Evaluation of the state-of-the-art in informatics in glucometers

This review evaluated the level of informatics in glucometers through an assessment of the quantity and types of information and advice provided to users. Manufacturer websites were investigated and the characteristics of glucometers were examined. One hundred glucometers from 27 manufacturers were analysed. Many glucometers contained simple informatics features and five also contained on-device graphing features for users to monitor trends. Some manufacturers have extended informatics via external software. A small number of glucometers provided knowledge for the user by, for example, simple embedded decision support protocols. However, it is suggested that glucometers could better serve as primary care devices through the incorporation of more decision support directly on the device

E-Learning in India: Experiences, Issues & Challenges

There is massive potential in the higher education space spread across the Asian continent especially in countries like India and China. Global players operating in this space are eyeing these markets. This throws opportunities as well as challenges. There are many players, local as well as global, who have experimented or are experimenting online (pure play) or blended models in education. There have been failures and mistakes, which have thrown lot of learning. As a result players have improvised their offers. Online education is now working. Though the progression is slow, it is expected to grow exponential in the coming years. E-learning is network enabled learning. There is a race to get into e-learning space in India given the scope and size of this market in India. But many organizations and academic institutions trying to foray into E-learning are getting imbalanced due to the lack of proper understanding of the market place and internal/external requirements. IT assimilation throws unimaginable challenges. What should be the operating strategy, deliverable value, approach, processes and technology assimilation strategies so that the entire organization moves towards successful implementation of the E-learning project without compromising on its existing competencies is a serious matter for researchers to ponder. This paper tries to answer some of the above issues with the help of the experiences gained form one of the largest online education project launched and running quite successfully in India. The suggested framework evolves around discovery of a collaboration model with software and connectivity service providers and criteria of collaboration to be drawn from the learner needs and requirement. The collaboration should balance to achieve necessary value proposition for the intended learner segment by careful crafting of the Learner Centric Value Chain

Bank seasoned equity offers: do voluntary and involuntary offers differ?

Recent research has shown that for industrial and utilities’ seasoned equity offers (SEOs) the offer price discount is informative and has significant price effects. We examine whether the offer price discount for SEOs made by undercapitalized banks is different from those made by banks that were already overcapitalized prior to issue announcement. The former are labeled "involuntary" issues, and the latter "voluntary." Voluntary issues are likely made by opportunistic managers at times when their stock is overvalued. Prior research has argued and provided evidence suggesting that for involuntary issues, such timing discretion may be limited. However, we find no significant differences in the issue-date discount, and in issue-date abnormal returns between the two types of issues. We find that trading volume increases dramatically at the offer date, stays at abnormally high levels over a 60-day post–issue period, and is accompanied by a positive abnormal return in the post-offer period for both types of issues.Bank stocks

Offer-price discount of bank seasoned equity offers: do voluntary and involuntary offers convey different information?

Seasoned equity offers made by undercapitalized banks (labeled involuntary offers) could be different from other seasoned equity offers because the issuer is presumably under regulatory duress to make up the shortfall in required capital. For this reason, involuntary offers may exhibit limited managerial opportunism. When a firm issues seasoned equity, investment bankers gather information about the issuer in the period between the registration of the offer and its issue date. The information gathered during the book-building process gets reflected in the offer price discount on the issue date. We find that the offer price discount appears to convey more information to investors on the issue date for the voluntary issuers. However, we find that both types of issues show signs of market timing, and that investors react negatively to both types of issuance announcements. Our results are robust to several checks.Bank stocks

Effect of Eng-Hau medium of instruction on Upper-Basic students’ achievement in Algebra

The perennial problem of poor performance of students in mathematics has made stakeholders in the education sector undertake several types of research, with diverse findings on the causes, with different recommendations for improvement. In this study Eng-Hau, a coinage for the combination of the English and Hausa languages was used to teach algebra. 244 Upper Basic School Two students in the Jalingo metropolis, Taraba state, Nigeria, were used for the study. Three research questions and hypotheses guided the study, using quasi-experimental of the non-equivalent group, involving pre-test and post-test treatment, and factorial designs. Algebra Achievement Test with a reliability index of 0.74, obtained through KR-20 formula was used for data collection. Methodology instructional packages, where algebra concepts were translated into the Hausa language were used to teach the students. Analysis of Covariance was used to test the hypotheses. Findings show that students taught using Eng-Hau performed better than those taught using the English language only. No gender disparity was found with students taught using Eng-Hau. The study also found no interaction effect of medium of instruction and gender on students’ achievement, an indication that achievement in mathematics is not based on gender, but on the medium of instruction

Physicochemical Characteristics and Trace Metal Levels of Locally Dug Wells in Tunga Area of Minna, Nigeria

Physicochemical characteristics and trace metal levels of water from locally dug wells in Tunga area of Minna were studied using titrimetric and instrumental methods. Trace metal levels in all the studied wells ranged between 0.40-1.50, 0.32-0.95, 0.12-0.50, 0.03-0.21, 0.01-0.04 and 0.01-0.02mg/L for Cu, Fe, Zn, Cr Pb and Cd respectively. The physic-chemical parameters like temperature, dissolved oxygen, conductivity and total dissolved solids gave average values of 27.9oC, 3.89mg/l, 22.62mg/l, and 15.8mg/l respectively. The average concentrations of chlorides, total hardens magnesium and calcium ions analysed were 34.58mg/l, 147.63mg/l, 7.99mg/l and 114.90mg/l respectively. Results from this study showed that the industrial and human activities in this study area pose no major health hazard to their well water, and are therefore fit for their domestic activities. Notwithstanding, regular monitoring of trace metal levels in these wells which act as major sources of water for their domestic activities need to be carried out by regulatory bodies due to the increasing human population in this area

Ab initio evaluation of oxidation numbers in some substituted benzenes

Giambiagi's definition of oxidation number of an atom in a molecule has been applied successfully in theab initio SCF theory to calculate oxidation numbers using STO-3G and 4-31G basis sets for some substituted benzenes involving -F, -OH, -CH3 and -NH2 as substituents. The present study suggests that the oxidation numbers also seem to be indicative of their orientational behaviour like the net atomic charges

Predator Cat Odors Activate Sexual Arousal Pathways in Brains of Toxoplasma gondii Infected Rats

Cat odors induce rapid, innate and stereotyped defensive behaviors in rats at first exposure, a presumed response to the evolutionary pressures of predation. Bizarrely, rats infected with the brain parasite Toxoplasma gondii approach the cat odors they typically avoid. Since the protozoan Toxoplasma requires the cat to sexually reproduce, this change in host behavior is thought to be a remarkable example of a parasite manipulating a mammalian host for its own benefit. Toxoplasma does not influence host response to non-feline predator odor nor does it alter behavior on olfactory, social, fear or anxiety tests, arguing for specific manipulation in the processing of cat odor. We report that Toxoplasma infection alters neural activity in limbic brain areas necessary for innate defensive behavior in response to cat odor. Moreover, Toxoplasma increases activity in nearby limbic regions of sexual attraction when the rat is exposed to cat urine, compelling evidence that Toxoplasma overwhelms the innate fear response by causing, in its stead, a type of sexual attraction to the normally aversive cat odor

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background: There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low-and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods: Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results: Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion: For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially