Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Putting teachers in the front row : building professional learning communities

Empirically based studies in Australia, Hong Kong, England and Kenya are used in our paper to emphasize the relevance of shared learning experiences, reflection time, peer coaching, and a policy of professional learning that is constructivist and reality based. Geographically, culturally and economically diverse though these settings may be we have been struck by the commonality of the elements involved in each of the case studies. Hence, our purpose for bringing these experiences together in this shared paper. Our methods for initiating change vary. However, the focus in each of the three techniques described is enhanced teacher competence and self-confidence to lead the learning processes in new and improved directions for learners. The centrality of teacher training and professional development as key elements for changing the quality of learning outcomes is repeated in each of the case studies – regardless of class size, available equipment and context. Ironically, or perhaps not surprisingly, issues of development and capacity building seem similar regardless of local context and existing levels of social capital. Whilst issues of agency and policy are part of the equation for bringing about change, the crucial element for sustained change in learning achievements and environments is capacity building of teachers (Hargreaves, 1993; Sergiovanni, 2005). Figure 1 is an attempt to represent the importance of the teacher role in this process. This representation applies the Vygotskian (1986) concept of scaffolding the learning process with a concept mapping of the diverse elements involved in the formal education context. Regardless of cultural and socio-political context the variables appear to translate into similarly complex arrays of interrelated interests for teachers to unravel and interpret. Our view is that this is an extremely difficult task requiring skilled advice, mentoring and support from multiple sources including administration, technical and professional agencies.
Genetic Diversity of the Haliotis diversicolor squamata from Southern Coastal Java (Banten, Pangandaran and Alas Purwo) and Bali Based on Mitochondrial CO1 Sequences

: The morphology of Haliotis genus is very difficult to distinguish because of its high similarity. Therefore, an identification tool such as genetics is needed to distinguish the genus. This study describes molecular characters of a species of Haliotis (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Haliotidae) from the southern Java and Bali waters, Indonesia, that is currently considered to be a subspecies of another occurring in China, Taiwan and Japan. DNA of Haliotis specimens collected from southern Java and Bali waters was extracted from epipodial tissues using a DNeasy® Blood and Tissue Kit, and partial CO1 genes amplified using AB-CO1DivF and AB-CO1DivR primers. Genetic distances were determined by Kimura 2-parameter, and phylogenetic trees constructed using the Neighbor-joining method in MEGA 5.0 software. Based on the genetic distance using the COI mtDNA gene as a barcoding species, the difference was 15.9%–16.7% with H. diversicolor superteksta from China, H. diversicolor from Taiwan (7.73%–9.12%), and H. diversicolor from Japan (7.80%–9.20%), because of boundary for determining species groups based on of 4% and mollusks at 4.8%, then H. diversicolor squamata spread in the southern islands of Java and Bali is worthy of being separated into its own species. From the results of this study, we propose that abalone from the south of Java and Bali waters became a separate species, H. squamata Reeve 1846. While percentage difference in interpopulation genetic distance from Java and Bali about 0.000%–0.011% or 0.0%–0.11%, averaging 0.60%.
Evolving epidemiology of novel coronavirus diseases 2019 and possible interruption of local transmission outside Hubei Province in China: a descriptive and modeling study

Background The COVID-19 epidemic originated in Wuhan City of Hubei Province in December 2019 and has spread throughout China. Understanding the fast evolving epidemiology and transmission dynamics of the outbreak beyond Hubei would provide timely information to guide intervention policy. Methods We collected individual information on 8,579 laboratory-confirmed cases from official publically sources reported outside Hubei in mainland China, as of February 17, 2020. We estimated the temporal variation of the demographic characteristics of cases and key time-to-event intervals. We used a Bayesian approach to estimate the dynamics of the net reproduction number (Rt) at the provincial level. Results The median age of the cases was 44 years, with an increasing of cases in younger age groups and the elderly as the epidemic progressed. The delay from symptom onset to hospital admission decreased from 4.4 days (95%CI: 0.0-14.0) until January 27 to 2.6 days (0.0-9.0) from January 28 to February 17. The mean incubation period was estimated at 5.2 days (1.8-12.4) and the mean serial interval at 5.1 days (1.3-11.6). The epidemic dynamics in provinces outside Hubei was highly variable, but consistently included a mix of case importations and local transmission. We estimate that the epidemic was self-sustained for less than three weeks with Rt reaching peaks between 1.40 (1.04-1.85) in Shenzhen City of Guangdong Province and 2.17 (1.69-2.76) in Shandong Province. In all the analyzed locations (n=10) Rt was estimated to be below the epidemic threshold since the end of January. Conclusion Our findings suggest that the strict containment measures and movement restrictions in place may contribute to the interruption of local COVID-19 transmission outside Hubei Province. The shorter serial interval estimated here implies that transmissibility is not as high as initial estimates suggested.
Smoking and nasopharyngeal cancer: individual data meta-analysis of six prospective studies on 334 935 men

Abstract Background The role of smoking in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remains uncertain, especially in endemic regions. We conducted an individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies to investigate the associations between smoking exposure and risk of NPC. Methods We obtained individual participant data of 334 935 male participants from six eligible population-based cohorts in NPC-endemic regions, including two each in Guangzhou and Taiwan, and one each in Hong Kong and Singapore. We used one- and two-stage approaches IPD meta-analysis and Cox proportional hazard models to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of NPC for smoking exposure adjusting for age and drinking status. Results During 2 961 315 person-years of follow-up, 399 NPC evens were ascertained. Risks of NPC were higher in ever versus never smokers (HRone-stage = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.07-1.63, P = 0.0088; HRtwo-stage = 1.27, 1.01-1.60, 0.04). These positive associations appeared to be stronger in ever smokers who consumed 16+ cigarettes/day (HRone-stage = 1.67, 95% CI = 1.29-2.16, P = 0.0001), and in those who started smoking at age younger than 16 (2.16, 1.33-3.50, 0.0103), with dose-response relationships (P-values for trend = 0.0028 and 0.0103, respectively). Quitting (versus daily smoking) showed a small reduced risk (stopped for 5+ years: HRone-stage = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.60-1.39, P = 0.66; for former smokers: HRtwo-stage = 0.84, 0.61-1.14, 0.26). Conclusions This first IPD meta-analysis from six prospective cohorts in endemic regions has provided robust observational evidence that smoking increased NPC risk in men. NPC should be added to the 12–16 cancer sites known to be tobacco-related cancers. Strong tobacco control policies, preventing young individuals from smoking, would reduce NPC risk in endemic regions.
Next-to-leading-order corrections to B ! form factors in kT factorization

kT factorization Hsiang-nan Li, Yue-Long Shen, and Yu-Ming Wang Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan, Republic of China Department of Physics, National Cheng-Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan, Republic of China Department of Physics, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan, Republic of China College of Information Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, Shandong 266100, People’s Republic of China Theoretische Elementarteilchenphysik, Naturwissenschaftlich Technische Fakultät, Universiät Siegen, 57068 Siegen, Germany (Received 30 January 2012; published 3 April 2012) We calculate next-to-leading-order (NLO) corrections to the B ! transition form factors at leading twist in the kT factorization theorem. Light partons off shell by k 2 T are considered in the quark diagrams, in the effective diagrams for the B-meson wave function defined with the effective heavy-quark field, and in the effective diagrams for the pion wave function. It is explicitly demonstrated that the infrared logarithms lnkT cancel between the above sets of diagrams, as deriving the kT-dependent NLO hard kernel from their difference. The infrared finiteness of the hard kernel confirms the application of the kT factorization theorem to B-meson semileptonic decays. The NLO pion wave function is identical to those constructed from the pion transition and electromagnetic form factors, consistent with its universality. Choosing the renormalization and factorization scales lower than the B-meson mass, the NLO corrections are under control: they amount only up to 30% of the form factors at large recoil of the pion, when varying models for the meson wave functions.
Frequency of Th17 CD4+ T Cells in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Marker of Anti-CCP Seropositivity

Objective To examine the frequency and phenotype of Th17 cells in the peripheral blood of early RA (eRA) patients. Methods CD4+ T cells were isolated from the peripheral blood of 33 eRA patients, 20 established RA patients and 53 healthy controls (HC), and from the synovial fluid of 20 established RA patients (RASF), by ficoll-hypaque gradient and magnetical negative selection. After polyclonal stimulation, the frequency of Th17 and Th1 cells was determined by flow cytometry and concentrations of IL-17, IFN-γ, TNF-α and IL-10 were measured by ELISA in cell-free supernatants. Results When all of our eRA patients were analyzed together, a significantly lower percentage of circulating Th17 cells and a lower CD4-derived IL-17 secretion were observed in comparison with HC. However, after stratifying by anti-CCP antibody status, circulating Th17 cells were decreased in anti-CCP(+) but not in anti-CCP(-)-eRA. All Th17 cells were CD45RO+CD45RA- and CCR6+. Dual Th17/Th1 cells were also exclusively decreased in anti-CCP(+)-eRA. Circulating Th17 and Th17/Th1 cells were negatively correlated with anti-CCP titres. When anti-CCP(+)-eRA patients were retested one year after initiating treatment with oral methotrexate, their circulating Th17 frequency was no longer different from HC. Of note, the percentage of circulating Th1 cells and the secretion of CD4-derived IFN-γ, TNF-α and IL-10 were not different between eRA patients and HC. In established RA patients, circulating Th17 and T17/Th1 cell frequencies were comparable to HC. In RASF, both Th17 and Th1 cells were increased when compared with blood of eRA patients, established RA patients and HC. Conclusion Decreased circulating Th17 levels in eRA seem to be a marker of anti-CCP seropositivity, and return to levels observed in healthy controls after treatment with methotrexate.
Cultural and semantic equivalence of the activity measure post-acute care (AM-PAC) after its translation into Mandarin Chinese

Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the cultural and semantic equivalence of the Activity Measure Post-Acute Care (AM-PAC) outpatient short forms after they were translated from American English to Mandarin Chinese. Method: This study was conducted with a composite sample of a group of 483 American adults (mean age 63.1 years, 42.4% males) and 553 Taiwanese adults (mean age 60.6 years, 47.2% males) who were undergoing home care or outpatient rehabilitation services. A confirmatory factor analysis tested the cultural equivalence of the AM-PAC dimensions between the US and Taiwanese samples. Semantic equivalence was tested through an item response theory-based differential item functioning (DFI) analysis. Results: Results of the confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated good model-data fit of the AM-PAC in both the US and Taiwanese samples. Significant DFI was found for six Basic Mobility items, two Daily Activity items, and four Applied Cognition items. A DFI adjusted conversion table was generated to transform the raw scores of the measure for comparisons between the two countries. Conclusions: This study provides evidence to support the conceptual equivalence of the AM-PAC when used in rehabilitation patients between American and Taiwanese cultural contexts. Some DFI items between the two groups were found, suggesting that some differences in semantic understanding of these items between cultures require cross-cultural adjustments. Implications for Rehabilitation Cultural equivalence needs to be tested before applying a clinical measure to another context. The findings of this study supported the three activity domains that the Activity Measure Post-Acute Care measures: Basic Mobility, Daily Activity, and Applied Cognition, which are all important rehabilitation outcomes that need to be assessed and monitored across rehabilitation settings. Differential item functioning was observed between the English and Chinese versions of the Activity Measure Post-Acute Care, indicating that linguistic and cultural differences across countries need to be adjusted for before using the translated measure in clinical practice.
Measuring teacher efficacy to implement inclusive practices

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure perceived teacher efficacy to teach in inclusive classrooms. An 18-item scale was developed on a sample of 607 pre-service teachers selected from four countries (Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and India). Factor analysis of responses from the sample revealed three factors: efficacy in using inclusive instruction, efficacy in collaboration and efficacy in dealing with disruptive behaviours. The alpha coefficient for the total scale was 0.89. Alpha coefficients for the three factors ranged from 0.85 to 0.93. Reliability analysis for the total scale as well as factors for each country suggested that the scale provides a reliable measure of pre-service teacher perceptions of self-efficacy for inclusion across different countries.
Oral Sex and Teenagers: A Sexual Health Educator's Perspective *

On Saturday February 7 2004 a two-page article entitled Good Girls Do appeared in the Globe and Mail newspaper. The lead-in to the article read School counsellors researchers and teenagers themselves say that girls as young as 12 and 13 are performing oral sex - not just the class bad girls but students from every walk of life. They dont consider it real sex but an act almost as normal as acne and cafeteria gossip. In todays oversexed culture reports Sara Wilson popularity commands a high price. (Wilson S. Globe and Mail Feb. 7 2004 F4-F5). The reporter interviewed a number of people who work with teens but the bulk of the article consisted of interviews with young people primarily 12- to 15-year-old girls in Toronto. Most of the youth who were interviewed attended either private co-ed or women-only schools. The following Tuesday Feb. 10 Margaret Wente a columnist for the same newspaper wrote a column in which she talked about Rainbow Clubs. This she explained is when girls line up to do blow jobs on a boy. Because they each wear a different shade of lipstick he ends up with a colourful penis. This she said is happening across North America. (excerpt)
Macrolide resistance and genotypic characterization of Streptococcus pneumoniae in Asian countries: a study of the Asian Network for Surveillance of Resistant Pathogens (ANSORP).

OBJECTIVES To characterize mechanisms of macrolide resistance among Streptococcus pneumoniae from 10 Asian countries during 1998-2001. METHODS Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of the isolates and their resistance mechanisms. RESULTS Of 555 isolates studied, 216 (38.9%) were susceptible, 10 (1.8%) were intermediate and 329 (59.3%) were resistant to erythromycin. Vietnam had the highest prevalence of erythromycin resistance (88.3%), followed by Taiwan (87.2%), Korea (85.1%), Hong Kong (76.5%) and China (75.6%). Ribosomal methylation encoded by erm(B) was the most common mechanism of erythromycin resistance in China, Taiwan, Sri Lanka and Korea. In Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, efflux encoded by mef(A) was the more common in erythromycin-resistant isolates. In most Asian countries except Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, erm(B) was found in >50% of pneumococcal isolates either alone or in combination with mef(A). The level of erythromycin resistance among pneumococcal isolates in most Asian countries except Thailand and India was very high with MIC(90)s of >128 mg/L. Molecular epidemiological studies suggest the horizontal transfer of the erm(B) gene and clonal dissemination of resistant strains in the Asian region. CONCLUSION Data confirm that macrolide resistance in pneumococci is a serious problem in many Asian countries.
M3091-LU 9780857935083 PRINT.indd

Rapid growth accompanied by unbalanced development is the best way to describe the path taken by a large, developing country over the past 30 years – China. Even today, China is constantly adjusting its system to accommodate everchanging challenges. In 1978, China had just completed the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and the country was in the very earliest stages of its reconstruction. The green shoots of change began to appear quietly in the spring, although at the time most people did not notice. In December, the Communist Party of China (CPC) held the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, which announced the prolog of the reform and openingup policy. Eleven years later, after the serious political disturbances of 1989, the whole country regarded the concept of marketoriented reform with great suspicion and mistrust. In 1992, Deng Xiaoping, speaking in southern China, remarked, ‘For a big, developing country like China, rapid economic development cannot always be accompanied by smoothness and stability . Development is the foremost and essential principle’ (Deng Xiaoping, Vol. III, 1993, p. 377). Beijing’s hosting of the 29th Olympic Games in the summer of 2008 was a coming of age, showing that China had grown from a developing country characterized by poverty and backwardness to an economic giant. This was not only the year after the 17th Party Congress but also the 30th anniversary of the launching of the reform and openingup policy. Thirty years earlier, ‘Olympic’ was a term that was unfamiliar to the Chinese people. By 2008, however, the map of the world’s economy had changed and China had undergone a great deal of development. Not only has the world’s economic map changed since China began its reform and openingup, but also, as described by US political scientists Townsend and Womack (1986) in their com ments on Chinesestyle socialism, there is a strong belief that China has taken a different route toward development from other countries. Fo r this reason, China should
Early arthritis clinics: if you build it will they come?

The mantra of “early diagnosis and aggressive treatment” for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has become a cornerstone belief for most rheumatologists. Although there have been trends showing shorter referral times from primary care physician to rheumatologist and declining lag times in the initiation of disease modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) therapies1-3, a majority of patients with new onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA) still experience significant delays in early diagnosis and optimal care. Causes for delay are multifactorial and include patient reluctance to seek immediate care, diagnostic inaccuracies, over-reliance on laboratory diagnostics, and substantial delays in rheumatology referral4-6. Considerable research and clinical effort in the last decade has declared the success of novel diagnostic and therapeutic programs focused on those with early inflammatory arthritis or RA. This body of work has given credence to the possibility that an early RA diagnosis and early aggressive interventions might lead to significant longterm benefits. In this issue of The Journal, Raza and coworkers examine the utility of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibodies in patients with very early inflammatory arthritis7. Their findings clearly show the practicality and importance of serologic testing for both serum rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-CCP antibodies in making an accurate diagnosis in those with persistent symptoms of RA. These findings serve as a challenge to the rheumatologist to amend the manner in which early arthritis patients are currently diagnosed and treated. While all rheumatologists strongly advocate for early diagnosis and aggressive treatment of RA, few have revamped their clinical practice or established “early arthritis clinics” to facilitate such optimal care8,9. The time has come for clinicians to reevaluate and consider the advances of the last decade as an impetus to create novel pathways to facilitate diagnosis and treatment for those with early inflammatory arthritis.
Creative Imitation as Catch-up Strategy: A Business Model

Catch-up is a well-known and familiar terminology for innovation scholars in developing countries such as Taiwan, Korea and China. The strategy, however, is too difficult to perform in each industry. This study looks into a catch-up strategy that Apple and Xiaomi used and examines the results on the creative imitation of business model in the smartphone industry. It is quite surprising that even Apple is based on catch-up strategy. They wanted to catch-up Nokia. Our case study shows that these two companies quickly caught up with the leaders, and the common feature of their strategy is characterized as creative imitation of business model. Creative imitation of business model is different from creative imitation of innovation. Furthermore, this research confirms that the creative imitation of business model leads to aggressive creative innovation.