Promoting university–industry collaboration in Malaysia: stakeholders’ perspectives on expectations and impediments

University–Industry Collaboration (UIC) has been identified as an essential item on Malaysia’s agenda for transforming itself into knowledge and innovation-based economy. However, despite the efforts, most initiatives have had limited results. This paper reports on an explorative study that sought to understand the contemporary realities of UIC in the Malaysian context. In particular, the study identified the expectations and impediments to UIC, from the perspectives of three groups of stakeholders – the academics, the industry players and policymakers. The findings reveal a number of barriers, including cultural differences, perceived lack of academic expertise and reputation, an inadequacy of institutional policies and regulations, lack of trust, issues of intellectual property rights, and the lack of an appropriate reward system. This paper concludes by proposing policy recommendations and strategies that could be used by the government, university, and the industry to promote further and foster university-industry collaborative opportunities and initiatives.     

The Jomtien plan of action in the sub-Saharan context

Following an academic career, became Minister for Higher Education of Senegal. He is a former member of UNESCO's Executive Board.     

Advertising images among Hong Kong Chinese: Use of individual modernity and western orientation clusters in determining market segmentation∗

Advertising is a highly visible force in Hong Kong society. Within this diverse environment, media organizations and marketers attempt to define target markets (market segmentation) composed of persons who are most likely to be influenced by their marketing and advertising efforts. This research, based on a 1,019 sample face‐to‐face intercept survey, segments the market based on measures of self‐ascribed individual modernity and individual traditionalism and Chinese and Western value orientation. The scales are statistically analysed by cluster analysis, to place each respondent into clusters. The segmentation scheme viability is analysed in relation to media consumption and attitudes about specific advertising issues in six areas: 1. consumer benefits and economic force; 2. credibility; 3. entertainment value; 4. social force; 5. manipulation and motivation; and 6. repetition. The segmentation of individual modernity/traditionalism and Chinese/Western orientation provides greater differentiation than age, gender, income, education or place of residence.     

A tool for changing the world: possibilities of cultural‐historical activity theory to reinvigorate science education

Cultural‐historical activity theory, an outcrop of socio‐psychological approaches toward human development, has enjoyed tremendous growth over the past two decades but has yet to be appropriated into science education to any large extent. In part, the difficulties Western scholars have had in adopting this framework arise from its ontology, which is materialist dialectical and, hence, does not allow easy absorption into non‐dialectical (classical logical) thinking underlying much of Western scholarship. Cultural‐historical activity theory has tremendous potential because it sublates traditional dichotomies in everyday teaching‐learning situations including individual/collective, body/mind, intra‐/inter‐psychological, cognitive/emotive and psychological/sociological. In this contribution, we not only review the existing literature that uses or develops this non‐dualistic approach, but also articulate an intelligible explication of the theory that is more accessible to Western scholars and describe possible future curriculum work and research in science education as an expression of the fruitfulness of the theory.     

Anti-adipogenic effects of extracts of Ficus deltoidea var. deltoidea and var. angustifolia on 3T3-L1 adipocytes简

Objective

This study examined the anti-adipogenic effects of extracts of Ficus deltoidea var. deltoidia and var. angustifolia, a natural slimming aid, on 3T3-L1 adipocytes.

Methods

Methanol and water extracts of leaves of the F. deltoidea varieties were analyzed to determine their total flavonoid content (TFC) and total phenolic content (TPC), respectively. The study was initiated by determining the maximum non-toxic dose (MNTD) of the methanol and water extracts for 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. Possible anti-adipogenic effects were then examined by treating 2-d post confluent 3T3-L1 preadipocytes with either methanol extract or water extract at MNTD and half MNTD (1/2MNTD), after which the preadipocytces were induced to form mature adipocytes. Visualisation and quantification of lipid content in mature adipocytes were carried out through oil red O staining and measurement of optical density (OD) at 520 nm, respectively.

Results

The TFCs of the methanol extracts were 1.36 and 1.97 g quercetin equivalents (QE)/100 g dry weight (DW), while the TPCs of the water extracts were 5.61 and 2.73 g gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/100 g DW for var. deltoidea and var. angustilofia, respectively. The MNTDs determined for methanol and water extracts were (300.0±28.3) and (225.0±21.2) μg/ml, respectively, for var. deltoidea, while much lower MNTDs [(60.0±2.0) μg/ml for methanol extracts and (8.0±1.0) μg/ml for water extracts] were recorded for var. angustifolia. Studies revealed that the methanol extracts of both varieties and the water extracts of var. angustifolia at either MNTD or 1/2MNTD significantly inhibited the maturation of preadipocytes. Conclusions: The inhibition of the formation of mature adipocytes indicated that leaf extracts of F. deltoidea could have potential anti-obesity effects.     

Scaling up of Continual Professional Development for Mathematics Problem Solving in Singapore Schools

The more ambitious an educational innovation, the greater the challenge in scaling up. In this paper, we focus on the scaling up of an ambitious pedagogical practice—mathematics problem solving as a regular feature in the classroom. We adopt a long-term approach to continual professional development (CPD) that began with intensive work with one school before we broadened the programme to four other schools which span the spectrum of schools in Singapore. To evaluate this overall design, we examine the current state of each school’s capacity in sustaining mathematics problem-solving instruction. In particular, we study and report findings on these areas: the readiness of teachers, the instructional materials and supporting structures. Based on the findings, we reflect on our CPD strategies and our theory of action which guided the CPD programme.

     

Culturing conceptions: From first principles

Over the past three decades, science educators have accumulated a vast amount of information on conceptions––variously defined as beliefs, ontologies, cognitive structures, mental models, or frameworks––that generally (at least initially) have been derived from interviews about certain topics. During the same time period, cultural studies has emerged as a field in which everyday social practices are interrogated with the objective to understand culture in all its complexity. Science educators have however yet to ask themselves what it would mean to consider the possession of conceptions as well as conceptual change from the perspective of cultural studies. The purpose of this article is thus to articulate in and through the analysis of an interview about natural phenomenon the first principles of such a cultural approach to scientific conceptions. Our bottom-up approach in fact leads us to develop the kind of analyses and theories that have become widespread in cultural studies. This promises to generate less presupposing and more parsimonious explanations of this core issue within science education than if conceptions are supposed to be structures inhabiting the human mind.

A framework for fostering a community of practice: scaffolding learners through an evolving continuum

This paper proposes a framework of an evolving community of practitioners along a simulation, participation, and codetermined interactions continuum. Simulation, participation, and codetermined interactions are three models of learning, which describe how learners can be brought through a scaffolded process within a community experience. The framework also focuses on the processes rather than on the outcomes or products of a community. In this paper, we describe a case study of a group of heads of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in schools being scaffolded through an experiential workshop to achieve learning outcomes such as ICT‐based project work (as product) and other constructivist dispositions of learning (as processes). The proposed framework is intended to be sufficiently broad so that learners are supported from simulation to codetermined interactions where autonomy of learners’ co‐construction efforts are encouraged and experienced.