Investigating Technology Integration in a Technology Driven School: A Descriptive Research Study on Skill, Self-Efficacy, Barriers, and Integration Practices

Administrative observations show the use of digital technologies to facilitate learning and technology skill development are inadequate among teachers at a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) accredited magnet school with International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) based student technology guarantees. The purpose of this descriptive research study is to describe teachers’ skill and confidence levels of technology use, teachers’ perception of barriers to their technology integration, and levels of in-class technology integration in a STEAM accredited middle school with student Technology Guarantees in order to develop recommendations for future professional development and technology acquisition. The research study was conducted through a series of quantitative measures including digitally administered surveys, lesson plan reviews, and classroom instructional observations. Qualitative measures include focus group interviews following the quantitative data collection phase. Participants include a purposive sample of twelve core content teachers employed full-time at the technology driven school research site. The research study aims to answer three research questions: 1) How do core content teachers in a STEAM accredited middle school with student Technology Guarantees describe their level of skill and self-efficacy in technology usage?, 2) How do core content teachers in a STEAM accredited middle school with student Technology Guarantees describe their barriers to technology integration?, and 3) How do core content teachers in a STEAM accredited middle school with student Technology Guarantees integrate technology for instructional purposes? Findings indicate that teachers describe their technology skills in a mix of strengths and weakness with polarized groups of teachers having either high or low technology skills and low self-efficacy. The primary barriers perceived by teachers include access to technology resources, adequate time to plan and implement technology enhanced instructional practices, and a lack of outside support for teachers to help them connect technology with their current curriculum. The effects of these barriers are greater on teachers with lacking technology skills and lower self-efficacy. Technology integration practices at the study site occur mostly at lower replacement or amplification levels with low intentional planning. Higher levels of technology integration were observed at greater frequencies with teachers considered to be skilled and confident technology users

High Efficacy of Praziquantel in Schistosoma haematobium-Infected Children in Taraba State, Northeast Nigeria: A follow-up study

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the efficacy of praziquantel in reducing urinary schistosomiasis prevalence, parasite burden and morbidity rates among a previously reported sample of Schistosoma haematobium-infected children. In addition, predisposing factors for reinfection one year post-treatment were also determined. Methods: This prospective follow-up study was conducted between March 2014 and February 2015 among 675 previously reported children with urinary schistosomiasis in the Murbai and Surbai communities of Ardo Kola, Taraba State, Nigeria. A single dose of 40 mg/kg of praziquantel was administered to each infected child, with a second dose administered one month later if necessary. The number of S. haematobium eggs in urine samples was calculated at baseline and post-treatment. Results: At four weeks post-treatment, the overall cure rate was 98.1%. Among children with low and heavy parasite burdens at baseline, egg reduction rates (ERRs) were 100% and 96.5%, respectively. The vast majority of children with microhaematuria (98.7%) and proteinuria (98.6%) at baseline were cured at follow-up. Following a second dose, the ERR, overall and morbidity cure rates increased to 100%. At one year post-treatment, 272 infected children (40.3%) were re-assessed; of these, 51 children (18.8%) were reinfected. Close proximity to bodies of water (odds ratio [OR] = 1.23, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.998–1.530; P = 0.05) and fishing (OR = 2.23, 95% CI: 0.828–6.040; P = 0.01) were significant factors that predisposed children to reinfection. Conclusion: A moderate rate of reinfection was noted. Governmental and nongovernmental organisations in Nigeria should collaborate on mass treatment and health education campaigns to reduce the incidence of urinary schistosomiasis reinfections.Keywords: Urinary Schistosomiasis; Praziquantel; Treatment Outcome; Follow-Up Study; Nigeria

Comparative Haematological Safety Profiles of AT+SP AND AQ+SP for the Treatment of Uncomplicated PlasmodiumFalciparum Malaria in Children

Haematological profiles serve as strong indicators of recovery and the safety of antimalarial drugs in children. The present study evaluated the safety of Artesunate + Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine (AT+SP) and Amodiaquine + Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine (AQ+SP) combination therapies in the treatment on thirteen different haematological and a biochemical parameters. The study was carried out in malaria holo-endemic settlements in northern Nigeria, among 313 children with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria randomly selected, between July and September, 2012 using therapeutic efficacy protocols on antimalarial drugs. There were no cases of lympopenia, and recoveries were faster in AT+SP than AQ+SP for leucocytosis (37.5% vs 17.39%), anaemia (82.23% vs 78.03%), thrombocytopenia (90.13% vs 88.20%), monocytosis (30.92% vs 28.01%) and eosinophilia (31.68%) than AQ+SP (18.01%) in 28 days. Conversely, the recoveries from AQ+SP were higher than AT+SP for neutrophilia (32.89% vs 38.45%), and ALT (76.31% vs 78.33%) over 28 days. In contrast, there were slight adverse effects in both drugs on leucopenia, thrombocytosis, neutropenia, lympocytosis and monocytopenia in the range of 1.97 - 20.50% for AT+SP compared to 3.29 - 11.18% for AQ+SP. Except for monocytopenia, the adverse effects due to AT+SP was higher compared to AQ+SP

Heterogeneity of circulating tumour cell-associated genomic gains in breast cancer and its association with the host immune response.

Tumor cells that preferentially enter circulation include the precursors of metastatic cancer. Previously, we characterized circulating tumor cells (CTC) from patients with breast cancer and identified a signature of genomic regions with recurrent copy-number gains. Through FISH, we now show that these CTC-associated regions are detected within the matched untreated primary tumors of these patients (21% to 69%, median 55.5%, n = 19). Furthermore, they are more prevalent in the metastases of patients who died from breast cancer after multiple rounds of treatment (70% to 100%, median 93%, samples n = 41). Diversity indices revealed that higher spatial heterogeneity for these regions within primary tumors is associated with increased dissemination and metastasis. An identified subclone with multiple regions gained (MRG clone) was enriched in a posttreatment primary breast carcinoma as well as multiple metastatic tumors and local breast recurrences obtained at autopsy, indicative of a distinct early subclone with the capability to resist multiple lines of treatment and eventually cause death. In addition, multiplex immunofluorescence revealed that tumor heterogeneity is significantly associated with the degree of infiltration of B lymphocytes in triple-negative breast cancer, a subtype with a large immune component. Collectively, these data reveal the functional potential of genetic subclones that comprise heterogeneous primary breast carcinomas and are selected for in CTCs and posttreatment breast cancer metastases. In addition, they uncover a relationship between tumor heterogeneity and host immune response in the tumor microenvironment. SIGNIFICANCE: As breast cancers progress, they become more heterogeneous for multiple regions amplified in circulating tumor cells, and intratumoral spatial heterogeneity is associated with the immune landscape

Research ethics committees: agents of research policy?

The purpose of this commentary is to describe the unintended effects ethics committees may have on research and to analyse the regulatory and administrative problems of clinical trials. DISCUSSION: The Finnish law makes an arbitrary distinction between medical research and other health research, and the European Union's directive for good clinical trials further differentiates drug trials. The starting point of current rules is that clinical trials are lesser in the interest of patients and society than routine health care. However, commercial interests are not considered unethical. The contrasting procedures in research and normal health care may tempt physicians to continue introducing innovations into practice by relying on unsystematic and uncontrolled observations. Tedious and bureaucratic rules may lead to the disappearance of trials initiated by researchers. Trying to accommodate the special legislative requirements for new drug trials into more complex interventions may result in poor designs with unreliable results and increased costs. Meanwhile, current legal requirements may undermine the morale of ethics committee members. CONCLUSION: The aims and the quality of the work of ethics committees should be evaluated, and a reformulation of the EU directive on good clinical trials is needed. Ethical judgement should consider the specific circumstance of each trial, and ethics committees should not foster poor research for legal reasons

DQB1*0602 rather than DRB1*1501 confers susceptibility to multiple sclerosis-like disease induced by proteolipid protein (PLP)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with pathogenic autoimmunity primarily focused on major CNS-myelin target antigens including myelin basic protein (MBP), proteolipidprotein (PLP), myelin oligodendrocyte protein (MOG). MS is a complex trait whereby the HLA genes, particularly class-II genes of HLA-DR15 haplotype, dominate the genetic contribution to disease-risk. Due to strong linkage disequilibrium in HLA-II region, it has been hard to establish precisely whether the functionally relevant effect derives from the DRB1*1501, DQA1*0102-DQB1*0602, or DRB5*0101 loci of HLA-DR15 haplotype, their combinations, or their epistatic interactions. Nevertheless, most genetic studies have indicated DRB1*1501 as a primary risk factor in MS. Here, we used 'HLA-humanized' mice to discern the potential relative contribution of DRB1*1501 and DQB1*0602 alleles to susceptibility to "humanized" MS-like disease induced by PLP, one of the most prominent and encephalitogenic target-antigens implicated in human MS.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The HLA-DRB1*1501- and HLA-DQB1*0602-Tg mice (MHC-II^-/-), and control non-HLA-DR15-relevant-Tg mice were immunized with a set of overlapping PLP peptides or with recombinant soluble PLP for induction of "humanized" MS-like disease, as well as for ex-vivo analysis of immunogenic/immunodominant HLA-restricted T-cell epitopes and associated cytokine secretion profile.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>PLP autoimmunity in both HLA-DR15-Tg mice was focused on 139-151 and 175-194 epitopes. Strikingly, however, the HLA-DRB1*1501-transgenics were refractory to disease induction by any of the overlapping PLP peptides, while HLA-DQB1*0602 transgenics were susceptible to disease induction by PLP139-151 and PLP175-194 peptides. Although both transgenics responded to both peptides, the PLP139-151- and PLP175-194-reactive T-cells were directed to Th1/Th17 phenotype in DQB1*0602-Tg mice and towards Th2 in DRB1*1501-Tg mice.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>While genome studies map a strong MS susceptibility effect to the region of DRB1*1501, our findings offer a rationale for potential involvement of pathogenic DQ6-associated autoimmunity in MS. Moreover, that DQB1*0602, but not DRB1*1501, determines disease-susceptibility to PLP in HLA-transgenics, suggests a potential differential, functional role for DQB1*0602 as a predisposing allele in MS. This, together with previously demonstrated disease-susceptibility to MBP and MOG in DRB1*1501-transgenics, also suggests a differential role for DRB1*1501 and DQB1*0602 depending on target antigen and imply a potential complex 'genotype/target antigen/phenotype' relationship in MS heterogeneity.</p

Mobile Phones and Social Signal Processing for Analysis and Understanding of Dyadic Conversations

Social Signal Processing is the domain aimed at bridging the social intelligence gap between humans and machines via modeling, analysis and synthesis of nonverbal behavior in social interactions. One of the main challenges of the domain is to sense unobtrusively the behavior of social interaction participants, one of the key conditions to preserve the spontaneity and naturalness of the interactions under exam. In this respect, mobile devices offer a major opportunity because they are equipped with a wide array of sensors that, while capturing the behavior of their users with an unprecedented depth, are still invisible. This is particularly important because mobile devices are part of the everyday life of a large number of individuals and, hence, they can be used to investigate and sense natural and spontaneous scenarios

Attenuating amplitude of pulsating pressure in a low-pressure hydraulic system by an adaptive Helmholtz resonator

Abstract The adaptive Helmholtz resonator for decreasing harmonic pulsating pressure in a low-pressure hydraulic system is presented in this study. Adaptivity is executed by both open loop and closed loop controls so that continuous -20dB attenuation of the peak-to-peak value of the amplitude of pressure is reached. The study begins by a theory review including the theory of effective bulk modulus, sound velocity measurements, adjustable dynamic vibration absorbers and control methods of dynamic vibration absorbers. The main target of the paper, the Helmholtz resonator, is presented in its own chapter, albeit it is noted to be one application of the dynamic vibration absorber. The review is completed by the analytical model of the hydraulic pipe with a T-filter or Helmholtz resonator. After the theory review, the test equipment and its characteristics are presented. The main parts of the test equipment were a main pipe and an adjustable Helmholtz resonator, which were both developed for this study. Certain properties of the hydraulic oils used were determined experimentally to increase understanding of the system. The experimental section includes sound velocity measurements, sonic bulk modulus definitions, measurements of the resonant frequencies of the adaptive Helmholtz resonator in the test equipment, and tests of the open loop and closed loop control of the resonator. Control is verified to maintain -20dB attenuating of pressure pulsations in the system. The presented Helmholtz resonator and controls are available for installation into a hydraulic system to damp out harmonic vibrations at low frequency. For example, the roll in the size press of a paper machine might become excited to vibrate at its resonance frequency after the paper wad has washed through the nip. In that case, tuned Helmholtz resonators in the hydraulic cylinders of the size press would damp out the pulsating pressures, and if the resonators are adaptive, as presented in this study, they can operate in a wider frequency range