Correction to: Expanding the interpretive functions of framing for understanding marginalized students’ participation in collaboration and learning

Cultural Studies of Science Education -     

Hearing mothers and oral deaf children: an atypical relational context for theory of mind

The study assessed Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities in a group of oral deaf children and in their hearing mothers using a battery of ToM tasks. It also investigated the connection between mother and child in ToM performance. Participants were: 17 oral deaf children (aged 5 to 14 years) were paired by gender, age, and mental age with 17 hearing children; 17 hearing mothers of deaf children and 17 hearing mothers of hearing children. Compared to the hearing children, the deaf children faced difficulties in all ToM tests, and the hearing mothers of the deaf children were less capable than the mothers of the hearing children in all the ToM tests. Further, a specific ToM interaction model was found between the hearing mothers and the deaf children. The results confirmed ToM poor performance faced by the oral deaf children, showed the ToM level of hearing mothers of deaf children, and the ToM style of hearing mothers–deaf children dyads. Also, findings underline some educational implications related to the socio-relational origin of the ToM deficit in oral deaf children.     

Multicultural education as an emotional situation: practice encountering the unexpected in teacher education

Juxtaposing the concepts of screen memory, counter-transference and the holding environment within psychoanalytic theory, this essay explores the author’s emotional experience, who begins the exploration by asking several questions. What happens to a teacher’s emotional world and her consciousness in the process of trying to shift students’ consciousness in multicultural education? What is the psychical consequence for teachers of colour who must listen to racist discourse as a precondition to convincing those to do otherwise? How does a teacher’s emotional world influence student learning and development of critical consciousness? In working through her emotional response aroused by the students’ questions in her multicultural education classes, the author discusses the importance of a conversation between psychoanalysis and critical multicultural pedagogies and why the conversation matters.     

Antibody-independent isolation of circulating tumor cells by continuous-flow dielectrophoresis

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are prognostic markers for the recurrence of cancer and may carry molecular information relevant to cancer diagnosis. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) has been proposed as a molecular marker-independent approach for isolating CTCs from blood and has been shown to be broadly applicable to different types of cancers. However, existing batch-mode microfluidic DEP methods have been unable to process 10 ml clinical blood specimens rapidly enough. To achieve the required processing rates of 10⁶ nucleated cells/min, we describe a continuous flow microfluidic processing chamber into which the peripheral blood mononuclear cell fraction of a clinical specimen is slowly injected, deionized by diffusion, and then subjected to a balance of DEP, sedimentation and hydrodynamic lift forces. These forces cause tumor cells to be transported close to the floor of the chamber, while blood cells are carried about three cell diameters above them. The tumor cells are isolated by skimming them from the bottom of the chamber while the blood cells flow to waste. The principles, design, and modeling of the continuous-flow system are presented. To illustrate operation of the technology, we demonstrate the isolation of circulating colon tumor cells from clinical specimens and verify the tumor origin of these cells by molecular analysis.     

An economic valuation study of public libraries in Korea

The economic value of public libraries for local residents in Korea was measured. An economic-value measurement model that enables the estimation of diverse types of public library services was designed, using a conditional-value measurement method. Benefits were taken as the value of the main services provided by public libraries, such as accessibility to informational materials, facilities, and programs. Costs included the total amount of expenses at libraries such as personnel expenses, materials purchasing expenses, and other operational costs. Data were collected from 1220 users from 22 public libraries in the province of Seoul/Gyeonggi-do and the other seven Korean provinces. The return on investment (ROI) was calculated to be 3.66.     

A Qualitative and Quantitative Study of Social Media Communicators: An Extension of Role Theory to Digital Media Workers

The life of knowledge workers in the information age is enwrapped in both uncertainty and opportunity. Organizations have faced ill-defined times by placing their confidence in the ability of digitally literate workers. We explored how social media communicators navigate the role stressors of this recently developed organizational position. The qualitative results revealed communicators struggled with and managed role ambiguity by relying on outside social media experts and Web analytics. A separate international quantitative survey of social communicators showed organizational leadership and social media self-development activities diminished levels of perceived ambiguity. The implications of this research suggest that organizational leaders possess minimal authority and influence in defining the role of knowledge workers.     

Weblog Technology for Instruction,Learning, and Information Delivery*

Ever since Weblog emerged as an infusive online communication tool over the last decade, its impacts have been witnessed by the Internet society at large. Meanwhile, more and more universities and colleges are offering online classes enhanced by Web technology. In this article, we investigate the role of Weblog combined with face‐to‐face lectures through a three‐phase study that examines college students' perception of Weblog used in class. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) techniques are employed to recognize meaningful patterns from collected data. The findings lie in the aspects of: relationship between level of study and the perceived value of Weblog, the relationship between level of Weblog experience and the perceived value of Weblog, and factors contributing to students' perception of Weblog usage. As the first work of its kind examining Weblog adoption from student perspective, this article provides educators, researchers, and practitioners with conceptual and practical references.