A Case Study of Dual-Language (English/Spanish) Writing Instruction and the Effect it has on Bilingual Student Writing Performance

In dual-language programs, students often receive instruction in two languages for the same academic subjects, including writing skills. This double exposure may be helpful to bilingual students by reiterating and clarifying any possible doubts, or it may be detrimental to bilingual students by causing confusion due to different instructional strategies, lack of transfer between languages, and emphasis on different writing elements by the teachers of each program. This case-study aims to analyze the structure and design of a dual-language elementary school in central Mexico to determine whether the current writing curriculum at this school is effective for the population of bilinguals through analysis of student writing samples, interviews with students and teachers, and classroom observations in both English and Spanish writing classes. We hope to contribute to understanding duallanguage curriculum design and to suggest a writing program that ensures that bilinguals successfully acquire writing skills and strategies in both languages

Exploring media-induced secondary trauma during COVID-19: A global perspective

Aims: Given the risk of developing vicarious trauma through news media has increased during the pandemic, we explored risk factors associated with media induced secondary trauma, and its behavioral and psychological implications. Methods: An international study (N = 1066), with a diverse sample, was administered in July 2020. We used standardized and validated questionnaires to measure news consumption, media-related trauma, compliance, and paranoia. Results: Greater frequency of news consumption, accessing news via social media and WHO, and believing in conspiracy theories increased likelihood of developing media-induced secondary trauma. News related trauma was associated with greater compliance with safety measures and increased paranoid ideation. Media-trauma however exhibited a greater association with paranoia than compliance. Conclusion: Findings highlight the need to facilitate a collaborative intervention, with public, media houses, health safety officials, and social scientists to have a deeper understanding of potential psychological costs of news consumption patterns

Comparison of System Call Representations for Intrusion Detection

Over the years, artificial neural networks have been applied successfully in many areas including IT security. Yet, neural networks can only process continuous input data. This is particularly challenging for security-related non-continuous data like system calls. This work focuses on four different options to preprocess sequences of system calls so that they can be processed by neural networks. These input options are based on one-hot encoding and learning word2vec or GloVe representations of system calls. As an additional option, we analyze if the mapping of system calls to their respective kernel modules is an adequate generalization step for (a) replacing system calls or (b) enhancing system call data with additional information regarding their context. However, when performing such preprocessing steps it is important to ensure that no relevant information is lost during the process. The overall objective of system call based intrusion detection is to categorize sequences of system calls as benign or malicious behavior. Therefore, this scenario is used to evaluate the different input options as a classification task. The results show, that each of the four different methods is a valid option when preprocessing input data, but the use of kernel modules only is not recommended because too much information is being lost during the mapping process.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, submitted to CISIS 201

Evaluating the Impact of a New Interactive Digital Solution for Collecting Care Quality In-formation for Residential Homes

Collecting and analysing timely and accurate information about the quality of care that is delivered to older people in residential homes is a challenge. Most current approaches to collecting this in-formation are manual, and add time, cost and human error to them. Interactive digital technologies have the potential to reduce the time consumed, cost and errors in these processes, which in turn can support resolution of an important social challenge. However, designing these interactions can be problematic. In this paper we report the use of a new interactive digital solution that was de-signed to improve the completeness and timeliness of care quality data that was collected from 233 residential nursing and care homes for older people in and around London. Use of the digital solution led to a significant increase in the numbers of residential homes that submitted the cor-rect care quality information by each quarterly deadline. However, qualitative evidence from the residential homes revealed low-level usability problems experienced by care staff that might be in-dicative of continuing usability issues in the care sector. The paper ends with lessons drawn to improve uptake of digital technologies in residential care

Constitutive Presentation of a Natural Tissue Autoantigen Exclusively by Dendritic Cells in the Draining Lymph Node

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-dependent presentation of processed tissue-specific self-antigens can contribute to either peripheral (extrathymic) tolerance or the differentiation of autoreactive T cells. Here, we have studied the MHC class II molecule presentation of gastric parietal cell (PC)-specific H+/K+-ATPase, which induces a destructive autoimmune gastritis in BALB/c mice lacking CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T cells. Immunofluorescence microscopy showed physical association of CD11c+ dendritic cells (DCs) with PCs in the gastric mucosa. H+/K+-ATPase protein was found within vesicular compartments of a few CD11c+ DCs only in the draining gastric lymph node (LN) and these antigen-containing DCs increased markedly in number with the onset of tissue destruction in autoimmune animals. Both CD8αhi and CD8αlo gastric DCs, but not peripheral or mesenteric DCs, showed evidence of constitutive in vivo processing and presentation of H+/K+-ATPase. These data provide direct support for a widely held model of local tissue antigen uptake and trafficking by DCs in normal animals and demonstrate that DCs in the draining LN can present a tissue-specific self-antigen under noninflammatory conditions without fully deleting autoreactive T cells or inducing active autoimmunity

Normative Alethic Pluralism

Some philosophers have argued that truth is a norm of judgement and have provided a variety of formulations of this general thesis. In this paper, I shall side with these philosophers and assume that truth is a norm of judgement. What I am primarily interested in here are two core questions concerning the judgement-truth norm: (i) what are the normative relationships between truth and judgement? And (ii) do these relationships vary or are they constant? I argue for a pluralist picture—what I call Normative Alethic Pluralism (NAP)—according to which (i) there is more than one correct judgement-truth norm and (ii) the normative relationships between truth and judgement vary in relation to the subject matter of the judgement. By means of a comparative analysis of disagreement in three areas of the evaluative domain—refined aesthetics, basic taste and morality—I show that there is an important variability in the normative significance of disagreement—I call this the variability conjecture. By presenting a variation of Lynch’s scope problem for alethic monism, I argue that a monistic approach to the normative function of truth is unable to vindicate the conjecture. I then argue that normative alethic pluralism provides us with a promising model to account for it

Pediatric tuberculosis-human immunodeficiency virus co-infection in the United Kingdom highlights the need for better therapy monitoring tools: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis is an infection that requires at least 6 months of chemotherapy in order to clear the bacteria from the patient's lungs. Usually, therapeutic monitoring is dependent on smear microscopy where a decline in acid-fast bacilli is observed. However, this might not be indicative of the actual decline of bacterial load and thus other tools such as culture and molecular assays are required for patient management. CASE PRESENTATION: Here, we report the case of a 12-year-old Black African boy co-infected with tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus who remained smear culture positive and liquid culture negative for a prolonged period of time following chemotherapy. In order to determine whether there was any live bacteria present in his specimens, we applied the newly developed molecular bacterial load assay that detects the presence of 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid derived from the bacteria. Using this methodology, we were able to quantify his bacterial load and inform the management of his treatment in order to reduce the disease burden. Following this intervention he went on to make a complete recovery. CONCLUSIONS: This case report highlights the value of improved biomarkers for monitoring the treatment of tuberculosis and the role of molecular assays such as the molecular bacterial load assay applied here. The molecular bacterial load assay detects bacterial ribonucleic acid which corresponds closely with the number of live bacilli as compared with polymerase chain reaction that detects deoxyribonucleic acid and may include dead bacteria

Importance of Magnetic Resonance Imaging With Diffusion-weighted Imaging in Guiding Biopsy of Nodular Ganglioneuroblastoma: A Case Report

BACKGROUND: Nodular ganglioneuroblastoma is a rare peripheral neuroblastic tumor of variable prognosis. Accurate diagnosis, staging, and risk categorization can be particularly challenging in patients with nodular ganglioneuroblastoma due to the inherent heterogeneity of these lesions. CASE PRESENTATION: We illustrate the use of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging to identify tumor nodules and guide tumor biopsy in an almost 5-year-old boy with a large abdominal tumor. CONCLUSIONS: Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging was successful in detecting and guiding biopsy of a poorly differentiated neuroblastoma nodule within the context of a well-differentiated ganglioneuroma, allowing the diagnosis and characterization of a ganglioneuroblastoma nodular, thus influencing the child's prognosis and treatment