Bridging students: successful transition from high school to college

38 | P a g e BRIDGING STUDENTS – SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION FROM HIGH SCHOOL TO COLLEGE Tang Yee Voon and Wong Shae Lynn Sunway College Johor Bahru (MALAYSIA) [email protected], [email protected] +607-3596880 Abstract Transitioning from secondary school to college is an important developmental milestone that holds the potential for personal growth and behavioral change (Fromme, 2008). It involves changes in roles, additional challenges and responsibilities, be it academic or social (Conley et al., 2014). However, secondary school students often enter college unprepared for what is expected of them because their high school experiences often fail to prepare them for postsecondary education (Bangser, 2008). Key stressors for college students include personal freedom, college instructors and instructions, programme structures as well as testing and grades (Johnston, 2010). In addition to the stressors, students are not equipped with the skills required for successful college transition. These skills include academic skills, self-understanding (metacognition), selfadvocacy, executive function, motivation and confidence, key cognitive strategies and key knowledge about post-secondary education (Johnston, 2010; Landmark College, 2009). This paper embarks on a study specifically sought to identify transitional barriers faced by postsecondary students who are enrolled in the Pre-University programmes at Sunway College Johor Bahru. The outcome would also highlight the inadequacies of their pre-college preparation years and their lack of crucial skills to survive the college years. It is our hope that through this effort, we are able to establish approaches to support students in making a successful transition from high school to college. Successful transition is imperative because the benefits of postsecondary education are compelling. For an individual, this means getting jobs with higher wages and career advancement opportunities. For the country, this means a productive workforce and international competitiveness. Hence, successful transition to college should be a challenge shouldered by all parties, including policy makers, teachers and parents

Effective teaching practices redefined.

The education sector in Malaysia is becoming increasingly competitive and in order for the college to emerge at the top, effective teaching that promotes student learning must be emphasized. However, the extent to which lecturers understand the meaning of effective teaching is debatable. Following the framework of Berliner (1988) and Sandholtz (2011), both studies agree that student learning can only occur if teachers deal with classroom management concerns first before focusing on teaching instruction. The latter study even pointed out that teachers are often engaged in instructive methodologies instead of reviewing classroom management as a means of effective teaching. This has triggered us to examine our college lecturers’ perspectives of this issue: to query and inspect the extent of our college lecturers’ understanding of effective teaching and we hope to clarify and redefine the prerequisites of being an effective lecturer. This study is conducted by means of a survey to investigate the responses and views of Sunway College lecturers towards the strategies and approaches they have undertaken in classrooms and will aim to understand the subjective meaning of their experience. In addition, the effectiveness of the strategies and approaches employed by lecturers in class would be evaluated from the students’ viewpoints, in lieu of seeking parallelism in views. The outcome of this investigation is intended to provide our college lecturers a more accurate direction towards an effective teaching practice. In addition, students’ perspectives in productive learning can be reestablished, which would allow us to reflect and improvise on our current teaching skills and ultimately achieve a more successful breakthrough at both ends

Proton incorporations and superconductivity in a cobalt oxyhydrate

We report the evidence of proton incorporations in a newly-discovered cobalt oxyhydrate superconductor. During the hydration process for Na$_{0.32}$CoO$_{2}$ by the direct reaction with water liquid, it was shown that substantial NaOH was gradually liberated, indicating that H$^{+}$ is incorporated into the hydrated compound. Combined with the thermogravimetric analysis, the chemical composition of the typical sample is Na$_{0.22}$H$_{0.1}$CoO$_{2}\cdot 0.85$H$_{2}$O, which shows bulk superconductivity at 4.4 K.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Positronium reflection and positronium beams

Specular reflection of positronium, Ps was observed and that there is adequate intensity at higher energies to make further study worthwhile was established. The scattering appears to be restricted to the outermost surface with a mean free path of (0.75 + or - 0.15)A for Ps in LiF(100). With a greater intensity Ps beam one should see higher order diffraction beams as the result of the periodicity of the surface. Ps diffraction thus offers the possibility of being a novel and valuable probe to study the outermost surface and to study adsorbants on it. Two methods for producing Ps beams are described

Structures of minute virus of mice replication initiator protein N-terminal domain: insights into DNA nicking and origin binding

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The original is available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042682214005236Members of the Parvoviridae family all encode a non-structural protein 1 (NS1) that directs replication of single-stranded viral DNA, packages viral DNA into capsid, and serves as a potent transcriptional activator. Here we report the X-ray structure of the minute virus of mice (MVM) NS1 N-terminal domain at 1.45 Å resolution, showing that sites for dsDNA binding, ssDNA binding and cleavage, nuclear localization, and other functions are integrated on a canonical fold of the histidine-hydrophobic-histidine superfamily of nucleases, including elements specific for this Protoparvovirus but distinct from its Bocaparvovirus or Dependoparvovirus orthologs. High resolution structural analysis reveals a nickase active site with an architecture that allows highly versatile metal ligand binding. The structures support a unified mechanism of replication origin recognition for homotelomeric and heterotelomeric parvoviruses, mediated by a basic-residue-rich hairpin and an adjacent helix in the initiator proteins and by tandem tetranucleotide motifs in the replication origins

The morphology of electrospun titanium dioxide nanofibers and its influencing factors. MATEC Web of Conferences. 47, 01020.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has high photocatalytic activity and it is extensively applied in solar cell technology and environmental science. Electrospinning is acknowledged as the most versatile technique to fabricate nanofibers such as metal oxide nanofibers. Titanium dioxide nanofibers are generally prepared by electrospinning organic solutions containing alkoxide precursors and a carrier polymer with high voltage supply. The paper discusses on electrospun TiO2 nanofibers including the spin dopes preparation history, influencing factors on fiber morphology and fiber characterizations. In particular, the parameters such as spin dopes viscosity, supplied voltage, feeding rate and effect of temperature that affect the morphology of the nanofibers are emphasized. Based on several studies, smaller diameter of TiO2 nanofibers can be produced with lower viscosity solution, higher voltage and lower feeding rate. The heat treatment of 500 oC reduced the fiber size and produces crystallized anatase TiO2 nanofibers

Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and risk of infections: a population-based study.

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field.No comprehensive evaluation has been made to assess the risk of viral and bacterial infections among patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance. Using population-based data from Sweden, we estimated risk of infections among 5,326 monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance patients compared to 20,161 matched controls. Patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance had a 2-fold increased risk (P<0.05) of developing any infection at 5- and 10-year follow up. More specifically, patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance had an increased risk (P<0.05) of bacterial (pneumonia, osteomyelitis, septicemia, pyelonephritis, cellulitis, endocarditis, and meningitis), and viral (influenza and herpes zoster) infections. Patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance with M-protein concentrations over 2.5 g/dL at diagnosis had highest risks of infections. However, the risk was also increased (P<0.05) among those with concentrations below 0.5 g/dL. Patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance who developed infections had no excess risk of developing multiple myeloma, Waldenström macroglobulinemia or related malignancy. Our findings provide novel insights into the mechanisms behind infections in patients with plasma cell dyscrasias, and may have clinical implications.Stockholm County Council Karolinska Institutet Cancer Society in Stockholm NIH, NC

DNA Sequence Analysis of SLC26A5, Encoding Prestin, in a Patient-Control Cohort: Identification of Fourteen Novel DNA Sequence Variations

Prestin, encoded by the gene SLC26A5, is a transmembrane protein of the cochlear outer hair cell (OHC). Prestin is required for the somatic electromotile activity of OHCs, which is absent in OHCs and causes severe hearing impairment in mice lacking prestin. In humans, the role of sequence variations in SLC26A5 in hearing loss is less clear. Although prestin is expected to be required for functional human OHCs, the clinical significance of reported putative mutant alleles in humans is uncertain.To explore the hypothesis that SLC26A5 may act as a modifier gene, affecting the severity of hearing loss caused by an independent etiology, a patient-control cohort was screened for DNA sequence variations in SLC26A5 using sequencing and allele specific methods. Patients in this study carried known pathogenic or controversial sequence variations in GJB2, encoding Connexin 26, or confirmed or suspected sequence variations in SLC26A5; controls included four ethnic populations. Twenty-three different DNA sequence variations in SLC26A5, 14 of which are novel, were observed: 4 novel sequence variations were found exclusively among patients; 7 novel sequence variations were found exclusively among controls; and, 12 sequence variations, 3 of which are novel, were found in both patients and controls. Twenty-one of the 23 DNA sequence variations were located in non-coding regions of SLC26A5. Two coding sequence variations, both novel, were observed only in patients and predict a silent change, p.S434S, and an amino acid substitution, p.I663V. In silico analysis of the p.I663V amino acid variation suggested this variant might be benign. Using Fisher's exact test, no statistically significant difference was observed between patients and controls in the frequency of the identified DNA sequence variations. Haplotype analysis using HaploView 4.0 software revealed the same predominant haplotype in patients and controls and derived haplotype blocks in the patient-control cohort similar to those generated from the International HapMap Project.Although these data fail to support a hypothesis that SLC26A5 acts as a modifier gene of GJB2-related hearing loss, the sample size is small and investigation of a larger population might be more informative. The 14 novel DNA sequence variations in SLC26A5 reported here will serve as useful research tools for future studies of prestin

Sex differences in money pathology in the general population

This study examined sex differences in money beliefs and behaviours. Over 100,000 British participants completed two measures online, one of which assessed “money pathology” (Forman in Mind over money, Doubleday, Toronto, 1987), and the other four “money types”, based on the emotional associations of money (Furnham et al. in Personal Individ Differ, 52:707–711, 2012). Nearly all measures showed significant sex differences with medium to large effect sizes, and with females exhibiting more “money pathology” than males. The biggest difference on the money types was on money being associated with generosity (money representing love) where men scored much lower than females, and autonomy (money representing freedom) where men scored higher than women. For men, more than women, money represented Power and Security. Men were more likely to be Hoarders while women did more emotional regulatory purchasing. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed