Investigating innovation in English language teaching :three case studies at a junior college in Taiwan

PhD ThesisThis qualitative research study attempts to investigate innovation in general English language teaching/learning as perceived by English teachers at a private vocational junior college in Taiwan, a Chinese-speaking context. The underachievement reported in the literature highlights the important issue that innovation is always constrained by many factors at all levels, in terms of institutional, educational, and cultural levels, etc. (Kennedy 1988). Recently research on innovation has been moving from a method-oriented understanding to broadening perspectives beyond language and classroom (Holliday 1996). In this context, this research aims to identify the mechanisms of three ELT innovation projects and investigate the factors affecting their success on many levels. The method adopted was ethnographic research that gave a thick description of how the teachers participated in the ELT projects leading to innovation. The three ELT projects to be examined were carried out on a school basis and located in the same context. One was initiated entirely top-down, one from both directions, and the other bottom-up. The first one aimed to implement a new teacher role of teacher-cum-researcher, the second to integrate technology into the English program, and the last to improve teaching through better materials. These projects were non-aided and independent of expatriates, and in this way different from the expatriate-aided ELT projects in the literature. Besides, unlike many projects that are designed and evaluated by their change agents, these projects were examined from the perspective of the end users (teachers), and in this way provide insights from a different angle. Several conclusions can be drawn from the analysis of the outcomes. It is found that the rise of the double centre-periphery innovation model in the field of education was ineffective in helping under-informed implementers to develop their change capacity. Dalin's four barriers (1983) are inadequate to address the barriers to innovation effectiveness, without taking the communication barrier and local negative rhythms into account, as they also inhibited the success of innovation. This study also shows that it seems naYve to expect that success is more likely in bottom-up innovations than in top-down innovations. In fact, if innovations, whether top-down or bottom-up, are to succeed, they require the same favourable conditions to facilitate their success, such as the development of the change capacity and effective conflict management

A compilation of known QSOs for the Gaia mission

Quasars are essential for astrometric in the sense that they are spatial stationary because of their large distance from the Sun. The European Space Agency (ESA) space astrometric satellite Gaia is scanning the whole sky with unprecedented accuracy up to a few muas level. However, Gaia's two fields of view observations strategy may introduce a parallax bias in the Gaia catalog. Since it presents no significant parallax, quasar is perfect nature object to detect such bias. More importantly, quasars can be used to construct a Celestial Reference Frame in the optical wavelengths in Gaia mission. In this paper, we compile the most reliable quasars existing in literatures. The final compilation (designated as Known Quasars Catalog for Gaia mission, KQCG) contains 1843850 objects, among of them, 797632 objects are found in Gaia DR1 after cross-identifications. This catalog will be very useful in Gaia mission

Two-mode correlated multiphoton bundle emission

The preparation of correlated multiphoton sources is an important research topic in quantum optics and quantum information science. Here, we study two-mode correlated multiphoton bundle emission in a nondegenerate multiphoton Jaynes-Cummings model, which is comprised of a two-level system coupled with two cavity modes. The two-level system is driven by a near-resonant strong laser such that the Mollow regime dominates the physical processes in this system. Under certain resonance conditions, a perfect super-Rabi oscillation between the zero-photon state $|0\rangle_{a}|0\rangle_{b}$ and the ($n+m$)-photon state $|n\rangle_{a}|m\rangle_{b}$ of the two cavity modes can take place. Induced by the photon decay, the two-mode correlated multiphoton bundle emission occurs in this system. More importantly, the results show that there is an antibunching effect between the strongly-correlated photon bundles, so that the system behaves as an antibunched ($n+m$)-photon source. The work opens up a route towards achieving two-mode correlated multiphoton source device, which has potential applications in modern quantum technology.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Advanced Quantum Technologie

Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture for Breast Cancer Palliative Care and Adjuvant Therapy

Breast cancer is a life-threatening disease among women worldwide with annual rates of reported incidence and death increasing alarmingly. Chemotherapy is a recommended and effective treatment option for breast cancer; however, the narrow therapeutic indices and varied side effects of currently approved drugs present major hurdles in increasing its effectiveness. An increasing number of literature evidence indicate that complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) used in treatment-related symptom control and alleviation of side effects plays an important role in increasing survival rate and quality of life in breast cancer patients. This review focuses on the use of herbal medicines and acupuncture in palliative care and as adjuvants in the treatment of breast cancer. Herbal medicinal treatments, the correlation of clinical use with demonstrated in vitro and in vivo mechanisms of action, and the use of certain acupoints in acupuncture are summarized. The aim of this review is to facilitate an understanding of the current practice and usefulness of herbal medicine and acupuncture as adjuvants in breast cancer therapy

Regional Cardiac Dysfunction and Dyssynchrony in a Murine Model of Afterload Stress

Small animal models of afterload stress have contributed much to our present understanding of the progression from hypertension to heart failure. High-sensitivity methods for phenotyping cardiac function in vivo, particular in the setting of compensated cardiac hypertrophy, may add new information regarding alterations in cardiac performance that can occur even during the earliest stages of exposure to pressure overload. We have developed an echocardiographic analytical method, based on speckle-tracking-based strain analyses, and used this tool to rapidly phenotype cardiac changes resulting from afterload stress in a small animal model. Adult mice were subjected to ascending aortic constriction, with and without subsequent reversal of the pressure gradient. In this model of compensated hypertrophic cardiac remodeling, conventional echocardiographic measurements did not detect changes in left ventricular (LV) function at the early time points examined. Strain analyses, however, revealed a decrement in basal longitudinal myofiber shortening that was induced by aortic constriction and improved following relief of the pressure gradient. Furthermore, we observed that pressure overload resulted in LV segmental dyssynchrony that was attenuated with return of the afterload to baseline levels. Herein, we describe the use of echocardiographic strain analyses for cardiac phenotyping in a mouse model of pressure overload. This method provides evidence of dyssynchrony and regional myocardial dysfunction that occurs early with compensatory hypertrophy, and improves following relief of aortic constriction. Importantly, these findings illustrate the utility of a rapid, non-invasive method for characterizing early cardiac dysfunction, not detectable by conventional echocardiography, following afterload stress

Prevalence of Childhood Allergic Diseases in Central Taiwan over the Past 15 Years

BackgroundThe prevalence of asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic eczema in children from the developed and developing countries has been increasing.MethodsThree epidemiological surveys of the prevalence of bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic eczema in schoolchildren in Taichung, located in central Taiwan, were conducted in 1987, 1994, and 2002. The first questionnaire was used before the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) written questionnaire was developed; the last two surveys were modified using ISAAC questionnaires.ResultsA total of 37,801, 75,960, and 11,580 children were studied in 1987, 1994 and 2002, respectively. The prevalence of allergic diseases had increased in the past two decades. Results indicate that the prevalence of bronchial asthma had risen, from 2.19% in 1987, and 3.54% in 1994, to 6.99% in 2002. Regardless of sex, the prevalence of bronchial asthma decreased with increasing age. The prevalence of allergic rhinitis was 5.1% in 1987, 12.46% in 1987, and 27.59% in 2002, and the prevalence of atopic eczema was 1.10% in 1987, 1.88% in 1994, and 3.35% in 2002.ConclusionThere has been a significant increase in the prevalence of bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis in Taichung schoolchildren from 1987 to 2002