Are open educational resources the future of e-learning?

Increased interest in more open approaches to learning, in particular Open Educational Resources is reflected in the programmes of international organisations, national initiatives and the actions of individual institutions. However, while some see OER as an indicator of the future of learning, others are much more sceptical and doubt their long-term success. This paper considers the vision of OER as part of future learning solutions in the society driven by technology and knowledge. Supported by an examination of specific national contexts and linked to research from relevant initiatives arguments in favour of using OER are outlined. These include their value in both developing and developed countries, and flexible ways of use in structured courses and in informal, learner-driven environments. This is balanced by highlighting concerns that relate mainly to current issues of certification, quality and intellectual property rights, but also potential problems such as the lack of instructor-learner interaction and the dominance of OER initiatives from English-speaking universities. The paper concludes that OER have an immense potential as long as the elements that contribute to their success are identified and harnessed, and barriers effectively dealt with

In the Words of the Medical Tourist: An Analysis of Internet Narratives by Health Travelers to Turkey

Background: Patients regularly travel to the West for advanced medical care, but now the trend is also shifting in the opposite direction. Many people from Western countries now seek care outside of their country. This phenomenon has been labeled medical tourism or health travel. Information regarding health travelers’ actual outcomes, experiences, and perceptions is lacking or insufficient. However, advanced Internet technology and apps provide information on medical tourism and are a vehicle for patients to share their experiences. Turkey has a large number of internationally accredited hospitals, is a top tourism destination, and is positioning itself to attract international patients. Objective: The objective of this research was to identify the important individual characteristics of health travelers, outline the push and pull factors for seeking health care in Turkey, identify satisfaction with the outcomes and the results of these individuals’ treatments, and note positive and negative factors influencing their perceptions and overall experiences about patients’ health travel. Methods: This research uses qualitative data from Internet narratives of medical tourists to Turkey. Ethical considerations of using Internet narratives were reviewed. Narratives for analysis were obtained by using the Google search engine and using multiple search terms to obtain publicly posted blogs and discussion board postings of health travelers via purposeful sampling. Narratives were included if they were written in English, described travel to Turkey for health care, and were publicly accessible. Exclusion criteria included narratives that were on medical tourism facilitator or provider promotional websites, not in English, and did not describe an experience of a medical tourist. Medical tourists’ written words were analyzed in an iterative analytic process using narrative analysis theory principles. Three stages of coding (open, axial, and selective) were conducted to identify characteristics and themes using qualitative analysis software. Results: The narrative posts of 36 individuals undergoing 47 procedures who traveled to Turkey for medical care between 2007 and 2012 were analyzed. The narratives came from 13 countries, not including the narratives for which patient origin could not be determined. Travelers were predominantly from Europe (16/36, 44%) and North America (10/36, 28%). Factors driving travelers away from their home country (push factors) were cost and lack of treatment options or insufficient insurance coverage in their home country. Leading factors attracting patients to destination (pull factors) were lower costs, physician’s expertise and responsiveness, and familiarity or interest in Turkey. Health travelers to Turkey were generally satisfied with the outcomes of their procedures and care provided by their physicians, many noting intent to return. Communication challenges, food, transportation, and gaps in customer service emerged as key areas for improvement. Conclusions: This analysis provides an understanding of the insights of medical tourists through the words of actual health travelers. This nonintrusive methodology provides candid insights of common themes of health travelers and may be applied to study other patient experiences. The findings of this research expands the body of knowledge in medical tourism and serves as a platform for further qualitative and quantitative research on health travelers’ experiences

Anatomical characteristics of the lingual foramen in ancient skulls: a cone beam computed tomography study in an Anatolian population

Background: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the anatomical features of lingual foramina and their bony canals in Anatolian ancient mandibles (9–10th century) by using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). Materials and methods: Fifty-eight ancient dry mandibles were scanned with CBCT. Lingual foramina were grouped into midline, paramedian, posterior foramina and combination of these groups. Midline group was also classified according to internal surface of the mandible (gonial tubercles [GTs]). The incidence, vertical distance and diameter of lingual foramina were measured according to age groups and gender. Results: The incidence of the lingual foramen was 96.6%. Midline of the symphysis had the highest incidence (34.4%) of foramina (p < 0.05), followed by both midline and paramedian type (32.8%; p < 0.05). Classification in terms of GT represented class 3 as the most encountered group (28.6%). Number of foramina observed in the mandibles ranged from 0 to 6 with the incidence of 3.4% and 32.8%, respectively. The male and < 35 years groups presented larger measurement values in midline region (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Mandibular lingual foramina and bony canals are frequently present in ancient mandibles. When compared with modern subjects, similar findings are observed according to published literatures. CBCT is also proved to be an effective imaging modality in the detection of lingual foramina and canals in anthropological studies

Dynamically Tuning Processor Resources with Adaptive Processing

The productivity of modern society has become inextricably linked to its ability to produce energy-efficient computing technology. Increasingly sophisticated mobile computing systems, powered for hours solely by batteries, continue to proliferate rapidly throughout society, while battery technology improves at a much slower pace. In large data centers that handle everything from online orders for a dot-com company to sophisticated Web searches, row upon row of tightly packed computers may be warehoused in a city block. Microprocessor energy wastage in such a facility directly translates into higher electric bills. Simply receiving sufficient electricity from utilities to power such a center is no longer certain. Given this situation, energy efficiency has rapidly moved to the forefront of modern microprocessor design. The adaptive processing approach to improving microprocessor energy efficiency dynamically tunes major microprocessor resources—such as caches and hardware queues—during execution to better match varying application needs.1,2 This tuning usually involves reducing the size of a resource when its full capabilities are not needed, then restoring the disabled portions when they are needed again. Dynamically tailoring processor resources in active use contrasts sharply with techniques that simply turn off entire sections of a processor when they become idle. Presenting the application with the required amount of hardware—and nothing more— throughout its execution can achieve a potentially significant reduction in energy consumption. The challenges facing adaptive processing lie in achieving this greater efficiency with reasonable hardware and software overhead, and doing so without incurring undue performance loss. Unlike reconfigurable computing, which typically uses very different technology such as FPGAs, adaptive processing exploits the dynamic superscalar design approach that developers have used successfully in many generations of general-purpose processors. Whereas reconfigurable processors must demonstrate performance or energy savings large enough to overcome very large clock frequency and circuit density disadvantages, adaptive processors typically have baseline overheads of only a few percent

Evaluation of K2La2Ti3O10-based coatings for Daphnia magna acute toxicity test of methylene blue degradation in water

The objective of this study is to produce potassium lanthanum titanate (K2La2Ti3O10, KLTO)-based coatings with Nd, Gd, and Sm dopants by using sol-gel method to degrade the color of methylene blue azo dye from water and to evaluate the acute toxicity of water. Phase identification and morphology of K2La1.1Nd0.9Ti3O10, K2La1.9Gd0.1Ti3O10 and K2La1.5Sm0.5Ti3O10 coatings were characterized through X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. Photocatalytic degradation tests of methylene blue azo dyes were performed with KLTO-based coatings using Atlas Suntest CPS+ solar simulator. Photocatalytic absorbance measurements were investigated with Schimadzu UV-Vis 1240 spectrometer. Acute toxicity tests were evaluated to determine toxicity of methylene blue dyed water using Daphnia magna. In addition, to find acute toxicity of methylene blue treated with photocatalyst, the tests were carried out daylight and dark ambient at 20 +/- 2 A degrees C. It was found that samples with KLTO-based coatings demonstrated higher photocatalytic activity than blank sample. As a result of high photocatalytic activity, methylene blue samples treated with photocatalysts showed less toxic performance than blank sample according to acute toxicity tests. According to photocatalytic performance experiments and acute toxicity tests, doped K2La1.5Sm0.5Ti3O10 photocatalysts showed less-toxic effect and higher photocatalytic degradation performance

NEW GENERATION K(2)Ln(2)Ti(3)O(10) PHOTOCATALYTIC SEMICONDUCTING THIN FILMS AND THEIR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION

In this study, lanthan-titanates K(2)Ln(2)Ti(3)O(10) (Ln=La, Nd, Gd, Sm and Dy) thin films were deposited on Si (100) substrates via sol-gel technique for photocatalytic applications. Transparent solutions were prepared from K, Ln and Ti based precursors, propionic acid, glacial acetic acid at room temperature, and deposited on Si (100) substrates using spin coating technique. K(2)Ln(2)Ti(3)O(10) powders were calcined at 850 degrees C for 3 hours in an electrical furnace. The powders were dissolved in propionic acid (0.1 M). The obtained solutions were deposited on Si (100) substrates by means of spin coating technique and the films were subsequently annealed at 900 degrees C for 90 minutes in air. The thermal, structural and morphological of the films were characterized by DTA, XRD and SEM techniques. Photocatalytic experiments were carried out by the UV-VIS spectrophotometer. The results revealed that K(2)Ln(2)Ti(3)O(10) films possess perovskite structure with Ln(2)Ti(3)O10(2-) octahedral perovskite layers. Owing to this structure, it easily hydrolyzes toxic organic matters in aqua solutions and even only humidity media under UV light and thus exhibits a very high photocatalytic activity. It can be worked under the sunlight environment and it is aimed to use these productions for degradation of methylene blue in industrial wastewater

In the Words of the Medical Tourist: Analysis of Internet Narratives by Health Travelers to Turkey

Background: While patients have regularly traveled to the West for advanced medical care, now the trends are also shifting in the opposite direction. Hundreds of thousands of people from countries such as the US and UK have sought care outside of their country. This phenomenon has been labeled Medical Tourism and Turkey is positioning itself to attract international patients. Information regarding medical tourists\u27 actual outcomes, experiences and perceptions is lacking or insufficient. However, advanced Internet technology and applications including blogs, wikis, RSS and social bookmarking, referred to as Web 2.0, are a major driver of information on medical tourism and are also a vehicle for patients to share their experiences. Objective: The objective of this research was to identify the important individual characteristics of health travelers, outline the push and pull factors to seek healthcare in Turkey, identify satisfaction with the outcomes and the results of these individuals’ treatments, and note some positive and negative factors influencing their perceptions and overall experiences about their health travel. Methods: This research uses qualitative data from internet narratives of medical tourists to Turkey. Ethical considerations of using internet narratives were reviewed. Narratives for analysis were obtained by using the Google search engine and using multiple search terms including procedures and targeted cities to obtain as many publicly posted blogs and discussion board postings of health travelers via purposeful sampling. Narratives were included if they were written in English, described travel to Turkey for healthcare, and were publicly accessible. Exclusion criteria included narratives on medical tourism facilitator or provider promotional websites, narratives which were not in English and narratives which did not describe an experience of a medical tourist. Medical tourists’ written words were analyzed in an iterative analytic process using narrative analysis theory principles. Three stages of coding, open, axial and selective, were conducted to identify characteristics and themes using qualitative analysis software NVivo version 10. Results: The narrative posts of 36 individuals undergoing 47 procedures who traveled to Turkey from at least 13 countries for medical care between 2007 and 2012 were analyzed; Travelers predominantly from Europe (44%) and North America (28%). Results indicated that the factors driving travelers away from home country (push factors) were: Cost and lack of treatment options or insufficient insurance coverage in home country. Leading pull factors or factors attracting to the destination were lower costs, physician’s expertise and responsiveness and familiarity or interest in Turkey. Health travelers to Turkey are generally satisfied with the outcomes of their procedures and care provided by their physicians, many noting intent to return. Perceptions and overall experiences were also captured. Communication challenges, food, transportation and gaps in customer service emerged as key areas of opportunity for improvement for Turkey. Conclusions: This analysis provides an understanding of the insights of medical tourists though the words of actual health travelers. This non-intrusive methodology provides candid insights of common themes of health travelers and may be applied to study other patient experiences. The findings of this research expands the body of knowledge in medical tourism as well as serves as a platform for further qualitative and quantitative research on health travelers’ experiences

Aluminium matrix composites reinforced by nano Fe \u3c inf\u3e 3 O \u3c inf\u3e 4 doped with TiO \u3c inf\u3e 2 by thermomechanical process

© The Society for Experimental Mechanics, Inc. 2017. In this work, scrap Aluminium Matrix Composites (AMCs) reinforced with 10 wt% nano iron oxide (Fe3O4) were produced and the influence of doping Fe3O4 with TiO2 at 2.5 %, 5 %, 7.5 % and 10 % wt%, was studied. For the dispersion of the reinforcement and the study of the matrix/reinforcement, interface was evaluated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Density and microhardness of the composites were measured and compared. Wear and creep response of the composites were evaluated by a nanoindenter, Furthermore modulus and hardness of the composites were calculated using the unloading data from the nanoindentation tests. Relatively homogenous distribution of the constituents, with a good bond between matrix and the reinforcements was observed. It was also observed that wear behaviour improved with the increase in the TiO2 content