A comparison of the comprehension of procedural information using computer and hard-copy media

Users of technical procedures must be able to understand the documents to use them to perform their work. As more companies contemplate putting their procedures on-line, it is important to know whether computer systems will be as effective as traditional hard-copy presentation in communicating procedures to the employees who must use them; To determine whether there is a relationship between computer usage and the comprehension of technical procedures, an experiment was conducted among employees of a scientific and technical company in Las Vegas, Nevada. A control group read and demonstrated its comprehension of hard-copy procedures only, while an experimental group read and demonstrated its comprehension of a hard-copy and then an on-line procedure; The experimental group selected fewer correct answers on a comprehension test for the on-line than for the hard-copy procedure. This suggests that when readers accustomed to the hard-copy medium switch to the computer medium, comprehension decreases

Integrating sensor streams in pHealth networks

Personal Health (pHealth) sensor networks are generally used to monitor the wellbeing of both athletes and the general public to inform health specialists of future and often serious ailments. The problem facing these domain experts is the scale and quality of data they must search in order to extract meaningful results. By using peer-to-peer sensor architectures and a mechanism for reducing the search space, we can, to some extent, address the scalability issue. However, synchronisation and normalisation of distributed sensor streams remains a problem in many networks. In the case of pHealth sensor networks, it is crucial for experts to align multiple sensor readings before query or data mining activities can take place. This paper presents a system for clustering and synchronising sensor streams in preparation for user queries

Attitude Towards the Career Building in Journalism Among the Female Students of Communication

This research work looked at female students' attitudes toward Mass Communication and journalism to build a journalism career. This study's objectives were to determine female mass communication students' attitudes towards journalism as a career and to identify the obstacles to building a journalism career. This study employed the survey method with a questionnaire distributed among the female mass communication students of the Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur. From this research, it discovered that women have a negative attitude towards journalism as a career. Most female students do not want to build a journalism career because of family barriers, social or traditional outlook, extremist religious attitude, insecurity, physical limitation, discrimination between males and females at a media house, low salary, low evaluation of women, risk, and job environment. Keywords: Attitude, Journalism, Career, Female Student. DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/95-03 Publication date: January 31st 202

The fabrication and modification of capillary polymer monoliths for the separation of small ions

The fabrication and modification of polymer monoliths, in capillary formats, for the separation of small ions is presented. The separation of small ions using polymer monoliths has limitations and this work aims to investigate increasing the ion exchange capacity using photo-grafting techniques. Chapter 1.0 includes a comprehensive review on the use of capillary ion chromatography including advancements made in capillary instrumentation, stationary phases and detection devices. This chapter also includes the various methods of modifying stationary phase with ionogenic functionalities suitable for use in capillary ion chromatography. Chapter 2.0 shows the modification of polymer monoliths with quaternary ammonium ions, namely poly([2(methacryloyloxy)ethyl] trimethylammonium chloride) with immobilisation of the ion exchange functionalities taking place using photo-grafting techniques. In this work, the method of functionalisation of the polymer monolith was compared to a previously published polymer monolith bearing the same ion exchange functionalities. Chapter 2.0 also includes the separation of anions using a portable inhouse assembled capillary ion chromatography system. In Chapter 3.0, the photo-grafting of poly(3-sulfopropyl methacrylate) on a polymer monolith for the separation of cations is presented. The effect of temperature on the retention of Mg(II), Ca(II) and Ba(II) was carried out using an in-house constructed capillary column heater which was easily incorporated into the ion chromatography system. This chapter also introduces post-column reaction chemistry which involves the reaction of the eluted metals with a suitable reagent in a post-column mixer and detection of the coloured complex formed. In this work, the use of polymer monoliths as post-column mixers was investigated. Monoliths prepared with increasing pore size were incorporated into a flow injection analysis system and their suitability as postcolumn mixers was determined and compared to a commercially available postcolumn mixer. Chapters 4.0 and 5.0 deal with the immobilisation of chelating ligands on a polymer monolith to produce a capillary chelating ion exchanger. Two methods of immobilisation of the chelating ligand were identified and compared. Scanning capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection was used to characterise the chelating stationary phases. Chapter 5.0 includes the use of a novel bimodal detector set-up i.e. on-column C4D was used in conjugation with UV-Vis detection following the reaction of the eluted metals with a post-column reagent. Chapter 4.0 shows applications of the capillary chelating ion exchangers including the determination of Ca(II) and Mg(II) in bottled water samples and also the separation of metal cations in a spiked sea-water samples

Association of objectively measured physical activity with vascular endothelial function in male adolescents

Purpose: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) begins in childhood primarily due to exposure to lifestyle-mediated risk factors such as inactivity and low cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). Endothelial dysfunction is one of the earliest events in the development of CVD. Self-reported light intensity physical activity (LIPA) is positively associated with endothelial function (EF) in adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between objectively measured physical activity (PA) and EF in healthy male adolescents. Methods: Low (n=8, VO2max = 40.4 ± 2.3 mL.kg1.min-1), moderate CRF (n=12,VO2max = 54.6 ± 3.9 mL.kg1.min-1) and high CRF (n=15, VO2max = 63.7 ± 4.0 mL.kg1.min-1) healthy males (mean age 15.77 ± 0.4; yr) participated in the study. High-resolution ultrasonography was used to assess endothelial dependent (EDD) in response to brachial artery flow mediated dilation. Participants wore a tri-axial ActivPAL accelerometer for 6 days. Total time spent in sitting, standing, LIPA, moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA) and steps per day was calculated using previously published methodology (Dowd et al., 2012). Results: EDD was significantly lower in low CRF than the high CRF group. Steps per day were significantly lower in low CRF (9251 ± 4113) than high CRF group (14007 ± 3176) (p<0.005). Time in sitting was significantly higher in low CRF than high CRF group (p<0.028). MVPA was significantly lower in low CRF than high CRF group (p<0.01). There was no significant difference in standing and LIPA between the groups. There was a significant positive relation between steps per day and % change (r=0.54, p<0.001) and absolute change in EDD (r= 0.60, p<0.001). Sitting was inversely related to % change (r=-0.497, p< 0.002) and absolute change in EDD (r=-0.49, p<0.003). There was a significant positive relation between MVPA and % change (r=0.47, p<0.005) and absolute change in EDD (r=0.57 p<0.000). Conclusion: There was a significant difference in steps per day, time spent sitting and in MVPA between low CRF and high CRF. MVPA was positively associated with EF in healthy adolescent males

Textile-based wearable sensors for assisting sports performance

There is a need for wearable sensors to assess physiological signals and body kinematics during exercise. Such sensors need to be straightforward to use, and ideally the complete system integrated fully within a garment. This would allow wearers to monitor their progress as they undergo an exercise training programme without the need to attach external devices. This takes physiological monitoring into a more natural setting. By developing textile sensors the intelligence is integrated into a sports garment in an innocuous manner. A number of textile based sensors are presented here that have been integrated into garments for various sports applications

Querying XML data streams from wireless sensor networks: an evaluation of query engines

As the deployment of wireless sensor networks increase and their application domain widens, the opportunity for effective use of XML filtering and streaming query engines is ever more present. XML filtering engines aim to provide efficient real-time querying of streaming XML encoded data. This paper provides a detailed analysis of several such engines, focusing on the technology involved, their capabilities, their support for XPath and their performance. Our experimental evaluation identifies which filtering engine is best suited to process a given query based on its properties. Such metrics are important in establishing the best approach to filtering XML streams on-the-fly

"Un alma atravesada": inglés y español en la correspondencia de María Amparo Ruiz de Burton

En este trabajo se analiza el contacto inglés-español en la California de mediados del siglo XIX. La principal aportación de este trabajo radica en el hecho de que para estudiar el contacto se utiliza un corpus escrito histórico. Las autoras toman en consideración para su análisis 180 cartas con alternancia de códigos, escritas entre 1859 y 1890 por María Amparo Ruiz de Burton, una novelista californiana. La metodología que se sigue es la identificación de todos los casos de alternancia o mezcla de códigos, entendida como cualquier uso combinado de dos códigos en un mismo acto de habla. La clasificación de los ejemplos, cuantificados en porcentajes de frecuencia de uso, se hace siguiendo las categorías de Poplack (1980): alternancias extraoracionales, interoracionales e intraoracionales. Se fijan también las funciones o propósitos existentes en los cambios de código: 1) necesidades lingüísticas del préstamo, 2) necesidades sociológicas, 3) motivaciones pragmáticas. Todos ellos contribuyen a crear una 'identidad performativa' (activa, cambiante) de la autora de los textos epistolares.In this article the English-Spanish language contact in the California of the second half of the 19th century is analyzed. The main contribution of this paper is in the fact that a written historical corpus is used in order to study language contact. The authors take in consideration for their analysis 180 letters written between 1859 and 1890 by Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, a Californian novelist. The methodology they follow is the identification of all the cases of code switching, understood as any combined use of two codes in a same speech act. The classification of the examples, quantified in percentage of use frequency, follows the categories of Poplack (1980): extra-, inter- and intrasentences switches. The existing functions or intentions also pay attention to the code changes: 1) linguistic necessities of the loanword, 2) sociological necessities and 3) pragmatic motivations. All of them contribute to create a "performative identity" (i.e. activ, dinamic) of the writer

A wearable electrochemical sensor for the real-time measurement of sweat sodium concentration

We report a new method for the real-time quantitative analysis of sodium in human sweat, consolidating sweat collection and analysis in a single, integrated, wearable platform. This temporal data opens up new possibilities in the study of human physiology, broadly applicable from assessing high performance athletes to monitoring Cystic Fibrosis (CF) sufferers. Our compact Sodium Sensor Belt (SSB) consists of a sodium selective Ion Selective Electrode (ISE) integrated into a platform that can be interfaced with the human body during exercise. No skin cleaning regime or sweat storage technology is required as the sweat is continually wicked from the skin to a sensing surface and from there to a storage area via a fabric pump. Our results suggest that after an initial equilibration period, a steady-state sodium plateau concentration was reached. Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) was used as a reference method, and this has confirmed the accuracy of the new continuous monitoring approach. The steady-state concentrations observed were found to fall within ranges previously found in the literature, which further validates the approach. Daily calibration repeatability (n 1⁄4 4) was +/- 3.0% RSD and over a three month period reproducibility was +/- 12.1% RSD (n 1⁄4 56). As a further application, we attempted to monitor the sweat of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) sufferers using the same device. We observed high sodium concentrations symptomatic of CF ($60 mM Na+) for two CF patients, with no conclusive results for the remaining patients due to their limited exercising capability, and high viscosity/low volume of sweat produced

Cardiorespiratory fitness and vascular health in youth

CVD refers to disease of the heart and blood vessels and is the leading cause of mortality in Ireland. CVD Begins in childhood and adolescence due primarily to exposure to lifestyle mediated risk factors . Endothelail dysfunction, induced by CVD risk factors, is one of the earliest events in the development of CVD and precedes structural changes in the artery walll such as intima media thickness. Exercise training has been shown to restrore endothelial function (EF), decrease carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) and improve CV risk profile in obese children. There is currently no research that has examined subclinical atherosclerotic CVD in asympomatic adolescents with low and high cardiorepsiratory fitness (CRF). This study compared CVD risk factors, cIMT and EF in adolescent boys with low and high CRF and examined the relation between CRF and cIMT and CRF and FMD in asympomatic adolescent boys. It was hypothesised that boys with a high CRF would have a healthier CV profile and that there would be an inverse relation between CRF and cIMT and CRF and EF