The Ideational Meaning of Diagrams in the Malaysian and Singaporean Mathematics Textbooks

A mathematical text is multimodal with different modes of communication, namely verbal language, algebraic notation, visual forms and gestures. This paper aims to compare and discuss the ideational meaning of visual forms in worked examples from Malaysian and Singaporean Grade Seven Mathematics textbooks on Lines and Angles. There are two structures in ideational meaning, namely narrative (with action) and conceptual (without action). Action diagrams represent ongoing mathematical activity whereas, without action diagrams represent mathematical objects. Document analysis and coding were carried on 57 geometrical diagrams found in the textbooks used in a 20-year period. The properties to identify a narratively and a conceptually structured diagram were based on grammar to ‘read’ geometrical diagrams. The Malaysian textbook used from the year 1997 to 2002 consisted of some narrative diagrams and the Singaporean textbooks consistently gave importance to conceptual diagrams. Further, there are differences in the classification, identifying and spatial relations between geometric elements among the series of textbooks and country. The geometrical diagrams in the Singaporean textbooks had given much importance to attributive letters compared with the Malaysian textbooks that had given much importance to letters to identify objects. Besides, the Singaporean textbooks had represented relations with ‘shapes’ whereas, the Malaysian textbooks had represented relations with ‘points’. The findings provide valuable information for educators in general to ‘read’ the ideational meaning of geometric diagrams and to construct better visual representations, especially in school textbooks

A Low-Power Capacitive Transimpedance D/A Converter

This thesis proposes a new low-power and low-area DAC for single-slope ADCs used in CMOS image sensors. With increase in resolution requirements for ADCs, conventional DAC architectures suffered the limitation of either large area or high power consumption with higher resolution scaling. Thus, the proposed capacitive transimpedance amplifier DAC (CTIA DAC) could solve this by offering the resolution requirement required without taking a hit on the area or power budget. The thesis has been structured in the following manner: The first chapter introduces image sensors in general and talks about progression through different image sensors and pixel architectures that have been used through the years. It also explains the operation of a CMOS image sensor from a paper published from Sony on high-speed image sensors. The second chapter presents the importance and role of DACs in CMOS image sensors and briefly explains a few commonly used DAC architectures in image sensors. It explains the advantages and disadvantages of present architectures and leads the discussion towards the development of the proposed DAC. The third chapter gives an overview of the CTIA DAC and explains the working of the different circuit blocks that are used to implement the proposed DAC. Chapter Four explains the design approach for the blocks explained in Chapter Three. It presents the critical design choices that were made for overall performance of the DAC. Results of individual blocks and the DAC as a whole are presented and compared against other recently published DAC papers. The final chapter summarizes some key results of the design and talks about the scope for future work and improvement

Prevalence of Disability in Children and Adolescents in India, 2011

Background: Child disability is an emerging global health priority. There is lack of statebased analysis of all types of disabilities in children and adolescents in India. Objective: To measure the prevalence of disability and describe the types of disability by gender, advancing age, states and geographical regions in Indian population aged 19 years and below. Methods: Disability data restricted to age 19 years and below of the 2011 Census of India was analyzed. Disability rates per 100,000 children and adolescent population and age-adjusted disability rates were calculated. Results: Disability rate of 1640 per 100,000 was observed in those aged 19 years and below in India in 2011. Nine Indian states and Union Territories had disability rates above the national average. Of the total disability, hearing, seeing and movement related disabilities were 20, 18 and 13% respectively. Disability rates increased with the advancement of age; highest disability rate of 1926 per 100,000 in those aged 10 to 19 years. Males had higher disability rates compared to females (1754 vs. 1516 per 100,000). The disability rates were higher in urban than in rural areas (1805 vs. 1582 per 100,000). Conclusion: There was 1.6% of those aged 19 years and below in India with either physical or mental disability. Further studies on the underlying causes and prevention strategies are essential to reduce the burden of disability in the population aged 19 years and below

GC-MS PROFILE OF IN VIVO, IN VITRO AND FUNGAL ELICITED IN VITRO LEAVES OF HYBANTHUS ENNEASPERMUS (L.) F. MUELL

Objectives: Investigation of the bioactive compounds from the methanol leaf extracts of in vivo, in vitro and fungal elicited in vitro plants of Hybanthus enneaspermus through GC-MS analysis.Methods: The leaf explants were cultured on MS (Murashige and Skoog) medium supplemented with different concentrations of NAA (1-naphthalene acetic acid) for callus induction. The calli was treated with four different fungal elicitors, namely, Mucor prayagensis, Trichoderma viride, Fusarium moniliformis and Aspergillus niger on suspension culture containing the same growth regulators for two weeks. Regeneration of shoots was achieved from the fungal treated and untreated calli on MS medium fortified with different concentrations of cytokinins. Rooting was achieved from the isolated shoots on half strength MS medium containing different concentrations of auxins. The phytochemical composition was analyzed from the methanol extracts of in vivo, in vitro and fungal treated leaves of in vitro plants using gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy (GC-MS).Results: Of the different concentrations and combinations of NAA, well developed green compact reproducible calli were obtained on MS medium supplemented with 10 µmol NAA+4 µmol BAP (6-benzylaminopurine). Shoots were regenerated from the fungal treated and untreated calli on MS medium containing 10 µmol BAP+6 µmol KIN (kinetin-6-furfurylaminopurine). Rooting was achieved on half strength MS medium supplemented with 9 µmol NAA. The GC-MS analysis revealed that the leaves of in vivo and in vitro plants contained 16 different phytochemicals, whereas, the fungal treated in vitro plants showed more number of phytochemicals, i.e., 22 (Mucor prayagensis), 26 (Trichoderma viride), 19 (Fusarium moniliformis) and 21 (Aspergillus niger) compounds. Â

Bilateral superficial cervical plexus block combined with general anaesthesia for thyroid surgery-a comparative study of intraoperative haemodynamic status and safety

Background: When general anaesthesia is employed for a surgery, the hemodynamic changes are intense during intubation, intraoperative stress and extubation. Hence, in the present study, by employing Bilateral Superficial Cervical Plexus Block using 0.5% Bupivacaine prior to skin incision, assessment of hemodynamic effects during intraoperative period is done. The aim of the study was to compare the intra operative hemodynamic status and the safety of bilateral superficial cervical plexus block with general anesthesia in thyroid surgerie.Methods: Bilateral superficial cervical plexus block was performed in patients undergoing simple thyroid surgery using normal saline in 29 control group patients and 0.5% Bupivacaine in 29 study group patients. Intraoperative hemodynamic status was monitored in both the groups using parameters such as heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and mean blood pressure.Results: Hemodynamic parameters are not altered during the intraoperative period in the study and control group.Conclusions: Bilateral Superficial Cervical Plexus Block with bupivacaine did not alter the intraoperative hemodynamic parameters

Allele frequencies of F13A01, FESFPS and vWA STRs in random Tamil population of Malaysia

Short tandem repeat (STR) loci are characterized by high levels of length polymorphism within and among populations and they are ideal markers for forensic analysis of biospecimens. In this research project, allele frequencies for three STRs loci that are Fl3A01, FESFPS and vWA in random Tamil population were studied. Buccal swabs were collected from 100 unrelated individuals of ethnic Tamil population of Malaysia. STR profiling of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extracted from these samples were profiled for the three STR.s using multiplex primer kit (Promega Corporation, USA). Statistical analysis was also carried out to obtain some parameters and comparative studies were carried out with other populations. A database for random Tamil population will help in human identity testing in Malaysia. The genotype frequency distributions do not deviate from the Hardy-Weinberg expectations

Measurement of thermal and electrical conductivities of graphene nanofluids

This paper was presented at the 3rd Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2011), which was held at the Makedonia Palace Hotel, Thessaloniki in Greece. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Thessaly, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute.The current work experimentally investigates the thermal and electrical conductivities of nanofluids containing graphene sheets that have very high thermal conductivity. Here, the graphene is prepared from natural graphite by oxidation-reduction process through a single step method. The graphene nanofluid thus obtained exhibited greater stability even after six months of preparation without addition of any surfactants. The detailed characterization process involving TEM, UV absorption and DLS measurements revealed the well dispersed nature of nanofluid with sheets appropriately interconnected and entangled. The DLS measurement indicates a trimodal size distribution of graphene sheet ranging from 5nm to 1500nm. It was also found that the absorption peak of the sample was 269 nm. This reveals the complete reduction of graphene oxide to graphene and the value is in good agreement with the literature. The thermal conductivity is measured using the traditional Transient Hot Wire (THW) method and enhancements are substantial even at lower concentrations while such behaviour is not predicted by the classical Maxwell theory. The thermal conductivity of graphene nanofluids are measured for different concentrations of 0.01 - 0.2 volume % at different temperatures. It is observed that the thermal conductivity increases with increase in concentration of grapheme, which is as expected. The maximum enhancement obtained is 27% at 0.2% concentration. The enhancement also shows a strong temperature dependence which is unlike that of its carbon predecessors like CNT and graphene oxide nanofluids. Electrical conductivity is measured using a 4 cell conductivity meter with inbuilt automatic temperature compensation. Electrical conductivity enhancement is found to be linear with increase in graphene volume fraction

Historical context of profesional ideology and tension and strain in the accounting profession

A growing literature points to a crisis of confidence in the accounting profession and a lack of commitment by its members to the professional ideology. In this paper the approach developed by MacIntyre is used to place professional ideology in an historical context. The paper argues that the tension and strain in the profession can be related to the changing character of both the contemporary society and professional ideology itself. It concludes by highlighting the need for the profession to develop an ideology to which its members as well as society can relate

Fast Data Retrieval and Enhanced Data Security of Cloud Storage in Luby Transform

AbstractCloud computing is a set of IT services that are provided to a customer over a network on a leased basis and with the ability to scale up or down their service requirements. It advantages to mention but a few include scalability, resilience, flexibility, efficiency and outsourcing non-core activities.Despite the potential gains achieved from the cloud computing, the organizations are slow in accepting it due to security issues and challenges associated with it. The idea of handing over important data to another company is worrisome; such that the consumers need to be vigilant in understanding the risks of data breaches in this new environment. This paper introduces analysis of the cloud computing security issues and challenges focusing on providing data confidentiality along with high requirement of data availability in cloud technology