A study to investigate state of ethical Development in E-learning

Different researchers evidenced that e-learning has provided more opportunities to behave unethically than in traditional learning. A descriptive quantitative enquiry-based study is performed to explore same issue in e-learning environment. The factors required for ethical development of students were extracted from literature. Later, efforts are made to assess their significance and their status in e-learning with 5-point Likert scale survey. The sample consisted of 47 teachers, 298 students, and 31 administrative staff of e-learning management being involved in e-learning. The work also observed state of students on various ethical behaviors. The study emphasized that physical presence of teacher, an ethically conducive institutional environment, and the involvement of the society members are among the main factors that help in the ethical development of a student which are missing in e-learning. The results of the study showed that the moral behavior of e-learning is at decline because of lack of these required factors in e-learning. This work also suggested the need of a model indicating how these deficiencies can be addressed by the educational institutions for ethical development of higher education learners

FastSample: Accelerating Distributed Graph Neural Network Training for Billion-Scale Graphs

Training Graph Neural Networks(GNNs) on a large monolithic graph presents unique challenges as the graph cannot fit within a single machine and it cannot be decomposed into smaller disconnected components. Distributed sampling-based training distributes the graph across multiple machines and trains the GNN on small parts of the graph that are randomly sampled every training iteration. We show that in a distributed environment, the sampling overhead is a significant component of the training time for large-scale graphs. We propose FastSample which is composed of two synergistic techniques that greatly reduce the distributed sampling time: 1)a new graph partitioning method that eliminates most of the communication rounds in distributed sampling , 2)a novel highly optimized sampling kernel that reduces memory movement during sampling. We test FastSample on large-scale graph benchmarks and show that FastSample speeds up distributed sampling-based GNN training by up to 2x with no loss in accuracy

Mandibular Deformity Correction by Distraction Osteogenesis

Distraction osteogenesis (DO) is a biological process of new bone formation. It could be used as an alternative treatment method for the correction of mandibular hypoplastic deformity. Modern distraction osteogenesis evolved primarily from the work of Gavriel llizarov. DO has been first applied to craniofacial region since McCarthy et al. In this case report, the patient was 17 years old male with bird face deformity due to hypoplasia of mandible resulted from bilateral TMJ ankylosis due to the fracture of both condyle at the age of 4 years. Patient’s intraincisal opening was absent 1 year back. He underwent condylectomy in both sides to release the ankylosis and to increase intraincisal opening. His mandibular length was markedly short. To increase his mandibular antero-posterior length, mandibular body distraction was done in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery department, BSMMU. Through this procedure length of the body of mandibule was increased by 10 mm, occlusion was edge to edge and his lower facial appearance increased markedly. Mandibular body distraction osteogenesis was considerably effective when performed in a hypoplastic mandible to facilitate post-operative functional and esthetic restoration. Long term follow-up is necessary to evaluate relapse and complications. DOI: 10.3329/bsmmuj.v3i2.7061BSMMU J 2010; 3(2): 103-10

Clinico-epidemiological profile of malaria: Analysis from a primary health centre in Karnataka, Southern India

Malaria continues to be a major public health problem in India and worldwide. The present study was based on records from a primary health centre in Karnataka. Morbidity patterns and important features of malaria transmission specific to Udupi district were investigated. The incidence of malaria and various morbidity patterns during 2010 and 2011 were compared and analyzed. Factors such as rapid urbanization, increased construction activities and influx of migratory workers were highlighted as the leading causes for the advent of malaria in the area. Recommendations have been provided for implementation in the near future

Circular equivalent planar array- a new approach

In this paper, a new configuration of four elements circular equivalent planar array has been proposed to achieve high gain and directivity with lower sidelobe level. After being designed and simulated, the proposed antenna array has achieved high directivity of 15.3 dBi with 85 % radiation efficiency. Besides, the array has a maximum realized gain of 14.51 dB and low sidelobe level of – 16 dB. The proposed antenna array has been evaluated by comparing its performances with four elements of MIMO and planar antenna arrays. It is observed that the proposed array shows greater performances in terms of all parameters compared to the other two arrays. Also, the proposed array has maximum isolation of below – 35 dB between two nearby elements. In turn, the high directivity of the proposed antenna array resonating at 5.8 GHz with very minimum return loss which makes it suitable for Radar application

Design of quad element MIMO array with EBG structure for mutual coupling reduction

Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) array antennas that may transmit radio waves in various patterns and polarizations have been increasingly important in current telecommunication systems. However, the mutual coupling effect is the major drawback of the MIMO system. Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) is a good solution for planar arrays to reduce the effects of mutual coupling. A simple EBG structure has been proposed in this paper to reduce the mutual coupling effect for a quad element (2×2) MIMO array. First, a single inset-fed microstrip patch antenna has been designed that resonates at 4.2 GHz with minimum return loss as low as -40 dB. A rectangular shape EBG structure with a dimension of 6 × 13 mm has been implemented between the radiating patches. Each EBG unit cell consists of 3 rectangular shape slots with a dimension of 2×3 mm. The simulation result shows that the antenna can radiate around 95% of its power to the receiver and gives a good directive pattern as well. The quad-element MIMO array with the EBG structure has a minimum return loss of less than -50 dB and maximum isolation of more than 20 dB. Therefore, a quad-element MIMO array with the proposed EBG structure can provide better performance in 5G applications

In vitro release and cytotoxicity study of encapsulated sulfasalazine within LTSP micellar/ liposomal and TSP micellar/niosomal nano-formulations

The micelles/liposome formulation for the first time has been constructed via thin-film hydration method containing soy lecithin (L), tween 80 (T), squalene (S), and polyvinyl alcohol (P) (LTSP nanoparticles). Similar ingredients except for lecithin were used for preparing micellar/niosomal vesicular SSZ nano formulation (TSP nanoparticles). The percent drug loading and encapsulation efficiency of SSZ was 7.39% and 98.5 ± 0.3 % for the 7.5:100 (w/w) ratio of SSZ: total weight of LTSP, while the percent drug loading and encapsulation efficiency of SSZ was 4.7% and 62.85 ± 0.3 % in the TSP nano formulation. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and trans- mission electron microscopy (TEM) results showed that both formulations formed spherical micelles and vesicles with globule sizes of 25 ± 1.2 nm and 100 ± 20.5 nm respectively. The cell toxicity evaluations showed that both LTSP and TSP nano formulations without drug were nontoxic (at the range of this experiment) for Human Dermal Fibroblasts (HDF) as a normal cell line, but SSZ loaded nano formulation exhibited increased cell toxicity with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 940 mM for SSZ alone to near 240 mM for SSZ loaded nano formulation (approximately four times). In vitro release experiments exhibited sustained release of SSZ from both nano formulations. The LTSP micellar/liposomal and TSP micellar/niosomal nano formulation for SSZ delivery can be considered as appropriate approaches for improving its bioavailability and probably they are good candidates for future clinical investigations

Gender stereotypes and education: A comparative content analysis of Malaysian, Indonesian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi school textbooks

Using government secondary school English language textbooks from Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh, we conducted a quantitative content analysis in order to identify gender stereotypes in school education. In total, 21 categories of exclusion and quality of representation were used to study gender stereotypes. Our analysis confirms a pro-male bias in textbooks: the aggregate female share is 40.4% in textual and pictorial indicators combined. Female occupations are mostly traditional and less prestigious while the characters are predominantly introverted and passive in terms of personality traits. Women are also shown to be mostly involved in domestic and in-door activities while men have a higher presence in professional roles. Systematic underrepresentation of females is evident regardless of whether we look at the text or pictures. A cross-country analysis shows that the female share in picture content is only 35.2% in Malaysia and Bangladesh. Overall, the proportion of female to male characters (text and pictures combined) is balanced in Malaysia and Indonesia (44.4% and 44.1% respectively) while this share is only 24.4% and 37.3% in Pakistani and Bangladeshi textbooks respectively. The finding of underrepresentation of women in Pakistani textbooks, in terms of quality and quantity, is robust to the selection of province-, grade- and subject-specific textbooks, as well as the range and type of categories used