Penglibatan wanita yang mengikuti Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) dalam industri Oil & Gas

Persediaan wanita yang mengikuti TVET untuk menceburkan diri dalam industri oil & gas merupakan suatu masalah yang sering diperkatakan dikalangan wanita ketika ini. Permasalahan ini menjadi suatu persoalan dalam kalangan wanita tentang apakah persediaan yang perlu mereka lakukan dalam merencana kerjaya dalam industri oil & gas ini. Secara umumnya kajian ini adalah bertujuan mengenalpasti faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi pemilihan kerja dalam industri oil & gas, kesediaan diri wanita dari segi fizikal dan mental serta cabaran yang dihadapi dalam merealisasikan kerjaya mereka dalam industri oil & gas ini. Kajian ini telah dilakukan ke atas pekerja wanita yang telah berkhidmat dalam industri ini bagi zon selatan dan zon tengah. Seramai 110 sampel kajian yang terlibat dalam penyelidikan ini melalui pengedaran borang kaji selidik sebagai instrumen kajian. Data daripada 86 sampel kajian yang diperolehi dari soal selidik kemudiannya dianalisis dengan menggunakan perisian Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) versi 20.0. Hasil dapatan kajian menunjukkan faktor yang mempengaruhi wanita untuk menceburkan diri dalam industri oil & gas ini adalah faktor gaji iaitu skor min sebanyak 4.41 dan diikuti dengan kesediaan dari segi mental dengan nilai skor min pada tahap yang tinggi iaitu 4.392. Dapatan kajian juga mendapati cabaran semasa mendapatkan pekerjaan adalah perkara paling mencabar yang perlu dihadapi oleh wanita iaitu dengan dapatan skor min sebanyak 4.242. Ini membuktikan bahawa wanita perlu mempersiapkan diri dengan sebaiknya sebelum menceburi industri ini. Terdapat hubungan yang signifikan di antara faktor pemilihan kerja dan kesediaan diri wanita. Kesimpulannya, wanita perlu mempersiapkan diri bukan sekadar dengan memperolehi keputusan yang baik dalam akademik, tetapi kecenderungan dan minat dalam meletakkan diri untuk bersaing dengan lelaki bagi membuktikan wanita turut berkemahiran dan mempunyai jati diri yang tinggi untuk berkerja dalam bidang yang sungguh mencabar

Development and simultaneous application of multiple care protocols in critical care: amulticenter feasibility study

Objective: To test the feasibility of and interactions among three software-driven critical care protocols. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Intensive care units in six European and American university hospitals. Patients: 174 cardiac surgery and 41 septic patients. Interventions: Application of software-driven protocols for cardiovascular management, sedation, and weaning during the first 7days of intensive care. Measurements and results: All protocols were used simultaneously in 85% of the cardiac surgery and 44% of the septic patients, and any one of the protocols was used for 73 and 44% of study duration, respectively. Protocol use was discontinued in 12% of patients by the treating clinician and in 6% for technical/administrative reasons. The number of protocol steps per unit of time was similar in the two diagnostic groups (n.s. for all protocols). Initial hemodynamic stability (a protocol target) was achieved in 26 ± 18 min (mean ± SD) in cardiac surgery and in 24 ± 18 min in septic patients. Sedation targets were reached in 2.4 ± 0.2 h in cardiac surgery and in 3.6 ± 0.2 h in septic patients. Weaning protocol was started in 164 (94%; 154 extubated) cardiac surgery and in 25 (60%; 9 extubated) septic patients. The median (interquartile range) time from starting weaning to extubation (a protocol target) was 89 min (range 44-154 min) for the cardiac surgery patients and 96 min (range 56-205 min) for the septic patients. Conclusions: Multiple software-driven treatment protocols can be simultaneously applied with high acceptance and rapid achievement of primary treatment goals. Time to reach these primary goals may provide aperformance indicato

School assistants’ experiences of belonging

Abstract Providing quality education for all pupils requires cooperation from members of the entire school community. One group of professionals is school assistants, who, together with teachers, play an important role in supporting pupils and inclusive education. Due to pupils’ diverse needs, the responsibilities of school assistants in schools have broadened; yet, their role in the school community has rarely been studied. This study focuses on school assistants’ experiences and addresses the following research question: How is belonging argumented in school assistants’ narratives at their work? The data comprise free writings (N = 52) and interviews (N = 9) of school assistants’ work. The narratives are analysed using categorical-content analysis. The results yield three experiences of belonging: stories of belonging, stories between belonging and non-belonging and stories of non-belonging. The study data reveal how a school as an institution can be based on conventional practices, where relationships are often formed through hierarchies, old-fashioned work roles and exclusive meeting policies. The study’s conclusion encourages the recognition of structural inequalities in school communities.Abstract Providing quality education for all pupils requires cooperation from members of the entire school community. One group of professionals is school assistants, who, together with teachers, play an important role in supporting pupils and inclusive education. Due to pupils’ diverse needs, the responsibilities of school assistants in schools have broadened; yet, their role in the school community has rarely been studied. This study focuses on school assistants’ experiences and addresses the following research question: How is belonging argumented in school assistants’ narratives at their work? The data comprise free writings (N = 52) and interviews (N = 9) of school assistants’ work. The narratives are analysed using categorical-content analysis. The results yield three experiences of belonging: stories of belonging, stories between belonging and non-belonging and stories of non-belonging. The study data reveal how a school as an institution can be based on conventional practices, where relationships are often formed through hierarchies, old-fashioned work roles and exclusive meeting policies. The study’s conclusion encourages the recognition of structural inequalities in school communities

An expanded global inventory of allelic variation in the most extremely polymorphic region of Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein 1 provided by short read sequence data.

BACKGROUND: Within Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP1), the N-terminal block 2 region is a highly polymorphic target of naturally acquired antibody responses. The antigenic diversity is determined by complex repeat sequences as well as non-repeat sequences, grouping into three major allelic types that appear to be maintained within populations by natural selection. Within these major types, many distinct allelic sequences have been described in different studies, but the extent and significance of the diversity remains unresolved. METHODS: To survey the diversity more extensively, block 2 allelic sequences in the msp1 gene were characterized in 2400 P. falciparum infection isolates with whole genome short read sequence data available from the Pf3K project, and compared with the data from previous studies. RESULTS: Mapping the short read sequence data in the 2400 isolates to a reference library of msp1 block 2 allelic sequences yielded 3815 allele scores at the level of major allelic family types, with 46% of isolates containing two or more of these major types. Overall frequencies were similar to those previously reported in other samples with different methods, the K1-like allelic type being most common in Africa, MAD20-like most common in Southeast Asia, and RO33-like being the third most abundant type in each continent. The rare MR type, formed by recombination between MAD20-like and RO33-like alleles, was only seen in Africa and very rarely in the Indian subcontinent but not in Southeast Asia. A combination of mapped short read assembly approaches enabled 1522 complete msp1 block 2 sequences to be determined, among which there were 363 different allele sequences, of which 246 have not been described previously. In these data, the K1-like msp1 block 2 alleles are most diverse and encode 225 distinct amino acid sequences, compared with 123 different MAD20-like, 9 RO33-like and 6 MR type sequences. Within each of the major types, the different allelic sequences show highly skewed geographical distributions, with most of the more common sequences being detected in either Africa or Asia, but not in both. CONCLUSIONS: Allelic sequences of this extremely polymorphic locus have been derived from whole genome short read sequence data by mapping to a reference library followed by assembly of mapped reads. The catalogue of sequence variation has been greatly expanded, so that there are now more than 500 different msp1 block 2 allelic sequences described. This provides an extensive reference for molecular epidemiological genotyping and sequencing studies, and potentially for design of a multi-allelic vaccine

Molecular markers of anti-malarial drug resistance in Central, West and East African children with severe malaria.

BACKGROUND: The Plasmodium falciparum multidrug resistance 1 (PfMDR1), P. falciparum Ca(2+)-ATPase (PfATP6) and Kelch-13 propeller domain (PfK13) loci are molecular markers of parasite susceptibility to anti-malarial drugs. Their frequency distributions were determined in the isolates collected from children with severe malaria originating from three African countries. METHODS: Samples from 287 children with severe malaria [(Gabon: n = 114); (Ghana: n = 89); (Kenya: n = 84)] were genotyped for pfmdr1, pfatp6 and pfk13 loci by DNA sequencing and assessing pfmdr1 copy number variation (CNV) by real-time PCR. RESULTS: Pfmdr1-N86Y mutation was detected in 48, 10 and 10% in Lambaréné, Kumasi and Kisumu, respectively. At codon 184, the prevalence of the mutation was 73% in Lambaréné, 63% in Kumasi and 49% Kisumu. The S1034C and N1042D variants were absent at all three sites, while the frequency of the D1246Y mutation was 1, 3 and 13% in Lambaréné, Kumasi and Kisumu, respectively. Isolates with two pfmdr1 gene copy number predominantly harboured the N86Y wild-type allele and were mostly found in Kumasi (10%) (P < 0.0001). Among the main pfmdr1 haplotypes (NFD, NYD and YFD), NYD was associated with highest parasitaemia (P = 0.04). At the pfatp6 locus, H243Y and A623E mutations were observed at very low frequency at all three sites. The prevalence of the pfatp6 E431K variant was 6, 18 and 17% in Lambaréné, Kumasi and Kisumu, respectively. The L263E and S769N mutations were absent in all isolates. The pfk13 variants associated with artemisinin resistance in Southeast Asia were not observed. Eleven novel substitutions in the pfk13 locus occurring at low frequency were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Artemisinins are still highly efficacious in large malaria-endemic regions though declining efficacy has occurred in Southeast Asia. The return of chloroquine-sensitive strains following the removal of drug pressure is observed. However, selection of wild-type alleles in the multidrug-resistance gene and the increased gene copy number is associated with reduced lumefantrine sensitivity. This study indicates a need to constantly monitor drug resistance to artemisinin in field isolates from malaria-endemic countries

Factor Retention Decisions in Exploratory Factor Analysis Results: A Study Type of Knowledge Management Process at Malaysian University Libraries

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a versatile statistical modeling tool which uses in the social sciences research. Recently, in Library and Information Science (LIS) environment, structural equation modeling has gained popularity across many disciplines, due to its generality and flexibility. Its estimation techniques, modeling capabilities and breadth of application are expanding rapidly.This paper reported a structural equation modeling through an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) result, which involves 300 lead users at six selected Malaysian university libraries through survey. The decision of how many factors to retain is a critical component of exploratory factor analysis. Evidence is presented that parallel analysis is one of the most accurate factor retention methods. SPSS 20 was utilized to analyze the factor analysis data. In this regards, the results of EFA could provide empirical evidence of each hypotheses construct. It is hoped that the EFA results could be used to level Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to perform full Structural Equation Modeling.© 2013 The Authors. Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Influence of marketing mix strategy in insurance business: The case of Kota Bharu

Malaysia has experience a low penetration for Takaful business despite many growing operators in insurance industry. After 25 years in operation, it is time that Takaful industry is evaluated in terms of its performance. This study provides better understanding on Takaful customer satisfaction in a case of Kota Bharu. Population of this study are customers who have subscribing family Takaful plans in selected Takaful operator at least one years’ experience based on convenience sampling method. A total of 196 questionnaires were distributed and 163 questionnaires were returned. Therefore, this study revealed that the Product, Pricing, Promotion, People and Process towards Takaful operator were positively influence customer satisfaction. Finally, the study found that the Process indicates as the most critical factor that influences customer satisfaction toward Takaful Operator.© 2019 Sciedu Pressfi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Infection and Inflammation Leading to Clozapine Toxicity and Intensive Care: A Case Series

Objective: To describe 3 cases of clozapine toxicity associated with infectious and/or inflammatory processes. Case Summaries: 3 patients stable on clozapine therapy prior to a medical hospital admission developed clozapine toxicity. It was suspected that an acute infectious and/or inflammatory process in each patient was related to abrupt mental status changes, onset of sialorrhea, myoclonus, and/or need for ventilatory support. Investigations of altered mental status did not reveal alterative causes and presentations were not consistent with neuroleptic malignant syndrome, other acute neurologic complications, or psychiatric decompensation. All patients improved after clozapine dose reductions allowing for transfer from intensive care units. Using the Naranjo ADR Probability Scale for each case, a probable relation between clozapine toxicity and the infectious and/or inflammatory process was determined. Discussion: Clozapine toxicity may manifest with multiple symptoms including sedation, sialorrhea, and hypotension. In addition to overdose and drug interactions; infection and/or inflammation may precipitate clozapine toxicity. This may be related to cytokine-mediated inhibition of cytochrome P450 1A2. The likelihood of toxicity via this mechanism has not been well-characterized, thus careful monitoring is required for medically ill patient receiving clozapine. Clozapine is extensively bound to the acute phase reactant, alpha-1 acid glycoprotein, which may unpredictably protect against clinical toxicity. C-reactive protein has also been investigated to relate clozapine toxicity to infection and/or inflammation. Conclusion: Clozapine toxicity developed in 3 patients admitted to a medical setting suspected to be related to infection and/or inflammation. Clinicians should be aware of this potential adverse drug event with clozapine

Globally prevalent PfMDR1 mutations modulate Plasmodium falciparum susceptibility to artemisinin-based combination therapies

Antimalarial chemotherapy, globally reliant on artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), is threatened by the spread of drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum parasites. Here we use zinc-finger nucleases to genetically modify the multidrug resistance-1 transporter PfMDR1 at amino acids 86 and 184, and demonstrate that the widely prevalent N86Y mutation augments resistance to the ACT partner drug amodiaquine and the former first-line agent chloroquine. In contrast, N86Y increases parasite susceptibility to the partner drugs lumefantrine and mefloquine, and the active artemisinin metabolite dihydroartemisinin. The PfMDR1 N86 plus Y184F isoform moderately reduces piperaquine potency in strains expressing an Asian/African variant of the chloroquine resistance transporter PfCRT. Mutations in both digestive vacuole-resident transporters are thought to differentially regulate ACT drug interactions with host haem, a product of parasite-mediated haemoglobin degradation. Global mapping of these mutations illustrates where the different ACTs could be selectively deployed to optimize treatment based on regional differences in PfMDR1 haplotypes.This work was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (R01 AI50234, AI124678 and AI109023) and a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigator in Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases award to D.A.F. This research also received funding from the Portuguese Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT), cofunded by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2-O Novo Norte); from the Quadro de Referencia Estrategico Nacional (QREN) through the Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) and from the Projeto Estrategico - LA 26 - 2013-2014 (PEst-C/SAU/LA0026/2013). M.I.V. is the recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship from FCT/Ministerio da Ciencia e Ensino Superior, Portugal-MCES (SFRH/BPD/76614/2011). A.M.L. was supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Overseas Biomedical Fellowship (585519). R.E.M. was supported by an NHMRC RD Wright Biomedical Fellowship (1053082). A.C.U. was supported by an Irving scholarship from Columbia University. We thank Dr Andrea Ecker for her help with plasmid design and Pedro Ferreira for his expert help with Fig. 6.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Compact North Finding System

The knowledge of orientation of an object with respect to earth-fixed reference coordinate system is crucial in many applications. For instance, in oil mining it is very crucial to accurately know the orientation of the drilling equipment under the earth surface to drill through desired path. In this context we propose a compact inertial sensor system that estimates the instantaneous orientation of the system using accelerometer and gyroscope-derived tilt and azimuth angles. To keep the system size small, we use two-axis accelerometer and one-axis gyroscope. In addition, to avoid high sensor cost, the sensor biases are removed using indexing method. The proposed system estimates the orientation of the compact system in almost all of the orientations and additionally it also provides the measurement accuracy and integrity values that help in ascertaining the validity of the orientation estimate.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe