The Role of Cultural Values in the Interpretation of Significant Life Experiences

Researchers in adult education have investigated the phenomenon of meaning-making for decades. However, majority of studies mainly focus on the psychological process of meaning-making, rather than examining how contextual elements, especially cultural values, affect the process of interpretation. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of cultural values in the interpretation of significant life experiences as perceived by Taiwanese Chinese in the U. S

The Skewed Voices and Lost Meaning: The Reflections of Multilingual Issues in the Cross-cultural Context

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the correlative effects of multilingualism, as it is associated within a cross-cultural context. Strategies that were used to assure language accuracy and reliability of the study will also be discussed

Teaching for Transformation: Structured Cross-Cultural Experience in Transnational Contexts

The purpose of the study was to explore transformational learning in the context of cross-cultural, transnational study. In particular, it explored the ways in which a short-term study abroad program facilitated transformational learning opportunities for its adult participants. Data were collected through narrative surveys, students’ research projects, and researchers’ field notes to investigate promising program components and strategies

Teaching for Empowerment Liberatory Pedagogy, Social Change and Gender Dynamics

This paper offers a critical perspective on popular education with a focus on inequities of gender and culture in the classroom. Using classroom observation, analysis of multiple social change curricula, and interviews with practitioners in El Salvador and the San Francisco Bay Area, we examine potential pitfalls and strengths of a pedagogy from the point of view of transformational theory, concluding that with judicious intention the pedagogy may still lead to inspired learning, transformation in the classroom, and change in the participant communities

Resistance to Interlocking Power Structures Among Adult Educators

Six graduate students were interviewed and focus was given to how the education they received impacted the ways in which they addressed issues of power and control in their own classrooms. Awareness of unequal power structures in the classroom, written words matter, lived experiences and moving from theory to practice were themes that emerged from the data

Group Decision Making for a Fuzzy Software Quality Assessment Model to Evaluate User Satisfaction

Information techniques have brought us tremendous benefit, whereas people are increasingly depended on lots of information systems. Therefore, how to establish an assessment model to choose a better software quality suitable for end-users is an important issue. This study is to present an algorithm of the group decision makers with crisp or fuzzy weights to tackle the integrated software quality for evaluating user satisfaction using fuzzy set theory, where the grades of quality and the grade of importance of quality items are assessed by linguistic values represented by triangular fuzzy numbers. The proposed algorithm is more flexible and useful than the ones that have presented before, since the weights against decision makers are considered

Introspections from the Margins of Race and Gender

Race, as most social scientist would argue, is socially constructed, and from that premise there are those who would argue that since it is socially constructed, it isn’t real and therefore why do we even talk about it. However rather than going with that premise, we would argue that given that it is socially constructed, the fact that we are social beings and that we have been socialized to recognize the color of another’s skin, then it matters, and we need to talk about it

Pneumocystis jiroveci Pneumonia in Patients with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Receiving Chemotherapy Containing Rituximab

AbstractRituximab enhances treatment efficacy of B-lineage lymphoma by targeting CD20+ B-cells. Such target therapies may compromise the immune system and render patients susceptible to opportunistic infections. We report 2 cases of lymphoma complicated with Pneumocystis jiroveci (previously known as P. carinii) pneumonia (PCP) while being treated with rituximab-containing chemotherapy regimens. In both cases, PCP developed during the neutropenic period. With timely diagnosis and proper management, both were treated successfully. We searched the literature and found that such opportunistic infection occurred only infrequently in lymphoma patients, and it has not been reported in the large-scale clinical trials of rituximab. Such cases demonstrate the importance of taking PCP into diagnostic consideration in lymphoma patients receiving similar therapies

Apoptotic Cell Death and Inhibition of Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway in Human Colon Cancer Cells by an Active Fraction (HS7) from Taiwanofungus camphoratus

Aberrant activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays an important role in the development of colon cancer. HS7 is an active fraction extracted from Taiwanofungus camphoratus, which had been widely used as complementary medicine for Taiwan cancer patients in the past decades. In this study, we demonstrated the effects of HS7 on the growth inhibition, apoptosis induction, and Wnt/β-catenin signaling suppression in human colon cancer cells. HS7 significantly inhibited proliferation of HT29, HCT116, and SW480 colon cancer cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The apoptosis induction was evidenced by DNA fragmentation and subG1 accumulation, which was associated with increased Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, activation of caspase-3 and cleavage of PARP. By using Tcf-dependent luciferase activity assay, HS7 was found to inhibit the β-catenin/Tcf transcriptional activities. In addition, HS7 strongly suppressed the binding of Tcf complexes to its DNA-binding site shown in electrophoretic mobility shift assay. This inhibition was further confirmed by the decreased protein levels of Tcf-4 and β-catenin. The β-catenin/Tcf downstream target genes, such as survivin, c-myc, cyclin D1, MMP7, and MT1-MMP involved in apoptosis, invasion, and angiogenesis were also diminished as well. These results indicate that Taiwanofungus camphoratus may provide a benefit as integrative medicine for the treatment of colon cancer