Self-assessment of physiotherapy students\u27 competence during the COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 periods

Visokošolsko izobraževanje, ki temelji na kompetencah, omogoča študentom usvojitev potrebnih znanj, veščin, vrednot in stališč za poklicno in zasebno življenje. Razmere s covidom-19 so zahtevale prilagojen način študija. Namen prispevka je predstaviti samooceno usvojenih kompetenc diplomantov fizioterapije v razmerah s covidom-19 in pred njim. Metode: Uporabljena je bila anketa. Za analizo smo uporabili deskriptivne statistične metode, razlike med usvojenimi kompetencami med skupinama covid-19 in pred covidom-19 smo izračunali s Studentovim t-testom za neodvisna vzorca. Rezultati: Sodelovalo je 50 diplomantov skupine covid-19, starih 23,36 (0,85) leta, in 53 diplomantov skupine pred covidom-19, starih 23,80 (1,20) leta. Povprečna samoocena (standardni odklon) vseh kompetenc, usvojenih na fakulteti in v kliničnem okolju skupaj, je bila pri skupini covid-19 3,45 (1,08), v skupini pred covidom-19 pa 3,58 (0,68), razlika ni bila statistično značilna. Povprečna samoocena vseh kompetenc skupaj, usvojenih na fakulteti, je bila pri skupini covid-19 3,06 (1,11), pri skupini pred covidom-19 pa 3,41 (0,74), razlika je bila statistično značilna (p = 0,006). Povprečna vrednost vseh kompetenc skupaj, usvojenih v kliničnem okolju, je bila pri skupini covid-19 3,84 (0,9), pri skupini pred covidom-19 pa 3,74 (0,68), razlika ni bila statistično značilna. Zaključki: Večina usvojenih kompetenc na fakulteti in v kliničnem okolju skupaj je bila ocenjena nižje v skupini covid-19 v primerjavi s skupino pred covidom-19.Competency-based higher education enables students to acquire the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes necessary for their professional and personal lives. The COVID-19 situation has necessitated an adapted approach to education. The aim of this study is to present the self-assessment of competences acquired by physiotherapy graduates at COVID-19 and before COVID-19 time. Methods: A survey was carried out. Descriptive statistical methods were used and Student’s independent samples t-test was calculated for the difference between the COVID-19 group and the pre-COVID-19 group. Results: The study included 50 graduates from the COVID-19 group with a mean age of 23.36 (0.85) years and 53 graduates from the pre-COVID-19 group with a mean age of 23.80 (1.20) years. The mean self-assessment value for all competences acquired at the university and in the clinical setting was 3.45 (1.08) for the COVID-19 group and 3.58 (0.68) for the pre-COVID-19 group, the difference was not statistically significant. The mean self-assessment value for all competences acquired at the university was 3.06 (1.11) for the COVID-19 group and 3.41 (0.74) for the pre-COVID-19 group, the difference was statistically significant (p = 0.006). The mean score for all competencies acquired in the clinical practice was 3.84 (0.9) for the COVID-19 group and 3.74 (0.68) for the pre-COVID-19 group, the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusions: Most competences acquired at university and in the clinical setting together, were rated lower by the COVID-19 group compared to the pre-COVID-19 group

Isolation and characterization of highly active keratinolytic microorganisms with promising potential for waste sheep wool processing

The huge amounts of keratin-rich waste generated daily by various industries, slaughterhouses, and processing plants need to be properly managed. Most keratin degradation-related research focuses on keratin from bird feathers, but a vast minority focuses on keratin from sheep wool, which also presents a serious environmental problem. In this article, we describe the isolation, identification, and characterization of new keratinolytic microorganisms capable of sheep wool degradation from sheep wool and soil enriched with wool keratin. We isolated four bacterial species from the genus Bacillus (B. subtilis, B. altitudinis, B. mycoides, and B. wiedmannii), one streptomycete species Streptomyces coelicofavus identified by whole genome sequencing, and a fungal species Aphanoascus reticulisporus. In some of the isolated microorganisms, we detected keratinolytic activity for the first time, and for most of them, the ability to degrade sheep wool has not been previously demonstrated. The keratinases of the new isolates are active in a wide range of temperatures (25–85 °C) and pH (6.0–10.0), so all isolates show great potential for further biotechnological use in industry and in various environmental and agricultural applications to reduce and recycle keratin-rich wastes such as sheep wool and waste woollen textiles

Reflexivity of the space of transversal distributions

For any smooth, Hausdorff and second-countable manifold $N$ one can define the Fréchet space ${mathcal C}^{infty}(N)$ of smooth functions on $N$ and its strong dual ${cal E}\u27(N)$ of compactly supported distributions on $N$. It is a standard result that the strong dual of ${cal E}\u27(N)$ is naturally isomorphic to ${mathcal C}^{infty}(N)$, which implies that both ${mathcal C}^{infty}(N)$ and ${cal E}\u27(N)$ are reflexive locally convex spaces. In this paper we generalise that result to the setting of transversal distributions on the total space of a surjective submersion $pi : Pto M$. We show that the strong ${mathcal C}^{infty}_c(M)$-dual of the space ${cal E}\u27_{pi} (P)$ of $pi$-transversal distributions is naturally isomorphic to the ${mathcal C}^{infty}_c(M)$-module ${mathcal C}^{infty}(P)$

Dynamics of cell death due to electroporation using different pulse parameters as revealed by diferent viability assays

The mechanisms of cell death due to electroporation are still not well understood. Recent studies suggest that cell death due to electroporation is not an immediate all-or-nothing response but rather a dynamic process that occurs over a prolonged period of time. To investigate whether the dynamics of cell death depends on the pulse parameters or cell lines, we exposed different cell lines to different pulses [monopolar millisecond, microsecond, nanosecond, and high-frequency bipolar (HFIRE)] and then assessed viability at different times using different viability assays. The dynamics of cell death was observed by changes in metabolic activity and membrane integrity. In addition, regardless of pulse or cell line, the dynamics of cell death was observed only at high electroporation intensities, i.e., high pulse amplitudes and/or pulse number. Considering the dynamics of cell death, the clonogenic assay should remain the preferred viability assay for assessing viability after electroporation

Effects of group dance in frail residents in the nursing home

Uvod: Telesna krhkost (TK) je klinično stanje starejših odraslih in se kaže kot pojav najmanj treh izmed petih značilnosti TK (nenamerna izguba telesne mase, utrujenost, šibkost, zmanjšana hitrost hoje in sedeč način življenja). Telesna dejavnost je ena izmed metod za preprečevanje in zmanjševanje stopnje TK. Plesno-gibalna vadba (PGV) je oblika telesne dejavnosti, ki se je izkazala za priljubljeno med populacijo starejših odraslih. Namen: Namen diplomskega dela je bil prikazati učinke skupinskega plesa na telesno pripravljenost, spoznavne sposobnosti in TK stanovalcev DSO. Metode dela: Diplomsko delo je prospektivna intervencijska raziskava, kjer smo raziskovali učinke skupinskega plesa pri TK stanovalcih doma starejših občanov. V raziskavi je sodelovalo 10 TK preiskovancev. Pri preiskovancih smo opazovali TK, telesno pripravljenost in spoznavne sposobnosti. Podatke smo pridobili s fenotipom krhkosti, slovensko različico Senior fitness testa in kratkim testom spoznavnih sposobnosti. PGV smo izvajali dvakrat tedensko, osem tednov, kar skupaj znaša 16 vadbenih enot, po 45 min na vadbeno enoto. Meritve smo izvedli trikrat, pred začetkom PGV, po šestih tednih izvajanja PGV in po dvanajstih tednih od začetka raziskave. Rezultati: Pri meritvah TK je prišlo do statistično značilnega zmanjšanja prevalence med prvim in zadnjim testiranjem (P = 0,006). Statistično značilno sta se pri fenotipu krhkosti spremenili telesna dejavnost (P = 0,007) in hitrost hoje (P = 0,050). Drugi kriteriji fenotipa krhkosti se v opazovanem obdobju niso statistično značilno spremenili. Telesna pripravljenost se je statistično značilno spremenila pri časovno merjenem testu vstani in pojdi (P = 0,002), dosegu sede na stolu (P = 0,014) in dotiku dlani za hrbtom (P = 0,001). Ostale komponente testiranja telesne pripravljenosti starejših odraslih so ostale statistično nespremenjene. Pri opazovanju spoznavnih sposobnosti ni prišlo do statistično značilnih sprememb. Razprava in zaključek: Ugotovili smo, da obstajajo statistično značilne razlike v TK in pri nekaterih komponentah telesne pripravljenosti po izvajanju PGV. Ni pa prišlo do statistično pomembnih sprememb spoznavnih sposobnosti po izvajanju PGV. V prihodnje bi bilo treba primerjati učinke različnih vrst vadb na TK.Introduction: Physical frailty is clinical state in which at least three of five criteria are present (unintentional weight loss, self-reported exhaustion, weakness, slow walking speed and low physical activity. Physical activity is one of methods for preventing and reducing frailty. Dance/movement exercise si a form of physical activity and is proven to be popular among the older adults population. Purpose: The aim of this diploma work was to show effects of dance/movement exercise on physical frialty, physical performance and cognitive function among frail residents of senior citizens home. Methods: This diploma work is a prospective interventional study. We investigated the effects of group dance on fragile residents of senior citizens home Šiška in Ljubljana. 10 frail residents participated in the research. We observed physical frailty physical fitness and cognitive abilities, with the Frailty phenotype, the Slovenian version of the Senior fitness test and the Short test of cognitive function. The research consisted of 16 training sessions of dance/movement exercise, twice a week, for eight weeks, 45 minutes per session. The measurements were performed three times, before the start of dance/movement exercise, after six weeks of exercise and after twelve weeks from the start of the research. Results: There were statistically significant differences in physical frailty prevalence between first and last measurment (P = 0,006). Looking from frailty phenotype, only physical activity (P = 0,007) and walking speed (P = 0,050) changed statistically important. Other criteria of the Frailty phenotype did not change statistically significantly during the observed period. Physical fitness changed statistically significantly in the timed up and go test (P = 0.002), the chair sit and reach test (P = 0.014) and the back scratch test (P = 0.001). Other components of the Senior fitness test remained statistically unchanged. There were no statistically significant changes in the cognitive abilities. Discussion and conclusion: We found that there is a statistically significant difference in physical frailty and in some components of physical fitness after performing dance movement exercise. However, there were no statistically significant changes in cognitive abilities after the implementation of dance movement exercise. In the future, it would be necessary to compare the effects of different types of exercise on BP

Security challenges and solutions in software-defined networks

Klasična omrežja pri zadoščanju potreb uporabnikov v današnjem svetu naletijo na mnoge omejitve, kot so odvisnost od nespremenjenih protokolov, porazdeljen nadzor in težko preprogramirljiva strojna oprema, zato se je pojavil koncept SDN. Omrežja SDN krmilno ravnino ločijo od podatkovne in tako logiko celotnega omrežja združijo v centraliziranem krmilniku, do katerega lahko administrator dostopa in ga programira preko NBI vmesnika API. Krmilnik je s pomočjo globalnega pregleda topologije omrežja sposoben sprejemati optimalne omrežne odločitve. Poleg izboljšanega nadzora in upravljanja koncept SDN doprinese tudi višji nivo avtomatizacije, pomanjkljivosti omrežij SDN pa se nahajajo na področju varnosti. Centralizacija krmiljenja implicira višjo frekvenco in večjo uspešnost napadov DoS, saj krmilnik predstavlja kritično točko odpovedi sistema. Uspešni napadi DoS rezultirajo v preobremenjenosti in posledični odpovedi krmilnika ali pa v poplavljanju tokovnih tabel v stikalih podatkovne ravnine omrežja. Drugi najbolj nevaren tip napada na omrežja SDN je nepooblaščen dostop do krmilnika, saj lahko v tem primeru napadalec s spreminjanjem obstoječih tokovnih pravil promet preusmeri v zlonamerna vozlišča ali pa omrežje zastruplja z vrinjanjem zlonamernih paketov. Omrežja pred napadi ščitijo varnostnimi mehanizmi. Z njimi napade opazujemo (podatkovne pasti za napadalce), zaznavamo (IDS, detektor DDoS) ali preprečujemo (IPS, požarni zid). Pri varnosti sodelujejo tudi metode zgoščevanja, šifriranja in avtentikacije, lahko se poslužimo rešitev kot so globoko pregledovanje paketov, upravljanje varnostnih informacij in dogodkov, blokovne verige in strojno učenje. V omrežjih SDN ključni pomen nosi tudi virtualizacija, ki poleg večje kapacitete, agilnosti in razporejanja obremenitve nudi tudi razširljiv okvir za dinamično upravljanje kibernetske varnosti. V zadnjem delu svojega diplomskega dela sem se osredotočila na pet primerov praktične uporabe tehnologije SDN na različnih področjih, in sicer na uporabo v: podatkovnih centrih, prostranih omrežjih, združenih omrežnih in varnostnih funkcijah v oblaku, omrežjih 5G in v povezanih avtonomnih vozilih. Raziskala sem varnostne izzive in rešitve v omrežjih SDN.When traditional networks try to meet the needs of today’s society, they encounter many limitations such as dependence on unchanged protocols, distributed control and hardware that is difficult to reprogram, which is why the concept of SDN has emerged. SDN networks separate the control plane from the data plane and thus combine the logic of the entire network in a centralized controller that can be accessed and programmed by the administrator via the NBI API interface. With the help of a global view of the network, the controller can make optimal network decisions. In addition to improved control and management, the concept of SDN also provides a higher level of automation, while the main drawback of SDN is poor security. The centralization of network control implies a higher frequency and greater success of DoS attacks since the controller presents a single point of failure. Successful DoS attacks result in controller overload and failure, or in flooded flow tables of the switches in the network\u27s data plane. The second most dangerous type of attack on SDN networks is unauthorized access to the controller, as the attacker can change the existing flow rules and therefore redirect traffic to malicious nodes or perform poisoning attack by injecting malicious packets into the network. Networks are being protected from attacks by security mechanisms. They are used to capture (honeypots, honeynets), detect (IDS, DDoS detector) or prevent (IPS, firewall) attacks. Methods of hashing, encryption and authentication are also involved in security. We can also use solutions such as deep packet inspection, security information and event management, blockchains and machine learning. In SDN networks, virtualization also plays an important role. In addition to a greater capacity, agility of network and load distribution, virtualization also provides an extensible framework for dynamic cybersecurity management. In the last part of my thesis, I focused on five examples of practical use of SDN technology in different areas, namely in: data centres, wide-area networks, secure access service edge, 5G networks and in connected autonomous vehicles. I researched security challenges and solutions in SDN networks

On some generalization of the bicyclic semigroup: the topological version

We show that every Hausdorff Baire topology $tau$ on ${cal C} = langle a,b | a^2b=a, ab^2=b rangle$ such that $({cal C},tau)$ is a semitopological semigroup is discrete and we construct a nondiscrete Hausdorff semigroup topology on ${cal C}$. We also discuss the closure of a semigroup ${cal C}$ in a semitopological semigroup and prove that ${cal C}$ does not embed into a topological semigroup with the countably compact square