Internationalization of higher education: challenges, strategies, policies and programs

In today’s changing world, the idea of internationalization of higher education especially in developing countries has been deduced from globalization of education process. The international aspect of higher education is becoming increasingly important, composite, and confusing. The higher education has an effect on the society through policy-making, funding, and planning. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the meaning, definition, importance, necessity, and pre-requisites of internationalization of higher education. This paper also studies the programs and strategies of internationalization of higher education. Key challenges for the future direction of internationalization are identified in this paper

The challenges faced by community learning center program in community literacy development: Iran as a case study

Literacy has played a very important role in Community Development. Without literacy; people have difficulties improving their quality of lives. Iran is no exception. For this reason, Iran has implemented the various literacy programs. One of the programs is Community Learning Center Program (CLCP). So far, CLCP has been implemented into 3517 communities in the country. Therefore, the general objective of this study was to examine the challenges faced by Community Learning Center Program (CLCP) in Community Literacy Development (CLD) while the specific objective of this study was to describe the necessary actions to strengthen the CLCP in CLD

Community Learning Center Programs and Community Literacy Development in Asian and the Pacific Countries: Bangladesh, Iran, Vietnam and Pakistan as Case Studies

Literacy plays a key role in the process of development. Without literacy, a community  faces many challenges to improve its quality of life. For the reason, today countries have invested a lot to bring up their literacy level and   governments have formulated several CLD programs. One of the major programs that have been implemented for the purpose is the Community Learning Centers Program (CLCP). The program has been implemented to improve the level of literacy in Asian and the Pacific Countries. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of CLCP in CLD in Asian and the Pacific Countries. Because of the extension area of the CLCP, this paper will focus on the role of CLCP in CLD in four participating countries: the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Iran. Several resources have been used to collect the necessary data. The main information resources include: 1)      The existing documents 2)      Reports prepared by countries 3)     Correspondence (guidelines,practical announcements) 4)      Reports of the delegations visiting  the centers 5)      Researches and assessments in the host countrie

A survey on automated detection and classification of acute leukemia and WBCs in microscopic blood cells

Leukemia (blood cancer) is an unusual spread of White Blood Cells or Leukocytes (WBCs) in the bone marrow and blood. Pathologists can diagnose leukemia by looking at a person's blood sample under a microscope. They identify and categorize leukemia by counting various blood cells and morphological features. This technique is time-consuming for the prediction of leukemia. The pathologist's professional skills and experiences may be affecting this procedure, too. In computer vision, traditional machine learning and deep learning techniques are practical roadmaps that increase the accuracy and speed in diagnosing and classifying medical images such as microscopic blood cells. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the detection and classification of acute leukemia and WBCs in the microscopic blood cells. First, we have divided the previous works into six categories based on the output of the models. Then, we describe various steps of detection and classification of acute leukemia and WBCs, including Data Augmentation, Preprocessing, Segmentation, Feature Extraction, Feature Selection (Reduction), Classification, and focus on classification step in the methods. Finally, we divide automated detection and classification of acute leukemia and WBCs into three categories, including traditional, Deep Neural Network (DNN), and mixture (traditional and DNN) methods based on the type of classifier in the classification step and analyze them. The results of this study show that in the diagnosis and classification of acute leukemia and WBCs, the Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier in traditional machine learning models and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) classifier in deep learning models have widely employed. The performance metrics of the models that use these classifiers compared to the others model are higher

Antiphospholipid Antibodies in Women with Recurrent Urinary Tract Infection

Background: A variety of infections, including acute and recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs), can trigger production of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL).  These antibodies in women can lead to recurrent pregnancy loss. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of aPL in recurrent UTI patients.Materials and Methods: A total 52 subjects who had positive urine culture and 50 healthy individuals as controls were evaluated for presence of lupus anticoagulant (LA), anticardiolipin, anti-β2 GPI(anti-2-glycoprotein I) autoantibodies  IgM and IgG and Interleukin-8 levels. Determination of lupus anticoagulant was done by Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (aPTT). Anticardiolipin and anti-β2 GPI autoantibodies were evaluated by ELISA method. Interleukin-8 values were also evaluated using ELISA method. Results: Escherichia coli (86.61%) and Proteus mirabilis (1.92%) had the highest and lowest frequency respectively. The prevalence of anti- β2 GPI IgG and IgM isotypes and anticardiolipin IgG and IgM isotypes or LA in UTI patients and healthy controls was 0.0%. There was significant association between neutrophil counts and IL-8 levels at the p < 0.01.Conclusion: Our results showed that in the UTI group and controls evaluated antiphospholipid antibodies were not present. The production of antiphospholipid antibodies is influenced by various genetic and environmental factors and chronic urinary tract infection alone is not the cause. This can affect the prevalence of antiphospholipid antibodies in various populations. However, other factors, such as the type of antiphospholipid antibody, sampling season and methodology can affect the results

Determination of some hematologic effect the Persian Gulf blackfin stonefish, (Pseudosynanceia melanostigma), venom on albino mice blood

Toxins produced by flora and fauna and its proteins as well as valuable pharmaceutical compounds. They contain proteins used in producing painkillers, drugs for treating cancer, infectious diseases, allergy, blood pressure, etc. In this study on 250 blackfin stonefish, we investigated the LD50 and hematological effects of the toxin produced by this fish along with its pharmacological and enzymatic properties investigated by other researchers. One and three LD50 of venom injected IM in Rabbits under study was administered IV and different parameter like PT, PTT, cbc total protein and SDS-PAGE venom electrophoreses were studied before and 24 hours after venom injection. The total protein was estimated 331 µg/ml and the level of RBC WBC were 6.62 and 7.1 mm3 before venom treatment and reduce to 6.3 and 5.7 mm3 after venom injection. The MCH=21 pg MCHC=32.6% Hb=13.95 g/dl HCT=42.8% were before venom treatment and reduce to MCV=65.3 fl MCH= 22 pg MCHC=33.7% Hb=12.7 g/dl HCT=37.7% after venom injection The PT and PTT reduce after venom treatment (before venom treatment were PT=8.5 second & PTT = 27 second and after venom injection PT=15 second & PTT = 34 second) the platelet count reduce after venom injection (before venom=495 103/microliter and after venom was 49 103/microliter). Our results showed that the venom caused a significant reduction In WBC, RBC Hb, Hct, and platelet count which is due to lysis of cell after venom treatment

Association of IFN-γ and P2X7 Receptor Gene Polymorphisms in Susceptibility to Tuberculosis Among Iranian Patients

Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and P2X7 receptor are crucial for host defence against mycobacterial infections. Recent studies have indicated that IFN-γ, IFN-γ receptor 1 (IFN-γR1) andP2X7 gene polymorphisms are associated with susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). However, the relationship between IFN-γ and P2X7 polymorphism and TB susceptibility remains inconclusive in Iranian population. For this reason, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IFN-γ (G+2109A), IFN-γR1 (G-611A) and P2X7 genes (at –762, 1513 position) in patients (n = 100) were assessed using PCR-RFLP. Data were analysed with SPSS version 18. For the 2109 loci of IFN-γ gene, the frequency of mutant alleles between patients and controls were not statistically significant. However, there was a significant difference between the TB patient and controls for –611 alleles of IFN-γR1 (P = 0.01). Additionally, the frequency of P2X7 gene polymorphisms (SNP-762 and 1513) between patients and controls was statistically significant. In conclusions, our study revealed a significant association of IFN-γR1 and P2X7 genes polymorphisms with risk of developing TB in Iranian population

Application of Grey-Taguchi method for simultaneous optimization of multiple quality characteristics in lead-slag radiation shielding concrete

Utilization of wastes and by-products as concrete aggregate has received increasing attention in the last few years. Lead slag extracted from recycling of the spent batteries, is one of these waste materials which have high potential and can be utilized as substitute of raw materials in construction of radiation shielding concrete. For utilization of lead slag as Radiation-shielding concrete aggregate, we should consider different criteria. Therefore, It is necessary to find an optimal mixture to produce Lead Slag radiation shielding concrete (LSRSC) with desired quality characteristics. In the present work, Taguchi method in combination with grey relational analysis is applied to find the optimal mixture of LSRSC with multiple responses. In the application of this method, water/cement ratio, cement quantity, volume ratio of lead slag aggregate and Silica fume were selected as control factors with responses of slump, Unit weight, compressive strength and gamma attenuation coefficient to assess the optimal mixture of LSRSC. Results demonstrated that the optimal mixture of LSRSC has a water/cement ratio of 0.42, cement quantity of 390 kg, a volume fraction of lead slag aggregate of 60% and silica fume-cement ratio of 0.15

Rural community adult literacy development through community learning centers program in the Islamic Republic of Iran: two case studies

Literacy and community development have an unbroken connection. Literacy is a very important tool for community development. The main goal of community development is to improve the quality of life. In order to improve the quality of life, the government of Iran has implemented several programs to promote the level of literacy. CLCP is the newest and the most important literacy program in Iran post revolution that has been introduced by the Iran’s Development Plans. It has been emerged as a result of shortcomings of the previous literacy programs to solve the problem of illiteracy in the country. Therefore, the general objective of this study was to examine the role of the program in rural community adult literacy development while the specific objective of this study was to describe the factors contributed to the success of the program in Iran. For the purpose, two rural communities namely Golshan and Nasr Abad into two different states of Kerman and Yazd in Iran were selected as the case studies. The selection was based on their literacy level. The community with the lowest literacy level in each state was chosen

The role of community learning centers program in community literacy development in post revolution Iran

Globally, previous studies indicate that the number of adolescents with sexual misconduct has steadily increased. In Malaysia, sexual misconduct among adolescents has been an alarming concern to many individuals, non-government organizations (NGO) and government agencies. Adolescents that have been captured for being immorally involved in sexual activities will be placed in the conduct rehabilitation centre. Besides government and non-government organizations, some of these centres were built privately. This study aims to answer the following questions: What are the training offered to the trainee of the centre and their parents? Besides, the financial need, what help can be offered to this centre to help improve the functions of the centre? How do the centers work together with the parents of the trainees in the centre to help prevent relapse cases among the trainees? In this study, 1 private, 1 NGO, and 1 government owned centres participate as the informant. The accounts were gathered through a series of interviews, observation of the researcher and a review of related documents. Preliminary findings indicate that, there are lot of rooms for improvement that can be done to help run the centre. For the privately owned centre, room for improvement and help to be offered is humongous