Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: Objectives: The lab component was added to the didactic material of the Pharmacogenomics course (i) to introduce students to the concepts and technologies of Pharmacogenomics; (ii) to demonstrate the clinical implications of genotype as a risk factor for adverse drug reactions through the lab experience. Methods: We established a lab where the second year Pharmacy students extracted DNA using their saliva as a starting material, evaluated DNA quality, and performed genotyping analysis of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms by fast-throughput technology. Results: Genetic polymorphism in N-acetyltransferase (NAT2) which is a well-characterized polymorphic gene responsible for adverse reactions to isoniazid, sulfanilamide, and other drugs, was assessed in 70 DNA samples. Based on results generated during two lab sessions, the students calculated frequency of polymorphic alleles of NAT2. To protect confidentiality, genotyping analysis was blinded so that students could identify their own genotype but not genotypes of the rest of the class. During the third lab session, students performed stratification of the class into the fast, the slow and the intermediate acetylators, and discussed clinical significance of genetic analysis in patients. Implications: Healthcare providers need to be educated about the genotype as a risk factor for adverse drug reactions. To this end, we established a robust protocol where students during three lab sessions were introduced to the major techniques and interpretation of genotyping experiments. Using the drug acetylation polymorphism as an example, this lab helped students to understand the relevance of Pharmacogenomic analysis for the rational choice of individualized medication regimens.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Alam Simsim, the Egyptian version of Sesame Street, has been airing nationally in Egypt to teach preschoolers about math, literacy, and gender-equitable attitudes. Using social cognitive theory as the guiding theoretical perspective, the purpose of this paper was to assess the impact of the program through a first-of-its-kind national-level survey that interviewed both caretakers (N = 426) and the target audience of preschoolers (N = 486). This paper also sought to overcome the difficulty inherent in measuring exposure to program content through self-reports obtained from preschoolers. It introduced and tested the efficacy of a parsimonious measure of exposure: children’s recognition of the primary characters of the program. Overall, the models explained as much as 53 percent of the variance in children’s learning; exposure to the program was significantly associated with learning. Furthermore, the parsimonious measure of exposure was as effective as a more elaborate self-reported measure. Relative to these two measures of exposure, caretakers’ reports of children’s viewing was not as good a predictor of learning.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Contemporary conflict resolution rests heavily on modern rational-legal, individualist, self maximizing assumptions. This paper critiques some of these assumptions in terms of the experience of two high context collective cultures in the Sth West Pacific. It will explore the nature of the relationship and tensions between traditional and introduced conflict resolution mechanisms in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands

Publication Type: Short Oral Report
Abstract: The purpose of this proposal is to contribute in three important directions. First, it will contribute to pre-service teacher preparation by exposing pre-service teachers to an experiential instructional unit on formative assessment through the use of a network-based learning environment. Second, it will contribute to the development of evaluation and assessment tools that allow for valid, reliable and feasible interpretations of students work on classroom-based (performance-based) assessments with the future goal of better linking these formative assessments to larger-scale assessments of students’ mathematical knowledge. Third, it will contribute to the use of technology, like the network-based calculator system, in the design of more participatory learning environments to promote learning. The research questions that will guide this study are:
Can pre-service teachers learn, as part of their teacher preparation program, to interpret students’ work from performance-based assessment in a systematic way that is also valid, reliable, and feasible?
Can a network-based learning environment be designed to facilitate formative assessment in the classroom, by making students’ mathematical understanding observable, and allowing the teacher to provide opportunistic and timely feedback of students’ observed participation?

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In recent years, there has been increasing interest in how institutional logics affect organizational fields. Explanations for how new logics take hold have emphasized the role of institutional entrepreneurs who do the cultural work of creating new frames that make sense of a field in crisis. Academic science, however, saw the rise of a market-oriented logic without evidence of an intentional entrepreneurial project. This paper argues that the shift in logic in academic science emerged in response to policy decisions that resulted from the rise of a new frame in the political arena. During the mid-1970s, a national economic crisis led to the rise of an “innovation-economy” frame in the U.S. policy sector, which argued that science, technology, and innovation were critical components to economic growth. This frame played a role in a variety of policy decisions, most of which were not focused specifically on academic science. These policies accelerated the growth of nascent market-oriented practices within the university and helped them to become institutionalized in various parts of academic science. This indirect path to a change in logic suggests that in fields heavily dependent upon the state, new frames may be introduced (intentionally or unintentionally) through policy decisions, rather than through active institutional entrepreneurship.