阿拉伯国家高等教育的新进展

文章主要介绍了阿拉伯国家高等教育的最新进展，并就其未来发展应给予关注的问题做了初步探讨。     

Motivational predictors of young adolescents' participation in an outdoor adventure course: A self-determination theory approach

Abstract

Outdoor education is emerging as a compulsory component of the school curriculum in Singapore. As more and more young people are involved in outdoor education programmes, the motivational factors that influence students' participation in outdoor activities is an important area of study. The purpose of this study was to use the self-determination theory framework to examine post course satisfaction level among young adolescents. A total of 314 secondary school students aged from 12 to 16 years took part in the survey. Results showed that external regulation negatively predicted self-reported satisfaction whereas intrinsic motivation positively predicted participants' satisfaction levels of the course. It is highlighted that young adolescents should not be coerced into outdoor education programmes. They should be provided with a meaningful rationale for participation, given some autonomy for decision-making and to have a positive and enjoyable experience during the programme.     

The Use of Arabized Software Packages in Jordan University Libraries

This study reviews the higher education movement, and the development of Universities in Jordan. Academic libraries use of Arabized software packages (MINISIS and CDS/ISIS), rationale for selection, applications, services, problems, solutions, and future plans are surveyed. Types of hardware, staff, and material entries are discussed. The study samples included 20 libraries. All of 17 (85%) respondent libraries are computerized. Six (35·3%) use MINISIS, nine (52·9%) use CDS/ISIS, and two (11·8%) use customized packages. Systems are mostly employed in technical processing, reference services, bibliographies, and acquisitions. Adaptability to Arab libraries functions, handling of bi-lingual documents, and networking ability are the prime priority, inter alia , reasons for packages selection. Insufficient funds and equipment, and unskilled staff are the major hindrances which obstruct the full use of packages. This study stresses the need to develop packages conducive to meet particular Arab libraries demands, plans for manpower academic training, and the necessity for libraries linkage to networks.     

How many equivalent resistances?

It is straightforward to construct the set of equivalent resistance for circuits constructed from a bunch of four or five equal resistors. But as the bunch size increases it becomes difficult to find the order of the set of equivalent resistances. Even the computer programs runs out of memory. Here we present an analytical result using simple mathematical machinery. The size of the set is shown to be less than 2.618 ⁿ .     

课前指导与补充指导对学生网络学习的影响

马来西亚开放大学（OUM）90％以上的学生为在职人员。这些成年学生离开学校至少已经5年,而且大多数人的数学基础不好。因此,仅是在线学习加少量面授辅导的教学模式对他们来说还不能完全解决学习困难。学校试用了“课前指导工作室”与“补充指导”的教学方法,探讨了这一方法对学员的在线参与程度及考试结果的影响,运用源于探究团体模式的34项量表对在线论坛的内容进行了分析,结果表明,学员参加工作室与否同他们的期末考试成绩有很大关系。参加指导老师工作室及补充指导的学员与那些参加指导老师常规指导的学员相比,前者的在线参与程度及期末考试的平均分都存在着很大的差异。两组学员的数学探究团体模式平均分表明,两组学员在教学存在和认知存在方面有差异,但在社会存在方面基本相同。     

Chlorella vulgaris triggers apoptosis in hepatocarcinogenesis-induced rats

Chlorella vulgaris (CV) has been reported to have antioxidant and anticancer properties. We evaluated the effect of CV on apoptotic regulator protein expression in liver cancer-induced rats. Male Wistar rats (200∼250 g) were divided into eight groups: control group (normal diet), CDE group (choline deficient diet supplemented with ethionine in drinking water to induce hepatocarcinogenesis), CV groups with three different doses of CV (50, 150, and 300 mg/kg body weight), and CDE groups treated with different doses of CV (50, 150, and 300 mg/kg body weight). Rats were sacrificed at various weeks and liver tissues were embedded in paraffin blocks for immunohistochemistry studies. CV, at increasing doses, decreased the expression of anti-apoptotic protein, Bcl-2, but increased the expression of pro-apoptotic protein, caspase 8, in CDE rats, which was correlated with decreased hepatoctyes proliferation and increased apoptosis as determined by bromodeoxy-uridine (BrdU) labeling and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay, respectively. Our study shows that CV has definite chemopreventive effect by inducing apoptosis via decreasing the expression of Bcl-2 and increasing the expression of caspase 8 in hepatocarcinogenesis-induced rats. Project supported by Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, UKM Medical Center, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, and the Malaysian Ministry of Science and Technological Innovation (MOSTI)     

Oxygen free radical modified DNA: Implications in the etiopathogenesis of Systemic lupus erythematosus

The present study was designed to probe the possible role of singlet oxygen and superoxide anion radical modified DNA in the etiopathogenesis of Systemic lupus erythematosus. These species were generated by the exposure of riboflavin to 365 nm UV light. Modified DNA showed single strand breaks, hyperchromicity at 260nm and decrease in Tm. The modified DNA induced high titer antibodies in experimental animals. The antibodies showed reactivity with various nucleic acid polymers, a property commonly associated with Systemic lupus erythematosus anti-DNA autoantibodies. Systemic lupus erythematosus sera showed preferential binding of modified DNA over native DNA in direct binding and competitive binding solid phase immunoassays and band shift assays. The results suggest for the possible involvement of the singlet- superoxide modified DNA as a potential trigger for anti- DNA autoantibody production in SLE and thus in the etiopathogenesis of the disease.     

建立知识社会

人类社会正经历着向知识社会的转变;知识正日益成为经济发展和社会进步的核心因素.身处全球迈向知识社会的进程之中,我们目睹和亲历着世界性的合作、竞争、流动和创新.技术变革无疑是这一进程的强大驱动力之一;而在技术不断取得极大进步,知识与信息以空前的数量产生和极快的速度传播的同时,也存在着知识鸿沟或数字鸿沟现象.     

Challenging the myths about madaris in Pakistan: A national household survey of enrolment and reasons for choosing religious schools

There is speculation about madaris in Pakistan as sources of terrorists and about levels and reasons for enrolment, but a dearth of empirical data. We studied madarsah enrolment among 53,960 representative households; 853 focus groups of parents discussed enrolment choices. In 2004, 2.6% of all children (3.8% of school-going children) aged 5–9 years attended a madarsah. Children from urban and less educated households were more likely to attend a madarsah, but there was no difference by sex of the child or household vulnerability. Parents chose madaris because they offered an Islamic education. Our findings challenge misconceptions about madaris in Pakistan.