The Influencing Factors and Relationship Between Job Satisfaction and Job Performance of Primary and Junior Secondary School Teachers: Empirical Study Based on Mali’s Bamako and Kita Regions

Over decades, Malian primary and junior secondary school teachers have gone through work stoppages, strikes, and demonstrations claiming better living and working conditions. These incessant claims have caused the loss of much learning and teaching time and are charged being one of the causes of students' failure. This study examines the factors influencing Malian primary and junior secondary school teachers' job satisfaction and establishes the correlations between their job satisfaction and job performance. We used a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design to examine the factors influencing Malian primary and junior secondary school teachers' job satisfaction. The quantitative phase consisted of five hundred and twenty (n=520) teachers selected using stratified random sampling techniques. In contrast, the qualitative phase consisted of twenty (n=20) participants purposively selected from the quantitative phase based on their level of dissatisfaction. SPSS software was used to analyze the data. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data collected from the interviews. Overall, the findings showed that most of the teachers (51 %) were not satisfied with their job. The study showed that urban teachers are more satisfied with their job than rural teachers. A significant correlation was found between teachers' general level of satisfaction and their job performance. It showed that the more satisfied teachers are, the better students' academic performance in Mali.&nbsp

Design and optimisation of process parameters in an in-line CIGS evaporation pilot system

This is the final version of the article. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.Substantial efforts have been made globally towards improving Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cell efficiencies with several organisations successfully exceeding the 20% barrier on a research level using the three-stage CIGS process, but commercial mass production of the three-stage process has been limited due to the technological difficulties of scaling-up. An attempt has been made to identify these issues by designing and manufacturing an in-line pilot production deposition system for the three-stage CIGS process which is capable of processing 30 cm × 30 cm modules. The optimisation of the process parameters such as source and substrate temperature, deposition uniformity, flux of copper, indium, gallium and selenium and thickness control has been presented in this investigation. A simplistic thickness distribution model of the evaporated films was developed to predict and validate the designed deposition process, which delivers a comparable simulation compared with the experimental data. These experiments also focused on the optimisation of the temperature uniformity across 30 cm × 30 cm area using a specially designed graphite heating system, which is crucial to form the correct α-phase CIGS in the desired time period. A three-dimensional heat transfer model using COMSOL Multiphysics 4.2a software has been developed and validated with the help of experimental data.This research work was supported partially through the funding support received from EPSRC UK–India programme APEX (EP/H040218/1) and partially supported by Excitonic Supergen (EPSRC (EP(G03101088/1)) programme

Self Injection length in La0.7 Ca0.3 Mno3-YBa 2Cu3O7-d ferromagnet- superconductor multi layer thin films

We have carried out extensive studies on the self-injection problem in barrierless heterojunctions between La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 (LCMO) and YBa2Cu3O7-d (YBCO). The heterojunctions were grown in situ by sequentially growing LCMO and YBCO films on LaAlO3 (LAO) substrate using a pulsed laser deposition (PLD) system. YBCO micro-bridges with 64 microns width were patterned both on the LAO (control) and LCMO side of the substrate. Critical current, Ic, was measured at 77K on both the control side as well as the LCMO side for different YBCO film thickness. It was observed that while the control side showed a Jc of ~2 x 10E6 A/ cm2 the LCMO side showed about half the value for the same thickness (1800 A). The difference in Jc indicates that a certain thickness of YBCO has become 'effectively' normal due to self-injection. From the measurement of Jc at two different thickness' (1800 A and 1500 A) of YBCO both on the LAO as well as the LCMO side, the value of self-injection length (at 77K) was estimated to be ~900 A self-injection length has been quantified. A control experiment carried out with LaNiO3 deposited by PLD on YBCO did not show any evidence of self-injection.Comment: 6 pages, one figure in .ps forma

A novel YOLO-Based real-time people counting approach

Real-time people counting from video records is a main building bloc for many applications in smart cities. In practice, this task usually encounters many problems, like the lack of real-time processing of the recorded videos or the occurrence of errors due to irrelevant people being counted. To overcome the above issues, we propose a novel real-time people counting approach dubbed YOLO-PC (YOLO based People Counting)

A First-in-Human Study of Novel Cereblon Modulator Avadomide (CC-122) in Advanced Malignancies.

Purpose Avadomide is a novel, small-molecule therapeutic agent that modulates cereblon E3 ligase activity and exhibits potent antitumor and immunomodulatory activities. This first-in-human phase I study (NCT01421524) evaluated the safety and clinical activity of avadomide in patients with advanced solid tumors, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), and multiple myeloma.Patients and methods Thirty-four patients were treated with avadomide in 7 dose-escalation cohorts using a 3 + 3 design (0.5-3.5 mg, 28-day continuous dosing cycles). The primary objectives were to determine the dose-limiting toxicity (DLT), nontolerated dose (NTD), maximum tolerated dose (MTD), recommended phase II dose, and pharmacokinetics of avadomide. The secondary objective was to determine preliminary avadomide efficacy. Exploratory objectives included evaluation of pharmacodynamic effects of avadomide.Results DLTs were reported in 2 patients, and grade ≥3 treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) occurred in 14 patients (41%). The most common TEAEs (≥15%) were fatigue, neutropenia, and diarrhea. The NTD and MTD were 3.5 and 3.0 mg, respectively. Of 5 patients with NHL, 1 achieved a complete response, and 2 had partial responses. Although no objective responses were observed in patients with solid tumors, 5 of 6 patients with brain cancer experienced nonprogression of ≥6 months. A dose-dependent relationship between Aiolos degradation in peripheral B and T cells occurred within 5 hours of the first dose of avadomide administered, starting at 0.5 mg.Conclusions Avadomide monotherapy demonstrated acceptable safety and favorable pharmacokinetics in patients with solid tumors, NHL, and multiple myeloma. In addition, 3 objective responses were observed in NHL

Effect of Biodiversity Changes in Disease Risk: Exploring Disease Emergence in a Plant-Virus System

The effect of biodiversity on the ability of parasites to infect their host and cause disease (i.e. disease risk) is a major question in pathology, which is central to understand the emergence of infectious diseases, and to develop strategies for their management. Two hypotheses, which can be considered as extremes of a continuum, relate biodiversity to disease risk: One states that biodiversity is positively correlated with disease risk (Amplification Effect), and the second predicts a negative correlation between biodiversity and disease risk (Dilution Effect). Which of them applies better to different host-parasite systems is still a source of debate, due to limited experimental or empirical data. This is especially the case for viral diseases of plants. To address this subject, we have monitored for three years the prevalence of several viruses, and virus-associated symptoms, in populations of wild pepper (chiltepin) under different levels of human management. For each population, we also measured the habitat species diversity, host plant genetic diversity and host plant density. Results indicate that disease and infection risk increased with the level of human management, which was associated with decreased species diversity and host genetic diversity, and with increased host plant density. Importantly, species diversity of the habitat was the primary predictor of disease risk for wild chiltepin populations. This changed in managed populations where host genetic diversity was the primary predictor. Host density was generally a poorer predictor of disease and infection risk. These results support the dilution effect hypothesis, and underline the relevance of different ecological factors in determining disease/infection risk in host plant populations under different levels of anthropic influence. These results are relevant for managing plant diseases and for establishing conservation policies for endangered plant species

Dirac Equation with Spin Symmetry for the Modified P\"oschl-Teller Potential in DD-dimensions

We present solutions of the Dirac equation with spin symmetry for vector and scalar modified P\"oschl-Teller potential within framework of an approximation of the centrifugal term. The relativistic energy spectrum is obtained using the Nikiforov-Uvarov method and the two-component spinor wavefunctions are obtain are in terms of the Jacobi polynomials. It is found that there exist only positive-energy states for bound states under spin symmetry, and the energy levels increase with the dimension and the potential range parameter $\alpha$.Comment: 9 pages and 1tabl