The Importance of Character Education for Tweens as Consumers

Tweens is a term that denotes a market segment mentality that falls between children at the lower end and teens at the upper end. Tweens marketing strategies are considered critical for most global brands. Advocates against excessive consumerism and materialism polluting innocent childhood, specifically tweens, call for values implantation through character education in the school to breed more educated consumers. The effect of implanting character building programs in schools on the consumer behavior of the exposed children in the marketplace, however, has never been tested before. This research endeavor is, in essence, an overlap between consumer behavior and educational psychology, investigating the link between personality and behavior in the market. It falls under both positivist and interpretive consumer research, specifically the consumer socialization of children. The aim of this work is to develop a conceptual model linking character education to purchasing lifestyles and consumption patterns of the exposed children as consumers. Following, prospects for future research are highlighted.Educational psychology, character education, attitudes and lifestyles, opinion-leadership, humanitarianism, ethnocentrism, adolescents and middle schools

Individual choice of management research agendas: ethical guidance from Islamic prioritization heuristics

Purpose: The main research attempts guiding questions about management research agendas had been relevance questions versus rigor questions. Researchers have also attempted to set management research agendas in particular sectors. No research, however, has addressed the infrastructural and foundational questions of what moral priorities and ethical principles should guide the future development of management research. Since the Islamic theological approach is a “transcendental values integration” approach, it presents a viable source of reference particularly for scholars interested in ethical philosophical paradigmatic approaches. Islamic literature has presented guiding principles as to how to balance priorities through the Jurisprudence of Priorities (Fiqh Al-Awlawiyyat). The aim of this conceptual paper is to synchronize the Islamic background literature on jurisprudence of priorities with management research development and agendas. The research is exploratory in nature. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper is conceptual merging Islamic literature with management research for the development of a framework to guide management researchers in prioritizing their research agendas. Findings: The research resulted in the conceptualization of a framework aiding researchers in the prioritization of their research agendas. Originality/value: Our paper addresses the unique and foundational question of what moral priorities and ethical principles should guide the future development of management research. We build on a religious philosophical approach, drawing on the Islamic jurisprudence of priorities as a literature base. We, therefore, address the key principles of responsible research regarding how it can be relevant on the infrastructural level to society, and how the benefit to key stakeholders should be tackled. This was not done in previous literature

Portraying mathematics teachers’ knowledge for teaching the addition of fractions through representations

Teaching the concept of fractions to students stays challenging, yet representations define an effective strategy to overcome such a challenge. Considering the impact of teachers’ knowledge on students’ achievement, this study aimed at portraying mathematics teachers’ knowledge for teaching fractions through representations, precisely, the addition process that remains a prerequisite to other operations. Hence, a purposefully selected sample of novice mathematics teachers was asked to propose a pedagogical activity through which the addition of fractions could be taught to early-age students. Later, their responses were analyzed through the study framework, which was developed by combining the five interrelated constructs of fractions with the types of activities used when teaching the addition of fractions. As a result, teachers’ knowledge was crystallized into three principal categories of utilizing the Part-whole, Measure, and Operator constructs. Furthermore, the related concepts of the unit and proportional equivalence, the fractional unit, including the iteration process, and the connection between addition and subtraction were discussed. Also, manners of representing (1) the added fractions and the result through two distinct models, (2) the added fractions and the result jointly in one model, and (3) only the added fractions emerged. These results provide a foundation for the professional development of mathematics teachers

Probabilistic Analysis of the Reliability Performance for Power Transformers in Egypt

From reliability, maintainability, and availability (RAM) points of view, the performance of power transformers has a significant impacts on the performance of the entire power network. Their performance has also a significant impacts on the power interruptions at various voltage levels and the consequent customer interruption costs. This paper will discuss the estimated remaining lifetime of power transformers in the voltages subpopulations: 500kV, 220 kV, 132 kV, 66kV and 33 kV of the Egyptian grid as time between failures (TBFs) will be determined and then determine the best fit probability distribution using MATLAB program for repair time, customer interruption costs (CIC) and TBFs, this is performed in order to estimate remaining lifetime of the transformers, from which the best fit probability distribution will be used in this case study which is Weibull distribution. Finally availability of the transformers per different voltage populations is calculated and determined. Different subassemblies (failures) are also undergo the same process of determining TBFs and estimating remaining lifetime. The results will be helpful in the manufacturing process of the transformers and enhancing the maintenance schedule.          </strong

In Vivo Visualization of Hair Follicles by Ultrasound Biomicroscopy in Alopecia Areata and its Correlation with Histopathology

Ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) is a non-invasive imaging technique used in examination of several skin diseases but never in imaging hair and scalp diseases.  Main objective of this investigation was assessment of the efficacy of UBM for in vivo visualization of hair follicles in cases of alopecia areata (AA) and correlation of findings with histopathological findings. This study included 30 patients with AA. Two areas, one with AA and a control area, were marked, examined by UBM and then biopsied for histopathological examination. In patients with alopecia totalis (AT) or universalis (AU) only an AA area was examined. Non-echogenic conical shadows reaching the epidermal entrance echo (probably corresponding to the hair follicles) were seen and were wider and fewer in number in areas of AA than in normal control areas. No significant difference was found regarding number and width of hair follicles between UBM and histopathological examination. However, a significant increase in length of follicles in histopathology was detected, indicating that the UBM image was probably unable to reach the deepest part of the follicle. Main limitation of the study is small number of cases. No significant difference was found between UBM and histological measurements of hair follicle number and width in patients with AA, making UBM a useful tool for in vivo visualization of hair follicles. </p

In Vivo Visualization of Hair Follicles by Ultrasound Biomicroscopy in Alopecia Areata and its Correlation with Histopathology

Ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) is a non-invasive imaging technique used in examination of several skin diseases but never in imaging hair and scalp diseases.  Main objective of this investigation was assessment of the efficacy of UBM for in vivo visualization of hair follicles in cases of alopecia areata (AA) and correlation of findings with histopathological findings. This study included 30 patients with AA. Two areas, one with AA and a control area, were marked, examined by UBM and then biopsied for histopathological examination. In patients with alopecia totalis (AT) or universalis (AU) only an AA area was examined. Non-echogenic conical shadows reaching the epidermal entrance echo (probably corresponding to the hair follicles) were seen and were wider and fewer in number in areas of AA than in normal control areas. No significant difference was found regarding number and width of hair follicles between UBM and histopathological examination. However, a significant increase in length of follicles in histopathology was detected, indicating that the UBM image was probably unable to reach the deepest part of the follicle. Main limitation of the study is small number of cases. No significant difference was found between UBM and histological measurements of hair follicle number and width in patients with AA, making UBM a useful tool for in vivo visualization of hair follicles. </p

High frequency of Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance marker (pfcrt T76 mutation) in Yemen: An urgent need to re-examine malaria drug policy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Malaria remains a significant health problem in Yemen with <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>being the predominant species which is responsible for 90% of the malaria cases. Despite serious concerns regarding increasing drug resistance, chloroquine is still used for the prevention and treatment of malaria in Yemen. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of choloroquine resistance (CQR) of <it>P. falciparum </it>isolated from Yemen based on the <it>pfcrt </it>T76 mutation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was carried out among 511 participants from four governorates in Yemen. Blood samples were screened using microscopic and species-specific nested PCR based on the 18S rRNA gene to detect and identify <it>Plasmodium </it>species. Blood samples positive for <it>P. falciparum </it>were used for detecting the <it>pfcrt </it>T76 mutation using nested-PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The prevalence of <it>pfcrt </it>T76 mutation was 81.5% (66 of 81 isolates). Coastal areas/foothills had higher prevalence of <it>pfcrt </it>T76 mutation compared to highland areas (90.5% <it>vs </it>71.8%) (p = 0.031). The <it>pfcrt </it>T76 mutation had a significant association with parasitaemia (p = 0.045). Univariate analysis shows a significant association of <it>pfcrt </it>T76 mutation with people aged > 10 years (OR = 9, 95% CI = 2.3 - 36.2, p = 0.001), low household income (OR = 5, 95% CI = 1.3 - 19.5, p = 0.027), no insecticide spray (OR = 3.7, 95% CI = 1.16 - 11.86, p = 0.025) and not sleeping under insecticide treated nets (ITNs) (OR = 4.8, 95% CI = 1.38 - 16.78, p = 0.01). Logistic regression model confirmed age > 10 years and low household income as predictors of <it>pfcrt </it>T76 mutation in Yemen <it>P. falciparum </it>isolates.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The high prevalence of <it>pfcrt </it>T76 mutation in Yemen could be a predictive marker for the prevalence of <it>P. falciparum </it>CQR. This finding shows the necessity for an in-vivo therapeutic efficacy test for CQ.<it> P. falciparum </it>CQR should be addressed in the national strategy to control malaria.</p