Communicating Science to Impact Learning? A Phenomenological Inquiry into 4th and 5th Graders’ Perceptions of Science Information Sources

Rooted in science education and science communication studies, this study examines 4th and 5th grade students’ perceptions of science information sources (SIS) and their use in communicating science to students. It combines situated learning theory with uses and gratifications theory in a qualitative phenomenological analysis. Data were gathered through classroom observations and interviews in four Turkish elementary schools. Focus group interviews with 47 students and individual interviews with 17 teachers and 10 parents were conducted. Participants identified a wide range of SIS, including TV, magazines, newspapers, internet, peers, teachers, families, science centers/museums, science exhibitions, textbooks, science books, and science camps. Students reported using various SIS in school-based and non-school contexts to satisfy their cognitive, affective, personal, and social integrative needs. SIS were used for science courses, homework/project assignments, examination/test preparations, and individual science-related research. Students assessed SIS in terms of the perceived accessibility of the sources, the quality of the content, and the content presentation. In particular, some sources such as teachers, families, TV, science magazines, textbooks, and science centers/museums (“directive sources”) predictably led students to other sources such as teachers, families, internet, and science books (“directed sources”). A small number of sources crossed context boundaries, being useful in both school and out. Results shed light on the connection between science education and science communication in terms of promoting science learning.     

Intergenerational Stories and the “Othering” of Samoan Youth in Schools

Through a critical cultural assets model, the authors use the methodological practices of collaboration, community site visits, document analysis, and interviews with cultural insiders to explore schools’ continued rejection of academic belonging for people from “othered” communities. They explore the case of Samoan youth—a marginalized cultural group—to contest the shared belief that school-based citizenry is an educational impossibility. Interview data with Samoan elders is analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research methods (Hill et al. in Couns Psychol 24(4):517–572, 1997). They present themes of cultural capacities and academic disconnection to imagine a school context for the integration of cultural assets for “othered” youth (Kliewer and Biklen in Teach Coll Rec 109(12):2579–2600, 2007; Kliewer et al. American Educ Res Assoc J 3(2):163–192, 2006).     

谈文学形象翻译中的添加法

在翻译中我们经常碰到一些带有鲜明的文化内涵和民族特点的文学形象(意象)。有的文学形象可译,有的难译,有的不可译;该文试以李商隐和莎士比亚的两句诗的翻译论述了其中很重要的一种方法——添加法,并说明这种方法与直译法和变通法等之间的区别及其使用的效果。     

The Many Sides of QUBE: Interactive Television and Innovation in Electronic Media, 1977–1983

QUBE was an interactive cable television system that attracted significant attention when it launched in 1977. The service has been deemed a commercial failure, though many of its ideas foreshadowed current television practices. There is however no detailed study of QUBE, and previous scholarship provides limited information. Using Moran’s concept of an “evolution-revolution,” this study analyzes the content offerings of QUBE to reveal how they were similar, and how they differed, from prior practice. This historical inquiry fills a gap in the historical record, while also exploring the complex nature of innovation in the world of electronic media.     

‘To show or No-show’? Therapist Racial-ethnic Disparities in Clients’ Nonattendance in Therapy

Clients’ nonattendance in therapy poses a significant threat to the effective delivery of mental health services at university counseling centers. As such, researchers have investigated processes related to clients’ nonattendance in an effort to increase treatment utilization and treatment outcomes. However, there is a paucity of research testing the impact of the therapist on clients’ nonattendance patterns. Additionally, it is unknown whether therapists vary in the nonattendance of their racial/ethnic minority (REM) and White clients. Therefore, the present study sought to identify therapist effects in client nonattendance rates, and examine between-therapist disparities in REM and White clients’ nonattendance patterns. Data for this study consisted of 275 REM and 341 White clients seen by 21 therapists at a large university counseling center. Results indicated that therapists accounted for 14% of the variability in clients’ nonattendance. Additionally, therapist effects in nonattendance due to clients’ REM status were identified, suggesting that therapists are a significant source of racial/ethnic disparities in clients’ nonattendance. REM clients’ nonattendance rates were higher compared to White clients for some therapists, but not others. Clinical implications and future research are discussed.     

莫大危险:人变成了神却不负责任

在7万年前,智人还不过是一种微不足道的动物,在非洲的角落自顾自地生活。但就在接下来的几千年间,智人就成了整个地球的主人、生态系统的梦魇。时至今日,智人似乎只要再跨一步就能进入神的境界,不仅有望获得永恒的青春,更拥有创造和毁灭一切的神力。但遗憾的是,智人在地球上的所作所为,实在没有太多令人自豪。     

An integrated microfluidic platform to fabricate single-micrometer asymmetric giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) using dielectrophoretic separation of microemulsions

We present a microfluidic technique that generates asymmetric giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) in the size range of 2–14 μm. In our method, we (i) create water-in-oil emulsions as the precursors to build synthetic vesicles, (ii) deflect the emulsions across two oil streams containing different phospholipids at high throughput to establish an asymmetric architecture in the lipid bilayer membranes, and (iii) direct the water-in-oil emulsions across the oil–water interface of an oscillating oil jet in a co-flowing confined geometry to encapsulate the inner aqueous phase inside a lipid bilayer and complete the fabrication of GUVs. In the first step, we utilize a flow-focusing geometry with precisely controlled pneumatic pressures to form monodisperse water-in-oil emulsions. We observed different regimes in forming water-in-oil multiphase flows by changing the applied pressures and discovered a hysteretic behavior in jet breakup and droplet generation. In the second step of GUV fabrication, an oil stream containing phospholipids carries the emulsions into a separation region where we steer the emulsions across two parallel oil streams using active dielectrophoretic and pinched-flow fractionation separations. We explore the effect of applied DC voltage magnitude and carrier oil stream flow rate on the separation efficiency. We develop an image processing code that measures the degree of mixing between the two oil streams as the water-in-oil emulsions travel across them under dielectrophoretic steering to find the ideal operational conditions. Finally, we utilize an oscillating co-flowing jet to complete the formation of asymmetric giant unilamellar vesicles and transfer them to an aqueous phase. We investigate the effect of flow rates on properties of the co-flowing jet oscillating in the whipping mode (i.e., wavelength and amplitude) and define the phase diagram for the oil-in-water jet. Assays used to probe the lipid bilayer membrane of fabricated GUVs showed that membranes were unilamellar, minimal residual oil remained trapped between the two lipid leaflets, and 83% asymmetry was achieved across the lipid bilayers of GUVs.