How Persuasive Are Health Advertisements in First-Person Shooter Games? Exploring Knowledge-Activation and Thought-Disruption Mechanisms

This study examined whether persuasive health messages embedded in shooter games have broad or targeted effects on players’ willingness to engage in risk behaviors (N = 145). Participants presented with in-game health messages discouraging alcohol-impaired driving of motor vehicles showed reduced willingness to drink alcohol and to operate both motor and nonmotor vehicles, compared to those in a no-message gaming control condition. There were no spillover effects on willingness to smoke cigarettes or marijuana, thus implying targeted persuasive effects. In addition, players experiencing high instead of low cognitive load showed decreased postexperiment willingness to drink and operate nonmotor vehicles, thus suggesting that playing a game under high cognitive load can influence players’ attitudes. The findings replicate previous research and further expand on knowledge-activation and thought-disruption mechanisms underlying the persuasiveness of health messages.     

Telling Them Their Own Stories: Legitimizing sexual and reproductive health education in rural Bangladesh

Most people in Bangladesh are rural, poor and underprivileged. The incidence of sexual disease has increased, but little has been done to educate rural people about sexual and reproductive health. In 1997, a sexual and reproductive health project was initiated within a collaborative research agreement between the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (ICDDR,B) and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), an indigenous non-governmental organization which pursues integrated rural development strategies. Qualitative in-depth interviews with 65 different women, men, boys and girls revealed significant sexual health problems and a lack of knowledge of sexual and reproductive health. The interviews were transformed into composite problem-solving picture stories and information about sexual and reproductive health. Stories mirrored respondents' interpretations of sexual behavior. Those who had achieved or ascribed legitimacy to talk about sex, e.g. traditional health providers, were trained to utilize the methods and materials. Qualitative evaluations revealed important changes in health providers' self-confidence, business and personal interactions as well as changes in clients' behavior. This project found that sexual and reproductive health education can be integrated into indigenous health activities if the sociocultural context in which sex, relationships, risks, diseases and communication occur is reflected in a program's content and methods. Unquestionably, there is a great need for sex education in rural Bangladesh.     

Effect of methyl mercury induced free radical stress on nucleic acids and protein: Implications on cognitive and motor functions

Mercury pollution and acute neurotoxicity of mercury is well known. The recent reports suggest the adverse effect of low dose mercury, though the available literature is still silent on its mechanism. This study was therefore undertaken to probe the effect of low dose methyl mercury induced heavy metal toxicity on free radical stress and its impact on behaviour of male albino rats. Male albino rats were exposed to 1 mg/kg body wt of methylmercury chloride for seven days, on day 8 they were tested for motor and memory functions. They were sacrificed later for biochemical estimations for rate of lipid peroxidation, nucleic acids, proteins in cerebrum, cerebellum and brain stem. There was an increase in the rate of lipid peroxidation showing methyl mercury induced free radical stress. The motor and memory functions demonstrated a clear decline, besides there was a lowering in the levels of nucleic acids and proteins as compared to controls. The results are important in view of recent reports that methyl mercury induced free radical stress results in early ageing and may serve as an initiating factor more specifically for neurodegenerative disorders like Alzeihemer's disease and dementias. The current findings support the notion that incorporating dietary antioxidants like curcumin, ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol in routine diet from early age may help combat the risk of developing such disorders in ensuing years.     

A survey of interval observers design methods and implementation for uncertain systems

The goal of the interval observers is to deal with the large but bounded uncertainties and disturbances by determining certain interval (upper and lower estimates) for the system states at each time instant. The mean of the interval that should be minimized can be considered as the point-wise estimate whereas the interval width provides the admissible deviation from that value. Thus, an interval estimation error bound is provided at any time instant that converges to zero in the absence of exogenous signals. Interval observers can be used in a wide range of applications because of its reliable uncertainties propagation such as robust control of linear and non-linear systems, fault detection and isolation, anti-disturbance controller design and so on. This paper presents some of the basic concepts and recent results obtained to design interval observers for uncertain systems like discrete-time, continuous-time, Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) systems and multiagent/interconnected systems. In addition, it also presents a brief discussion of the main approaches with some future recommendations.     

Financing higher education in Pakistan

A recent shift in the allocation of public expenditure towards higher education prompts several questions: Is this allocation economically justified? Are these resources well utilized? Is there significant cost recovery of these expenditures? If not, who benefits from the subsidy these expenditures represent? Are there alternative means of financing higher education? This paper attempts to provide answers to these questions, which can be briefly summarized as follows: Estimates of social rates of returns do not support the reallocation of public expenditures away from primary towards higher education; low retention rates and high failure rates suggest that the internal efficiency in the utilization of these expenditures is low; currently, almost all public expenditures on higher education represent a subsidy; given the tax burden and enrollment ratios by income group, the lower income groups seem to be gaining most from these subsidies; a start has been made at private sector higher education with the opening of two professional universities, but the prospects of general universities currently opening appears to be dim. Pakistan has a well designed loan program in operation although its quantitative impact is currently limited.     

The e-government research domain: A triple helix network analysis of collaboration at the regional,country, and institutional levels

This study introduces a hybrid approach (i.e., a social network analysis technique and triple helix indicators) to study certain aspects of the e-government (EG) domain that would otherwise remain hidden when using conventional analytic tools. Particularly, we provide network analysis of the EG research domain by focusing on the network collaboration between regions, nations and institutions. We collected and analyzed 1091 scholarly papers which were classified as being about “e-government” by the Web of Science database. The results indicate that hybrid method can be used to understand certain network-level structures and patterns in the EG domain which are beyond the scope of the predominantly-used systematic literature review (SLR) method. Particularly, the hybrid method is useful in understanding collaboration patterns between countries, institutions and regions in the EG domain, identifying key players by studying their network properties (i.e., degree centralities); and in understanding the pattern of relations among universities, industries, and government. The implications of these results in terms of research and practice, and study limitations are discussed.     

Medical journals and effective dissemination of health research

Clinical medical journals have not been effective in meeting the information needs of practitioners and bridging the gap between clinical research and practice. The slow adoption of results of clinical research is at least partly due to the failure of clinical journals to disseminate information in a way that would motivate practitioners to change practice. Although implementation is primarily a local process, medical journals are in a unique position to advance implementation by modifying their focus and adjusting their contents. Strategies that may be useful include publication of pre‐appraised evidence summaries and ‘clinical bottom‐lines’ and giving importance to systematic reviews and large evaluative research articles as they represent higher levels of evidence and have greater potential to change practice. Clinical journals should encourage researchers to consider how and by whom the findings will be used and provide information on implications for implementation such as possible strategies that may work, cost‐effectiveness, side‐effects and potential barriers to implementation. Medical journal publishers should explore ways to cooperate so that findings of landmark clinical trials could be shared thus reducing the ‘scatter’ of medical information. Electronic media offers numerous advantages such as quick accessibility and linking of information, and medical journals should capitalize on such innovations. There is a paradigm shift in health care practice as evidence is consciously and explicitly incorporated into individual patient care. Medical journals need to change to reflect this change in practice and provide practitioners with valid and relevant information.     

Intensity of parasitic infestation in silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix

Silver carp, Hypopthalmichthys molitrix is one of the most economically valuable fish species in Bangladesh. However, its production is often hindered by parasite-induced mortality. The present study reports the intensity of parasitic infestation in 216 specimens of H. molitrix collected from different fish markets in Rajshahi City, Bangladesh. Nine different parasite species (Trichodina pediculatus, Dactylogyrus vastator, Ichthyophthirius multifilis, Gyrodactylus elegans, Lernaea sp., Apiosoma sp., Myxobolus rohitae, Camallanus ophiocephali, and Pallisentis ophiocephali) were recovered from the gill, skin, stomach, and intestine of host fish. The highest level of infection was observed for host skin, while lower levels were observed for host gill, stomach, and intestine. The results also revealed that the intensity of parasite infection in different organs of H. molitrix varied with the season. In particular, the highest levels of infection were recorded during the winter period (November-February), when fish are most susceptible to parasites. The findings of the study will help in the management and conservation of H. molitrix.     

Internal and external focus of attention in a novice form sport

In the current experiment, we examined optimal focus for novices during a movement sequence in which performance was measured on accurate movement form/technique. A novel gymnastics routine was practiced under either an internal skill-relevant, internal skill-irrelevant, external, or no attention focus. Retention and transfer tests were then completed. During acquisition, adopting an internal irrelevant focus significantly improved performance, whereas an external focus degraded performance. There were no significant group differences in the retention and transfer tests. This suggests that learning of movement form/technique did not benefit from a specific focus of attention. The results are interpreted via an attentional capacity viewpoint and the notion that form tasks do not always contain obvious movement effects central to common coding and the constrained action hypothesis.     

Hematological Parameters and RBC TBARS Level of Q 10 Supplemented Tribal Sickle Cell Patients: A Hospital Based Study

The study has been undertaken as number of sickle cell patients in Chhattisgarh tribal population is 23.7 %. The Co enzyme Q10 is a strong antioxidant and energy producing compound. The patients were divided into three groups group A homozygous (SS), group B heterozygous (AS) and group C controls for TBARS study. The age group is 10–55 years and 200 mg of CoQ10 was given to A and B groups. The hematological parameters, C reactive protein as well as RBC TBARS level were performed by usual and standard techniques. The results were obtained as 25.37 % increased RBC level in group A and 23.24 % in group B. The increased hemoglobin level was observed as 16.73 % in group A and 10.7 % in group B. In case of WBC it was observed increased 24.38 % in group A and 12.0 % in group B. C-reactive protein was observed 7.8 times decreased in group A and 1.54 times in group B. The RBC TBARS level was also found decreased 48 % in group A and 51 % in group B as compared to group C. During the supplementation of coenzyme Q10 the pain caused by vaso-occlusive events has reduced. This significant increase in hematological parameters as well as decreased C-reactive protein and TBARS level suggest that the Q10 should be included in the diet of sickle cell patients.