Higher education approaches to engender students’ environmental consciousness in electronic device design

Design briefs defined by user groups and their development into prototypes or demonstrators follows well established methodologies in both academia an industry. However, the infusion of an environmental context is yet to be fully established. It is critically important that this objective is achieved, so that the products developed promote positive environmental sustenance, follow processes that identify materials that are sourced from the most ecologically appropriate sources, follow a design methodology that leads to a set of candidate solutions that are all in one way or another environmentally sound, and finally the inclusion of an ‘end of life’ path which directly identifies re-usability or safe biodegradability. This paper surveys the approaches Higher Education Institutions have taken in embedding environmentally conscious design tools, particularly related to electronics, into their students’ curricula, and an informal audit as to how well their approaches engender sustainability of engineering and design consciousness in their graduates. The paper draws on engineering, design, creativity, materials selection, innovation, product and industrial design in relation to electronics, in an otherwise broad sense. The paper also highlights examples of this approach at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dun Laoghaire, within the Irish context of environmental policy

Quality Uncertainty And Adverse Selection In Online Sponsored-Search Markets

Sponsored-search mechanisms, where advertisers bid for better placement in the listing of search results on Yahoo! and Google, have emerged as the dominant revenue model for online search engines. Interestingly, Yahoo! and Google employ different mechanisms to determine the placement of bidders’ advertisements. This provides an unprecedented opportunity to extend the research relating quality and advertising in traditional markets to the online setting, and also examine whether intervention by the search intermediary impacts the outcomes observed in these markets. Using data from online sponsored-search auctions, we examine the relationship between advertisers’ quality and their advertising-intensity, indicated by their willingness to pay for search listings. We assess how this relationship differs across search, experience, and credence products characterized by differing degrees of quality uncertainty as well as across the two markets. We find significant differences in the quality-advertising relationships across the three product categories as well as across the two market mechanisms. We discuss the implications of our findings for consumers as well as intermediaries, and provide directions for future research in this emerging context

Health Profession Student’s Readiness Towards Online Learning as a Component of Blended Learning

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to identify the entry-level health profession students’ perception and readiness to adopt online learning as a component of blended learning (BL). Methods: A cross sectional survey using a structured questionnaire was administered using Google forms. Entry level Health professionals’ education (HPE) graduate students of a higher education institute in India completed the survey (N= 628). The questionnaire was developed from the literature and content validated by experts. Ethics clearance was obtained from the Institutional ethics committee. Results: Out of 628 responses, 603 fully completed questionnaires were included for analysis. Of the participants, 98 % owned a smartphone, whereas 67% possessed either a laptop or a stationary computer. 60 % of the respondents reported at least one hour of internet access per day for learning purposes. Most of the participants were comfortable in accessing online learning materials and interacting with peers. The majority of the participants (77.4%) were willing to spend 10 to 20 hours per week on online learning. Conclusion: Entry Level HPE graduate students were ready to adopt online learning as a component of BL. Providing necessary infrastructure and creating online learning materials needs to be considered

Evaluation of the feasibility and acceptability of ReWin—A digital therapeutic rehabilitation innovation for people with stroke-related disabilities in India

Background: Developing culturally appropriate, scalable interventions to meet the growing needs for stroke rehabilitation is a significant problem of public health concern. Therefore, systematic development and evaluation of a scalable, inclusive, technology-driven solution for community-based stroke care are of immense public health importance in India. ReWin is a digital therapeutics platform that was developed systematically. This study aimed to evaluate its feasibility and acceptability in an Indian context. Objectives: Phase–1: To pilot the intervention for identifying operational issues and finalize the intervention. Phase–2: To assess the feasibility and acceptability of ReWin intervention in an Indian context. Methods: Design: Mixed-methods research design. Setting: Participant's home and rehabilitation centers. Participants were selected from rehabilitation centers in South India. Participants: Ten stroke survivors and their caregivers, as well as four rehabilitation service providers were recruited for phase 1. Thirty stroke survivors who were treated and discharged from the hospital, and their caregivers as well as 10 rehabilitation service providers were recruited for Phase 2. Intervention: ReWin a digital therapeutic platform with the provider and patient app for the rehabilitation of physical disabilities following stroke was piloted. Process: Evaluation of the intervention was completed in two phases. In the first phase, the preliminary intervention was field-tested with 10 stroke survivors and four rehabilitation service providers for 2 weeks. In the second phase, the finalized intervention was provided to a further 30 stroke survivors to be used in their homes with support from their carers as well as to 10 rehabilitation service providers for 4 weeks. Outcome measures: Primary outcomes: (1) operational difficulties in using the ReWin intervention; (2) feasibility and acceptability of the ReWin intervention in an Indian setting. Results: Field-testing identified operational difficulties related to 1. Therapeutic content; 2. Format; 3. Navigation; 4. Connectivity, 5. Video-streaming, 6. Language; and 7. Comprehensibility of the animated content. The intervention was reviewed, revised and finalized before pilot testing. Findings from the pilot testing showed that the ReWin intervention was feasible and acceptable. About 76% of the participants had used ReWin for more than half of the intervention period of 4 weeks. Ninety percentage of the stroke care providers and about 60% of the stroke survivors and caregivers felt that the content of ReWin was very relevant to the needs of the stroke survivors. Forty percentage of the stroke survivors and caregivers rated ReWin intervention as excellent. Another 45% of the stroke survivors and caregivers as well as 90% of the stroke care providers rated ReWin intervention as very good based on its overall credibility, usability, and user-friendliness. Conclusions: ReWin has all the essential components to connect care providers and consumers not just for stroke rehabilitation but for several other health conditions with the use of several other technological features that support rehabilitation of persons with disabilities and strengthen rehabilitation in health systems worldwide. It is critical to amalgamate ReWin and other evidence-based interventions for rehabilitation to innovate scalable solutions and promote universal health coverage for stroke care worldwide

Identification of a New Class of Molecules, the Arachidonyl Amino Acids, and Characterization of One Member That Inhibits Pain

In mammals, specific lipids and amino acids serve as crucial signaling molecules. In bacteria, conjugates of lipids and amino acids (referred to as lipoamino acids) have been identified and found to possess biological activity. Here, we report that mammals also produce lipoamino acids, specifically the arachidonyl amino acids. We show that the conjugate of arachidonic acid and glycine (N-arachidonylglycine (NAGly)) is present in bovine and rat brain as well as other tissues and that it suppresses tonic inflammatory pain. The biosynthesis of NAGly and its degradation by the enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase can be observed in rat brain tissue. In addition to NAGly, bovine brain produces at least two other arachidonyl amino acids: N-arachidonyl gamma-aminobutyric acid (NAGABA) and N-arachidonylalanine. Like NAGly, NAGABA inhibits pain. These findings open the door to the identification of other members of this new class of biomolecules, which may be integral to pain regulation and a variety of functions in mammals

Impact of HIV Infection on the Recurrence of Tuberculosis in South India

Background. There is limited information on the relative proportion of reactivation and reinfection at the time of recurrence among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected and HIV-uninfected patients who are successfully treated for tuberculosis infection in India. Methods. HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected patients with sputum culture-positive pulmonary tuberculosis were treated with short-course regimens and followed up for 36 months at the Tuberculosis Research Centre, South India. Bacteriologic recurrences were documented, and typing of strains was performed using 3 different genotypic techniques: restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) by IS6110, spoligotyping, and mycobacterial interspersed repeat unit (MIRU)-variable number tandem repeat (VNTR). DNA fingerprints of paired Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates (baseline and recurrence) were compared. Results. Among 44 HIV-infected and 30 HIV-uninfected patients with recurrent tuberculosis during the period July 1999 to October 2005, 25 and 23 paired isolates, respectively, were typed using all 3 methods. Recurrence was due to exogenous reinfection in 88% of HIV-infected and 9% of HIV-uninfected patients (P < .05). Among recurrent isolates, the HIV-infected patients showed more clustering, as well as a higher proportion of drug resistance, including multidrug resistance. Conclusions. In India, a tuberculosis-endemic country, most recurrences after successful treatment of tuberculosis are due to exogenous reinfection in HIV-infected persons and endogenous reactivation in HIV-uninfected persons. Strategies for prevention and treatment of tuberculosis infection must take these findings into consideration

Population Recovery of Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis umbrosus following a Tsunami in the Nicobar Islands, India

Natural disasters pose a threat to isolated populations of species with restricted distributions, especially those inhabiting islands. The Nicobar long tailed macaque.Macaca fascicularis umbrosus, is one such species found in the three southernmost islands (viz. Great Nicobar, Little Nicobar and Katchal) of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, India. These islands were hit by a massive tsunami (Indian Ocean tsunami, 26 December 2004) after a 9.2 magnitude earthquake. Earlier studies [Umapathy et al. 2003; Sivakumar, 2004] reported a sharp decline in the population of M. f. umbrosus after thetsunami. We studied the distribution and population status of M. f. umbrosus on thethree Nicobar Islands and compared our results with those of the previous studies. We carried out trail surveys on existing paths and trails on three islands to get encounter rate as measure of abundance. We also checked the degree of inundation due to tsunami by using Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) on landsat imageries of the study area before and after tsunami. Theencounter rate of groups per kilometre of M. f. umbrosus in Great Nicobar, Little Nicobar and Katchal was 0.30, 0.35 and 0.48 respectively with the mean group size of 39 in Great Nicobar and 43 in Katchal following the tsunami. This was higher than that reported in the two earlier studies conducted before and after the tsunami. Post tsunami, there was a significant change in the proportion of adult males, adult females and immatures, but mean group size did not differ as compared to pre tsunami. The results show that population has recovered from a drastic decline caused by tsunami, but it cannot be ascertained whether it has reached stability because of the altered group structure. This study demonstrates the effect of natural disasters on island occurring species

Randomized Clinical Trial of High-Dose Rifampicin With or Without Levofloxacin Versus Standard of Care for Pediatric Tuberculous Meningitis: The TBM-KIDS Trial

Background. Pediatric tuberculous meningitis (TBM) commonly causes death or disability. In adults, high-dose rifampicin may reduce mortality. The role of fluoroquinolones remains unclear. There have been no antimicrobial treatment trials for pediatric TBM. Methods. TBM-KIDS was a phase 2 open-label randomized trial among children with TBM in India and Malawi. Participants received isoniazid and pyrazinamide plus: (i) high-dose rifampicin (30 mg/kg) and ethambutol (R30HZE, arm 1); (ii) high-dose rifampicin and levofloxacin (R30HZL, arm 2); or (iii) standard-dose rifampicin and ethambutol (R15HZE, arm 3) for 8 weeks, followed by 10 months of standard treatment. Functional and neurocognitive outcomes were measured longitudinally using Modified Rankin Scale (MRS) and Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL). Results. Of 2487 children prescreened, 79 were screened and 37 enrolled. Median age was 72 months; 49%, 43%, and 8% had stage I, II, and III disease, respectively. Grade 3 or higher adverse events occurred in 58%, 55%, and 36% of children in arms 1, 2, and 3, with 1 death (arm 1) and 6 early treatment discontinuations (4 in arm 1, 1 each in arms 2 and 3). By week 8, all children recovered to MRS score of 0 or 1. Average MSEL scores were significantly better in arm 1 than arm 3 in fine motor, receptive language, and expressive language domains (P < .01). Conclusions. In a pediatric TBM trial, functional outcomes were excellent overall. The trend toward higher frequency of adverse events but better neurocognitive outcomes in children receiving high-dose rifampicin requires confirmation in a larger trial. Clinical Trials Registration. NCT02958709

PhD

dissertationThe main objective of this dissertation is to lay out the design principles involved in assembling stimuli-sensitive, peptide-based biomaterials that has potential for various biomedical applications like tissue engineering and drug delivery. Supramolecular systems, which enable one to assemble novel materials from molecular level, have fascinated researchers in many disciplines. Inspired by such systems, a set of mutually complementary, self-repulsive oligopeptide modules (with alternating polar-apolar amino acid sequence) were designed to gain better control and wide range of tunability over the assembling process. These peptide modules (at 0.25 wt% in aqueous buffer) assembled into a hydrogel network with change in pH/ionic strength (self-assembly) and upon mixing the two mutually-complementary peptide modules (co-assembly). Mixing induced hydrogels are particularly attractive as they can be easily assembled by simple mixing of peptide solutions prior to application. Another advantage of mixing-induced gelation is that it preserves the pH and ionic strength of the original peptide solutions. Circular dichroism spectroscopy of individual decapeptide solutions revealed their random coil conformation. Transmission electron microscopy images showed the nanofibrillar network structure of the hydrogel. Dynamic rheological characterization revealed its high elasticity and shear-thinning nature. Furthermore, the co-assembled hydrogel was capable of rapid recoveries from repeated shear-induced breakdowns, a property desirable for designing injectable biomaterials. A systematic variation of the neutral amino acids in the sequence revealed some of the design principles for this class of biomaterials. First, viscoelastic properties of the hydrogels can be tuned through adjusting the hydrophobicity of the neutral amino acids. Second, the ?-sheet propensity of the neutral amino acid residue in the peptides is critical for hydrogelation. The compatibility of these hydrogels with entrapped biomolecules (molecular biocompatibility) was confirmed using high-resolution,