Does attendance to a four-year academic college versus vocational college affect future wages?

Taiwan is one of the few countries in which bachelor degrees can be earned by attending either 4-year academic colleges or vocational colleges. This paper offers new evidence on whether returns to B.A. degrees are significantly different between academic and vocational 4-year colleges using the 1998–1999 Taiwanese College Graduate Survey. The multinomial logit model is applied to correct self-selection for employment status, and a wage equation is then estimated. The results suggest that the returns to 4-year academic colleges are 6% higher than those to 4-year vocational colleges. We also find a significant effect of college quality on wages. Moreover, public academic college graduates have the highest returns whereas those who attend private vocational colleges have the lowest returns.     

Hybrid capillary-inserted microfluidic device for sheathless particle focusing and separation in viscoelastic flow

A novel microfluidic device which consists of two stages for particle focusing and separation using a viscoelastic fluid has been developed. A circular capillary tube was used for three-dimensional particle pre-alignment before the separation process, which was inserted in a polydimethylsiloxane microchannel. Particles with diameters of 5 and 10 μm were focused at the centerline in the capillary tube, and the location of particles was initialized at the first bifurcation. Then, 5 and 10 μm particles were successfully separated in the expansion region based on size-dependent lateral migration, with ∼99% separation efficiency. The proposed device was further applied to separation of MCF-7 cells from leukocytes. Based on the cell size distribution, an approximate size cutoff for separation was determined to be 16 μm. At 200 μl/min, 94% of MCF-7 cells were separated with the purity of ∼97%. According to the trypan blue exclusion assay, high viability (∼90%) could be achieved for the separated MCF-7 cells. The use of a commercially available capillary tube enables the device to be highly versatile in dealing with particles in a wide size range by using capillary tubes with different inner diameters.     

Voice over distance: a case of podcasting for learning in online teacher education

This paper reports on a case study of an online pre-service teacher education course in a New Zealand university aimed at exploring the potential of student-generated podcasts as a form of interactive formative assessment at a distance. The study was part of a wider two-year funded project with the overall goal of documenting, developing, and disseminating effective and innovative e-learning practice. Findings from lecturer and tutor interviews, student focus group (FG) discussion, and course evaluations indicate that the podcasting task provided opportunities for the course lecturer, tutors, and students to learn and share ideas with one another. The experience empowered students to develop the skills and confidence to initiate more independent inquiry into technologies to support their pedagogical purposes. The study contributes to a better understanding of the skills, dispositions, and knowledge needed to prepare teacher candidates for teaching-learning contexts where information and communication technologies are increasingly pivotal.     

The Relationship Between Psychopathology and Shame in Secondary School Students

This study investigated the relationship between psychopathology and shame. Three hundred and thirty-one Secondary 2 students from Singapore participated in the study. All students completed a self-report questionnaire consisting of the Anxiety and Depression scales of the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC), the short version of the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ), and the Internalized Shame Scale (ISS). As predicted, students in the comorbid group at-risk for anxiety, depression and aggression, had significantly higher shame scores compared with at-risk students in all the other three single-disordered groups (anxiety-only, depression-only, or aggression-only) as well as students in the control group. Also, as expected, the control group scored significantly lower compared to all other single-disorder groups and the comorbid group. Implications of these findings with regard to comorbidity of psychopathology and its relationship to shame, classroom interventions, as well as implications pertaining to teachers' and counsellors' work with at-risk students will be discussed.     

高校图书馆资源发现系统架构下的信息服务探索

在资源发现系统架构下的信息服务模式中,用户对图书馆服务系统的有效感知成为首要环节,而提供以关联数据为核心的数据服务使得图书馆由传统的信息服务向知识集成服务转变。文章论述了高校图书馆资源发现系统的建议、开发模式、服务架构以及提供信息服务的途径。     

The role of HE in professional development: some reflections on a foundation degree for teaching assistants

Rapid change in higher education (HE) has lead to a reappraisal and debate about the role and ‘mission’ of the university and the university teacher. In the diversification of the HE sector, it is possible to see a shift away from the ‘advancement of knowledge’ as the primary purpose of the HE sector as a whole. This article focuses on a particular dimension of this change referred to as the ‘vocationalisation’ of HE and evident in the growing role of work-based learning (WBL) in the academy. In particular, foundation degrees provide a context for examining the role of WBL and the university in professional development. Analysis of interviews with 19 students on, or progressing from a foundation degree for teaching assistants reveals how they construct their learning and the relationship between work-based and academic learning. The author concludes that notions of ‘equivalence’ between work-based and academic learning are flawed and fail to recognise HE's distinctive contribution to professional learning, and argues for recognition of the distinctive contributions that both WBL and ‘academic’ learning make to professional development.     

Diaspora as method: Inter-Asia Cultural Studies and the Asian Australian Studies Research Network

ABSTRACT

What is the place of the diasporas within the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies movement, and how can Asian diasporas in the West contribute to Inter-Asia's intellectual project of “problematising Asia”? Developing a notion of diaspora as method, this essay highlights the complementary relationship between the Asian Australian Studies Research Network and the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies network. It argues that the Inter-Asia network has much to gain from embracing the Asian Australian diaspora as an interlocutor with shared priorities and concerns, and that Asian Australian studies can also productively learn from Inter-Asia's alternative model of institutionalisation, thereby expanding its theoretical and methodological frames of reference.     

网络问答社区对高校图书馆知识服务的影响研究

网络问答社区利用Web2.0方式重建了人与信息的关系,对高校图书馆的知识共享、社会发展环境和"Living Library"推广产生影响。高校图书馆应吸收借鉴网络问答社区知识服务模式、重视隐性知识采购、参与问答社区服务平台,以满足社会网络环境下的用户知识需求。     

A Problem-based Approach to Learning Economics: An Experiment in Progress at the Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Employers want workers with the skills of life-long learning and problem-solving. Recent efforts emphasize the value of having learning skills embedded within the total curriculum. The problem-based approach to learning has been found to encourage the development of these skills in students as well as to foster in them a deep (as opposed to the surface) approach to learning. The problem bared approach is also seen to foster confidence and initiative, and in some instances the development of teamwork and communication skills. This paper briefly describes the problem-based approach and the attempt currently being made to introduce the approach to business studies students at Ngee Ann Polytechnic in the context of an Economics course. Preliminary results indicate that students had been stimulated to show initiative, and that a large majority found self-learning, communication skills to be a major benefit of the course.     

Emerging Principalship Collaborative Style: Towards Research in Mentoring

An earlier exploratory study (Chong, 1991) suggest that a collaborative style of principalship is expected to emerge from the mentoring process. This paper highlights aspects of the environment of school management in Singapore which are beginning to support this emerging style that future principals are learning to adopt. It also identifies some possible areas for further research. Implications for policy and management are discussed. Mentoring episodes in Singapore could provide a unique opportunity for research that explicate a theory of morphogenesis.