Developing autonomous writers in a report writing course

Theme: Developing Students as Readers and Writers in the four-year Curriculum: the role of the English Language CentresThe Conference program's website is located at http://symposium2011.elc.polyu.edu.hk/index.php/SELC/SELC2011/schedConf/programWith the implementation of the 4-year curriculum in 2012 the current English enhancement courses for second year students offered by the Centre for Applied English Studies (CAES) of the University of Hong Kong will be replaced by 'English in the Discipline' courses which are jointly developed by the CAES and faculty. To align with the goal of the Faculty of Social Sciences in developing critical inquiry the course designers of 'Writing reports and proposals', one of the five courses to be offered to students of Social Sciences in the new curriculum, have adopted an inductive approach which allows students to participate as knowledge builders in writing. This approach aims to develop students into autonomous learners (Thornbury, 1999) through encouraging them to explore the relationship between language use and the purposes, context, and intended readership of different sub-genres of report writing, thereby enhancing their self-reliance in learning as well as their disciplinary-specific and professional literacies. This paper will discuss the evaluation of a pilot module on report writing conducted within an 'English for Professional Communication' course for second year students of Social Sciences. Teacher' and students' feedback on the module will be presented to reflect on the current development of the course.postprin

Applied welfare analysis for discrete choice with interval-data on income

This paper concerns empirical measurement of Hicksian consumer welfare under interval-reported income. Bhattacharya has shown that for discrete choice, welfare distributions resulting from a hypothetical price-change can be expressed as closed-form transformations of choice probabilities. However, when income is interval-reported, as is the case in many surveys, the choice probabilities, and hence welfare distributions are not point-identified. We derive bounds on average welfare in such scenarios under the assumption of a normal good. A finding of independent interest is a set of Slutsky-like shape restrictions which are linear in average demand, unlike those for continuous choice. A parametric specification of choice probabilities facilitates imposition of these Slutsky conditions, and leads to computationally simple inference for the partially identified features of welfare. In particular, the estimand is shown to be directionally differentiable, so that recently developed bootstrap methods can be applied for inference. Under mis-specification, our results provide a "best parametric approximation" to demand and welfare. These methods can be used for inference in more general settings where a class of set-identified functions satisfy linear inequality restrictions, and one wishes to conduct inference on functionals thereof. We illustrate our theoretical results using a simulation exercise based on a real dataset where actual income is observed. We artificially introduce interval-censoring of income, calculate bounds for the average welfare effects of a price-subsidy using our methods, and find that they perform favorably in comparison with estimates obtained using actual income.European Research Counci

Typical collapse modes of confined masonry buildings under strong earthquake loads

Confined masonry structures are a widely applied structural system in many developing countries. During the past Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008, numerous confined masonry buildings collapsed, while many others suffered damage. This study reviews the construction practices of confined masonry buildings in China. Simple models and hand calculation methods are proposed for quantifying the tearing failure of diaphragms, the tensile failure of tie-columns and the sway-mode strength of masonry buildings. The results indicate very good agreement with field observations. The seismic measures that are stipulated in the seismic design codes are very effective for increasing the strength and integrity, but not the ductility of masonry buildings. For those buildings that survived the earthquake, strength rather than ductility protected the confined masonry from collapse or serious damage. Design recommendations are suggested for preventing various types of premature failures and enhancing the lateral strength of masonry buildings. © Su et al.published_or_final_versio

Engineering education opportunities, perceptions and career choice of secondary school students in Hong Kong SAR, China

Session Title: Engineering Education and Comparative Studies at Universities throughout Asia, Far East: AC 2012-5321This paper presents an investigation into engineering education opportunities and engagement among secondary school students in Hong Kong SAR, China (HK). We adapted and validated an international questionnaire and executed it in HK secondary schools. The questionnaire is designed to identify pedagogy, students' perception, and experience (formal and informal) of engineering education, and measure their effects on students' career choice in engineering. We investigate how do factors like age, gender, family background (local versus new immigrants), subjects taken at school, and perceptions of the engineering profession affect their career choice in engineering. Identifying factors affecting young people's career choice in engineering is interesting as HK is in an early post-industrial position. Such study can provide an excellent comparative example to contrast between post-industrial societies such as the United States and industrializing societies such as other cities in the mainland China. © 2012 American Society for Engineering Education.postprin

Fish oil supplementation in CCl4 injured rodents exclusively suppressed enzymatic and non-enzymatic lipid peroxidation of DHA and EPA

Poster Session 1: abstract no. M4.07The Conference abstracts' website is located at http://www.issfal.org/conferences/2014-stockholm/abstractsFish oil contains high amount of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), particularly eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and helps in reducing risk of neurodegenerative diseases and coronary heart diseases. Because of the high numbers of double bonds, they are prone to undergo lipid peroxidation in vitro and in vivo. Many of the products generated through this process are claimed either to be bioactive or toxic. We, therefore, investigated the effect of fish oil supplementation with CCl4 liver injured rats. Male Sprague Dawley rats were randomized into five groups: 1) water (Control), 2) canola oil, 3) CCl4, 4) fish oil (omega-3, 350 mg/kg), 5) fish oil + CCl4. Rats were treated ...postprin

Translation and validation of the Malay version of Shiffman-Jarvik withdrawal scale and cessation self-efficacy questionnaire: a review of psychometric properties

BACKGROUND: Smoking tobacco is a major concern in Malaysia, with 23.1% of Malaysian adults smoking tobacco in 2012. Withdrawal symptoms and self-efficacy to quit smoking have been shown to have significant effects on the outcomes of smoking cessation. The Shiffman-Jarvik Withdrawal Scale (Psychopharmacology, 50: 35-39, 1976) and the Cessation Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (Cognitive Ther Res 5: 175-187, 1981) are two questionnaires that have been widely used in various smoking cessation research. The short SJWS consists of 15 items with five subscales: physical symptoms, psychological symptoms, stimulation/sedation, appetite, and cravings. The CSEQ is a 12-item questionnaire that assesses participant's self-efficacy to avoid smoking in various situations described in each item. The aim of this study was to translate and validate the Malay language version of the SJWS and the CSEQ. METHODS: The SJWS and CSEQ were translated into the Malay language based on the back translation method. A total of 146 participants (25.08 ± 5.19 years) answered the translated questionnaires. Psychometrics properties such as reliability (internal consistency and test-retest) and validity (content validity, construct validity and face validity) were examined. RESULTS: Both questionnaires showed acceptable internal consistency; SJWS-M (α = 0.66) and CSEQ-M (α = 0.90) and good test-retest reliability; SJWS-M (r = 0.76) and the CSEQ-M (r = 0.80). SJWS-M (χ(2) = 15.964, GFI = 0.979, CFI = 1.000, RMSEA = 0.000, ChiSq/df = 0.939, AGFI = 0.933, TLI = 1.004, and NPI = 0.978) and CSEQ-M (of χ(2) = 35.16, GFI = 0.960, CFI = 0.999, RMSEA = 0.015, ChiSq/df = 1.034, AGFI = 0.908, TLI = 0.999, and NPI = 0.979) also showed good construct validity. Both questionnaires showed sufficient item to item convergent validity and item discriminant validity. Content validity was established (reassess) by experts in the field of psychology, culture and language whereas face validity was confirmed by smokers. CONCLUSIONS: The translated Malay version of the CSEQ-M and the SJWS-M showed great reliability and validity evidences therefore is an adequate and useful instrument to evaluate Malaysian smokers. Future studies could investigate differences in self-esteem between long-term and short-term smokers and evaluate the usability of these questionnaires in local smoking research and other Malay speaking countries (Brunei and Indonesia)

Feasibility and potentials of online support for stress management among secondary school teachers

Teachers' work-related stress is a widespread problem. Few studies have used online communications to provide support to teachers, and these were mainly focused on novice teachers. Here, we performed an exploratory study to examine whether the use of online forums by secondary school teachers in Hong Kong could provide social support to manage work-related stress. Following 7 days of forum use, content analysis and post-intervention evaluations were carried out to examine the anonymous communications of 75 secondary school teachers who participated in one of five online discussion forums. Consensus on the coding and categorization of the data was reached among three experienced researchers in qualitative analyses. The online forums were well received by the participants. Most participants reported that they received support from the forum and considered it useful for stress management. These results suggest that online support can be used for stress management among secondary school teachers. Further studies on using online approaches as stress management tools are warranted. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.preprin

418 cm-1 Raman scattering from gallium nitride nanowires: Is it a vibration mode of N-rich Ga-N bond configuration?

A Raman-active vibration mode at 418 cm-1 is observed in wurtzite gallium nitride (GaN) nanowires synthesized by different growth methods. In particular, Raman scattering measurements of a number of GaN nanowires systematically prepared by nitriding Β- Ga2 O3 nanowires at different temperatures show an interesting evolution of the mode, revealing that it is most likely the vibration mode of N-rich octahedral Ga- N6 bonds. This idea is further supported by the high-resolution transmission electron microscopic observation. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.published_or_final_versio

Macrophages promoted the colony forming ability of putative endometrial stromal stem cells

Poster Session - Blood Disorders & Stem Cell Immunology: no. 69DMM 2011 entitled: Re-engineering Regenerative MedicineWomen with endometriosis have a decreased cell-mediated immunity1 and contain more activated macrophages2. Human endometrial and endometriotic stem/progenitor cells have been identified using the clonogenic assay3, 4 ENREF 4 ENREF 4. Large colony forming units (CFUs, >4000 cells) are initiated from stem/progenitor cells and small CFUs (<4000 cells) are from transit-amplifying cells. Retrograded endometrial stem cells may have a role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. In this study, the regulatory mechanism between macrophages and putative stem cells was examined. Endometrium (n=12)/ovarian endometrioma (n=16) were obtained from women undergoing hysterectomy and …postprin

A cluster analysis of patterns of objectively measured physical activity in Hong Kong

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