Use of Educational Technologies to assist Academics in their Teaching at the University of Mauritius

In the ever changing world of technology, traditional ways of doing classes have been greatly overtaken by the integration of educational technologies in the curriculum. In this digital era, with rapid technological innovations, the learning and teaching process is also changing rapidly at tertiary level. The use of educational technologies is becoming more interwoven in the fabric of academic life. Student management is becoming difficult and lecturers are facing various challenges every day. This study reflects the challenges that educators at the University of Mauritius face in their day to day lecture and investigate whether the integration of educational technologies in their curriculum can assist them in their teaching. Data was gathered through a survey where 169 students participated. Preliminary data suggests that educators cannot cope with too many students at a time and alternative methods to suppress this problem need to be catered. This study also elaborates on whether the introduction of eLearning technologies will be helpful to educators and will provide a solution to all their problems.Keywords: educational technologies, technological innovations, academic, eLearnin

Progress Towards a Multi-Modal Capsule Endoscopy Device Featuring Microultrasound Imaging

Current clinical standards for endoscopy in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract combine high definition optics and ultrasound imaging to view the lumen superficially and through its thickness. However, these instruments are limited to the length of an endoscope and the only clinically available, autonomous devices able to travel the full length of the GI tract easily offer only video capsule endoscopy (VCE). Our work seeks to overcome this limitation with a device (“Sonopill”) for multimodal capsule endoscopy, providing optical and microultrasound (μUS) imaging and supporting sensors1. μUS transducers have been developed with multiple piezoelectric materials operating across a range of centre frequencies to study viability in the GI tract. Because of the combined constraints of μUS imaging and the low power / heat tolerance of autonomous devices, a hybrid approach has been taken to the transducer design, with separate transmit and receive arrays allowing multiple manufacturing approaches to maximise system efficiency. To explore these approaches fully, prototype devices have been developed with PVDF, high-frequency PZT and PMN-PT composites, and piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays. Test capsules have been developed using 3D printing to investigate issues including power consumption, heat generation / dissipation, acoustic coupling, signal strength and capsule integrity. Because of the high functional density of the electronics in our proposed system, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) have been developed to realise the ultrasound transmit and receive circuitry along with white-light and autofluorescence imaging with single-photon avalanche detectors (SPADs). The ultrasound ASIC has been developed and the SPAD electronics and optical subsystem have been validated experimentally. The functionality of various transducer materials has been examined as a function of frequency and ultrasound transducers have been developed to operate at centre frequencies in the range 15 - 50 MHz. Ex vivo testing of porcine tissue has been performed, generating images of interest to the clinical community, demonstrating the viability of the Sonopill concept

The new psychoactive substances 5-(2-aminopropyl)indole (5-IT) and 6-(2-aminopropyl)indole (6-IT) interact with monoamine transporters in brain tissue

In recent years, use of psychoactive synthetic stimulants has grown rapidly. 5-(2-Aminopropyl)indole (5-IT) is a synthetic drug associated with a number of fatalities, that appears to be one of the newest 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) replacements. Here, the monoamine-releasing properties of 5-IT, its structural isomer 6-(2-aminopropyl)indole (6-IT), and MDMA were compared using in vitro release assays at transporters for dopamine (DAT), norepinephrine (NET), and serotonin (SERT) in rat brain synaptosomes. In vivo pharmacology was assessed by locomotor activity and a functional observational battery (FOB) in mice. 5-IT and 6-IT were potent substrates at DAT, NET, and SERT. In contrast with the non-selective releasing properties of MDMA, 5-IT displayed greater potency for release at DAT over SERT, while 6-IT displayed greater potency for release at SERT over DAT. 5-IT produced locomotor stimulation and typical stimulant effects in the FOB similar to those produced by MDMA. Conversely, 6-IT increased behaviors associated with 5-HT toxicity. 5-IT likely has high abuse potential, which may be somewhat diminished by its slow onset of in vivo effects, whereas 6-IT may have low abuse liability, but enhanced risk for adverse effects. Results indicate that subtle differences in the chemical structure of transporter ligands can have profound effects on biological activity. The potent monoamine-releasing actions of 5-IT, coupled with its known inhibition of MAO A, could underlie its dangerous effects when administered alone, and in combination with other monoaminergic drugs or medications. Consequently, 5-IT and related compounds may pose substantial risk for abuse and serious adverse effects in human users

A framework for safer driving in Mauritius

According to the National Transport Authority (NTA), there were 493,081 registered vehicles in Mauritius in April 2016, which represents a 1.4% annual increase compared to 2015. Despite the sensitization campaigns and the series of measures setup by the Minister of Public Infrastructure and Land Transport, the number of road accidents continues to rise. The three main elements that contribute to accidents are: road infrastructure, vehicle and driver. The driver has the highest contribution in collisions. If the driver is given the right information (e.g. driving behaviour, accident-prone areas and vehicle status) at the right time, he/she can make better driving decisions and react promptly to critical situations. This paper proposes a framework for safer driving in Mauritius that uses an on-board car diagnostic module (OBDII) to collect data such as vehicle average speed, engine revolution and acceleration. This module relays the data to a cloud environment where an adaptive algorithm analyses the data and predicts driver behaviour in real-time. Based on driving behaviour, mobile alerts can be sent to the driver in the form of messages, voice commands or beeps. A survey was also carried out to evaluate the acceptance rate of such a framework by people of different age groups in Mauritius

Cavity-Enhanced Overtone Spectroscopy of Methanol in Aprotic Solvents: Probing Solute-Solvent Interactions and Self-Associative Behavior

Methanol in aprotic solvents can serve as a case study for self-association via hydrogen-bonding, which is an important process in many biological and environmental systems. Incoherent broadband cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy (IBBCEAS), which provides enhanced sensitivity relative to conventional single-pass absorption techniques, has been used to characterize the third “free” O–H stretching overtone of methanol in four aprotic solvents (CCl4, CHCl3, CH2Cl2, and C6H6), including the transition wavenumber, bandwidth, and molar absorptivity. The absorption band characteristics indicate an increasing degree of nonspecific methanol–solvent interaction with increasing solvent dielectric constant, except in the case of benzene, which shows evidence of a specific, H−π interaction. Density functional theory with the polarizable continuum model was used to complement the results by assessing the accuracy of computational methods for calculating anharmonic O–H stretching frequencies. Finally, the self-association of methanol in these solvents at 298 K was also investigated using the concentration dependence of the overtone absorption intensity. The propensity for methanol’s self-association in the solvents studied increases in the order: CH2Cl2 ∼ CHCl3 \u3c C6H6 \u3c CCl4