A Design Framework for Researching Collaborative Learning Environments

Despite the increasing use of communication and social media technologies in higher education teaching environments, and an extensive literature describing the potential of using technology in teaching, there is limited empirical literature demonstrating that technology enhances learning. The widespread adoption of some Web 2.0 and other mature technologies in education creates an opportunity to extend current research by identifying relationships between these technologies and pedagogically informed interactions within a Community of Inquiry. In this research, we propose a conceptual framework linking educational pedagogy, technological support of learning interactions, and emergent teaching, social and cognitive presences, which are linked with learning outcomes. This framework grounds discussion of the future design and evaluation of a prototype Collaborative Learning Environment based on the proposed interactions. Additional future research based on this framework is discussed

Factors Affecting Traffic Accidents Density on Selected Multilane Rural Highways

Estimations of average crash density as a function of traffic elements and characteristics can be used for making good decisions relating to planning, designing, operating, and maintaining roadway networks. This study describes the relationships between total, collision, turnover, and runover accident densities with factors such as hourly traffic flow and average spot speed on multilane rural highways in Iraq. The study is based on data collected from two sources: police stations and traffic surveys. Three highways are selected in Wassit governorate as a case study to cover the studied locations of the accidents. Three highways are selected in Wassit governorate as a case study to cover the studied locations of the accidents. The selection includes Kut–Suwera, Kut–ShekhSaad, and Kut–Hay multilane divided highways located in the south of Iraq. The preliminary presentation of the studied highways was performed using Geographic Information System (GIS) software. Data collection was done to obtain crash numbers and types over five years with their locations, hourly traffic flow, and average spot speed and define roadway segments lengths of crash locations. The cumulative speed distribution curves introduce that the spot speed spectrum for each highway's whole traffic extends over a relatively wide range, indicating a maximum speed of 180 kph and a minimum speed of 30 kph. Multiple linear regression analysis is applied to the data using SPSS software to attain the relationships between the dependent variables and the independent variables to identify elements strongly correlated with crash densities. Four regression models are developed which verify good and strong statistical relationships between crash densities with the studied factors. The results show that traffic volume and driving speed have a significant impact on the crash densities. It means that there is a positive correlation between the single factors and crash occurrence. The higher volumes and the faster the driving speed, the more likely it is to crash. As the hourly traffic flow of automobile grows, the need for safe traffic facilities also extended. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2021-03091719 Full Text: PD

Patients’ Satisfaction About Health Care Services in Outpatient Department of General Surgery at PIMS, Islamabad

Objective: To assess the Patients’ satisfaction about health care services in the outpatient department of General Surgery at PIMS, Islamabad. Methodology: This is a prospective cross sectional study done for six months at General Surgery OPD, PIMS, Islamabad. All patients who attended the outpatient department of GSU-III were included. After consent patients answered a specially designed 30-item cross-sectional questionnaire regarding general convenience and satisfaction aspects regarding the OPD. Questions depicting the interpersonal relationships and the role of Doctors and the paramedic staff at the hospital are also included. All data was collected, recorded and analyzed using SPSS 17 and excel 2013. Results: A total of 410 patients were included with the mean age of 41 years and male to female ratio was≈ 1:3. 57.4% patients had completed their secondary or higher secondary education. 12.1% were labourers, 19.5% were students, 19.5% were unemployed and 34.1% were housewives. Most of the population was already registered at the general surgery department PIMS. Response to various questions regarding general convenience and satisfaction aspects regarding the OPD were averagely rated ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ by 96.3% patients, while 14.6% had their reservations. Answers depicting the interpersonal relationships and the role of Doctors and the paramedic staff at the hospital were appreciable in 71.95% and 64.6% of the cases respectively. 16.2% and 19.5% negated respectively. Interviews from all patients were taken into account in data analysis and conclusion. In sum, the patient’s satisfaction (58.5%) with the overall care (62.1%) were satisfactory. 59.7% patients wished to recommend this service to others. Conclusion: Most of the patients who visited the Outpatient department of General Surgery Unit III were satisfied regarding the overall care and the behavior of doctors and paramedical staff interacting with them

Surgical Management of Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Background: To study the management patternof soft tissue sarcomas in a tertiary care settingMethods: In this descriptive study patients whowere operated for soft tissue masses were included.Intra-operative findings, procedure details andpostoperative orders were recorded. Postoperativechemo-radiotherapy records were reviewed andrecorded. Depth of the tumour was grouped asdeeper or superficial than 5 cm. The follow uprecords were accessed from the outpatientdepartment and any surgical complications wererecorded up to three years.Staging was done usingclinical and radiological criteria taking into accountthe histological grade,tumour size , depth, locallymph node invasion and metastasis.Surgicalprocedure for removal of STS are wide local excision(WLE), intralesional excision (IE) or tumordebulking, marginal excision (ME) and radicalexcision (RE).Results: Sixty eight patients with mean age of 43.0± 17.258 SD were diagnosed as cases of soft tissuesarcomas. Male to female ratio was 3.25:1.The mostcommon histopathological variety was malignantfibrous histiocytoma (35.3%) , followed byRhabdomyosarcoma(30%). Most common involvedsite was lower limbs (35.3%).Wide local excision wasperformed in majority (82.4%) . Most commonpostop complication was wound infection (10.3%)Conclusion: Clinicians must be agile about thenature of these tumours and their referral to aspecialist surgeon for further management. Promptdiagnosis, accurate investigations and earlyintervention will benefit the patients and help usunderstand this disease entity

Traffic Noise in Arterial Streets: Case of Kirkuk City

Loud noise can be extremely harmful to the auditory system as well as to human health. Noise pollution is primarily caused by traffic noise. The study's goal was to determine how various vehicle types and speeds affected the amount of noise generated by traffic. The two factors were investigated at seven different arterial streets throughout Kirkuk city to measure the noise levels. The measurements were performed during peak hours to compare the result with WHO standards for noise specification. Traffic volume and vehicle speed are shown to be the key elements that determine an increase in noise level.

Generation of Cosmological Seed Magnetic Fields from Inflation with Cutoff

Inflation has the potential to seed the galactic magnetic fields observed today. However, there is an obstacle to the amplification of the quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field during inflation: namely the conformal invariance of electromagnetic theory on a conformally flat underlying geometry. As the existence of a preferred minimal length breaks the conformal invariance of the background geometry, it is plausible that this effect could generate some electromagnetic field amplification. We show that this scenario is equivalent to endowing the photon with a large negative mass during inflation. This effective mass is negligibly small in a radiation and matter dominated universe. Depending on the value of the free parameter of the theory, we show that the seed required by the dynamo mechanism can be generated. We also show that this mechanism can produce the requisite galactic magnetic field without resorting to a dynamo mechanism.Comment: Latex, 16 pages, 2 figures, 4 references added, minor corrections; v4: more references added, boundary term written in a covariant form, discussion regarding other gauge fields added, submitted to PRD; v5: matched with the published versio

THE TRANSITION TO A PG GRADING SYSTEM FOR ASPHALT CEMENT IN IRAQ

In Iraq, as well as many other developing countries the performance graded (PG) based System is not yet implemented to evaluate the currently used asphalt cernents for paving works. It appears that not only the unavailability of test equipments is resulting in this delay but also the lack of clear understanding of what steps could be taken to incorporate this system. This research is an attempt to highlight the important aspects of a (PG) system that can be readily implemented without the need for expensive equipments. It includes the development of a Performance based System employing the conventional test methods and available nomographs from literature. It also, shows how climatic data, traffic data, and asphalt binder properties can be combined to propose a possible major improvement for the specifications of asphalts in Iraq. To achieve the objective of this research, an extensive air temperature data for a period of 18 years was reviewed for five cities (Mosul. Kirkuk. Rutba, Baghdad, and Basrah) to establish the required PG asphalt binder for each city. Also, the currently used asphalt cements with penetration grades (40-50) and (60-70) were tested by both of conventional test methods and Superpave methods to determine the equivalent performance grade for each type of the penetration graded asphalt and to evaluate the capability for these two types of asphalt cement to satisfy the required performance of pavement for each city, The results indicate that both the new proposed method and Superpave method give the same final performance grade. The asphalt with penetration grade 40-50 is equivalent to PG70-16 while that with penetration grade 60-70 is equivalent to PG64-16

Mitigation of Reflection Cracking in Asphalt Concrete Overlay on Rigid Pavements

Reflective cracking is one of the primary forms of deterioration in pavements. It is widespread when Asphalt concrete (AC) overlays are built over a rigid pavement with discontinuities on its surface. Thus, this research work aims to reduce reflection cracks in asphalt concrete overlay on the rigid pavement. Asphalt Concrete (AC) slab specimens were prepared in three thicknesses (4, 5, and 6 cm). All these specimens were by testing machine designed and manufactured at the Engineering Consulting Office of the University of Baghdad to examine for the number of cycles and loads needed to propagate the reflection cracking in the asphalt concert mixture at three temperatures (20, 30, and 30°C). It was noticed that the higher thickness AC mixtures increased the reflection cracking performance life of the AC overlay. Also, it was found that the number of crack initiation and failure cycles increased as the temperature increased. In contrast, the increased temperature decreased the required load to crack initiation and failure load in the sample

Expert System for Neck Pain Diagnosis

In fact, people get neck problems due to something such as sports or woke and Wrong sleep habits. In this paper an expert system was designed to help users to correctly diagnose neck problems world (muscle spasm, Muscle aches, Meningitis, herniated cervical disc, Fibromyalgia, Cervical spondylosis, Trigger points) with some information about the disease and self-care. Java language was used to design and implement this expert system

Classification of Alzheimer's Disease Using Convolutional Neural Networks

Brain-related diseases are among the most difficult diseases due to their sensitivity, the difficulty of performing operations, and their high costs. In contrast, the operation is not necessary to succeed, as the results of the operation may be unsuccessful. One of the most common diseases that affect the brain is Alzheimer’s disease, which affects adults, a disease that leads to memory loss and forgetting information in varying degrees. According to the condition of each patient. For these reasons, it is important to classify memory loss and to know the patient at what level and his assessment of Alzheimer's disease through CT scans of the brain. In this thesis, we review ways and techniques to use deep learning classification to classifying the Alzheimer's Disease The proposed method used to improve patient care, reduce costs, and allow fast and reliable analysis in large studies. The model will be designed using Python language for implementing the system, which is very useful for doctors, classifying the Alzheimer's Disease, was used. The model used 70% from image for training and 30% from image for validation, our trained model achieved an accuracy of 100% on a held-out test set