• Title/Summary/Keyword: Critical levels

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Research on the Critical Factors Affecting Taiwan Secondary School Teachers' Initial Acquisition of Formal Teaching Position

  • Tien, Shiaw-Wen;Chiu, Chung-Ching;Tsai, Chih-Hung;Chung, Yi-Chan;Chang, Ya-Chin
    • International Journal of Quality Innovation
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    • v.8 no.3
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    • pp.123-155
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    • 2007
  • This research treated the secondary school teachers as the research scale and the research targets included the following: secondary school (employ unit), center of teacher education, and qualified teachers. In terms of these three groups of people, the topics of exploration focused on the perception of suitable teachers, perception of evaluation standard during the process of teacher examination and the relationship among teacher examination systems. The research was managed by two phases: the first phase referred to literature reorganization, expert interview, the qualities and conditions of suitable teachers, important evaluation standard during the process of teacher examination and teacher examination system used; the second phase included questionnaire survey, employ school acquisition, the perception of centers of teacher education and qualified teachers toward the suitability condition and examination evaluation standard in the first phase and teacher examination system used. This research found out that as to the perception of suitable teachers, through data collection, there were six factors reorganized. The levels of their importance were as follows: education devotion, teaching capacity, class management, capacity to guide special students, capacity to communicate with the parents and the will to undertake administrative works. Noticeably, employee unit and centers of teacher education apparently valued class management more, compared with trained teachers; as to evaluation standard of examination, the analytical result found out that the perception of three groups were different in terms of the views toward educational works, written examination data, candidate's age, club experience at school and capacity to use multimedia support teaching materials. This research further proposed six suggestions for centers of teacher education and trained teachers: (l) employ schools considerably valued educational devotion; (2) trained teachers tended to neglect the importance of class management; (3) employee unit considerably cared about the new teachers' competence to use multimedia support teaching materials; however, trained teachers did not have the same view; (4) employee unit considerably cared about new teachers' views toward educational works as well as the candidates' ages; (5) generally speaking, trained teachers neglected the importance of club experience at school; (6) the data revealed that written examination data was not relatively important in terms of teacher examination.

Effects of Aged Black Garlic Extracts on the Tight Junction Permeability and Cell Invasion in Human Gastric Cancer Cells (흑마늘 추출물이 인체위암세포의 tight junction 투과성 조절과 세포 침윤성 억제에 미치는 영향)

  • Shin, Dong-Yeok;Yoon, Moo-Kyoung;Choi, Young-Whan;Gweon, Oh-Cheon;Kim, Jung-In;Choi, Tae-Hyun;Choi, Yung-Hyun
    • Journal of Life Science
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    • v.20 no.4
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    • pp.528-534
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    • 2010
  • Garlic (Allium sativum) has been well-known as a folk remedy for a variety of ailments since ancient times, and it is well documented that enhanced garlic consumption leads to a decrease in incidences of cancer. Tight junctions (TJs) are critical structures for the maintenance of cellular polarity, acting as paracellular permeability barriers and playing an essential role in regulating the diffusion of fluid, electrolytes and macromolecules through the paracellular pathway. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have been implicated as possible mediators of invasiveness and metastasis in some cancers. In this study, we investigated the potential effects of water extract of aged black garlic (ABG) on the correlation between tightening of TJs and anti-invasive activity in human gastric carcinoma AGS cells. The inhibitory effects of ABG on cell motility and invasiveness were found to be associated with increased tightness of TJs, which was demonstrated by an increase in transepithelial electrical resistance. Additionally, the activities of MMP-2 and -9 in AGS cells were inhibited by treatment with ABG, and this was also correlated with a decrease in the expression of their mRNA and proteins. Furthermore, RT-PCR and immunoblotting results indicated that ABG repressed the levels of the claudin proteins, major components of TJs that play a key role in the control and selectivity of paracellular transport. In conclusion, these results suggest that ABG treatment may inhibit tumor metastasis and invasion, and therefore may act as a dietary source to decrease the risk of developing cancer.

FE analysis of RC structures using DSC model with yield surfaces for tension and compression

  • Akhaveissy, A.H.;Desai, C.S.;Mostofinejad, D.;Vafai, A.
    • Computers and Concrete
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    • v.11 no.2
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    • pp.123-148
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    • 2013
  • The nonlinear finite element method with eight noded isoparametric quadrilateral element for concrete and two noded element for reinforcement is used for the prediction of the behavior of reinforcement concrete structures. The disturbed state concept (DSC) including the hierarchical single surface (HISS) plasticity model with associated flow rule with modifications is used to characterize the constitutive behavior of concrete both in compression and in tension which is named DSC/HISS-CT. The HISS model is applied to shows the plastic behavior of concrete, and DSC for microcracking, fracture and softening simulations of concrete. It should be noted that the DSC expresses the behavior of a material element as a mixture of two interacting components and can include both softening and stiffening, while the classical damage approach assumes that cracks (damage) induced in a material treated acts as a void, with no strength. The DSC/HISS-CT is a unified model with different mechanism, which expresses the observed behavior in terms of interacting behavior of components; thus the mechanism in the DSC is much different than that of the damage model, which is based on physical cracks which has no strength and interaction with the undamaged part. This is the first time the DSC/HISS-CT model, with the capacity to account for both compression and tension yields, is applied for concrete materials. The DSC model allows also for the characterization of non-associative behavior through the use of disturbance. Elastic perfectly plastic behavior is assumed for modeling of steel reinforcement. The DSC model is validated at two levels: (1) specimen and (2) practical boundary value problem. For the specimen level, the predictions are obtained by the integration of the incremental constitutive relations. The FE procedure with DSC/HISS-CT model is used to obtain predictions for practical boundary value problems. Based on the comparisons between DSC/HISS-CT predictions, test data and ANSYS software predictions, it is found that the model provides highly satisfactory predictions. The model allows computation of microcracking during deformation leading to the fracture and failure; in the model, the critical disturbance, Dc, identifies fracture and failure.

Rapamycin and PF4 Induce Apoptosis by Upregulating Bax and Down-Regulating Survivin in MNU-Induced Breast Cancer

  • Al-Astani Tengku Din, Tengku Ahmad Damitri;Shamsuddin, Shazana Hilda;Idris, Fauziah Mohamad;Wan Mansor, Wan Nor Ariffin;Abdul Jalal, Muhammad Irfan;Jaafar, Hasnan
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.15 no.9
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    • pp.3939-3944
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    • 2014
  • Background: To elucidate the role of rapamycin and PF4 on apoptosis regulation via Bax (pro-apoptosis), Bcl-2 (anti-apoptosis) and survivin activation on the growth in the 1-methyl-1-nitrosourea-induced invasive breast carcinoma model. Materials and Methods: Thirty five female Sprague Dawley rats at age 21-day old were divided into 4 groups; Group 1 (control, n=10), Group 2 (PF4, n=5), Group 3 (rapamycin, n=10) and Group 4 (rapamycin+PF4, n=10). MNU was administered intraperitionally, dosed at 70mg/kg body weight. The rats were treated when the tumors reached the size of $14.5{\pm}0.5mm$ and subsequently sacrificed after 5 days. Rapamycin and PF4 were administered as focal intralesional injections at the dose of $20{\mu}g$/lesion. The tumor tissue was then subjected to histopathological examinations for morphological appraisal and immunohistochemical assessment of the pro-apoptotic marker, Bax and anti-apoptotic markers, Bcl-2 and survivin. Results: The histopathological pattern of the untreated control cohort showed that the severity of the malignancy augments with mammary tumor growth. Tumors developing in untreated groups were more aggressive whilst those in treated groups demonstrated a transformation to a less aggressive subtype. Combined treatment resulted in a significant reduction of tumor size without phenotypic changes. Bax, the pro-apoptotic marker, was significantly expressed at higher levels in the rapamycin-treated and rapamycin+PF4-treated groups compared to controls (p<0.05). Consequently, survivin was also significantly downregulated in the rapamycin-treated and rapamycin+PF4-treated group and this was significantly different when compared to controls (p). Conclusions: In our rat model, it could be clearly shown that rapamycin specifically affects Bax and survivin signaling pathways in activation of apoptosis. We conclude that rapamycin plays a critical role in the induction of apoptosis in MNU-induced mammary carcinoma.

Rosuvastatin Induces ROS-mediated Apoptosis in Human Prostate Cancer PC-3 Cells (Rosuvastatin이 유도하는 ROS가 전립선암 PC-3 세포주의 세포사멸 유도에 미치는 영향)

  • Choi, Hyeun Deok;Baik, Jong Jin;Kim, Sang Hun;Yu, Sun Nyoung;Chun, Sung Hak;Kim, Young Wook;Nam, Hyo Won;Kim, Kwang Youn;Ahn, Soon Cheol
    • Journal of Life Science
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    • v.26 no.4
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    • pp.398-405
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    • 2016
  • Statins, the inhibitors of 3-hydroxy 3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, are widely used in treatments of hypercholesterolemia and newly known as anti-cancer effect of various cancer cells. Recently, several studies suggested that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a critical role on cell death signaling. However, mechanism of ROS by rosuvastatin is currently unclear. This study aimed to explore the molecular mechanism of apoptosis by rosuvastatin in human prostate cancer PC-3 cells. Cell viability and apoptosis-related protein expression were measured by MTT assay and western blotting, respectively. In addition, the levels of apoptosis and ROS were analyzed. The results showed that rosuvastatin dramatically reduced cell viability in a dose- and time-dependent manner. We confirmed that rosuvastatin induced apoptosis through reduction of procaspase-3 and cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) in PC-3 cells. In addition, rosuvastatin stimulated ROS production in a dose-dependent manner and pre-treatment with N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a ROS scavenger, significantly recovered rosuvastatin-induced ROS and apoptosis. Thus, we concluded that rosuvastain induces apoptosis through generation of ROS in human prostate cancer PC-3 cells and provides a promising approach to improve the efficacy of cancer therapy.

The Impacts of Work Environment on the Job Satisfaction among the Landscape Architecture Workers in South Korea (조경분야 종사자들의 직무환경이 직무만족에 미치는 영향)

  • Kim, Do-Gyun
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.46 no.1
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    • pp.106-114
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    • 2018
  • The aim of this study was to empirical understanding on the impact of work environment on the job satisfaction among the landscape architecture workers through conduct survey. The results was found that the affecting factors of environment in landscape architecture workers were work environment, personal relationship, and job compensation on jab satisfaction, but were not affected between workload and job satisfaction (p<0.05). And this implied that personal relationship in job environment factors was critical factor to decide the levels of job satisfaction (${\beta}$ value 0.233) across the landscape architecture workers. The results guessed the factor that workload among the job satisfaction is or is not statistical significant in many research were because it depends on whether the task is passively recognized or positive recognized according to the job recognition situation. The results was guessed the fact that the affecting factors of the workload among the job satisfaction of landscape architecture workers is not statistical significant were because they have their works cut out for them, makes worthwhile if they thinks that were meaningful and feel have been growing capabilities and recognized that there is a social contribution, and feel the great sense of accomplishment of self-development and self-realization nevertheless they have much their's works.

A Study on the Development of Teaching Materials about Utilizing Counterexmples Focusing on Proposition in High School (고등학교 명제 단원에서 반례 활용에 관한 교수·학습 자료 개발 연구)

  • Oh, Se Hyun;Ko, Ho Kyoung
    • Communications of Mathematical Education
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    • v.30 no.3
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    • pp.393-418
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    • 2016
  • Theory and fundamentals of mathematics consist mostly of proposition form. Activities by research of the proposition which leads to determine the true or false, justify the true propositions and refute with counterexample improve logical reasoning skills of students in emphases on mathematics education. Also, utilizing of counterexamples in school mathematics combines mathematical knowledge through the process of finding a counterexample, help the concept study and increase the critical thinking. These effects have been found through previous research. But many studies say that the learners have difficulty in generating counterexamples for false propositions and materials have not been developed a lot for the counterexample utilizing that can be applied in schools. So, this study analyzed the current textbook and examined the use of counterexamples and developed educational materials for counterexamples that can be applied at schools. That materials consisted of making true & false propositions and students was divided into three groups of academic achievement level. And then this study looked at the change of the students' thinking after counterexample classes. As a study result, in all three groups was showed a positive change in the cognitive domain and affective domain. Especially, in top-level group was mainly showed a positive change in the cognitive domain, in upper-middle group was mainly showed in the cognitive and the affective domain, in the sub-group was mainly found a positive change in the affective domain. Also in this study shows that the class that makes true or false propositions in education of utilizing counterexample, made students understand a given proposition, pay attention to easily overlooked condition, carefully observe symbol sign and change thinking of cognitive domain helping concept learning regardless of academic achievement levels of learners. Also, that class gave positive affect to affective domain that increase interest in the proposition and gain confidence about proposition.

Public Shared Service Centers for Collaborative Government: A Case Study of the United States and the United Kingdom (협업정부 구현을 위한 행정공유서비스센터 도입방안 연구 - 정부 공유서비스센터 선진국 사례연구를 기반으로 -)

  • Hong, Kil Pyo;Chung, Choong Sik;Kim, Pan Suk
    • Informatization Policy
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    • v.21 no.3
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    • pp.33-55
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    • 2014
  • Public Shared Service Centers (PSSC) consolidate functions such as human resources, information technology, financial management or accounting into one office to serve an organization. A prominent example from the United States is the Federal Information Technology Shared Services Strategy. It supports mission, administrative, and infrastructure-related IT functions through providing organizations in the Executive Branch of the Federal Government (Federal Agencies) with policy guidance on the full range and lifecycle of intra- and inter-agency information technology (IT) shared services. This study looks at the Federal Information Technology Shared Services Strategy in order to draw lessons for fostering collaborative government through the use of PSSC. It finds the following factors are critical for success when implementing IT shared services: (1) agency leadership must be solidly behind their IT shared service plan, or the needed changes will not happen at the business unit, program, or system levels; (2) there must be a move away from internally-centered, program-specific thinking, and a move toward a paradigm of consuming and providing IT shared services with multiple groups whenever possible; and (3) successfully managing "loss of control" issues is central, and optimizing business processes is essential to move from stove-piped workflows to processes that work across the agency enterprise and beyond. Therefore, the study suggests that a Korean model of PSSC implementation be introduced, and that good IT Governance is a crucial component of PSSC strategies.

Influence of Herb-combined Remedies Based on "Yooam" Prescription of Dongeuibogam on Migration and Invasion of B16F10 Melanoma Cells (B16F10 흑색종 세포의 이동과 침윤에 미치는 동의보감 "유암" 처방에 근거한 한약복합처방들의 영향)

  • Choi, Eun Ok;Kwon, Da Hye;Hwang-Bo, Hyun;Kim, Min Young;Ji, Seon Yeong;Hong, Su Hyun;Park, Cheol;Hwang, Hye-Jin;Choi, Yung Hyun
    • Herbal Formula Science
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    • v.26 no.3
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    • pp.223-236
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    • 2018
  • Objectives : We compared the inhibitory effects of herb-combined remedies, which were recorded on "Yooam" prescription of Dongeuibogam, on cell migration and invasion, two critical cellular processes that are often deregulated during metastasis, in B16F10 melanoma cells. For this purpose, water extracts of Sipyukmiryukieum (SYMRKU), Danjacheongpitang (DJCPT), Cheongganhaeultang (CGHUT) and Jipaesan (JPS) were used. Methods : Cytotoxicity was assessed by an MTT assay. Wound healing and matrigel transwell assays were used to examine on B16F10 cell migration and invasion. The levels of mRNA and protein expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) were analyzed by RT-PCR and Western blotting. Results : Our data showed that DJCPT showed the strongest inhibitory effect among the four prescriptions in inhibiting cell motility of B16F10 melanoma cells within the concentration range that was not cytotoxic. The inhibitory potential of colony formation was higher in DJCPT and SYMRKU compared to the other two types of prescriptions, and the inhibitory effect of invasiveness is shown in order of DJCPT, SYMRKU, CGHUT and JPS. DJCPT, and SYMRKU strongly inhibited the activity and expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9, which are important mediators in cancer invasion, compared to CGHUT and JPS, and the increased expression of TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 was also more effective in these two prescriptions. In conclusion, DJCPT is expected to exhibit the most potent blocking effect on migration and invasion among four herb-combined remedies compared in B16F10 melanoma cells. Conclusion : Overall, the results of this study will be used as an important source to validate these prescriptions in animal models and to understand the mechanism of action of herbal remedies recorded in Dongeuibogam.

An Ethnographic Study on the Digital Literacy Practices of Role-Players in a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (대규모 멀티 플레이어 온라인 롤 플레잉 게임 참여자의 디지털 리터러시 활용 관행에 관한 민족지학적 연구)

  • Hollister, Jonathan M.
    • Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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    • v.50 no.4
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    • pp.429-467
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    • 2019
  • Various digital literacy and critical competencies are crucial for success in the information and media-rich 21st century game of life. This study explores and describes the digital literacy practices of role-players in WildStar, a science fantasy Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). Active role-players create and participate in group-driven interactive stories while in-character. A hybrid ethnographic method integrating overt participant observation and engagement, collection of community artifacts across multiple sites (such as wikis, discussion boards, and social media), and semi-structured interviews was employed to understand how role-players seek, use, evaluate, and manage information, media, and technology. Role-players used various media and technologies to supplement, simplify, and make role-playing more immersive. The relative digital literacy skill levels of individuals varied, leading role-players to leverage the skills of more proficient or experienced community members. Given the broad appeal of online games and educational benefits of role-playing, implications and applications for digital literacy skills instruction and library programming are also discussed.