The effect of LMS characteristics on students‘ LMS adoption

There has been great growing in adopting Learning Management System (LMS) as a mode to connect with students. Almost every university have started developing their own LMS to train and teach students. The objective of this study is to analyze the effect of LMS Characteristics on students‘ LMS adoption. A survey is conducted among 75 undergraduate students who use LMS extensively at the Department of Industrial Management, University of Kelaniya in order to fulfill the objective. The conduct of this study involves quantitative approach. The result of the study indicates LMS Characteristics including of system quality, information quality and service quality play a significant role in determining students‘ LMS adoption

Preoperative screening cultures in the identification of staphylococci causing wound and valvular infections in cardiac surgery

Cultures of nasal or presternal swabs form part of the routine preoperative screening of patients on the cardiac surgical ward. During a trial of antibiotic prophylaxis in 314 patients, preoperative isolates of Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci were compared with strains associated with postoperative sternal wound breakdown (24 patients) and prosthetic valve endocarditis (3 patients). Morphology, antibiotic sensitivity pattern, plasmid analysis and phage typing were used to differentiate strains. In only three cases of wound infection and one of prosthetic valve endocarditis were pathogenic staphylococci not distinguishable from preoperative isolates. The collection of superficial swabs for this purpose before cardiac surgery is therefore unlikely to be cost effective

Modelling large scale enterprises : A distributed simulation approach.

Distributed simulation provides an alternative solution when today's highly complicated systems including manufacturing are to be simulated. Complexities involved in implementation, the need for more expertise, high development cost and long implementation time etc. along with a lack of guidelines for developing distributed simulation, and the complexity of tools and techniques used to implement schemes, resulted in the lack of acceptance for distributed simulation among the general simulation community. In order to address some of these issues, a new approach is proposed for modelling and simulating large scale enterprises using distributed simulation. The proposed approach which includes a comprehensive methodology for distributed enterprise simulation, developed by combining activities required for traditional sequential simulation with additional activities required for distributed simulation. The thesis elaborates the additional activities required for distributed simulation in different chapters with simplified approaches for carrying out these activities. These include an approach to decide the appropriate simulation strategy (SimSS process), a simplified approach to modelling and model partitioning, a synchronization mechanism that approximately synchronizes the distributed enterprise simulation and an approach for developing distributed simulation using tools and technologies which are popular, well accepted and also cost effective. The differences between the traditional distributed simulation approaches and the proposed methodology include: partitioning of the conceptual model into logical processes before transforming them into computer simulation models, use of commercial simulation software to implement the distributed simulation, and use of cost effective and popular middleware and programming languages. Illustration of the proposed approaches focuses on distributed manufacturing applications

Differential gene expression and immunolocalization of platelet-derived growth factors and their receptors in caprine ovaries

AbstractThis study evaluated the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression and immunolocalization of all members of the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) family in caprine ovaries by quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Detectable levels of PDGF-A mRNA were not observed in primordial follicles. Higher levels of PDGF-B mRNA were observed in primary follicles than in primordial follicles (P < 0.05). PDGF-D mRNA levels were higher in secondary follicles than in the other preantral follicle categories (P < 0.05). PDGF-B mRNA expression was higher than PDGF-C mRNA expression in primary follicles (P < 0.05). In antral follicles, PDGF-A mRNA expression was higher in cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) from small antral follicles than in those from large antral follicles and their respective granulosa/theca (GT) cells (P < 0.05). Furthermore, in COCs from small and large antral follicles, PDGF-A mRNA expression was higher than that of the other PDGF isoforms (P < 0.05). The mRNA levels of PDGF-B and PDGF-D and PDGFR-α and PDGFR-β were higher in GT cells from large antral follicles than in GT cells from small antral follicles and in their respective COCs (P < 0.05). In COCs and GT cells from small antral follicles, the mRNA levels of PDGFR-α were higher than those of PDGFR-β (P < 0.05). All proteins were observed in the cytoplasm of oocytes from all follicular categories. In granulosa cells, all PDGFs and PDGFR-β were detected from starting at the secondary stage, and in theca cells, all proteins, except PDGF-C, were detected starting at the antral stage. In conclusion, PDGF and its receptors are differentially expressed in the oocytes and ovarian cells according to the stage of follicular development, suggesting their role in the regulation of folliculogenesis in goats

Comparação entre a pressão inspiratória máxima aferida pelo manovacuômetro digital e pelo dispositivo eletrônico de treinamento muscular inspiratório

Aims: To compare maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP) measured by a digital manometer and by an inspiratory muscle training (IMT) device and to evaluate hemodynamic changes after measurements. Methods: The sample included male and female individuals older than 18 years admitted to an intensive care unit who were hemodynamically stable, not being treated with vasoactive drugs or sedated, intubated or tracheostomized, and who were in the process of being weaned from mechanical ventilation. MIP was measured by both devices on three different occasions, with an occlusion time of 20 seconds and a 5-minute interval between measurements. The following parameters were assessed: respiratory rate, mean arterial pressure, and respiratory rate before and after each measurement by each device. The statistical analysis was made in the Statistical Analysis System and the R Project for Statistical Computing V. 3.1.2 softwares, using the ANOVA and the Wilcoxon tests. Results: Fifty-eight patients were included in the study. The mean value obtained for MIP was -46.22 centimeters of water (cmH2O) in the digital manometer and -13.15 cmH2O (p<0.001) in the IMT device. Heart rate showed a significant increase (p<0.0001) both before and after all measurements in both devices. Mean arterial pressure showed a statistically significant difference only before and after the first measurement by the digital manometer and before and after the second measurement by the IMT device (p<0.001). The respiratory rate oscillated significantly before and after the three measurements by both devices (p<0.0001). The hemodynamic parameters remained within reference values after MIP measurements. Conclusions: The digital manometer recorded a higher MIP than that measured by the IMT device. The hemodynamic parameter values oscillated in both devices, but they remained within the normal range and were not clinically significant.To compare maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP) measured by a digital manometer and by an inspiratory muscle training (IMT) device and to evaluate hemodynamic changes after measurements. Methods: The sample included male and female individuals older than 182616Comparar valores de pressão inspiratória máxima (PImáx) aferidos por um manovacuômetro digital e por um dispositivo eletrônico de treinamento muscular inspiratório e avaliar as repercussões hemodinâmicas após as medidas. MÉTODOS: A amostra foi composta p

Genetic diversity of breeding popcorn lines determined by SSR markers

Information about genetic dissimilarity is very important to corroborate genealogical relationships and to predict the most heterozygotic hybrid combinations. Eight popcorn S6 lines of diverse germplasm types were evaluated using simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. Of a total of 51 evaluated polymorphic primers, 15 were used for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. The genetic distance was estimated by Rogers' modified distance. The different popcorn breeding programs in Brazil are possibly using highly similar base-populations. The genetic similarity of lines P1-3 and P8-1 was lowest, while P3-3 and P8-2 were genetically more similar. The cophenetic correlation showed that the Unweighted Pair-Group Method Using Arithmetic Averages (UPGMA) was reliable to discriminate the genotypes in five groups. The clusters were consistent with the estimates of genetic identity. There was a moderate coincidence degree between the groups and genealogy of lines. Higher levels of heterozygosity are expected from crosses between the group containing lines P3-3 and P7-3 with that of P1-3 and P7-4. Crosses between lines P1-3 and P8-1 are also promising

Adsorption Of A Copper (ii) Complex On Calcium Phosphate Intercalated With 4-aminobenzoic Acid -synthesis And Electrochemical Investigation

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Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters