The Influence of Bilingualism on Mathematical Achievement: An Analysis Across Different Countries

The effects of bilingualism, socioeconomic status, parental education, parental income, and a child’s positive attitude on mathematical achievement have been quite disputed topics during the past decades. Using the foundations of Cummins’ threshold and developmental interdependence hypotheses, Coleman’s theory on social capital, Vygotsky’s theory on language, and the functional attitude theory, this study investigates if and how effectively these attributes predict mathematical achievement in fourth-grade students. Using the latest iteration of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, multiple regression models evaluate the consequences of multiple language use, individual social standing, and positive attitude effects on mathematical achievement with a large sample size including seven countries. With exceptions in country comparisons, the results yielded no mathematical achievement advantages for bilinguals, supporting Strobel’s 2016 study. However, extreme achievement benefits emerged from students who possessed positive attitudes towards mathematics, at least one highly educated parent, and at least one parent obtaining a high income. Additionally, no net gains surfaced from regression models including multiple language use and positive attitudes, presenting new findings in this area of research. These results imply parental education/income are crucial in early development and positive attitudes are highly contagious, both increasing mathematical achievement in young children

Starry Night\u27s Interlude

In my piece, I go into the depths of the art piece, A Starry night and I explain the history of it and its importance to today\u27s day. It shows the depths of the meaning behind the art piece from one\u27s window and how it can be examined in different forms of solidarity. Seeking the component of fulfilment with this art piece, I reflect on my time as a student here at CSUMB. This piece of art was given to me by a close friend upon leaving for college and I moved to an entirely new life.https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/hcom434_spring2023/1018/thumbnail.jp

The Cellular and Molecular Characterization of Essential Hypertension Using Innovative Pathology Models

Essential hypertension, characterized by elevated blood pressure levels, is a primary risk factor for other cardiovascular diseases. There has been a drastic rise in the amount of people who have essential hypertension; trends predict that 1.56 billion people worldwide will be living with essential hypertension by 2025. Anti-hypertensive drugs lower elevated blood pressure levels, but do not eliminate the disease itself or reverse the structural damage to arteries. This study aims to elucidate hypertension-induced endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction using a blood vessel tissue engineering approach as a pathology model. In order to characterize EC dysfunction, the FlexCell® system was used to induce a dynamic 140 mmHg transmural pressure onto EC monocultures and endothelial cell–smooth muscle cell (EC-SMC) co-cultures over the course of four days; control samples were subjected to 120-mmHg. Cell-matrix adhesion and cell-cell interaction were evaluated by EC culture studies and vasoregulation was the main focus for the EC-SMC co-culture studies. Immunofluorescence and western blots were used to detect integrin β1, FAK, and VE-cadherin, as well as eNOS, endothelin, and angiotensin. Additionally, a novel bioreactor platform was developed to simulate and control hypertension values. Cell-seeded vascular scaffolds were mounted into a bioreactor system that induced a flow rate of 150 mL/min and a hypertensive pressure profile, which matched that of a femoral artery found in the human body. Preliminary results showed that cells were able to attach and that the arterial structure remained intact. However, dynamic rotational seeding should be implemented for future studies for better cell attachment on arteries. This system could be tailored towards studying other vascular diseases, or modified to produce clinically relevant tissue engineered blood vessels, resistant to high blood pressure

Black Hole Monodromy and Conformal Field Theory

The analytic structure of solutions to the Klein-Gordon equation in a black hole background, as represented by monodromy data, is intimately related to black hole thermodynamics. It encodes the "hidden conformal symmetry" of a non-extremal black hole, and it explains why features of the inner event horizon appear in scattering data such as greybody factors. This indicates that hidden conformal symmetry is generic within a universality class of black holes.Comment: 20 pages, v2 minor corrections, updated reference

Single-Chip LiDAR by Multi-Order and Multi-Pulse Beam Steering with Digital Micro Mirror Device

We demonstrate the feasibility of enhancing the scanning rate for MEMS and diffraction based beam steering employing Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) by one to two orders of magnitude, which is configured as a programmable blazed grating. The tilt movement of micromirrors synchronizes with multiple pulses from multiple laser sources that sequen- tially redirect the pulses to multiple diffraction orders within μs. The approach opens up a pathway to achieve a LIDAR system with a scanning rate over 1M samples/s while leveraging a state of the art DMD and a moderate number of laser sources