Teachers’ Digital Agency and Pedagogy during the COVID-19 Crisis in Delhi

This article discusses the digital agency of 110 Delhi government schoolteachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides insights on how home/indoor spaces affected the digital pedagogies used across Delhi government schools. Teachers’ voices revealed loopholes in the online education system as well as discussing some positive aspects of offline teaching and blended learning

A national facilitation project to improve primary palliative care : impact of the Gold Standards Framework on process and self-ratings of quality

Background: Improving quality of end-of-life care is a key driver of UK policy. The Gold Standards Framework (GSF) for Palliative Care aims to strengthen primary palliative care through facilitating implementation of systematic clinical and organisational processes. Objectives: To describe the general practices that participated in the GSF programme in 2003–5 and the changes in process and perception of quality that occurred in the year following entry into the programme, and to identify factors associated with the extent of change. Methods: Participating practices completed a questionnaire at baseline and another approximately 12 months later. Data were derived from categorical questions about the implementation of 35 organisational and clinical processes, and self-rated assessments of quality, associated with palliative care provision. Participants: 1305 practices (total registered population almost 10 million). Follow-up questionnaire completed by 955 (73.2%) practices (after mean (SD) 12.8 (2.8) months; median 13 months). Findings: Mean increase in total number of processes implemented (maximum = 35) was 9.6 (95% CI 9.0 to 10.2; p<0.001; baseline: 15.7 (SD 6.4), follow-up: 25.2 (SD 5.2)). Extent of change was largest for practices with low baseline scores. Aspects of process related to coordination and communication showed the greatest change. All dimensions of quality improved following GSF implementation; change was highest for the "quality of palliative care for cancer patients" and "confidence in assessing, recording and addressing the physical and psychosocial areas of patient care". Conclusion: Implementation of the GSF seems to have resulted in substantial improvements in process and quality of palliative care. Further research is required of the extent to which this has enhanced care (physical, practical and psychological outcomes) for patients and carers

Location and welfare in cities: impacts of policy interventions on the urban poor

Informal settlements are an integral part of the urban landscape in developing countries. These settlements are widely distributed within cities, including central business centers and peripheral areas with environment hazards. In most cases, residents of these settlements do not have access to basic public services and amenities. In this paper, the authors examine the impact of interventions, such as upgrading basic services and resettlement policies, on the welfare of residents of these informal settlements, who are typically the urban poor. To examine these interventions, they estimate models of residential location choice and allow households to be sensitive to commuting costs to work, demand for public services, and preferences for community composition. The authors'empirical analysis is based on recently collected survey data from Pune, India, and shows that poor households prefer to live close to work and in communities that consist of people sharing common socio-demographic characteristics. From the perspective of households living in informal settlements, upgrading settlements in the original place is welfare enhancing. If a household must be relocated, it greatly prefers to be moved to a community that resembles its current community.Municipal Financial Management,Public Health Promotion,Decentralization,Housing&Human Habitats,Urban Services to the Poor,Municipal Financial Management,Housing&Human Habitats,VN-Acb Mis -- IFC-00535908,Urban Housing,City Development Strategies

Pavement Soil Interaction Under Dynamic Loads

Different types of model pavements were subjected to forced vertical vibration with a view to studying the attenuation properties of Rayleigh Waves. The effect of the road base materials is studied along with the effect of the change in the thickness of the wearing course. The effect of different corner angles at the edge of the road is also investigated. The characteristics of geometric and material damping are discussed in relation to transmission and attenuation of vibration

Strategies for using cellular automata to locate constrained layer damping on vibrating structures

It is often hard to optimise constrained layer damping (CLD) for structures more complicated than simple beams and plates as its performance depends on its location, the shape of the applied patch, the mode shapes of the structure and the material properties. This paper considers the use of cellular automata (CA) in conjunction with finite element analysis to obtain an efficient coverage of CLD on structures. The effectiveness of several different sets of local rules governing the CA are compared against each other for a structure with known optimum coverage-namely a plate. The algorithm which attempts to replicate most closely known optimal configurations is considered the most successful. This algorithm is then used to generate an efficient CLD treatment that targets several modes of a curved composite panel. To validate the modelling approaches used, results are also presented of a comparison between theoretical and experimentally obtained modal properties of the damped curved panel

Cardiac amyloidosis in non-transplant cardiac surgery

Cardiac amyloidosis is a rare infiltrative cardiomyopathy that portends a poor prognosis. There is a growing recognition of co-existent aortic valve stenosis and transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis, with some studies suggesting that dual pathology may be associated increased risk of complication and mortality during surgical intervention. This review aims to evaluate the available literature on non-transplant cardiac surgical interventions in patients with cardiac amyloidosis, with particular focus on diagnosis, high surgical risk and areas of uncertainty that require further research

Gd-EOB-DTPA-Enhanced MRI for Detection of Liver Metastases from Colorectal Cancer: A Surgeon’s Perspective!

Colorectal cancer affects over one million people worldwide annually, with the liver being the most common site of metastatic spread. Adequate resection of hepatic metastases is the only chance for a cure in a subset of patients, and five-year survival increases to 35% with complete resection. Traditionally, computed tomographic imaging (CT) was utilized for staging and to evaluate metastases in the liver. Recently, the introduction of hepatobiliary contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) agents including gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Eovist in the United States, Primovist in Europe, or Gd-EOB-DTPA) has proved to be a sensitive method for detection of hepatic metastases. Accurate detection of liver metastases is critical for staging of colorectal cancer as well as preoperative planning

Ancestry deconvolution and partial polygenic score can improve susceptibility predictions in recently admixed individuals

Polygenic Scores (PSs) describe the genetic component of an individual’s quantitative phenotype or their susceptibility to diseases with a genetic basis. Currently, PSs rely on population-dependent contributions of many associated alleles, with limited applicability to understudied populations and recently admixed individuals. Here we introduce a combination of local ancestry deconvolution and partial PS computation to account for the population-specific nature of the association signals in individuals with admixed ancestry. We demonstrate partial PS to be a proxy for the total PS and that a portion of the genome is enough to improve susceptibility predictions for the traits we test. By combining partial PSs from different populations, we are able to improve trait predictability in admixed individuals with some European ancestry. These results may extend the applicability of PSs to subjects with a complex history of admixture, where current methods cannot be applied

Beginning of the End of Cost Competitiveness in CEE Countries - Analysis of Dependence between Labor Costs and Internationalization of the Region

In order to exemplify the above econometric model I carried out empirical analysis of the companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, identifying the companies for which efficiency-seeking is the main internationalization motive. The analysis of internationalization of 26 companies during the years 1990-2010 clearly shows that a significant part of investments is located outside the territory of Poland, in the countries with lower labor costs. This fact confirms that CEE countries will gradually become less and less attractive in terms of costs not only for MNEs from developed countries but also for the companies originating from transition economies.Głównym celem artykułu jest weryfikacja, czy niski poziom kosztów pracy w Europie Środkowej i Wschodniej będący do tej pory jednym z czynników wpływających na konkurencyjność tego regionu pozostanie nim w dłuższej perspektywie czasowej. W pracy na podstawie próby wszystkich państw UE zbadano zależność pomiędzy poziomem internacjonalizacji (stan odpływu BIZ per capita) a kosztami pracy w sektorze przedsiębiorstw i GNP per capita. Analiza regresji potwierdziła istnienie zależności pomiędzy wyżej wymienionymi czynnikami. Oznacza to, że stopniowy wzrost kosztów pracy w państwach Europy Środkowej i Wschodniej prowadził będzie do stopniowego odpływu BIZ z tego regionu do państw bardziej konkurencyjnych kosztowo. W celu egzemplifikacji powyższych zależności w pracy dodatkowo przedstawiono analizę inwestycji zagranicznych polskich spółek notowanych na GPW, z których to 26 dokonało inwwestycji zagranicznych o wyraźnych motywach związanych z obniżeniem kosztów produkcji. Fakt ten potwierdza powolny spadek konkurencyjności kosztowej polskiej gospodarki, tym samym zmusza do poszukiwania nowych rozwiązań instytucjonalnych mogących utrzymać konkurencyjność polskiej gospodarki w długim okresie