Serum gamma glutamyl transferase (γ-GT) activity in alcoholics with liver abscess and chronic alcoholics

Gamma Glutamyl Transferase (γ-GT) is a microsomal enzyme. Its activity in serum is assayed in alcoholics with liver abscess and alcoholics without liver abscess after screening by ultrasonography. The enzyme activity in serum is increased by 334% in the patients with liver abscess compared to normal control subjects (p<0.0001), and 172% when compared to patients with chronic alcoholism without liver abscess (p<0.0001). The enzyme activity was increased by 59.3% in the serum of patients without liver abscess compared to the normal control subjects (p<0.001). Measurement of γ-GT in serum appears to be a sensitive index in the diagnosis of alcoholics with liver abscess.     

Cord Blood Insulin Levels: It’s Correlation with Gender,Birth Weight and Placental Weight in Term Newborns

The cause of more insulin resistance in female than males are still unknown. To know the cause from early life, normal values of relevant parameters are required. So, aim of this study was to determine the reference levels of glucose and insulin in cord blood of term newborns and to examine their effects on gender, placental and birth weight of term newborns. In cross sectional study 60 consecutive term newborns were included from constituent hospitals. Placental and birth weights were measured and cord blood was collected for estimation of serum insulin and plasma glucose. Plasma glucose estimation was done by auto analyzer (GOD–POD method) and serum insulin analysis was done using Insulin ELISA Kit. After analysis, mean ± 2SD used for estimating cord blood insulin and glucose levels, which were 10.1 ± 7.8 μIU/mL and 67.8 ± 33.8 mg/dL respectively. Correlation of insulin with both birth weight and placental weight were r = 0.359 and 0.41 respectively; p < 0.001. Interestingly we found higher insulin levels in females as compared to male newborns in spite of having lower birth weight in them. In conclusion this study reported the levels of insulin and glucose in cord blood of term newborns. Incidentally, this is the first study as per our knowledge to report significant correlation between cord blood insulin, glucose with birth weight, placental weight and gender in south India. Female newborns had higher insulin levels than males, despite lesser birth weight can be attributed to intrinsic insulin resistance in them.     

Finite element simulation of stress intensity factors in elastic-plastic crack growth

INTRODUCTION The finite element method (FEM) has been widely employed for solving linear elastic and elas-tic-plastic fracture problems. The evaluation of stress intensity factors in 2D geometries by FEM is a tech-nique widely used for non-standard crack configura-tions. Basically, there are two groups of estimation methods, those based on field extrapolation near the crack tip (Chan et al., 1970; Shih et al., 1976) and those using the energy release when the crack propagates. However…     

Developing a mathematics curriculum to improve learning behaviors and mathematics competency of children

The authors investigated the effect of a mathematical curriculum (CU) developed based on verbal and practical activities on the mathematical competency (MC) and learning behaviors (LB) of preschool children. In a quasi-experimental design, 60 children (5- to 6-year-old girls) were selected using the accessible sampling method. The children were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group, and the relevant concepts were taught to the children in both groups. While the control group received the typical kindergarten education based on the usual textbooks and worksheets, the CU was taught to the experimental group. Structural equation modeling was used to model the data and statistical evaluation. The results demonstrated a significant difference between the two groups in MC and LB. The CU significantly improved MC directly, and indirectly through the improvement of LB (i.e., engagement and learning focus, verbal behaviors, and type of activity).     

Teachers’ perceptions of the benefits and the challenges of integrating educational robots into primary/elementary curricula

Twenty-first century education systems should create an environment wherein students encounter critical learning components (such as problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills) and embrace lifelong learning. A review of literature demonstrates that new technologies, in general, and robotics, in particular, are well suited for this aim. This study aims to contribute to the literature by studying teachers' perceptions of the effects of using robotics on students' lifelong learning skills. This study also seeks to better understand teachers' perceptions of the barriers of using robotics and the support they need. Eleven primary/elementary teachers from Newfoundland and Labrador English Schools District participated in this study. The results of this study revealed that robotics is perceived by teachers to have positive effects on students' lifelong learning skills. Furthermore, the participants indicated a number of barriers to integrate robotics into their teaching activities and expressed the support they need.     

Resource discovery in distributed digital libraries through visual knowledge navigation

INTRODUCTION In this paper, we present our work in the Strand Map Service (SMS), which provides concept map based browsing interfaces for resource discovery in a library independent manner within American Na- tional Science Digital Library (NSDL). As critical components of digital libraries, dis- covery systems provide interfaces that support user to search and browse for resources in digital libraries (Hall et al., 1999). The effectiveness of discovery systems has big impact on the…     

Wikipedia as a platform for impactful learning: A new course model in higher education

In January 2014, 62 students graduated from the first for-credit course dedicated to Wikipedia. Learning focused on improved consumption of information, and collaborative construction of knowledge using the Wikipedia platform. This paper investigates the design and implementation of this course model, while highlighting the benefits and challenges to students & faculty. In addition to 128 medical articles in Hebrew Wikipedia, already viewed over 1.4 million times, students reported a unique learning experience that sharpened their collaborative skills as well as academic skills. This paper also presents the findings of a related study that focused on students’ learning experience, long-term impact and productive teaching practices. The study results helped fine-tune the pedagogical and administrative aspects of the course, influencing both teaching practices and the learning experience. Finally, the course is discussed in a wider educational perspective, presenting insights regarding reuse of the model, scaling possibilities and suggestions for further research.     

Generalized filtering of one-sided Lipschitz nonlinear systems under measurement delays

This paper addresses the filtering problem for the one-sided Lipschitz nonlinear systems under measurement delays and disturbances using a generalized observer. A generalized architecture for filtering of the one-sided Lipschitz nonlinear systems with output delays is explored, which exhibits diverging manifolds, namely, the conventional static-gain filter and the dynamical filter, and can be employed to render robust stability of the filtering error dynamics. A matrix inequality based framework is obtained by employing a Lyapunov?Krasovskii (LK) functional, whose derivative is exploited through Jensen's inequality, one-sided Lipschitz condition, quadratic inner-boundedness inequality and range of the measurement delay, resulting into L₂ stability for the filtering error system. Generalized filter design for the Lipschitz nonlinear systems with delayed outputs and specific results for the delay-dependent and delay-rate-independent filtering schemes for the one-sided Lipschitz nonlinear systems are deduced from the proposed approach. Convex optimization techniques are employed to achieve a solution for the nonlinear constraints through linear matrix inequalities by employing cone complementary linearization approach. Illustrative numerical examples to demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed method are provided.