Effects of Keyboarding Skills on the Quality of Writing Using a Word Processor for Composing

This study investigated the influence of keyboarding proficiency on writing quality. The participants were seventeen fifth graders in a small private school. One sample group participated in formal keyboarding instruction for seven weeks. The other sample group used the computers for the same seven week period but with other programs not related to improving keyboarding proficiency. Keyboarding tests were taken as a pre-test and post-test. Writing samples were taken as a pre-test and post-test and scored holistically. An analysis of the keyboarding pre-test and post-tests suggested that a significant improvement in keyboarding skills had developed for the group given formal keyboarding instruction. However, in analyzing the writing samples, the results suggest equal improvement in writing quality for both the keyboarding and control group

HIV-related immune dysregulation during antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan Africa

Since antiretroviral therapy (ART) has become available for people living with HIV (PLWH), millions of deaths have been avoided globally, including in sub-Saharan Africa. However, PLWH remain at increased risk of morbidity and mortality, which is thought to be driven by immune dysregulation, including suboptimal CD4+ T-cell recovery and persistent immune activation. In the Pan African studies to evaluate resistance (PASER)-cohort a prospective cohort of adult PLWH in six African countries who initiated ART in the year(s) 2007 and 2009, we found that despite ART mediated viral suppression the majority had incomplete CD4+ T-cell recovery (<500 cells/µL). In addition, immune activation and inflammation was persistent despite successful ART. To identify markers of poor outcomes during ART we assessed whether soluble markers of immune activation and inflammation were associated with CD4+ T-cell recovery and viral rebound, and whether plasma microRNAs were associated with CD4+ T-cell recovery. The on ART plasma levels of sCD14 and CRP were associated with subsequent poor CD4+ T-cell recovery and the on ART levels of CXCL10 or a limited decline of sCD163 during the first year of ART was associated with virological failure. Finally, we found that the plasma microRNAs hsa-miR-199a-3p, hsa-miR-200c-3p, hsa-miR-17-5p and hsa-miR-501-3p were associated with poor CD4+ T-cell recovery

Trapped electrons in the quantum degenerate regime

A full strength Coulomb interaction between trapped electrons can be felt only in absence of a neutralizing background. In order to study quantum degenerate electrons without such a background, an external trap is needed to compensate for the strong electronic repulsion. As a basic model for such a system, we study a trapped electron pair in a harmonic trap with an explicit inclusion of its Coulomb interaction. We find the eigenenergy of the ground state, confirming earlier work in the context of harmonium. We extend this to a complete set of properly scaled energies for any value of the trapping strength, including the excited states. The problem is solved either numerically or by making harmonic approximations to the potential. As function of the trapping strength a crossover can be made from the strongly to the weakly-coupled regime, and we show that in both regimes perturbative methods based on a pair-wise electron description would be effective for a many-particle trapped electron system, which resembles a Wigner crystal in the ground state of the strongly coupled limit

Understanding nutrient loading and sources in the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem

Inputs of nitrogen, phosphorous and dissolved silica from watersheds draining into the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem are calculated for the present day and predictions made for 2030 and 2050 are presented. The major sources are identified and the Indicator of Coastal Eutrophication (ICEP) is calculated