Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in East Asian-ancestry populations identifies four new loci for body mass index

Recent genetic association studies have identified 55 genetic loci associated with obesity or body mass index (BMI). The vast majority, 51 loci, however, were identified in European-ancestry populations. We conducted a meta-analysis of associations between BMI and ∼2.5 million genotyped or imputed single nucleotide polymorphisms among 86 757 individuals of Asian ancestry, followed by in silico and de novo replication among 7488–47 352 additional Asian-ancestry individuals. We identified four novel BMI-associated loci near the KCNQ1 (rs2237892, P = 9.29 × 10−13), ALDH2/MYL2 (rs671, P = 3.40 × 10−11; rs12229654, P = 4.56 × 10−9), ITIH4 (rs2535633, P = 1.77 × 10−10) and NT5C2 (rs11191580, P = 3.83 × 10−8) genes. The association of BMI with rs2237892, rs671 and rs12229654 was significantly stronger among men than among women. Of the 51 BMI-associated loci initially identified in European-ancestry populations, we confirmed eight loci at the genome-wide significance level (P < 5.0 × 10−8) and an additional 14 at P < 1.0 × 10−3 with the same direction of effect as reported previously. Findings from this analysis expand our knowledge of the genetic basis of obesity

偏遠地區公立國民中小學校績效獎金計畫之建構

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偏遠地區公立國民中小學校績效獎金計畫之建構 School-based Performance Award Program for Public Schools in Taiwan’s Remote Areas

教育部透過各項補助計畫以改善偏遠地區國民中小學校學生學業成就低落的問題，甚至以離島、山僻加給吸引教師前往任教，但這些計畫對於提升該地區學生學習成就效果有限。本研究以偏遠地區校長、教師組成的焦點團體訪談與個別訪談，建構以學校為基礎的績效獎金計畫，不僅避免個人績效獎金制度引發的競爭，而且透過團隊合作方式有效提升學生學業成就。本計畫特點如下：採志願參加，教職員工績效獎金額度採同工同酬，學校也會獲得績效獎金，績效評核以學科績效為主，非學科績效為輔，並以平衡計分卡方式計算績效獎金。為了順利實施該計畫，本研究也提出配套措施：充足的經費來源，召開說明會並訂定試辦期，加強偏遠學校成員團隊合作與專業知能。 Students in Taiwan’s remote areas have long been recognized for their poor performance in student achievement. To overcome this problem, government subsidies many programs including paying more to teachers who serve in these areas. However, student achievement in these areas has not seen much improvement. This research is to design a school-based performance award (SBPA) program for public schools in remote areas in the hope that this incentive will help to raise student achievement. After interviewing of one focus group and several individual teachers and principals in remote areas, we have developed this SBPA with the following features. First, it is voluntary to join the SBPA and the award applies to anyone who joins the program. Second, both individual teachers and schools are eligible for the performance award. Third, student achievement in five core academic subjects and four nonacademic factors are served as performance measures in the SBPA. Fourth, balanced scorecard is adopted as the bonus payout structure. Certain processes should be thought through for successful implementation of the SBPA

十二年國民基本教育財務規劃的虛與實【Special issue: 12-Year Basic Education】Rhetoric and Reality of 12-Year Basic Education Financing in Taiwan

九年國民教育業於1968 年施行，迄今將屆46 年。為提升整體國民素質，近二十餘年更進一步推動延長國民基本教育至12 年，且於2014 年正式實施。本研究試從教育財政角度，析論十二年國民基本教育的財務規劃是否足以撐起此一世紀大業，並得出以下結論：一、義務教育最大特質在普及、強迫與免費，我國九年國民教育雖也免收學費，但囿於財政收支相關法令，地方教育經費至今仍患寡，國中小仍收取代收代辦費，有違義務教育完全免費的精神，十二年國民基本教育財務規劃並未處理該議題。二、十二年國民基本教育揭櫫「成就每一個孩子」的教育願景，教育部也針對偏鄉及弱勢學生推動多項補助方案；然國中小學生學 習成就依舊存在城鄉差距，十二年國民基本教育也未增加經費以達成該願景。三、我國高中職每生支出只是已開發國家的七成，十二年國民基本教育計畫將八成新增經費用於高中職，有其必要；然超過半數的經費用於推動高中職免學費，只是將原來的家戶支出改由政府支出，對於提高後中經費並無助益，也造成經費排擠無法做更有效的用途。四、學前教育雖也實施免學費方案，但理論與實證研究都證實學前教育應比高中職優先義務化。根據上述發現，研究者據以提出教育財政相關建議，以利十二年國民基本教育順利推動。 Nearly 46 years have passed since a 9-year national education system was implemented in Taiwan in 1968. The 9-year system will now be extended to 12 years and renamed “12-Year Basic Education.” From the perspective of school finance, we analyzed and discussed whether the government can afford this tremendous change. It was summarized that (1) primary education should be compulsory, free, and accessible to all. However, because of fiscal regulations and structures, the 9-year national education system has been suffering from an insufficient budget at local levels and has not been entirely free of charge for every student until now. (2) Although several programs for socioeconomically disadvantaged students have been implemented by the Ministry of Education, achievement gaps between rural and nonrural areas, even among students within rural circumstances, remain remarkably wide. The new education plan appears to neglect these two problems. (3) Because expenditure per pupil on postsecondary education in Taiwan is only 70% of the OECD’s average, it is reasonable to spend 80% of the new budget at the postsecondary stage. However, more than half of the overall budgets are set to eliminate tuition fees for postsecondary and 5-year-old preschool students, without further increasing any public inputs and simply transferring accounts from private to public. With such a small budget, the zero-tuition policy means to require money to be diverted from other more comprehensive initiatives. (4) Preschool education should be planned as compulsory prior to the postsecondary stage, both theoretically and practically. Four recommendations on school finance are provided for future implementations of 12-Year Basic Education

我國私立技術校院財務運作之研究 Financial Management of Taiwan’s Private Institutes of Technology

對於國立大專校院及一般私立大學，我國私立科技大學及技術學院在學校規模或政府資源分配都明顯處於劣勢，尤其近年受少子女化影響，生源逐年減少，對於高度依賴學生繳交學雜費以維持正常運作的私立技術校院而言，財務收入更顯嚴峻，招生不佳的學校甚至可能面臨退場困境；因此，如何維持最佳財務狀況以提供豐裕的教育資源，提升辦學品質，吸引學生就讀，遂成為這群爭取高教經 費最弱勢且擔負照顧最多弱勢學生的私立技術校院最重要的工作。本文目的即在了解2006至2008這三年期間我國私立技術校院財務運作狀況，並以招生良窳學校進行彼此與整體相互比較，期望該分析結果可以有效改善我國私立技術校院的財務運作策略，提升對弱勢學生的就學照顧。本文發現學雜費確實為私立技術校院最主要之收入來源，占其總收入的七成，但在面對少子女化的挑戰，其財務開源與節流策略仍明顯不足；招生情況良好的學校因為其他收入來源相對豐厚，對學雜費收入依賴程度較低，但仍致力於辦學品質的提升與學生就學條件的改善；招生情況較差的學校卻未用心於改善財務運作及辦學條件。根據上述發現，本文分別對私立技術校院、招生情況前段與後段學校提供建議。 Compared with public higher education institutions and private universities, private institutes of technology in Taiwan encounter more disadvantages. Due to the low birthrate in recent years, private institutes of technology, highly dependent on tuition, have experienced financial difficulties, and some institutions lacking sufficient enrollments have been forced to shut down. The purpose of this paper was to describe the financial structure of private institutes of technology from 2006 to 2008 and then it compares the institutes with good recruitment records with those with bad records. The results show that tuition is the most important source of income for private institutes of technology. Yet when facing the challenge of the low birthrate, increasing sources of financial revenue and cutting expenditures will still be inadequate. Institutes with other sources of income and relatively less dependent on tuition revenue are committed to the improvement of the quality of education and learning conditions. On the contrary, institutes with poor recruitment records have been unable to improve their financial performance and teaching environments. This paper ends by offering advice for private institutes of technology with good and poor records of recruiting students

十二年國民基本教育財務規劃的虛與實

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國民中學適足教育經費：臺灣偏遠與非偏遠地區學校的比較 Estimating Adequate Funding to Meet Performance Standards for Junior High School Students: Adequate Funding Comparisons Between Rural and Non-Rural Schools in Taiwan

臺灣學生近年來在國際大型測驗表現亮眼，但如進一步檢視學校所處地區，即可明顯看出臺灣存在巨大的城鄉差距問題：偏遠地區與大城市相比，不僅數學表現較差，且出現各校數學差距相對較大的情況。不足的教育經費可能是導致此差距的原因之一，本研究因此以成本函數法來估算偏遠與非偏遠地區學校達成預期學生學業成就所需的適足經費，並以國中基測數學基礎級、平均數、精熟級來作為適足分數，以估算不同程度所需的適足經費，結果發現，無論何種適足分數，偏遠地區所需的每生適足經費皆比非偏遠地區為高，且超過半數以上的偏遠學校未達適足經費水準。本研究亦根據研究結果，提出改進建議。 Although the mathematical ability of Taiwanese students is ranked high according to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Taiwan faces the problem of a gap in test scores between rural students and their non-rural counterparts, with the latter group scoring higher on average. Inadequate funding is a possible reason for this discrepancy. Therefore, this paper uses the cost function approach to compare adequate funding requirements between rural and non-rural schools. The adequate funding estimates are calculated based on the different levels of mathematics scores in the Basic Competence Test (basic, average, and proficient). The results showed that rural schools require more per student funding than do non-rural schools, irrespective of the use of score levels as references. A greater portion of rural schools were shown to operate under inadequate per student funding compared with non-rural schools. This paper provides further evidence of the urgency of increased investment in rural schools