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A study on students\u27 attitudes towards teacher\u27s intervention in statistical computing laboratory
No full textWithin an IT environment, the teacher’s role has changed from transmitting knowledge to managing IT resources for learning and facilitating student learning. Thus, the teacher planned for improving classroom teaching practice by playing these two roles, particularly in computing laboratory sessions. Students within each computing laboratory session were divided into small groups so as to enable teacher’s intervention to offer assistance or directives within each group more efficiently. A question which arises here is how the teacher’s intervention promoted learning and statistical thinking of students when using IT in a statistics classroom. A questionnaire based survey was then conducted to study the attitudes of students towards teacher’s intervention within IT environment. The results of the survey indicated that the teacher played facilitating and supporting roles in their learning to foster a learning atmosphere, restructure learning tasks and provide feedback
Growth of highly textured SnS on mica using an SnSe buffer layer
No full textWe report the growth of SnS thin films on mica substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Excellent 2D layered structure and strong (001) texture were observed with a record low rocking curve full width at half maximum of ~ 0.101° for the SnS(004) diffraction. An interface model is used to investigate the nucleation of SnS on mica which indicates the co-existence of six pairs of lateral growth orientations and is in excellent agreement with the experimental Φ-scan measurements indicating 12 peaks separated by 30° from each other. To control the lateral growth of the SnS epilayers we investigate the utilization of a thin SnSe buffer layer deposited on the mica substrate prior to the growth of the SnS thin film. The excellent lattice match between SnSe and mica enhances the alignment of the nucleation of SnS and suppresses the minor lateral orientations along the mica[110] direction and its orthogonal axis. Detailed low-frequency noise measurement was performed to characterize the trap density in the films and our results clearly demonstrate substantial reduction in the density of the localized states in the SnS epilayer with the use of an SnSe buffer layer
Petroleum ether extractive of the hips of Rosa multiflora ameliorates collagen-induced arthritis in rats
No full textEthnopharmacological Relevance: The hip of Rosa multiflora Thunb. (HRM) has been traditionally used as a dietary supplement and a herbal remedy for the treatment of various diseases, including inflammation, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and chronic pain, in China. The current study was to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of the petroleum ether extractive of HRM (PEE) on type II collagen-induced rheumatoid arthritis (CIA) in male Wistar rats. In addition, the anti-inflammatory mechanism(s) of PEE on type II CIA was explored.
Materials and Methods: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was induced by intradermal injection of bovine type II collagen on Day 1 and Day 8. Starting from Day 13, normal rats were treated with vehicle (serving as the control group); the CIA rats were treated with vehicle (CIA group), dexamethasone (0.25 mg/kg bw per day, p.o.) (a positive control), lei-gong-teng (LGT: 10 mg/kg bw per day, p.o.) (a clinically used Chinese patent medicine in RA therapy) or PEE (12, 36 or 120 mg/kg bw per day, p.o.) for 28 days.
Results and Conclusions: PEE (120 mg/kg bw per day) efficiently attenuated the severity of arthritis in the CIA rats by reducing the mean arthritis severity scores and the fore/hind paw swelling as well as reduced histological changes by decreasing the cartilage surface erosion and cartilage proteoglan depletion. PEE׳s therapeutic effect in RA may involve the inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6, in serum and/or the elevation of the activities of hepatic anti-oxidative enzymes including SOD, CAT and GSH-Px. However, the detailed anti-inflammatory mechanism, the main effective components and the interaction between different ingredients in PEE are still not clear and require more studies
Highway maintenance: impact of framework agreements upon project financial performance
No full textUse of frameworks is recognized by the UK Industrial Strategy: Government and Industry in Partnership as an innovative procurement method that may be used to deliver cost savings. Support for potential efficiencies from use of frameworks by practitioners is, at best, mixed. A single case study was conducted to investigate the financial performance of frameworks for highway maintenance projects within the context of a major county council. Results from independent samples t-tests of 60 framework and 60 traditional discrete projects verified that use of a framework revealed no significant changes in production costs of tender prices, but significant reductions in total transaction costs for engagement and performance monitoring. These findings suggest that use of framework procurement methods can support significant cost savings when used within a public sector environment
Ubiquitous mobile game development using Arduino on Android platform
No full textThis paper describes the use of Arduino on Android open-source platform in an experimental way to develop a remote control multi-player game in a ubiquitous computing environment. Android mobile is programmed to be a remote control device used to send sockets via Bluetooth network to Arduino microprocessor embedded in a toy car to control movements in all directions along its pathway. We applied the open-source microcontroller Arduino and the Java-Based technology Android in developing a multi-player mobile game in distributed ubiquitous computing, which strongly focuses on the emergence of technologies that embrace android mobile and Arduino open-sources. Our investigation focuses on an extended form of ubiquitous computing which game software developers utilize to develop remote control games for multi-players. We call this study an experimental ubiquitous computing application in which the Arduino embedded in the toy car can sense the color pattern changes with infrared along its pathway and instantaneously send the data via Bluetooth piconet to the connected Android mobile device. In turn, the Android mobile device sends the data to game server via web services on internet. Currently, mobile computing feeds data information into the game server. However, designing real-time ubiquitous mobile control game is still a daunting task and much theoretical and practical research remains to be done to reach the ubiquitous computing era. In this paper, we present the overall architecture and discuss, in detail, the implementation steps taken to create the Arduino and Android based remote control context-aware game. We prepare the client and server codes in ubiquitous computing, providing adaptive routines to handle connection information requests in telecommunication, logging and context formatting and delivery for speedy throughput and context-triggered actions
Growth media-dependent suppression of Candida albicans hyphal development by purpurin
No full textObjectives: To investigate the effect of growth media on the inhibitory activity of purpurin on hyphal growth in Candida albicans.
Methods: Four growth media that promote hyphal growth in Candida albicans SC5314 were used in this study. They were (A) RPMI medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS); (B) YPD medium containing 10% FBS; (C) Spider medium; and (D) Lee\u27s medium. The inhibitory activity on hyphal development by purpurin in C. albicans SC5314 in these growth media was evaluated by incubating a standard fungal cell suspension (106 cells/mL) in each growth medium containing different concentrations of purpurin. Aliquots of the fungal cells were visualized by differential interference contrast microscopy after 16 h of incubation with agitation (250 rpm) at 37oC. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to evaluate the expression of hyphal-specific genes and genes controlling amino acid metabolism in C. albicans SC5314.
Results: Inhibition of hyphal development by purpurin was dependent on the composition of the growth media. Purpurin abrogated hyphal growth in Lee\u27s medium and RPMI medium containing 10% FBS; however, normal filamentation was evident in Spider medium and YPD medium containing 10% FBS. qRT-PCR analyses indicated that purpurin downregulated the expression of hyphal-specific genes and metabolic genes PDB1, KGD2, MDH1, and ILV5.
Conclusions: Purpurin suppresses hyphal development in C. albicans SC5314 in a growth media-dependent manner. We envisage that the inhibition of hyphal growth is related to perturbation of metabolic pathways related to nutrient metabolism as filamentation is not observed in media containing amino acids and growth factors (i.e. Lee\u27s medium and RPMI medium containing 10% FBS)
