Micro-orifice based cell fusion assures high-yield fusion without compromising the cell viability. This paper examines feasibility of a dielectrophoresis (DEP) assisted cell trapping method for parallel fusion with a micro-orifice array. The goal is to create viable fusants for studying postfusion cell behavior. We fabricated a microfluidic chip that contained a chamber and partition. The partition divided the chamber into two compartments and it had a number of embedded micro-orifices. The voltage applied to the electrodes located at each compartment generated an electric field distribution concentrating in micro-orifices. Cells introduced into each compartment moved toward the micro-orifice array by manipulation of hydrostatic pressure. DEP assisted trapping was used to keep the cells in micro-orifice and to establish cell to cell contact through orifice. By applying a pulse, cell fusion was initiated to form a neck between cells. The neck passing through the orifice resulted in immobilization of the fused cell pair at micro-orifice. After washing away the unfused cells, the chip was loaded to a microscope with stage top incubator for time lapse imaging of the selected fusants. The viable fusants were successfully generated by fusion of mouse fibroblast cells (L929). Time lapse observation of the fusants showed that fused cell pairs escaping from micro-orifice became one tetraploid cell. The generated tetraploid cells divided into three daughter cells. The fusants generated with a smaller micro-orifice (diameter∼2 μm) were kept immobilized at micro-orifice until cell division phase. After observation of two synchronized cell divisions, the fusant divided into four daughter cells. We conclude that the presented method of cell pairing and fusion is suitable for high-yield generation of viable fusants and furthermore, subsequent study of postfusion phenomena. 相似文献
IntroductionFollowing a pandemic, laboratory medicine is vulnerable to laboratory errors due to the stressful and high workloads. We aimed to examine how laboratory errors may arise from factors, e.g., flexible working order, staff displacement, changes in the number of tests, and samples will reflect on the total test process (TTP) during the pandemic period.Materials and methodsIn 12 months, 6 months before and during the pandemic, laboratory errors were assessed via quality indicators (QIs) related to TTP phases. QIs were grouped as pre-, intra- and postanalytical. The results of QIs were expressed in defect percentages and sigma, evaluated with 3 levels of performance quality: 25th, 50th and 75th percentile values.ResultsWhen the pre- and during pandemic periods were compared, the sigma value of the samples not received was significantly lower in pre-pandemic group than during pandemic group (4.7σ vs. 5.4σ, P = 0.003). The sigma values of samples transported inappropriately and haemolysed samples were significantly higher in pre-pandemic period than during pandemic (5.0σ vs. 4.9σ, 4.3σ vs. 4.1σ; P = 0.046 and P = 0.044, respectively). Sigma value of tests with inappropriate IQC performances was lower during pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period (3.3σ vs. 3.2σ, P = 0.081). Sigma value of the reports delivered outside the specified time was higher during pandemic than pre-pandemic period (3.0σ vs. 3.1σ, P = 0.030).ConclusionIn all TTP phases, some quality indicators improved while others regressed during the pandemic period. It was observed that preanalytical phase was affected more by the pandemic. 相似文献
Response times (RTs) have recently attracted a significant amount of attention in the literature as they may provide meaningful information about item preknowledge. In this study, a new model, the Deterministic Gated Lognormal Response Time (DG-LNRT) model, is proposed to identify examinees with item preknowledge using RTs. The proposed model was applied to two different data sets and performance was assessed with false-positive rates, true-positive rates, and precision. The results were compared with another recently proposed Z-statistic. Follow-up simulation studies were also conducted to examine model performance in settings similar to the real data sets. The results indicate that the proposed model is viable and can help detect item preknowledge under certain conditions. However, its performance is highly dependent on the correct specification of the compromised items. 相似文献
What makes some human faces more attractive than others is an interesting phenomenon which is difficult to explain based on few facial features. Research indicated that many facial parameters contribute to generation of a “harmonious face” which is found appealing by most observers. There are different theories developed on which and how these parameters blend in to make a harmonious face. Determination of these parameters and the underlying mechanism is important since achieving a harmonious face is the primary goal in dental and aesthetic surgical procedures. This article presents a model developed for computer-aided assessment of facial harmony, which assesses the facial harmony of male patients and generates a score that reflect the level of harmony. The computer-aided tool presented in this paper uses “theory of averages” as a mechanism for measurement of facial harmony which is frequently used by aesthetic surgeons and orthodontists for assessment of facial proportions of the patient. The output of the developed model is an index which reflects the degree of harmony of facial features and how well they blend into each other. 相似文献
This study aims at exploring how linguistic proficiency, target culture experience, and formal education are related to the learning of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). It presents the theoretical underpinnings of ICC in the light of recent literature. Then, it continues with the methodology section that includes a quantitative research study in which 35 students at the Department of English Language Teaching (ELT) at European University of Lefke (EUL) participated. The participants of the study had different linguistic proficiencies ranging from waystage or elementary level (A2) to vantage or upper intermediate level (B2). The paper concludes by stating the findings of the research and also by making some recommendations for language teachers to better develop the learners’ ICC in teaching English as a second language (TESL)/teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) contexts. 相似文献
This study attempted to explore Turkish headteachers’ and teachers’ burnout and job satisfaction relating to work status, gender and years work-experiences. The purpose of this study is to find out whether there is difference between headteachers’ and teachers’ burnout and job satisfaction in terms of work status, gender and years work-experiences. In this study, quantitative approach was used. A total of 290 subjects (80 headteachers and 210 teachers) responded to the survey. As research instruments, the Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), were used to measure dimensions of headteachers’ and teachers’ burnout. The study results indicated that headteachers have more job dissatisfaction and depersonalisation than teachers. Males have less emotional exhaustion but higher depersonalisation than their female counterparts. Subjects participated in this study seemed to be different on depersonalisation and personal accomplishment dimensions on the scale in relation to their work years. More experienced subjects have higher depersonalisation and less job satisfaction than their less experienced counterparts. In contrast, more experienced subjects have higher personal accomplishment than the others. 相似文献
Education and Information Technologies - Flipped learning is considered an increasingly common strategy along with some drawbacks. Gamification has the significant potential to deal with the... 相似文献
Background: A substantial review study of concept cartoons reports that few studies have indicated their functions. For this reason, the present study illuminates the extent to which concept cartoon-embedded worksheets (through constructivist context) accomplish these functions in conceptual learning.
Purpose: The purpose of the study is to determine the effect of the concept cartoon-embedded worksheets on grade 9 students’ conceptual understanding of Newton’s Laws of Motion.
Sample: Within a quasi-experimental research design with control group, the sample consisted of 102 grade 9 students (aged 15–16 years) enrolled in an Anatolian High School. They were randomly assigned to control (52 students) and experimental groups (50 students).
Design and methods: While the control group followed the existing physics instruction, the experimental one was exposed to the concept cartoon-embedded worksheets. To collect data, two scales (Newton’s Laws of Motion Test –NLMT– and Interview about Instances –IAI) were employed.
Results: The results indicated that the experimental group performed better than did the control group.
Conclusions: It can be deduced that the concept cartoon-embedded worksheets are effective in improving grade 9 students’ conceptual understanding and in replacing their alternative conceptions with scientific ones. 相似文献
Lexical cohesion is a property of text, achieved through lexical-semantic relations between words in text. Most information retrieval systems make use of lexical relations in text only to a limited extent. In this paper we empirically investigate whether the degree of lexical cohesion between the contexts of query terms’ occurrences in a document is related to its relevance to the query. Lexical cohesion between distinct query terms in a document is estimated on the basis of the lexical-semantic relations (repetition, synonymy, hyponymy and sibling) that exist between there collocates – words that co-occur with them in the same windows of text. Experiments suggest significant differences between the lexical cohesion in relevant and non-relevant document sets exist. A document ranking method based on lexical cohesion shows some performance improvements. 相似文献