Initial teacher preparation and teachers’ continuing professional development are two significant pillars of the teacher education enterprise. The former encompasses a wide range of teachereducation initiatives at th...Initial teacher preparation and teachers’ continuing professional development are two significant pillars of the teacher education enterprise. The former encompasses a wide range of teachereducation initiatives at the levels of diploma, bachelor’s degree, postgraduate diploma, and even master’s degree for teacher licensure purposes. These are widely documented in the literature.What is important is how teacher professional development contributes to bolstering the teachereducator force, which is relatively insufficiently documented due to the very fact that different educational systems have somewhat different expectations of such programs in relation to the ideologies and theories underpinning the teacher professional development program design and curriculum offering. Taking stock of a postgraduate diploma program in English language teaching(PGDELT) for teachers’ continuing professional development with a 31-year history housed at a premier teacher education institution in Singapore, which has successfully graduated over 1, 000 English language teachers for colleges and universities in China, I intend to highlight some of its key features, as a former student and then a lecturer on the program, in order to draw implications for sustainable growth of language teacher education programs, especially those whose main purposes are to prepare teachers of English as a second or foreign language(ESL/EFL) and provide continuing professional development opportunities for such inservice teachers.展开更多
Objective:Despite the known benefits of integrated primary care and behavioral health services,integrated behavioral health services have not been readily used in medical clinics in interior Alaska.With minimal resour...Objective:Despite the known benefits of integrated primary care and behavioral health services,integrated behavioral health services have not been readily used in medical clinics in interior Alaska.With minimal resources,we recently developed an integrated primary care-behavioral health program in a medical clinic in interior Alaska to meet clinic and community needs.The objective of this study was to explore initial program outcomes and determine the feasibility of program development and implementation.Methods:We initially conducted a needs assessment for integrating behavioral health services into primary care.Program development was informed by specific clinic needs.Following program implementation,initial program outcomes were tracked with use of data from the electronic health record and patient and provider use and satisfaction surveys.The level of integration of primary care and behavioral health services was evaluated with the Practice Integration Profile.Results:A total of 188 patients were seen by behavioral health consultants during the initial pilot phase,including 44.0%referred for mental health symptoms,33.1%referred for physical health issues,and 22.3%referred for both mental and physical health issues.The initial program outcomes indicate modest clinical improvement(measured by the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire)as well as patient and provider satisfaction with the model,and a moderate level of practice integration.Conclusion:On the basis of the initial findings,it appears that our integrated primary care-behavioral health program has the potential to serve an important role in addressing the behavioral health needs of the local population.Our implementation procedure and initial program outcomes suggest that such models are feasible in rural and small-scale settings with minimal overhead costs.展开更多
A paradigm of program development using type theories is given after analyzing some typical exam- ples.In order to carry this approach forward,a language ALT is designed.It is a linguistic description of a generalized...A paradigm of program development using type theories is given after analyzing some typical exam- ples.In order to carry this approach forward,a language ALT is designed.It is a linguistic description of a generalized higher order typed lambda calculus with Π,∑ types and Π,∑ kinds (supertypes). Four examples are given to show how ALT can be used to implement many concepts of software engi- neering and artificial intelligence.They are intuitionistic logic,Peano arithmetic,approximate reasoning and program transformations.ALT is described formally,using a structural operational approach.展开更多
There is consistent epidemiological evidence linking low birth weight, preterm birth and adverse fetal growth to an elevated risk of the metabolic syndrome (obesity, raised blood pressure, raised serum triglycerides, ...There is consistent epidemiological evidence linking low birth weight, preterm birth and adverse fetal growth to an elevated risk of the metabolic syndrome (obesity, raised blood pressure, raised serum triglycerides, lowered serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and impaired glucose tolerance or insulin resistance) and related disorders. This "fetal or developmental origins/programming of disease" concept is now well accepted but the "programming" mechanisms remain poorly understood. We reviewed the major evidence, implications and limitations of current hypotheses in interpreting developmental programming and discuss future research directions. Major current hypotheses to interpret developmental programming include: (1)thrifty phenotype; (2) postnatal accelerated or catchup growth; (3) glucocorticoid effects; (4) epigenetic changes; (5) oxidative stress; (6) prenatal hypoxia; (7) placental dysfunction; and (8) reduced stem cell number. Some hypothetical mechanisms (2, 4 and 8) could be driven by other upstream "driver" mechanisms. There is a lack of animal studies addressing multiple mechanisms simultaneously and a lack of strong evidence linking clinical outcomes to biomarkers of the proposed programming mechanisms in humans. There are needs for (1) experimental studies addressing multiple hypothetical mechanisms simultaneously; and (2) prospective pregnancy cohort studies linking biomarkers of the proposed mechanisms to clinical outcomes or surrogate biomarker endpoints. A better understanding of the programming mechanisms is a prerequisite for developing early life interventions to arrest the increasing epidemic of the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and other related disorders.展开更多
Metabolic disease results from a complex interaction of many factors,including genetic,physiological,behavioral and environmental influences.The recent rate at which these diseases have increased suggests that environ...Metabolic disease results from a complex interaction of many factors,including genetic,physiological,behavioral and environmental influences.The recent rate at which these diseases have increased suggests that environmental and behavioral influences,rather than genetic causes,are fuelling the present epidemic.In this context,the developmental origins of health and disease hypothesis has highlighted the link between the periconceptual,fetal and early infant phases of life and the subsequent development of adult obesity and the metabolic syndrome.Although the mechanisms are yet to be fully elucidated,this programming was generally considered an irreversible change in developmental trajectory.Recent work in animal models suggests that developmental programming of metabolic disorders is potentially reversible by nutritional or targeted therapeutic interventions during the period of developmental plasticity.This review will discuss critical windows of developmental plasticity and possible avenues to ameliorate the development of postnatal metabolic disorders following an adverse early life environment.展开更多
Recently, FTTH （fiber to the home） is spreading rapidly, and communication technology has become an indispensable part in our lives. FTTH installers who build the infi＇astructure must correspond to the progress of ...Recently, FTTH （fiber to the home） is spreading rapidly, and communication technology has become an indispensable part in our lives. FTTH installers who build the infi＇astructure must correspond to the progress of technology while ensuring a high quality of installation, and it is struggling to its counterpart. The present study is undertaken in order to propose effective vocational ability development program for FTTH installers from the approach of their skill. They are information network cabling-related qualification system and competitions as the ability evaluation system. Then the author concludes that this program makes a contribution to improving their skill and maintaining the quality of the optical fiber network in analyzing some example of actual installation work and the measurement result of the OTDR（optical time domain reflect） meter.展开更多
The State Science and Technology Commission, State Economic and Trade Commission, and State Planning Commission of China have jointly worked out the Program for the Development of Chinese New and Renewable Energy rece...The State Science and Technology Commission, State Economic and Trade Commission, and State Planning Commission of China have jointly worked out the Program for the Development of Chinese New and Renewable Energy recently.展开更多
The National Program on the Development of Chinese Women （2011-2020）, herein- after referred to as the ＂NewProgram,＂ was published in August 2011. This is an important document designed to ensure implementation of...The National Program on the Development of Chinese Women （2011-2020）, herein- after referred to as the ＂NewProgram,＂ was published in August 2011. This is an important document designed to ensure implementation of the basic state strategy of gender equal- ity and the all-round development of Chinese women. The New Program is a part of China＇s policy program for the protection of human rights. It sets 57 major targets to be attained over the decade. The targets cover seven fields, namely, health, education, economy,展开更多
Modern biotechnology booms in the molecular life science. It brings about a promising future for improving human health, foodstuff, environment and energy and is of significance to improve traditional agriculture, dru...Modern biotechnology booms in the molecular life science. It brings about a promising future for improving human health, foodstuff, environment and energy and is of significance to improve traditional agriculture, druamakins and other展开更多
Successful health promotion programs are characterized in part, by the willingness of audiences to engage, participate, and adopt healthier behaviors. But presentation of messages that reach and resonate with the inte...Successful health promotion programs are characterized in part, by the willingness of audiences to engage, participate, and adopt healthier behaviors. But presentation of messages that reach and resonate with the intended audience remains challenging. This is due in part to the variety of mindsets—viewpoints, attitudes, and beliefs—within a population. These mindsets play an essential role in understanding and predicting behaviors and lifestyle factors associated with health or chronic diseases. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how a specific survey-based method of mindset segmentation can distinguish predominant mindsets and then be used to create, adapt, and/or market health programs to appeal to these mindsets. Steps in survey construction, distribution, and analysis are described. Interpretation of the results, yielding three primary mindsets, is the critical outcome of this segmentation method. The applications of this interpretation to community health education programs are suggested. This approach has potential to inform, enhance, or customize programs, tailoring activities, methods, and messages to the preferences of the community.展开更多
To compensate for the imperfection of traditional bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization, material interpolation scheme and sensitivity filter functions are introduced. A suitable filter can overcome the ...To compensate for the imperfection of traditional bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization, material interpolation scheme and sensitivity filter functions are introduced. A suitable filter can overcome the checkerboard and mesh-dependency. And the historical information on accurate elemental sensitivity numbers are used to keep the objective function converging steadily. Apart from rational intervals of the relevant important parameters, the concept of distinguishing between active and non-active elements design is proposed, which can be widely used for improving the function and artistry of structures directly, especially for a one whose accurate size is not given. Furthermore, user-friendly software packages are developed to enhance its accessibility for practicing engineers and architects. And to reduce the time cost for large timeconsuming complex structure optimization, parallel computing is built-in in the MATLAB codes. The program is easy to use for engineers who may not be familiar with either FEA or structure optimization. And developers can make a deep research on the algorithm by changing the MATLAB codes. Several classical examples are given to show that the improved BESO method is superior for its handy and utility computer program software.展开更多
The prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus has increased rapidly over the past few decades,and prevention efforts have not been successful.Fetal programming involves the earliest stage of obesity developme...The prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus has increased rapidly over the past few decades,and prevention efforts have not been successful.Fetal programming involves the earliest stage of obesity development,and provides a novel concept to complement other strategies for lifelong prevention of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus.The World Health Organization now advocates a life-course approach to prevent/control obesity,starting with pre-conceptional and antenatal maternal health.Maternal overnutrition,gestational diabetes mellitus and excessive gestational weight gain lead to fetal overgrowth,and“programs”the offspring with an increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus in childhood and adulthood.This review summarizes current data on fetal programming of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus including potential causative factors,mechanisms and interventions to reduce its impact.展开更多
文摘Initial teacher preparation and teachers’ continuing professional development are two significant pillars of the teacher education enterprise. The former encompasses a wide range of teachereducation initiatives at the levels of diploma, bachelor’s degree, postgraduate diploma, and even master’s degree for teacher licensure purposes. These are widely documented in the literature.What is important is how teacher professional development contributes to bolstering the teachereducator force, which is relatively insufficiently documented due to the very fact that different educational systems have somewhat different expectations of such programs in relation to the ideologies and theories underpinning the teacher professional development program design and curriculum offering. Taking stock of a postgraduate diploma program in English language teaching(PGDELT) for teachers’ continuing professional development with a 31-year history housed at a premier teacher education institution in Singapore, which has successfully graduated over 1, 000 English language teachers for colleges and universities in China, I intend to highlight some of its key features, as a former student and then a lecturer on the program, in order to draw implications for sustainable growth of language teacher education programs, especially those whose main purposes are to prepare teachers of English as a second or foreign language(ESL/EFL) and provide continuing professional development opportunities for such inservice teachers.
文摘Objective:Despite the known benefits of integrated primary care and behavioral health services,integrated behavioral health services have not been readily used in medical clinics in interior Alaska.With minimal resources,we recently developed an integrated primary care-behavioral health program in a medical clinic in interior Alaska to meet clinic and community needs.The objective of this study was to explore initial program outcomes and determine the feasibility of program development and implementation.Methods:We initially conducted a needs assessment for integrating behavioral health services into primary care.Program development was informed by specific clinic needs.Following program implementation,initial program outcomes were tracked with use of data from the electronic health record and patient and provider use and satisfaction surveys.The level of integration of primary care and behavioral health services was evaluated with the Practice Integration Profile.Results:A total of 188 patients were seen by behavioral health consultants during the initial pilot phase,including 44.0%referred for mental health symptoms,33.1%referred for physical health issues,and 22.3%referred for both mental and physical health issues.The initial program outcomes indicate modest clinical improvement(measured by the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire)as well as patient and provider satisfaction with the model,and a moderate level of practice integration.Conclusion:On the basis of the initial findings,it appears that our integrated primary care-behavioral health program has the potential to serve an important role in addressing the behavioral health needs of the local population.Our implementation procedure and initial program outcomes suggest that such models are feasible in rural and small-scale settings with minimal overhead costs.
文摘A paradigm of program development using type theories is given after analyzing some typical exam- ples.In order to carry this approach forward,a language ALT is designed.It is a linguistic description of a generalized higher order typed lambda calculus with Π,∑ types and Π,∑ kinds (supertypes). Four examples are given to show how ALT can be used to implement many concepts of software engi- neering and artificial intelligence.They are intuitionistic logic,Peano arithmetic,approximate reasoning and program transformations.ALT is described formally,using a structural operational approach.
基金Supported by a Research Grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (CIHR Grant # 79896 - Luo ZC)partly by a Clinical Epidemiology Junior Scholar Award from the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec (FRSQ) (Luo ZC)partly by a FRSQ Senior Scholar Award (Nuyt AM)
文摘There is consistent epidemiological evidence linking low birth weight, preterm birth and adverse fetal growth to an elevated risk of the metabolic syndrome (obesity, raised blood pressure, raised serum triglycerides, lowered serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and impaired glucose tolerance or insulin resistance) and related disorders. This "fetal or developmental origins/programming of disease" concept is now well accepted but the "programming" mechanisms remain poorly understood. We reviewed the major evidence, implications and limitations of current hypotheses in interpreting developmental programming and discuss future research directions. Major current hypotheses to interpret developmental programming include: (1)thrifty phenotype; (2) postnatal accelerated or catchup growth; (3) glucocorticoid effects; (4) epigenetic changes; (5) oxidative stress; (6) prenatal hypoxia; (7) placental dysfunction; and (8) reduced stem cell number. Some hypothetical mechanisms (2, 4 and 8) could be driven by other upstream "driver" mechanisms. There is a lack of animal studies addressing multiple mechanisms simultaneously and a lack of strong evidence linking clinical outcomes to biomarkers of the proposed programming mechanisms in humans. There are needs for (1) experimental studies addressing multiple hypothetical mechanisms simultaneously; and (2) prospective pregnancy cohort studies linking biomarkers of the proposed mechanisms to clinical outcomes or surrogate biomarker endpoints. A better understanding of the programming mechanisms is a prerequisite for developing early life interventions to arrest the increasing epidemic of the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and other related disorders.
基金Supported by Health Research Council of New Zealand,Marsden Fund of the Royal SocietyFoundation for Research Science and TechnologyNational Research Centre for Growth and Development
文摘Metabolic disease results from a complex interaction of many factors,including genetic,physiological,behavioral and environmental influences.The recent rate at which these diseases have increased suggests that environmental and behavioral influences,rather than genetic causes,are fuelling the present epidemic.In this context,the developmental origins of health and disease hypothesis has highlighted the link between the periconceptual,fetal and early infant phases of life and the subsequent development of adult obesity and the metabolic syndrome.Although the mechanisms are yet to be fully elucidated,this programming was generally considered an irreversible change in developmental trajectory.Recent work in animal models suggests that developmental programming of metabolic disorders is potentially reversible by nutritional or targeted therapeutic interventions during the period of developmental plasticity.This review will discuss critical windows of developmental plasticity and possible avenues to ameliorate the development of postnatal metabolic disorders following an adverse early life environment.
文摘Recently, FTTH （fiber to the home） is spreading rapidly, and communication technology has become an indispensable part in our lives. FTTH installers who build the infi＇astructure must correspond to the progress of technology while ensuring a high quality of installation, and it is struggling to its counterpart. The present study is undertaken in order to propose effective vocational ability development program for FTTH installers from the approach of their skill. They are information network cabling-related qualification system and competitions as the ability evaluation system. Then the author concludes that this program makes a contribution to improving their skill and maintaining the quality of the optical fiber network in analyzing some example of actual installation work and the measurement result of the OTDR（optical time domain reflect） meter.
文摘The State Science and Technology Commission, State Economic and Trade Commission, and State Planning Commission of China have jointly worked out the Program for the Development of Chinese New and Renewable Energy recently.
文摘The National Program on the Development of Chinese Women （2011-2020）, herein- after referred to as the ＂NewProgram,＂ was published in August 2011. This is an important document designed to ensure implementation of the basic state strategy of gender equal- ity and the all-round development of Chinese women. The New Program is a part of China＇s policy program for the protection of human rights. It sets 57 major targets to be attained over the decade. The targets cover seven fields, namely, health, education, economy,
文摘Modern biotechnology booms in the molecular life science. It brings about a promising future for improving human health, foodstuff, environment and energy and is of significance to improve traditional agriculture, druamakins and other
文摘Successful health promotion programs are characterized in part, by the willingness of audiences to engage, participate, and adopt healthier behaviors. But presentation of messages that reach and resonate with the intended audience remains challenging. This is due in part to the variety of mindsets—viewpoints, attitudes, and beliefs—within a population. These mindsets play an essential role in understanding and predicting behaviors and lifestyle factors associated with health or chronic diseases. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how a specific survey-based method of mindset segmentation can distinguish predominant mindsets and then be used to create, adapt, and/or market health programs to appeal to these mindsets. Steps in survey construction, distribution, and analysis are described. Interpretation of the results, yielding three primary mindsets, is the critical outcome of this segmentation method. The applications of this interpretation to community health education programs are suggested. This approach has potential to inform, enhance, or customize programs, tailoring activities, methods, and messages to the preferences of the community.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51078311)
文摘To compensate for the imperfection of traditional bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization, material interpolation scheme and sensitivity filter functions are introduced. A suitable filter can overcome the checkerboard and mesh-dependency. And the historical information on accurate elemental sensitivity numbers are used to keep the objective function converging steadily. Apart from rational intervals of the relevant important parameters, the concept of distinguishing between active and non-active elements design is proposed, which can be widely used for improving the function and artistry of structures directly, especially for a one whose accurate size is not given. Furthermore, user-friendly software packages are developed to enhance its accessibility for practicing engineers and architects. And to reduce the time cost for large timeconsuming complex structure optimization, parallel computing is built-in in the MATLAB codes. The program is easy to use for engineers who may not be familiar with either FEA or structure optimization. And developers can make a deep research on the algorithm by changing the MATLAB codes. Several classical examples are given to show that the improved BESO method is superior for its handy and utility computer program software.
文摘The prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus has increased rapidly over the past few decades,and prevention efforts have not been successful.Fetal programming involves the earliest stage of obesity development,and provides a novel concept to complement other strategies for lifelong prevention of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus.The World Health Organization now advocates a life-course approach to prevent/control obesity,starting with pre-conceptional and antenatal maternal health.Maternal overnutrition,gestational diabetes mellitus and excessive gestational weight gain lead to fetal overgrowth,and“programs”the offspring with an increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus in childhood and adulthood.This review summarizes current data on fetal programming of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus including potential causative factors,mechanisms and interventions to reduce its impact.
