Social Integration in Newspaper Reporting: The Coverage of Vision School By Three Malaysian Dailies

This research was conducted to examine the coverage on Vision School by the different language dailies to better understand their role in promoting social integration. The daily newspaper with the largest circulation was chosen from the three main language streams. The three dailies chosen were Utusan MalaYSia, a daily in Bahasa Malaysia or the national language, The Star, an English language daily, and Sin Chew Jit Poh, a Chinese language daily. Content analysis was used in this research. A sub-sample of a "constructed week" was created for an indepth analysis and a total of 68 news items were qualified for an analysis in this study. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Frequencies and percentages were employed in descriptive analysis. This study discovered that three of the dailies did not play an active role in promoting social integration in their coverage of Vision School. This study found very little evidence that the dailies tried to provide collective representations, which is the social symbols to promote cohesion and solidarity. The coverage by the three dailies also did not increase the degree of consensus or common assent that is necessary to sustain an integrated social system. This study recommended that the Vision School issue should be given equal coverage by all the major language newspapers because it is not an issue of race and ethnicity but of education. All newspapers must provide neutral coverage on the Vision School issue irrespective of the language of the newspapers because the function of the press is to inform and not to judge. This study also recommended that all news articles should aim at promoting social integration , intercultural understanding and tolerance. Newspapers should utilize and develop the specific potentialities of media to offer experiences and stimulate the imagination, thus affording opportunities for empathy, involvement and amusement

The effect of an online active learning-based course on approaches to teaching

[EN] The quality of teacher training research postgraduate (RPg) students receive is highly likely to determine the quality of teaching and learning they will provide when they are given teaching duties. Designing and developing such a teaching development course is considerably challenging, particularly if it is fully online. Owing to its focus on student learning, we integrated group learning, case-based learning and technology-enhanced learning approaches of active learning into an online Professional Development (PD) course at a university in Hong Kong. The course intended to enhance RPg students’ student-focused teaching approaches which, in turn, would help their students demonstrate high academic performance and achieve learning objectives. We relied on the concept of teaching approaches to build the theoretical foundation of this study and used Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI) to test the effectiveness of the PD course in improving the RPg students’ teaching quality. The quantitative analysis of the survey conducted showed that there was a significant increase in both Conceptual Change/Student Focused (CCSF) and Information Transmission/Teacher Focused approaches to teaching among the RPg students. The results provided opportunities to make informed decisions for further enhancement of the course design and start a new potential dialogue in studies of teaching approaches.Kushnazarov, M.; Luo, C.; Lai, N. (2021). The effect of an online active learning-based course on approaches to teaching. En 7th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'21). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 907-915. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd21.2021.13050OCS90791

Prostaglandin E2 promotes intestinal repair through an adaptive cellular response of the epithelium

Adaptive cellular responses are often required during wound repair. Following disruption of the intestinal epithelium, wound‐associated epithelial (WAE) cells form the initial barrier over the wound. Our goal was to determine the critical factor that promotes WAE cell differentiation. Using an adaptation of our in vitro primary epithelial cell culture system, we found that prostaglandin E2 (PGE (2)) signaling through one of its receptors, Ptger4, was sufficient to drive a differentiation state morphologically and transcriptionally similar to in vivo WAE cells. WAE cell differentiation was a permanent state and dominant over enterocyte differentiation in plasticity experiments. WAE cell differentiation was triggered by nuclear β‐catenin signaling independent of canonical Wnt signaling. Creation of WAE cells via the PGE (2)‐Ptger4 pathway was required in vivo, as mice with loss of Ptger4 in the intestinal epithelium did not produce WAE cells and exhibited impaired wound repair. Our results demonstrate a mechanism by which WAE cells are formed by PGE (2) and suggest a process of adaptive cellular reprogramming of the intestinal epithelium that occurs to ensure proper repair to injury

Art and celebrity : a study of the celebritisation of artists in Taiwan 1987-2010

This thesis examines the emergence of celebrity art in Taiwan in the postmartial law period since 1987. It analyses the different forces that have contributed to the construction of celebrity art as a prevalent phenomenon and explores its changing significance in Taiwan’s contemporary art scene and society. Based on extensive primary evidence from different kinds of materials, including journals and newspaper articles, magazine reports, exhibition catalogues and reviews, television programmes and Internet resources, gallery and museum visits, and interviews with celebrity artists and curators, this thesis argues that the construction of celebrity art in Taiwan demonstrates a constant negotiation between artists’ aspirations for celebrity recognition, media, corporate business and political interests. I argue that in the celebritisation process, businesses and corporations utilise art to cultivate a positive brand image, generate commercial activities, accumulate cultural capital and consolidate their power and influence. In this sense, celebrity art becomes an aspect of business operations, in ways that are similar to those criticised by scholar Julian Stallabrass’s in the Western context. However, the development of corporate art intervention in Taiwan has distinctive features which are associated with the process of democratisation and its strong impact on the emergence of celebrity art. Furthermore, the government’s promotion of celebrity artists has enabled it to promote its national political identity in the global arena. This relates especially to the changing political scene in Taiwan since 1987 in which that celebrity art has become a means for different political parties to express their political concerns. At the same time, these processes have empowered artists to engage with larger social, cultural and political forces, demonstrating the capacity of celebrity art to serve as a vehicle of new social and aesthetic values about issues such as gender and womanhood. Certain aspects of Taiwan’s celebrity art also contribute to a new ‘cool’, largely young, and socially distinctive urban taste culture in Taiwan, by bringing innovative characteristics to Taiwan’s art scene that bridge high and popular culture. The celebritisation of art in Taiwan thus has many similarities with those discussed by Walker, Stallabrass and other Western scholars with reference to Western tendencies, but is distinctive in its political and social-economic causes. The first chapter introduces my aims and arguments, and gives an overview of the historical and political, media, institutional and global changes that facilitated the emergence of celebrity art in Taiwan. This chapter also describes my research methodology. Chapter two provides an analysis of relevant historical and theoretical perspectives on the construction of the celebrity and celebrity art, and examines their social, cultural and economic importance in both Western and East Asian societies. Chapter three to seven respectively examine different cases of celebrity artists, namely Lee Ming-sheng, Chu Cha-ray, Cai Guoqiang, Tang Huang-chen and the VT Artsalon group. Each of the cases exemplifies particular features—overlapping with and distinct from each other—of the concept of celebrity art in Taiwan. Through close examination of these cases, the thesis investigates an important aspect of Taiwan’s changing art scene that has not to date featured in scholarly work on contemporary culture in Taiwan.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

EGFR-Mutated Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Resistance to Immunotherapy: Role of the Tumor Microenvironment

Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. About 10-30% of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harbor mutations of the EGFR gene. The Tumor Microenvironment (TME) of patients with NSCLC harboring EGFR mutations displays peculiar characteristics and may modulate the antitumor immune response. EGFR activation increases PD-L1 expression in tumor cells, inducing T cell apoptosis and immune escape. EGFR-Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs) strengthen MHC class I and II antigen presentation in response to IFN-gamma, boost CD8+ T-cells levels and DCs, eliminate FOXP3+ Tregs, inhibit macrophage polarization into the M2 phenotype, and decrease PD-L1 expression in cancer cells. Thus, targeted therapy blocks specific signaling pathways, whereas immunotherapy stimulates the immune system to attack tumor cells evading immune surveillance. A combination of TKIs and immunotherapy may have suboptimal synergistic effects. However, data are controversial because activated EGFR signaling allows NSCLC cells to use multiple strategies to create an immunosuppressive TME, including recruitment of Tumor-Associated Macrophages and Tregs and the production of inhibitory cytokines and metabolites. Therefore, these mechanisms should be characterized and targeted by a combined pharmacological approach that also concerns disease stage, cancer-related inflammation with related systemic symptoms, and the general status of the patients to overcome the single-drug resistance development

Internet use among urban Malaysians: Network diversity effects

This study examines social network diversity in urban areas relative to residents’ usage of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Individual-level variation in social network diversity was measured using position generator data collected as part of a survey conducted in Malaysia’s Klang Valley (N = 808). Regression analyses were performed to assess the extent to which network diversity is related to ICTs. We find that most ICTs have a negative effect on diversity. Only frequent use of the Internet at work, mobile access to the Internet, and reading online news or blogs contribute positively to diversity. Findings support both a tendency toward ‘networked individualism’ and the more recent ‘glocalization’ thesis that some ICTs may also afford participation within local space rather than only across distant space

Harnessing the Power of Digital Platforms to Accelerate Adoption Rates of Emerging Technologies and Innovations

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Acquisition Research SymposiumThe recent Overmatch championed Artificial Intelligence and Networks (AINet) Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX) demonstrated an alternative all-digital ANTX format enabled by integrated Rapid Innovation Labs (iRILs). This resulted in shortened ANTX planning and execution timelines, increased focus on technologies of interest, earlier integration into naval architectures, sharing of relevant operational data with participants, and meaningful feedback to developers throughout integration phases, informing research and development (R&D) and program acquisitions. An iRIL is a digital environment and an acquisition tool used to address priority Fleet needs, evaluate technologies and prototypes, and inform and influence external partner R&D investments. An all-digital iRIL can facilitate faster, smaller cycles of iterative experimentation of component technologies of interest within representative Fleet architectures and simulated operational environments. Future applications of iRILs could fundamentally change the way we acquire systems. The use of open competitive events such as an ANTX Prize Challenge could yield component level, containerized technologies of interest that are matured throughout the event process and can be assessed as well-behaved. Such well-behaved software containers or component technologies may enter the Overmatch Software Armory (OSA) or Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) pipelines, achieving rapid authorities to operate (ATO), cycling to a ship within days.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

A simple methodology to assess endolysosomal protease activity involved in antigen processing in human primary cells

Background: Endolysosomes play a key role in maintaining the homeostasis of the cell. They are made of a complex set of proteins that degrade lipids, proteins and sugars. Studies involving endolysosome contribution to cellular functions such as MHC class I and II epitope production have used recombinant endolysosomal proteins, knockout mice that lack one of the enzymes or purified organelles from human tissue. Each of these approaches has some caveats in analyzing endolysosomal enzyme functions. Results: In this study, we have developed a simple methodology to assess endolysosomal protease activity. By varying the pH in crude lysate from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), we documented increased endolysosomal cathepsin activity in acidic conditions. Using this new method, we showed that the degradation of HIV peptides in low pH extracts analyzed by mass spectrometry followed similar kinetics and degradation patterns as those performed with purified endolysosomes. Conclusion: By using crude lysate in the place of purified organelles this method will be a quick and useful tool to assess endolysosomal protease activities in primary cells of limited availability. This quick method will especially be useful to screen peptide susceptibility to degradation in endolysosomal compartments for antigen processing studies, following which detailed analysis using purified organelles may be used to study specific peptides

Electronic health record data quality assessment and tools: A systematic review

OBJECTIVE: We extended a 2013 literature review on electronic health record (EHR) data quality assessment approaches and tools to determine recent improvements or changes in EHR data quality assessment methodologies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We completed a systematic review of PubMed articles from 2013 to April 2023 that discussed the quality assessment of EHR data. We screened and reviewed papers for the dimensions and methods defined in the original 2013 manuscript. We categorized papers as data quality outcomes of interest, tools, or opinion pieces. We abstracted and defined additional themes and methods though an iterative review process. RESULTS: We included 103 papers in the review, of which 73 were data quality outcomes of interest papers, 22 were tools, and 8 were opinion pieces. The most common dimension of data quality assessed was completeness, followed by correctness, concordance, plausibility, and currency. We abstracted conformance and bias as 2 additional dimensions of data quality and structural agreement as an additional methodology. DISCUSSION: There has been an increase in EHR data quality assessment publications since the original 2013 review. Consistent dimensions of EHR data quality continue to be assessed across applications. Despite consistent patterns of assessment, there still does not exist a standard approach for assessing EHR data quality. CONCLUSION: Guidelines are needed for EHR data quality assessment to improve the efficiency, transparency, comparability, and interoperability of data quality assessment. These guidelines must be both scalable and flexible. Automation could be helpful in generalizing this process