ABSTRACT:
A scaffold of a transparent film with micro pattern markers has been designed to measure the contractile force of myotube under electric stimulation in vitro. The scaffold is made of a thin film (thickness 0.006 mm), of which the back side has arrangement of polydimethylsiloxane micro-protrusions (0.004 mm diameter, 0.002 mm height, 0.003 mm interval) made by the photolithography technique. C2C12 (mouse myoblast) was seeded on the film at the counter surface to the protrusions at the density of 50000 cells/cm². The cells were cultured on the scaffold for 12 days in the medium containing 10% FBS (fetal bovine serum) and 1% penicillin/ streptomycin at 310 K with 5% of CO₂ content. The electric pulses (amplitude of 30 V (0.06 A) ; pulse cycle of 1 s; pulse width of 1 ms) were applied between electrodes of the titanium wire dipped in the medium. The contraction of myotubes is able to be observed through the transparent scaffold at the microscope. The contractile force of myotube at the electric stimulation estimated by the deformation of the film was 10^-4 N. The designed scaffold has a potential for the measurement of the local contractile force of the myotube microscopically in vitro.

ABSTRACT:
In dynamical systems, the information flows converge or diverges in state space and is integrated or communicated between different cells assemblies termed as CFC. This process allows different oscillatory systems to communicate in accurate time, control and distribute the information flows in cell assemblies. The CF interactions allow the oscillatory rhythms to communicate in accurate time, and reintegrate the separated information. The intrinsic brain dynamics in Electroencephalography (EEG) with eye - closed (EC) and eye open (EO) during resting states have been investigated to see the changes in brain complexity i.e. simple visual processing which are associated with increase in global dimension complexity. In order to study these changes in EEG, we have computed the coupling to see the inhibitory interneurons response and inter-regions functional connectivity differences between the eye conditions. We have investigated the fluctuations in EEG activities in low (delta, theta) and high (alpha) frequency brain oscillations. Coupling strength was estimated using Dynamic Bayesian inference approach which can effectively detect the phase connectivity subject to the noise within a network of time varying coupled phase oscillators. Using this approach, we have seen that delta-alpha and theta-alpha CFC are more dominant in resting state EEG and applicable to multivariate network oscillator. It shows that alpha phase was dominated by low frequency oscillations i.e. delta and theta. These different CFC help us to investigate complex neuronal brain dynamics at large scale networks. We observed the local interactions at high frequencies and global interactions at low frequencies. The alpha oscillations are generated from both posterior and anterior origins whereas the delta oscillations found at posterior regions.

ABSTRACT:
Reading is the basic foundation for all other learning activities for a child. Children who do not learn to read in the primary grades are more likely to struggle as they continue their schooling. Many scholars have proved that early grade reading skills are essential for all children to master in order to progress academically. Nonetheless, schools and students around the world still struggle with literacy development in the first years of schooling. Technology can be a tool to overcome this obstacle and several simple innovations in this area have proven to help children develop reading skills.

Bangladesh is betting on technology as a supplement to supporting children’s reading development. Save the Children, in partnership with the Government of Bangladesh’s mandate for a “Vision 2021”, and with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), launched an ICT in Education component under their larger READ (Reading Enhancement for Advancing Development) project.

This paper outlines the ways in which the READ (Reading Enhancement for Advancing Development) project has developed digital resources for early grade learners, using a web-based platform without any other dependencies. This paper also describes the steps taken to develop the web-based platform, how teachers were trained to use it, the successes and challenges in making this platform accessible to all, and how such a platform works in rural schools in Bangladesh.

ABSTRACT:
In this study the main purpose has been to evidence the importance of Physical Education in Early Childhood Learning as a source of research in education from the perspective of neuroscience. Students, when initiating the process of education and learning, are in a constant training and building of knowledge. In this way, Physical Education contributes to the process of research in education: as evidence of social and ethical personal development, and addressing the holistic education of children in physical, cognitive, emotional and social aspects. With this approach, Physical Education is related directly to the perspective of neuroscience, by means of recreational activities and actions of daily movements that are based on the basic concepts necessary for living.

ABSTRACT:
The nature of problems typically tackled in initial programming courses can lead students to dismiss problem solving techniques and processes. Faculty and students in Programming 1 and 2 classes are prone to focus on the mechanics and syntax of programming at the expense of building increasingly complex and realistic models of the solution. To motivate undergraduate students to accept the importance of flowcharts, pseudo-code, documentation, and other development tools, we present a series of active learning lessons for introductory programming classes built and tested at Valparaiso University. These lessons introduce development tools and problem solving as vital components of an overall solution and provide opportunities for students to see their value in real world applications. Following the lessons, 100% of the students recognized the importance of development tools, and 95% of the students identified a desire to learn more about how they can be used.

ABSTRACT:
Since the entrance of strategies oriented to marketing relational in Hotelier Sector, the traditional way of travel agents and other representatives arranging hospitality services for hotel and travel reservations has changed.

The strategies oriented to customer relationship management are a relatively new area of specialty loyalty marketing in the hotel and hotelier sector, with advancements being made constantly. The use of this type of strategy can allow hoteliers or companies to tailor special guest programs, services and promotions based on hotel guest preferences. The hotel can use the data collected in a program to identify the needs of particular customers across hotel chains to be able to use marketing that can be targeted at specific groups of people. It also gives hoteliers the opportunity to evaluate frequent guest programs, personalize their services and perform trend analysis.

A program based in marketing relational is typically run by hotels and companies to collect guest information and transaction data for use and examining to allow hoteliers to see target groups that should be marketed too. Based on these transactions hotels are able to create and manage guest loyalty programs and reward schemes.

This research approach is to appraise the impact of customer relationship management on customer profitability as mediated by customer loyalty and customer retention within the hotelier sector of Mexico, and specifically for those hoteliers classified like of three stars. A sample of 100 hotels three stars was interviewed as respondents in this study. The objective of the study was to find the impact relationship between effective customer relationship implementation, customer loyalty, and customer retention and customer profitability. The findings of the study add value to hotels three stars in Mexico, and provide some invaluable statistical results essential for hotel managers and owners to successfully enhance customer loyalty, customer retention and customer profitability.

By applying a questionnaire that count with seven blocks different one each other, the results of our study identified and provide path analysis of the relevant systems; and enumerated among the relevant system, those critical inter-component relationships within this highly competitive industry. This study’s findings add to the body of knowledge and enable the managers of this sector to implement customer relationship management in the best shape possible, to match it with Mexican market-needs thereby creating more loyal and repeat clientele.

ABSTRACT:
The role of virtual communities in the sphere of politics is constantly growing. One of the most influential on the decision making process are Internet groups based on shared ethnic identity that in their perception is under threat. The article analyses how Sami being an indige-nous divided between four different countries people use Internet in order to preserve their ethnic and cultural her-itage, to save and distribute their languages and to form a joint basis for lobbing political authorities in Nordic countries and Russia. By combining online and offline political activity Sami managed to find their own unique place in modern world serving as an inspirational exam-ple for other indigenous people.

ABSTRACT:
As more stakeholders demand documentation of program effectiveness, program evaluation is becoming increasingly important. In addition, many funding agencies require evaluation plans which list goals and objectives in a quantifiable form. This paper identifies and discusses four evaluation keys that are crucial to the success of community programs. These evaluations keys include communication and collaboration, training, targeting the population, and reporting. Specific examples from three separate community programs will be provided. Additional examples from recent research in the field and applications across disciplines will also be discussed.

ABSTRACT:
This descriptive, single, intrinsic case study seeks to answer the following questions: Why should business practitioners and educators work together in solving business problems? How are the business problems of companies handled in a master’s degree programme in Finland? The case study is based on multiple sources of documents collected and developed during the ten years of the programme. It demonstrates that solving authentic business problems in a learning community of business practitioners, i.e. students, as well as educators, i.e. teachers and thesis advisors, leads to solutions that satisfy practitioners, educators, and the business community. This case is an example of how solving business problems together contributes to the better performance of businesses and a better society in Finland.

ABSTRACT:
Information and IT security awareness-raising measures and the evaluation of these measures are an indispensable part of today’s information and knowledge society. While the number of firms that apply such measures is increasing, surveys of corporations show that it is unusual for these measures to be accompanied by specific in-depth evaluations of their effectiveness. Since these awareness-raising measures demand resources such as time, money, and the willingness of employees, every organization should have an interest in assessing their effectiveness. To sup-port organizations in discovering the evaluation methods and metrics that meet their individual needs, an overview of current measures for assessing effectiveness is presented in this paper. Their advantages, disadvantages, and appropriate application are discussed. At the end of the paper suggestions are given as to what direction might be taken going forward.

ABSTRACT:
We describe the creation and development of a course on mathematical logic and its extensions and limitations, in which coverage of technical material is interleaved with and related to discussion of relevant historical, linguistic, philosophical, and theological issues and of individuals of note.

The new course, Logic, Limitations to Knowledge, and Christianity, presents an overview of topics in and related to logic, including development of formal logic and an axiomatic first-order logic. It explores the history of mathematics and logic in the Catholic Intellectual and wider Western Traditions, as well as the mutual interactions of mathematics, philosophy, language, and religion. It then considers extensions of first-order logic, and provable limits to knowledge: the three unsolvable problems of Euclidean geometry, and examples from Gödel, Turing, Arrow, quantum physics, and others. Epistemological issues will be emphasized throughout the course. The translation between natural language and expression in logical and reasoning formalisms is emphasized throughout.

As a Core Curriculum course at Seton Hall University, fundamental questions such as “What is logic?” and “What are its limits?” will be considered within the framework of Christianity's broader view of the human person and human intelligence.

ABSTRACT:
A voice parameterization using Linear Spectral was implemented to a Mexican Spanish HMM-based Speech Synthesis System. Five phrases were synthesized and statistically validated by applying a MOS test to 30 listeners who analyzed the original voices compared to a synthetic voice. Results were compared to previous work where MFCC was used as voice parameterization, the comparison shows that LSP parameterization is above the mean score and pointed better than MFCC.

ABSTRACT:
In this work it presents of experimental way a comparison of the implementation of design pattern MVC (Model View Controller), in where it is performed a simulation of MEMS accelerometer-type (Micro Electromechanical Systems by its acronym in English) with visualization, since it has a set of data coming from of the numerical solution of the type bi laplacian partial differential equation solved by the finite differences method, that represents the material’s deformation with the device has been built.

In this problem it has evaluated the aspects of usability, functionality, portability, scalability and accessibility of the implementation of MVC in Java and C#. The OpenGL API (Application Program Interface) it can be implemented in many programming languages without changes neither important adaptation, this make possible to evaluate the applications of generic way.

The convenient use of the design pattern in the implementation of a tool to simulation with visualization results interesting of evaluate, moreover it expected obtain more than an absolute opinion, a rule to allow the evaluation of another design pattern to solve similar problems. At last this experimental process is underway already, however it expected to help in the choice of programming language to other simulations of MEMS devices.

ABSTRACT:
Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals are widely used to examine heart rhythms and general health conditions. However, the majority of commercial ECG kits are generic and their normal ranges are set based on the averages obtained from a large population of people with normal heart conditions. This averaging ignores the extreme inherent variability of normal heart signals. As such, many false alarms are generated if the thresholds are selected too strict and true alarms are missed if the thresholds are set too loose. Furthermore, false alarms may arise due to the high physical activity of the test person. In this paper, we developed a prototype for patient-specific heart monitoring kit, which learns the properties of a patient’s normal ECG signal over time and reports significant deviations from this normal behavior, in addition to presenting significant violations from the global norms. Further, false alarms due to high physical activity levels are eliminated through processing the utilized accelerometer signal. This personalized remote heart monitoring kit with the proposed signal processing and self-tuning capabilities and wireless connectivity provides more detailed information and insightful interpretations of ECG signals compared to generic devices, therefore can be used for remote heart monitoring of high-risk people.

ABSTRACT:
The development of Flexible Optoelectronic applied in Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED), using an flexible optically transparent substrate material and organic semiconductor materials, has been widely utilized by the electronic industry when producing new technological products. The OLED are the base Poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-Poly(Styrenesulfonate), PEDOT:PSS, and Poly[2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene], MEH-PPV, were deposited in Indium Tin Oxide, ITO, and characterized by UV-Visible Spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Optical Parameters (OP) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The result obtained by UV-Vis has demonstrated that the PET/ITO/PEDOT:PSS/MEH-PPV layer does not have displacement of absorption for wavelengths greaters after spin-coating. Thus, the spectral irradiance of the OLED informed the luminance of 180 Cd/m2, and this result, compared with the standard Light Emitting Diode (LED), has indicated that the OLED has higher irradiance. After 2000 hours of electrical OLED tests, the appearance of nanoparticles visible for images by SEM, to the migration process of organic semiconductor materials, was present, then. Still, similar to the phenomenon of electromigration observed in connections and interconnections of microelectronic devices, the results have revealed a new mechanism of migration, which raises the passage of electric current in OLED.