What parents say about children’s inequality of opportunities: a study in Mauritius

Longitudinal studies showing the beneficial impact of early childhood education on later academic achievement have contributed to persuading policy-makers and academia that early childhood is the best time to address inequalities. However, the voice of parents is often absent from these debates. We investigated the perspectives of parents on children’s inequalities of opportunities and on the role of education and early childhood care in equalising life chances. The study specifically explored the views of 26 parents in the sub-Saharan African country of Mauritius through focus group discussions. Findings of the study suggested that parents tend to adhere to the discourse of parental responsibility as a key factor in children’s inequalities. Yet they also showed that parents have potential to criticise and deconstruct this narrative, as they experience structural circumstances, such as poverty or discrimination, shaping their life opportunities and those of their children.     

Authoring Student Voices on College Preparedness: A Case Study

African American students continue to attend college at much lower rates than their white, Asian, and Latino counterparts. Although researchers have examined this issue from a multitude of vantage points, the voices of students—particularly students of color—have been limited in this research. Using a counter-storytelling narrative approach, this study examines what urban African American high school students identify as the critical factors affecting their educational trajectory and college-going prospects. Findings from the current study reveal that students identified inadequate resources, tracking, lack of AP courses, and poor teachers as factors that influenced their high school to college transition. This study provides much needed insight into the discourse on school reform from the most important constituent in schools—the students.     

Effect of supplementation of vitamin E, vitamin C and reduced glutathione on copper ion induced lipoprotein oxidation in renal diseased patients—Anin vitro study

The oxidative modification of lipoprotein especially low density lipoprotein (LDL) plays a key role in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. Serum apolipoproteinB (apoB) level is found to be an important marker for atherosclerosis. The present paper focuses on the measurement of serum apoB levels and the effect of Vitamin E, Vitamin C and reduced glutathione on the copper ion induced oxidation of LDL + VLDL (VLDL-Very Low Density Lipoprotein) lipoprotein fraction isolated from the serum of chronic renal failure (CRF) and renal transplanted patients. The level of apoB is significantly higher in the serum of transplanted patients when compared to CRF patients and normal subjects. The level of TBARS formed in oxidized LDL + VLDL lipoprotein fraction of CRF and renal transplanted patients are significantly increased than normal even in the presence of antioxidants but the level of TBARS produced, with antioxidants is comparatively lesser than that produced by oxidized lipoprotein fraction without antioxidants. It may be concluded than that produced by oxidized lipoprotein fraction without antioxidants. It may be concluded that oxidation of LDL can be prevented at an earlier stage by Vitamin E supplementation. The supplementation with Glutathione serves as the best method of preventing the lipoprotein oxidation among the renal diseased patients.     

Effect of arogh—A polyherbal formulation on the marker enzymes in isoproterenol induced myocardial injury

To study the protective role of Arogh on isoproterenol induced myocardial damage in rats. The effect of Arogh pretreatment on isoproterenol induced myocardial damage was assessed by studying the levels of lipid peroxides and changes in the activity of marker enzymes such as creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase and transaminases in serum and heart tissue. In isoproterenol administered rats, a significant decrease was observed in the activity of marker enzymes in the heart with a corresponding increase in their levels in serum. Lipid peroxide levels increased significantly in the serum and heart. In rats pretreated with arogh, the level of lipid peroxides and the activity of marker enzymes were maintained at near normal values. Pretreatment with Arogh offered a protective effect against isoproterenol induced myocardial damage in rats as evidenced by LDH isoenzyme patterm and histopathological studies of heart tissue.     

Effect ofPremna latifolia Roxb andImperata arundinacea Cyril onin vitro oxalate crystal growth

Two indigenous drugsPremna latifolia Roxb (Agnimandha) andImperata arundinacea Cyril (Darbha) were studied for their anticalculogenic effect at 20 and 100 mg concentrations. Both the concentrations were found to be equally effective in reducing the size of oxalate crystal growthin vitro over a period of 30 days. There was no change in infra red spectra while scanning electron microscope analysis showed development of cracks in the interior of the crystals and a tendency for rupture of crystals. Chemolysis appears to be the mechanism of action of the drugs.     

A uniformly loaded infinite-length thin plate bent to a cylindrical surface in the presence of couple-stresses

Exact solutions, based on couple-stresses plane strain theory of elasticity, are presented for the normal, shear and couple-stresses, displacements and rotations of an infinite-length (in z-axis) rectangular thin plate simply supported at two opposite edges (i.e.x=±L) and bent by a uniform load. Exact solutions reduce to classical values as l→0. Here l is defined as the new elastic material constant taking account of couple stresses.     

Is the Internet a US invention?—an economic and technological history of computer networking

Although the inventions embodied in the Internet originated in a diverse set of industrial economies, the US was consistently the source of critical innovations and an early adopter of new applications. Why did other nations, including several that made important inventive contributions to the Internet, not play a larger role in its development, particularly in the creation of new business organizations, governance institutions, and applications? We argue that the role of the US “national innovation system” in the creation of the Internet echoes several key themes of US technological development before 1940. The presence of a large domestic market, a set of antitrust and regulatory policies that weakened the power of incumbent telecommunications firms, and a diverse private/public research community that was willing to work with both domestic and foreign inventions were important preconditions for US leadership in computer networking innovation.     

A citation-based document retrieval system for finding research expertise

Current citation-based document retrieval systems generally offer only limited search facilities, such as author search. In order to facilitate more advanced search functions, we have developed a significantly improved system that employs two novel techniques: Context-based Cluster Analysis (CCA) and Context-based Ontology Generation frAmework (COGA). CCA aims to extract relevant information from clusters originally obtained from disparate clustering methods by building relationships between them. The built relationships are then represented as formal context using the Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) technique. COGA aims to generate ontology from clusters relationship built by CCA. By combining these two techniques, we are able to perform ontology learning from a citation database using clustering results. We have implemented the improved system and have demonstrated its use for finding research domain expertise. We have also conducted performance evaluation on the system and the results are encouraging.