Understanding Effects of Presentation on Concept Learning in Technology Supported Learning

The world of technology has had a significant impact on learning and instructional domain. Today, a large number of devices and software are specifically designed to afford faster and effective learning and instruction. They have not only erased the physical boundaries to resources in education but have also helped create new interactions and engagements for learners and instructors. With this changed scenario, the content or instructional material also needs our attention to become usable and compatible with the changed learning styles and preferences of the learners today. Not only does the content need to seamlessly integrate with the delivery methodology and technology but also utilize the capabilities offered by it to enhance the learning experience. For higher order learning content such as concepts and principles that involve deeper cognitive processes, there is a need to understand how instructional material can be made more effective in technology supported environment. The goal of this experimental study was to investigate if conceptual learning in electronically delivered self-paced format can be made more usable and effective with right amount of content and presentation. It presented stimulus (concept attributes) in five different variations of information presentations and made a comparative assessment of performances using post-stimulus questions as a measure of a learner\u27s ability to generalize a concept. The eye-tracking methodology used in this study provided an opportunity to understand learner\u27s perceptual processing during learning a concept. The results of this study indicated that too much information does not help in concept learning. At the same time, providing some learner control on display of information and providing information in smaller units help the cognitive processes involved in learning a concept. Though not statistically significant, the trend showed reduction in work overload and better performance with learner-controlled progressive display. Qualitative analysis also supports the learner satisfaction and preference for progressive presentation with learner control

Impact Of Cefazolin Co-Administration With Vancomycin To Reduce Development Of Vancomycin Intermediate Staphylococcus Aureus

IMPACT OF CEFAZOLIN CO-ADMINISTRATION WITH VANCOMYCIN TO REDUCE DEVELOPMENT OF VANCOMYCIN INTERMEDIATE STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS by NIVEDITA B SINGH August 2106 Advisor: Dr. Michael J. Rybak Major: Pharmaceutical sciences Degree: Masters of Science Objective: Development of resistance in S. aureus has been a big concern in the treatment of infections caused by the organism. The line of therapy used today has a disadvantage of slowly developing cross-resistance for antibiotics such as DAP secondary to prior VAN exposure. Therefore, alternative therapy is needed to prevent the emergence of VAN resistance and cross-resistance to other antibiotics. The primary aim of this experiment is first: to prove that sub-optimal VAN exposure in S. aureus will lead to development of VISA. Secondly, VAN in combination with cefazolin (CFZ) will prevent the development of VISA, regardless of sub-therapeutic vancomycin exposure. In addition to this we will evaluate if the combination of vancomycin and CFZ is synergistic against various phenotypes of MRSA. Methods: Two strains of S. aureus, one MSSA (RN9120) and one MRSA (JH1) having a proclivity to gain resistance to vancomycin was used to induce resistance. The organisms were exposed to subtherapeautic VAN concentrations in a 1-compartment pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) model, simulating human PK of VAN 200 mg q 12h over 72 h to induce resistance. At 72h, organisms recovered from the model were re-exposed to the same VAN regimen for an additional 72-144 h exposure to generate VISA. The same experiment was repeated with continuous infusion of CFZ for MSSA and bolus administration for MRSA. Changes in MIC were evaluated at the end of each 72 h exposure. A population analysis profile (PAP) was performed to evaluate for shifts in population susceptibility. All PK/PD models were completed in duplicate to ensure reproducibility. In addition to this Time kill experiments were carried out on 10 isolates of MRSA with various phenotypes including MRSA, VISA, hVISA and LNZR strains. Results: VAN MIC of RN 9120 and JH1 increased to 4 mg/L as soon as 144h under sub-therapeutic VAN exposure. When CFZ was concomitantly administered, VAN MIC increased to 2 mg/L at 72h. However, no further increase in MIC was noted up to 216h of sub-therapeutic VAN administration. The MIC for MRSA remained unchanged when combination of VAN and CFZ was evaluated. PAP revealed a shift in the overall population towards non-susceptibility with VAN alone. CFZ when added to VAN caused a lesser shift in MSSA and no shift in MRSA. Time kill studies showed synergy in all 10 MRSA under study. Conclusion: The addition of low concentration of CFZ appears to prevent emergence of VISA under sub-therapeutic exposure to VAN. The time kill study corroborates the data of advantage of using VAN in combination to CFZ. Additional studies on a wider range of isolates, more antibiotic combinations along with experiments on animal models will further validate the utility of this antibiotic combination for clinical use

Efficient Reversible Watermarking Technique with Contrast Enhancement for Color Images

In this paper histogram bin shifting based reversible data hiding algorithm for color images has been proposed. In this technique binary bits are embedded directly by addition and subtraction in two highest bin chosen and this process is repeated in modified histogram. A location map is generated by pre -processing to prevent the unnecessary overflow and underflow. All other pixels except two highest bins are also manipulated for contrast enhancement. Embedding of binary secret data is done on the each color component (Red, Green, and Blue) of color images. Secret Binary data bits are embedded in random permutation manner to secure the data from unauthorized receiver. Extraction of embedded binary bits is done by inverse algorithm of embedding process and original image is recovered by reverse manipulation embedding process. This proposed algorithm provide high embedding capacity with low distortion of original quality of image which may be used in different medical, military and satellite application. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.15062

A study to assess efficacy of lower dose ketamine in labor analgesia and its effect on maternal and perinatal outcome

Background: Present study is planned to study the effectiveness of lower dose ketamine in labor analgesia and its effect on progression of labor, maternal and perinatal outcome.Methods: After obtaining ethical approval from institutional ethical committee, a prospective randomized interventional case control study was conducted in Department of obstetrics and gynecology, N.S.C.B medical college, Jabalpur. Parturient in active labor without risk factors were given 0.2 mg/kg intravenous ketamine in bolus form and 0.1 mg/kg in maintenance dose at 30 minutes interval till full dilatation and the results were analyzed using VAS scale and WHO partogram.Results: In present study, 280 parturient were included in the study. In 140 cases, induction-delivery interval was shortened in 47.10% cases. Pain relief was satisfactory (VAS 2-8) in 77.90% cases. However, 80.70% cases had transient light headedness. Overall satisfaction was significantly high in the intervention group (P<0.001).Conclusions: A lower dose ketamine in bolus form with loading dose of 0.2 mg/kg followed by maintenance dose of 0.1 mg/kg could provide safe and acceptable analgesia during labor and delivery

Role of immunoturbidimetric plasma fibrin D-dimer test in patients with coronary artery disease as well as ischemic heart disease in emergency medicine

The aim of the present was to assess the value of the ELISA D-dimer (hemostatic marker) assay in patients with coronary artery disease as well as ischemic heart disease presenting to the emergency department with chest pain syndrome. Methods: We measured levels of D-dimers (µg/ml by immunoturbidimetric assay) in 120 patients with angiographically proved CAD, consecutive outpatients with chest pain, arterial fibrillation, acute coronary syndromes and 240 age and sex matched healthy controls. Demographic characteristics were assessed by a standardized questionnaire, and a complete lipid profile was performed for all subjects. In addition to this inflammatory marker C- reactive protein was also measured. Result: The distribution of D-dimer levels skewed to the right, and plasma mean levels were higher in cases than in control (mean: 2.51±3.60 vs .41±.59 µg/ml; p<0.001). In contrast, correlation of D-dimer was found with C-reactive protein (p<0.001) and is higher in cases than controls. Conclusion: Plasma D-dimer levels are strongly and independently associated with the presence of CAD in patients with stable angina. These results support the concept of a contribution of intravascular fibrin to atherothrombogenesis

Toxic Leadership: The Most Menacing Form of Leadership

Recent misuses of power in politics, corporate and religious arena have invigorated interest in dark side of leadership. This chapter sheds light on a menacing type of dark leadership—toxic leadership. Owing to the dearth of a comprehensive delineation of “toxic” leadership from its related phenomena, this chapter addresses the paucities and clarifies the nature, process, reasons and consequences of “toxic” leadership. It reviews, summarizes and integrates the existing literature on toxic leadership to draw nomological distinctions amongst different constructs of dark leadership and eventually presents stimulators and behavioral symptoms of toxic leadership. Few contemporary myths and detoxification measures are discussed to combat toxicity in a leader for a sustainable organization. The goal of the chapter is to reach our readers’ curiosity, enhance their frame of reference and bring new insights to educate them by providing guidelines and awareness about toxic leadership

A Comparative Study of Some Symmetric and Asymmetric Key Cryptography Algorithms

ABSTRACT: Data security is very important in wireless network and for this cryptography plays a crucial role which means &quot;secret writing&quot;. In Cryptography encryption decryption of data is done by using secret key to provide data confidentiality, data integrity and data authentication. This paper provide a comparative study between various encryption algorithm like AES, DES, RSA and DIFFIE-HELLMAN .Here we compare the different factors of both symmetric key and asymmetric key encryption algorithm

Induced chlorophyll mutations in bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L. var. grossum)

An investigation entitled “Induced chlorophyll mutations in bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L. var. grossum)” was conducted during kharif (summer-rainy season) 2012 and 2013 at Experimental farm of the Department of Vegetable Science and Floriculture, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, H.P., India. Healthy seeds of California Wonder of bell pepper were exposed to physical mutagen Gamma rays using 60CO as a source of radiation at Mutation Breeding Centre, Department of Biotechnology, BARC Trombay, Mumbai and chemical mutagen EMS (Ethyl Methane Sulphonate) to obtain the spectrum and frequency of chlorophyll mutations in M2 generation. The M1 generation was produced from these mutagen treated seeds. Several unique and interesting chlorophyll and viable mutants were obtained in M2 generation. In M2 generation, gamma rays induced higher proportion of chlorophyll mutants then EMS. A progressive increase in mutation frequency of chlorophyll mutations was observed with increasing doses/concentrations. Four different types of chlorophyll mutants namely xantha, yellow xantha, chlorina and viridis were induced. Out of these mutants, chlorina and viridis were most frequent and were produced even in lower doses/concentrations while yellow xantha was least frequent and produced only in higher doses. The highest frequency of chlorophyll mutations (18.8 %) was reported in the 22 kR of gamma dose, while the lowest (0.80 %) frequency of chlorophyll mutations was found in the treatment of 1.0 % EMS. There was a dose dependent increase in the spectrum and frequency of chlorophyll mutations. These chlorophyll mutants induced by gamma radiation and EMS could be used in mutation breeding programme for inducing viable mutations for improvement of bell pepper varieties