Educators Across The Globe Collaborate And Exchange Ideas

The Center for Global Education at Marymount University offered unparalleled academic, experiential, and cultural exposure to 17 Marymount University graduate students and two professors who participated in a service-learning project in Porbandar, India, on January 1-18, 2010. The program focused on teaching PreK-7 grades through an integrated approach. The purpose was to help students in math and science methodology to further their understanding of how a diverse population with little concept of U.S. teaching methods approaches learning mathematics and science concepts. This project aligns with NCATE’s Professional Standards in that “American society is becoming more diverse, with students in classrooms drawn from many cultures and ethnic groups. Preparing teachers to teach all students to meet society’s demands for high performance has created a new agenda for educators and policymakers.”  A model was developed with the NCATE’s redesign in mind: to transform America’s P-12 education system to support higher levels of student learning and success across the spectrum of diverse learners. The goal of this project was to establish a long-term collaborative program between Marymount University School of Education and Human Resources in Arlington, Virginia, and Dr. Virambhai Rajabhai Godhaniya College, in Porbandar, Gujarat, India. As George Bernard Shaw said and Robert Kennedy famously repeated, “Some look at things and ask why. I dream things that never were and ask why not.” During a visit to London, England, I was fortunate to meet Dr. Virambhai Godhaniya (for whom the school is named). We seemed to have a common vision of expanding the P-12 education in his Porbandar School to support higher levels of student learning while engaging Marymount University students in learning the value of diversity and education of the whole person.  This need for teachers in a successful global society to be broadly educated culturally and academically was demonstrated by Ed Greene, of Montclair State University, in the Harvard Family Research Project (2010). According to Greene, teacher preparation programs should institute lifelong learning principles that encourage students to examine their values, attitudes, standards of acceptable behavior, and the ways in which these influence their beliefs about teaching and learning. What he described is not a one-semester class or a single lecture on culturally diverse families but instead lifelong work that will increase the number of educators who are socially and culturally conscious, competent, and confident as they serve children and families. This concern is echoed by Sherick Hughes, of the University of Toledo, in the same publication, who argues that “teachers need support, motivation, and experiences related to cultures other than their own in order to engage in effective cross-cultural teaching.”  As an associate professor and a woman of diverse background, I not only value respect for diversity but also model it to my pre-service teachers so that they may implement it in their own classrooms. Marymount University’s mission statement refers to “a student-centered learning community that values diversity and focuses on the education of the whole person.” Working with students and colleagues abroad enhanced my students’ understanding of effectiveness within the multicultural educational system in the United States and fulfilled NCATE’s Professional Standard 4 on diversity: “Experiences provided for candidates include working with diverse populations, including higher education and P–12 school faculty, candidates, and students in P–12 schools.” In Porbandar, the host schools conducted their teaching through a traditional approach. Rote learning reinforced with blackboard and chalk and paper and pencil appeared to be the main focus of teaching. Children remained at their desks while teachers imparted knowledge through a lecture. There were no indications of inclusion of different learning styles. All students were taught the same material at the same pace. Marymount students did not observe adaptations for diverse learners. Yet it was important for them to understand the culture and the circumstances behind the Indian style of teaching

Interaction of an Antituberculosis Drug with a Nanoscopic Macromolecular Assembly: Temperature-Dependent Förster Resonance Energy Transfer Studies on Rifampicin in an Anionic Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Micelle

In this contribution, we report studies on the nature of binding of a potent antituberculosis drug, Rifampicin (RF) with a model drug delivery system, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micelle. Temperature dependent dynamic light scattering (DLS), conductometry, and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy have been employed to study the binding interaction of the drug with the micelle. The absorption spectrum of the drug RF in the visible region has been employed to study Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) from another fluorescent drug Hoechst 33258 (H33258), bound to the micelle. Picosecond-resolved FRET studies at room temperature confirm the simultaneous binding of the two drugs to the micelle and the distance between the donor−acceptor pair is found to be 34 Å. The temperature dependent FRET study also confirms that the location and efficiency of drug binding to the micelle changes significantly at the elevated temperature. The energy transfer efficiency of the donor H33258, as measured from time-resolved studies, decreases significantly from 76% at 20 °C to 60% at 55 °C. This reveals detachment of some amount of the drug molecules from the micelles and increased donor−acceptor distance at elevated temperatures. The estimated donor−acceptor distance increases from a value of 33 Å at 20 °C to 37 Å at 55 °C. The picosecond resolved FRET studies on a synthesized DNA bound H33258 in RF solution have been performed to explore the interaction between the two. Our studies are expected to find relevance in the exploration of a potential vehicle for the vital drug rifampicin

Ethics And Corporal Punishment Within The Schools Across The Globe

This paper contains cultural anthropological research on various discipline measures used within the classrooms in India, United Kingdom, China, Africa, and the United States. My recent visit to schools in India on study abroad programs prompted my desire to research across the globe different methods of classroom management discipline conducted within the schools. Findings suggest that corporal punishment is being favored among most countries. Hitting or yelling at a child, a common practice in some schools is not ethically acceptable by me, as an educator, nor by my students who witnessed several incidences whilst in India. We were caught in the ethics verses culturally acceptable norm dilemma. The purpose of this paper is not to devise specific discipline measures at this juncture, but rather to investigate the acceptable practices within the classrooms in the above stated countries. Implications for this only further my ethical obligations and challenges that lie ahead

Facilitating text reading in posterior cortical atrophy

Objective We report 1) the first quantitative investigation of text reading in posterior cortical atrophy (PCA); and 2) the effects of two novel software-based reading aids that result in dramatic improvements in PCA patients' reading ability. Methods Reading performance, eye movements and fixations were assessed in PCA and typical Alzheimer’s disease (tAD) patients and healthy controls (Experiment 1). Two reading aids (single- and double-word) were evaluated based on the notion that reducing the spatial and oculomotor demands of text reading might support reading in PCA (Experiment 2). Results PCA patients’ mean reading accuracy was significantly worse (57%) compared to both tAD patients (98%) and healthy controls (99%); spatial aspects of passages were the primary determinants of text reading ability in PCA. Both aids led to considerable gains in reading accuracy (PCA mean reading accuracy: single-word reading aid = 96%; individual patient improvement range: 6%-270%) and self-rated measures of reading. Data suggest a greater efficiency of PCA patients’ fixations and eye movements under the single-word reading aid. Conclusions These findings demonstrate how neurological characterisation of a neurodegenerative syndrome (PCA) and detailed cognitive analysis of an important everyday skill (reading) can combine to yield aids capable of supporting important everyday functional abilities. Classification of evidence This study provides Class III evidence that for patients with posterior cortical atrophy, two software-based reading aids (single-word and double-word) improve reading accuracy

Bicuspid aortic valve regurgitation: Quantification of anatomic regurgitant orifice area by 3D transesophageal echocardiography reconstruction

Bicuspid aortic valve regurgitation: quantification of anatomic regurgitant orifice area by 3D transesophageal echocardiography reconstruction

Coping practices and gender relations: Rohingya refugee forced migrations from Myanmar to India

Rohingya experiences of displacement and refuge are heavily gendered. Sexual and gender-based violence have been used as weapons against Rohingya women, men, girls and boys in Myanmar for decades. Trafficking and exploitation are rife on the flight out of the country, and host states such as India present their own gendered challenges to family survival and individual coping. In this paper, we examine how some of those violent and disruptive experiences have affected gender roles for individuals and families as they have fled Myanmar (often more than once) and sought refuge in India via Bangladesh. We present new insight into the dynamic subjectivity of Rohingya women as we show how, contrary to dominant depictions of passive victimhood, many have lead family migration across borders, taken up NGO/community leadership roles, or made the best ‘home’ possible within the limitations of the host context. This is because personal and family agency is sensitive to transitional opportunities and threats—i.e., gender norms of home and host contexts, interactions with host communities, and trust relations with NGOs, to name a few. Crucially, these social practices and experiences are not static or linear; they spa

Comparison between Portland Pozzolana Cement & Processed Fly Ash blended Ordinary Portland Cement

This paper presents a comparison between two different procedures for  the use of Fly ash (FA) in cement industry. The first which is very often used is by adding FA to clinker as in the manufacture of Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC).The second which is recent trend is to process FA & by blending it with Ordinary Portland cement (OPC).Strength parameters are compared of both the types of cement. For the same target strength of the cubes OPC blended with Processed FA (PFA) proved to be more economical than PPC. Keywords: Fly Ash ,Blending, Ordinary Portland Cement, Portland pozzolana Cement, Processed Fly Ash

Proposal and Validation of Usability Model for Component Based Software System

Increasing demand of rapid and cost effective development of software system has increased the demand of Component Based Software Engineering (CBSE). In CBSE, software system is developed by using existing components. These components can be in-house components or third party components. To develop a Component Based Software System (CBSS), it is important to select the suitable component in such a manner that the components of the software system do not affect each other. To increase the acceptance of the CBSS among the users and the market value of the software industries, it is important to increase the usability of the CBSS. Several usability models have been proposed for traditional and object-oriented software system (OOSS), but there is no usability model for CBSS. Existing traditional and object-oriented models can’t be perfectly suitable for CBSS because of the unique characteristics of the components. This paper presents a usability model (UMCBSS) for CBSS. The proposed usability model is based on most significant usability factors. These factors are analysed from CBSS quality models. With the help of proposed model, usability is evaluated by using two different techniques i.e., centroid method and bisector method in MATLAB. Experimental results are also validated by using Center of Gravity (COG) and Mean-Max method. With the help of the proposed model, developers of the CBSS will be able to measure the usability of CBSS and to remove the usability flaws from the software system

Characterization of Bacterial Etiologic Agents of Biofilm Formation in Medical Devices in Critical Care Setup

Background. Biofilms contaminate catheters, ventilators, and medical implants; they act as a source of disease for humans, animals, and plants. Aim. Critical care units of any healthcare institute follow various interventional strategies with use of medical devices for the management of critical cases. Bacteria contaminate medical devices and form biofilms. Material and Methods. The study was carried out on 100 positive bacteriological cultures of medical devices which were inserted in hospitalized patients. The bacterial isolates were processed as per microtitre plate. All the isolates were subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing by VITEK 2 compact automated systems. Results. Out of the total 100 bacterial isolates tested, 88 of them were biofilm formers. A 16–20-hour incubation period was found to be optimum for biofilm development. 85% isolates were multidrug resistants and different mechanisms of bacterial drug resistance like ESBL, carbapenemase, and MRSA were found among isolates. Conclusion. Availability of nutrition in the form of glucose enhances the biofilm formation by bacteria. Time and availability of glucose are important factors for assessment of biofilm progress. It is an alarm for those who are associated with invasive procedures and indwelling medical devices especially in patients with low immunity