Ethnic identity maintenance within the Latino-American church: a structuration perspective

The Latino ethnic/immigrant church plays a significant role in maintaining the ethnic identity of its congregants. Through the perspective of structuration theory, this qualitative analysis investigates how the activities of the church impact its members and how an individual might contribute to the cultural structure of the Latino church (i.e., duality of structure). Interviews of 25 pastors from Spanish-speaking congregations in both urban and rural settings in Oregon resulted in several themes including the initial planting of the church, the denominational structure, the emergence of a new multi-ethnic cultural identity, generational differences, and the influence of Spanish.     

Two-step photolithography to fabricate multilevel microchannels

In this paper, we study the variation of the thickness of patterned microchannel features in photoresist (PR) by two-step photolithography. The final PR thickness is determined by the thickness and width of the predefined PR pattern in the first-step lithography and the thickness of the spin-coated PR film in the second-step lithography. Thickness variation is demonstrated to be an important consideration within the critical pattern width that the capillary pressure is still dominant for forming the PR film thickness. With this mechanism of two-step photolithography, we demonstrate its ability to form multilevel channel features and its use to fabricate a cross-flow filter with two different pore sizes as a microfluidic application.     

Constructivist research in educational technology: A retrospective view and future prospects

Along with a socially urgent impetus for revolutionary reform of an educational environment appropriate to the 21st century society, constructivism is highlighted in various fields related to education as an alternative educational ideology and approach. Despite its radical shift from traditional learning environments, and the diverse interpretation and understanding among scholars on the nature of constructivism, constructivism surely has brought out meaningful changes and developments in understanding how people learn. In light of this context, the present study aims to retrospectively review the last decade of constructivism, which will be followed by a brief prospective on its future in the next decade, simultaneously taking into account expectations as to how constructivism can stand firm as a theoretical basis for the digital age.     

Improving the process of E-Government initiative: An in-depth case study of web-based GIS implementation

Research on E-Government has largely focused on understanding the “outcomes and outputs of the E-Government project” [Yildiz, M. (2007). E-Government research: Reviewing the literature, limitations, and ways forward. Government Information Quarterly, 24(3), 646–665.]. It is argued that the existing research on E-Government tends to oversimplify the phenomenon. To address the call, the current study focuses on the process of an E-Government initiative by loosely drawing on the ‘technology enactment framework,’ in conjunction with the ‘systems development life cycle’ approach. Using a case study orientation, this study describes in detail how a geographic information systems implementation project is conducted at a local government in the United States. Insights into E-Government initiatives are presented and discussed.     

Impact analysis for national R&D funding in science and technology using quantification method II

As the influences of science and technology on its national economy have increased, each country has devised various funding programs for research and development (R&D) projects. Numerous studies have been conducted to evaluate the performance of such R&D projects. In most studies, the performances were measured in terms of an ordinal Likert scale, but they were treated as continuous variables. Much important information can be buried when a categorical Likert scale is treated as continuous variable. In this paper, we treat Likert scales as categorical and apply quantification method II to analyze the relationship between short- to mid-term performance factors and long-term impact factor of R&D projects. We apply the proposed approach to the survey data obtained from the Science and Technology Promotion Fund in Korea. The results of this paper are expected to contribute to a better understanding of the impact of R&D funding.     

Design Education in China: New Proposals to Address Endemic Problems

This paper is concerned with identifying the problems that pervade design education and the practice of design in China so that a way forward can be proposed to make improvements that will enable the Chinese design industry to become more competitive after entry into the World Trade Organisation. The authors gathered data from their own experiences and observations in situ, as well as surveys they commissioned. They found that there are numerous endemic, fundamental problems in the practice of design education across the whole education sector. Fortunately, many Chinese design educators and managers of design companies are cognizant of these problems and are motivated to institute changes, even though they are unsure of what these changes should be or how they should be implemented. The authors conclude by making their own recommendations for effecting improvements in design education and professional development.     

利用叙词表开发本体

文章提出了一种构建大规模韩语叙词表的方法,这种叙词表可用于在各种不同领域内提高检索性能.目前它主要用于标引以及检索过程,新的词汇也正源源不断地添加进来.随着韩语中对于检索性能的新需求的不断增加,开发一个大规模的本体系统应当是必要的,因而一个正在进行的项目的目标就是把现有叙词表转变为一个本体系统.文章将描述叙词表是如何构建的,并指出如何将其演变为一个本体系统的基础.     

Can 5-month-old infants consider the perspective of a novel eyeless agent? New evidence for early mentalistic reasoning

Is early reasoning about an agent's knowledge best characterized by a mentalistic stance, a teleological stance, or both? In this research, 5-month-old infants (N = 64, 50% female, 83% White) saw a novel eyeless agent consistently approach object-A as opposed to object-B. Although infants could always see both objects, a screen separated object-B from the agent. When object-B protruded above the screen, infants interpreted the agent's actions as revealing a preference for object-A over object-B. When object-B did not protrude above the screen, however, infants refrained from attributing such a preference: Consistent with mentalistic accounts, they reasoned that the agent's representation of the scene did not include object-B, and they used the agent's incomplete representation, non-egocentrically, to interpret its actions.     

A comparison of Korean and American secondary school textbooks: the case of quadratic equations

This study compares quadratic equations sections of Korean and American textbooks. The number of topics, contents and mathematics items were analyzed. The results show Korean students learn some topics relatively earlier than American students. American textbooks include more problems requiring explanations and various representations and problems requiring higher level cognitive demand. This result could indicate that textbooks might not be the reason for American and Korean students’ performances in international comparative studies. More studies analyzing other standards based textbooks and teaching practice might be needed to have further understanding of mathematics education in two countries.