Role of parenting style and parents’ education in positive youth development of adolescents

The main purpose of this research is to determine the role of parenting style and educational level of parents in Positive Youth Development (PYD). Data were obtained using a questionnaire method involving 496 adolescent students of national secondary schools in Selangor. The findings indicate that there is a significant difference between the means for different races in PYD. This study also revealed that authoritative parenting styles, uninvolved parenting styles, and fathers’ level of education are significantly correlated to PYD. The authoritative parenting style was found to be the most significant predictor of higher PYD. These findings suggest that adolescents with authoritative parents in Malaysia show higher PYD and accordingly, they contribute to self, others and community

Scaling Up Global Health Interventions: A Proposed Framework for Success

Drawing upon interviews with experts and a review of the literature, Gavin Yamey proposes a new framework for scaling up global health interventions

Expression and In Vivo Rescue of Human ABCC6 Disease-Causing Mutants in Mouse Liver

Loss-of-function mutations in ABCC6 can cause chronic or acute forms of dystrophic mineralization described in disease models such as pseudoxanthoma elasticum (OMIM 26480) in human and dystrophic cardiac calcification in mice. The ABCC6 protein is a large membrane-embedded organic anion transporter primarily found in the plasma membrane of hepatocytes. We have established a complex experimental strategy to determine the structural and functional consequences of disease-causing mutations in the human ABCC6. The major aim of our study was to identify mutants with preserved transport activity but failure in intracellular targeting. Five missense mutations were investigated: R1138Q, V1298F, R1314W, G1321S and R1339C. Using in vitro assays, we have identified two variants; R1138Q and R1314W that retained significant transport activity. All mutants were transiently expressed in vivo, in mouse liver via hydrodynamic tail vein injections. The inactive V1298F was the only mutant that showed normal cellular localization in liver hepatocytes while the other mutants showed mostly intracellular accumulation indicating abnormal trafficking. As both R1138Q and R1314W displayed endoplasmic reticulum localization, we tested whether 4-phenylbutyrate (4-PBA), a drug approved for clinical use, could restore their intracellular trafficking to the plasma membrane in MDCKII and mouse liver. The cellular localization of R1314W was significantly improved by 4-PBA treatment, thus potentially rescuing its physiological function. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of the in vivo rescue of cellular maturation of some ABCC6 mutants in physiological conditions very similar to the biology of the fully differentiated human liver and could have future human therapeutic application

Simulation analysis of fuel cell integration in a hybrid car

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Simulation analysis of fuel cell integration in a hybrid car

Fuel cell is one of the green technologies that can help reduce toxic gas and decreasing effect of greenhouse gases in the world. This paper attempts to improve simulation model of fuel cell system that is easy to use and at the same time have an acceptable accuracy. The simulation model is developed through Matlab/Simulink software using Energetic Macroscopic Representation method which accuracy is compared with an established model. Simulation analysis of fuel cell integration is conducted by using experimental data from a real hybrid car. There are two potential types of system that were considered for the hybrid car in term of electricity generation and power produced to move the car, a full fuel cell car or a hybrid of fuel cell and battery. Analysis reveals that the hybrid car using combination of fuel cell and battery system is more effective compared to the car using fully fuel cell system due to factors that prevents fuel cell wide utilization for the vehicle

The current state of research on eGovernment in developing countries: A literature review

This paper reports a review of literature on eGovernment in the context of developing countries published between 2005 and 2010. The insights emerging from this review may guide researchers in their continued investigation of eGovernment implementation, especially in the context of developing countries. From a review of 108 papers, the study found some substantive changes in the field of eGovernment research. These included increased adoption of interpretive paradigm and increased use of theories in the research. Some future research direction from the methodological perspective were provided: paying more attention to research paradigm and methodology, preserving multiculturalism in eGovernment research, encouraging action research and longitudinal studies, and improving the research quality by grounding it on theories

Evidence for fractional crystallization of wadsleyite and ringwoodite from olivine melts in chondrules entrained in shock-melt veins

Peace River is one of the few shocked members of the L-chondrites clan that contains both high-pressure polymorphs of olivine, ringwoodite and wadsleyite, in diverse textures and settings in fragments entrained in shock-melt veins. Among these settings are complete olivine porphyritic chondrules. We encountered few squeezed and flattened olivine porphyritic chondrules entrained in shock-melt veins of this meteorite with novel textures and composition. The former chemically unzoned (Fa24–26) olivine porphyritic crystals are heavily flattened and display a concentric intergrowth with Mg-rich wadsleyite of a very narrow compositional range (Fa6–Fa10) in the core. Wadsleyite core is surrounded by a Mg-poor and chemically stark zoned ringwoodite (Fa28–Fa38) belt. The wadsleyite–ringwoodite interface denotes a compositional gap of up to 32 mol % fayalite. A transmission electron microscopy study of focused ion beam slices in both regions indicates that the wadsleyite core and ringwoodite belt consist of granoblastic-like intergrowth of polygonal crystallites of both ringwoodite and wadsleyite, with wadsleyite crystallites dominating in the core and ringwoodite crystallites dominating in the belt. Texture and compositions of both high-pressure polymorphs are strongly suggestive of formation by a fractional crystallization of the olivine melt of a narrow composition (Fa24–26), starting with Mg-rich wadsleyite followed by the Mg-poor ringwoodite from a shock-induced melt of olivine composition (Fa24–26). Our findings could erase the possibility of the resulting unrealistic time scales of the high-pressure regime reported recently from other shocked L-6 chondrites