Traditional, video and extended reality (XR) assisted flipped classroom teaching methods:an approach and comparison

This paper examines the comparative effectiveness of three distinct Flipped Classroom (FC) teaching methods in the context of Power and Electrical (PE) engineering education: Traditional Flipped Classroom (TFC), Video-Assisted Teaching Methods (VAFC), and Virtual Reality Flipped Classroom (VRFC). The study incorporates valuable feedback from students who experienced these methods and provides an evaluation of their perceptions. A cross-over methodology for comparing these FC methods is presented. The VAFC method is perceived to be an effective approach and preferred over TFC and VRFC by students. The paper also provides Teachers' perception in implementing above FC methods, which outlines a process for developing VAFC and VRFC teaching resources. Operational difficulties in implementing such methods are highlighted, especially in the context of fast-paced, privately-catered undergraduate education sector striving for implementing non-conventional teaching methods

Hemoperitoneum among Pediatric Abdominal Trauma Patients Visiting in Emergency Department of a Tertiary Care Centre: A Descriptive Cross-sectional study

Introduction: Pediatric abdominal trauma presents a major challenge for first-line responders in the Emergency Department for assessment and management. The Focused assessment sonography for trauma is a readily available, easy-to-use, and affordable tool for detecting hemoperitoneum during the initial assessment of trauma in the Emergency Department for adult traumatic patients. The aim of this study was to find the prevalence of hemoperitoneum among pediatric abdominal trauma patients visiting the Emergency Department of tertiary care centre through Focused assessment with sonography for trauma examination technique. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in the Emergency Department of a tertiary care hospital from 7 April 2019 to 7 April 2020. Among 413 pediatric trauma patients, 93 children (1 to 17 years) admitted to the Emergency Department who underwent focused assessment with sonography for trauma examination were included in the study. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Committee (Approval number: 111/19). Convenience sampling was used. Point estimate and 90% Confidence Interval were calculated. Results: Among 93 children receiving focused assessment with sonography for trauma imaging in the Emergency Department with a history of blunt abdominal trauma, the prevalence of hemoperitoneum was 18 (19.34%) (12.61-26.09, 90% Confidence Interval). Conclusions: The prevalence of hemoperitoneum was similar to other studies conducted in a similar setting

Cost of wastewater-based environmental surveillance for SARS-CoV-2: evidence from pilot sites in Blantyre, Malawi and Kathmandu, Nepal

Environmental surveillance of rivers and wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 detection has been explored as an innovative way to surveil the pandemic. This study estimated the economic costs of conducting wastewater-based environmental surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 to inform decision making if countries consider continuing these efforts. We estimated the cost of two SARS-CoV-2 environmental surveillance pilot studies conducted in Blantyre, Malawi, and Kathmandu, Nepal. The cost estimation accounted for the consumables, equipment, and human resource time costs used for environmental surveillance from sample selection until pathogen detection and overhead costs for the projects. Costs are reported in 2021 US$and reported as costs per month, per sample and person per year. The estimated costs for environmental surveillance range from$6,175 to $8,272 per month (Blantyre site) and$16,756 to $30,050 (Kathmandu site). The number of samples processed per month ranged from 84 to 336 at the Blantyre site and 96 to 250 at the Kathmandu site. Consumables costs are variable costs influenced by the number of samples processed and are a large share of the monthly costs for ES (ranging from 39$25 to $74 (Blantyre) and$120 to $175 (Kathmandu). There were associated economies of scale for human resources and equipment costs with increased sample processing and sharing of resources with other activities. The cost per person in the catchment area per year ranged from$0.07 to $0.10 in Blantyre and$0.07 to $0.13 in Kathmandu. Environmental surveillance may be a low-cost early warning signal for SARS-CoV-2 that can complement other SARS-CoV2 monitoring efforts

Structural Health Monitoring for In-Service Highway Bridges Using Smart Sensors

With the rapid development of electrical circuits, Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) and network technology, wireless smart sensor networks (WSSN) have shown significant potential for replacing existing wired Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems due to their cost effectiveness and versatility. A few structural systems have been monitored using WSSN measuring acceleration, temperature, wind speed, humidity; however, a multi-scale sensing device which has the capability to measure the displacement has not been yet developed. In this research, a new high accuracy displacement sensing system has been developed combining a high resolution analog displacement sensor and MEMS-based wireless microprocessor platform. The developed multi-scale sensing system is evaluated in a laboratory bridge structure to check its performance. Finally, the developed hybrid multi-scale displacement sensing system was deployed on in-service highway bridge for expansion joint displacement measurement. The second part of the thesis presents the use of a damage detection algorithm applied to a lab scale truss structure and then to a in service highway bridge. To date, many damage detection strategies have been developed and implemented on lab-scale or simple bridge structures however, damage detection research has rarely been conducted taking full scale in-service structures into account with ambient vibration. Among the different approaches modal flexibility method is one of the sensitive tools for damage detection which has been widely used over the last two decades. This thesis presents a damage detection based on the stochastic damage locating vector (SDLV) method for an in-service highway bridge using ambient vibration data from long-term SHM

Supplemental files: Q-Q plots and Shapiro-Wilk tests of normality

Symphyotrichum (Asteraceae) is a well-circumscribed genus on the basis of morphological and molecular data, but species boundaries remain poorly understood. Here, the species delimitation of the contentious Symphyotrichum subulatum group (Symphyotrichum subg. Astropolium) is illuminated using morphometric, phylogenomic, and geographical analyses. Symphyotrichum mexicanum sp. nov., a new species endemic to central Mexico, is described and distinguished from Symphyotrichum expansum based on its morphometric attributes, phylogenetic placement, geographic range, and ecological specialization

Supplemental files: Q-Q plots and Shapiro-Wilk tests of normality

Symphyotrichum (Asteraceae) is a well-circumscribed genus on the basis of morphological and molecular data, but species boundaries remain poorly understood. Here, the species delimitation of the contentious Symphyotrichum subulatum group (Symphyotrichum subg. Astropolium) is illuminated using morphometric, phylogenomic, and geographical analyses. Symphyotrichum mexicanum sp. nov., a new species endemic to central Mexico, is described and distinguished from Symphyotrichum expansum based on its morphometric attributes, phylogenetic placement, geographic range, and ecological specialization

Filariasis presenting as an upper arm swelling – an unusual presentation

Filariasis is a chronic disabling parasitic disease causing a major public health problem in tropical areas of Southeast Asia. It is endemic in India, China, Nepal, Indonesia, parts of Asia and Africa. In Southeast Asia it is caused mainly by W. bancrofti and Brugia species. Microfilaria is known to be present in cytology smears prepared from swelling at various sites and also in different body fluids. However, upper arm swelling as a clinical presentation of filariasis is a very rare event. If cytology smears are screened with high index of suspicion in this group of otherwise asymptomatic patients, early institution of proper treatment can both prevent the complication of the disease as well as break the chain of transmission from healthy carriers.</p

Chronic Urticaria and Its Impact on the Quality of Life of Nepalese Patients

Chronic urticaria (CU) is a skin condition characterized by sudden and recurrent episodes of wheals, angioedema, or both and commonly associated with itching for a duration of more than six weeks. The available data indicate that urticaria markedly affects both objective functioning and subjective well-being of patients. A review of patients’ records with chronic urticaria attending Civil Service Hospital from January 2018 to December 2019 was done. A detailed demographic data of all patients with chronic urticaria was also retrieved. Dermatology Life Quality Index questionnaire (DLQI) Nepalese version was used for the assessment of the impact of disease on life quality. Mann–Whitney U-test was applied to compare means, and principle component analysis for factor analysis was used. A total of 149 patients were included, with a male-to-female ratio of 1 : 1.9. The mean age of the study population was 32.86 ± 12.837 years. The mean DLQI score was 8.30 ± 6.73 with men having a significantly greater score than women (p<0.02). DLQI scores negatively correlated with age (p<0.01). There was a high internal consistency among items (Cronbach’s alpha 0.89), and all items had satisfactory correlation with each other as well. Principle component extraction revealed that there were two underlying factors in the DLQI questionnaire on measuring quality of life in chronic urticaria. Males had a greater impairment in quality of life than females due to chronic urticaria. Most severe impairment was seen in symptoms/feelings subdomain. It also revealed that there were two different underlying factors in DLQI questionnaire

Engaging Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) for cardiovascular diseases risk screening in Nepal

Rawal LB, Sun Y, Dahal PK, et al. Engaging Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) for cardiovascular diseases risk screening in Nepal. PLoS ONE . 2022;17(1): e0261518.INTRODUCTION: Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) have become the leading public health problems worldwide and the cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is one of the major NCDs. Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) in Nepal are the key drivers to implementing frontline health services. We explored the potential for engaging FCHVs for CVD risk screening at the community level in Nepal.; METHODS: We used multiple approaches (quantitative and qualitative) for data collection. The trained FCHVs administered CVD risk screening questionnaire among 491 adults in rural and urban areas and calculated the CVD risk scores. To maintain consistency and quality, a registered medical doctor also, using the same risk scoring chart, independently calculated the CVD risk scores. Kappa statistics and concordance coefficient were used to compare these two sets of risk screening results. Sensitivity and specificity analyses were conducted. Two focus group discussions among the FCHVs were conducted to determine their experiences with CVD risk screening and willingness to engage with CVD prevention and control efforts.; RESULTS: The mean level of agreement between two sets of risk screening results was 94.5% (Kappa = 0.77, P<0.05). Sensitivity of FCHV screening was 90.3% (95% CI: 0.801-0.964); and the specificity was 97% (95% CI: 0.948, 0.984). FCHVs who participated in the FGDs expressed a strong enthusiasm and readiness to using the CVD risk screening tools. Despite their busy workload, all FCHVs showed high level of motivation and willingness in using CVD risk screening tools and contribute to the prevention and control efforts of NCDs. The FCHVs recommended needs for providing additional training and capacity building opportunities.; CONCLUSION: We conclude that there is a potential for engaging FCHVs to use simple CVD risk screening tools at the community level. The findings are promising, however, further studies engaging larger number of FCHVs and larger population would warrant feasibility of such tools within the existing healthcare systems in Nepal