Digital Technologies and the Barriers K-12 Teachers Face: A Phenomenological Study During a Global Pandemic

The COVID 19, global pandemic has brought upon many changes in the world we live in today. The educational community has had to accept the drastic changes in teaching and learning through embracing digital technologies more rigorously than ever before. Specifically, in Long Island, New York, once the initial cases of COVID 19 were identified, educational institutions were challenged with enabling instruction remotely. Teachers faced the reality of mandatory implementation of digital technology in the curriculum. This research sought to identify the phenomenon of how teachers have experienced known barriers to using digital technologies during a global pandemic; specifically, when teachers had no choice but to embrace these modalities to best educate students. This phenomenological study surveyed teachers in Long Island, New York to ascertain a better understanding of their experiences related to the extrinsic and intrinsic barriers faced while adopting, integrating, and implementing digital technologies in the classroom during the COVID 19 global pandemic. Themes emerging from the essence of the phenomenon included three major points that are recommended for teachers to use as a model to guide them in creating a digital classroom; (a) accepting change, (b) breaking barriers, and (c) checking for self-efficacy. The abc’s Model for a Digital Classroom Teacher evolved from this research can guide not just teachers but can encourage other diverse occupations to adopt, integrate, and implement digital technologies in a wide variety of disciplines

An exploration of the relationship between aphasia therapy, depression and quality of life in post-stroke patients after rehabilitation at 12 and 26 weeks after stroke: A VERSE sub-study

Background: Depression is a common consequence of stroke, and people with aphasia (PWA) post-stroke have a higher risk of developing depression compared to stroke survivors without aphasia. However, current stroke interventions featuring aphasia therapy tend to neglect the effect of the treatment on mood. There is also a lack of evidence on the impact of stroke education and counselling on PWA in early stroke recovery. Additionally, the research on post-stroke depression often excludes or insufficiently describes PWA in study populations. The influence of direct aphasia therapy on depression in PWA is undetermined. This sub-study investigated: i) the effect of aphasia therapy, stroke education and counselling on depression as measured by the Aphasia Depression Rating Scale (ADRS) at 12 and 26 weeks after stroke in people with aphasia; ii) the effect of change in communicative ability on depression and quality of life as measured by the Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life-39 (SAQoL-39); and iii) the relationship between depression and quality of life at 12 and 26 weeks post-stroke after controlling for covariates mentioned below. Method: The Very Early Rehabilitation of SpeEch (VERSE) trial was a randomized controlled trial that recruited 246 participants within the first 10 days post-stroke and provided them with different regimens of direct aphasia therapy. Education and counselling were provided as part of standard usual care within the trial and the content of these sessions was left to the discretion of the therapist. This sub-study ran linear mixed effects regression models at 12 and 26 weeks using baseline data, the amount of aphasia therapy (hours) and frequency (sessions per week) provided and ADRS and SAQoL-39 scores. The models controlled for age, gender, baseline stroke severity (NIHSS), baseline aphasia severity (Western Aphasia-Battery Aphasia Quotient score) and baseline cognition. Hospital site was included as a random effect in all models. Results: Eighteen models were run. Amount (hours) and frequency of direct aphasia therapy, stroke education and counselling had no significant effect on ADRS scores at 12 and 26 weeks 3 after stroke. The change of AQ scores from baseline to week 12 and from baseline to week 26 did not influence ADRS scores. The difference between AQ scores from baseline to week 12 and from baseline to week 26 was significant in predicting SAQoL-39. ADRS was a significant predictor of SAQoL-39 scores at weeks 12 and 26 after stroke. Conclusion: The amount (hours) and frequency of direct aphasia therapy, stroke education and counselling did not significantly affect the development of depression in this cohort. Change in communicative ability and depression strongly predicted the quality of life for PWA as early as 12 weeks after stroke. There was no evidence that communication-based therapy had an effect on mood. Therapy that merges communicative and psychosocial strategies together could be explored to find a form of treatment that targets language ability and mood for people with early aphasia after stroke. Further research is required for the management of depression for PWA in the early phase of recovery

Effect of two techniques of parental interaction on children\u27s anxiety at induction of general anaesthesia - A randomized trial

Objective: Several non-pharmacological techniques, such as parental presence and behavioral preparation, are used to decrease children\u27s anxiety at anaesthesia induction. We compared the mean anxiety score in children at the time of anaesthesia induction with two different physical techniques of parental interaction and a control group with no parent present. The secondary objective was to determine the face mask acceptance during induction.Methods: This study recruited 123 ASA I & II children, aged 1 to 8 years, undergoing day care surgery, who were randomly allocated to three groups. Children either went to the operating room (OR) alone (Gp C), or one parent sat next to the child at induction (Gp PS), or the child sat in parent\u27s lap (Gp PH). The anxiety score on the modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (mYPAS) was recorded in the preinduction area of OR and at the induction of anaesthesia before the face mask application. A cut-off value of less than 30 indicated low anxiety. The face mask acceptance was also rated.Results: All patients had the mYPAS scores higher than 30 in the preinduction area with no significant difference between groups. Prior to induction, the Gp C score was significantly high as compared to Gp PS (p=0.016) and Gp PH (p=0.001), but it was not different between the Gp PS and PH (p=1.00). The face mask acceptance was easy in 4.9 % patients in Gp C, 26.8% in Gp PS, and 56% in Gp PH.Conclusion: Parental presence during induction did not prevent children\u27s anxiety, but it reduced it, irrespective of the physical technique used. The face mask acceptance was better in Gp PH

Performance of LTE network for VoIP users

With the arrival of LTE standard, it is expected that the mobile voice services paradigm will shift from the circuit switched to fully packet switched mode supporting the VoIP services. VoIP services took quite a bit of time before they were accepted as the main stream telephony service in the fixed networks. To provide VoIP services over the LTE networks with appropriate QoS, it is necessary to analyse the performance of such services and optimise the network parameters. This paper analyses the performance of VoIP services on the LTE network using the FD and the SMP packet scheduling techniques. This work identifies and analyses the features of above LTE packet scheduling techniques to enhance the QoS of VoIP services. An OPNET-based simulation model is used to analyse the performance of VoIP services on the LTE network by incorporating G.711 and G.723 speech coders. The work also studied the performance of VoIP services in variable transmission channel conditions

Adapting to longer summers: Evaluation of the Relationship between Dissolved Organic Material, Nutrients, and Algal Species in Colorado Lakes and Reservoirs

Previous research has suggested that production of non-humic dissolved organic matter (DOM) can be directly related to chlorophyll-a concentrations in surface waters. In recent years, increases in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in surface waters have been documented in many northern temperate regions.The underlying processes and the effects of increasing DOC on aquatic ecosystems and drinking water quality are not fully understood. The aim of this study was to expand upon the findings of the interactions between DOM and chlorophyll a concentrations in a lake in the Green Lakes Valley of the Colorado Rocky Mountains to over 30 lakes and drinking water reservoirs across the State of Colorado. Another goal was to gain insight into seasonal trends which could give be expanded to potential impacts of climate change. Additional reasons these relationships are important are because algal derived DOM has been documented as a precursor material to the formation of disinfection byproducts, and longer summers as a result of climate change could increase the algal growing season

Nutritional composition, vitamins, minerals and toxic heavy metals analysis of Trianthema portulacastrum L., a wild edible plant from Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

This study aimed at analyzing the nutritional potential of a wild edible plant, Trianthema portulacastrum L. widely used in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The nutritional composition, vitamins, minerals and heavy elements were analyzed following the standard methods of Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC). The nutritional assessment included determination of moisture, ash, lipid, fiber, protein, carbohydrate and energy. Among the nutrient values, fiber was found to be the highest (430.0 mg/g), followed by ash (348.0 mg/g), total protein (91.9 mg/g), moisture (80.0 mg/g), carbohydrate (30.2 mg/g) and total lipid (20.0 mg/g). The vitamins analyzed were found to have greater value for riboflavin (2.02 mg/g), than retinol (0.81 mg/g). Among the macro minerals, potassium was present in high concentration (51.6 mg/g) than sodium (44.0 mg/g). The trace elements were assessed using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) and their decreasing order was Fe>Zn>Mn>Ni>Cu. Two toxic metals, Pb and Cd were present in very minute quantities of 0.08 and 0.0006 mg/g, respectively. The results suggest that T. portulacastrum L. is a good source of fiber, proteins, riboflavin, potassium, sodium and iron.Keywords: Peshawar, Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC), Trianthema portulacastrum L., nutritional composition, vitamins, minerals.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(42), pp. 6079-608

Assessing association between socio-demographic variables and contraceptive usage in married men residing in Korangi District, Karachi, Pakistan

Background: Population growth remains an alarming concern for Pakistan as it not only exhausts scarce resources but further impedes socioeconomic development. One potential solution is to advance modern Family Planning (FP), which in the Pakistani context requires specific and rigorous attention towards male contraception in conjunction with female family planning usage. This study aims to determine the association between socio demographic factors and contraceptive use in married men of squatter settlement of Korangi Karachi.Methods and Materials: A cross-sectional study was carried out from March, 2017 to June 2017, using a non-probability convenience sampling technique to select married men in squatter settlements of Korangi town district of Karachi, Pakistan. A total of 419 married men aged 20 and above having two or more children within 3 to5 years of marriage were interviewed.Results: The average age of male respondents was 29.74 ± 4.66 years. The average age of males utilizing Family planning methods was 31 to 35 years. Nearly 95% of participants knew what FP was meant to accomplish, but only 44.6% of individuals used FP. The most popular FP technique was condoms (50.8%). Couples, who attained primary or secondary school education, used FP more frequently (p˂0.01). Financial difficulty was the most significant justification for adopting FP methods (46.5%). However, the main justification for not using contraceptive methods was deep religious values (50%). Nearly 64% of respondents agreed that the woman should use the contraceptive.Conclusion: This study provides evidence of socio-demographic barriers related from low to non-use of male contraceptives in a select male sub-population of Pakistan. Cultural and religious considerations, lack of education, and fear of adverse effects were the major justifications for not using contraceptive methods

The Role of Magnetic Resonance Venography in Headache Due to Suspected Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis in the Presence of Normal T1 and T2 Dural Sinus Signal

OBJECTIVES Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is an important but uncommon aetiology of stroke.  The presentation of CVST is extremely variable clinically, moreover its onset can be either acute or subacute, and less frequently, chronic. Headache is the most common symptom of CVST.  The headache is typically diffuse and progressing in severity over days to weeks.  MRI and MRV have very high sensitivity and specificity and have become the modality of choice to confirm the diagnosis of CVST.  The aim of this study was to weigh the benefits of added MRV in patients with headache, after a negative MRI for CVST.  METHODOLOGY The total number of patients included was 207, with chief complaints of headache and suspicion of CVST. The MRV sequence used was dynamic coronal by using the time-of-flight technique. The diagnosis of CVST was made by the loss of normal signal void both on T1WI and T2WI as well as on non-visualization on MRV.RESULTSOut of these 207 patients, CVST was present in 52 patients.  Superior sagittal sinus was involved in 8 cases, right transverse sinus in 2 cases, left transverse sinus in 7 cases, left sigmoid sinus in 3 cases, and multiple sinuses in 32 cases. 34 cases out of 52 had infarction which was mostly haemorrhagic i.e. 27.  A total of 97 cases (46%) had aplastic/hypoplastic transverse segments which were mostly the left one (87, 42%) and 10 cases (4.8 %) on the right side. In none of the patients, CVST was picked by MRV alone after a negative T1 and T2 MRI. CONCLUSION In patients presenting with headache and suspected CVST additional MRV is only required if the routine MR sequences are not able to pick up the thrombus and the suspicion of CVST is very high

Mapping Glacier Ablation With a UAV in the North Cascades: A Structure-from-Motion Approach

The glaciers of the North Cascades have experienced mass loss and terminus retreat due to climate change. The meltwater from these glaciers provides a flux of cold glacier meltwater into the river systems, which supports salmon spawning during the late summer dry season. The Nooksack Indian Tribe monitors the outlet flow of the Sholes Glacier within the North Cascades range with the goal of understanding the health of the glacier and the ability of the Tribe to continue to harvest sustainable populations of salmon. This study compares the UAV derived glacier ablation with the discharge data collected by the Tribe. We surveyed the Sholes Glacier twice throughout the 2020 melt season and, using Structure-from-Motion technology, generated high resolution multispectral orthomosaics and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) of the glacier on each of the survey dates. The DEMs were differenced to reveal the surface height change of the glacier. The spectral data of the orthomosaics were used to conduct IsoData unsupervised classification. This process divided the survey area into Snow, Ice, and Rock classes that were then used to attribute the surface height changes of the DEMs to either snow or ice melt. The analysis revealed the glacier lost an average thickness of −0.132 m per day (m d−1) with snow and ice losing thickness at similar rates, −0.130 m d−1 and −0.132 m d−1 respectively. DEM differencing reveals that a total of −550,161 ± 45,206 m3 water equivalent (w.e.) was discharged into Wells Creek between the survey dates whereas the stream gauge station measured a total discharge of 350,023 m3. This study demonstrates the ability to spectrally classify the UAV data and derive discharge measurements while evaluating the small-scale spatial variability of glacier melt. Assessing ablation in small alpine glaciers is of great importance to downstream communities, like the Nooksack Indian Tribe who seek to understand the magnitude and timing of glacier melt in order to better protect their salmon populations. With this paper, we provide a baseline for future glacier monitoring and the potential to connect the snow surface properties with the rate of snow melt into a warming future

Globalization: Information Technology and Economic Growth Nexus: Empirical Evidence from ARDL Model Approach to Co-integration and Causality Analysis

This study provides a realistic examination of link between economic growth, information technology and its elements with particular attention on the stock market advancement in Pakistan.  Our results recommend a positive connection between well-organized stock market and economic growth equally in long run and short run. In financial theory globalization information technology would affect the increase economic development. This study investigates the influence of globalization and economic advancement on income disparity in Pakistan. In this study, we used the annual time series data and also used autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) econometric technique. We collected this data 1973 to 2014 from state bank of Pakistan and international financial statistics. From this study, it is decided that, globalization information technology has substantial effect on income parity; the economic growth rate is also achieving the income equality. In the policy outlook trade openness, foreign payment, foreign direct investment, may contribute in reducing inequality, the key variables used in this study are like savings, inflation, and exchange rate, gross domestic product, investment. This implies that, if this country wants to increase the economic growth, then to formulate and strictly implement some particular policies that facilitate investment in ICT