FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN ENGLISH IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SPIRAL PROGRESSION

This sequential exploratory mixed method research design aimed to describe which among language pedagogy, learner attributes, family factor and linguistics environment significantly predicts the performance of students in the English subject in Panabo National High School and thereafter develop a regression model for the study. Factor analysis was employed to develop the instrument derived from the interview of the informants with the use of Creswell (2009) for data analysis. The predictor variables were tested whether these predict the performance of student in English. Using the complete enumeration, 300 respondents were selected to answer the validated and reliable questionnaire. Using Pearson’s r and multiple regression analysis, the figures revealed that language pedagogy, learner attributes, and linguistic environment have significant relationship to the performance of students in English and the emerged themes as factors predict the performance of Grade 10 students in English as well. The multiple regression model of the study is: Grades in English = 0.885(Language Pedagogy) + (– 2.670)(Learner Attributes) + 0.510(Family Factor) + (– 0.171)(Linguistic Environment) + 94.47. The insights gained from the study suggested ways policy and educational initiatives can be crafted to intensify students’ performance in English in the implementation of Spiral progression

Roadmapping the Resolution of Gas Generation Issues in Packages Containing Radioactive Waste/Materials - A Status Report

Gas generation issues, particularly hydrogen, have been an area of concern for the transport and storage of radioactive materials and waste in the Department of Energy (DOE) Complex. Potentially combustible gases can be generated through a variety of reactions, including chemical reactions and radiolytic decomposition of hydrogen- containing material. Since transportation regulations prohibit shipment of explosives and radioactive materials together, it was decided that hydrogen generation was a problem that warranted the execution of a high-level roadmapping effort. This paper discusses the major gas generation issues within the DOE Complex and the research that has been and is being conducted by the transuranic (TRU) waste, nuclear materials, and spent nuclear fuels (SNF) programs within DOE’s Environmental Management (EM) organizations to address gas generation concerns. This paper presents a "program level" roadmap that links technology development to program needs and identifies the probability of success in an effort to understand the programmatic risk associated with the issue of gas generation. This paper also presents the status of the roadmap and follow-up activities

The Evaluation of the Role of Beta-Hydroxy Fatty Acids on Chronic Inflammation and Insulin Resistance

β-hydroxy fatty acids are a major component of lipid A moiety of lipopolysaccaride. We aimed to investigate the role of free β-hydroxy fatty acids on inflammation, as well as to evaluate their effects on cytokine release from human blood cells, and whether they exist in plasma of patients with chronic inflammatory diseases with/without insulin resistance. Peripheral venous blood was incubated with β-hydroxy lauric and β-hydroxy myristic acids (each 100 ng, 1 μg, 10 μg/mL) up to 24 hours. Cytokines were measured from culture media and plasma. Free fatty acids and biochemical parameters were also measured from patients' plasma. Only β-hydroxy lauric acid significantly stimulated interleukin-6 production at 10 μg/mL compared to control (533.9 ± 218.1 versus 438.3 ± 219.6 pg/mL, P < .05). However, free β-hydroxy lauric and myristic acids were not found in patients' plasma. Therefore, free β-hydroxy lauric and myristic acids do not seem to have a role on sterile inflammation in chronic inflammatory diseases associated with insulin resistance

Roadmapping the Resolution of Gas Generation Issues in Packages Containing Radioactive Waste/Materials

Gas generation issues, particularly hydrogen, have been an area of concern for the transport and storage of radioactive materials and waste in the Department of Energy (DOE) complex. Potentially combustible gases can be generated through a variety of reactions, including chemical reactions and radiolytic decomposition of hydrogen-containing materials. Transportation regulations prohibit shipment of explosives and radioactive materials together. This paper discusses the major gas generation issues within the DOE Complex and the research that has been and is being conducted by the transuranic (TRU) waste, nuclear materials (NM), and spent nuclear fuels (SNF) programs within DOE’s Environmental Management (EM) organization to address gas generation concerns. This paper presents a "program level" roadmap that links technology development to program needs and identifies the probability of success in an effort to understand the programmatic risk associated with the issue of gas generation. This "program level" roadmapping involves linking technology development (and deployment) efforts to the programs’ needs and requirements for dispositioning the material/waste that generates combustible gas through radiolysis and chemical decomposition. The roadmapping effort focused on needed technical & programmatic support to the baselines (and to alternatives to the baselines) where the probability of success is low (i.e., high uncertainty) and the consequences of failure are relatively high (i.e., high programmatic risk). A second purpose for roadmapping was to provide the basis for coordinating sharing of "lessons learned" from research and development (R&D) efforts across DOE programs to increase efficiency and effectiveness in addressing gas generation issues

Subject to truth: before and after governmentality in Foucault’s 1970s

In this paper I situate Foucault’s governmentality analytics between his first lecture course (On the Will to Know, 1970-71) and his first course after his two “governmentality” lectures (On the Government of the Living, 1979-80). The lectures are interconnected by a shared interpretation of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex as well as by different but related obsessions with the production of truth: the earlier, with truth as fact; the latter, with truth as self-relation. The former analyses discourses of truth, law, inquiry and sovereignty in ancient Greece. The latter focuses on early Christian individual manifestations of truth (baptism, penance, and spiritual direction) forming a genealogy of confession and, Foucault suggests, of western subjectivity itself. This paper uses the analytical categories of governmentality, usually used to analyse regimes of government, to perform a comparative reading of the lecture courses, charting the continuities and ruptures in their various studies of episteme, techne, identities, ethos and problematisations. This suggests that the earlier lectures outline the birth of the sovereign-juridical compact that modern governmentalities would emerge through and against, while the later lectures use the term “governmentality” less, but enable the analysis of the conduct of conduct to progress to the ethical scale of self-formation

Detection of multiple respiratory pathogens during primary respiratory infection: nasal swab versus nasopharyngeal aspirate using real-time polymerase chain reaction

In this study, we present the multiple detection of respiratory viruses in infants during primary respiratory illness, investigate the sensitivity of nasal swabs and nasopharyngeal aspirates, and assess whether patient characteristics and viral load played a role in the sensitivity. Healthy infants were included at signs of first respiratory tract infection. Paired nasopharyngeal aspirates and nasal swabs were collected. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was carried out for 11 respiratory pathogens. Paired nasopharyngeal aspirates and nasal swabs were collected in 98 infants. Rhinovirus (n = 67) and respiratory syncytial virus (n = 39) were the most frequently detected. Co-infection occurred in 48% (n = 45) of the infants. The sensitivity of the nasal swab was lower than the nasopharyngeal aspirate, in particular, for respiratory syncytial virus (51% vs. 100%) and rhinovirus (75% vs. 97%). The sensitivity of the nasal swab was strongly determined by the cycle threshold (CT) value (p < 0.001). The sensitivity of the swab for respiratory syncytial virus, but not rhinovirus, was 100% in children with severe symptoms (score ≥11). It is concluded that, for community-based studies and surveillance purposes, the nasal swab can be used, though the sensitivity is lower than the aspirate, in particular, for the detection of mild cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection