“We Feel Connected… and Like We Belong”: A Parent-Led,Staff-Supported Model of Family Engagement in Early Childhood

Early Childhood Education Journal - Although researchers and practitioners have acknowledged that family engagement in children’s schooling occurs in many forms, most studies and program...     

Incorporating Emic Perspectives in Defining Social Competence: Validation of Parental Assessment of Peer Play Interactions at Home for Low-Income Chinese-Heritage Children

Early Childhood Education Journal - Despite the rapid growth of the Chinese immigrant population in the United States, little is known about the social behaviors of Chinese-heritage,...     

Cascaded spiral microfluidic device for deterministic and high purity continuous separation of circulating tumor cells

Inertial microfluidics is an emerging class of technologies developed to separate circulating tumor cells (CTCs). However, defining design parameters and flow conditions for optimal operation remains nondeterministic due to incomplete understanding of the mechanics, which has led to challenges in designing efficient systems. Here, we perform a parametric study of the inertial focusing effects observed in low aspect ratio curvilinear microchannels and utilize the results to demonstrate the isolation of CTCs with high purity. First, we systematically vary parameters including the channel height, width, and radius of curvature over a wide range of flow velocities to analyze its effect on size dependent differential focusing and migration behaviors of binary (10 μm and 20 μm) particles. Second, we use these results to identify optimal flow regimes to achieve maximum separation in various channel configurations and establish design guidelines to readily provide information for developing spiral channels tailored to potentially arbitrary flow conditions that yield a desired equilibrium position for optimal size based CTC separation. Finally, we describe a fully integrated, sheath-less cascaded spiral microfluidic device to continuously isolate CTCs. Human breast cancer epithelial cells were successfully extracted from leukocytes, achieving 86.76% recovery, 97.91% depletion rate, and sustaining high viability upon collection to demonstrate the versatility of the device. Importantly, this device was designed without the cumbersome trail-and-error optimization process that has hindered the development of designing such inertial microfluidic systems.     

A polystyrene-based microfluidic device with three-dimensional interconnected microporous walls for perfusion cell culture

In this article, we present a simple, rapid prototyped polystyrene-based microfluidic device with three-dimensional (3D) interconnected microporous walls for long term perfusion cell culture. Patterned 3D interconnected microporous structures were created by a chemical treatment together with a protective mask and the native hydrophobic nature of the microporous structures were selectively made hydrophilic using oxygen plasma treatment together with a protective mask. Using this polystyrene-based cell culture microfluidic device, we successfully demonstrated the support of four days perfusion cell culture of hepatocytes (C3A cells).     

UNDERSTANDING TEST‐TYPE ASSIGNMENT: WHY DO SPECIAL EDUCATORS MAKE UNEXPECTED TEST‐TYPE ASSIGNMENTS?

We interviewed special educators (a) whose students with disabilities (SWDs) were proficient on the 2008 general education assessment but were assigned to the 2009 alternate assessment based on modified achievement standards (AA‐MAS), and (b) whose students with mild disabilities took the 2008 alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards (AA‐AAS) and then the 2009 AA‐MAS. We explored teachers’ rationales for test‐type assignment, student characteristics, and quality of instruction to determine the test‐type decisions’ appropriateness. All teachers based their decisions on combinations of factors in the guidelines plus subjective and noninstructional factors. Findings raised concerns about the subjectivity of the assessment assignment system and the inappropriate grade‐level instruction for SWDs. Future research, implications of these findings, and limitations are discussed.     

Non-positional cell microarray prepared by shape-coded polymeric microboards: A new microarray format for multiplex and high throughput cell-based assays

A non-positional (or suspension) cell microarray was developed using shape-coded SU-8 photoresist microboards for potential application in multiplex and high-throughput cell-based assays. A conventional photolithography process on glass slides produced various shapes of SU-8 micropatterns that had a lateral dimension of 200 μm and a thickness of 40 μm. The resultant micropatterns were detached from the slides by sonication and named "microboards" due to the fact that had a much larger lateral dimension than thickness. The surfaces of the SU-8 microboards were modified with collagen to promote cell adhesion, and it was confirmed that collagen-coated SU-8 microboards supported cell adhesion and proliferation. Seeding of cells into poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG) hydrogel-coated well plates containing collagen-modified microboards resulted in selective cell adhesion onto the microboards due to the non-adhesiveness of PEG hydrogel toward cells, thereby creating non-positional arrays of microboards carrying cells. Finally, two different cell types (fibroblasts and HeLa cells) were separately cultured on different shapes of microboards and subsequently mixed together to create a non-positional cell microarray consisting of multiple cell types where each cell could be easily identified by the shape of the microboard to which they had adhered. Because numerous unique shapes of microboards can be fabricated using this method by simply changing the photomask designs, high throughput and multiplex cell-based assays would be easily achieved with this system in the future.     

Teachable-moment-oriented curriculum practice in early childhood education

This study explores aspects of teachable-moment-oriented curriculum practice by questioning whether a teacher's teachable moment is relevant to the learner's 'learnable moment'. For teachable-moment-oriented curriculum practice to result in developmentally and culturally appropriate meaningful learning, transforming the identity between learner and teacher seems imperative. Data collected from naturalistic settings in various teacher education contexts over the last few years are used. Both prospective and in-service teachers' images of teachable-moment-oriented curriculum practices are presented     

Feedback effect of brand extension in cable networks established by parent newspaper brands: applying expectation disconfirmation theory

ABSTRACT

In the present study, we constructed a new research model to understand the feedback effects of brand extension by applying expectation disconfirmation theory to a real-world case of brand extension among South Korean newspapers. We found that the feedback effect was significant in brand extension efforts between the newspaper and broadcast industries. In addition, the relationships between evaluations of the extension brand and the parent brand were mediated by variables defined by expectation disconfirmation theory, including perceived performance and expectation disconfirmation. We also found that expectation disconfirmation can affect evaluations of the parent brand regardless of the perceived fit. Finally, we verified that expectation disconfirmation differs according to the level of perceived fit.     

State estimation for jump markov nonlinear systems of unknown measurement data covariance

For state estimation of high accuracy, prior knowledge of measurement noise is necessary. In this paper, a method for solving the joint state estimation problem of jump Markov nonlinear systems (JMNSs) without knowing the measurement noise covariance is developed. By using the Inverse-Gamma distribution to describe the dynamics of measurement noise covariance, the joint conditional posterior distribution of the state variable and measurement noise covariance is approximated by a product of separable variational Bayesian (VB) marginals. In the newly constructed approach, the interacting multiple model (IMM) algorithm, as well as the particle-based approximation strategy, is employed to handle the computationally intractable problem and the nonlinear characteristics of systems, respectively. An interesting feature of the proposed method is that the distribution of states is spanned by a set of particles with weights, while the counterpart of measurement noise covariance is obtained analytically. Moreover, the number of particles is fixed under each mode, indicating a reasonable computational cost. Simulation results based on a numerical example and a tunnel diode circuit (TDC) system are presented to demonstrate that the proposed method can estimate the measurement noise covariance well and provide satisfied state estimation when the statistics of the measurement are unavailable.     

The Telos of Information Technology in a Transitional Culture: Implications for the Globalization of Korean Higher Education

Taking Kyonggi University of Korea as a case example, the authors describe how its varied initiatives in the realm of information technology (IT) integration are affecting pedagogical and research practice, both theoretically and practically, with emphasis given to balancing access to higher education and quality. They also examine the impacts of IT in Korean society at large. They conclude with a summary consideration of the challenges to intellectual social life engendered or empowered by the embrace of high technology by academe.