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The present study aimed to investigate the current music practices and teachers' needs for teaching music in public preschools of South Korea. The data were obtained from the public preschools in South Korea, where 66.7 percent (n = 606) of the total sample (N = 908) responded. The online survey consisted of 42 questions: Likert-type scales, single and multiple-choice responses, and four open-ended questions. Focusing on the current music practices of public preschools, the 42 questions were divided into seven categories according to question content. The majority of teachers stated that their lesson plans included group music activities more than twice a week, lasting less than 30 minutes on average. The most important reason for including music in the curriculum was "enjoyment and recreation". Almost all teachers planned their music curriculum with a weekly theme, and they chose songs to complement the theme. Singing with finger play (a song, game or chant with finger action) was reported to be the most popular activity in public preschools. The teachers taught songs with piano accompaniment or a CD, and several common CD collections for music activities were employed. Although rhythmic percussion instruments were the most accessible in a music center, the piano was the most frequently used by teachers during circle time in the classroom. Teachers identified the difficulty of the lack of ideas for music activities in preschools. The majority of the participants requested more applicable and thorough preservice and inservice music education programs for preschool teachers. (Contains 4 tables, 3 figures and 2 notes.)

We examined the relative contributions of government income support programs and familial transfers to old-age income security in Korea. This issue is critical, as policy reforms are in progress, and the potential crowding-out effect of government programs on familial transfer is at the center of heated debate. Using the 2006 Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging, we found that one-third of the elderly were poor and the contribution of public transfer to income security for the elderly was limited, whereas family, especially children, played a large role both by co-residing and througb private transfers. Crowding out is less of a problem for the poor but a sensitive issue for middle-income families. KEYWORDS crowding out, family transfers, poverty, private transfers, public transfers DOI: 10.1080/08959420903166803

We consider the Gel'fand problem, where h is a nonnegative function in Under suitable assumptions on h and Ω, we prove the local uniqueness of bubbling solutions for any small enough. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toxoplasma gondii is an important human and animal pathogen that causes life-threatening toxoplasmosis. The host immune system produces interferon-γ (IFN-γ) to inhibit T. gondii proliferation. IFN-γ-inducible indole-2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1), which mediates tryptophan degradation, has a major role in anti- T. gondii immune responses in various human cells. In response to the host's immune system, T. gondii secretes many virulence molecules into the host cells to suppress IFN-γ-dependent antiparasitic immune responses. The GRA15-induced proparasitic mechanism for suppressing IDO1-dependent immune responses has previously been tested only in human hepatocyte and monocyte co-cultures. Thus, whether human cells other than hepatocytes contain this virulence mechanism remains unclear. Here, we show that the GRA15-dependent virulence mechanism for suppressing the IDO1-dependent anti- T. gondii response operates in human neuronal cell lines and primary human neurons. Analysis of various human cell lines revealed that IL-1β-induced iNOS-dependent reduction of IDO1 mRNA expression occurred in brain cell lines (A172; glioblastoma, IMR-32; neuroblastoma, and T98G; glioblastoma) and liver cell lines (Huh7 and HepG2), but not in other cell lines. Moreover, co-culturing type II T. gondii -infected THP-1 human monocytes with the brain cell lines inhibited the IDO1-mediated anti- T. gondii response in a GRA15-dependent manner. These data suggest that a GRA15-dependent virulence mechanism antagonizes the IDO1-dependent host immune response in human brain cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toxoplasma gondii is an important human and animal pathogen that causes life-threatening toxoplasmosis. Interferon-γ (IFN-γ) is critical for anti- T. gondii cell-autonomous immunity in both humans and mice. To proliferate efficiently within the hosts, virulent strains of T. gondii can suppress IFN-γ-dependent immunity. During parasite infection, it is well-characterized that various virulence effectors are secreted to transcriptionally or post-translationally target IFN-γ-inducible GTPases, which are essential for anti-parasite responses in mice. However, the role of IFN-γ-inducible GTPases in anti- T. gondii responses in human cells is controversial since they are non-functional or absent in humans. Instead, IFN-γ-induced tryptophan degradation by indole-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is important for the anti- T. gondii human response. To date, the T. gondii virulent mechanism targeting IDO in human cells remains elusive. Here we show that although humans possess two IDO isozymes, IDO1 and IDO2, human cells of various origins require IDO1 but not IDO2 for IFN-γ-induced cell-autonomous immunity to T. gondii. T. gondii secretes an effector TgIST to inhibit IDO1 mRNA expression. Taken together, the data suggests that T. gondii possesses virulence programs operated by TgIST to antagonize IFN-γ-induced IDO1-mediated anti-parasite cell-autonomous immunity in human cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are concerned with the bosonic sector of an N = 2 supersymmetric Chern–Simons–Higgs theory in 2 + 1 dimensions. Here the gauge group is SU (N) × U (1) and has N f flavors of fundamental matter fields. Recently, Chen, Han, Lozano, Schaposnik showed the existence of two gauge-distinct solutions carrying the same physical energy on a two dimensional flat torus. In this paper, we find a solution which has a different asymptotic behavior from Chen, Han, Lozano, Schaposnik's result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study mixed-type solutions of $${SU(3)}$$ Chern-Simons system (see (1.4) below) on a two dimensional flat torus. Nolasco and Tarantello (Commun Math Phys 213:599-639, ), among other things, Nolasco and Tarantello obtained solutions of (1.4) as minimizers of several functionals closely related to (1.4), and showed that if $${N_1+N_2=1}$$ , then one of those minimizers turns out to be a mixed-type solution, that is, one component tends to $${\ln\frac{1}{2}}$$ pointwise a.e. and the other component converges to a solution of a mean field equation. We call these kinds of solutions mixed-type (I) solutions. In this paper, we prove two main results: (i) the asymptotic analysis of mixed-type (I) solutions with arbitrary configuration of vortex points, and (ii) the existence of mixed-type (I) solutions under a non-degenerate condition. This non-degenerate condition also ensures some uniqueness result. In particular, our results imply that when $${N_1+N_2=1}$$ , there are only two mixed-type (I) solutions of (1.4). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Also known as Sqstm1, p62 is a selective autophagy adaptor with a ubiquitin-binding domain. However, the role of p62 in the host defense against Toxoplasma gondii infection is unclear. Here, we show that interferon γ (IFN-γ) stimulates ubiquitin and p62 recruitment to T. gondii parasitophorous vacuoles (PVs). Some essential autophagy-related proteins, but not all, are required for this recruitment. Regardless of normal IFN-γ-induced T. gondii clearance activity and ubiquitination, p62 deficiency in antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and mice diminishes the robust IFN-γ-primed activation of CD8 + T cells that recognize the T. gondii -derived antigen secreted into PVs. Because the expression of Atg3 and Irgm1/m3 in APCs is essential for PV disruption, ubiquitin and p62 recruitment, and vacuolar-antigen-specific CD8 + T cell activation, IFN-γ-mediated ubiquitination and the subsequent recruitment of p62 to T. gondii are specifically required for the acquired immune response after PV disruption by IFN-γ-inducible GTPases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a nonlinear elliptic equation derived from the Chern-Simons gauged $$O(3)$$ sigma model on a flat torus. Recently, it has been conjectured that there might exist a stable nontopological entire solution in $$\mathbb {R}^2$$ under certain conditions. In this paper, we construct bubbling stable solutions on a flat torus which blow up at a vortex point. Our result shows that some global condition on the coefficients in Bartolucci et al. (Ann Inst Henri Poincaré Anal Non Linéaire. doi:, ) is necessary for the equivalence result between stable solutions and topological solutions. Moreover, we investigate other types of bubbling solutions including mountain pass solutions and analyze the asymptotic behavior of general solutions on a flat torus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For any N ⩾ 1 and sufficiently small ε > 0, we find a positive solution of a nonlinear elliptic equation$$\Delta u=\varepsilon^2(V(x)u-f(u)),\quad x\in\mathbb{R}^N,$$when lim|x| → ∞V(x) = m > 0 and some optimal conditions on f are satisfied. Furthermore, we investigate the asymptotic behaviour of the solution as ε → 0. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We consider a general non-Abelian Chern–Simons–Higgs system of rank 2 (0.1) Δ u i + 1 ɛ 2 ∑ j = 1 2 K j i e u j − ∑ j = 1 2 ∑ k = 1 2 K k j K j i e u j e u k = 4 π ∑ l = 1 N m i , l δ p l (i = 1 , 2) over a flat torus, where m 1 , l ≥ 0 , m 2 , l ≥ 0 , (m 1 , l , m 2 , l) ≠ (0 , 0) for l = 1 , ... , N , δ p is the Dirac measure at p , K is a non-degenerate 2 × 2 matrix of the form K = 1 + a − a − b 1 + b . When a > − 1 , b > − 1 , and a + b > − 1 , Eqs (0.1) are expected to have three types solutions: topological, non-topological and mixed type solutions. Concerning the existence of various type solutions, there are requirements that a > 0 and b > 0 , or a and b are close to 0 in the literature. It is still open for generic a and b. We partially answer this question and show that (0.1) possesses bubbling mixed type solutions provided that ɛ is small and (a , b) satisfies (1.17). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider an elliptic system arising from a supersymmetric gauge field theory. In this paper, we complete to classify all possible solutions according to their asymptotic behavior under a weak coupling effect. Interestingly, it turns out that one of components does not follow the feature of condensate solutions for the classical Chern–Simons–Higgs model. Moreover, in order to prove the concentration property of blow up component, we need to improve the convergence rate and the gradient estimation for the other component, which converges to a constant. We expect that this result would provide an insight for the study of general elliptic system problems, which are even neither cooperative nor competitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) is a major structural protein of caveolae and plays an important role as a negative regulator of various signaling pathways such as the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)/smad pathway. In this study, we investigated the role of cav-1 on basal and TGF-β1-induced expression of type I procollagen in human dermal fibroblasts. Our results demonstrated that basal and TGF-β1-induced expression of type I procollagen were significantly increased by adenoviral cav-1 (Ad-cav-1) overexpression, while the basal level of type I procollagen was decreased by cav-1 siRNA. Overexpression of cav-1 inhibited TGF-β1-induced phosphorylation of smad3 and transcription of 3TP-Lux and SBE luciferase reporters, suggesting that cav-1 may inhibit the TGF-β1/smad signaling pathway. We observed that TGF-β1-induced type I procollagen expression was decreased by smad3 siRNA transfection. However, the reduction of TGF-β1-induced type I procollagen expression by smad3 siRNA was reversed by cav-1 overexpression. In addition, our results also showed that TGF-β1 treatment increased the phosphorylation of Akt, and Ad-cav-1 infection augmented this TGF-β1-induced phosphorylation of Akt. Ad-myr-Akt infection significantly increased the basal expression of type I procollagen. In contrast, TGF-β1-induced type I procollagen expression was decreased by Akt siRNA transfection and the PI3-kinase inhibitor, LY294002, inhibited the TGF-β1-induced type I procollagen expression and also inhibited the cav-1-induced expression of type I procollagen. In conclusion, our results suggest that cav-1 increases the basal and TGF-β1-induced expression of type I procollagen by regulating two opposite signaling pathways: inhibiting TGF-β1/smad signaling and activating a PI-3 kinase/Akt/mTOR-dependent pathway in human dermal fibroblasts, ultimately resulting in increased type I procollagen expression. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) is an omega-3 (ω-3) polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), which has anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Some reports have demonstrated that EPA inhibits NF-κB activation induced by tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in various cells. However, its detailed mode of action is unclear. In this report, we investigated whether EPA inhibits the expression of TNF-α-induced matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-9 in human immortalized keratinocytes (HaCaT). TNF-α induced MMP-9 expression by NF-κB-dependent pathway. Pretreatment of EPA inhibited TNF-α-induced MMP-9 expression and p65 phosphorylation. However, EPA could not affect IκB-α phosphorylation, nuclear translocation of p65, and DNA binding activity of NF-κB. EPA inhibited TNF-α-induced p65 phosphorylation through p38 and Akt inhibition and this inhibition was IKKα-dependent event. Taken together, we demonstrate that EPA inhibits TNF-α-induced MMP-9 expression through inhibition of p38 and Akt activation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The study was designed to examine children's ability with rhythmic duplication in a longitudinal investigation. Participants 0V = 32) were children 6 years old (n = 8), 5 years old (n = 8), 4 years old (n = 8), and 3 years old (n = 8)from a Korean community in a small Midwestern city. Each child was tested on individually duplicating 10 kinds of rhythmic patterns by tapping and chanting. Parents of the participants were interviewed. One year after the first investigation, the phase H was conducted with the same participants (N = 26) and the same test items. Age level was a significant predictor of children's rhythmic development, but gender was not. Children at all age levels could duplicate the rhythmic patterns better by chanting than by tapping. The response mode of the age 3 and age 4 groups did not significantly differ from each other; the same was found for the age 5 through age 7 groups. However, there were significant differences between the age 4 and age 5 groups. An informal observation based on parent interviews indicated that cognitive development, weekly musical exposure time, and family involvement may be variables that need further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We prove the uniqueness of blow up solutions of the mean field equation as ρ n → 8 π m , m ∈ N. If u n , 1 and u n , 2 are two sequences of bubbling solutions with the same ρ n and the same (non degenerate) blow up set, then u n , 1 = u n , 2 for sufficiently large n. The proof of the uniqueness requires a careful use of some sharp estimates for bubbling solutions of mean field equations [22] and a rather involved analysis of suitably defined Pohozaev-type identities as recently developed in [51] in the context of the Chern–Simons–Higgs equations. Moreover, motivated by the Onsager statistical description of two dimensional turbulence, we are bound to obtain a refined version of an estimate about ρ n − 8 π m in case the first order evaluated in [22] vanishes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the dissertation "Music Practices and Teachers' Needs for Teaching Music in Public Preschools of South Korea," by Youngae Lee is presented.