Session - 3 December 19, 2007 Cardiovascular risk markers - II

Oral Cancer is one of the five leading sites of cancer in Indian population. The circulating immune complexes were investigated in 100 serum samples of 60 oral cancer patients having different grades of the disease and 40 patients with precancerous lesions obtained from Nair Hospital Dental collage, Mumbai. The results obtained were compared with those of group of 40 healthy blood donors. Elevated levels of Circulating Immune Complexes were observed in oral cancer patients and patients with oral precancerous lesions. 92% positive samples were observed in well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma whereas 100% positive samples were observed in both moderately and poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. Oral leukoplakia and oral submucous fibrosis showed 15% and 90% positivity respectively. Increased level of Circulating Immune complexes in high grade tumor suggest that Circulating Immune complexes is likely to contribute in evaluating the degree of malignancy, but follow up study is needed to draw any conclusion regarding it's prognostic role     

Best entry points for structured document retrieval—Part II: Types,usage and effectiveness

Structured document retrieval makes use of document components as the basis of the retrieval process, rather than complete documents. The inherent relationships between these components make it vital to support users’ natural browsing behaviour in order to offer effective and efficient access to structured documents. This paper examines the concept of best entry points, which are document components from which the user can browse to obtain optimal access to relevant document components. It investigates at the types of best entry points in structured document retrieval, and their usage and effectiveness in real information search tasks.     

The probabilistic character of relevance

Gebhardt's[1] probabilistic model of relevance is examined and found not to represent adequately some characteristics of the relevance judgement process. An alternative model is proposed, which identifies two different types of “error” or probabilistic variation between relevance judgements. The two types arise from, first, the definition of the boundaries of the relevance classes, and secondly the actual assessment of an individual document on the underlying scale (which is assumed to be a continuum). The problems of quantifying the model, and of assessing its implications for retrieval testing, are discussed.     

Neuropsychological intervention in dyslexia: two studies on British pupils

The theoretical context of this research is developmental neuropsychology--in particular, the educational implications for the classification of and intervention in specific developmental dyslexia (SDD). Controlled and validated research can help identify optimal teaching methods for groups and individuals. Within this framework, neuropsychological theory can be explored as a medium for improving intervention for pupils with SDD. Neuropsychological stimulation cannot change the macro aspects of the brain but can change its "finetuning" and its response to written text. Within the psycho-neurological approaches, Bakker (1979, 1990, 1998) developed both a diagnostic procedure and empirically investigated intervention procedures. The theory rests on the Balance Model of learning to read, in which differential hemisphere involvement is implicated in beginning and advanced reading. Intervention can take place via hemisphere-specific stimulation using visual or tactile stimulation or hemisphere-alluding stimulation using modified text. Two investigations are presented, one experimental and another clinical. The results support the validity of dyslexia subtyping and the effectiveness of the treatment methods.     

Development and testing of a prenatal breastfeeding education intervention for Hispanic women

Many immigrant Hispanic women in the United States choose to bottle-feed rather than breastfeed. This article describes an intervention that was developed and tested in a two-step process. Two studies were undertaken. First, a qualitative inquiry explored the breastfeeding beliefs, attitudes, meanings, and practices of Hispanic women. Results informed the design of a culturally appropriate prenatal breastfeeding education intervention. Secondly, the researchers undertook a quantitative study of the intervention's success in increasing breastfeeding duration among Hispanic women. Methodology and findings of this study have implications for future interventions that promote breastfeeding.     

Touching creativity; a review and early pilot test of haptic tooling to support design practice,within a distance learning curriculum

ABSTRACT

Machine haptics has been shown to assist and enhance human–computer interactions. Research from previous studies in the field of haptics has focused on developing a user’s sense of realism of touch when using a haptic device. This paper examines the use of haptics for education, specifically for creative online education. The paper is presented in two parts. First, a review of literature was conducted and used to aid the rationale and underpin the design of a pilot test. Second, a pilot test was designed using a single-point kinaesthetic haptic device with a haptic rendered interface, to support the assembly of a virtual design prototype. The pilot test proved to be extremely valuable in creating and developing a rich virtual environment for non-sighted and sighted participants to use. The results from the initial pilot test showed that although users were positive about their experience of using the haptic device, there were improvements to be made to the interface to enhance the user experience in the next phase of testing.     

Diversity in New Zealand early childhood education: challenges and opportunities

The early childhood education (ECE) sector in New Zealand has long been recognised for the diversity of service types and range of organisations involved in delivering ECE. However, less attention has been paid to diversity within individual ECE services. This article draws on a national survey carried out as part of a larger project, The Diversity of Diversity in Early Childhood Education, focusing on teachers’ perceptions of challenges and successes encountered when working with children from diverse family backgrounds. Educators’ attitudes towards diversity clearly influence whether they perceive working with diverse children and families positively or as a challenge. We argue that possessing positive dispositions and attitudes that enable educators to truly welcome, acknowledge and embrace diversity, together with access to professional knowledge and support services, are critical. The implications of this for policy and practice are then considered.     

Motivation across domains: Do goals and attributions change with subject matter for Grades 4 and 5 students?

This study explored a theory for motivation which included aspects of both attribution theory and goal theory. Motivational variables included beliefs about intelligence (entity or incremental), goal orientation (mastery/learning, performance-approach, performance-avoidance) and avoidant behaviours. Grades 4 and 5 students from a large, metropolitan school district were surveyed regarding these motivational variables across the academic domains of reading and mathematics. The relationships among these motivational variables were explored, as well as differences across domains. A diverse sample allowed differences across ethnic groups and socioeconomic status to be studied. Results indicate that children could have a generalised notion of motivation that becomes differentiated when students are asked to reflect on these variables within specified domains. The existence of few differences across ethnic and socioeconomic groups suggest that instructional style could be a more powerful influence than either of these variables.