Multicultural Curriculum: Models and Methods in Elementary Art Education

This thesis is an analysis of existing approaches to multicultural curriculums and an original curriculum unit developed based on them. The study explores McFee and Degge’s (1977) Universal Institutions of an Evolving Culture and Related Curricular Themes in correlation with Banks’s (2009) Levels of Integration of Ethnic Content. The purpose of the study is to help educators make effective multicultural curricular choices when constructing unit lessons to give students a more comprehensive multicultural experience in art class. The goal is to understand that “culture can be a tool and a more powerful concept than language because it can be used to organize and teach more information” (Banks, p. 55)

Relationship between physical activity, perceived stress, and the metabolic syndrome in law enforcement officers

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine the interrelationship among physical activity, perceived stress, and the metabolic syndrome in law enforcement officers (LEOs). Methods. 461 sworn LEOs of the Iowa Department of Public Safety were invited to participate. Perceived stress was measured with the Perceived Stress Scale. Exercise and fitness questionnaires were used to assess the level of physical activity. Perceived stress and physical activity were divided into three categories; Low, Moderate, and High. The metabolic syndrome was defined according to the criteria of the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III. A continuous metabolic syndrome score was also constructed based on the sum of age-standardized residuals for the metabolic syndrome. Results. A total of 386 white males (age 23-60 years) were included in the statistical analysis. The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was 23.1%. There was a significant correlation between physical activity level and the metabolic syndrome score (r = -0.225). Perceived stress score was not significantly related to the metabolic syndrome score (r = 0.047). The odds ratios (95% CI) for having the metabolic syndrome in the low and moderate physical activity groups, as compared to the high physical activity group, were 3.13 (95% CI: 1.56-6.26) and 2.3 (95% CI: 1.29-4.09), respectively. Conclusions. Higher levels of physical activity are associated with a reduced prevalence of the metabolic syndrome for a given level of perceived stress among this unique occupational group

Perturbation of frame sequences and its applications to shift-invariant spaces

AbstractWe generalize the main result in [O. Christensen, H.O. Kim, R.Y. Kim, J.K. Lim, Perturbation of frame sequences in shift-invariant spaces, J. Geom. Anal. 15 (2005) 181–191] in order to make it comparable with existing results. Then we compare the special cases of the three results in the literature in the setting of the perturbation of the generating sets of finitely generated shift-invariant spaces of L2(Rd)

Financial Reporting Quality And Acquisition Profitability: Evidence From Korea

In this paper, we examine the association between financial reporting quality and acquisition profitability in a sample of 282 acquisitions in South Korea between 2001 and 2011. Using the accruals quality measure developed by Dechow and Dichev (2002) and McNichols (2002), we find that firms with high-quality financial reporting make more profitable acquisitions, as measured by the bidder's announcement returns. In addition, we find that the importance of financial reporting quality increases in firms with poor information environments

NOD2/RICK-dependent β-defensin 2 regulation is protective for nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae-induced middle ear infection.

Middle ear infection, otitis media (OM), is clinically important due to the high incidence in children and its impact on the development of language and motor coordination. Previously, we have demonstrated that the human middle ear epithelial cells up-regulate β-defensin 2, a model innate immune molecule, in response to nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi), the most common OM pathogen, via TLR2 signaling. NTHi does internalize into the epithelial cells, but its intracellular trafficking and host responses to the internalized NTHi are poorly understood. Here we aimed to determine a role of cytoplasmic pathogen recognition receptors in NTHi-induced β-defensin 2 regulation and NTHi clearance from the middle ear. Notably, we observed that the internalized NTHi is able to exist freely in the cytoplasm of the human epithelial cells after rupturing the surrounding membrane. The human middle ear epithelial cells inhibited NTHi-induced β-defensin 2 production by NOD2 silencing but augmented it by NOD2 over-expression. NTHi-induced β-defensin 2 up-regulation was attenuated by cytochalasin D, an inhibitor of actin polymerization and was enhanced by α-hemolysin, a pore-forming toxin. NOD2 silencing was found to block α-hemolysin-mediated enhancement of NTHi-induced β-defensin 2 up-regulation. NOD2 deficiency appeared to reduce inflammatory reactions in response to intratympanic inoculation of NTHi and inhibit NTHi clearance from the middle ear. Taken together, our findings suggest that a cytoplasmic release of internalized NTHi is involved in the pathogenesis of NTHi infections, and NOD2-mediated β-defensin 2 regulation contributes to the protection against NTHi-induced otitis media