Education and inequalities in rural Vietnam in the 1990s

This article examines the determinants of children's schooling during the 1990s in rural areas of Vietnam. It focuses on the impact of family attributes on the likelihood of children remaining in school or leaving during the primary and secondary school years. Using data from the Vietnam Living Standard Survey (VLSS) of 1992–93 and 1997–98, the authors apply the survival analysis technique to follow a group of 3301 children aged between 6 and 13 over a 5-year period. In addition to the characteristics of the children and their families, they consider community attributes as larger contextual variables that also affect children's school leaving. Overall, they found very significant socioeconomic differentiations between families with respect to schooling, which puts economically disadvantaged children at risk for having their schooling interrupted at a young age. The results also indicate that for girls, compared with boys, the likelihood of staying in school is more responsive to household and community characteristics.     

Teachers' views on citizenship education in secondary education in The Netherlands

In 2005 the Dutch Minister of Education proposed making it compulsory for all schools in The Netherlands to stimulate active citizenship and social integration. Teachers must give these educational goals a tangible form in their practice. What are the teachers' views on citizenship education? Concepts of citizenship education and the teacher's role in it may differ widely, and very different perspectives on values and value development are possible. This article addresses how teachers view citizenship education. We present the results of a survey conducted among a representative sample of Dutch secondary schools. The results show that teachers make clear choices in the importance they attach to certain values. Teachers want students to acquire skills to analyse, communicate and reflect on values, and they want to stimulate the development of certain values. The chosen values relate to different types of citizenship. School level, school subject and the age of the teachers make a difference to the importance teachers attach to different values.     

Oases at the bottom of the ocean

In the early 1980s biologists were amazed, and sometimes sceptical, to be told of the existence of luxuriant fauna thriving at depths of between two and three thousand metres close to hot water springs. Frequently consisting of hitherto unknown species, these colonies are nothing less than oases, contrasting starkly with the deserts usually to be found at great depths. One of their features is a very short life cycle. But, most strikingly, they are the first discovery on our planet of living systems which survive without solar energy or photosynthesis.     

High-throughput sorting of drops in microfluidic chips using electric capacitance

We analyze a recently introduced approach for the sorting of aqueous drops with biological content immersed in oil, using a microfluidic chip that combines the functionality of electrowetting with the high throughput of two-phase flow microfluidics. In this electrostatic sorter, three co-planar electrodes covered by a thin dielectric layer are placed directly below the fluidic channel. Switching the potential of the central electrode creates an electrical guide that leads the drop to the desired outlet. The generated force, which deflects the drop, can be tuned via the voltage. The working principle is based on a contrast in conductivity between the drop and the continuous phase, which ensures successful operation even for drops of highly conductive biological media like phosphate buffered saline. Moreover, since the electric field does not penetrate the drop, its content is protected from electrical currents and Joule heating. A simple capacitive model allows quantitative prediction of the electrostatic forces exerted on drops. The maximum achievable sorting rate is determined by a competition between electrostatic and hydrodynamic forces. Sorting speeds up to 1200 per second are demonstrated for conductive drops of 160 pl in low viscosity oil.     

On the exponential stabilization of a flexible structure with dynamic delayed boundary conditions via one boundary control only

This study deals with the stability analysis of a flexible structure with one and only one boundary control. The system is composed of three parts: a cart (motorized platform), a flexible cable, and a load mass attached to the lower part of the cable. This situation leads to a hybrid system as a mathematical model for the cable dynamics: one partial differential equation coupled to two ordinary differential equations. Despite the presence of a time-delay in the top-end of the cable, we are able to prove that the hybrid system is well-posed in the sense of semigroups theory and more importantly, only one boundary control can guarantee the exponentially decay of the energy of the system under reasonable conditions on the parameters of the system. This outcome considerably improves the result recently established in [17], where two more controls are required: one interior (Kelvin–Voigt) damping which acts over the entire cable and another boundary control which is exerted on the lower-end of the cable. Furthermore, we provide an estimate of the exponential decay of the system by means an appropriate Lyapunov functional. Lastly, numerical examples are presented in order to ascertain and highlight our theoretical outcomes.     

Can Genetics and Genomics Nursing Competencies Be Successfully Taught in a Prenursing Microbiology Course?

In recognition of the entry into the era of personalized medicine, a new set of genetics and genomics competencies for nurses was introduced in 2006. Since then, there have been a number of reports about the critical importance of these competencies for nursing practices and about the challenges of addressing these competencies in the preservice (basic science) nursing curriculum. At least one suggestion has been made to infuse genetics and genomics throughout the basic science curriculum for prenursing students. Based on this call and a review of the competencies, this study sought to assess the impact of incorporation of genetics and genomics content into a prenursing microbiology course. Broadly, two areas that address the competencies were incorporated into the course: 1) the biological basis and implications of genetic diversity and 2) the technological aspects of assessing genetic diversity in bacteria and viruses. These areas address how genetics and genomics contribute to healthcare, including diagnostics and selection of treatment. Analysis of learning gains suggests that genetics and genomics content can be learned as effectively as microbiology content in this setting. Future studies are needed to explore the most effective ways to introduce genetics and genomics technology into the prenursing curriculum.     

The influence of socioeconomic status,working memory and academic self-concept on academic achievement

European Journal of Psychology of Education - There is today ample evidence that academic achievement depends on individual disparities in socioeconomic status (SES), working memory (WM) and...