Exploring regional and institutional factors of international students' dropout: The South Korea case

With an increasing number of international students in South Korea, the issue of retaining these students and reducing their dropout rates has become important. This study explores the multilevel factors that affect the institutional dropout rate among international students in Korea. The research questions are as follows: (a) to what extent do international students drop out from undergraduate or short‐term programmes in Korean universities?; (b) what are the regional and institutional factors that determine international students' dropout rates? This study uses the panel data on educational institutions as found in the Higher Education in Korea report, which has been updated annually by the Ministry of Education since 2013. According to the pooled ordinary least square and panel analyses, the results indicate that a range of institutional factors (such as type, size, tuition and research performance of academics) and regional factors (such as regional gross domestic product, inflation and the numbers of foreigners in the region) are all associated with the dropout rates of international students. This study suggests that we need to consider various factors to improve the international students' learning experiences both inside and outside of the campus.     

Extending the Cognitive Mediation Model: Examining Factors Associated With Perceived Familiarity and Factual Knowledge of Nanotechnology

This research—a pilot study on the cognitive mediation model (CMM) in Singapore—seeks to revisit and test the applicability of an extended CMM in the context of nanotechnology by examining perceived familiarity as a separate outcome variable in addition to factual knowledge. A cross-sectional survey was administered to a nationally representative sample of 719 adult Singaporeans. Results demonstrated partial support for the hypothesized CMM. First, elaboration was positively associated with both factual knowledge and perceived familiarity, whereas interpersonal discussions about science was associated only with familiarity. Results also showed differential relationships between attention to media platforms (traditional vs. new media) and reflective integration (composed of elaborative processing and interpersonal discussion); whereas attention to science reporting in newspapers and science television programs were associated with elaboration, media attention across all platforms were associated with interpersonal discussions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The effects of prior reputation and type and duration of charitable donation on celebrities’ personal public relations: an investigation based on attribution theory

Charitable donations made by celebrities are being increasingly reported by news media in South Korea. This experimental study has examined the effects of celebrities’ prior reputations, and the duration and type of charitable donation they perform, on young participants’ evaluations of these celebrities (i.e. motive attribution, attitudes toward the celebrities, and related purchase intentions). The results ascertained the main effects of prior reputation and duration and type of donation on the dependent variables. Most notably, the results also found the interaction effect of duration and type of donation on the participants’ evaluation of motive attribution. That is, participants who were exposed to news stories concerning celebrities’ volunteer efforts, or monetary contributions that involve volunteer efforts, performed over long periods of time reported the highest level of motive attribution. Based on these results, this study discussed theoretical and practical implications.     

Creating the Arsenal: Augusta University’s Undergraduate Research Journal

ABSTRACT

The Center for Undergraduate Research (CURS) at Augusta University supports faculty-led undergraduate research. In collaboration with a student organization, the Program Coordinator of CURS contacted the Augusta University Libraries to investigate how to start an undergraduate research journal and identify a hosting venue. Two librarians provided guidance on the creation of a new Open Access journal using resources already provided by the university. This article discusses establishing the journal’s identity, developing policies and processes, hosting and publishing the journal, as well as challenges faced throughout the process.     

The immediate-shock deficit and postshock analgesia: Implications for the relationship between the analgesic CR and UR

Rats received a 3-sec, 1-mA footshock either immediately or 3 min after placement in a chamber. Postshock pain sensitivity was assessed with the formalin test. The animals that received the 3-min delay between placement and shock showed an analgesic response compared with noshock controls. The immediate-shock animals did not. Thus the immediate-shock deficit, previously reported for freezing and defecation, also occurs for analgesia. This suggests that shock levels sufficient to condition analgesia are not necessarily sufficient to produce analgesia as an unconditional response. As with freezing, there is a dissociation between conditional and unconditional responses in the fear-conditioning system. Increasing immediate-shock levels to 6 sec, 2 mA produced a transient unconditional analgesia. For analgesia, a conditional response is more readily produced than an unconditional response.     

Competition and coexistence of sports media: the case of watching the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games*

This study was performed in the context of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games to examine the patterns of competition among television sets, personal computers, and mobile devices in gratifying audiences of one of the world's greatest sporting event. In light of the theory of niche, three measures of niche – niche breadth, niche overlap, and competitive superiority – were examined. Of the major findings, personal computers appeared to overlap the most with, and were superior to mobile devices in fulfilling socialization and diversion gratifications. These findings indicate personal computers are, at least partially, replacing mobile devices with respect to socialization and diversion gratifications. In comparison, the television set appeared to overlap the most with, and was superior to the personal computer in fulfilling the eustress, aesthetic, learning, and self-esteem gratifications. These findings indicate that television sets remain the dominant medium for fulfilling these four gratification dimensions.     

The Influences of Sports Viewing Conditions on Enjoyment from Watching Televised Sports: An Analysis of the FIFA World Cup Audiences in Theater vs. Home

This study investigates how experiences of viewing sports content in a movie theater differ from typical television viewing conditions in a home. The results of analyses showed that the viewing condition (theater vs. home) influenced audiences’ sense of presence when watching mediated sports, which, combined with the attractiveness of the game, would determine the suspenseful nature of the media experience, as well as the subsequent enjoyment.     

Chemosensory conditioning in molluscs: I. Failure of contextual conditioning in<Emphasis Type="Italic">Hermissenda</Emphasis>

Aversive chemosensory conditioning altersHermissenda’s feeding behavior. But opposite behavioral changes have been reported, depending on whether discrete-trial or context-conditioning paradigms were used, raising questions about the roles of associative and nonassociative processes. We attempted to produce chemosensory contextual conditioning but failed to do so across a wide range of conditions. In Experiments 1–3, we observed large, nonspecific bite latency increases to shellfish extracts, regardless of whether they had signaled the presence or absence of shaking. In Experiment 4, we found that mere exposure to shellfish extract produced latency increases; vestibular stimulation was unnecessary. In a final experiment, using Y-maze choice tests, we failed to observe selective reductions in animals’ preference for shellfish paired with shaking. Nonassociative processes stemming from prolonged exposure to concentrated shellfish extracts appear to be major factors in our failure to demonstrate associative chemosensory contextual conditioning.     

Living drawing: Aesthetic teaching for moral artists

With its inherent attributes such as qualitative immediacy, imaginativeness, and embodiment, John Dewey’s concept of aesthetic experience makes a difference in moral education, in the ways of empathetic moral perception, moral reasoning, and moral action. If it matters then how can we help students gain aesthetic experience? By analyzing teacher Ho-Chul Lee’s approach to teaching drawing, called living drawing, this question is examined in terms of aesthetic style of teacher and teaching, and the aesthetic educational environment. This article will provide insights into how living drawing as an approach promotes aesthetic experiences and how it influences students’ moral experiences.