9/9 patients vs. < 1 cm in 6/9 patients in the PIG and the NPIG, respectively; P = 0.02). A solitary lung metastasis was more frequently found in the PIG (5/9 patients) than in the NPIG (1/11 patients) (P = 0.024). During the follow-up period, 100% (2/2 patients) and 60% (3/5 patients) of the patients in the PIG and the NPIG, respectively, with stage III cancer underwent a lung metastasectomy (P = 0.002). Conclusion: Chest CT enables early diagnosis with a smaller size and a lower number of lung metastases in patients with colorectal cancer. Moreover, pulmonary the rate of the pulmonary resection for selected patients may be improved. However, the contribution of chest CT to increasing the survival rate must be investigated in a prospective randomized study. ?? 2010 The Korean Society of Coloproctology

Convenient and effective ICGylation of magnetic nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Nanoprobes used for biomedical applications usually require surface modifications with amphiphilic surfactants or inorganic coating materials to enhance their biocompatibility. We proposed a facile synthetic approach for the phase transfer of hydrophobic magnetic nanoparticles by the direct adherence of fluorescent probes, without any chemical modifications, for use as a magnetic resonance (MR)/near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence bimodal imaging contrast agent. Indocyanine green (ICG) was used not only as an optical component for NIR imaging, but also as a surfactant for phase transfer with no superfluous moiety: we therefore called the process &quot;ICGylation&quot;. Cell labeling and tracking in vivo with ICGylated magnetic nanoparticles were successfully performed by MR/NIR dual-mode imaging for three days, which showed remarkable biostability without any additional surface functionalization. We expect that this novel MR/NIR contrast agent demonstrating sensitive detection and simultaneous imaging capability can be used in diverse fields, such as the imaging and tracking of immune cells to confirm immunotherapeutic efficacy. The approach used could also be applied to other kinds of nanoparticles, and it would promote the development of advanced functional multimodal nanobioprobes

Rapid Hepatobiliary Excretion of Micelle-Encapsulated/Radiolabeled Upconverting Nanoparticles as an Integrated Form

In the field of nanomedicine, long term accumulation of nanoparticles (NPs) in the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS) such as liver is the major hurdle in clinical translation. On the other hand, NPs could be excreted via hepatobiliary excretion pathway without overt tissue toxicity. Therefore, it is critical to develop NPs that show favorable excretion property. Herein, we demonstrated that micelle encapsulated Cu-64-labeled upconverting nanoparticles (micelle encapsulated Cu-64-NOTA-UCNPs) showed substantial hepatobiliary excretion by in vivo positron emission tomography (PET) and also upconversion luminescence imaging (ULI). Ex vivo biodistribution study reinforced the imaging results by showing clearance of 84% of initial hepatic uptake in 72 hours. Hepatobiliary excretion of the UCNPs was also verified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) examination. Micelle encapsulated Cu-64-NOTA-UCNPs could be an optimal bimodal imaging agent owing to quantifiability of Cu-64, ability of in vivo/ex vivo ULI and good hepatobiliary excretion property.