3,114 research outputs found
Ritual is Theatre, Theatre is Ritual: Tang-Ki Chinese Spirit Medium Worship
No full textWee Kim Wee Centre, SMU and SNP Researc
Related Data for: Assessing lower track students' learning in science inference skills in Singapore
No full textIt is a generally held view amongst educators today that the development of students’ inference skills is an important aspect in their education as 21st Century learners as it requires higher order cognitive competences. Oftentimes, students in the lower tracks are considered slower learners and may have difficulties with the development of such skills. There is, however, limited empirical evidence to support such claims. As a result, there is a lack of understanding how such skills are taught, and how lower track students acquire them. The purpose of this study is to investigate lower track students’ science inference skills over one academic year, to better understand their learning and development. To determine this, three multiple-choice science inference skills tests were developed based on science syllabus and administered over a 9-month period. In total, 1,397 Grade 7 lower track (i.e., Normal Academic) students from 38 Singapore secondary schools participated in the study. The students’ performances were determined through three equated tests using Rasch common-item procedures. The results showed that students experienced greater difficulty with tests over time. They particularly had difficulties with questions pertinent to graphs, tables, diagrams, or charts, or required them to extend their thinking beyond the given information. They also had difficulty in deducing answers using the elimination technique, and items that involved experiments and variables. Items that involved pattern recognition, concluding using range, application of a given concept, and limited information were easier for them. The findings also have implications for science teacher education in terms of assessment literacy, and the science teaching of lower track students
唐代传奇中的女性形象 = The womens' role during the Tang Dynasty as portrayed in "Tang Chuanqi" (short stories of Tang Dynasty)
No full textTang Chuanqi is an important literature creation in ancient China . As compared to the Pre-Tang literature , Tang Chuanqi has created quite a number of women with speciflc role . It is indeed very special in a man dominated society like ancient China . Therefore , it is interesting to look into the womens' role of Tang Dynasty as portrayed in Tang Chuanqi.Master of Art
Development of an integrated, printed cell-scaffold construct for bone repair
No full textThe rising incidence of bone disorders, exacerbated by an increasing ageing population worldwide, has resulted in an unmet need for more effective therapies. Bone tissue engineering is seen as a means of developing alternatives to conventional bone grafts for the repair or reconstruction of bone defects through the utilisation of biomaterials, cells, and signalling factors. However, skeletal tissue engineering faces several challenges in order to achieve full translation into clinical practice. The use of additive manufacturing techniques to biofabricate bone offers one potential solution, with its inherent capability for reproducibility, accuracy and customisation of scaffolds, as well as the potential capability for cell and signalling factor delivery. This thesis outlines the approach taken to develop such an integrated construct, which could possibly be used for bone repair. Chapter 1 begins by providing an overview of the current understanding of bone biology and the factors involved in bone repair, before proceeding to examine the current state of bone biofabrication and the necessary factors for success, while discussing the key issues limiting its use to date. The chapter concludes by stressing the need for standardisation of methods for bioprinting, in vitro and in vivo approaches and analyses, and calls for improvements to design and bioprinting software if biofabrication is to achieve its potential for clinical translation. Chapter 2 summarises the core materials and methods used throughout the project. The next three chapters describe the process leading up to the creation of a biofabricated construct through harnessing the osteogenic capacity of STRO-1 enriched bone marrow stromal cells and biocompatible materials. Chapter 3 describes established isolation and culture protocols for STRO-1 enriched bone marrow stromal cells and confirms that STRO-1 enriched bone marrow stromal cells are induced to undergo osteogenic differentiation by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 stimulation, and when seeded onto microporous, micro-rough titanium templates, despite an inverted culture approach. The results suggest STRO-1 enriched bone marrow stromal cells are a suitable cell type for use in bone repair. Chapter four details the various combinations, and potential, of multi-material bioinks for cell encapsulation and delivery purposes. Bioinks, composed of chemically cross-linked, 4% w/v low viscosity alginate, and to a lesser extent, gelatin containing 1% w/v hyaluronic acid, were found to be suitable for STRO-1 enriched bone marrow stromal cell delivery, demonstrating cell viability and proliferation post-seeding. Chapter 4 also describes the methods used in the design, generation, and characterisation of novel polycaprolactone-based scaffolds manufactured by a three-dimensional printer. Although polycaprolactone has been utilised in biomedical devices for decades, the inherent hydrophobicity of polycaprolactone has limited its use as a scaffold for cell seeding, usually requiring post-processing steps to resolve this problem. In this project, non-treated, porous, cylindrical polycaprolactone-based scaffolds were not only reproducibly manufactured by melt extrusion printing with high resolution, but were also shown to be biocompatible, with an average total porosity of 52%. Microcomputerised tomography image reconstruction analyses further revealed that 99.5% of the created pores were interconnected. Chapter 5 reports the creation of an integrated construct potentially suitable for bone reparation purposes. A manual aerosol spray was used to coat printed scaffolds with a biomimetic bioink. While the process did not result in an appreciable reduction in porosity, confocal light and scanning electron microscopy showed major alterations to the surface topography of the scaffolds. STRO-1 enriched bone marrow stromal cells deposited by this aerosol method onto non-treated, as well as biomimetic bioink-coated, 3D printed scaffolds demonstrated good viability, increased ALP activity, and underwent osteogenic differentiation over 21 days in vitro. Chapter 6 surmises the findings of this project, and concludes with a personal perspective on the future (potential) direction of biofabrication in bone tissue engineering
Related Data for: Rethinking teaching and learning of science inference competencies of lower track students in Singapore: A Rasch investigation
No full textCompetency in making inferences is an important aspect of student learning in the twenty-first century, for making better-informed decisions. The purpose of our study is to investigate the type of science capital that can predict the science inference competencies of lower track students. Science capital comprises diverse social capital, cultural capital, and mental schema. A total of 1,397 Normal Academic (NA) and 637 Normal Technical (NT) Grade 7 students from 37 public secondary schools in Singapore participated in the study. Three separate science inference tests were administered to the students over one academic year, and test scores were calibrated and equated using Rasch analysis. The relationship between students’ perceptions of science capital and their development in science inference competencies was investigated using Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis. The results indicated that NA students’ self-views in science learning and their views about the nature of science were significant predictors of their scientific inference competencies. For NT students, their views about science teachers was the only significant predictors of their performance on making scientific inferences. Based on the research design and findings, we draw implications for local and international science curriculum policy. Additionally, we demonstrate the usefulness of Rasch analysis
Hoy Kee Restaurant & Bakery and Northern News Company
No full textPhotograph - A building housing Hoy Kee Restaurant & Bakery and Northern News Company, Athabasca, Albert
Related Data for: Investigating the instructional leadership of STEM educators in Thailand
No full textThis article reports on the survey findings of a study on the STEM leadership of 134 STEM middle school educators (118 teachers and 16 principals) in Thailand who led in STEM curriculum writing and teaching in their schools. The data were analysed using Rasch analysis of three constructs, namely, their views about STEM teaching, STEM capital and self-empowerment to teach STEM lessons. The findings showed that the educators generally responded positively to the three constructs. They thought that STEM should be integrated and could potentially stand alone as an independent discipline. The teachers wished for more resources and had the support of colleagues. The teachers lacked confidence in STEM teaching. Implications for specific areas of support, especially the forming of STEM professional learning communities to support the teachers, are suggested
Spatial effects in the ex-ante evaluation of urban underground transportation infrastructure projects: A study of the gap between the perceived spatial effects of Het Souterrain and the spatial effects incorporated in already conducted CBAs
No full textUnderground transportation infrastructure projects are a possible solution to the increasing demand for transportation, limited space and congestion in urban areas. In addition, these kinds of projects are in line with the need for improvement of the quality of the public urban space. Nowadays, when a municipality applies for funding with the national government for the construction of a transportation project a Cost-Benefit analysis (CBA) has to be conducted by an independent party (Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, 2012). In the CBA the costs and benefits of the project on the society are balanced and therefore provides the CBA decision-makers with important policy information; whether the benefits outweigh the costs of the project compared to the state of affairs in which no project is build- also called the reference case (van Wee & Rietveld, 2014). The use of the CBA in the decision-making process leads to a better decision-making process (Mouter, Annema, & van Wee, 2013), but it is unclear which exact role a CBA plays in the decision-making process, because politicians also have other reasons than the results of a CBA for reaching a go/no-go decision (Rienstra, 2008; Eijgenraam, Koopmans, Tang, & Verster, 2000; Annema, 2014; Mackie, 2010). A limitation of the CBA is that not all (welfare) effects can be taken (properly) into account in a CBA (Mouter, Annema, & van Wee, 2015). CBAs are often incomplete because project effects are uncertain, unknown or difficult to monetize (Mouter, Annema, & van Wee, 2013). Under these conditions, political decisions based on results of a CBA study are based on incomplete policy information.Technology, Policy and ManagementDepartment of Transport and Logistic
Chinese literary works translated into Baba Malay: a bibliographical study
No full textAnalyses 68 unique titles of Baba translated works published between 1889 and 1950. The titles are held in the libraries of the University of Malaya (UM), Science University Malaysia (USM), National University of Malaysia (UKM), the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), National University of Singapore (NUS), National Library of Singapore (NLS) and the British Library (BL). The results reveal three periods of active publication of Baba translated works. A total of 18 works were translated before World War I, followed by 10 just after the war, 39 titles were published before the break of the World War II and 1 was identified in 1950. There were 103 persons involved in the 68 translated works, some of whom are responsible for more than one title. The most prominent translators were Chan Kim Boon, Wan Boon Seng, Seow Chin San and Lee Seng Poh. Some of the translators were also be editors, illustrators or editors. There were 31 publishers and 21 printing presses involved, all were located in Singapore. The most active publishers were Wan Boon Seng, Kim Seck Chy Press and Nanyang Romanised Malay Book Co. The translated works mainly cover historical classical Chinese stories, chivalrous stories, romances, folklore and legends. The titles were priced between 10 cents to 2 dollars in Straits currency. The University of Malaya Library held the largest number of unique title (62) out of which 15 were unique titles
Random
No full textRandom is a 20-minute narrative short film produced by Random Pictures, as part of our Final Year Project in the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University.
Based on the 2014 Taipei Metro attack which resulted in four people killed and 22 injured. The film follows the execution of the first MRT random killer in Singapore, who left the nation with a mysterious last word “bao”. Jia Hao, the son of one of the victims, begins his journey to search for an answer and closure – the motive behind the killing.Bachelor of Communication Studie
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