Identity, Language, and Education – A Case Study in Taiwan

The concept of identity as well as its construction process is a complex one. In order to better understand this concept of identity, the objective of this study was to look at the life history of one Taiwanese woman who has lived through three educational systems in Taiwan. Her life story, collected through multiple interviews, is examined for moments and experiences which depict her views on her identity, and later analyzed with particular attention to the relationship between identity, language and education. Her narratives show that her identities are fluid, context-dependent and multi-faceted; characteristics of identity which have been proposed by other researchers in their studies. Following analysis of the stories she tells, I have identified three main identities that she holds and have attempted to show how education and language pertain to this identity. It appears that the role of education and language is important and definitely has influence on an individual’s identity and also an individual’s ability to become a member of selected groups. However, it would be careless to disregard other factors,such as family and socio-political situations because often these factors can be linked to language and education as well and have emerged from this study as also being influential factors

Finding the right fit: multiculturalism and low-income urban schools

This study addressed the difficulty of recruiting and retaining qualified teachers by examining the qualities and characteristics of teacher fit in a group of Southern California charter schools that serve low-income Black and Hispanic students. Given the significance and importance of culturally relevant and responsive education in schools that serve primarily Black and Hispanic students (Castagno, 2009; Gay, 2000; Howard, 2003; Ladson-Billings, 1994; 1995; 2006; Lindsey, Karns, & Myatt 2010; Nieto, 2005a; Poveda & Martin, 2004), three survey instruments; a demographic questionnaire, the Teachers Multicultural Attitudes Survey (TMAS), and the Multicultural Teaching Competency Scale (MTCS); were used to assess teacher attitudes about, and teaching competency in, multicultural education. A quantitative analysis using paired t-tests and one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistical techniques was conducted. Results revealed that there was no statistical difference in the levels of multicultural teaching knowledge and skills based on demographic characteristics among the teacher and administrator groups. There was no statistical significance between the levels of sensitivity and familiarity with multicultural issues among the teachers and the administrators. There was no statistical significance between teachers\u27 and administrators\u27 level of multicultural teaching skills and multicultural teaching knowledge. There were no differences, with the exception of gender, in the level of sensitivity and familiarity with multicultural issues based on teachers\u27 demographic characteristics. In this study, male teachers scored lower than female teachers on the TMAS. With respect to the administrators; gender, birth place, work experience, ethnicity, educational backgrounds of parents, household incomes, and the location in which they grew up did not influence their levels of sensitivity and familiarity with multicultural issues. The results of this study indicated that teachers at Fired Up Schools begin their employment with a reasonably strong level of sensitivity and familiarity with multicultural issues. Since teachers are developed and trained into administrators from within the organization, the administrators also demonstrated a reasonably strong level of sensitivity and familiarity with multicultural issues. With respect to multicultural teaching skills and knowledge, this study indicated that the levels of multicultural teaching skills and knowledge were as strong as the levels of multicultural attitude

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN THE CONTEXT OF EVERYDAY LIFE AND HOW WEARABLE ACTIVITY TRACKERS INCORPORATE INTO EVERYDAY LIFE OF OFFICE WORKERS

Sitting in the office occupies so much of people’s time that they often do not have time to exercise to stay in shape and maintain a healthy body weight. Because of the culture of hard work so deeply ingrained in Korea, Korean office workers have a sedentary lifestyle that they often do not have time to exercise. Recently, wearable activity tracking device allows people to track and understand their daily physical activities. These devices monitor users’ daily life and it could support of people who have a sedentary lifestyle by collecting their physical activity data. However, the device does not collect and consider users’ contextual factors and environmental factors how those affects physical activity in daily life. The objective of this dissertation is to discover how the context of everyday life affects physical activity steps in the use of wearable activity tracking device. This dissertation approach was triangulation mixed methods, using both quantitative and qualitative measures to identify a few everyday activities as a starting point and then tracking and analyzing those behaviors. By using this triangulation mixed-method approach, including in-depth, semi-structured interviews and questionnaire assessments, supplemented with daily diary (as known as Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA)) and activity log data, this dissertation aimed to concentrate on how the context of everyday life affects physical activity steps when using a wearable activity tracking device. Furthermore, to examine the potential differences in the use and adoption of the devices, this study included two specific populations: 27 adopters and 66 abandoners. To our knowledge, no studies have examined the utility of EMA methodologies by using wearable tracking device such as Fitbit to discover contextual and environmental factors that interaction with increasing physical activity among office workers. This study discovered integral contextual factors that could influence physical activity changes in the use of wearable devices in everyday life context. The findings presented in this dissertation add to our theoretical understanding of everyday life information practices. This also have practical implications for systems designers of wearable activity tracker who should consider users’ environments, individual contextual factors, and information practices.Doctor of Philosoph

Geographic and Age-Based Variations in Medicare Reimbursement Among ASSH Members.

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate how American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) members\u27 Medicare reimbursement depends on their geographical location and number of years in practice. Methods: Demographic data for surgeons who were active members of the ASSH in 2012 were obtained using information publicly available through the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Hand-surgeons-per-capita and average reimbursement per surgeon were calculated for each state. Regression analysis was performed to determine a relationship between (1) each state\u27s average reimbursement versus the number of ASSH members in that state, (2) average reimbursement versus number of hand surgeons per capita, and (3) total reimbursement from Medicare versus number of years in practice. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to detect a difference in reimbursement based on categorical range of years as an ASSH member. Results: A total of 1667 ASSH members satisfied inclusion in this study. Although there was significant variation among states\u27 average reimbursement, reimbursement was not significantly correlated with the state\u27s hand surgeons per capita or total number of hand surgeons in that given state. Correlation between years as an ASSH member and average reimbursement was significant but non-linear; the highest reimbursements were seen in surgeons who had been ASSH members from 8 to 20 years. Conclusions: Peak reimbursement from Medicare for ASSH members appears to be related to the time of surgeons\u27 peak operative volume, rather than any age-based bias for or against treating Medicare beneficiaries. In addition, though geographic variation in reimbursement does exist, this does not appear to correlate with density or availability of hand surgeons

Size-Dependent Deposition, Translocation, and Microglial Activation of Inhaled Silver Nanoparticles in the Rodent Nose and Brain.

BackgroundSilver nanoparticles (AgNP) are present in personal, commercial, and industrial products, which are often aerosolized. Current understanding of the deposition, translocation, and health-related impacts of AgNP inhalation is limited.ObjectivesWe determined a) the deposition and retention of inhaled Ag in the nasal cavity from nose-only exposure; b) the timing for Ag translocation to and retention/clearance in the olfactory bulb (OB); and c) whether the presence of Ag in the OB affects microglial activity.MethodsMale Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed nose-only to citrate-buffered 20- or 110-nm AgNP (C20 or C110, respectively) or citrate buffer alone for 6 hr. The nasal cavity and OB were examined for the presence of Ag and for biological responses up to 56 days post-exposure (8 weeks).ResultsThe highest nasal Ag deposition was observed on Day 0 for both AgNP sizes. Inhalation of aerosolized C20 resulted in rapid translocation of Ag to the OB and in microglial activation at Days 0, 1, and 7. In contrast, inhalation of C110 resulted in a gradual but progressive transport of Ag to and retention in the OB, with a trend for microglial activation to variably be above control.ConclusionsThe results of this study show that after rats experienced a 6-hr inhalation exposure to 20- and 110-nm AgNP at a single point in time, Ag deposition in the nose, the rate of translocation to the brain, and subsequent microglial activation in the OB differed depending on AgNP size and time since exposure. Citation: Patchin ES, Anderson DS, Silva RM, Uyeminami DL, Scott GM, Guo T, Van Winkle LS, Pinkerton KE. 2016. Size-dependent deposition, translocation, and microglial activation of inhaled silver nanoparticles in the rodent nose and brain. Environ Health Perspect 124:1870-1875; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP234

Systematic review of mobile health behavioural interventions to improve uptake of HIV testing for vulnerable and key populations

This systematic narrative review examined the empirical evidence on the effectiveness of mobile health (mHealth) behavioral interventions designed to increase uptake of HIV testing among vulnerable and key populations

Understanding Quantified-Selfers' Interplay between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation in the Use of Activity-Tracking Devices

Interest in consumer tracking devices that measure movement to help consumers track and understand their daily activities has rapidly increased in recent years. Although a few studies have focused on the use of fitness tracking devices, we know little about how users’ existing motivation is complemented by motivation externally created from the device or how interplay between this external motivation and preexisting internal motivation of users affects use of the device over an extended period of time. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 Fitbit users in an academic institution to understand the multidimensional nature of motivation that shapes the long-term use of technology and its effects, and we found that Quantified-Selfers may have distinct motivation to use tracking devices. In the next step, we plan to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the Quantified Self online forum in order to explore Quantified-Selfers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for using the device and tracking their activity data.ye

Novel method to rescue a lethal phenotype through integration of target gene onto the X-chromosome.

The loss-of-function mutations of serine protease inhibitor, Kazal type 1 (SPINK1) gene are associated with human chronic pancreatitis, but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. We previously reported that mice lacking Spink3, the murine homologue of human SPINK1, die perinatally due to massive pancreatic acinar cell death, precluding investigation of the effects of SPINK1 deficiency. To circumvent perinatal lethality, we have developed a novel method to integrate human SPINK1 gene on the X chromosome using Cre-loxP technology and thus generated transgenic mice termed "X-SPINK1". Consistent with the fact that one of the two X chromosomes is randomly inactivated, X-SPINK1 mice exhibit mosaic pattern of SPINK1 expression. Crossing of X-SPINK1 mice with Spink3+/- mice rescued perinatal lethality, but the resulting Spink3-/-;XXSPINK1 mice developed spontaneous pancreatitis characterized by chronic inflammation and fibrosis. The results show that mice lacking a gene essential for cell survival can be rescued by expressing this gene on the X chromosome. The Spink3-/-;XXSPINK1 mice, in which this method has been applied to partially restore SPINK1 function, present a novel genetic model of chronic pancreatitis

Nociceptive interneurons control modular motor pathways to promote escape behavior in Drosophila.

Rapid and efficient escape behaviors in response to noxious sensory stimuli are essential for protection and survival. Yet, how noxious stimuli are transformed to coordinated escape behaviors remains poorly understood. In Drosophila larvae, noxious stimuli trigger sequential body bending and corkscrew-like rolling behavior. We identified a population of interneurons in the nerve cord of Drosophila, termed Down-and-Back (DnB) neurons, that are activated by noxious heat, promote nociceptive behavior, and are required for robust escape responses to noxious stimuli. Electron microscopic circuit reconstruction shows that DnBs are targets of nociceptive and mechanosensory neurons, are directly presynaptic to pre-motor circuits, and link indirectly to Goro rolling command-like neurons. DnB activation promotes activity in Goro neurons, and coincident inactivation of Goro neurons prevents the rolling sequence but leaves intact body bending motor responses. Thus, activity from nociceptors to DnB interneurons coordinates modular elements of nociceptive escape behavior