How Raspberry Pi Technology Can Enhance Students’ Learning Opportunities in Technology

The innovation of the Raspberry Pi microcomputer, an inexpensive, ubiquitous, Linux based platform will change how we do business in the world of IoT and the educational technology field. The Information and Computing Studies Department has used Raspberry Pi devices and IoT technology to significantly enhance students’ learning. The AAS degree students were assigned to replace the Lego Mindstorm NXT controllers with their smart cars using a Raspberry Pi controlled module which they designed. By using using the Raspian Pi Operating System, a user friendly program called Scratch and some off-the shelf interfacing the students were able to design and implement a successful smart car. WiFi options made programming the cars more robust. Raspberry Pi continues to be developed and revised, and its popularity should ensure ready access well into the foreseeable future for the smart car activity. The author’s research, development and testing will show the their results with using Raspian OS, Raspberry Pi and two Mindstorms interfaces for the Raspberry Pi

Evidence and Ideology in Macroeconomics: The Case of Investment Cycles

The paper reports the principal findings of a long term research project on the description and explanation of business cycles. The research strongly confirmed the older view that business cycles have large systematic components that take the form of investment cycles. These quasi-periodic movements can be represented as low order, stochastic, dynamic processes with complex eigenvalues. Specifically, there is a fixed investment cycle of about 8 years and an inventory cycle of about 4 years. Maximum entropy spectral analysis was employed for the description of the cycles and continuous time econometrics for the explanatory models. The central explanatory mechanism is the second order accelerator, which incorporates adjustment costs both in relation to the capital stock and the rate of investment. By means of parametric resonance it was possible to show, both theoretically and empirically how cycles aggregate from the micro to the macro level. The same mathematical tool was also used to explain the international convergence of cycles. I argue that the theory of investment cycles was abandoned for ideological, not for evidential reasons. Methodological issues are also discussed

Exploring the Satisfaction and Self-confidence of 3rd Year Medical Technology Students from Manila, Philippines regarding their Simulation Activities during the Enriched Virtual Mode of Delivery

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in medical technology education transitioning from traditional face-to-face classes to online classes, which were delivered through online platforms and online laboratories. Along with these changes, the levels of confidence and satisfaction of students may have been affected. The former affects their willingness to participate while the latter keeps the students engaged in the continuous learning process. With this, the study aims to assess the satisfaction and self-confidence levels of 3rd-year medical technology students regarding the simulation activities utilized during the Enriched Virtual Mode of delivery. A survey questionnaire was used to gather the socio-demographic information and the levels of satisfaction and self-confidence of 293 medical technology students from the University of Santo Tomas in relation to their use of  simulation activities during the Enriched Virtual Mode of delivery. The software IBM SPSS was used to analyze the data gathered statistically through descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation, Spearman’s rank correlation, the Mann-Whitney test, and the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis. Results exhibited that a strong positive correlation is observed between the satisfaction and self-confidence of the respondents regarding their simulation activities. However, the relationship between satisfaction regarding the simulation activities and the respondents’ age and gender was weakly positive and negligible. There was also a negligible positive correlation between the socio-demographic variables and the satisfaction of the respondents, and a negligible negative correlation between the socio-demographic variables and the self-confidence of the respondents

Retreatment for hepatitis C virus direct-acting antiviral therapy virological failure in primary and tertiary settings: The REACH-C cohort

Virological failure occurs in a small proportion of people treated for hepatitis C virus (HCV) with direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapies. This study assessed retreatment for virological failure in a large real-world cohort. REACH-C is an Australian observational study (n = 10,843) evaluating treatment outcomes of sequential DAA initiations across 33 health services between March 2016 to June 2019. Virological failure retreatment data were collected until October 2020. Of 408 people with virological failure (81% male; median age 53; 38% cirrhosis; 56% genotype 3), 213 (54%) were retreated once; 15 were retreated twice. A range of genotype specific and pangenotypic DAAs were used to retreat virological failure in primary (n = 56) and tertiary (n = 157) settings. Following sofosbuvir/velpatasvir/voxilaprevir availability in 2019, the proportion retreated in primary care increased from 21% to 40% and median time to retreatment initiation declined from 294 to 152 days. Per protocol (PP) sustained virological response (SVR12) was similar for people retreated in primary and tertiary settings (80% vs 81%; p = 1.000). In regression analysis, sofosbuvir/velpatasvir/voxilaprevir (vs. other regimens) significantly decreased likelihood of second virological failure (PP SVR12 88% vs. 77%; adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.29; 95%CI 0.11–0.81); cirrhosis increased likelihood (PP SVR12 69% vs. 91%; AOR 4.26; 95%CI 1.64–11.09). Indigenous Australians had lower likelihood of retreatment initiation (AOR 0.36; 95%CI 0.15–0.81). Treatment setting and prescriber type were not associated with retreatment initiation or outcome. Virological failure can be effectively retreated in primary care. Expanded access to simplified retreatment regimens through decentralized models may increase retreatment uptake and reduce HCV-related mortality

Economic Analysis of Knowledge: The History of Thought and the Central Themes

Following the development of knowledge economies, there has been a rapid expansion of economic analysis of knowledge, both in the context of technological knowledge in particular and the decision theory in general. This paper surveys this literature by identifying the main themes and contributions and outlines the future prospects of the discipline. The wide scope of knowledge related questions in terms of applicability and alternative approaches has led to the fragmentation of research. Nevertheless, one can identify a continuing tradition which analyses various aspects of the generation, dissemination and use of knowledge in the economy

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass