The ongoing education of engineering practitioners: how do they perceive the usefulness of academic research?

This study explores the usefulness of academic research to engineering practitioners. Issues such as knowledge transfer, the research-practice gap and the changing social/political environment are discussed. An empirical survey of practitioners is analysed to better understand the engineering professions use of academic material, such as research journals, with the medical profession acting as the benchmark. The study also examines the future role for academia from the perspective of practitioners, with areas such as engagement, relevance, dissemination and education highlighted. While the study found there was a reasonable level of utilisation of academic material, there are still some significant gaps. The study brings to the fore the issue of relevance in applied research fields and highlights the need to evaluate the usefulness of our research to practitioners and the betterment of society.     

Attitudes toward Family Obligations among American Adolescents with Asian, Latin American, and European Backgrounds

This study was designed to examine the attitudes toward family obligations among over 800 American tenth ( M age = 15.7 years) and twelfth ( M age = 17.7 years) grade students from Filipino, Chinese, Mexican, Central and South American, and European backgrounds. Asian and Latin American adolescents possessed stronger values and greater expectations regarding their duty to assist, respect, and support their families than their peers with European backgrounds. These differences tended to be large and were consistent across the youths' generation, gender, family composition, and socioeconomic background. Whereas an emphasis on family obligations tended to be associated with more positive family and peer relationships and academic motivation, adolescents who indicated the strongest endorsement of their obligations tended to receive school grades just as low as or even lower than those with the weakest endorsement. There was no evidence, however, that the ethnic variations in attitudes produced meaningful group differences in the adolescents' development. These findings suggest that even within a society that emphasizes adolescent autonomy and independence, youths from families with collectivistic traditions retain their parents' familistic values and that these values do not have a negative impact upon their development.     

A Web-Based Virtual Microscopy Platform for Improving Academic Performance in Histology and Pathology Laboratory Courses: A Pilot Study

Virtual microscopy (VM) has been utilized to improve students' learning experience in microscope laboratory sessions, but minimal attention has been given to determining how to use VM more effectively. The study examined the influence of VM on academic performance and teacher and student perceptions and compared laboratory test scores before and after VM incorporation. A total of 662 third-year students studying histology and 651 fourth-year students studying pathology were divided into two groups. The light microscopy (LM) group used a light microscope in 2014 and 2015, while the LM + VM group used the VM platform and a light microscope in 2016 and 2017. Four factors positively predict laboratory scores (R square, 0.323; P < 0.001): (i) the pathology course and test-enhanced learning, (ii) the VM platform and experience, (iii) medical students and lecture scores, and (iv) female students. The LM + VM group exhibited less score variability on laboratory examinations relative to their mean than the LM group. The LM + VM group was also associated with fewer failing grades (F grade; odds ratio, 0.336; P < 0.001) and higher scores (A grade; odds ratio, 2.084; P < 0.001) after controlling for sex, school, course, and lecture grades. The positive effect of the VM platform on laboratory test grades was associated with prior experience using the VM platform and was synergistic with more interim tests. Both teachers and students agreed that the VM platform enhanced laboratory learning. The incorporation of the VM platform in the context of test-enhanced learning may help more students to master microscopic laboratory content.     

Neural Oscillation Reveals Deficits in Visuospatial Working Memory in Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder

The electroencephalographic (EEG) oscillations associated with visuospatial working memory (VSWM) were examined in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD; 10–11 years; N = 29) and typically developing (TD) children (10–11 years; N = 29). Behaviorally, DCD showed poorer VSWM than TD, which coincided with the diminished ability of DCD in modulating neural oscillations. Furthermore, prestimulus oscillatory alpha activity was correlated with VSWM performance. The results suggest that children with DCD might have a reduced ability to encode and recognize new information, and in particular have difficulty in maintaining task‐relevant information, resulting in poorer VSWM. This study thus concludes that changes in oscillatory EEG activity reflect some of the problems leading to cognitive deficits in DCD.     

图书馆馆际间的合作：全球性的进展

作者鼓励图书馆专业人员,不单要为自己的图书馆尽心尽力,也要走出自己的图书馆,贡献才智与全世界数字图书馆链接。为了达到提供更快的服务,把好的资源信息送到更边远的地区,作者列举近年来图书馆界馆藏数字化的多项工程的进展,说明图书馆馆际间合作的必要性,因为工程浩大,影响深远,需要靠跨国界、跨行业、跨机构的参与、精诚地合作、克服挑战和经费的大力支持。作者更鼓励图书馆专业人员,贡献一己之力,来完成服务无围墙的世界图书馆的宏愿,做一个真正的世界图书馆人。参考文献43。     

A simulated learning environment of history games for enhancing players’ cultural awareness

This research attempted to create the historical context of Southern Taiwan in the late nineteenth century based on the martial art novel “Xiao-Mao” (Pussy) by designing a role-play digital game “Taiwan Epic Game” about the war time; in which, Taiwanese history, geography, and culture are presented in an innovative way with virtual scenarios. Questionnaire surveys were conducted to investigate the effects of the digital game. The simulationist immersion premises were chosen to be the primary concern, with which the designers should pursue the supreme creation of situation, character, setting, and system. The results showed that the game can effectively enhance players' cognitive growth, as well as cultural awareness in terms of the sense of existence of the environment, local culture, folk arts, faith and festivals, and architectural characteristics. It can be concluded that the three-dimensional simulated learning environment created in the digital game can successfully merge “reality” and “virtuality.”     

Exploring consumers to buy innovative products: Mobile phone upgrading intention

The fourth generation mobile phone soon will be launched. Marketers are concerned about customer acceptance, and, in particular, about the main factors that determine whether customers will upgrade their mobile phones, which will affect the diffusion of 3G, 4G, and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access phones. We integrated post- and pre-adoption theories, upgrading and value-based theory and chose 2G and 3G users to examine customers' plans to upgrade their current phones, and found that value assessments can affect mobile users' plans to upgrade to next-generation versions. When 2G mobile users were satisfied with their current model, they were not willing to upgrade to 3G mobile phones. They tend to upgrade by leapfrogging the next generation product as an indirect result of their positive satisfaction with their current model. These results suggest that 2G mobile users consider the 3G mobile phone to be a transitional product, and will wait for future options that are expected to perform better than those presently available.     

中国兔儿风属(菊科)资料

The genus, Ainsliaea DC. from China is revised in this paper. Three species, A. nana Y. C. Tseng, A. pingbianensis Y. G. Tseng and A. trinervis Y. C.  Tseng, are newly described;   two species, A.  chapaensis Merr.  and A. angustifolia Hook. f. et Thoms. ex C. B. Clarke are new records for China and two  new  combinations,  A.  apteroides (Chang)  Y.  C.  Tseng  and  A. macrocephala (Mattf.) Y. C. Tseng, are made. In addition, one species, A. hypoleuca  Diels  ex  Limpr.  and  four  varieties,  A.  bonatii  Beauverd  var. arachnoidea Beauverd,  A.  pteropoda DC.  var.  leiophylla Franch.,  A.  elegans Hemsl. var. tomentosa Mattf. and A. glabra Hemsl. var.  tenuiculis (Mattf.)Chang, are reduced to synonyms.