The Vietnam War and the ‘Miracle of East Asia’

Abstract

The Muslim community in Sri Lanka has a pre-Islamic origin. Ethnically they are a mixed group, but changing political fortunes throughout the course of Sri Lankan history have made them realize that their identity lies in holding fast to the religion of Islam and not to any ethnic category. The current Sinhala-Tamil ethnic war has once again reinforced the need to hold on to the religious identity even more tightly. However, recent economic and political changes in the country and changes taking place in the Muslim world have injected new concerns for the community to worry about. The community is well and truly trapped in a political quagmire. This article highlights some aspects of this predicament.     

Antimelanogenic effects of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Inula britannica</Emphasis> flower petal extract fermented by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lactobacillus plantarum</Emphasis> KCCM 11613P

The inhibitory effects of Lactobacillus plantarum-fermented and non-fermented Inula britannica extracts on the tyrosinase activity were comparatively investigated to examine whether and how they improve the whitening activity, and the contents of total flavonoids and polyphenolics as bioactive compounds were determined. The skin whitening activity using in vitro or ex vivo tyrosinase and L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) staining was examined. The total flavonoid content (TFC) was increased by 13.4% after 72 h-fermentation. The viabilities of the B16F10 cells treated with the fermented and non-fermented control extracts were 100.26% and 92.15% at 500 μg/ml, respectively. In addition, the inhibition of tyrosinase activity was increased by the fermented samples from 29.33% to 41.74% following fermentation for up to 72 h. The tyrosinase activity of the untreated control group was increased to 145.69% in B16F10 cells. The results showed that I. britannica fermented by L. plantarum dose-dependently inhibited tyrosinase activity, which was stimulated by α-melanocyte stimulating hormone. These results suggest that lactic fermented I. britannica extracts can be used as effective skin-whitening materials.     

职业教育中的音乐教学改革

职业教育是国家重点工程,根据职业教育的特点和规律,通过对市场的分析和研究、探索和发现,寻找出适应社会市场需求的实用型、复合型、时代型的职业人才。如何将艺术和职业学校学生的职业技能相关联,这是一个关键性的突破口。尝试课改,尝试教改,在实践中发现表演艺术带来的惊喜,同时也获得一定的成功。     

Children's experience of violence in China and Korea: a transcultural study

OBJECTIVE: There were two aims: First, to compare children's rates of being battered in home, by peers, and by teachers among students between China and Korea, and second, to identify particular risk factors for such violence. METHODS: Children in grades four through six in Shanghai (238 cases) and Yanji (245 cases) in China and Seoul (248 cases) and Kimpo (241 cases) in Korea were surveyed by questionnaire method. They were asked to complete the Straus' Conflict Tactics Scale and their frequencies in the three situations respectively, and other demographic items. RESULTS: Family violence during the last 1 year was experienced in 70.6% (minor 42.2%; serious 22.6%) of the children in China and 68.9% (minor 9.4%; serious 51.3%) of those in Korea. Experience rates of violence by peers were 42.7% (minor 25.7%; serious 13.7%) in China and 26.0% (minor 11.5%; serious 14.3%) in Korea. Finally, rates of corporal punishment by teachers were 51.1% (minor 28.0%; serious 4.1%) in China and 62.0% (minor 8.8%; serious 43.8%) in Korea. The most important and common risk factor for violence in one situation was the presence of violence in another situation. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that the differences in children's overall experience rates were not particularly striking. However, Korean children experienced more severe forms of violence from family members and from teachers. Findings of risk factors clearly imply that there are children vulnerable to violence from multiple sources.     

Love Styles and Communication in Relationships: Partner Preferences,Initiation, and Intensification

The three exploratory studies reported here investigate the role of love styles in the early stages of romantic relationships. Study 1 (N = 108) had subjects rate and rank 14 characteristics of prospective romantic partners. As expected, individual's love style scores were related to the characteristics people report as desirable in a relational partner. Several of these effects, however, were moderated by sex. Study 2 (N = 173) revealed that scores on love styles were associated with ratings of opening lines and intensification strategies. None of these effects were moderated by sex. Study 3 (N = 137) investigated the association between love styles and ratings of secret tests among individuals currently involved in a romantic relationship. The results indicated that love styles were associated with ratings of secret tests. These data add to a growing body of literature suggesting that love styles are associated with individual differences in relational and communicative behavior across the life span of romantic relationships.     

Opinion Versus Knowledge: The Influence of Testimony Format on Children’s Judgments in Morally Relevant Contexts

Research Findings: To test children’s use of testimony of others, 3 – 9 years (N = 227) made judgments about a potential peer transgression in which the intentions of the protagonist were ambiguous, after hearing two different forms of testimony. The 2 forms of testimony were (a) opposing opinion-based testimony from an adult authority versus a peer consensus group and (b) knowledge-based testimony (eyewitness testimony) that was counter to the participants’ initial judgments. Findings revealed that when testimony was presented in an opinion-based format, children were likely to side with the opinion that reflected their own interpretation of the peer encounter, regardless of whether the opinion came from a peer consensus or an adult authority. However, when knowledge-based testimony was introduced in support of the opposite of children’s initial interpretation of the ambiguous peer encounter, children most often changed their initial judgment to align with the new testimony. That is, children used knowledge-based testimony but not opinion-based testimony to evaluate a potential transgression. Practice or Policy: These findings demonstrate that the way in which testimony is delivered to children has a direct influence on their decision making about peer interactions and has relevance for teacher–student discourse in the classroom.     

What is a good father? The meaning of a good father through sports parenting in South Korea

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to uncover the meanings that constitute a good father within the context of a sports/leisure setting and to analyse how these meanings are enacted in practice. Results showed that the ‘good father’ of today, as perceived by fathers, is a multifaceted construct that is construed through their interactions with other family members. First, fathers constructed the meanings of a good father through the memories of their own fathers during their childhood. Second, fathers constructed the meanings through their relationship with their wives. They regarded sport parenting as an important practice for them to be a good husband to their wives. Finally, fathers constructed the meanings of a good father through their relationships with their children and the time spent with their children was a particularly important requirement for them to fulfil their role as a good father.     

Product architecture,organizational capabilities and IT integration for competitive advantage

Increasingly, firms recognize the strategic implications of front-end product design for improving total cost effectiveness. Computer-aided design (CAD) is becoming firms’ competitive weapon beyond its traditional function as a product design tool. Yet, it is unclear how the full potential of IT system, particularly the usage patterns of 3D CAD system, may be realized through organizational capabilities. This paper presents a model of IT system configurations and CAD usage patterns. Next, a typology of IT system configurations is presented based on (1) the degree of CAD integration between assembly makers and suppliers and (2) the structure of product design information (i.e., product architecture). The product architecture of four electronic firms illustrates that information integration through organizational capabilities is more important than IT investment itself. The findings suggest that a Korean firm accomplishes a greater level of IT integration compared to the other two Japanese firms and thus attain better market performance. This study offers valuable insight on effective IT integration strategy for competitive advantage in the global market.     

Centrifugal multiplexing fixed-volume dispenser on a plastic lab-on-a-disk for parallel biochemical single-end-point assays

In this study, a multiple sample dispenser for precisely metered fixed volumes was successfully designed, fabricated, and fully characterized on a plastic centrifugal lab-on-a-disk (LOD) for parallel biochemical single-end-point assays. The dispenser, namely, a centrifugal multiplexing fixed-volume dispenser (C-MUFID) was designed with microfluidic structures based on the theoretical modeling about a centrifugal circumferential filling flow. The designed LODs were fabricated with a polystyrene substrate through micromachining and they were thermally bonded with a flat substrate. Furthermore, six parallel metering and dispensing assays were conducted at the same fixed-volume (1.27 μl) with a relative variation of ±0.02 μl. Moreover, the samples were metered and dispensed at different sub-volumes. To visualize the metering and dispensing performances, the C-MUFID was integrated with a serpentine micromixer during parallel centrifugal mixing tests. Parallel biochemical single-end-point assays were successfully conducted on the developed LOD using a standard serum with albumin, glucose, and total protein reagents. The developed LOD could be widely applied to various biochemical single-end-point assays which require different volume ratios of the sample and reagent by controlling the design of the C-MUFID. The proposed LOD is feasible for point-of-care diagnostics because of its mass-producible structures, reliable metering/dispensing performance, and parallel biochemical single-end-point assays, which can identify numerous biochemical.