Dargah libraries in India: a comparative study

This paper relates to the difficulty in retrieving precise information from big repositories of magazine articles in full text, and proposes an Extended Markup Language (XML) vocabulary for improving retrieval rates. The hypothesis tested was as follows: Magazine articles marked up with an XML vocabulary, indexed only by selected parts, give more precise search results than the same search using full text index.

The study was exploratory with the following characteristics: 29 magazine articles were tested for results, 8 scholars were interviewed for defining 23 search strategies and evaluating results. The data showed that precision improved from 40.72% with full text search to 62.84% using XML markup and searching only in specific labels.

Revision of the vocabulary and more testing has to be done by the library and information science community in order to obtain a valid vocabulary and provide more research results. Cultural characteristics and politics of librarians and information managers’ community are as important as technical issues in order to consider any technical proposal to be implemented successfully to achieve interoperability.     

A social status perspective of network utility over electronic channels in academic communities

Early research on the social implications of e-mail has promoted the role of electronic communication channels in fostering social equality and reducing gaps between the social classes. Follow-up studies, however, suggest that people continue to rely on social cues in electronic communication as a way of dealing with uncertainties and reducing feelings of discomfort associated with unfamiliar contexts. Based on a review of the Social Cognitive Theory, social status and electronic communication literatures, along with the results of a previous qualitative study, we propose a formal model that indicates how self-perceptions of social status are related to the use of e-mail and the acquisition of social resources over electronic channels. The model is tested using data collected from 206 faculty members in a major U.S. university. The empirical results support the proposed model implying that self-perceptions of social status influence social assertiveness, which in turn reinforces the use of e-mail to seek help and acquire social resources from others. The use of e-mail for the acquisition of social resources is associated with a socially diverse network whose contacts are perceived to acquire valuable information and to extend instrumental support for career development. Implications are drawn for both theory and practice.     

Cellular immune response to infection by different genotypes of hepatitis C virus

The present study aimed to estimate the cellular immune response to infection by different HCV genotypes in some Egyptian patients with chronic liver disease. HCV-RNA and HCV genotypes were conducted using type-specific primers to amplify the core region of HCV genome. The levels of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha, PIIINP, SOD enzyme were also determined. The results showed that genotype 4 was the prevalent one (88.57%).Genotype 3 was found mixed with genotype 2 and 4 (11.42% and 34.28% respectively). Genotype 1 was absent from patients under study. No significant differences were observed in the level of IFN-gamma interferon, SOD enzyme and ALT enzyme between those genotypes. On the other hand the level of TNF-alpha was greatly increased in patients infected with mixed HCV genotypes 3, 4 compared with patients with genotype 4 and those infected with mixed genotypes 2, 3. Otherwise PIIINP was decreased significantly of the same group compared with other groups.     

Transcoding numbers: A developmental approach of comprehension

The aim of this article is to study the development of transcoding ability using a comprehension task. We present the subject with a number written in the alphabetic code (e.g., Five) and we ask him to point out the equivalent in a set of four numbers written with the Arabic code (e.g., 5, 15, 50, 34). Results are discussed with regard to the cognitive and neuropsychological models of number transcoding.     

Development and validation of Mobile Learning Acceptance Measure

The growth of Smartphone usage, increased acceptance of electronic learning (E-learning), the availability of high reliability mobile networks and need for flexibility in learning have resulted in the growth of mobile learning (M-learning). This has led to a tremendous interest in the acceptance behaviors related to M-learning users among the information systems researchers. Despite a large amount of significant research in the field of M-learning, the measurement of user acceptance of M-learning has not received attention. This research study intends to develop and validate a survey that measures users’ acceptance of M-learning. A total sample of 806 university and higher college students from different institutes in Oman participated in this study. This research study was conducted in two stages. The first stage using a sample size of 388 students initiated a generic questionnaire, and examined factorial validity and reliability. The second stage that was conducted using different sample of 418 students employed confirmatory factor analysis to establish factorial validity and measurement invariance. A correlated six-factor model (Flexibility, Suitability, Enjoyment, Efficiency, Economic and Social) was fit using maximum likelihood estimation. The internal consistency and item reliability of Mobile Learning Acceptance Measure was found to be at acceptable level for both samples.     

The mental health and psychological well-being of refugee children and young people: an exploration of risk,resilience and protective factors

This research investigates the perceptions of refugee children, refugee parents and school staff regarding the positive adaptation of refugee children in a new social context and the effects on mental health and psychological well-being. This included an exploration of resilience and the role of risk and protective factors. Few studies have focused on views from a resilience perspective, and these have tended to use quantitative rather than qualitative measures. This mixed methods piece of “real world” research adopted a “what’s working well” perspective and explored the important voices of these children, parents and school staff. Staff, parent and child responses were triangulated to provide a rich picture of the potential protective factors operating within the school and family environment. Implications for practice are discussed.     

A nonsmooth Newton method for the design of state feedback stabilizers under structure constraints

The paper proposes a method for structured state-feedback controllers design for linear time-invariant systems. A necessary and sufficient condition for structured state-feedback stabilizability of linear systems, making an appeal to the linear-quadratic (LQ) regulator theory, is first proposed. The latter is presented in the form of a nonlinear matrix equation. Then, it is recast as a nonsmooth unconstrained equation using projection onto the positive semi-definite matrices cone. Thereby, a nonsmooth Newton’s iterative algorithm, based on the Clarke generalized Jacobian of said projection, is proposed. This method has a guaranteed local convergence. Finally, numerical examples illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Convergent under-approximations of reachable sets and tubes: A piecewise constant approach

In this paper, a method to under-approximate finite-time reachable sets and tubes for a class of continuous-time linear uncertain systems is proposed. The class under consideration is the linear time-varying (LTV) class with time-varying integrable system matrices and uncertain initial and input values belonging to known convex compact sets. The proposed method depends upon the iterative use of constant-input reachable sets, which results in convergent under-approximations in the sense of the Hausdorff distance. As a consequence of the convergence, it is shown that interior points of reachable sets are attainable using piecewise constant inputs. The computational complexity of a zonotopic implementation of the proposed method is discussed and comparisons with existing under-approximation methods are established. Finally, the proposed approach is illustrated through two numerical examples.     

School Leaders’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Learning Disabilities: Implications for Support in Inclusive Schools in the Sultanate of Oman

The study examined school leaders’ and teachers’ perceptions of Learning Disabilities (LDs) in Key Stage1 Schools in a sample drawn from schools in Muscat, the capital city of Oman. A sample of 175 school leaders and 175 teachers completed The Survey on Learning Disabilities (SLD), an instrument developed to explore beliefs and perceptions of the causes of LDs. A principal component analysis indicated that six factors underlie perceptions of LDs: The governmental formal educational system, repertoire of teachers’ skills and school support, familial and cultural background, students, academic curriculum, and social change. Multivariate analyses showed that school leaders perceive more strongly than teachers that the governmental formal educational system and academic curriculum as main causal factors for LDs. Implications for support of students with LDs in inclusive settings in Oman are discussed.