Search results for: attitude toward STEM

Authors: Nina Bijedic, Drazena Gaspar, Mirsad Hadzikadic

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Corruption is an influential and widespread problem. One part of it is so-called petty corruption, related to large-scale bribe giving by ordinary citizens trying to influence the works of public administration or public services. As it is with all means of corruption, petty corruption is related to the level of democracy (or administration efficiency) in a society. The developed model captures some of the factors related to corruptive behavior, as well as people’s attitude towards petty corruption. It has four basic elements: user’s perception of corruption in the society of interest, the influence of social interactions, the influence of penalizing mechanism, and influence of campaigns against petty corruption. The model is agent-based, developed in NetLogo, with a lot of random settings that provide a wider scope of responses. Interactions of different settings for variables of elements provide insight into the influence of each element on attitude towards petty corruption, as well as petty corruptive behavior.

Keywords: agent-based model, attitude, influence, petty corruption, society

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Authors: Aliya K. Salahova

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Scientific thinking is a fundamental cognitive skill that plays a crucial role in preparing young minds for an increasingly complex world. This study explores the connection between scientific thinking and the ability to ask questions in children aged 5-9. The research aims to identify and assess how questioning ability serves as an indicator of scientific thinking development in this age group. A longitudinal investigation was conducted over a span of 240 weeks, involving 72 children from diverse backgrounds. The participants were divided into an experimental group, engaging in weekly STEM activities, and a control group with no STEM involvement. The development of scientific thinking was evaluated through a comprehensive assessment of questioning skills, hypothesis formulation, logical reasoning, and problem-solving abilities. The findings reveal a significant correlation between the ability to ask questions and the level of scientific thinking in children aged 5-9. Participants in the experimental group exhibited a remarkable improvement in their questioning ability, which positively influenced their scientific thinking growth. In contrast, the control group, devoid of STEM activities, showed minimal progress in questioning skills and subsequent scientific thinking development. This study highlights the pivotal role of questioning ability as a key indicator of scientific thinking in young children. The results provide valuable insights for educators and researchers, emphasizing the importance of fostering and nurturing questioning skills to enhance scientific thinking capabilities from an early age. The implications of these findings are crucial for designing effective educational interventions to promote scientific curiosity and critical thinking in the next generation of scientific minds.

Keywords: scientific thinking, education, STEM, intervention, psychology, pedagogy, collaborative learning, longitudinal study

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Authors: Roxane A. Legaie, Kjiana E. Schwab, Caroline E. Gargett

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Studies looking at the changes in gene expression from RNAseq data often make use of linear models. It is also common practice to focus on a subset of data for a comparison of interest, leaving aside the samples not involved in this particular comparison. This work shows the importance of including all observations in the modeling process to better estimate variance parameters, even when the samples included are not directly used in the comparison under test. The human endometrium is a dynamic tissue, which undergoes cycles of growth and regression with each menstrual cycle. The mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) present in the endometrium are likely responsible for this remarkable regenerative capacity. However recent studies suggest that MSCs also plays a role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis, one of the most common medical conditions affecting the lower abdomen in women in which the endometrial tissue grows outside the womb. In this study we compared gene expression profiles between MSCs and non-stem cell counterparts (‘non-MSC’) obtained from women with (‘E’) or without (‘noE’) endometriosis from RNAseq. Raw read counts were used for differential expression analysis using a linear model with the limma-voom R package, including either all samples in the study or only the samples belonging to the subset of interest (e.g. for the comparison ‘E vs noE in MSC cells’, including only MSC samples from E and noE patients but not the non-MSC ones). Using the full dataset we identified about 100 differentially expressed (DE) genes between E and noE samples in MSC samples (adj.p-val < 0.05 and |logFC|>1) while only 9 DE genes were identified when using only the subset of data (MSC samples only). Important genes known to be involved in endometriosis such as KLF9 and RND3 were missed in the latter case. When looking at the MSC vs non-MSC cells comparison, the linear model including all samples identified 260 genes for noE samples (including the stem cell marker SUSD2) while the subset analysis did not identify any DE genes. When looking at E samples, 12 genes were identified with the first approach and only 1 with the subset approach. Although the stem cell marker RGS5 was found in both cases, the subset test missed important genes involved in stem cell differentiation such as NOTCH3 and other potentially related genes to be used for further investigation and pathway analysis.

Keywords: differential expression, endometriosis, linear model, RNAseq

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Authors: Aoxue Yang, Weili Tian, Yonghe Wu, Haikun Liu

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Brain tumor stem cells (BTSCs) are resistant to therapy and give rise to recurrent tumors. These rare and elusive cells are likely to disseminate during cancer progression, and some may enter dormancy, remaining viable but not increasing. The identification of dormant BTSCs is thus necessary to design effective therapies for glioblastoma (GBM) patients. Little progress has been made in therapeutic treatment of glioblastoma in the last decade despite rapid progress in molecular understanding of brain tumors1. Here we show that the stress hormone glucocorticoid is essential for the maintenance of brain tumor stem cells (BTSCs), which are resistant to conventional therapy. The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) regulates metabolic plasticity and chemoresistance of the dormant BTSC via controlling expression of GPD1 (glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 1), which is an essential regulator of lipid metabolism in BTSCs. Genomic, lipidomic and cellular analysis confirm that GR/GPD1 regulation is essential for BTSCs metabolic plasticity and survival. We further demonstrate that the GR agonist dexamethasone (DEXA), which is commonly used to control edema in glioblastoma, abolishes the effect of chemotherapy drug temozolomide (TMZ) by upregulating GPD1 and thus promoting tumor cell dormancy in vivo, this provides a mechanistic explanation and thus settle the long-standing debate of usage of steroid in brain tumor patient edema control. Pharmacological inhibition of GR/GPD1 pathway disrupts metabolic plasticity of BTSCs and prolong animal survival, which is superior to standard chemotherapy. Patient case study shows that GR antagonist mifepristone blocks tumor progression and leads to symptomatic improvement. This study identifies an important mechanism regulating cancer stem cell dormancy and provides a new opportunity for glioblastoma treatment.

Keywords: cancer stem cell, dormancy, glioblastoma, glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 1, glucocorticoid receptor, dexamethasone, RNA-sequencing, phosphoglycerides.

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Authors: Pratima Thapa

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Background: It is very critical to understand that awareness of family planning and proper utilization of contraceptives is an important indicator for reducing maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity. It also plays an important role in promoting reproductive health of the women in an underdeveloped country like ours. Objective: To assess knowledge, attitude and practices of contraception among married women of reproductive age group in selected wards of Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 209 married women of reproductive age. Simple random sampling was used to select the wards, population proportionate sampling for selecting the sample numbers from each wards and purposive sampling for selecting each sample. Semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to interpret the data considering p-value 0.05. Results: The mean ± SD age of the respondents was 30.01 ± 8.12 years. Majority 92.3% had ever heard of contraception. Popular known method was Inj. Depo (92.7%). Mass media (85.8%) was the major source of information. Mean percentage score of knowledge was 45.23%.less than half (45%) had adequate knowledge. Majority 90.4% had positive attitude. Only 64.6% were using contraceptives currently. Misbeliefs and fear of side effects were the main reason for not using contraceptives. Education, occupation, and total income of the family was associated with knowledge regarding contraceptives. Results for Binary Logistic Regression showed significant correlates of attitude with distance to the nearest health facility (OR=7.97, p<0.01), education (OR=0.24, p<0.05) and age group (0.03, p<0.01). Regarding practice, likelihood of being current user of contraceptives increased significantly by being literate (OR=5.97, p<0.01), having nuclear family (OR=4.96, p<0.01), living in less than 30 minute walk distance from nearest health facility (OR=3.34, p<0.05), women’s participation in decision making regarding household and fertility choices (OR=5.23, p<0.01) and husband’s support on using contraceptives (OR=9.05, p<0.01). Significant and positive correlation between knowledge-attitude, knowledge-practice and attitude-practice were observed. Conclusion: Results of the study indicates that there is need to increase awareness programs in order to intensify the knowledge and practices of contraception. The positive correlation indorses that better knowledge can lead to positive attitude and hence good practice. Further, projects aiming to increase better counselling about contraceptives, its side effects and the positive effects that outweighs the negative aspects should be enrolled appropriately.

Keywords: attitude, contraceptives, knowledge, practice

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Authors: Akwu A. Nneka, Naidoo, Yougasphree

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A significantly high number of microbes exist in higher plants; these microbes include bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes. There are reports on the benefits of endophytic fungi and their products of metabolism to the host plant and man, consequently, it is expedient to explore the changes that could arise as a result of manipulating their growth media. Grewia lasiocarpa E. Mey. ex Harv. (Malvaceae) is an indigenous Southern African plant, that belongs to a genus with known medicinal properties. Three media were used to culture the endophytic fungi viz., Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA), Malt Extract Agar (MEA), and Bacteriological Agar (BA) were used singly, and supplemented with three dilutions of the leaves and stem bark extracts. The manipulated growth media composition had a significant effect on the diversity of the isolated fungal populations. Several endophytic fungi were isolated; their distribution and diversity revealed a significant relatedness with the manipulated media. The media supplemented with the plant extracts was observed to give a significant increase in the growth rate and yield of the endophytes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study describing the endophytic fungi present in the leaves and stem bark of G. lasiocarpa E. Mey. ex Harv.

Keywords: Grewia lasiocarpa, plant-based extracts, endophytic fungi, Malvaceae

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Authors: A. B. A. Ahmed, D. I. Amar, R. M. Taha

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This research aims to investigate callus induction, somatic embryogenesis and indirect plant regeneration of Crassula ovata (Mill.) Druce – the famous ornamental plant. Experiment no.1: Callus induction was obtained from leaf and stem explants on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with various plant growth regulators (PGRs). Effects of different PGRs, plant regeneration and subsequent plantlet conversion were also assessed. Indirect plant regeneration was achieved from the callus of stem explants by the addition of 1.5 mg/L Kinetin (KN) alone. Best shoot induction was achieved (6.5 shoots/per explant) after 60 days. For successful rooting, regenerated plantlets were sub-cultured on the same MS media supplemented with 1.5 mg/L KN alone. The rooted plantlets were acclimatized and the survival rate was 90%. Experiment no.2: Results revealed that 0.5 mg/L 2,4-D alone and in combination with 1.0 mg/L 6-Benzyladenine (BA) gave 89.8% callus from the stem explants as compared to leaf explants. Callus proliferation and somatic embryo formation were also evaluated by ‘Double Staining Method’ and different stages of somatic embryogenesis were revealed by scanning electron microscope. Full Strength MS medium produced the highest number (49.6%) of cotyledonary stage somatic embryos (SEs). Mature cotyledonary stage SEs developed into plantlets after 12 weeks of culture. Well-rooted plantlets were successfully acclimatized at the survival rate of 85%. Indirectly regenerated plants did not show any detectable variation in morphological and growth characteristics when compared with the donor plant.

Keywords: callus induction, indirect plant regeneration, double staining, somatic embryogenesis, Crassula ovata

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Authors: Yu-Chen Hu

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Gene editing by CRISPR and gene regulation by microRNA or CRISPR activation have dramatically changed the way to manipulate cellular gene expression and cell fate. In recent years, various gene editing and gene manipulation technologies have been applied to control stem cell differentiation to enhance tissue regeneration. This research will focus on how to develop CRISPR, CRISPR activation (CRISPRa), CRISPR inhibition (CRISPRi), as well as bi-directional CRISPR-AI gene regulation technologies to control cell differentiation and bone regeneration. Moreover, in this study, CRISPR/Cas13d-mediated RNA editng for miRNA editing and bone regeneration will be discussed.

Keywords: gene therapy, bone regeneration, stem cell, CRISPR, gene regulation

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Authors: F. Ruiz-Navarro, M. Matzner, G. Kobinia

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Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) encompasses the largest group of childhood movement disorders, the patterns and severity varies widely. Today, the management focuses only on a rehabilitation therapy that tries to secure the functions remained and prevents complications. However the treatments are not aimed to cure the disease. Stem cells (SCs) transplant via intrathecal is a new approach to the disease. Method: Our aim was to performed a pilot study under the condition of unproven treatment on clinical practice to assessed the safety and efficacy of Neuron Point-of-care Stem cell Therapy (N-POCST), an ambulatory procedure of autologous bone marrow derived SCs (BM-SCs) harvested from the posterior superior iliac crest undergo an on-site cell separation for intrathecal infusion via lumbar puncture. Results: 82 patients were treated in a period of 28 months, with a follow-up after 6 months. They had a mean age of 6,2 years old and male predominance (65,9%). Our preliminary results show that: A. No patient had any major side effects, B. Only 20% presented mild headache due to LP, C. 53% of the patients had an improvement in spasticity, D. 61% improved the coordination abilities, 23% improved the motor function, 15% improved the speech, 23% reduced the number of convulsive events with the same doses or less doses of anti-convulsive medication and 94% of the patients report a subjective general improvement. Conclusions: These results support previous worldwide publications that described the safety and effectiveness of autologous BM-SCs transplant for patients wit CP.

Keywords: autologous transplant, cerebral palsy, point of care, childhood movement disorders

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Authors: Milind Patil

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Present paper is a discussion on Hindi-Marathi Morphological Analysis and generating rules for Machine Translation on the basis of Machine Readable Dictionary (MRD). This used Transformative Generative Grammar (TGG) rules to design the MRD. As per TGG rules, the suffix of a particular root word is based on its Tense, Aspect, Modality and Voice. That's why the suffix is very important for the word meanings (or root meanings). The Hindi and Marathi Language both have relation with Indo-Aryan language family. Both have been derived from Sanskrit language and their script is 'Devnagari'. But there are lots of differences in terms of semantics and grammatical level too. In Marathi, there are three genders, but in Hindi only two (Masculine and Feminine), the Natural gender is absent in Hindi. Likewise other grammatical categories also differ in their level of use. For MRD the suffixes (or Morpheme) are of particular root word for GNP (Gender, Number and Person) are based on its natural phenomena. A particular Suffix and Morphine change as per the need of person, number and gender. The design of MRD also based on this format. In first, Person, Number, Gender and Tense are key points than root words and suffix of particular Person, Number Gender (PNG). After that the inferences are drawn on the basis of rules that is (V.stem) (Pre.T/Past.T) (x) + (Aux-Pre.T) (x) → (V.Stem.) + (SP.TM) (X).

Keywords: MRD, TGG, stem, morph, morpheme, suffix, PNG, TAM&V, root

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Authors: Zarini Ismail, Mas Ayu Arina Mohd Anuwar, Ling Chai Ying, Tengku Zetty Maztura Tengku Jamaluddin, Nurul Azmawati Mohamed, Nadeeya Ayn Umaisara Mohamad Nor

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The transmission of infectious diseases can occur anywhere, including in the swimming pools. A large number of swimmers turnover and poor hygienic behaviours will increase the occurrence of direct and indirect water contamination. A wide variety of infections such as the gastrointestinal illnesses, skin rash, eye infections, ear infections and respiratory illnesses had been reported following the exposure to the contaminated water. Understanding the importance of pool hygiene with a healthy practice will reduce the risk of infection. The aims of the study are to investigate the knowledge, attitude and practices on pool hygiene among swimming pool users and to determine the microbial contaminants in swimming pools. A cross-sectional study was conducted using self-administered questionnaires to 600 swimming pool users from four swimming pools belong to the three educational institutions in Selangor. Data was analyzed using SPSS Statistics version 22.0 for Windows. The knowledge, attitude and practice of the study participants were analyzed using the sum score based on Bloom’s cut-off point (80%). Having a score above the cut-off point was classified as having high levels of knowledge, positive attitude and good practice. The association between socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge and attitude with practice on pool hygiene was determined by Chi-Square test. The physicochemical parameters and the microbial contamination were determined using a standard method for examination of waste and wastewater. Of the 600 respondents, 465 (77.5%) were females with the mean age of 21 years old. Most of the respondents are the students (98.8%) which belong to the three educational institutions in Selangor. Overall, the majority of the respondents (89.2%) had low knowledge on pool hygiene, but had positive attitudes (91.3%). Whereas only half of the respondents (50%) practice good hygiene while using the swimming pools. There was a significant association between practice level on pool hygiene with knowledge (p < 0.001) and also the attitude (p < 0.001). The measurements of the physicochemical parameters showed that all 4 swimming pools had low levels of pH and two had low levels of free chlorine. However, all the water samples tested were negative for Escherichia coli. The findings of this study suggested that high knowledge and positive attitude towards pool hygiene ensure a good practice among swimming pool users. Thus, it is recommended that educational interventions should be given to the swimming pool users to increase their knowledge regarding the pool hygiene and this will prevent the unnecessary outbreak of infectious diseases related to swimming pool.

Keywords: attitude, knowledge, pool hygiene, practice

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Authors: Lay Poh Tan, Chor Yong Tay, Haiyang Yu

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Micro-contact printing is a form of soft lithography that uses the relief patterns on a master polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamp to form patterns of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of ink on the surface of a substrate through conformal contact technique. Here, we adopt this method to print proteins of different dimensions on our biodegradable polymer substrates. We started off with printing 20-500 μm scale lanes of fibronectin to engineer the shape of bone marrow derived human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSCs). After 8 hours of culture, the hMSCs adopted elongated shapes, and upon analysis of the gene expressions, genes commonly associated with myogenesis (GATA-4, MyoD1, cTnT and β-MHC) and neurogenesis (NeuroD, Nestin, GFAP, and MAP2) were up-regulated but gene expression associated to osteogenesis (ALPL, RUNX2, and SPARC) were either down modulated or remained at the nominal level. This is the first evidence that cellular morphology control via micropatterning could be used to modulate stem cell fate without external biochemical stimuli. We further our studies to modulate the focal adhesion (FA) instead of the macro shape of cells. Micro-contact printed islands of different smaller dimensions were investigated. We successfully regulated the FAs into dense FAs and elongated FAs by micropatterning. Additionally, the combined effects of hard (40.4 kPa), and intermediate (10.6 kPa) PA gel and FAs patterning on hMSCs differentiation were studied. Results showed that FA and matrix compliance plays an important role in hMSCs differentiation, and there is a cross-talk between different physical stimulants and the significance of these stimuli can only be realized if they are combined at the optimum level.

Keywords: micro-contact printing, polymer substrate, cell-material interaction, stem cell differentiation

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Authors: Sami Ali Metwally, Bedour Helmy Abou-Leila, Hussien Ibrahim Abdel-Shafy

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This study was carried out at the pilot plant area in the National Research Centre during the two successive seasons, 2020 and 2022. The aim is to investigate the response of vegetative growth and chemical constituents of sunflowers plants irrigated by two types of wastewater, namely: black wastewater W1 (Bathroom) and grey wastewater W1, under irradiation conditions of helium-neon (He-Ne) laser. The examined data indicated that irrigation of W1 significantly increased the growth and flowering parameters (plant height, leaves number, leaves area, leaves fresh and dry weight, flower diameter, flower stem length, flower stem thickness, number of days to flower, and total chlorophyll). Treated sunflower plants with 0 to 10 min. recorded an increase in the fresh weight and dry weight of leaves. However, the superiority of increasing vase life and delaying flowers were recorded by prolonging exposure time by up to 10 min. Regarding the effect of interaction treatments, the data indicated that the highest values on almost growth parameters were obtained from plants treated with W1+0 laser followed by W2+10 min. laser, compared with all interaction treatments. As for flowering parameters, the interactions between W2+2 min. time exposure, W1+0 time, w1+10 min., and w1+2 min. exposures recorded the highest values on flower diameter, flower stem length, flower stem thickness, vase life, and delaying flowering.

Keywords: greywater, sunflower plant, water reuse, vegetative growth, laser radiation

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Authors: Masoud Sakhinia, Sajjad Ahmad

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Introduction: Though knowledge of the compositional makeup and structure of the limbal niche has progressed exponentially during the past decade, much is yet to be understood. Identifying the precise profile and role of the stromal makeup which spans the ocular surface may inform researchers of the most optimum conditions needed to effectively expand LESCs in vitro, whilst preserving their differentiation status and phenotype. Limbal fibroblasts, as opposed to corneal fibroblasts are thought to form an important component of the microenvironment where LESCs reside. Methods: The corneal stroma was tissue engineered in vitro using both limbal and corneal fibroblasts embedded within a tissue engineered 3D collagen matrix. The effect of these two different fibroblasts on LESCs and hTCEpi corneal epithelial cell line were then subsequently determined using phase contrast microscopy, histolological analysis and PCR for specific stem cell markers. The study aimed to develop an in vitro model which could be used to determine whether limbal, as opposed to corneal fibroblasts, maintained the stem cell phenotype of LESCs and hTCEpi cell line. Results: Tissue culture analysis was inconclusive and required further quantitative analysis for remarks on cell proliferation within the varying stroma. Histological analysis of the tissue-engineered cornea showed a comparable structure to that of the human cornea, though with limited epithelial stratification. PCR results for epithelial cell markers of cells cultured on limbal fibroblasts showed reduced expression of CK3, a negative marker for LESC’s, whilst also exhibiting a relatively low expression level of P63, a marker for undifferentiated LESCs. Conclusion: We have shown the potential for the construction of a tissue engineered human cornea using a 3D collagen matrix and described some preliminary results in the analysis of the effects of varying stroma consisting of limbal and corneal fibroblasts, respectively, on the proliferation of stem cell phenotype of primary LESCs and hTCEpi corneal epithelial cells. Although no definitive marker exists to conclusively illustrate the presence of LESCs, the combination of positive and negative stem cell markers in our study were inconclusive. Though it is less traslational to the human corneal model, the use of conditioned medium from that of limbal and corneal fibroblasts may provide a more simple avenue. Moreover, combinations of extracellular matrices could be used as a surrogate in these culture models.

Keywords: cornea, Limbal Stem Cells, tissue engineering, PCR

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Authors: Messele Kumilachew Aga, Amanpreet Singh

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This study investigates the effect of attitude toward entrepreneurship, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control on entrepreneurial intentions and examines the moderating role of families’ entrepreneurial background in this causal relationship. Three hundred thirty-five undergraduate students from four universities in Ethiopia filled and returned a self-administrated questionnaire which was analyzed through independent sample t-test and process macro. The result obtained indicated that there was no mean difference in entrepreneurial intentions and its antecedents between students who have families with an entrepreneurial background and not. Besides, the study shows that families’ entrepreneurial background has no moderating effect on entrepreneurial intentions due to attitude toward entrepreneurship, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. Hence, the study suggests no need of considering families’ entrepreneurial background in nurturing entrepreneurship for undergraduate students in Ethiopian universities.

Keywords: attitude toward entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial intentions, families’ entrepreneurial background, perceived behavioral control, subjective norm

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Authors: Bradley Fevrier

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Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus, a non-communicable metabolic disorder, is a fast-growing problem for health, as it presents numerous complications and death worldwide. St. Lucia, much like most other emerging nation in the Caribbean, struggles with the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among its populace. Good knowledge, attitude, and practices [KAP] of T2DM are essential in the prevention and management of this disease.Lifestyle adaptation, including increased knowledge, positive attitude, and efficient practice towards lifestyle modifications, can avert the advancement of difficulties associated with diabetes. Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted during the period June 15, 2022, to July15 2022. Data were collected by using the self-administered questionnaire designed to collect the required information from participants, and the data wasanalyzed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 26. Knowledge, attitude, and practice of lifestyle modification among participants were determined using descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 402 participants completed the study, fully yielding an 84% response rate. Overall, the assessed levels of KAP relating to the life-threatening complications of T2DM were moderate. Results further indicated that women outnumbered men 68.4% to 31.6%, respectively. Significant positive correlation (r= 0.244, p<0.001) and (r=.203, p<0.001) were found between the knowledge level as well as the attitude level of study respondents. Conclusion: The overall study findings regarding the level of knowledge and attitude concerning lifestyle modifications among study participants were interpreted as generally high. However, the practice of healthy lifestyle modification habits was poor. The current findings suggest a need for structured educational campaigns prioritizing the importance of lifestyle modifications (weight loss, smoking cessation, physical exercise) to the general population.

Keywords: Diabetes, knowledge, lifestyle, survey

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Authors: Pinkey Yaqub

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The aim of this study was to investigate secondary (grades IX and X) students’ attitudes towards learning the English language based on the medium of instruction of the school, the gender of the students and the grade level in which they studied. A further aim was to determine students’ proficiency in the English language according to their gender, the grade level and the medium of instruction of the school. A survey was used to investigate the attitudes of secondary students towards English language learning. Simple random sampling was employed to obtain a representative sample of the target population for the research study as a comprehensive list of established English medium schools, and newly established English medium schools were available. A questionnaire ‘Attitude towards English Language Learning’ (AtELL) was adapted from a research study on Libyan secondary school students’ attitudes towards learning English language. AtELL was reviewed by experts (n=6) and later piloted on a representative sample of secondary students (n= 160). Subsequently, the questionnaire was modified - based on the reviewers’ feedback and lessons learnt during the piloting phase - and directly administered to students of grades 9 and 10 to gather information regarding their attitudes towards learning the English language. Data collection spanned a month and a half. As the data were not normally distributed, the researcher used Mann-Whitney tests to test the hypotheses formulated to investigate students’ attitudes towards learning English as well as proficiency in the language across the medium of instruction of the school, the gender of the students and the grade level of the respondents. Statistical analyses of the data showed that the students of established English medium schools exhibited a positive outlook towards English language learning in terms of the behavioural, cognitive and emotional aspects of attitude. A significant difference was observed in the attitudes of male and female students towards learning English where females showed a more positive attitude in terms of behavioural, cognitive and emotional aspects as compared to their male counterparts. Moreover, grade 10 students had a more positive attitude towards learning English language in terms of behavioural, cognitive and emotional aspects as compared to grade 9 students. Nonetheless, students of newly established English medium schools were more proficient in English as gauged by their examination scores in this subject as compared to their counterparts studying in established English medium schools. Moreover, female students were more proficient in English while students studying in grade 9 were less proficient in English than their seniors studying in grade 10. The findings of this research provide empirical evidence to future researchers wishing to explore the relationship between attitudes towards learning language and variables such as the medium of instruction of the school, gender and the grade level of the students. Furthermore, policymakers might revisit the English curriculum to formulate specific guidelines that promote a positive and gender-balanced outlook towards learning English for male and female students.

Keywords: attitude, behavioral aspect of attitude, cognitive aspect of attitude, emotional aspect of attitude

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Authors: Pardis Abolghasemi, Benyamin Hatamsaz

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Background: Diabetic nephropathy is a serious health problem described by specific kidney structure and functional disturbance. Renoprotective effects of the stem cells secretase have been shown in many kidney diseases. The aim is to evaluate the capability of human Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cells conditioned media (hWJMSCs-CM) to alleviate DN in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes. Methods: Diabetic nephropathy was induced by injection of STZ (60 mg/kg, IP) in twenty rats. Conditioned media was extracted from hWJMSCs at third passages. At week 8, diabetic rats were divided into two groups: treated (hWJMSCs-CM, 500 μl/rat for three weeks, IP) and not treated (DN). In the 11th week, three groups (control, DN and DN+hWJMSCs-CM) were kept in metabolic cages and urine was collected for 24h. Blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) were continuously recorded. The serum samples were maintained for measuring BUN, Cr and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) activity. The left kidney was kept at -80°C for ACE activity assessment. The right kidney and pancreas were used for histopathologic evaluation. Result: Diabetic nephropathy was detected by microalbuminuria and increased albumin/creatinine ratio, as well as the pancreas and renal structural disturbance. Glomerular filtration rate, BP and HR increased in the DN group. The ACE activity was elevated in the serum and kidneys of the DN group. Administration of hWJMSCs-CM modulated the renal functional and structural disturbance and decreased the ACE activity. Conclusion: Conditioned media was extracted from hWJMSCs may have a Renoprotective effect in diabetic nephropathy. This may happen through regulation of ACE activity and renin-angiotensin system inhibition.

Keywords: diabetic nephropathy, mesenchymal stem cells, immunomodulation, anti-inflammation

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Authors: Meseret Teshome

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This study has the objective of assessing the effect of kaizen (5S, Muda elimination and Quality Control Circle (QCC) on employees’ affective attitude (job satisfaction, commitment and job stress) in Kombolcha Textile Share Company. A conceptual model was developed to describe the relationship between Kaizen and Employees’ Affective Attitude (EAA) factors. The three factors of Employee Affective Attitude were measured using questionnaire derived from other validated questionnaire. In the data collection to conduct this study; questionnaire, unstructured interview, written documents and direct observations are used. To analyze the data, SPSS and Microsoft Excel were used. In addition, the internal consistency of similar items in the questionnaire instrument was measured for their equivalence by using the cronbach’s alpha test. In this study, the effect of 5S, Muda elimination and QCC on job satisfaction, commitment and job stress in Kombolcha Textile Share Company is assessed and factors that reduce employees’ job satisfaction with respect to kaizen implementation are identified. The total averages of means from the questionnaire are 3.1 for job satisfaction, 4.31 for job commitment and 4.2 for job stress. And results from interview and secondary data show that kaizen implementation have effect on EAA. In general, based on the thesis results it was concluded that kaizen (5S, muda elimination and QCC) have positive effect for improving EAA factors at KTSC. Finally, recommendations for improvement are given based on the results.

Keywords: kaizen, job satisfaction, job commitment, job stress

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Authors: Ghada Mohammed, Mohamed Abdel Salam, Passent Tantawi

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The study aimed to investigate the impact of motives and barriers for Egyptian users to use Airbnb as a platform of peer-to-peer accommodation instead of hotels on overall attitude towards Airbnb. A sequential mixed-methods approach was adopted to this study and it proposed a comprehensive research model adapted from both literature and results of qualitative phase and then tested via an online questionnaire. The findings revealed that, motives, price, home benefits, privacy, and online reviews significantly explained overall attitude towards Airbnb, while the main barriers were respectively: perceived risk and distrust in which they can predict the overall attitude. While from the subjective norms, only social influence can predict behavioral intention to use Airbnb. The study may serve as a practical reference for practitioners as well as researchers when developing programs and strategies to manage Airbnb consumers' needs and decision process. Some of the main conclusions drawn from this study are that variety was one of the major things that users like about Airbnb and the most important motives are the functional ones like price rather than the experiential ones like authenticity.

Keywords: airbnb, barriers, disruptive innovation, motives, sharing economy

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Authors: Ting Zou, Chengfei Zhang

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Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of Semaphorin 4D (Sema4D)/Plexin-B1 signaling on osteo/odontogenic differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) and uncover its molecular mechanism. Methods: DPSCs were cultured in osteo/odontogenic medium. After treatment with Sema4D (10μg/mL), osteo/odontogenic differentiation and mineralization was evaluated by measuring alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and alizarin red S staining respectively. The expression of osteo/odontogenic genes (ALP, Col1A1, BSP, and Runx2) was determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction. p-Plexin-B1, Plexin-B1, Col1A1, RhoA, and ErbB2 were analyzed by western. Results: ALP activity and mineralization formation of DPSCs were significantly decreased after treatment with Sema4D (P<0.05). Sema4D significantly down-regulated osteo/odontogenic-related genes expression (ALP, Col1A1, BSP, and Runx2). p-Plexin-B1, Plexin-B1 and RhoA protein expression levels increased after stimulated with Sema4D, while the expression of Col1A1 decreased. Pretreatment with Plexin-B1 antibody blocked Sema4D induced p-Plexin-B1 expression. Conclusion: Sema4D suppressed osteo/odontogenic differentiation of DPSCs via RhoA-mediated pathways.

Keywords: Sema4D/Plexin-B1, dental pulp stem cells, osteo/odontogenic differentiation, alkaline phosphatase (ALP)

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Authors: Nizar Souiden, Riadh Ladhari

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Like tobacco and alcohol, recreational marijuana falls under the umbrella of ‘sin’ industries’. Notwithstanding this general negative image surrounding marijuana use, some scholars argue that most of the widely believed claims made about recreational marijuana users are irrelevant and that marijuana use can even improve individuals’ decision-making. This study intends to shed light on this particular product category (i.e., marijuana) often overlooked or portrayed as taboo from a business view. More specifically, it investigates whether legalizing the consumption of recreational marijuana would be perceived as ethical and whether companies/organizations involved in the commercialization of this particular product would be held socially responsible. Based on primary data collected in Canada, this study aims to answer the following questions: 1) What moral thoughts do individuals hold with regard to the consumption of recreational marijuana? 2) How do these moral thoughts determine consumers’ attitude toward the consumption of recreational marijuana? Regardless of the legalization of recreational marijuana in some countries such as Canada, probing people’s opinions, and investigating their attitudes toward the consumption of recreational marijuana is of important interest to different stakeholders such as consumers, public organizations, private businesses, and trade associations.

Keywords: recreational marijuana, moral thoughts, ethics, attitude

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Authors: Jui-Chen Huang

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Nowadays, the population is aging, the number of people who need to be taken care of is increased, but the manpower and funding are insufficient. Therefore, this study aims to explore the attitudes and willingness of arthritis patients to adopt telecare and to take a large medical institution in the central area of Taiwan as a sample hospital. A structured questionnaire (using the Likert five-point scale) was used to collect chronic patients over 20 years old as sample data, and a total of 500 valid questionnaires were effectively collected. The SPSS 18.0 statistical software was used for reliability analysis and independent sample t-test to explore the differences in attitudes and willingness to use telecare for arthritis patients and non-arthritic patients. The Cronbach's alpha value of this study questionnaire was above 0.94, showing good reliability. Arthritis patients and non-arthritic patients had statistically significant differences in attitudes toward telecare, while the willingness to use did not reach statistically significant differences. In addition, the average attitude and intention of arthritis patients for telecare are 3.38 and 3.41, respectively, indicating that arthritis patients have a certain degree of attitude and willingness to adopt telecare, which is worthy of follow-up research and practical industry push.

Keywords: telecare, arthritis patients, attitudes, intention

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Authors: Jacqueline R. Llamas, Agnes Regal

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Objective: To determine the breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes of fathers seen at the University of Santo Tomas Hospital. Design: Cross-sectional design. Setting: University of Santo Tomas Hospital (USTH). Participants: 156 fathers who were accompanying their wives/children at the USTH. Findings: Outcome of the Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale showed fathers to be generally unbiased whether their child be fed breast milk or milk formula. About 85% agreed that breast milk is the ideal food for babies, 79% believed that breastfed babies are healthier than formula fed and 55% of them do not believe that breast milk lacks iron. About 80% agreed that it is easily digested, 87% are aware of the economical value and 57% agreed of its convenience. Breastfeeding support was noted when 55% of the fathers would encourage mothers to breastfeed so as not to miss the joys of motherhood, 91% believed that breastfeeding increased mother-infant bonding. About 57% do not feel left out whenever the mothers breastfeed. However, 46.6% support the decision of their wives to switch to formula feeding once they go back to work, 42% only find breastfeeding in public to be acceptable and 57% will not allow breast feeding to mothers who drink alcohol. Conclusion: In the study, although fathers’ attitude toward breastfeeding is unbiased towards breastfeeding or formula feeding, the majority of the fathers appreciate breastfeeding and its benefits. Also, how the father’s level of education, age, profession, household income and number of children had an effect on their attitude towards breastfeeding.

Keywords: father, breastfeeding, breast milk, knowledge

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Authors: Muhammad Shoaib

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Every society has a set of beliefs, norms, values, folkways, mores and laws. All the principles, customs, traditions and procedures of societies are directly or indirectly related to the religion of the society and changed with the passage of time by the mediation of democratic values attitudes and mass media influence. The main objective of the present study is to examine the effects of rational thinking values on forgiveness attitude by the mediation of democratic values and mass media attitude among family members. As many other developing settings, Pakistani society is undergoing a rapid and multifaceted social change, in which traditional thinking coexists and often clashes with modern thinking. Rational thinking attitude has great effects on the forgiveness attitude among family members as well as all the members of Pakistani society. For the present study 520 respondents were sampled from two urban areas of Punjab province; Lahore and Faisalabad, through proportionate random sampling technique. A survey method was used as a technique of data collection and an interview schedule was administered to collect information from the respondents. The results support that the net of other factors, favorable democratic values attitudes are positively associated rational thinking attitudes. The results also provide support that all other things equal, mass media attitudes also have a significant positive effect on rational thinking attitudes. Favorable democratic values attitudes have a significant net positive effect and the effect of mass media attitudes is positive and statistically highly significant. It shows that the effects of both democratic values attitudes and mass media attitudes diminish in magnitude when the rational thinking attitudes scale is included. However, the effect of democratic values remains highly significant. In comparison, the effect of mass media attitudes is only marginally significant.

Keywords: rationality, forgiveness, democratic values, mass media, attitudes, Pakistan

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Authors: Münevver Başman, Deniz Gülleroğlu

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The purpose of this study is to develop a scale to determine the attitudes towards social networking sites. 45 tryout items, prepared for this aim, were applied to 342 students studying at Marmara University, Faculty of Education. The reliability and the validity of the scale were conducted with the help of these students. As a result of exploratory factor analysis with Varimax rotation, 41 items grouped according to the structure with three factors (interest, reality and negative effects) is obtained. While alpha reliability of the scale is obtained as .899; the reliability of factors is obtained as .899, .799, .775, respectively.

Keywords: Attitude, reliability, social networking sites, validity.

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Authors: Ilyasu G., Ogoina D., Otu AA, Muhammed FD, Ebenso B., Otokpa D., Rotifa S., Tuduo-Wisdom O., Habib AG

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Background: The 2014 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak was characterized by fear, misconceptions and irrational behaviors. We conducted a knowledge attitude and practice survey of EVD in Nigeria to inform the institution of effective control measures. Methods: Between July 30th and September 30th 2014, a cross-sectional study on knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) was undertaken among adults of the general population and healthcare workers (HCW) in three states of Nigeria, including Kano, Cross River and Bayelsa states. Demographic information and data on KAP were obtained using a self-administered standardized questionnaire. The percentage KAP scores were categorized as good and poor. Independent predictors of good knowledge of EVD were ascertained using a binary logistic regression model. Results: Out of 1035 study participants with a median age of 32 years, 648 (62.6%) were males, 846 (81.7%) had tertiary education and 441 (42.6%) were HCW. There were 218, 239 and 578 respondents from Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, and Kano states, respectively. The overall median percentage KAP scores and interquartile ranges (IQR) were 79.46% (15.07%), 95.0% (33.33%), and 49.95% (37.50%), respectively. Out of the 1035 respondents, 470 (45.4%), 544(52.56%), and 252 (24.35%) had good KAP of EVD defined using 80%, 90%, and 70% score cut-offs, respectively. Independent predictors of good knowledge of EVD were a HCW (Odds Ratio-OR-2.89, 95% Confidence interval-CI of 1.41-5.90), reporting ‘moderate to high fear of EVD’ (OR-2.15, 95% CI-1.47-3.13) and ‘willingness to modify habit’ (OR-1.68, 95% CI-1.23-2.30). Conclusion: Our results reveal suboptimal EVD-related knowledge, attitude and practice among adults in Nigeria. To effectively control future outbreaks of EVD in Nigeria, there is a need to institute public sensitization programs that improve understanding of EVD and address EVD-related myths and misconceptions, especially among the general population.

Keywords: Ebola, health care worker, knowledge, attitude

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Authors: Kalaashini Ramachandran, Maznah Dahlui, Nik Daliana Nik Farid

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WHO recommends all babies to be exclusively breastfed and donor milk is the next best alternative in the absence of mother’s own milk. The establishment of a human milk bank (HMB) is still being debated due to religious concerns in Malaysia leading to informal milk sharing practices, but little is known on the knowledge, attitude and perception of women towards HMB and its benefits. This study hypothesizes that there is no association between knowledge and attitude and the acceptance towards the establishment of human milk bank among Malaysian women and healthcare providers. The aim of this study is to determine the drivers and barriers among Malaysian towards the acceptance of an HMB. A cross-sectional study with 367 participants was enrolled within a period of 3 months to answer an online self-administered questionnaire. Data on sociodemographic, knowledge on breastfeeding benefits, knowledge and attitude on HMB and its specific issues were analyzed in terms of frequency and then proceed to multiple logistic regression. Majority of the respondents are of Islamis religion (73.3%), have succeesfully completed their tertiary education (82.8%), and are employed (70.8%). Only 55.9% of respondents have heard of an HMB stating internet as their main source of information but a higher prevalence is agreeable to the establishment of a human milk bank (67.8%). Most respondents have a good score on knowledge of breastfeeding benefits and on HMB specific issues (70% and 54.2% respectively) while 63.8% of them have a positive attitude towards HMB. In the multivariate analysis, mothers with a good score on general knowledge of breastfeeding (AOR: 1.715) were more likely to accept the establishment of an HMB while Islamic religion was negatively associated with its establishment (AOR:0.113). This study has found a high prevalence rate of mothers who are willing to accept the establishment of an HMB. This action can be potentially shaped by educating mothers on the benefits of breastfeeding as well as addressing their religious concerns so the establishment of a religiously abiding HMB in Malaysia may be accepted without compromising their belief or the health benefit of donor milk.

Keywords: acceptability, attitude, human milk bank, knowledge

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Authors: Santoshi Halder, Bijoya Saha

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Adolescent’s attitude is one of the most important variables in the inclusion of people with disabilities. This article investigated attitudes of general adolescent in the eastern part of India (Kolkata), India, towards people with disabilities measured by responses on the Attitude toward Disabled Persons Scale. The present study examined 400, High School adolescent students of Mean Age 14 from various schools in and around Kolkata, West Bengal. The study measured whether demographic characteristics such as gender, socioeconomic status (SES) habitat affect the attitudes of adolescent students towards people with disabilities. The results of this study indicate that habitat and socioeconomic status are some of the significant factors affecting the attitudes of the general adolescent students towards people with disabilities (PwD). However findings also indicate no significant effect on the attitude of the students towards people with disabilities (PwD) with respect to gender. Implication of this study: Broader and wide range of exposure to students and healthy family environment in order to increase positive attitudes towards people with disabilities.

Keywords: attitudes, People with Disabilities (PwD), adolescent students, socioeconomic status, gender, habitat, inclusion

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Authors: Espen Oland

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This paper presents a solution to the problem of autonomous rendezvous for spacecraft equipped with one main thruster for translational control and three reaction wheels for rotational control. With fewer actuators than degrees of freedom, this constitutes an underactuated control problem, requiring a coupling between the translational and rotational dynamics to facilitate control. This paper shows how to obtain this coupling, and applies the results to autonomous rendezvous between a follower spacecraft and a leader spacecraft. Additionally, since the thrust is constrained between zero and an upper bound, no negative forces can be generated to slow down the speed of the spacecraft. A combined speed and attitude control logic is therefore created that can be divided into three main phases: 1) The orbital velocity vector is pointed towards the desired position and the thrust is used to obtain the desired speed, 2) during the coasting phase, the attitude is changed to facilitate deceleration using the main thruster, 3) the speed is decreased as the spacecraft reaches its desired position. The results are validated through simulations, showing the capabilities of the proposed approach.

Keywords: attitude control, spacecraft rendezvous, translational control, underactuated rigid body

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