Information Resources Usage and Information Literacy Skills of School Teachers in Sri Lanka: a Survey

This study examines information resource usage and information literacy skills of school teachers in Sri Lanka. The study population was in-service graduate school teachers who work in government schools in the country. Multistage cluster sampling method was used to select the study sample. The study adopted a quantitative research methodology, and a self-administered survey questionnaire was distributed among 3200 teachers, and collected data were analyzed using SPSS (21.0). The results gave an insight that school teachers in Sri Lanka used a wide array of sources of information to fulfill their professional information needs. The results revealed that teachers have specific information literacy skills, which are imperative for the effective use of information resources

Challenges Faced by School Teachers when Seeking Information: How Barriers be Addressed

The present study explored the challenges faced by school teachers when seeking information for teaching purposes and made suggestions to overcome these challenges. The study used a mixed-method approach, comprising a questionnaire survey and focus groups discussions. The data collected through the questionnaires were mainly quantitative and were analysed using the SPSS (21.0) while the qualitative data from the focus group discussions were analysed using thematic content analysis. For the quantitative approach, 318 school teachers were sampled in questionnaires survey where the descriptive statistics were used for analysis. The study found a variety of barriers that influenced teachers’ information seeking process either the problems with the library resources, school environment barriers or personal barriers. The study recommended that school libraries should be improved and expanded with library resources while providing better information technology facilities within the school environment and also should provide more support and training to school teachers with information literacy skills to empower them to face these challenges

Study of Information Seeking Pattern of School Teachers in Sri Lanka with respect to Curriculum Planning

The study was conducted to examine information seeking pattern of school teachers in Sri Lanka. The survey method was adapted for this study and a self-administered questionnaire was used as main data collection tool. The school teachers who enrolled to follow postgraduate courses in the Department of Education, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka were selected as the study population and the collected data were analyzed using SPSS (21.0). The study found that most of the respondents used face to face discussions and mass media as communication channels and most of the respondents study curriculum, teachers’ guides and students’ text books before preparing the lesson plans. Most of the teachers seek information with a perceived idea in mind. The teachers consider whether the contents of the documents address the topics on the syllabi adequately when evaluating information sources. This study also identified several problems that encounter by the teachers when seeking information for Curriculum planning

Sigmoid sinus thrombosis presenting with posterior alexia in a patient with Behçet's disease and polycythaemia: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>A 59-year-old Caucasian woman presented with an acute onset of alexia, noticed whilst driving. She described how while she could read car number plates, she had lost the ability to read and understand words on roadside advertisements and car window stickers.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>Neurological examination was unremarkable apart from the inability to read full words or sentences. Imaging of the brain, initially computed tomography, followed by magnetic resonance venography, confirmed a diagnosis of sigmoid sinus thrombosis with associated venous infarction. The patient's past medical history revealed that she had suffered an ischemic stroke and following investigation for this, had undergone a nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma. This was complicated by postoperative deep venous thrombosis. She had a persistent polycythaemia that was managed with venesection, and recently she had been diagnosed with Behçet's disease. Prior to this presentation, she had recently stopped her prophylactic antiplatelet medication as she was due to undergo a total knee replacement for osteoarthritis. She was managed with weight-adjusted, low molecular weight heparin followed by oral anticoagulation, and made a good recovery from her symptoms.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This case illustrates a classical neurological syndrome, highlights the importance of cerebral venous and sinus thrombosis as a cause of stroke, and the importance of remaining vigilant to a person's changing risk of venous thrombosis with evolving comorbidity.</p

GIS-assisted modelling for debris flow hazard assessment based on the events of May 1998 in the area of Sarno, Southern Italy. II: Velocity and Dynamic Pressure

The velocity and dynamic pressure of debris flows are critical determinants of the impact of these natural phenomena on infrastructure. Therefore, the prediction of these parameters is critical for hazard assessment and vulnerability analysis. We present here an approach to predict the velocity of debris flows on the basis of the energy line concept. First, we obtained empirically and field-based estimates of debris flow peak discharge, mean velocity at peak discharge and velocity, at channel bends and within the fans of ten of the debris flow events that occurred in May 1998 in the area of Sarno, Southern Italy. We used this data to calibrate regression models that enable the prediction of velocity as a function of the vertical distance between the energy line and the surface. Despite the complexity in morphology and behaviour of these flows, the statistical fits were good and the debris flow velocities can be predicted with an associated uncertainty of less than 30% and less than 3 m s-1. We wrote code in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) that runs within ArcGIS® to implement the results of these calibrations and enable the automatic production of velocity and dynamic pressure maps. The collected data and resulting empirical models constitute a realistic basis for more complex numerical modelling. In addition, the GIS implementation constitutes a useful decision-support tool for real-time hazard mitigation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

GIS-assisted modelling for debris flow hazard assessment based on the events of May 1998 in the area of Sarno, Southern Italy. Part II: Velocity and Dynamic Pressure

The velocity and dynamic pressure of debris flows are critical determinants of the impact of these natural phenomena on infrastructure. Therefore, the prediction of these parameters is critical for haz¬ard assessment and vulnerability analysis. We present here an approach to predict the velocity of de¬bris flows on the basis of the energy line concept. First, we obtained empirically- and field-based esti¬mates of debris flow peak discharge, mean velocity at peak discharge and velocity at channel bends and within the fans of ten of the debris flow events that occurred in May 1998 in the area of Sarno, Southern Italy. We used this data to calibrate regression models that enable the prediction of velocity as a function of the vertical distance between the energy line and the surface. Despite the complexity in morphology and behaviour of these flows, the statistical fits were good and the debris flow veloci¬ties can be predicted with an associated uncertainty of < 30% and < 3 m s-1. We wrote code in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) that runs within ArcGIS ® to implement the results of these calibrations and enable the automatic production of velocity and dynamic pressure maps. The collected data and resulting empirical models constitute a realistic basis for more complex numerical modelling. In addi¬tion, the GIS-implementation constitutes a useful decision-support tool for real-time hazard mitigatio

Stabilization of a-conotoxin AuIB: influences of disulfide connectivity and backbone cyclization

a-Conotoxins are peptides isolated from the venom ducts of cone snails that target nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). They are valuable pharmacological tools and have potential applications for treating a range of conditions in humans, including pain. However, like all peptides, conotoxins are susceptible to degradation, and to enhance their therapeutic potential it is important to elucidate the factors contributing to instability and to develop approaches for improving stability. AuIB is a unique member of the a-conotoxin family because the nonnative &quot;ribbon&quot; disulfide isomer exhibits enhanced activity at the nAChR in rat parasympathetic neurons compared with the native &quot;globular&quot; isomer. Here we show that the ribbon isomer of AuIB is also more resistant to disulfide scrambling, despite having a nonnative connectivity and flexible structure. This resistance to disulfide scrambling does not correlate with overall stability in serum because the ribbon isomer is degraded in human serum more rapidly than the globular isomer. Cyclization via the joining of the N- and C-termini with peptide linkers of four to seven amino acids prevented degradation of the ribbon isomer in serum and stabilized the globular isomers to disulfide scrambling. The linker length used for cyclization strongly affected the relative proportions of the disulfide isomers produced by oxidative folding. Overall, the results of this study provide important insights into factors influencing the stability and oxidative folding of a-conotoxin AuIB and might be valuable in the design of more stable antagonists of nAChRs