Introduction and evaluation of peer assisted learning in first-year undergraduate bioscience.

Bioscience undergraduates, enrolled on a first-year microbiology module, participated in the introduction of peer-assisted learning (PAL) into the curriculum. The class of 122 students was divided into groups of six to ten, with one volunteer from each group assuming the role of group leader (peer tutor). Group leaders attended a compulsory training session at which they were guided through the tutorial they would lead with their peer group. The primary aim of PAL was to raise students’ self-confidence in their problem-solving and numerical skills. Students were provided with the opportunity to practise problem-solving questions from past examination papers and to discuss with their peers their answers and any difficulties they encountered, particularly with regard to any mathematics involved. Students’ perceptions of their PAL experience, their group leader’s contribution and the training provided for group leaders were evaluated using a questionnaire. The latter revealed that bioscience undergraduates found PAL a highly valuable learning experience. In particular, they found the less formal, comfortable and relaxed atmosphere of the PAL session provided them with greater freedom to ask questions and exerted less pressure on them to answer questions correctly than a more formal staff-led session, as well as assisting them to understand the topics covered

Self-management as a mediator of the relationship between social support and health outcomes of African American adults with type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is often associated with serious complications. African American adults have higher rates of diabetes-related complications than other ethnicities. Diabetes self-management reduces the risk of developing biological and psychological symptoms. Social support promotes positive behavior change and self-management that leads to improved biobehavioral and psychosocial outcomes. Few studies explored the relationship between social support dimensions and self-management behaviors, diabetes biomarkers, and psychosocial outcomes of African American adults with T2D. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the relationships of various dimensions of social support with self-management behaviors and diabetes biomarkers and psychosocial outcomes of African American adults with T2D. This dissertation consists of three manuscripts which include: (1) a state of the science systematic review of social support measurement in studies of persons with T2D; (2) a study of the relationships of sociodemographic characteristics with dietary adherence and glycemic control in persons diagnosed with T2D; and (3) a cross-sectional study in which the effects of self-management as a mediator in the relationship between social support and health outcomes in African American adults diagnosed with T2D was explored. The systematic review of the literature revealed that the existing definitions of social support convey the need for uniform descriptions of the attributes of the concept. A majority of the studies used measures that assess perceived support. The desired outcomes of social support included positive behavior change, improved self-management, and improved health outcomes. The use of a combination of social support measures was recommended to capture the multidimensionality of support necessary to improve outcomes. The second manuscript examined the relationships of sociodemographic characteristics with adherence to American Diabetes Association (ADA) dietary guidelines and glycated hemoglobin (A1C)in adults with T2D. The results of this study showed that females, non-Hispanic Blacks, widowers, and those with less than a high school education had higher A1Cs than their counterparts. Race/ethnicity and marital status were significantly related to adherence to ADA dietary guidelines. In addition, sex, race/ethnicity, and marital status were significantly related to A1C. Thus, it is important to control for these sociodemographic characteristics in studying the impact of self-management on health outcomes in persons with T2D. The third manuscript results revealed that functional support, the quality of the primary intimate relationship, and the number of support persons were negatively correlated with depression. Functional support and satisfaction with support explained a significant amount of the variance in self-management. However, self-management failed to mediate the relationship between social support dimensions and health outcomes

Measuring Performance Efficiency Indicators

Measuring performance efficiency indicators is considered one of the most important topics that public or private companies should undertake, as it provides extensive information on its reality and highlights the most important strengths and weaknesses that guide the company's management, which is considered a fundamental basis for the decision-making process. This study was conducted on the General Company for Agricultural Supplies "GCAS" of the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture in order to estimate the criteria of the efficiency of its performance in the years (2016) and (2018) and to make comparisons between the two years. The results showed that most of the performance criteria for the year (2018) fell below the base year (2016), which requires a pause to improve the performance efficiency in order to develop its future activity in a manner commensurate with its position in preparing the various agricultural requirements that the agricultural sector deals with. The research included some conclusions related to the decrease in the efficiency of the company's performance in managing working capital in (2018) comparing to the year (2016) as the liquidity ratio fell below the acceptable rates, which indicates that the company's ability to meet its obligations in the future has decreased. The working capital turnover rate also decreased, indicating that it was not used correctly in addition to other reasons. The research also included some important recommendations that enable the company to overcome the failures that it faced during the study period

A Mechanism for Securing IoT-enabled Applications at the Fog Layer

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging paradigm branded by heterogeneous technologies composed of smart ubiquitous objects that are seamlessly connected to the Internet. These objects are deployed as Low power and Lossy Networks (LLN) to provide innovative services in various application domains, such as smart cities, smart health, smart communities. The LLN is a form of a network where the interconnected devices are highly resource-constrained (i.e., power, memory, and processing) and characterized by high loss rates, low data rates and instability in the communication links. Additionally, IoT devices produce a massive amount of confidential and security-sensitive data. Various cryptographic-based techniques exist that can effectively cope with security attacks, but are not suitable for IoT as they incur high consumption of resources (i.e., memory, storage and processing). One way to address this problem is by offloading the additional security-related operations to a more resourceful entity such as a fog-based node. Generally, fog computing enables security and analysis of latency-sensitive data directly at the network’s edge. This paper proposes a novel Fog Security Service (FSS) to provide end-to-end security at fog layer for IoT devices, using two well-established cryptographic schemes, identity-based encryption and identity-based signature. The FSS provides security services, such as authentication, confidentiality, and non-repudiation. The proposed architecture is implemented and evaluated in OPNET simulator using a single network topology with different traffic loads. The FSS performed better when compared with the APaaS and the legacy method

Operando visualisation and multi-scale tomography studies of dendrite formation and dissolution in zinc batteries

Alternative battery technologies are required to meet growing energy demands and address the limitations of present technologies. As such, it is necessary to look beyond lithium-ion batteries. Zinc batteries enable high power density while being sourced from ubiquitous and cost-effective materials. This paper presents, for the first time known to the authors, multi-length scale tomography studies of failure mechanisms in zinc batteries with and without commercial microporous separators. In both cases, dendrites were grown, dissolved, and regrown, critically resulting in different morphology of dendritic layer formed on both the electrode and the separator. The growth of dendrites and their volume-specific areas were quantified using tomography and radiography data in unprecedented resolution. High-resolution ex situ analysis was employed to characterize single dendrites and dendritic deposits inside the separator. The findings provide unique insights into mechanisms of metal-battery failure effected by growing dendrites

Estimation of Para Red Dye in Chilli Powder and Tomato Sauces by a Simple Spectrophotmetric Method followed by Thin layer Chromatography

A number of grinded chilli powder samples and tomato sauce samples were collected from various localities of Karachi city. All the samples were estimated for the presence of para red which is an azo dye and more specifically belongs from the group of sudan dyes. According to the regulation of various governmental agencies its use in food is strictly prohibited because of its ability to form carcinogenic compounds. Although there were a number of sophisticated chromatographic methods for the estimation of this dye but we developed here a simple, convenient, expeditious spectrophotometric method followed by thin layer chromatography technique and compared the results by single point and multiple point external standard methods. On the basis of these results we also specify the localities of Karachi city where the contamination is more prominent. © JASE

Design of smart wireless changeover for continuous electric current feeding from power sources of variable capacities

Electric power has become a vital element for life today. Despite this importance, electric power consumers in Iraq suffer from the problem of noncontinuity and daily electric power supply interruption. This problem led to the use of various sources of electric power as an alternative to compensate for the shortage of electric power provided by the Iraqi national grid. In this work, a smart wireless changeover device is designed using wireless sensor networks technology aiming to solve problem caused by the multiplicity of power sources received at home and governmental buildings in Iraq by controlling operation of some electrical devices (which consume high current) in the home or workplace automatically when changing source of electricity from one to another. This solution will help to ensure the continuity of electric current feeding from power sources of variable capacities, also, to rationalize power consumption by assigning an operation priority to electric devices. Furthermore, a statistical measurement as a case study was performed in a building with a total power consumption of 160.8 KW/h. The result showed that the device functions effectively and it is capable of achieving an average saving in power of about 50% to 86% depending on the applied priorities and case study scenario

CAPTCHA Types and Breaking Techniques: Design Issues, Challenges, and Future Research Directions

The proliferation of the Internet and mobile devices has resulted in malicious bots access to genuine resources and data. Bots may instigate phishing, unauthorized access, denial-of-service, and spoofing attacks to mention a few. Authentication and testing mechanisms to verify the end-users and prohibit malicious programs from infiltrating the services and data are strong defense systems against malicious bots. Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA) is an authentication process to confirm that the user is a human hence, access is granted. This paper provides an in-depth survey on CAPTCHAs and focuses on two main things: (1) a detailed discussion on various CAPTCHA types along with their advantages, disadvantages, and design recommendations, and (2) an in-depth analysis of different CAPTCHA breaking techniques. The survey is based on over two hundred studies on the subject matter conducted since 2003 to date. The analysis reinforces the need to design more attack-resistant CAPTCHAs while keeping their usability intact. The paper also highlights the design challenges and open issues related to CAPTCHAs. Furthermore, it also provides useful recommendations for breaking CAPTCHAs