Using Point of View Video Modeling to Teach Math to Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Saudi Arabia

The utilization of academic skills plays a significant role in an individual’s function in society. For countries who are still developing an effective base of evidence-based practices, such as Saudi Arabia, single-subject research can be a powerful tool in discovering best practices for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of point-of-view video modeling (POVM) in improving the math skills (addition with regrouping) of elementary participants with ASD. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to examine the effectiveness of the intervention on each participant’s ability to solve two-digit by two-digit and one-digit by one-digit addition with regrouping problems, their ability to successfully access the video on an iPad, and their ability to generalize a learned skill to a new skill (three-digit by two-digit or two-digit by two-digit). Results demonstrated the effectiveness of POVM on improving all participants’ solving addition performance across all problem types. Effect size measures revealed a strong effect for each participant between the baseline and intervention. A significant difference was found in the increase of digits correct per minute and steps completed between the baseline and intervention phases for each participant. Generalization of solving addition problem performance to untrained math skills (three-digit by two-digit and two-digit by two-digit) was evident for each participant and resulted in a strong effect size measure. All participants maintained their ability to solve addition with regrouping problems and using all required steps for regrouping to solve each problem. Overall, evidence supported that participants with ASD can independently engage in addition with regrouping problems following the intervention. Future researchers can replicate this study for examining different math skills or other content that impact the academic performance of participants with ASD

StEduCov: An Explored and Benchmarked Dataset on Stance Detection in Tweets towards Online Education during COVID-19 Pandemic

In this paper, we present StEduCov, an annotated dataset for the analysis of stances toward online education during the COVID-19 pandemic. StEduCov consists of 16,572 tweets gathered over 15 months, from March 2020 to May 2021, using the Twitter API. The tweets were manually annotated into the classes agree, disagreeor neutral. We performed benchmarking on the dataset using state-of-the-art and traditional machine learning models. Specifically, we trained deep learning models-bidirectional encoder representations from transformers, long short-term memory, convolutional neural networks, attention-based biLSTM and Naive Bayes SVM-in addition to naive Bayes, logistic regression, support vector machines, decision trees, K-nearest neighbor and random forest. The average accuracy in the 10-fold cross-validation of these models ranged from 75% to (Formula presented.) % and from (Formula presented.) % to 68% for binary and multi-class stance classifications, respectively. Performances were affected by high vocabulary overlaps between classes and unreliable transfer learning using deep models pre-trained on general texts in relation to specific domains such as COVID-19 and distance education. 2022 by the authors.Scopu

Remedy Efficiency through Paclitaxel on Rat (Rattus norvegicus) Brain Injury and Risk Premium of N- Diethyl nitrosamine (DEN) Injection

Abstract The current study deals with the effect of N-Diethylnitrosamine (DEN) induced traumatic brain injury on male albino rats, as well as the outcome results of treatment with paclitaxel nanoparticles for a period of 8 weeks with two-week intervals is the concern of the present study. Mean body weight, as well as brain weight, was considered as the main parameters whereas a detailed immunohistochemical study on rat brain sections was performed. Astrocytic biomarkers for the diagnosis of astrocytes by fibrillary glial acidic protein (GFAP). Neuronal GFAP staining used for various broke sections were forwarded. Comparison and Contrast of all these parameters in all steps of the experiment had been discussed. The efficiency of the treatment was found to be evident. The effect on body weight was significant whereas brain weight results showed insignificant differences. A longer duration of treatment may well reflect more significant results

A Comparative Analysis between Right and Left Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernias

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is a rare congenital anomaly of the diaphragm with an incidence of 1:2000-5000 of live births. This study retrospectively evaluated patients who had been operated on for CDH at our department of Pediatric Surgery between January 2013 and December 2016. The Demographic Data and outcomes of right CDH cases (Group 1) were compared with left CDH cases (Group 2)

Dynamic Learning Framework for Smooth-Aided Machine-Learning-Based Backbone Traffic Forecasts

Recently, there has been an increasing need for new applications and services such as big data, blockchains, vehicle-to-everything (V2X), the Internet of things, 5G, and beyond. Therefore, to maintain quality of service (QoS), accurate network resource planning and forecasting are essential steps for resource allocation. This study proposes a reliable hybrid dynamic bandwidth slice forecasting framework that combines the long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network and local smoothing methods to improve the network forecasting model. Moreover, the proposed framework can dynamically react to all the changes occurring in the data series. Backbone traffic was used to validate the proposed method. As a result, the forecasting accuracy improved significantly with the proposed framework and with minimal data loss from the smoothing process. The results showed that the hybrid moving average LSTM (MLSTM) achieved the most remarkable improvement in the training and testing forecasts, with 28% and 24% for long-term evolution (LTE) time series and with 35% and 32% for the multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) time series, respectively, while robust locally weighted scatter plot smoothing and LSTM (RLWLSTM) achieved the most significant improvement for upstream traffic with 45%; moreover, the dynamic learning framework achieved improvement percentages that can reach up to 100%

Corneal nerve and brain imaging in mild cognitive impairment and dementia

Background: Visual rating of medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) is an accepted structural neuroimaging marker of Alzheimer's disease. Corneal confocal microscopy (CCM) is a non-invasive ophthalmic technique that detects neuronal loss in peripheral and central neurodegenerative disorders. Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of CCM for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia compared to medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) rating on MRI. Methods: Subjects aged 60-85 with no cognitive impairment (NCI), MCI, and dementia based on the ICD-10 criteria were recruited. Subjects underwent cognitive screening, CCM, and MTA rating on MRI. Results: 182 subjects with NCI (n = 36), MCI (n = 80), and dementia (n = 66), including AD (n = 19, 28.8%), VaD (n = 13, 19.7%), and mixed AD (n = 34, 51.5%) were studied. CCM showed a progressive reduction in corneal nerve fiber density (CNFD, fibers/mm2) (32.0±7.5 versus 24.5±9.6 and 20.8±9.3, p < 0.0001), branch density (CNBD, branches/mm2) (90.9±46.5 versus 59.3±35.7 and 53.9±38.7, p < 0.0001), and fiber length (CNFL, mm/mm2) (22.9±6.1 versus 17.2±6.5 and 15.8±7.4, p < 0.0001) in subjects with MCI and dementia compared to NCI. The area under the ROC curve (95% CI) for the diagnostic accuracy of CNFD, CNBD, CNFL compared to MTA-right and MTA-left for MCI was 78% (67-90%), 82% (72-92%), 86% (77-95%) versus 53% (36-69%) and 40% (25-55%), respectively, and for dementia it was 85% (76-94%), 84% (75-93%), 85% (76-94%) versus 86% (76-96%) and 82% (72-92%), respectively. Conclusion: The diagnostic accuracy of CCM, a non-invasive ophthalmic biomarker of neurodegeneration, was high and comparable with MTA rating for dementia but was superior to MTA rating for MCI

Home-based narrowband UVB, topical corticosteroid or combination for children and adults with vitiligo: HI-Light Vitiligo three-arm RCT

BACKGROUND: Systematic reviews suggest that narrowband ultraviolet B light combined with treatments such as topical corticosteroids may be more effective than monotherapy for vitiligo. OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of topical corticosteroid monotherapy compared with (1) hand-held narrowband ultraviolet B light monotherapy and (2) hand-held narrowband ultraviolet B light/topical corticosteroid combination treatment for localised vitiligo. DESIGN: Pragmatic, three-arm, randomised controlled trial with 9 months of treatment and a 12-month follow-up. SETTING: Sixteen UK hospitals - participants were recruited from primary and secondary care and the community. PARTICIPANTS: Adults and children (aged ≥ 5 years) with active non-segmental vitiligo affecting ≤ 10% of their body area. INTERVENTIONS: Topical corticosteroids [mometasone furoate 0.1% (Elocon®, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA) plus dummy narrowband ultraviolet B light]; narrowband ultraviolet B light (narrowband ultraviolet B light plus placebo topical corticosteroids); or combination (topical corticosteroids plus narrowband ultraviolet B light). Topical corticosteroids were applied once daily on alternate weeks and narrowband ultraviolet B light was administered every other day in escalating doses, with a dose adjustment for erythema. All treatments were home based. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was self-assessed treatment success for a chosen target patch after 9 months of treatment ('a lot less noticeable' or 'no longer noticeable' on the Vitiligo Noticeability Scale). Secondary outcomes included blinded assessment of primary outcome and percentage repigmentation, onset and maintenance of treatment response, quality of life, side effects, treatment burden and cost-effectiveness (cost per additional successful treatment). RESULTS: In total, 517 participants were randomised (adults, n = 398; and children, n =  119; 52% male; 57% paler skin types I-III, 43% darker skin types IV-VI). At the end of 9 months of treatment, 370 (72%) participants provided primary outcome data. The median percentage of narrowband ultraviolet B light treatment-days (actual/allocated) was 81% for topical corticosteroids, 77% for narrowband ultraviolet B light and 74% for combination groups; and for ointment was 79% for topical corticosteroids, 83% for narrowband ultraviolet B light and 77% for combination. Target patch location was head and neck (31%), hands and feet (32%), and rest of the body (37%). Target patch treatment 'success' was 20 out of 119 (17%) for topical corticosteroids, 27 out of 123 (22%) for narrowband ultraviolet B light and 34 out of 128 (27%) for combination. Combination treatment was superior to topical corticosteroids (adjusted risk difference 10.9%, 95% confidence interval 1.0% to 20.9%; p = 0.032; number needed to treat = 10). Narrowband ultraviolet B light was not superior to topical corticosteroids (adjusted risk difference 5.2%, 95% confidence interval -4.4% to 14.9%; p = 0.290; number needed to treat = 19). The secondary outcomes supported the primary analysis. Quality of life did not differ between the groups. Participants who adhered to the interventions for > 75% of the expected treatment protocol were more likely to achieve treatment success. Over 40% of participants had lost treatment response after 1 year with no treatment. Grade 3 or 4 erythema was experienced by 62 participants (12%) (three of whom were using the dummy) and transient skin thinning by 13 participants (2.5%) (two of whom were using the placebo). We observed no serious adverse treatment effects. For combination treatment compared with topical corticosteroids, the unadjusted incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was £2328.56 (adjusted £1932) per additional successful treatment (from an NHS perspective). LIMITATIONS: Relatively high loss to follow-up limits the interpretation of the trial findings, especially during the post-intervention follow-up phase. CONCLUSION: Hand-held narrowband ultraviolet B light plus topical corticosteroid combination treatment is superior to topical corticosteroids alone for treatment of localised vitiligo. Combination treatment was relatively safe and well tolerated, but was effective in around one-quarter of participants only. Whether or not combination treatment is cost-effective depends on how much decision-makers are willing to pay for the benefits observed. FUTURE WORK: Development and testing of new vitiligo treatments with a greater treatment response and longer-lasting effects are needed. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN17160087. FUNDING: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 24, No. 64. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P &lt; 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Empathy and Persona of English vs. Arabic Chatbots: A Survey and Future Directions

There is a high demand for chatbots across a wide range of sectors. Human-like chatbots engage meaningfully in dialogues while interpreting and expressing emotions and being consistent through understanding the user's personality. Though substantial progress has been achieved in developing empathetic chatbots for English, work on Arabic chatbots is still in its early stages due to various challenges associated with the language constructs and dialects. This survey reviews recent literature on approaches to empathetic response generation, persona modelling and datasets for developing chatbots in the English language. In addition, it presents the challenges of applying these approaches to Arabic and outlines some solutions. We focus on open-domain chatbots developed as end-to-end generative systems due to their capabilities to learn and infer language and emotions. Accordingly, we create four open problems pertaining to gaps in Arabic and English work; namely, (1) feature representation learning based on multiple dialects; (2) modelling the various facets of a persona and emotions; (3) datasets; and (4) evaluation metrics. 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.Acknowledgments. This work was made possible by NPRP13S-0112-200037 grant from Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.Scopu

Мультимедійне вивчення правил волейболу на факультетах фізичного виховання та спорту

Background and Study Aim. As technology's role in education grows, assessing its efficacy in sports curriculum becomes increasingly crucial. In light of potential limitations in traditional teaching methods, exploring innovative approaches becomes imperative to enhance the learning experience. This study investigates the impact of multimedia usage in teaching the theoretical aspects of volleyball rules within faculties of physical education and sports sciences. Material and Methods. The research included a total of 87 students. From this pool, 20 students were selected to form two groups, each consisting of 10 students. This study compared two groups using two different teaching methods: a multimedia-based program group and a traditional program group. The research employed a descriptive approach and the causal-comparative study method. Results. The results indicated that the use of multimedia had a positive impact on teaching the theoretical aspects of volleyball rules courses. There were statistically significant differences between the pre- and post-measurements of the traditional program group, with the post-measurement being superior. Furthermore, significant differences were observed between the two post-measurements of the two groups, with the multimedia-based program group showing a superior outcome. Conclusions. These results emphasize the potential of multimedia as an effective tool for enriching sports curriculum within faculties of physical education and sports sciences. Further exploration of multimedia's role in education is warranted to harness its full potential for pedagogical enhancement.Передумови та мета дослідження. Оскільки роль технологій в освіті зростає, оцінка їх ефективності в спортивних навчальних програмах стає все більш важливою. У світлі потенційних обмежень у традиційних методах навчання, вивчення інноваційних підходів стає обов’язковим для покращення досвіду навчання. У цьому дослідженні досліджується вплив використання мультимедіа на навчання теоретичним аспектам правил волейболу на факультетах фізичного виховання та спорту.Матеріал і методи. Всього в дослідженні взяли участь 87 студентів. З цього пулу було відібрано 20 студентів, які сформували дві групи по 10 студентів у кожній. У цьому дослідженні порівнювали дві групи з використанням двох різних методів навчання: групу з мультимедійною програмою та групу з традиційною програмою. У дослідженні використано описовий підхід та причинно-порівняльний метод дослідження.Результати. Результати показали, що використання мультимедіа позитивно вплинуло на викладання теоретичних аспектів курсу правил волейболу. Існували статистично значущі відмінності між попередніми і поствимірюваннями в групі традиційної програми, причому поствимірювання було кращим. Крім того, спостерігалися значні відмінності між двома пост-вимірюваннями в двох групах, причому група мультимедійної програми показала кращий результат.Висновки. Ці результати підкреслюють потенціал мультимедіа як ефективного інструменту для збагачення спортивної навчальної програми на факультетах фізичного виховання та спортивних наук. Подальше вивчення ролі мультимедіа в освіті є виправданим, щоб використати його повний потенціал для вдосконалення педагогічної діяльності