Abstract: The article represents the results of isolation and
component chromatographic analysis of essential oils of Polygonym
L. plants growing in Kazakhstan in commercial reserves at the
territory of Kazakhstan. The results of research of antiviral activity of
isolated substances to flu virus have been represented in this article.
The main pharmacophore groups in the structure of alkaloids have
been identified.
Abstract: Many factors influence the educational outcome of
students. Some of these have been studied by researchers with many
emphasizing the role of students, schools, governments, peer groups
and so on. More often than not, some of these factors influencing the
academic achievement of the students have been traced back to
parents and family; being the primary platform on which learning not
only begins but is nurtured, encouraged and developed which later
transforms to the performance of the students. This study not only
explores parental and related factors that predict academic
achievement through the review of relevant literatures but also,
investigates the influence of parental background on the academic
achievement of senior secondary school students in Ibadan North
Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. As one of the criteria
of the quality of education, students’ academic achievement was
investigated because it is most often cited as an indicator of school
effectiveness by school authorities and educationists. The data
collection was done through interviews and use of well-structured
questionnaires administered to one hundred students (100) within the
target local government. This was statistically analysed and the result
showed that parents’ attitudes towards their children’s education had
significant effect(s) on students’ self-reporting of academic
achievement. However, such factors as parental education and socioeconomic
background had no significant relationship with the
students’ self-reporting of academic achievement.
Abstract: With the flourishing development of online shopping,
an increasing number of customers see online shopping as an
entertaining experience. Because the online consumer has a double
identity as a shopper and an Internet user, online shopping should offer
hedonic values of shopping and Internet usage. The purpose of this
study is to investigate hedonic online shopping motivations from the
perspectives of traditional hedonic value and flow theory.
The study adopted a focus group interview method, including two
online and two offline interviews. Four focus groups of shoppers
consisted of online professionals, online college students, offline
professionals and offline college students. The results of the study
indicate that traditional hedonic values and dimensions of flow theory
exist in the online shopping environment. The study indicated that
online shoppers seem to appreciate being able to learn things and grow
to become competitive achievers online. Comparisons of online
hedonic motivations between groups are conducted. This study serves
as a basis for the future growth of Internet marketing.
Abstract: The problems arising from unbalanced data sets
generally appear in real world applications. Due to unequal class
distribution, many researchers have found that the performance of
existing classifiers tends to be biased towards the majority class. The
k-nearest neighbors’ nonparametric discriminant analysis is a method
that was proposed for classifying unbalanced classes with good
performance. In this study, the methods of discriminant analysis are
of interest in investigating misclassification error rates for classimbalanced
data of three diabetes risk groups. The purpose of this
study was to compare the classification performance between
parametric discriminant analysis and nonparametric discriminant
analysis in a three-class classification of class-imbalanced data of
diabetes risk groups. Data from a project maintaining healthy
conditions for 599 employees of a government hospital in Bangkok
were obtained for the classification problem. The employees were
divided into three diabetes risk groups: non-risk (90%), risk (5%),
and diabetic (5%). The original data including the variables of
diabetes risk group, age, gender, blood glucose, and BMI were
analyzed and bootstrapped for 50 and 100 samples, 599 observations
per sample, for additional estimation of the misclassification error
rate. Each data set was explored for the departure of multivariate
normality and the equality of covariance matrices of the three risk
groups. Both the original data and the bootstrap samples showed nonnormality
and unequal covariance matrices. The parametric linear
discriminant function, quadratic discriminant function, and the
nonparametric k-nearest neighbors’ discriminant function were
performed over 50 and 100 bootstrap samples and applied to the
original data. Searching the optimal classification rule, the choices of
prior probabilities were set up for both equal proportions (0.33: 0.33:
0.33) and unequal proportions of (0.90:0.05:0.05), (0.80: 0.10: 0.10)
and (0.70, 0.15, 0.15). The results from 50 and 100 bootstrap samples
indicated that the k-nearest neighbors approach when k=3 or k=4 and
the defined prior probabilities of non-risk: risk: diabetic as 0.90:
0.05:0.05 or 0.80:0.10:0.10 gave the smallest error rate of
misclassification. The k-nearest neighbors approach would be
suggested for classifying a three-class-imbalanced data of diabetes
risk groups.
Abstract: This paper deals with various questions related to
functionality and providing banking services in the European union
on the Internet. Due to the fact that we live in the information
technologies era, the Internet become a new space for doing
economic and business activities in all areas, and especially important
in banking. Accepting the busy tempo of life, in the past several years
electronic banking has become necessity and a must for most users of
banking services. On a sample of 300 web sites of the banks
operating in European Union (EU) we conduct the research on the
functionality of e-banking services offered through banks web sites
with the key objective to reveal to what extent the information
technologies are used in their business operations. Characteristics of
EU banks websites will be examined and compared to the basic
groups of business activities on the web. Also some
recommendations for the successful bank web sites will be provided.
Abstract: The article represents the results of research of
antitumor activity of different structural types of plant flavonoids
extracted by authors from Polygonum L. plants in commercial
reserves at the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan. For the first
time ever the results comparative research of antitumor activity of
plant flavonoids of different structural groups and their synthetic
derivatives have been represented. The results of determination of
toxicity of flavonoids in single parenteral infusion conditions have
been represented. Experimental substantiation of possible
mechanisms of antiproliferative and cytotoxic action of flavonoids
has been suggested. The perspectives of usage of plant flavonoids as
medications and creation of effective dosage forms of antitumor
medicines on their basis have been substantiated.
Abstract: Heat transfer of leaves is a crucial factor in optimal
operation of metabolic functions in plants. In order to quantify this
phenomenon in different leaves and investigate the influence of leaf
shape on heat transfer, natural convection for pine, orange and olive
leaves was simulated as representatives of different groups of leaf
shapes. CFD techniques were used in this simulation with the
purpose to calculate heat transfer of leaves in similar environmental
conditions. The problem was simulated for steady state and threedimensional
conditions. From obtained results, it was concluded that
heat fluxes of all three different leaves are almost identical, however,
total rate of heat transfer have highest and lowest values for orange
leaves, and pine leaves, respectively.
Abstract: The aim of this research is to identify the key factors in shipping company’s port selection in order to providing their requirement. To identify and rank factors that play the main role in selecting port for providing the ship requirement, at the first step, data were collected via Semi-structured interviews, the aim was to generate knowledge on how shipping company select the port and suppliers for providing their needs. 37 port selection factors were chosen from the previous researches and field interviews and have been categorized into two groups of port's factor and the factors of services of suppliers companies. The current study adopts a questionnaire survey to the main shipping companies' operators in Iran. Their responses reveal that level of services of supplying companies and customs rules play the important role in selecting the ports. Our findings could affect decisions made by port authorities to consider that supporting the privet sections for ship chandelling business could have the best result in attracting ships.
Abstract: During the post-Civil War era, the city of Nashville,
Tennessee, had the highest mortality rate in the United States. The
elevated death and disease rates among former slaves were
attributable to lack of quality healthcare. To address the paucity of
healthcare services, Meharry Medical College, an institution with the
mission of educating minority professionals and serving the
underserved population, was established in 1876.
Purpose: The social ecological framework and partial least squares
(PLS) path modeling were used to quantify the impact of
socioeconomic status and adverse health outcome on primary care
professionals serving the disadvantaged community. Thus, the study
results could demonstrate the accomplishment of the College’s
mission of training primary care professionals to serve in underserved
areas.
Methods: Various statistical methods were used to analyze alumni
data from 1975 – 2013. K-means cluster analysis was utilized to
identify individual medical and dental graduates in the cluster groups
of the practice communities (Disadvantaged or Non-disadvantaged
Communities). Discriminant analysis was implemented to verify the
classification accuracy of cluster analysis. The independent t-test was
performed to detect the significant mean differences of respective
clustering and criterion variables. Chi-square test was used to test if
the proportions of primary care and non-primary care specialists are
consistent with those of medical and dental graduates practicing in
the designated community clusters. Finally, the PLS path model was
constructed to explore the construct validity of analytic model by
providing the magnitude effects of socioeconomic status and adverse
health outcome on primary care professionals serving the
disadvantaged community.
Results: Approximately 83% (3,192/3,864) of Meharry Medical
College’s medical and dental graduates from 1975 to 2013 were
practicing in disadvantaged communities. Independent t-test confirmed the content validity of the cluster analysis model. Also, the
PLS path modeling demonstrated that alumni served as primary care
professionals in communities with significantly lower socioeconomic
status and higher adverse health outcome (p < .001). The PLS path
modeling exhibited the meaningful interrelation between primary
care professionals practicing communities and surrounding
environments (socioeconomic statues and adverse health outcome),
which yielded model reliability, validity, and applicability.
Conclusion: This study applied social ecological theory and
analytic modeling approaches to assess the attainment of Meharry
Medical College’s mission of training primary care professionals to
serve in underserved areas, particularly in communities with low
socioeconomic status and high rates of adverse health outcomes. In
summary, the majority of medical and dental graduates from Meharry
Medical College provided primary care services to disadvantaged
communities with low socioeconomic status and high adverse health
outcome, which demonstrated that Meharry Medical College has
fulfilled its mission. The high reliability, validity, and applicability of
this model imply that it could be replicated for comparable
universities and colleges elsewhere.
Abstract: Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to infer
another’s mental state. With appropriate ToM, one can behave well in
social interactions. A growing body of evidence has demonstrated that
patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) may damage ToM by
affecting on regions of the underlying neural network of ToM.
However, the question of whether there is cerebral laterality for ToM
functions remains open. This study aimed to examine whether there is
cerebral lateralization for ToM abilities in TLE patients. Sixty-seven
adult TLE patients and 30 matched healthy controls (HC) were
recruited. Patients were classified into right (RTLE), left (LTLE), and
bilateral (BTLE) TLE groups on the basis of a consensus panel review
of their seizure semiology, EEG findings, and brain imaging results.
All participants completed an intellectual test and four tasks measuring
basic and advanced ToM. The results showed that, on all ToM tasks,
(1) each patient group performed worse than HC; (2) there were no
significant differences between LTLE and RTLE groups; and (3) the
BTLE group performed the worst. It appears that the neural network
responsible for ToM is distributed evenly between the cerebral
hemispheres.
Abstract: Egg yolk oil is a natural source of bioactive
compounds such as unsaturated fatty acids, oil soluble vitamins,
pigments and others. Bioactive compound content in egg yolk oil
depends from its content in eggs, from which oil was extracted. Many
studies show that bioactive compound content in egg is correlated to
the content of these compounds in hen feed, but there is also an
opinion that hen housing systems also have influence on egg
chemical content. The aim of this study was to determine which
factor, laying hen housing system or hen diet, has a primary influence
on bioactive compound content in egg yolk oil. The egg yolk oil was
extracted from eggs obtained from 4 different hen housing systems:
cage, barn and two groups of free range. All hens were fed with
commercially produced compound feed except one group of free
range hens which get free diet – pastured hens. Extracted egg yolk
oils were analyzed for fatty acids, oil soluble vitamins and β-carotene
content. α-tocopherol, ergocalcipherol and polyunsaturated fatty acid
content in egg yolk oil was higher from eggs obtained from all
housing systems where hens were fed with commercial compound
feed. β-carotene and retinol content in egg yolk oils from free range
free diet eggs was significantly (p>0.05) higher that from other eggs
because hens have access to green forage. Hen physical activity in
free range housing systems decreases content of some bioactive
compound in egg yolk oil.
Abstract: In the present work, Electrochemical Impedance
Spectrocopy (EIS) is applied to study the transport of different metal
cations through a cation-exchange membrane. This technique enables
the identification of the ionic-transport characteristics and to
distinguish between different transport mechanisms occurring at
different current density ranges. The impedance spectra are
dependent on the applied dc current density, on the type of cation and
on the concentration.
When the applied dc current density increases, the diameter of the
impedance spectra loops increases because all the components of
membrane system resistance increase. The diameter of the impedance
plots decreases in the order of Na(I), Ni(II) and Cr(III) due to the
increased interactions between the negatively charged sulfonic
groups of the membrane and the cations with greater charge. Nyquist
plots are shifted towards lower values of the real impedance, and its
diameter decreases with the increase of concentration due to the
decrease of the solution resistance.
Abstract: The aims of this study were to determine the factor
structure and psychometric properties (i.e., reliability and convergent
validity) of the Malaysian Multi-Ethnic Discrimination Scale
(MMEDS). It consists of 71-items measure experience, strategies
used and consequences of ethnic discrimination. A sample of 649
university students from one of the higher education institution in
Malaysia was asked to complete MMEDS, as well as Perceived
Ethnic and Racial Discrimination. The exploratory factor analysis on
ethnic discrimination experience extracted two factors labeled ‘unfair
treatment’ (15 items) and ‘Denial of the ethnic right’ (12 items)
which accounted for 60.92% of the total variance. The two sub scales
demonstrated clear reliability with internal consistency above .70.
The convergent validity of the Scale was supported by an expected
pattern of correlations (positive and significant correlation) between
the score of unfair treatment and denial of the ethnic right and the
score of Perceived Ethnic and Racial Discrimination by Peers Scale.
The results suggest that the MMEDS is a reliable and valid measure.
However, further studies need to be carried out in other groups of
sample as to validate the Scale.
Abstract: Technology, multimedia in Open Educational
Resources, can contribute positively to student performance in an
online instructional environment. Student performance data of past
four years were obtained from an online course entitled Applied
Calculus (MA139). This paper examined the data to determine
whether multimedia (independent variable) had any impact on
student performance (dependent variable) in online math learning,
and how students felt about the value of the technology. Two groups
of student data were analyzed, group 1 (control) from the online
applied calculus course that did not use multimedia instructional
materials, and group 2 (treatment) of the same online applied calculus
course that used multimedia instructional materials. For the MA139
class, results indicate a statistically significant difference (p = .001)
between the two groups, where group 1 had a final score mean of
56.36 (out of 100), group 2 of 70.68. Additionally, student
testimonials were discussed in which students shared their experience
in learning applied calculus online with multimedia instructional
materials.
Abstract: Family has a crucial role in maintaining the
physical, social and mental health of the children. Most of the
mental and anxiety problems of children reflect the complex
interpersonal situations among family members, especially parents.
In other words, anxiety problems of the children are correlated
with deficit relationships of family members and improper
childrearing styles. The parental child rearing styles leads to
positive and negative consequences which affect the children’s
mental health. Therefore, the present research was aimed to
compare the parental childrearing styles and anxiety of children
with stuttering and normal population. It was also aimed to study
the relationship between parental child rearing styles and anxiety
of children. The research sample included 54 boys with stuttering
and 54 normal boys who were selected from the children (boys) of
Tehran, Iran in the age range of 5 to 8 years in 2013. In order to
collect data, Baum-rind Childrearing Styles Inventory and Spence
Parental Anxiety Inventory were used. Appropriate descriptive
statistical methods and multivariate variance analysis and t test for
independent groups were used to test the study hypotheses.
Statistical data analyses demonstrated that there was a significant
difference between stuttering boys and normal boys in anxiety (t =
7.601, p< 0.01); but there was no significant difference between
stuttering boys and normal boys in parental childrearing styles (F =
0.129). There was also not found significant relationship between
parental childrearing styles and children anxiety (F = 0.135, p<
0.05). It can be concluded that the influential factors of children’s
society are parents, school, teachers, peers and media. So, parental
childrearing styles are not the only influential factors on anxiety of
children, and other factors including genetic, environment and
child experiences are effective in anxiety as well. Details are
discussed.
Abstract: Honeys are produced by Apis mellifera and stingless
bees (Meliponini) in Ecuador. We studied honey produced in
beeswax combs by Apis mellifera, and honey produced in pots by
Geotrigona and Scaptotrigona bees. Chloroform extracts of honey
were obtained for fast NMR spectra. The 1D spectra were acquired at
298 K, with a 600 MHz NMR Bruker instrument, using a modified
double pulsed field gradient spin echoes (DPFGSE) sequence.
Signals of 1H NMR spectra were integrated and used as inputs for
PCA, PLS-DA analysis, and labelled sets of classes were successfully
identified, enhancing the separation between the three groups of
honey according to the entomological origin: A. mellifera,
Geotrigona and Scaptotrigona. This procedure is therefore
recommended for authenticity test of honey in Ecuador.
Abstract: Control of honey frauds is needed in Ecuador to
protect bee keepers and consumers because simple syrups and new
syrups with eucalyptus are sold as genuine honeys. Authenticity of
Ecuadorian commercial honeys was tested with a vortex emulsion
consisting on one volume of honey:water (1:1) dilution, and two
volumes of diethyl ether. This method allows a separation of phases
in one minute to discriminate genuine honeys that form three phase
and fake honeys that form two phases; 34 of the 42 honeys analyzed
from five provinces of Ecuador were genuine. This was confirmed
with 1H NMR spectra of honey dilutions in deuterated water with an
enhanced amino acid region with signals for proline, phenylalanine
and tyrosine. Classic quality indicators were also tested with this
method (sugars, HMF), indicators of fermentation (ethanol, acetic
acid), and residues of citric acid used in the syrup manufacture. One
of the honeys gave a false positive for genuine, being an admixture of
genuine honey with added syrup, evident for the high sucrose.
Sensory analysis was the final confirmation to recognize the honey
groups studied here, namely honey produced in combs by Apis
mellifera, fake honey, and honey produced in cerumen pots by
Geotrigona, Melipona, and Scaptotrigona. Chloroform extractions of
honey were also done to search lipophilic additives in NMR spectra.
This is a valuable contribution to protect honey consumers, and to
develop the beekeeping industry in Ecuador.
Abstract: Although, lanthanum carbonate has not been approved
by the FDA for treatment of hyperphosphatemia, we prospectively
evaluated the efficacy of the combination of Calcium hydroxyapatite
(CHAp) and Lanthanum Carbonate (LaC) for the treatment of
hyperphosphatemia on mice. CHAp was prepared by co-precipitation
method using Ca(OH)2, H3PO4, NH4OH with calcination at 1200ºC.
Lanthanum carbonate was prepared by chemical method using
NaHCO3 and LaCl3 at low pH environment, below 4.0. The
structures were characterized by FTIR spectra and SEM -EDX
analysis. The study group included 16 subjects-mice divided into four
groups according to the administered substance: lanthanum carbonate
(group A), CHAp (group B), lanthanum carbonate + CHAp (group C)
and salt water (group D). The results indicate a phosphate decrease
when subjects (mice) were treated with CHAp and lanthanum
carbonate (0.5% CMC), in a single dose of 1500 mg/kg. Serum
phosphate concentration decreased [(from 4.5 ± 0.8 mg/dL) to
4.05 ± 0.2 mg/dL), P < 0.01] in group A and in group C (to 3.6
± 0.2 mg/dL) at 12 hours from the administration. The combination
of CHAp and lanthanum carbonate is a suitable regimen for
hyperphosphatemia treatment because it avoids both the
hypercalcemia of CaCO3 and the adverse effects of CHAp.
Abstract: This study examined how individuals in their
respective teams contributed to innovation performance besides
defining the term of innovation in their own respective views. This
study also identified factors that motivated University staff to
contribute to the innovation products. In addition, it examined
whether there is a significant relationship between professional
training level and the length of service among university staff
towards innovation and to what extent do the two variables
contributed towards innovative products. The significance of this
study is that it revealed the strengths and weaknesses of the
university staff when contributing to innovation performance.
Stratified-random sampling was employed to determine the samples
representing the population of lecturers in the study, involving 123
lecturers in one of the local universities in Malaysia. The method
employed to analyze the data is through categorizing into themes for
the open-ended questions besides using descriptive and inferential
statistics for the quantitative data. This study revealed that two types
of definition for the term “innovation” exist among the university
staff, namely, creation of new product or new approach to do things
as well as value-added creative way to upgrade or improve existing
process and service to be more efficient. This study found that the
most prominent factor that propels them towards innovation is to
improve the product in order to benefit users, followed by selfsatisfaction
and recognition. This implies that the staff in the
organization viewed the creation of innovative products as a process
of growth to fulfill the needs of others and also to realize their
personal potential. This study also found that there was only a
significant relationship between the professional training level and
the length of service of 4 - 6 years among the university staff. The
rest of the groups based on the length of service showed that there
was no significant relationship with the professional training level
towards innovation. Moreover, results of the study on directional
measures depicted that the relationship for the length of service of 4-
6 years with professional training level among the university staff is
quite weak. This implies that good organization management lies on
the shoulders of the key leaders who enlighten the path to be
followed by the staff.
Abstract: Our globalizing world has become almost a small
village and everyone can access any information at any time.
Everyone lets each other know who does whatever in which place.
We can learn which social events occur in which place in the world.
From the perspective of education, the course notes that a lecturer use
in lessons in a university in any state of America can be examined by
a student studying in a city of Africa or the Far East. This dizzying
communication we have mentioned happened thanks to fast
developments in computer and internet technologies. While these
developments occur in the world, Turkey that has a very large young
population and whose electronic infrastructure rapidly improves has
also been affected by these developments. Nowadays, mobile devices
have become common and thus, it causes to increase data traffic in
social networks. This study was carried out on students in the
different age groups in Selcuk University Vocational School of
Technical Sciences, the Department of Computer Technology.
Students’ opinions about the use of internet and social media were
obtained. The features such as using the Internet and social media
skills, purposes, operating frequency, accessing facilities and tools,
social life and effects on vocational education and so forth were
explored. The positive effects and negative effects of both internet
and social media use on the students in this department and findings
are evaluated from different perspectives and results are obtained. In
addition, relations and differences were found out statistically.