Krishnamurti and Education: Application of Liberation

This paper is an exploration of Krishnamurti’s ideas on education in relation to American institutions of public education. It explores the K-12 levels and collegiate level of education. While reflecting on the nature of American public education, the paper also poses the question of how Krishnamurti’s philosophy may be applied by the educator within the system. Along with looking at both the nature of American public education and Krishnamurti’s philosophy, I include my own quest on how, if possible, to apply Krishnamurti’s teachings in the college classroom. Looking at multiple aspects of the subject, I reflect on my own conflicts in how to achieve liberation for the student or to provide an environment in which students may liberate themselves from conditioned ways of thinking. The paper concludes with a list of suggestions for a modified way of bridging the gap between Krishnamurti’s philosophy and American public higher education

Sinorhizobium Meliloti, A Bacterium Lacking The Autoinducer-2 (AI-2) Synthase, Responds To AI-2 Supplied By Other Bacteria

Many bacterial species respond to the quorum-sensing signal autoinducer-2 (AI-2) by regulating different niche-specific genes. Here, we show that Sinorhizobium meliloti, a plant symbiont lacking the gene for the AI-2 synthase, while not capable of producing AI-2 can nonetheless respond to AI-2 produced by other species. We demonstrate that S. meliloti has a periplasmic binding protein that binds AI-2. The crystal structure of this protein (here named SmlsrB) with its ligand reveals that it binds (2R,4S)-2-methyl-2,3,3,4-tetrahydroxytetrahydrofuran (R-THMF), the identical AI-2 isomer recognized by LsrB of Salmonella typhimurium. The gene encoding SmlsrB is in an operon with orthologues of the lsr genes required for AI-2 internalization in enteric bacteria. Accordingly, S. meliloti internalizes exogenous AI-2, and mutants in this operon are defective in AI-2 internalization. S. meliloti does not gain a metabolic benefit from internalizing AI-2, suggesting that AI-2 functions as a signal in S. meliloti. Furthermore, S. meliloti can completely eliminate the AI-2 secreted by Erwinia carotovora, a plant pathogen shown to use AI-2 to regulate virulence. Our findings suggest that S. meliloti is capable of \u27eavesdropping\u27 on the AI-2 signalling of other species and interfering with AI-2-regulated behaviours such as virulence

Romantic Partnerships and the Dispersion of Social Ties: A Network Analysis of Relationship Status on Facebook

A crucial task in the analysis of on-line social-networking systems is to identify important people --- those linked by strong social ties --- within an individual's network neighborhood. Here we investigate this question for a particular category of strong ties, those involving spouses or romantic partners. We organize our analysis around a basic question: given all the connections among a person's friends, can you recognize his or her romantic partner from the network structure alone? Using data from a large sample of Facebook users, we find that this task can be accomplished with high accuracy, but doing so requires the development of a new measure of tie strength that we term `dispersion' --- the extent to which two people's mutual friends are not themselves well-connected. The results offer methods for identifying types of structurally significant people in on-line applications, and suggest a potential expansion of existing theories of tie strength.Comment: Proc. 17th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW), 201

Exercise intervention in brain injury: a pilot randomized study of Tai Chi Qigong

Objective: To examine the effects of a brief Tai Chi Chuan Qigong (‘Qigong’) exercise intervention on individuals with traumatic brain injury. Design: A single-centre randomized controlled trial pilot study. Setting: A registered charity day centre in the community. Subjects: Twenty individuals with traumatic brain injury. Intervention: Intervention participants attended a Qigong exercise session for one hour per week over eight weeks. Control participants engaged in non-exercise-based social and leisure activities for the same intervention period. Measures: Outcome was assessed at baseline and post intervention using the General Health Questionnaire-12, the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire and the Social Support for Exercise Habits Scale, to measure perceived mood, self-esteem, flexibility, coordination, physical activity and social support. Results: Groups were comparable at baseline. After the intervention, mood was improved in the exercise group when compared with controls (U ¼ 22.0, P ¼ 0.02). Improvements in self-esteem (Z ¼ 2.397, P ¼ 0.01) and mood (Z ¼ –2.032, P ¼ 0.04) across the study period were also evident in the exercise group only. There were no significant differences in physical functioning between groups. In view of the sample size, these findings are inconclusive. Conclusions: This study provides preliminary evidence that a brief Qigong exercise intervention programme may improve mood and self-esteem for individuals with traumatic brain injury. This needs to be tested in a large-scale randomized trial

Severe brain injury ICU outcomes are associated with Cranial-Arterial Pressure Index and noninvasive Bispectral Index and transcranial oxygen saturation: a prospective, preliminary study

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to determine if noninvasive transcranial oxygen saturation (StcO(2)) and Bispectral Index (BIS) correlate with severe traumatic brain injury intensive care unit (ICU) outcomes. METHODS: This is a prospective observational study. Values of intracranial pressure (ICP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), BIS, and StcO(2 )were recorded hourly for the first six, post-injury days in 18 patients with severe brain injury. Included in the analyses was the Cranial-Arterial Pressure (CAP) Index, which is ICP/(MAP - ICP). RESULTS: After 1,883 hours of data were analyzed, we found that StcO(2 )and BIS are associated with survival, good neurological outcome, ICP ≤20, cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) ≥60, and CAP index ≤0.30 (p ≤ 0.001). Survival and good outcome are independently associated with BIS ≥60, StcO(2 )≥70, and ICP ≤20 (p < 0.0001). BIS ≥60 or StcO(2 )≥70 is associated with survival, good outcome, CPP ≥60, ICP ≤20, CAP index ≤0.30, and fewer ICP interventions (p < 0.0001). With BIS ≥60 or StcO(2 )≥70, the rate of CPP ≥60 is 97.2% and the rate of ICP≤ 25 is 97.1%. An increased CAP index is associated with death, poor neurological outcome, and increased ICP interventions (p < 0.0001). With CAP index >0.25, MAP is not related to ICP (p = 0.16). CONCLUSION: Numerous significant associations with ICU outcomes indicate that BIS and StcO(2 )are clinically relevant. The independent associations of BIS, StcO(2), and ICP with outcomes suggest that noninvasive multi-modal monitoring may be beneficial. Future studies of patients with BIS ≥60 or StcO(2 )≥70 will determine if select patients can be managed without ICP monitoring and whether marginal ICP can be observed. An increased CAP index is associated with poor outcome

Interventions to prevent non-critical care hospital acquired pneumonia – a systematic review

Background: Hospital-acquired pneumonia is a significant burden to healthcare systems around the world. Although there is a considerable body of evidence on prevention of ventilator associated pneumonia, less is known about strategies to prevent hospital-acquired pneumonia in non-critical care settings. Objective: To systematically review the randomised controlled trial evidence for prevention of hospital-acquired pneumonia in non-critical care settings. Methods: We searched EMBASE, CINAHL+, MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library. Seventeen different searches were conducted in parallel through each database. Studies were included if they were randomised controlled trials reporting hospital-acquired pneumonia as an endpoint. Studies were excluded if they were performed in critical care or community settings. All studies published up to the end of December 2014 were considered, with no language restrictions. Data were independently extracted by two authors and the Delphi risk of bias tool was applied to assess trial quality. Results: Five thousand one hundred and one titles were identified across 17 searches. Only two studies were eligible for inclusion in the final review, one from a search of physical therapy interventions and one from a search of enteral feeding. The heterogeneity of the interventions did not permit meta-analysis. One trial suggested possible benefits to early mobilisation; the other trial suggested no benefit or harm from early enteral feeding via nasogastric tube. Both trials enrolled patients with acute stroke. No trials in non-stroke, non-critical care populations were eligible for inclusion in the review. Conclusions: There is currently insufficient trial evidence on preventing non-critical care hospital-acquired pneumonia to make recommendations on practice.</p

Chrome Plug-in to Support SRL in MOOCs

Proceeding of: 6th European MOOCs Stakeholders Summit, EMOOCs 2019 Naples, Italy, May 20–22, 2019.Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have gained popularity over the last years, offering a learning environment with new opportunities and challenges. These courses attract a heterogeneous set of participants who, due to the impossibility of personal tutorship in MOOCs, are required to create their own learning path and manage one’s own learning to achieve their goals. In other words, they should be able to self-regulate their learning. Self-regulated learning (SRL) has been widely explored in settings such as face-to-face or blended learning environments. Nevertheless, research on SRL in MOOCs is still scarce, especially on supporting interventions. In this sense, this document presents MOOCnager, a Chrome plug-in to help learners improve their SRL skills. Specifically, this work focuses on 3 areas: goal setting, time management and selfevaluation. Each area is included in one of the 3 phases composing Zimmerman’s SRL Cyclical Model. In this way, the plug-in aims to support enrolees’ self-regulation throughout their complete learning process. Finally, MOOCnager was uploaded to the Chrome Web Store, in order to get a preliminary evaluation with real participants from 6 edX Java MOOCs designed by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M). Results were not conclusive as the use of the plug-in by the participants was very low. However, learners seem to prefer a seamless tool, integrated in the MOOC platform, which is able to assist them without any learner-tool interaction.The authors acknowledge the eMadrid Network, funded by the Madrid Regional Government (Comunidad de Madrid) with grant No. P2018/TCS-4307. This work also received partial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness/Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities, Projects RESET (TIN2014-53199-C3-1-R) and Smartlet (TIN2017- 85179-C3-1-R), and from the European Commission through Erasmus+ projects COMPETENSEA (574212-EPP-1-2016-1-NL-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP), LALA (586120-EPP-1-2017-1-ESEPPKA2- CBHE-JP), and InnovaT (598758-EPP-1-2018-1-AT-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP).Publicad

A falls prevention programme to improve quality of life, physical function and falls efficacy in older people receiving home help services: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Falls and fall-related injuries in older adults are associated with great burdens, both for the individuals, the health care system and the society. Previous research has shown evidence for the efficiency of exercise as falls prevention. An understudied group are older adults receiving home help services, and the effect of a falls prevention programme on health-related quality of life is unclear. The primary aim of this randomised controlled trial is to examine the effect of a falls prevention programme on quality of life, physical function and falls efficacy in older adults receiving home help services. A secondary aim is to explore the mediating factors between falls prevention and health-related quality of life. METHODS: The study is a single-blinded randomised controlled trial. Participants are older adults, aged 67 or older, receiving home help services, who are able to walk with or without walking aids, who have experienced at least one fall during the last 12 months and who have a Mini Mental State Examination of 23 or above. The intervention group receives a programme, based on the Otago Exercise Programme, lasting 12 weeks including home visits and motivational telephone calls. The control group receives usual care. The primary outcome is health-related quality of life (SF-36). Secondary outcomes are leg strength, balance, walking speed, walking habits, activities of daily living, nutritional status and falls efficacy. All measurements are performed at baseline, following intervention at 3 months and at 6 months' follow-up. Sample size, based on the primary outcome, is set to 150 participants randomised into the two arms, including an estimated 15-20% drop out. Participants are recruited from six municipalities in Norway. DISCUSSION: This trial will generate new knowledge on the effects of an exercise falls prevention programme among older fallers receiving home help services. This knowledge will be useful for clinicians, for health managers in the primary health care service and for policy makers

Planck pre-launch status: HFI beam expectations from the optical optimisation of the focal plane

Planck is a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite, launched in May 2009, which will map the cosmic microwave background anisotropies in intensity and polarisation with unprecedented detail and sensitivity. It will also provide full-sky maps of astrophysical foregrounds. An accurate knowledge of the telescope beam patterns is an essential element for a correct analysis of the acquired astrophysical data. We present a detailed description of the optical design of the High Frequency Instrument (HFI) together with some of the optical performances measured during the calibration campaigns. We report on the evolution of the knowledge of the pre-launch HFI beam patterns when coupled to ideal telescope elements, and on their significance for the HFI data analysis procedure