Deconstructing Demand for Women and Girls\u27 Education

There is an increasing focus on the recognition of women and girls\u27 education as a universal right. Many feminist scholars have questioned this rights-based approach to gender education and evaluated the challenges and solutions based on the international policy discourse. What is notably absent from this scholarship is a comprehensive look at how women and girls\u27 demand for education is constructed though such universal declarations. This thesis uses a postcolonial feminist framework to analyze how women and girls\u27 demand for education is constructed through international gender education policy. Ultimately, through an analysis of policy and an assessment of the feminist scholarship on gender education, this thesis unpacks four implicit conditions which underpin demand and reinforce a modern, neoliberal governmentality. These conditions are the essentialization of third world women, the unchallenged authority of Enlightenment philosophies, the focus of gender and education in an isolated sphere, and the problematization of women\u27s bodies

A Comparison of Anonymous Versus Identifiable E-Peer Review On College Student Writing Performance and the Extent of Critical Feedback

Peer review has become commonplace in composition courses and is increasingly employed in the context of telecommunication technology. The purpose of this experiment was to compare the effects of anonymous and identifiable electronic peer (e-peer) review on college student writing performance and the extent of critical peer feedback. Participants were 92 undergraduate freshmen in four English composition classes enrolled in the fall semesters of 2003 and 2004. The same instructor taught all four classes, and in each semester, one class was assigned to the anonymous e-peer review group and the other to the identifiable e-peer review group. All other elements—course content, assignments, demands, and classroom instruction— were held constant. The results from both semesters showed that students participating in anonymous e-peer review performed better on the writing performance task and provided more critical feedback to their peers than did students participating in the identifiable e-peer review

A Timely Update of Global COVID-19 Vaccine Development

The International Society for Vaccines (ISV) launched a virtual congress series www.ISVCongress.org as the leading platform for key COVID‐19 vaccine developersto share their progress and for the global vaccine community to contribute their collective expertise and wisdom about broader aspects of the global pandemic vaccine response. The aims were threefold: 1) to provide timely information about the processes put in place by regulatory agencies and NGOs for COVID-19 vaccine development, 2) to present primary data from groups developing vaccines, and 3) to provide a forum for discussion by experts about key challenges that confront the COVID-19 vaccine development process

Complete Determination of the Pin1 Catalytic Domain Thermodynamic Cycle by NMR Lineshape Analysis

The phosphorylation-specific peptidyl-prolyl isomerase Pin1 catalyzes the isomerization of the peptide bond preceding a proline residue between cis and trans isomers. To best understand the mechanisms of Pin1 regulation, rigorous enzymatic assays of isomerization are required. However, most measures of isomerase activity require significant constraints on substrate sequence and only yield rate constants for the cis isomer, kciscatand apparent Michaelis constants, KAppM . By contrast, NMR lineshape analysis is a powerful tool for determining microscopic rates and populations of each state in a complex binding scheme. The isolated catalytic domain of Pin1 was employed as a first step towards elucidating the reaction scheme of the full-length enzyme. A 24-residue phosphopeptide derived from the amyloid precurser protein intracellular domain (AICD) phosphorylated at Thr668 served as a biologically-relevant Pin1 substrate. Specific 13C labeling at the Pin1-targeted proline residue provided multiple reporters sensitive to individual isomer binding and on-enzyme catalysis. We have performed titration experiments and employed lineshape analysis of phosphopeptide 13C–1H constant time HSQC spectra to determine kciscat , ktranscat , KcisD , and KtransD for the catalytic domain of Pin1 acting on this AICD substrate. The on-enzyme equilibrium value of [E·trans]/[E·cis] = 3.9 suggests that the catalytic domain of Pin1 is optimized to operate on this substrate near equilibrium in the cellular context. This highlights the power of lineshape analysis for determining the microscopic parameters of enzyme catalysis, and demonstrates the feasibility of future studies of Pin1-PPIase mutants to gain insights on the catalytic mechanism of this important enzyme

Understanding Collaborations between Chinese and the U.S. Universities: The Development of a Typology

There has been a recent and rapid increase in the number and forms of educational collaborations between the U.S. and China in recent decades. Through the years these collaborations have evolved from the simplest forms of welcome of international students and faculty to complex agreements and even new postsecondary institutions. In this manuscript, we develop a typology to better understand the various varieties of educational collaborations using examples of the various forms between universities in the U.S. and China

Risk of poor development in young children in low-income and middle-income countries: an estimation and analysis at the global, regional, and country level

Background A 2007 study published in The Lancet estimated that approximately 219 million children aged younger than 5 years were exposed to stunting or extreme poverty in 2004. We updated the 2004 estimates with the use of improved data and methods and generated estimates for 2010. Methods We used country-level prevalence of stunting in children younger than 5 years based on the 2006 Growth Standards proposed by WHO and poverty ratios from the World Bank to estimate children who were either stunted or lived in extreme poverty for 141 low-income and middle-income countries in 2004 and 2010. To avoid counting the same children twice, we excluded children jointly exposed to stunting and extreme poverty from children living in extreme poverty. To examine the robustness of estimates, we also used moderate poverty measures. Findings The 2007 study underestimated children at risk of poor development. The estimated number of children exposed to the two risk factors in low-income and middle-income countries decreased from 279·1 million (95% CI 250·4 million–307·4 million) in 2004 to 249·4 million (209·3 million–292·6 million) in 2010; prevalence of children at risk fell from 51% (95% CI 46–56) to 43% (36–51). The decline occurred in all income groups and regions with south Asia experiencing the largest drop. Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest prevalence in both years. These fi ndings were robust to variations in poverty measures. Interpretation Progress has been made in reducing the number of children exposed to stunting or poverty between 2004 and 2010, but this is still not enough. Scaling up of eff ective interventions targeting the most vulnerable children is urgently needed

The more public influence, the better? The effects of full versus shared influence on public acceptability of energy projects in the Netherlands and China

Public participation in decision making is considered an important factor that could enhance public acceptability of decision-making process and resulting decisions on renewable energy projects. Yet, little is known about when and how public participation can enhance public acceptability. In two experimental studies where no real decisions were taken, we compare the effect of shared influence versus full influence (either with or without expert support) on public acceptability of the decision-making process, the decisions to be taken, and the resulting energy projects. Results showed that having full influence over decision making (e.g., citizen control) did not lead to higher public acceptability of the decision-making process, final decision and resulting project, compared to having shared influence (e.g., partnership). Respondents perceived the public as not having sufficient expertise to develop energy projects and believed that full influence would lead to lower quality decisions, which may explain why full influence did not enhance public acceptability. Interestingly, the decision-making panel comprising both experts and citizens was evaluated as having more expertise and more capable to take high quality decisions, compared to a decision-making panel comprising only citizens and even when citizens could consult experts. The pattern of results was very consistent in the Netherlands and China

Effects of trust and public participation on acceptability of renewable energy projects in the Netherlands and China

In order to mitigate climate change and its impacts, it is crucial to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources. The extent to which renewable energy projects can be implemented largely depends on public acceptability. We studied how public acceptability is influenced by people's trust in agents responsible for renewable energy projects and the influence that people have over decisions regarding these projects. As expected, higher trust and having influence over major decisions regarding the project led to higher project acceptability. Public acceptability was lowest when people had low trust in responsible agents and when people could only influence minor decisions regarding the project. We found a similar pattern of results in our samples in the Netherlands and China, providing initial evidence that trust in responsible agents and public influence over decisions may have similar effects on public acceptability of renewable energy projects across different countries and cultures

Effects of competence- and integrity-based trust on public acceptability of renewable energy projects in China and the Netherlands

Acceptability of renewable energy projects depends on the trust people have in agents responsible for those projects. Two dimensions of trust are relevant in this respect: competence-based and integrity-based trust. Yet, the unique and interaction effects of these two dimensions of trust on project acceptability are not well understood. We conducted two experimental studies to test these effects in China and the Netherlands. As expected, higher integrity-based trust in responsible agents led to higher project acceptability in both countries. Notably, these effects were independent of the level of competence-based trust. Competence-based trust enhanced project acceptability only in China and only when integrity-based trust was low. Mediation analyses further showed that (part of) the effects of both dimensions of trust on project acceptability could be explained by people's perceptions of how the decisions were made, in both countries. Results suggest that integrity-based trust has a more profound effect on project acceptability

Public participation in decision making, perceived procedural fairness and public acceptability of renewable energy projects

Public participation in decision making has been widely advocated by scholars and practitioners as a remedy for public resistance against sustainable energy projects. Yet, it is unclear via which processes public participation in decision making may affect public acceptability of energy projects. We hypothesize that public participation in decision making is likely to increase project acceptability when it enhances perceived procedural fairness. Moreover, we hypothesize that perceived procedural fairness is higher when people can participate and influence major rather than only minor aspects of the project. We conducted three experimental studies in the Netherlands to test these hypotheses, with renewable energy projects as a case in point. As expected, public participation in decision making increased perceived procedural fairness, particularly when people could influence major aspects of the project. In turn, higher perceived procedural fairness enhanced public acceptability of the projects. Interestingly, when controlling for perceived procedural fairness, public participation in decision making had no effect (Study 2) and even a negative effect (Study 1 and 3) on project acceptability, particularly when people could influence major aspects. We conclude that public participation in decision making can enhance project acceptability if people can influence major aspects and perceive the decision making as fair. Next, our findings point out that there may be other processes instigated by public participation in decision making that can influence project acceptability. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings