Practical Software Engineering Education     

Hossein Saiedian 《Computer Science Education》2013,23(1):3-5

A new programming course to prepare novices for the traditional Computer Science 1 course (CS1) is proposed. The course uses 3D interactive animation in a novice-friendly environment to introduce object-oriented programming concepts and help students develop problem-solving skills. Pedagogical issues are presented that involve the use of visualization and graphics concepts, the notion of state, and programming language concerns. A study of practice and experimentation with this course is underway. The evaluation plan for this study is briefly described and some early results are summarized, along with observed benefits and concerns.  相似文献   

Inclusive assessment for linguistically diverse learners in higher education     

Amrita Kaur  Mohammad Noman  Hasniza Nordin 《Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education》2017,42(5):756-771

As classrooms become increasingly diverse in higher education, educators are emphasising inclusive practices in teaching and learning to accommodate the needs of diverse learners. There is also an emerging need for an inclusive approach in assessment for accessibility, opportunity, relevance and engagement. This study, using design-based research guidelines with student–faculty partnership, designed, developed, implemented and evaluated contextually sensitive assessment protocol as inclusive and fair assessment. Data from students’ reflections and face-to-face interviews with open-ended questions suggested that, despite concerns such as potential bias, time and accommodation challenges, such assessment practices can make valuable contributions in creating a positive learning environment, improving relatedness and self-esteem and motivating and engaging students for better effort and effective learning. Implications for higher education practitioners with diverse learners are discussed.  相似文献   

Investigation and evaluation of ultrasound reactor for reduction of fungi from sewage     

Dehghani MH  Mahvi AH  Jahed GR  Sheikhi R 《Journal of Zhejiang University. Science. B》2007,8(7):493-497

The objective of the investigation was to study the application of ultrasound reactor technology （USRT） as a disinfectant for reduction of fungi from sewage effluent. Fungi are carbon heterotrophs that require preformed organic compounds as carbon sources. USRT is an attractive means to improve water quality because of the system simplicity and no production of toxic by-products. An ultrasound reactor produces strong cavitation in aqueous solution causing shock waves and reactive free radicals by the violent collapse of the cavitation bubble. These effects should contribute to the physical disruption of microbial structures and inactivation of organisms. There was significant reduction in fungal growth, with decreased fungal growth with increasing USRT. In this study, ultrasound irradiation at a frequency of 42 kHz was used to expose suspensions of fungi to evaluate the disinfection efficacy of the ultrasound reactor. Also, this study showed that in this system more than 99% reduction of sewage fungi was achieved after 60 min.  相似文献   

Publishing in predatory open access journals: Authors' perspectives     

Mohammad Salehi  Mohammad Soltani  Hadis Tamleh  Shohreh Teimournezhad 《Learned Publishing》2020,33(2):89-95

The proliferation of predatory or bogus journals has been recognized as a threat to academic research, and this study was conducted to discover the experiences of authors published in these journals. Eighty authors who had published in journals identified as predatory were surveyed. We asked how the authors learnt about these journals, what they thought about the reputation of the journals, their experiences of peer review and the quality of feedback provided, and whether publication was driven by PhD or job requirements. Our results showed that a third of authors discovered the journals by web searches or responding to email invitations. Over half said the reputation and name of the journal were important in selecting a journal, although a third admitted that the journal they published in did not have a good reputation. The main reason for selecting the journals was the promise of fast publication (31.2% respondents). Only half of the respondents said that publication was driven by PhD or job requirements. Just over a third reported that peer review was good or excellent, and only 17.5% said that peer review was poor or non‐existent – over 70% thought they had received good feedback from the journals. Although the research was somewhat limited, it does indicate general satisfaction with the journals in which the authors published. Fast publication coupled with good feedback and encouragement to submit can make publishing in predatory journals so tempting that few authors can resist.  相似文献   

In vitro assay for the anti-brucella activity of medicinal plants against tetracycline-resistant Brucella melitensis     

Hossein Motamedi  Esmaeil Darabpour  Mahnaz Gholipour  Seyyed Mansour Seyyed Nejad 《Journal of Zhejiang University. Science. B》2010,11(7):506-511

Brucellosis, a zoonosis caused by four species of brucella, has a high morbidity. Brucella melitensis is the main causative agent of brucellosis in both human and small ruminants. As an alternative to conventional antibiotics, medicinal plants are valuable resources for new agents against antibiotic-resistant strains. The aim of this study was to investigate the usage of native plants for brucellosis treatment. For this purpose, the anti-brucella activities of ethanolic and methanolic extracts of Salvia sclarea, Oliveria decumbens, Ferulago angulata, Vitex pseudo-negundo, Teucrium polium, Plantago ovata, Cordia myxa, and Crocus sativus were assessed. The activity against a resistant Br. melitensis strain was determined by disc diffusion method at various concentrations from 50–400 mg/ml. Antibiotic discs were also used as a control. Among the evaluated herbs, six plant (Salvia sclarea, Oliveria decumbens, Ferulago angulata, Vitex pseudo-negundo, Teucrium polium, and Crocus sativus) showed anti-brucella activity. Oliveria decumbens was chosen as the most effective plant for further studies. A tested isolate exhibited resistance to tetracycline, nafcillin, oxacillin, methicillin, and colistin. Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) values for Oliveria decumbens against resistant Br. melitensis were the same (5 mg/ml), and for gentamicin they were both 2 mg/ml. Time-kill kinetics for a methanolic extract of Oliveria decumbens was 7 h whereas for an ethanolic extract it was 28 h. Also, Oliveria decumbens extracts showed a synergistic effect in combination with doxycycline and tetracycline. In general, the similar values of MIC and MBC for Oliveria decumbens suggest that these extracts could act as bactericidal agents against Br. melitensis. In addition to Oliveria decumbens, Crocus sativus and Salvia sclarea also had good anti-brucella activity and these should be considered for further study.  相似文献   

The study of the success indicators for pre-implementation activities of Iran's E-Government development projects     

Mohammad Sharifi  Amir Manian 《Government Information Quarterly》2010

E-Government and E-Government development project studies have been conducted in most industrialized societies, as well as in Iran. Due to their nature and structure, E-Government development projects have numerous political, social, and economic impacts on society. Given the incorporation of significant capital, human resources, information, and political commitments, these projects are considered quite vital to society. Following the systematic pre-implementation activities of E-Government development projects is critical for the success of such projects; ignoring such issues leads to various problems during E-Government project implementation. This research aims to explore and detect the success indicators for pre-implementation activities of E-Government development projects, evaluate the validity of these indicators, and investigate the indicators' status in the Fuel Smart Card Project. The researcher has also provided some suggestions on the successful implementation of E-Government development projects.  相似文献   

Hydro-Alcoholic Cinnamon Extract, Enhances Glucose Transporter Isotype-4 Translocation from Intracellular Compartments into the Cytoplasmic Membrane of C2C12 Myotubes     

Abdorrahim Absalan  Javad Mohiti-Ardakani  Hossein Hadinedoushan  Mohammad Ali Khalili 《Indian journal of clinical biochemistry : IJCB》2012,27(4):351-356

Cinnamon has been used as an anti-diabetic agent for centuries but only in recent few years its mechanism of action has been under investigation. Previous studies showed that cinnamon might exert its anti-diabetic effect via increasing glucose transporter isotype-4 (GLUT4) gene and glycoprotein contents in fat cells. To study if hydro-alcoholic cinnamon extract (HACE) enhances GLUT4 translocation from intracellular compartments of nuclear or endoplasmic reticulum membranes (N/ER) into the cytoplasmic membrane (CM). C2C12 myoblastic cell line were seeded in DMEM plus 20 % FBS and differentiated to myotubes using 2 % horse serum. After myotubes formation, 100 or 1,000 μg/ml HACE, as intervention, and as control 1 % DMSO were added for 3 h. Cells were washed and homogenized followed by ultracentrifuge fractionation, protein separation by SDS-PAGE and GLUT4 detection using semi-quantitative Western blotting. Data analysis was done by two-independent samples t test for comparison of mean ± SD of GLUT4 percent in categories. GLUT4 contents were higher in CM of groups 100 and 1,000 μg/ml HACE and lower in 1 % DMSO treated myotubes (CI = 0.95, P < 0.05). For N/ER reverse results were obtained (CI = 0.95, P < 0.05). As our results have shown HACE induces GLUT4 translocation from intra-cell into cell surface. We conclude that cinnamon maybe a choice of type-2 diabetes mellitus treatment because its extract enhances GLUT4 contents in CM where it facilitates glucose entrance into the cell. However it is necessary to trace the signaling pathways which are activated by HACE in muscular tissue.  相似文献   

Non-Descender and All-Cap Arabic Writing     

Mohammad Ali Yaghan 《Al-Masaq: Islam & the Medieval Mediterranean》2018,30(2):166-190

Contrary to the common belief of Arabic language users that the Arabic writing system has descenders as an inherent quality, some historical examples demonstrate that there were some artistic attempts to create non-descender, all-cap calligraphic systems, but they have never been studied as a phenomenon. This article draws attention to the existence of these examples, and analyses and classifies them according to their form.

The article begins with an analysis of the current Arabic writing system in terms of descenders, differentiating between artistic and functional writing, defining the need for harmonious balance in artistic writing, and demonstrating that descenders do disrupt the balance in Arabic writing, which could be considered as an ascender-system.

Then, historical examples of the non-descender system are introduced, categorised into four visual stages, and the descender handling for each stage is described; all-capital letter examples are then introduced.

Finally, some historical texts describing the beauty of calligraphy in this specific system of writing are analysed.

Abbreviations: MET: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.metmuseum.org; LACMA: The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, www.lacma.org; No. : Accession Number  相似文献   

Improving teacher prediction of children at risk for reading failure     

Jane M. Flynn  Mohammad Hossein Rahbar 《Psychology in the schools》1998,35(2):163-172

Whether screening tests or teacher ratings best predict children at risk for reading failure continues to be an area of disagreement in the early identification literature. Our early studies confirmed low positive identification rates (30%) when kindergarten teachers were asked to predict future reading achievement using a traditional rating scale, while a project-developed, theory-based screening battery correctly identified 81% of poor readers. Construction of a teacher rating scale of current skill levels on research-validated precursors to reading improved prediction in the current study, although results were still inferior to the screening test (64% and 80% valid positives, respectively). Combining test results and teacher ratings resulted in 88% identification of those who failed in first, second, or third grade, suggesting that both teacher ratings and screening tests should be used to identify the largest number of those who will later fail in reading. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.  相似文献   

Livelihoods and informal trade at the Bangladesh border     

Mohammad Jalal Uddin Sikder  Barun Kumar Sarkar 《Inter-Asia Cultural Studies》2013,14(3):432-445

Abstract

Cross‐border informal trade is one of the most important issues between India and Bangladesh. It takes place between people who live a short distance apart, but who find themselves separated by an international boundary. The people of international border areas believe that cross‐border informal trade is a process to maintain a sustainable livelihood because it provides a livelihood to the unemployed. This research has analysed the nature and impact of informal border trade between India and Bangladesh. It has highlighted the sources of security and insecurity through the process of informal border trade. It also analyses the different socio‐economic conditions of informal border trade in border trade prone areas. This research argues that although informal border trade is considered illegal, it is necessary for the maintenance of the livelihood for the poor in the bordering areas. The state failures in fulfilling the needs of the poor force them to involve themselves in informal border trade.  相似文献