Marketing strategy for PG Enterprise Solutions

Applied project submitted to the Department of Business Administration / Computer Science and Information Systems, Ashesi University, in partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration / Computer Science / Management Information Systems, May 2021This study examines the business situations of PG Enterprise Ltd, a subsidiary of Premium Group of Companies. PG Enterprise is a software company involved in IT consultancy and software distribution. Currently, the company has six working staff excluding the owner, formed largely of an administrative member, only 2 technically trained software developers and 3 hardware technicians. The short-term goal of PG Enterprise Solutions Ltd is scaling up within the first three years of operating and reaching a new demographic of clientele. This may involve creating new branches in key suburbs of Accra and fulfilling contracts beyond the existing group of companies it solely serves internally. In the long-run, PG Enterprise Solutions Ltd aims at maximizing profits and capturing a significant section of the IT Sector within the Ghanaian market. The vision of the company is (PG Enterprise, 2020) to “design tomorrow together”. However, despite these catchy aims and vision statements, the company has not got a consolidated marketing department that will be capable to reach out to the greater industrial public to increase the customer base and competitive advantage. This study therefore proposes a solution and implementation plan required to assist PG Enterprise build a consolidated marketing department that will be capable to help the firm achieve the organizational goals. The proposed solutions include, setting up a departmental space, recruiting marketing experts including website developer and manager, build a formidable website that will propagate the organization to the rest of the world, and package the business efficiently in the global scene to boost potential buyer confidence. The study therefore recommends that in putting up a functioning marketing department, the company needs to focus on website development which is a major tool for reaching out to the masses especially IT service consumers. In addition, appropriate logistics required to facilitate the activities of the department must be fully provided to enhance smooth operations.Ashesi Universit

TEACHERS’ PROBLEMS OF TEACHING OF OXIDATION-REDUCTION REACTIONS IN HIGH SCHOOLS

The study explored how teachers taught redox reactions to senior high school students. Within a case-study research design, six chemistry teachers with a minimum of 7 and a maximum of 12 years teaching experiences from three schools were interviewed. The results revealed four themes; inhibition of instruction, weak instructional strategy, inability to teach concepts, and teachers’ professional development. It was found that teachers employed weak instructional strategies such as expository and out of class group assignments in teaching redox reactions. The study recommends that chemistry educators and researchers should design and develop subject-specific pedagogical content knowledge for teaching redox reactions.  Article visualizations

Decreased Proliferation Kinetics of Mouse Myoblasts Overexpressing FRG1

Although recent publications have linked the molecular events driving facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) to expression of the double homeobox transcription factor DUX4, overexpression of FRG1 has been proposed as one alternative causal agent as mice overexpressing FRG1 present with muscular dystrophy. Here, we characterize proliferative defects in two independent myoblast lines overexpressing FRG1. Myoblasts isolated from thigh muscle of FRG1 transgenic mice, an affected dystrophic muscle, exhibit delayed proliferation as measured by decreased clone size, whereas myoblasts isolated from the unaffected diaphragm muscle proliferated normally. To confirm the observation that overexpression of FRG1 could impair myoblast proliferation, we examined C2C12 myoblasts with inducible overexpression of FRG1, finding increased doubling time and G1-phase cells in mass culture after induction of FRG1 and decreased levels of pRb phosphorylation. We propose that depressed myoblast proliferation may contribute to the pathology of mice overexpressing FRG1 and may play a part in FSHD

Biochar Application for Improved Resource Use and Environmental Quality

Agroecosystems have become very important not only for their role in achieving food security but also in mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. This agro-ecological function has become very important since society expects agriculture to be more sustainable, by decreasing fertilizer inputs while reducing greenhouse gas emission. Mitigation measures to reduce net GHG emissions include increasing soil C sequestration by reduced tillage, biochar and straw application, and increased crop-use efficiency of fertilizer-N. An adequate management of soils and crops could result in a reduction of GHG emissions through complex interactive factors. However, which factors are mainly responsible for the differences in emissions across soil and environment type remain unclear and the mechanism underlying GHG emissions are complex. It is therefore imperative to determine how biochar could mitigate greenhouse gas emissions without adverse effect on crop yield. This chapter will predominantly review biochar application for improved resource use and reduce greenhouse gas emission in sub-Saharan Africa, except in some cases where specific mechanisms have been elucidated in other regions. We consider future perspectives on whether biochar application offers economic opportunities for smallholder farmers in developing countries, with a particular focus on Ghana. These issues provided the motivation for this chapter

Temperature Changes in the Brain of Patients Undergoing MRI Examination

Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanners have become important tools in modern day health care. During the imaging process, total radiofrequency power is transferred from the RF coil to the brain tissues resulting in increase in temperature in the subject being imaged. Currently, reliable and validated means to predict RF heating are not unavailable.This research was conducted to determine temperature changes in the human brain during MRI examination.This study was carried out at two MRI Units in Ghana. One hundred and twenty-six patients were investigated. Data collected include pre- and post-scan tympanic temperatures and specific absorption rates values. The average pre- and post-scan tympanic temperatures measured for Centre A were 36.

SIV-specific CD8+ T cells are clonotypically distinct across lymphoid and mucosal tissues

CD8+ T cell responses are necessary for immune control of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). However, the key parameters that dictate antiviral potency remain elusive, conceivably because most studies to date have been restricted to analyses of circulating CD8+ T cells. We conducted a detailed clonotypic, functional, and phenotypic survey of SIV-specific CD8+ T cells across multiple anatomical sites in chronically infected rhesus macaques with high (>10,000 copies/mL plasma) or low burdens of viral RNA (<10,000 copies/mL plasma). No significant differences in response magnitude were identified across anatomical compartments. Rhesus macaques with low viral loads (VLs) harbored higher frequencies of polyfunctional CXCR5+ SIV-specific CD8+ T cells in various lymphoid tissues and higher proportions of unique Gag-specific CD8+ T cell clonotypes in the mesenteric lymph nodes relative to rhesus macaques with high VLs. In addition, public Gag-specific CD8+ T cell clonotypes were more commonly shared across distinct anatomical sites than the corresponding private clonotypes, which tended to form tissue-specific repertoires, especially in the peripheral blood and the gastrointestinal tract. Collectively, these data suggest that functionality and tissue localization are important determinants of CD8+ T cell–mediated efficacy against SIV

Less Work, Less Respect: Authors' Perceived Importance of Research Contributions and Their Declared Contributions to Research Articles

BACKGROUND: Attitudes towards authorship are connected with authors' research experience and with knowledge of authorship criteria of International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The objective of this study was to assess association between authors' perceived importance of contributions for authorship qualification and their participation in manuscripts submitted to a journal. METHODS: Authors (n = 1181) of 265 manuscripts submitted to the Croatian Medical Journal were asked to identify and rate their contribution in the preparation of the submitted manuscript (0-none to 4-full for 11 listed contributions) and the importance of these contributions as authorship qualifications (0-none to 4-full). They were randomly allocated into 3 groups: the first (n = 90 manuscripts, n = 404 authors) first received the contribution disclosure form and then contribution importance-rating questionnaire; the second (n = 88 manuscripts, n = 382 authors) first received the rating questionnaire and then the contribution disclosure form, and the third group (n = 87 manuscripts, n = 395 authors) received both questionnaires at the same time. We compared authors' perception of importance of contribution categories. RESULTS: 1014 (85.9%) authors of 235 manuscripts responded. Authors who declared contribution to a specific category rated it as more important for authorship than those authors who did not contribute to the same category (P>0.005 for all contribution categories, Mann-Withney test). Authors qualifying for ICMJE authorship rated all contribution categories higher than non-qualifying authors. For all contributions, associations between perceived importance of contribution and actual author's contribution were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Authorship seems to be not a normative issue subjective to categorization into criteria, but also a very personal view of the importance and value of one's contributions

Cardiovascular disease prevention: Community Based Asset Mapping within religious networks in a rural Sub-Saharan African neighbourhood

Prevalence of conditions which raise cardiovascular risk, such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes are seeing a dramatic rise in Sub Saharan Africa. A large proportion of these cases remain undiagnosed and there is limited resource to provide patients with self-management support and education once diagnosed. This study aimed to identify and catalogue community-based assets for the purposes of developing and deploying a screening and education programme for cardiometabolic risk factors (diabetes and hypertension) within religious organisations in a local community in a rural Ghanaian context. We utilised a community-based form of participatory research made up of a number of different components including community-based asset mapping and stakeholder consultation, supplemented by 18 in-depth interviews and 10 focus groups with n = 115 service users, to map existing assets with relevance to cardiometabolic health in this setting and context. Thematic analysis of interview and focus group data was performed to identify themes related to successful implementation of health screening. Two stakeholder workshops with local healthcare professionals, faith leaders and health policy makers were delivered to co-produced a prioritised list of recommendations and ‘asset map’ to aid deployment of mass screening within faith organisations in this context. The findings of this research highlight a number of ‘hidden’ community assets and motivational mechanisms at an individual, community and institutional levels; these have informed a list of recommendations which have been co-developed with the stakeholder group and local community to support the development of effective screening strategies for cardiometabolic conditions within faith organisations in this context. We have identified key mechanisms and assets which would support a sustainable screening approach designed to engage an underserved community at high CVD risk to promote general community health and well-being

Expanding modes of reflection in design futuring

Design futuring approaches, such as speculative design, design fiction and others, seek to (re)envision futures and explore alternatives. As design futuring becomes established in HCI design research, there is an opportunity to expand and develop these approaches. To that end, by reflecting on our own research and examining related work, we contribute five modes of reflection. These modes concern formgiving, temporality, researcher positionality, real-world engagement, and knowledge production. We illustrate the value of each mode through careful analysis of selected design exemplars and provide questions to interrogate the practice of design futuring. Each reflective mode offers productive resources for design practitioners and researchers to articulate their work, generate new directions for their work, and analyze their own and others’ work.

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie