41 research outputs found
Misconceptions in fraction
Mathematics is notorious for being a difficult subject. Algebra, as a whole, is feared and despised; so also is a topic like Fractions. There are many reasons that make mathematics a difficult subject. One of them is its already earned reputation. Teachers, parents and children (as a result of the other two) start the process of teaching and learning mathematics with a pre-conceived notion
of the subject being difficult
Writing A Familiar Story; Descriptive Writing
Procedure
• Choose a story that the students are familiar
with; for example, the story of the lion and the mouse. Ask the students to narrate the story by adding one sentence each to the story.In this round of collective storytelling, language should not be a constraint and getting more and more students to participate would be desirable
Grammar Activities
Objectives 1. Give the students a story-like situation and
ask them to imagine and articulate responses
to the questions posed by you. Look at the
following example:
1. Help the students develop a sense of present perfect tense.
2. Stimulate articulation in class.
Materials
1. Several pairs of pictures / maps of the same
place taken over a period of time, so that
the differences over time are evident.
Shaheen’s parents went out of town for two
days, leaving Shaheen and her sister alone.
Describe at least six things that the children did
or did not do.
•
They watched TV till late night.
Scope
Upper Primary classes
Procedure
1. Give the students two maps or two pictures
of the same place but taken over
significantly different periods of time.
2. Based on the pictures, ask the students to
speak about the changes that have taken
place over time.
3. Give them an example and correct their
statements whenever required
FR-CAPTCHA: CAPTCHA Based on Recognizing Human Faces
A Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA) is designed to distinguish humans from machines. Most of the existing tests require reading distorted text embedded in a background image. However, many existing CAPTCHAs are either too difficult for humans due to excessive distortions or are trivial for automated algorithms to solve. These CAPTCHAs also suffer from inherent language as well as alphabet dependencies and are not equally convenient for people of different demographics. Therefore, there is a need to devise other Turing tests which can mitigate these challenges. One such test is matching two faces to establish if they belong to the same individual or not. Utilizing face recognition as the Turing test, we propose FR-CAPTCHA based on finding matching pairs of human faces in an image. We observe that, compared to existing implementations, FR-CAPTCHA achieves a human accuracy of 94% and is robust against automated attacks
Novel microfilaricidal activity of nanosilver
Sunil K Singh1, Kalyan Goswami2, Richa D Sharma2, Maryada VR Reddy2, Debabrata Dash11Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 2Department of Biochemistry, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sevagram, IndiaPurpose: The currently available drug repertoire against lymphatic filariasis, a major health hazard in the developing world, is inadequate and is fraught with serious limitations. Thus, the development of an effective antifilarial strategy has become a global research thrust mandated by the World Health Organization. Nanoparticles of silver endowed with antibacterial potency are known to induce apoptosis in eukaryotic cells. The present study was designed to investigate the possible microfilaricidal efficacy of silver nanoparticles and to establish the validity of apoptotic rationale in antifilarial drug designing.Methods: This report analyzed the effect of nanoparticles of silver as well as gold (size range: 10–15 nm) on the microfilariae of Brugia malayi obtained from the lavage of peritoneal cavities of infected jirds (Meriones unguiculatus). The study included a microfilarial motility assay, a trypan blue exclusion test, a poly(adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase activity study, ethidium bromide/acridine orange differential staining, and transmission, as well as scanning electron microscopic evaluation of ultrastructural changes in microfilariae.Results: The study demonstrates that nanoparticles of silver, but not of gold, elicited significant loss in microfilarial motility. Differential staining of parasites with ethidium bromide and acridine orange, poly(adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase activity in microfilarial lysate, and electron microscopic findings underscored apoptotic death of parasites attributable to nanosilver. In a trypan blue exclusion test, the 50% lethal dose of nanosilver was measured to be 101.2 µM, which was higher than the recorded complete inhibitory concentration value (50.6 µM), thus supporting nanosilver as a potential drug candidate against lymphatic filariasis.Conclusion: The present report provides the first ever conclusive proof in support of apoptosis as a novel stratagem in antifilarial drug designing and nanoscale silver as a valid lead in research on antifilarial therapeutics. The main embargo about the current drug diethylcarbamazine citrate is its empirical use without rationale. Effective microfilaricidal activity of nanosilver at relatively low concentrations as reported in this study, with evidence of the induction of apoptosis in microfilariae, projects nanosilver as a potential drug adjuvant against lymphatic filariasis. The much higher 50% lethal dose value of nanosilver compared to the complete inhibitory concentration value reported in this study argues in favor of a safe therapeutic window of this agent in its antifilarial efficacy.Keywords: silver nanoparticles, apoptosis, lymphatic filariasis, microfilaricidal agent, parasitic disease
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Neuroprotective effect of herbal extracts inhibiting soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) and cyclooxygenase (COX) against chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment in mice
Chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment (CICI) is a novel clinical condition characterized by memory, learning, and motor function deficits. Oxidative stress and inflammation are potential factors contributing to chemotherapy's adverse effects on the brain. Inhibition of soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) has been proven effective in neuroinflammation and reversal of memory impairment. The research aims to evaluate the memory protective effect of sEH inhibitor and dual inhibitor of sEH and COX and compare its impact with herbal extracts with known nootropic activity in an animal model of CICI. In vitro sEH, the inhibitory activity of hydroalcoholic extracts of Sizygium aromaticum, Nigella sativa, and Mesua ferrea was tested on murine and human sEH enzyme as per the protocol, and IC50 was determined. Cyclophosphamide (50 mg/kg), methotrexate (5 mg/kg), and fluorouracil (5 mg/kg) combination (CMF) were administered intraperitoneally to induce CICI. The known herbal sEH inhibitor, Lepidium meyenii and the dual inhibitor of COX and sEH (PTUPB) were tested for their protective effect in the CICI model. The herbal formulation with known nootropic activity viz Bacopa monnieri and commercial formulation (Mentat) were also used to compare the efficacy in the CICI model. Behavioral parameter such as cognitive function was assessed by Morris Water Maze besides investigating oxidative stress (GSH and LPO) and inflammatory (TNFα, IL-6, BDNF and COX-2) markers in the brain. CMF-induced CICI, which was associated with increased oxidative stress and inflammation in the brain. However, treatment with PTUPB or herbal extracts inhibiting sEH preserved spatial memory via ameliorating oxidative stress and inflammation. S. aromaticum and N. sativa inhibited COX2, but M. Ferrea did not affect COX2 activity. Lepidium meyenii was the least effective, and mentat showed superior activity over Bacopa monnieri in preserving memory. Compared to untreated animals, the mice treated with PTUPB or hydroalcoholic extracts showed a discernible improvement in cognitive function in CICI
Examining the generalizability of research findings from archival data
This initiative examined systematically the extent to which a large set of archival research findings generalizes across contexts. We repeated the key analyses for 29 original strategic management effects in the same context (direct reproduction) as well as in 52 novel time periods and geographies; 45% of the reproductions returned results matching the original reports together with 55% of tests in different spans of years and 40% of tests in novel geographies. Some original findings were associated with multiple new tests. Reproducibility was the best predictor of generalizability—for the findings that proved directly reproducible, 84% emerged in other available time periods and 57% emerged in other geographies. Overall, only limited empirical evidence emerged for context sensitivity. In a forecasting survey, independent scientists were able to anticipate which effects would find support in tests in new samples
Grammar Activities
Objectives 1. Give the students a story-like situation and
ask them to imagine and articulate responses
to the questions posed by you. Look at the
following example:
1. Help the students develop a sense of present perfect tense.
2. Stimulate articulation in class.
Materials
1. Several pairs of pictures / maps of the same
place taken over a period of time, so that
the differences over time are evident.
Shaheen’s parents went out of town for two
days, leaving Shaheen and her sister alone.
Describe at least six things that the children did
or did not do.
•
They watched TV till late night.
Scope
Upper Primary classes
Procedure
1. Give the students two maps or two pictures
of the same place but taken over
significantly different periods of time.
2. Based on the pictures, ask the students to
speak about the changes that have taken
place over time.
3. Give them an example and correct their
statements whenever required
Misconceptions in fraction
Mathematics is notorious for being a difficult subject. Algebra, as a whole, is feared and despised; so also is a topic like Fractions. There are many reasons that make mathematics a difficult subject. One of them is its already earned reputation. Teachers, parents and children (as a result of the other two) start the process of teaching and learning mathematics with a pre-conceived notion
of the subject being difficult