Systematic versus informal application of culturally relevant pedagogy: Are performance outcomes different? A study of college students

In a field study, the effects on academic performance of two different applications of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) in the classroom were measured. As per the requirements of such pedagogy, both entailed modes and contents of instruction that attend to the specific cultural characteristics of the learners. However, in one condition (systematic CRP application), emphasis on culturally relevant contents extended to both instruction and assessment, whereas in another condition, they were largely confined to instruction (informal CRP application). Students of Middle Eastern descent who were enrolled in either a history or a critical thinking course were exposed to one of the two conditions. During the first half of the semester, midterm and assignment performance did not significantly differ. However, performance during the second half of the semester and attendance rates were higher for the systematic CRP condition. These findings suggest that emphasis on culturally relevant content encompassing both learning and assessment can be beneficial to academic performance but its fruits become tangible only with sustained exercise.    &nbsp

Emotion and Judgment in Young Women of a Society in Transition

The present study asked whether emotional responses to narratives of moral transgressions are shaped by the reader’s assumed relationship with the injured party (i.e., oneself, familiar other, and unfamiliar other). Its goal was to test a cultural, religious, and individualistic account of such responses in young females of a traditional society in transition towards a sustainable integration into the global economy. To this end, female college students from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were asked to identify their emotional reaction to each of several moral transgressions, report its intensity and then judge the severity of the transgression. In agreement with the religious norm hypothesis, whereby others are to be treated as oneself, reported emotions, affective intensity, and moral judgment did not change with students’ relationship with the injured party. The only exception was students’ lenient judgment when feeling angry for being the victim of a transgression, which underlies the tenet of forgiveness in religious doctrine

Bilingualism and Self-Perception: Self-Efficacy through the Veil of Two Languages

This chapter is concerned with the relationship between language, as the vehicle of a person’s culture, and self-assessment of one’s capabilities (i.e., self-efficacy) via conventional self-report measures. It relies on the assumption that a language “is ‘a veil’ over the reality of the culture in which it is used, involving an agreement of its users about what there is to be seen and how it should be seen”. Thus, the information weighted and integrated into judgments of one’s self-efficacy is filtered through, and thus it is shaped by cultural schemas which are elicited by the language used to formulate such judgments. Evidence that supports this viewpoint is reviewed

A dual defensive role of CIITA against retroviral infections

We describe how CIITA exerts a dual role against retroviral infection. The first, classical role is the upregulation of MHC class II expression and thus the capacity to present viral antigens to CD4+ T cells. The other, evolutionary new and fundamental role is to inhibit viral replication by blocking specifically the function of the viral transactivators. HIV-1 Tat is inhibited through the competition for cyclin T1 of the P-TEFb complex, whereas HTLV-2 Tax-2 is inhibited through a concerted action which may increase the binding affinity of the CIITA-NFY complex for Tax-2, displacing it from the viral LTR promoter. As expected, two distint sequences in the N-term region of CIITA mediate the inhibitory action on Tat and Tax-2, respectively. Of note, Tax-1 from HTLV-1 seems also to be inhibited by the same sequence that inhibits HTLV-2 Tax-2. Interestingly, only those CIITA fragments containing the minimal inhibitory domains that localize into the nucleus could exert an effective suppressive action. Taken together, our results indicate that CIITA is an extant molecular tool endowed with distinct evolving functions against retroviruses. These distinct properties of CIITA will shed new light on the molecular mechanisms of adaptive coevolution of hosts and pathogens and may be exploited to envisage novel therapeutic strategies aimed at counteracting retroviral infections

The New and the Old: Responses to Change in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

This qualitative study was primarily concerned with Saudi women’s reactions to social change in the political sphere. It focused on their responses to decrees allowing women to vote in municipal elections for the first time, become candidates in such elections, and be nominated in the Shura Council by the King. Structured interviews of urban dwellers illustrated that changes, seen as opportunities, had been noted, but their impact had yet to be processed thoroughly. Attitudes towards political participation were positive and largely optimistic, but rarely seen as applying to the self. Competence, rather than gender, was seen as relevant to voters’ views of political candidates as well as of elected or appointed officials. Compared with older interviewees, young ones viewed the impact of women’s political participation, along with other social changes, as gradual, manageable, and merely one of the many articulations of the 2030 Vision, a strategic framework developed by KSA intended to reduce the country’s dependence on oil and diversify its economy. Both young and older interviewees, though, were reluctant to forecast its specific future impact. Actual political participation, in the form of either voting or running for office, was dismal. These results indicate that not only time is needed for top-down interventions to enter the social fabric of a nation and the minds of its people, but also the necessary conditions must exist that enable the genuine flourishing of human agency

Am I prepared for Calculus? An action-research study of female students emerging from patriarchy

In this action-research study, the inquiry phase aims to examine the extent to which self-evaluations of Math prerequisite competency relate to the past and current Math performance of STEM female students from a society emerging from strict patriarchy. Its ancillary aim is to determine whether attitudes toward Math and its instruction and assessment are related to past and current performance. Undergraduate Engineering and Computer Science students were surveyed at the start of a Calculus course. As per earlier courses, Calculus was taught through an inquiry-based learning model. Findings illustrated that Math prerequisite competency was underestimated relative to past performance but accurate relative to current performance. Positive attitudes towards Math were correlated with past but not current performance. Students’ preferences for modes of instruction and assessment suggested areas of improvement. During the pragmatic phase of the study, these findings informed instructional changes to enhance Math learning in Engineering and Computer Science

Tumor response to sunitinib malate observed in clear-cell sarcoma

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Identification of a novel spliced variant of the SYT gene expressed in normal tissues and in synovial sarcoma

Synovial sarcoma (SS) is cytogenetically characterized by the translocation t(X;18)(p11.2-q11.2) generating a fusion between the SYT gene on chromosome 18 and one member of the SSX family gene (SSX1; SSX2; SSX4) on chromosome X. Here, we report for the first time that 2 forms of SYT mRNA are present in both normal tissues and SSs. By amplifying the full-length SYT cDNA of two SSs, we detected 2 bands, here designated N-SYT and I-SYT. The latter, previously undescribed, contains an in-frame insertion of 93 bp. Its sequencing revealed a 100% homology with the mouse SYT gene. These two SYT forms were present, although in different amounts, in all human normal tissues examined, including kidney, stomach, lung, colon, liver and synovia. Coexistence of N-SYT and I-SYT (both fused with SSX) was detected in a series of 59 SSs (35 monophasic and 24 biphasic) and in a SS cell line. A preliminary analysis of the differential expression levels of N-SYT and I-SYT in SSs revealed that the latter was consistently overexpressed, suggesting a role in SS pathogenesis. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.co

Imatinib in combination with everolimus in patients with progressive advanced chordoma: results form an Italian phase 2 clinical trial

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