Common Traits Research Articles

Ideal L2 Pre-service Teacher Selves: The Case of University Pre-service Teachers in Costa Rica

The ‘L2 Motivational Self System’ (L2MSS) (Dörnyei & Ryan, 2015) sheds light on theoretical tenets for research in language learner motivation. The L2MSS has been adapted into the ‘Possible Language Teacher Self’ (PLTS) (Kubanyiova, 2009) to explore language teacher motivation. Nonetheless, there is scarce research on a self-system for L2 pre-service teachers. Therefore, in this qualitative study, the characteristics of the Ideal L2 Pre-Service Teacher Self were explored to identify a possible motivational self-system. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted and thematic analysis was implemented. Participants (N=2) were pre-service L2 teachers from a university in Costa Rica. Findings revealed that participants mentioned four common traits of an ideal L2 pre-service teacher self: (1) passion, (2) knowledge, (3) adaptability, and (4) language proficiency. Contrary to Kubanyiova’s (2009) PLTS and Dörnyei’s (2009b) and Dörnyei & Ryan’s (2015) L2MSS, both participants share an ‘L2 Pre-service Teacher Self System’ including four elements: (1) Ideal L2 Pre-service Teacher Self, (2) ought-to L2 Pre-service Teacher Self, (3) current L2 Pre-service Teacher Self, and (4) Feared L2 Teacher Self. It is discussed and concluded that a PLTS system might include the elements just mentioned. However, further exploration on an L2 Pre-Service Teacher Self is mandatory to better understand the motivation and self-identity of L2 pre-service teachers.

Adjusting for genetic confounders in transcriptome-wide association studies improves discovery of risk genes of complex traits

Many methods have been developed to leverage expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) data to nominate candidate genes from genome-wide association studies. These methods, including colocalization, transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) and Mendelian randomization-based methods; however, all suffer from a key problem—when assessing the role of a gene in a trait using its eQTLs, nearby variants and genetic components of other genes’ expression may be correlated with these eQTLs and have direct effects on the trait, acting as potential confounders. Our extensive simulations showed that existing methods fail to account for these ‘genetic confounders’, resulting in severe inflation of false positives. Our new method, causal-TWAS (cTWAS), borrows ideas from statistical fine-mapping and allows us to adjust all genetic confounders. cTWAS showed calibrated false discovery rates in simulations, and its application on several common traits discovered new candidate genes. In conclusion, cTWAS provides a robust statistical framework for gene discovery.

White Girls in the Apocalypse: Race, Gender, and Sexuality at the End of the World

The post-apocalyptic white girl savior is merely one installment in a long line of young adult tropes for female characters. Popular media in the post-apocalyptic girl savior subgenre include novels and media adaptations of The Hunger Games (2008; 2012), and The Red Queen (2015), and television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), Once Upon a Time (2011), Van Helsing (2016), Wynonna Earp (2016), and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018). Critical discussions of whiteness in film, television, and literature independently draw attention to how each of these forms constructs race and cultural belonging. In this article, I draw from all three formats in order to interrogate formations of whiteness specific to teen and young adult women. Valerie Babb comments that “because it is a created identity, whiteness is sustained through hegemony, a complex network of cultural creations, including among other things, literature, museums, popular music, and movies” (Babb 4-5). Building on Babb’s assertion of the omnipresence of whiteness in culture, the cross-media scope of this project shows the consistency of racial assumptions across platforms. This discussion of white girl saviors is particularly important since these stories are often left out of critical discussions of the White Savior trope. The white girl saviors in these stories often win at the expense of people of color, reifying whiteness, and specifically white reproductive femininity as the anchor of moral right and cultural progress. I identify six common traits that the post-apocalyptic girl savior subgenre uses to substantiate its heroines’ whiteness as a central and natural aspect of heroism including: belonging to the lower socio-economic class, being the chosen one, being uncomfortable with her symbolic role, being at the center of a love triangle, caring for a child, and being a tragic figure. These traits reflect larger patterns that scholars such as Richard Dyer explicitly link to the cultural naturalization of whiteness and power, and I argue, establish certain cultural expectations for teen activists that ignore the historical patterns of activism and may create hostility toward, or even foreclose opportunities for, activists who do not meet these requirements.

Weibull Statistic and Artificial Neural Network Analysis of the Mechanical Performances of Fibers from the Flower Agave Plant for Eco-Friendly Green Composites

ABSTRACT The research conducted focused on examining the unique properties of Agave Americana Flower Stem fiber (AAFS), particularly its behavior under quasi-static tensile conditions. A total of 200 AAFS fibers were subjected to tensile tests using a standard gauge length of 40 mm. Tests spanned seven groups with quantities (N) ranging from 30 to 200. The study aimed to understand the fibers’ mechanical traits, as tensile resistance and modulus of elasticity, and to see how different test quantities influence these properties. A significant observation was the dispersion of the tensile characteristics of AAFS fibers, a common trait of natural fibers. To understand this, we applied rigorous statistical tools, including the Weibull distribution at a 95% confidence interval and one-way ANOVA. A mathematical model was produced utilizing data from experiments regarding the tensile behavior of AAFS fibers. The ANN provided correlation coefficients (R2) of 0.9897, 0.9971, 0.9993, and 0.9939 for training, validation, testing, and all datasets respectively, which were able to accurately predict the experimental data. The proposed model would be of tremendous assistance to engineers and designers in obtaining green composite materials that are based on natural fibers and thereby more durable. These methods illuminated the patterns in our results, enriching our understanding of AAFS fiber mechanics.

Predominant Educational Approaches for Teaching Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Primary School

In inclusive educational practice, three predominant educational approaches differentiation, individualization, and personalization are recognized. These educational approaches are based on inclusive education values, emphasising getting to know the learner and using the most appropriate educational methods, considering the learner’s needs, strengths and interests. In educational practice, these educational approaches are often interchangeable, confused or misinterpreted, leading educators to question when learning and/or teaching is personalised, individualised or differentiated. This article presents exploratory research as part of a broader scientific study. The research aims to identify the educational approaches used by primary school teachers in educating students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in an inclusive classroom. The exploratory research is based on a qualitative methodology using a semi-structured interview method. Participants were primary school teachers with experience in teaching learners with ASD (N=8). The study reveals that the education of students, especially those with ASD, is more likely to follow differentiation and individualisation approaches. However, there is also evidence of personalisation in education. The results of the study show teachers’ eagerness to thoroughly understand each student in the classroom; however, there is a prevailing emphasis on the disorder and challenges associated with students with ASD. The characterization of students based on their conformity or non-conformity to norms is a common trait of the individualised education approach. Nevertheless, student cooperation, parental collaboration, teamwork between teachers and student support specialists, recognition of student diversity, and individual understanding of each student all contribute to the essential components of the personalised education concept. The results suggest that the participants in the study combine differentiated, individualised and personalised approaches to educating students with ASD. On one hand, it can be viewed as a flexible integration of various approaches tailored to the learners’ needs and the educational context; on the other hand, it can be seen as an instinctive method used by teachers for addressing educational challenges in the classroom, especially in situations where better theoretical preparation is required.

Single image super-resolution based on trainable feature matching attention network

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have been widely employed for image Super-Resolution (SR) in recent years. Various techniques enhance SR performance by altering CNN structures or incorporating improved self-attention mechanisms. Interestingly, these advancements share a common trait. Instead of explicitly learning high-frequency details, they learn an implicit feature processing mode that utilizes weighted sums of a feature map’s own elements for reconstruction, akin to convolution and non-local. In contrast, early dictionary-based approaches learn feature decompositions explicitly to match and rebuild Low-Resolution (LR) features. Building on this analysis, we introduce Trainable Feature Matching (TFM) to amalgamate this explicit feature learning into CNNs, augmenting their representation capabilities. Within TFM, trainable feature sets are integrated to explicitly learn features from training images through feature matching. Furthermore, we integrate non-local and channel attention into our proposed Trainable Feature Matching Attention Network (TFMAN) to further enhance SR performance. To alleviate the computational demands of non-local operations, we propose a streamlined variant called Same-size-divided Region-level Non-Local (SRNL). SRNL conducts non-local computations in parallel on blocks uniformly divided from the input feature map. The efficacy of TFM and SRNL is validated through ablation studies and module explorations. We employ a recurrent convolutional network as the backbone of our TFMAN to optimize parameter utilization. Comprehensive experiments on benchmark datasets demonstrate that TFMAN achieves superior results in most comparisons while using fewer parameters. The code is available at https://github.com/qizhou000/tfman.

Inherited polygenic effects on common hematological traits influence clonal selection on JAK2V617F and the development of myeloproliferative neoplasms

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are chronic cancers characterized by overproduction of mature blood cells. Their causative somatic mutations, for example, JAK2V617F, are common in the population, yet only a minority of carriers develop MPN. Here we show that the inherited polygenic loci that underlie common hematological traits influence JAK2V617F clonal expansion. We identify polygenic risk scores (PGSs) for monocyte count and plateletcrit as new risk factors for JAK2V617F positivity. PGSs for several hematological traits influenced the risk of different MPN subtypes, with low PGSs for two platelet traits also showing protective effects in JAK2V617F carriers, making them two to three times less likely to have essential thrombocythemia than carriers with high PGSs. We observed that extreme hematological PGSs may contribute to an MPN diagnosis in the absence of somatic driver mutations. Our study showcases how polygenic backgrounds underlying common hematological traits influence both clonal selection on somatic mutations and the subsequent phenotype of cancer.

The Discourse of Post-capitalism as a Reflection of the Crisis of Globalization

The primary objective of this article is to construct a comprehensive conceptual definition of "post-capitalism." The contemporary global landscape, characterized by postmodernity, is currently undergoing a profound institutional crisis. This crisis impacts both its economic underpinnings, rooted in the dominance of financial capitalism, and its societal foundations, which revolve around a universal model of social development built upon a universalist model of consumption.Discourses surrounding post-capitalism within Russian and Western academic and expert circles exhibit unique characteristics. However, they share common traits. On one hand, these discourses reflect an acknowledgment of the impasses inherent in existing models of globalization. On the other hand, they recognize the transformation of capitalism as a universal socio-economic system that forms the bedrock of international relations. This article underscores the inescapable rise of non-economic factors influencing socio-economic systems' development, including their role in shaping international relations.Post-capitalism is best understood as a collection of principles guiding spatial organization and the establishment of economic and political relationships within these spaces, rather than a specific developmental model. Positioned as an element within the broader return to a spatiality, post-capitalism is predominantly discussed within the context of international processes, serving as a transitional phase in international political and economic relations.

A predisposed motor bias shapes individuality in vocal learning.

The development of individuality during learned behavior is a common trait observed across animal species; however, the underlying biological mechanisms remain understood. Similar to human speech, songbirds develop individually unique songs with species-specific traits through vocal learning. In this study, we investigate the developmental and molecular mechanisms underlying individuality in vocal learning by utilizing F1 hybrid songbirds (Taeniopygia guttata cross with Taeniopygia bichenovii), taking an integrating approach combining experimentally controlled systematic song tutoring, unbiased discriminant analysis of song features, and single-cell transcriptomics. When tutoring with songs from both parental species, F1 hybrid individuals exhibit evident diversity in their acquired songs. Approximately 30% of F1 hybrids selectively learn either song of the two parental species, while others develop merged songs that combine traits from both species. Vocal acoustic biases during vocal babbling initially appear as individual differences in songs among F1 juveniles and are maintained through the sensitive period of song vocal learning. These vocal acoustic biases emerge independently of the initial auditory experience of hearing the biological father's and passive tutored songs. We identify individual differences in transcriptional signatures in a subset of cell types, including the glutamatergic neurons projecting from the cortical vocal output nucleus to the hypoglossal nuclei, which are associated with variations of vocal acoustic features. These findings suggest that a genetically predisposed vocal motor bias serves as the initial origin of individual variation in vocal learning, influencing learning constraints and preferences.

Exploring the alignment between paramedicine's professional capabilities and competency frameworks for current and evolving scopes of practice: a literature review

BackgroundTo adequately prepare graduates for the dynamic demands of paramedic practice, adopting a contemporary educational approach is essential. This involves collaborating to identify crucial competencies through input from industry stakeholders, experienced practitioners, and discipline-specific experts. Accreditation assumes a central role within this framework, serving as a cornerstone to ensure that paramedicine curricula align with paramedics' diverse and evolving professional roles.MethodsA narrative review of the literature and a directed search of grey literature were performed to identify specific developments in paramedicine competencies and scope of practice and mapped to the professional capabilities published by the Paramedicine Board of Australia. In determining a competency map and accreditation’s role in a competency framework specific to current and evolving paramedic practice, key documents were analysed using a qualitative approach based on content analysis to identify common traits among documents, countries and other professions.ResultsThe review process identified 278 themes that were further allocated to 22 major analytical groupings. These groupings could further be mapped to previously reported cognitive, technical, integrative, context, relationship, affective/moral competencies and habits of mind. At the same time, the highest-rated groupings were key competencies of intellectual skills, safety, accountability, clinical decision-making, professionalism, communications, team-based approach and situational awareness. Two groups were represented in the literature but not in the professional capabilities, namely Health and Social continuum and self-directed practice.ConclusionsThis review highlights the importance of measuring and validating the professional capabilities of Paramedicine Practitioners. The study explores various metrics and competency frameworks used to assess competency, comparing them against national accreditation schemes' professional capability standards. The findings suggest that accreditation frameworks play a crucial role in improving the quality of paramedicine practice, encompassing intellectual skills, safety, accountability, clinical decision-making, professionalism, communication, teamwork, and situational awareness.

Causal relationship between gut microbiota and tuberculosis: a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis

BackgroundGrowing evidence from observational studies and clinical trials suggests that the gut microbiota is associated with tuberculosis (TB). However, it is unclear whether any causal relationship exists between them and whether causality is bidirectional.MethodsA bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was performed. The genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics of gut microbiota were obtained from the MiBioGen consortium, while the GWAS summary statistics of TB and its specific phenotypes [respiratory tuberculosis (RTB) and extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB)] were retrieved from the UK Biobank and the FinnGen consortium. And 195 bacterial taxa from phylum to genus were analyzed. Inverse variance weighted (IVW), MR-Egger regression, maximum likelihood (ML), weighted median, and weighted mode methods were applied to the MR analysis. The robustness of causal estimation was tested using the heterogeneity test, horizontal pleiotropy test, and leave-one-out method.ResultsIn the UK Biobank database, we found that 11 bacterial taxa had potential causal effects on TB. Three bacterial taxa genus.Akkermansia, family.Verrucomicrobiacea, order.Verrucomicrobiales were validated in the FinnGen database. Based on the results in the FinnGen database, the present study found significant differences in the characteristics of gut microbial distribution between RTB and EPTB. Four bacterial taxa genus.LachnospiraceaeUCG010, genus.Parabacteroides, genus.RuminococcaceaeUCG011, and order.Bacillales were common traits in relation to both RTB and TB, among which order.Bacillales showed a protective effect. Additionally, family.Bacteroidacea and genus.Bacteroides were identified as common traits in relation to both EPTB and TB, positively associating with a higher risk of EPTB. In reverse MR analysis, no causal association was identified. No significant heterogeneity of instrumental variables (IVs) or horizontal pleiotropy was found.ConclusionOur study supports a one-way causal relationship between gut microbiota and TB, with gut microbiota having a causal effect on TB. The identification of characteristic gut microbiota provides scientific insights for the potential application of the gut microbiota as a preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic tool for TB.

Living on the edge: Crayfish as drivers to anoxification of their own shelter microenvironment.

Burrowing is a common trait among crayfish thought to help species deal with adverse environmental challenges. However, little is known about the microhabitat ecology of crayfish taxa in relation to their burrows. To fill this knowledge gap, we assessed the availability of oxygen inside the crayfish shelter by series of in-vivo and in-silico modelling experiments. Under modeled condition, we found that, except for the entrance region of the 200 mm, a flooded burrow microenvironment became anoxic within 8 h, on average. Multiple 12-hour day-night cycles, with burrows occupied by crayfish for 12 h and empty for 12 h, were not sufficient for refreshing the burrow microenvironment. We then examined the degree to which crayfish species with different propensities for burrowing are tolerant of self-created anoxia. From these experiments, primary and secondary burrowers showed best and most consistent tolerance-exhibiting ≥ 64% survival to anoxia and 25-91% survival of ≥ 9 h at anoxia, respectively. Tertiary burrowers exhibited little to no tolerance of anoxia with 0-50% survival to anoxia and only one species exhibiting survival (2%) of ≥ 9 h at anoxia. Results suggest that moderate to strongly burrowing crayfish can quickly draw down the dissolved oxygen in burrow water but appear to have conserved a legacy of strong tolerance of anoxia from their monophyletic ancestors-the lobsters-whereas tertiary burrowers have lost (or never evolved) this ability.

Mouse models for inherited monoamine neurotransmitter disorders.

Several mouse models have been developed to study human defects of primary and secondary inherited monoamine neurotransmitter disorders (iMND). As the field continues to expand, current defects in corresponding mouse models include enzymes and a molecular co-chaperone involved in monoamine synthesis and metabolism (PAH, TH, PITX3, AADC, DBH, MAOA, DNAJC6), tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) cofactor synthesis and recycling (adGTPCH1/DRD, arGTPCH1, PTPS, SR, DHPR), and vitamin B6 cofactor deficiency (ALDH7A1), as well as defective monoamine neurotransmitter packaging (VMAT1, VMAT2) and reuptake (DAT). No mouse models are available for human DNAJC12 co-chaperone and PNPO-B6 deficiencies, disorders associated with recessive variants that result in decreased stability and function of the aromatic amino acid hydroxylases and decreased neurotransmitter synthesis, respectively. More than one mutant mouse is available for some of these defects, which is invaluable as different variant-specific (knock-in) models may provide more insights into underlying mechanisms of disorders, while complete gene inactivation (knock-out) models often have limitations in terms of recapitulating complex human diseases. While these mouse models have common phenotypic traits also observed in patients, reflecting the defective homeostasis of the monoamine neurotransmitter pathways, they also present with disease-specific manifestations with toxic accumulation or deficiency of specific metabolites related to the specific gene affected. This review provides an overview of the currently available models and may give directions toward selecting existing models or generating new ones to investigate novel pathogenic mechanisms and precision therapies.

Validity and reliability of persian version of morbid curiosity scale in students

Background. The success of horror films, the attention to violent crimes and the prevalence of violence in the news show that morbid curiosity is a common psychological trait. However, research on morbid curiosity is largely absent in the psychological research literature. one of the reasons being the lack of a suitable Scale for Iranian society. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Persian version of the Morbid Curiosity Scale. Methods. The research design was descriptive factor analysis and the statistical population of the study was all students of Zanjan University in the academic year 1400-1401, from which 500 people were selected by cluster sampling. For the study, Morbid Curiosity Scale was used. Results. The results showed that Cronbach's alpha for the subscales of the Minds of Dangerous People is 0.79, Body Violation is 0.81, Supernatural Danger is 0.79, and Interpersonal Violence is 0.80 and the total scale is 0.85. The results of Confirmatory Factor Analysis also confirmed the significant relationship between explicit variables and latent structures and showed that the four-factor structure has a good fit in the samples. Conclusion. The morbid curiosity scale among students has good reliability and validity and the use of this scale in future research is reliable. Practical Implications. The findings of this research can be used in psychotherapy, psychological research, media psychology, and advertising psychology.

Boosting Zero-Shot Learning via Contrastive Optimization of Attribute Representations.

Zero-shot learning (ZSL) aims to recognize classes that do not have samples in the training set. One representative solution is to directly learn an embedding function associating visual features with corresponding class semantics for recognizing new classes. Many methods extend upon this solution, and recent ones are especially keen on extracting rich features from images, e.g., attribute features. These attribute features are normally extracted within each individual image; however, the common traits for features across images yet belonging to the same attribute are not emphasized. In this article, we propose a new framework to boost ZSL by explicitly learning attribute prototypes beyond images and contrastively optimizing them with attribute-level features within images. Besides the novel architecture, two elements are highlighted for attribute representations: a new prototype generation module (PM) is designed to generate attribute prototypes from attribute semantics; a hard-example-based contrastive optimization scheme is introduced to reinforce attribute-level features in the embedding space. We explore two alternative backbones, CNN-based and transformer-based, to build our framework and conduct experiments on three standard benchmarks, Caltech-UCSD Birds-200-2011 (CUB), SUN attribute database (SUN), and animals with attributes 2 (AwA2). Results on these benchmarks demonstrate that our method improves the state of the art by a considerable margin. Our codes will be available at https://github.com/dyabel/CoAR-ZSL.git.

Detecting Phishing Website Using Machine Learning

Abstract: The Internet has grown to be an essential aspect of our lives, but it has also given rise to instances of harmful activity, such as phishing, that may be carried out anonymously. Phishers attempt to trick their victims by using social engineering techniques or building dummy websites in order to get personal data from people and businesses, including usernames, account IDs, and passwords. Despite the fact that several techniques have been put out to identify phishing websites, scammers have developed ways to evade detection. Machine Learning is one of the best techniques for identifying these harmful actions. This is due to the fact that machine learning techniques can recognise some common traits shared by the majority of phishing assaults. In order to anticipate phishing websites, we compared the outcomes of many machine learning techniques in this article.

DAYWAKE implicates novel roles for circulating lipid-binding proteins as extracerebral regulators of daytime wake-sleep behavior.

Sleep during the midday, commonly referred to as siesta, is a common trait of animals that mainly sleep during the night. Work using Drosophila led to the identification of the daywake (dyw) gene, found to have anti-siesta activity. Herein, we show that the DYW protein undergoes signal peptide-dependent secretion, is present in the circulatory system, and accumulates in multiple organs, but, surprisingly, it is not detected in the brain where wake-sleep centers are located. The abundance of DYW in adult flies is regulated by age, sex, temperature, and the splicing efficiency of a nearby thermosensitive intron. We suggest that DYW regulates daytime wake-sleep balance in an indirect, extracerebral manner, via a multi-organ network that interfaces with the circulatory system.

Research Status and Prospects on the Construction Methods of Temperature and Humidity Environmental Models in Arbor Tree Cuttage

The environmental temperature and humidity are crucial factors for the normal growth and development of arbor tree cuttings by altering their hormone levels and influencing their physiological activities. Developing a temperature and humidity environmental model for arbor tree cuttings serves as a key technique to improve the adjustment performance of environmental parameters in facility agriculture systems and enhance the rooting rate of cuttings. This paper provides a comprehensive summary of current research on the inherent characteristics of cuttings and the factors influencing environmental temperature and humidity. It explores the mechanisms of interaction between the inherent characteristics of cuttings and the factors influencing environmental temperature and humidity. This paper investigates the interactive relationships among the factors affecting environmental temperature and humidity. It analyzes methods to improve the efficiency of constructing temperature and humidity environmental models for arbor tree cuttings. To enhance the transferability of the environmental model, the necessary physiological activities under the influence of plant hormones are generalized as common physiological traits in the growth and development of cuttings. In addition, this paper explores the factors influencing the air and substrate temperature and the humidity in facility agriculture systems as well as two types of facilities for controlling environmental temperature and humidity. Furthermore, it reviews the research progress in environmental models from both mechanistic and data-driven perspectives. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the characteristics associated with these two model categories. Building upon this, the paper summarizes and discusses methods employed in constructing temperature and humidity environmental models for arbor tree cuttings. In addition, it also anticipates the application of deep learning techniques in the construction of temperature and humidity environmental models for arbor cuttings, including utilizing machine vision technology to monitor their growth status. Finally, it proposes suggestions for building physiological models of fruit tree-like arbor cuttings at different growth stages. To enhance the transferability of environmental models, the integration of physiological models of cuttings, environmental models, and control system performance are suggested to create an environmental identification model. This paper aims to achieve control of the common physiological activities of cuttings.

Images of Ethnic Others in Western Medieval Art

This paper seeks to provide an overview of the characteristic traits of the images of the ethnic Others, the connection of these images to the fundamental ethic and aesthetic categories, as well as the political events of the medieval epoch. Medieval art depicted various ethnic groups like Jews, Saracens, Mongols, Blacks, and eventually, people from the New World. Their representations share both common and distinct characteristics. Common traits encompass distinct appearances, clothing details, associated attributes, and their correlation with political events. They also exhibit imprecision, conventionality, and fluidity in defining the boundaries between these different groups. Moreover, they reflect cultural and political influences and blend real and fantastical elements, often intertwined with religious and ethical categories, which were fundamental in the medieval worldview. Herewith, the images of the Others also had some specific traits.

UNTANGLING THE MODEL MINORITY STEREOTYPE: PROMOTING HEALTH EQUITY AMONG ASIAN AMERICAN OLDER ADULTS

Abstract The “model minority” stereotype portrays Asian Americans (AAs) as a monolithic group with common traits, e.g., high levels of education and income, and better health status. Five studies in this symposium used multiple data sources and provided rich information to untangling this stereotype. The first study highlighted racial/ethnic disparities in help-seeking behaviors among Americans with subjective cognitive decline, revealing that AAPIs exhibit the lowest likelihood of seeking help for cognitive problems. The second study examined the degree to which socioeconomic disparity contributes to functional impairment among older AAs relative to other racial/ethnic groups, revealing that AAs fare worst in the burden of functional impairment due to education disparity. The third paper explored the cultural adaptation of the NYUCI for Chinese and Korean dementia caregivers, showing that cultural beliefs have a profound effect on caregivers’ views of dementia and caregiving, their use of social and family support, and their understanding of self-care and counseling services. The fourth study assessed factors linked to depressive symptoms among older Southeast AAs, revealing that Vietnamese Americans have significantly more depressive symptoms than Indonesian and Filipino Americans. Resilience and age are negatively related to depressive symptoms, while greater family conflict and inability to speak English fluently are positively associated with depressive symptoms. The fifth study used a large longitudinal survey on older Chinese Americans and demonstrated that higher acculturation levels are associated with a more rapid decline in depression and a slower decline in activities of daily living but are not related to long-term cognitive changes.