Teaching effective communication through e-Learning

To meet the needs of a globalized world, a university curriculum needs to address theoretical and practical skills which emphasise versatility, adaptability and flexibility for a more creative workforce, adaptive in knowledge and well-equipped with a range of skills to actively contribute to the new economy. These skills include people management, problem analysis, communication skills, as well as technical skills for presentation, aspects of delivery and modes of enquiry. The greatest challenge faced by SIM University (UniSIM), Singapore’s only university for working adults, is how to respond innovatively to the demand for new and dynamic skills competencies,lifelong learning and e-technologies. In recognition of this demand, UniSIM employs an eclectic pedagogical approach in delivering its courses such as the university core module entitled Effective Communication which uses the “blended learning” model, defined as "the effective combination of different modes of delivery, models of teaching and styles of learning" (Procter, 2003). This paper examines the development process of this course and its blended learning approach which combines modern technology using interactive learning on e-platforms such as Blackboard with traditional methods using textbooks, face-to-face lectures and tutorials to enable working adults to optimize their learning experience at the tertiary level

Faculty Development in a Flexible Learning Context

AbstractIt is an acknowledged fact that universities must ensure the provision of supportive mechanisms to assist faculty members to remain updated and to be as productive as possible in order to maintain the quality of learning. Recognizing this essential reality, institutions world-wide have responded to the challenge by establishing a range of faculty development programmes with the common goal being the development and growth of the potential of their teaching resources by using them in creative ways. The provision of faculty development in flexible learning contexts for working adults which rely largely upon associate or part-time faculty members represents an even bigger challenge. A flexible learning mode, combined with a comprehensive integration of IT and aspects of virtual learning, sets a high premium on the exploitation and expansion of media and technology to strengthen the teaching/learning experience and to help students to learn at their own pace. Hence, a crucial function of the faculty support mechanisms set up in such institutions is to help academic staff members to provide quality learning by utilizing technology to facilitate delivery and to integrate appropriate and productive forms of communication with their students. Using the Singapore SIM University (UniSIM) as a backdrop for this study in faculty development, this paper aims to explore how institutional faculty support mechanisms have been and are being developed to ensure a rewarding teaching-learning context

Implementation of AMBA AHB protocol using verilog HDL

Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture (AMBA) is a series of bus protocols provided by ARM. These include AHB, APB and ASB. AMBA provides an on-chip communication standard for these buses to be used in high performance microcontrollers. In this paper we have implemented the AMBA AHB (Advanced High-Performance Bus) which is used for high performance transfers among different modules of the microcontroller. AHB supports efficient connection of processor, on chip memory, DMA and off chip external memories. AMBA AHB system bus supports multiple bus masters and slaves. The design is implemented using Verilog HDL and simulated using ModelSim 6.4a. Synthesis for the design is done using Xilinx ISE 14.4

Clinical profile and outcome of patients with placenta previa: a study at a tertiary care referral institute in Northern India

Background: The aim of this study was to determine clinical profile, evaluate our antenatal and intraoperative management and see the maternal and perinatal outcome in patients with placenta previa.Methods: A prospective study was carried out in 130 women with placenta previa in the Department of Gynecology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India between Jan 2015–April 2016. The profile of these patients was recorded in a predesigned proforma and maternal and perinatal outcome analyzed in detail.Results: One third (46/130) of the patients with placenta previa had a history of previous caesarian section, 27% had previous uterine curettage and 82% were multiparous.18% were asymptomatic placenta previa whereas 82% had one or more bleeding episodes. Expectant management was given to 67% patients after first bleeding episode. Majority (92/130) of patients required emergency cesarean section. Due to invasive placentation, 25 patients required cesarean hysterectomy. Ninety percent patients required delivery at ≤37 weeks and neonatal outcome improved with increasing gestation as expected.Conclusions: Reduction in cesarean rate is the major key factor for decreasing the incidence of placenta previa as, as well as placenta accreta and other associated complications as there were no patients diagnosed to have placenta accreta when placenta previa was present without any previous cesarean scar. In cases of invasive placenta, performing a classical CS, not trying to remove the placenta and proceeding directly to hysterectomy resulted in reduced blood loss. Neonatal outcome as well as maternal outcome is best when cesarean is done between 36-37 weeks

AN ENHANCED SCHEDULING APPROACH WITH CLOUDLET MIGRATIONS FOR RESOURCE INTENSIVE APPLICATIONS

Cloud computing is one of the most advanced technologies to present computerized generation. Scheduling plays a major role in it. The connectivity of Virtual Machines (VM) to schedule the assigned tasks (cloudlet) is a most attractive field to research. This paper introduces a confined Cloudlet Migration based scheduling algorithm using Enhanced-First Come First Serve (CMeFCFS). The objective of this work is to minimize the makespan, cost and to optimize the resource utilization. The proposed work has been simulated in the CloudSim toolkit package. The results have been compared with pre-existing scheduling algorithms with same experimental configuration. Important parameters like execution time, completion time, cost, makespan and utilization of resources are compared to measure the performance of the proposed algorithm. Extensive simulation results prove that introduced work has better results than existing approaches. 99.8% resource utilization has been achieved by CMeFCFS. Plotted graphs and calculated values show that the proposed algorithm is very effective for cloudlet scheduling

Mapping of Quantitative Trait Loci for Grain Iron and Zinc Concentration in Diploid A Genome Wheat

Micronutrients, especially iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn), are deficient in the diets of people in underdeveloped countries. Biofortification of food crops is the best approach for alleviating the micronutrient deficiencies. Identification of germplasm with high grain Fe and Zn and understanding the genetic basis of their accumulation are the prerequisites for manipulation of these micronutrients. Some wild relatives of wheat were found to have higher grain Fe and Zn concentrations compared with the cultivated bread wheat germplasm. One accession of Triticum boeoticum (pau5088) that had relatively higher grain Fe and Zn was crossed with Triticum monococcum (pau14087), and a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population generated from this cross was grown at 2 locations over 2 years. The grains of the RIL population were evaluated for Fe and Zn concentration using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The grain Fe and Zn concentrations in the RIL population ranged from 17.8 to 69.7 and 19.9 to 64.2 mg/kg, respectively. A linkage map available for the population was used for mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) for grain Fe and Zn accumulation. The QTL analysis led to identification of 2 QTL for grain Fe on chromosomes 2A and 7A and 1 QTL for grain Zn on chromosome 7A. The grain Fe QTL were mapped in marker interval Xwmc382-Xbarc124 and Xgwm473-Xbarc29, respectively, each explaining 12.6% and 11.7% of the total phenotypic variation and were designated as QFe.pau-2A and QFe.pau-7A. The QTL for grain Zn, which mapped in marker interval Xcfd31-Xcfa2049, was designated as QZn.pau-7A and explained 18.8% of the total phenotypic variatio