Membrane potentials of hypertensive,diabetic and arthritic polymorphonuclear leukocytes

We studied the membrane potentials of normal, essential hypertensive, diabetes mellitus and rheumatoid arthritic polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL). It was found that diabetic PMNL were grossly hyperpolarized as compared to normal. On the other hand hypertensive and arthritic PMNL elicited a significant depolarization. The PMNL obtained from treated hypertensive patients showed considerable recovery where as partial recovery was evidenced in membrane potentials in diabetic and arthritic PMNL. The implications are discussed.     

A study on the determinants of social media based learning in higher education

Educational technology research and development - Social-Media-Based Learning (SMBL) is the use of social-media-based platforms, such as Twitter, Google Plus, Facebook, and YouTube, for learning...     

Evaluating the effects of ideology on public understanding of climate change science: how to improve communication across ideological divides?

While ideology can have a strong effect on citizen understanding of science, it is unclear how ideology interacts with other complicating factors, such as college education, which influence citizens' comprehension of information. We focus on public understanding of climate change science and test the hypotheses: [H1] as citizens' ideology shifts from liberal to conservative, concern for global warming decreases; [H2] citizens with college education and higher general science literacy tend to have higher concern for global warming; and [H3] college education does not increase global warming concern for conservative ideologues. We implemented a survey instrument in California's San Francisco Bay Area, and employed regression models to test the effects of ideology and other socio-demographic variables on citizen concern about global warming, terrorism, the economy, health care and poverty. We are able to confirm H1 and H3, but reject H2. Various strategies are discussed to improve the communication of climate change science across ideological divides.     

Cross-cultural Perceptions of Impoliteness by Native English Speakers and EFL Learners: The Case of Apology Speech Act

This study investigated native English speakers’ and English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ perception of (im)politeness. Seventy-five native speakers and 177 EFL learners were administered a discourse completion task for the speech act of apology accompanied by responses violating politeness by various degrees. Participants were asked to assess the degree of (im)politeness embedded in each response and to write down their assessment comments. Content analysis of respondents’ comments indicated that both groups mentioned similar (im)politeness criteria. However, the analysis of frequency counts displayed significant differences between the two groups in their degree of preference for each (im)politeness criterion.     

Students’ understanding and skills on voltage and current measurements using hands-on laboratory and simulation software

Education and Information Technologies - Skills competency is important especially in vocational and technical education. Thus, the aim of this research was to develop the student conceptual...     

Knowledge sharing practices: A case study at Malaysia’s healthcare research institutes

The main objective of this study was to investigate the perception of the researchers and officers within the National Institutes of Health Malaysia (NIH) about their understanding of knowledge sharing practices in their respective environment. Questions included: what are the perceptions of the respondents with regard to the knowledge sharing practices in their respective institutions? What are the benefits for knowledge sharing practices as perceived by them? What are their perceived organisational knowledge sharing practices motivating factors? Also, what are the hindering factors? The survey of the researchers and officers of the NIH was distributed to 400 respondents from the six research institutes under NIH: Institute for Medical Research (IMR), Institute for Public Health (IPH), Network for Clinical Research Centres (CRC), Institute for Health Management (IHM), Institute for Health Systems Research (IHSR) and Institute for Health Promotion (IHP). The responses indicated that knowledge sharing depends on the context of encouraging and rewarding the practices of organisational knowledge sharing. The findings suggest four factors – Environment and Infrastructure, Management Support, Culture and Technology – as significant determinants in influencing the organisational knowledge sharing practices among the employees. The study was limited to the perceptual aspect of the issue, specifically from the individuals’ opinions and sentiments.     

Knowledge sharing practices: A case study at Malaysia’s healthcare research institutes

The main objective of this study was to investigate the perception of the researchers and officers within the National Institutes of Health Malaysia (NIH) about their understanding of knowledge sharing practices in their respective environment. Questions included: what are the perceptions of the respondents with regard to the knowledge sharing practices in their respective institutions? What are the benefits for knowledge sharing practices as perceived by them? What are their perceived organisational knowledge sharing practices motivating factors? Also, what are the hindering factors? The survey of the researchers and officers of the NIH was distributed to 400 respondents from the six research institutes under NIH: Institute for Medical Research (IMR), Institute for Public Health (IPH), Network for Clinical Research Centres (CRC), Institute for Health Management (IHM), Institute for Health Systems Research (IHSR) and Institute for Health Promotion (IHP). The responses indicated that knowledge sharing depends on the context of encouraging and rewarding the practices of organisational knowledge sharing. The findings suggest four factors – Environment and Infrastructure, Management Support, Culture and Technology – as significant determinants in influencing the organisational knowledge sharing practices among the employees. The study was limited to the perceptual aspect of the issue, specifically from the individuals’ opinions and sentiments.     

Gender Differences in Availability,Internet Access and Rate of Usage of Computers among Distance Education Learners

This study explores the level of availability of computers, Internet accessibility and the rate of usage of computers both at home and at the work place between distance education learners according to gender. The results reveal that there are no significant differences in all three aspects. The findings indicate that female distance education learners participate equally with their male counterparts in the utilization of computer technology to assist their study requirements as well as in their involvement in information and communication technology (ICT) to support the educational and learning process as demanded by distance education. Différences de sexe dans la disponibilité, l'accès À internet et la fréquence d'utilisation des ordinateurs chez les étudiants apprenant À distance. Cette étude explore le niveau de disponibilité, l'accès À internet et la fréquence d'utilisation des ordinateurs À la fois au travail et À la maison chez les étudiants apprenant À distance en fonction de leur sexe. Les résultats montrent qu'il n'y a pas de différences significatives dans chacun de ces domaines. Les résultats indique que les femmes participent À égalité avec les hommes dans l'utilisation de l'ordinateur pour les aider À faire face aux exigences de leurs études aussi bon que dans leur implication dans les technologies de l'information et À la communication (TIC) pour soutenir le processus d'éducation et d'apprentissage imposé par l'éducation À distance. Geschlechtsbezogne Unterschiede bei der Verfügbarkeit eines Internetzugangs und Nutzung von Computern bei Studenten des Fernunterrichts. Diese Studie untersucht die geschlechtsbezogne Verfügbarkeit von Computern, Internetzugang und Häufigkeit der Computernutzung daheim und am Arbeitsplatz bei Studenten des Fernunterrichts. Die Resultate zeigen, dass es bei den 3 Aspekten keine grossen Unterschiede gibt. Die Untersuchungen belegen, dass Frauen genau so oft wie ihre männlichen Kollegen die Computertechnologie zu Studienzwecken einsetzen und die Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie (ITC) für ihren Lernprozess nutzen, so wie es im Fernunterricht verlangt wird.     

Analysis of Student–Instructor Interaction Patterns in Real-Time, Scientific Online Discourse

The characteristics of the online environment alter how students and instructors interact. Scientific discourse among students and instructors in an online text-only synchronous environment was analyzed. In converting dialogue to text, many of the nonverbal cues, such as facial expression and tone of voice, which instructors use to gauge student understanding are lost. The participants adapt their communication style to the medium, and we present a new interaction pattern for student–instructor communication found prevalent in the synchronous, text-only, online environment. This study has implications for instructors who use synchronous, text-based communication for their courses, namely the value of posing additional questions from the instructor to verify student understanding.