THE EFFCT OF LOW-LEVEL LEAD ON SEROTONIN EXPRESSION IN THE DEVELOPING MOUSE SUPERIOR OLIVARY COMPLEX AND SOMATOSENSORY CORTEX

Low-level Pb exposure is a risk factor for neurobehavioral and cognitive deficits in both humans and animals. These neurological dysfunctions have been associated with deficits in auditory temporal processing. The developing central nervous system is particularly susceptible to Pb exposure, and Pb decreases the immunoreactivity of serotonin (5-HT) and VMAT2 in the lateral superior olive (LSO). During early developmental, non-serotonergic sensory neurons, including LSO neurons and thalamocortical neurons of the somatosensory system, transiently take up 5-HT from the extracellular environment through the transient expression of the serotonin reuptake transporter SERT. Maintenance of appropriate 5-HT levels is important for development of these sensory systems. The current study was undertaken to define the effect of developmental Pb exposure on the transient uptake of 5-HT in LSO and thalamocortical neurons and is the first of its kind. CBA mice were exposed to 0 mM (control), 0.01 mM (very low), and 0.1mM (low) Pb acetate from gestation through postnatal day 4 (P4), P8, or P21. Brainstem sections were immunostained for 5-HT, SERT, TPH, MAOA, VMAT2, SYP and GAP-43. Total brainstem levels of 5-HT and its metabolite 5-hydroxindole-3-acetic acid (5HIAA), were measured by HPLC. We found that Pb extends the normal developmental uptake of 5-HT by LSO neurons through prolonged expression of SERT. Total brainstem levels of 5-HT remain largely unchanged. Pb also decreases VMAT2, SYP, and GAP-43 immunostaining within the P8 LSO, indicating that modulation of SERT by Pb leads to impaired maturation of synapses in the LSO. These effects persist into adulthood. The major afferent target of the LSO, the Inferior Colliculus (IC), also shows altered immunoreactivity for 5-HT and VMAT2 following developmental Pb exposure. Finally, Pb decreases the immunoreactivity of 5-HT at the thalamocortical axon terminals (TCAs) in the region of the somatosensory cortical barrel field. In the forebrain, Pb appears to decrease 5-HT levels in general. This differs from its effect in the brainstem where Pb appears to specifically target central auditory nuclei

Webpage design optimization using genetic algorithm driven CSS

In the rapid emergence of globalization, e-commerce, and internet accessibility in remote parts of the world, ongoing feedback and participation from site visitors are essential for attaining clear and effective communication on a web site. This thesis presents a computational experiment for optimizing design of a webpage in an evolutionary manner. Webpage personalization is viewed as a configuration problem whose goal is to determine the optimal presentation of a webpage while taking into account the preference of the web author (designer), layout constraints (web design/editing language: HTML, CSS), and viewer interaction with the browser. The study proposes use of genetic algorithm-driven Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to assist the process of webpage design optimization. This method will engage visitors to remotely modify and enhance the style (type, layout and color) of web site to fit their aesthetic and functional representation of well-received design. The preference feedback from user will be stored in an application server for automated evolutionary selection process and reinitialized for the next generation of users. Through the experimentation of web prototype and user evaluation test, the implementation of this method is examined and the derived design solutions are analyzed based on web aesthetics, standards, and accessibility

How migrants manifest their transnational identity through online social networks: comparative findings from a case of Koreans in Germany

Although migration has long been an imperative topic in social sciences, there are still needs of study on migrants’ unique and dynamic transnational identity, which heavily influences the social integration in the host society. In Online Social Network (OSN), where the contemporary migrants actively communicate and share their stories the most, different challenges against migrants’ belonging and identity and how they cope or reconcile may evidently exist. This paper aims to scrutinise how migrants are manifesting their belonging and identity via different technological types of online social networks, to understand the relations between online social networks and migrants’ multi-faceted transnational identity. The research introduces a comparative case study on an online social movement led by Koreans in Germany via their online communities, triggered by a German TV advertisement considered as stereotyping East Asians given by white supremacy’s point of view. Starting with virtual ethnography on three OSNs representing each of internet generations (Web 1.0 ~ Web 3.0), two-step Qualitative Data Analysis is carried out to examine how Korean migrants manifest their belonging and identity via their views on “who we are” and “who are others”. The analysis reveals how Korean migrants’ transnational identities differ by their expectation on the audience and the members in each online social network, which indicates that the distinctive features of the online platform may encourage or discourage them in shaping transnational identity as a group identity. The paper concludes with the two main emphases: first, current OSNs comprising different generational technologies play a significant role in understanding the migrants’ dynamic social values, and particularly, transnational identities. Second, the dynamics of migrants’ transnational identity engages diverse social and situational contexts

Everyday Workplace Learning for Immigrant Justice: Workers’ Collaboration in a Nonprofit Organization

The purpose of this case study is to examine learning in the daily workplace of workers (staff members) at a leading community-based Korean-American nonprofit organization (KANPO) in a major city in the US. The study focused on the relationship among workers as a critical dimension for encouraging informal learning in the workplace. Third generation culturalhistorical activity theory, including activity system analysis, was used as a theoretical framework. Based on a theory-driven and grounded theoretical approach to data analysis, an activity named “collaboration” and its inner contradictions were identified. While the contradictions have the potential to inhibit workers’ everyday workplace learning, the staff tried to resolve the contradictions and advance the collaboration activity. In this process, learning occurred as the activity’s unintended outcomes at both the social and individual levels. The findings show how everyday workplace learning is socioculturally and historically shaped around the KANPO’s contexts, as well as the way organizations use to create an informal workplace learning environment

Adult Learning Principles and Processes and Their Relationships with Learner Satisfaction: Validation of the Andragogy in Practice Inventory (API) in the Jordanian Context

This study aimed to assess the validity of the Andragogy in Practice Inventory (API) and to examine the relationships among adult learning principles and processes and learner satisfaction in Jordan. The results indicated that the API is a valid instrument and its components and learner satisfaction are positively related

The History of the Military Film Industry - From the inception of military films to the ROK Army Motion Picture Production Center (1948–1979) -

This paper examines the history of the ROK Army Motion Picture Production Center (AMPPC), which played a significant role in the Korean film industry from the 1950s to the 1970s. Around this time, the AMPPC was an official film production institute alongside the National Film Production Center, and produced newsreels and culture films as well as fiction films. Starting with the documentary An Assault on Justice, the first film on the Korean War, and the National Defense Series, the AMPPC produced educational short films and many feature-length films. It was a large-scale film production company that produced an average of over 100 films a year until the 1970s. In addition, the military film industry provided workspace for Korean film industry professional and took care of postproduction for commercial films at a time when the film industry was considered nearly impossible. It was also an active producer that recorded significant progress in the Korean film history through technical experiments at a time when the infrastructure for the film industry had collapsed. In addition, many Korean film industry professionals were affiliated with or closely related to the center. Not only directors but also people in photography, editing, and screenwriting worked in both the mainstream film industry and the AMPPC. Moreover, military films also had a certain impact on anti-Communist films and anti-Communist television programs in its early years. Various military films produced from the 1950s to the 1970s, including the anti-Communist films produced in the military since 1948 and the first war documentary An Assault of Justice, were utilized in anti-Communist films for theaters but also television news, drama series, and documentaries, becoming archetypes for each derivative program format. In sum, the AMPPC during this time was closely related to the Korean film industry as well as the television industry in terms of quantity and quality, providing the human resources and physical basis. It is also important to imbue significance into the “militaristic” utilization of military films. Above all, the military films’ most important role in its history since the founding of the government of the Republic of Korea was its utilization as part of the Korean government’s psychological warfare waged against its people between the 1950s and 1970s under the Cold War regime. The role of military films as propaganda warfare, which became much more explicit with the outbreak of the Korean War, became strengthened through the installation of the AMPPC in 1963, dispatch of Korean soldiers for the Vietnam War and the improvement of the film production environment in 1965. Particularly with the sending of Korean troops to Vietnam, it became important for the government to produce and screen military films as propaganda for Korea’s unjustified participation in the war. In the 1970s, the AMPPC, which had to continue the Cold War by continuously placing significance on the Vietnam War throughout and even after the war, was able to produce over 130 films in various genres and lengths every year. This paper is significant in that it systematically organizes the history of the military film industry, which had not been properly explained in the past, and that it discusses the military film industry as a means to examine the overall structure of the film industry and its vibrant activities at the time. This discussion has been performed as a basis for the analysis of specific military films. I hope to delve further into the significance and the role of military films as a tool of propaganda warfare through textual analysis in future studies