Bridging storytelling traditions with digital technology

Objective. The purpose of this project was to learn how Community Health Workers (CHWs) in Alaska perceived digital storytelling as a component of the “Path to Understanding Cancer” curriculum and as a culturally respectful tool for sharing cancer-related health messages. Design. A pre-course written application, end-of-course written evaluation, and internet survey informed this project. Methods. Digital storytelling was included in seven 5-day cancer education courses (May 2009–2012) in which 67 CHWs each created a personal 2–3 minute cancer-related digital story. Participant-chosen digital story topics included tobacco cessation, the importance of recommended cancer screening exams, cancer survivorship, loss, grief and end-of-life comfort care, and self-care as patient care providers. All participants completed an end-of-course written evaluation. In July 2012, contact information was available for 48 participants, of whom 24 completed an internet survey. Results. All 67 participants successfully completed a digital story which they shared and discussed with course members. On the written post-course evaluation, all participants reported that combining digital storytelling with cancer education supported their learning and was a culturally respectful way to provide health messages. Additionally, 62 of 67 CHWs reported that the course increased their confidence to share cancer information with their communities. Up to 3 years post-course, all 24 CHW survey respondents reported they had shown their digital story. Of note, 23 of 24 CHWs also reported change in their own behaviour as a result of the experience. Conclusions. All CHWs, regardless of computer skills, successfully created a digital story as part of the cancer education course. CHWs reported that digital stories enhanced their learning and were a culturally respectful way to share cancer-related information. Digital storytelling gave the power of the media into the hands of CHWs to increase their cancer knowledge, facilitate patient and community cancer conversations, and promote cancer awareness and wellness

On a characterization of polynomially barrelled spaces

A locally convex space E is polynomially barrelled if and only if, for every positive integer m and for every Banach space F, the space of all continuous m-homogeneous polynomials from E into F is quasi-complete for the topology of pointwise convergence

Improved photoenergy properties of low-emissivity coatings deposited by sputtering with an ion gun treatment

This work studies the effect of ion treatment on low-emissivity (low-e) coatings deposited by magnetron sputtering. Specifically, we have investigated the application of an ion treatment in the dielectric layer before deposition of a layer of silver. This reduces layer roughness which means the silver layer can be deposited with enhanced characteristics. We have also evaluated the etching rate on the SnOx layer due to the ion treatment on already deposit coatings of equal thicknesses. Subsequently, we studied the effects on the coating's photoenergy properties. For equivalent coatings, we found that those treated with ions were more transparent in the visible region, more reflective, and had a lower emissivity, which are essential requirements for low-e coatings applied in architectural glass

Gestión pública y políticas alimentarias en el Perú

En primer lugar, Brinda un panorama de la pobreza y de las políticas sociales en el Perú a partir de algunos indicadores básicos que nos permiten ubicar la situación del país en el contexto latinoamericano. Igualmente, son examinadas las principales tendencias de la cooperación internacional, así como el redireccionamiento que están experimentando los flujos de ayuda en el mundo. En segundo lugar, se concentra en definir los principales componentes conceptuales de la cuestión alimentaria, así como también la situación nutricional del país y el marco institucional en el cual opera la intervención estatal. En tercer lugar, se hace una revisión de las teorías más importantes acerca de la lógica que existe en el proceso de formulación e implementación de políticas. Aun cuando se trata de literatura académica concebida para burocracias de países desarrollados, los elementos conceptuales que se desarrollan proporcionan algunas pistas que ayudan a comprender y visualizar mejor las limitaciones e incongruencias que existen en las instituciones públicas peruanas. En cuarto lugar, busca reconstruir cómo funciona la burocracia estatal peruana a partir del análisis del PRONAA y de una “Nueva administración” que, durante parte importante del año 1996, quiso introducir cambios en la misión institucional de este organismo estatal. Al examinar la forma cómo se organizó el proceso de formulación de políticas, cuáles fueron las principales características de la gestión de los programas, el tipo de recursos humanos con los que se contó, los limitados niveles de coordinación, supervisión y evaluación desarrollados, y la relación mantenida con los beneficiarios, la cooperación internacional y las Organizaciones No Gubernamentales, se entenderán mejor las razones que condujeron a su fracaso. Finalmente, intenta llevar a cabo una evaluación del proceso de focalización de la ayuda que se dirige a los comedores populares, así como una evaluación de impacto de un programa específico de la institución cuyo principal objetivo es garantizar el aumento de la seguridad alimentaria de los beneficiarios

“It’s Our Voices” Cancer-Related Digital Stories by Alaska’s Community Health Workers

Between May 2009 and October 2010, four week-long cancer education courses were provided for 35 community health workers (CHWs) from throughout Alaska. This project explored how cancer-related, digital stories created by CHWs supported their learning journey and provided a tool to share cancer health messages with people in their communities. Digital storytelling combines storytelling with computer-based technology to bring the power of the media to community members. End-of-course written evaluations and qualitative interviews revealed that combining digital storytelling with cancer education was feasible, culturally relevant, and enhanced participant learning

Impact of three co-occurring physical ecosystem engineers on soil Collembola communities

The interplay between organisms with their abiotic environment may have profound effects within ecological networks, but are still poorly understood. Soil physical ecosystem engineers (EEs) modify the abiotic environment, thereby potentially affecting the distribution of other species, such as microarthropods. We focus on three co-occurring physical EEs (i.e. cattle, vegetation, macrodetritivore) known for their profound effect on soil properties (e.g. pore volume, microclimate, litter thickness). We determined their effects on Collembola community composition and life-form strategy (a proxy for vertical distribution in soil) in a European salt marsh. Soil cores were collected in grazed (compacted soil, under short and tall vegetation) and non-grazed areas (decompacted soil, under short and tall vegetation), their pore structure analysed using X-ray computed tomography, after which Collembola were extracted. Collembola species richness was lower in grazed sites, but abundances were not affected by soil compaction or vegetation height. Community composition differed between ungrazed sites with short vegetation and the other treatments, due to a greater dominance of epigeic Collembola and lower abundance of euedaphic species in this treatment. We found that the three co-occurring EEs and their interactions modify the physical environment of soil fauna, particularly through changes in soil porosity and availability of litter. This alters the relative abundance of Collembola life-forms, and thus the community composition within the soil. As Collembola are known to play a crucial role in decomposition processes, these compositional changes in litter and soil layers are expected to affect ecosystem processes and functioning

High-degree atrioventricular block. An unusual presentation of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy: a case report

Background: Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a non-ischemic cardiomyopathy characterized by acute left ventricular systolic dysfunction with transient wall motion abnormalities without a culprit coronary stenosis or other concurrent diagnoses. Its coexistence with transient high-degree AV block is very infrequent. Case presentation: A 61-year-old man presented with a new onset of high degree AV block without ST segment deviations developing an anterior and apical dyskinesia with a low left ventricular ejection fraction in the absence of coronary artery disease. Conclusion: Atrioventricular block is an uncommon presentation of Takotsubo syndrome. The management of patients with relevant conduction disorders in this scenario is a challenge for the clinician. In case of persistence of advanced conduction disorders, it seems appropriate to implant a pacemaker

Managing Psoriasis Consultations During the COVID-19 Pandemic : Recommendations From the Psoriasis Group of the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV)

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A necessary and sufficient for a space to be infrabarelled or polynomially infrabarrelled

A locally convex space E is infrabarrelled (resp. polynomially infrabarrelled) if and only if, for every Banach space F (resp. for every positive integer m and for every Banach space F), the space of all continous linear mappings from E into F (resp. the space of all continuous m-homogeous polynomials form E into F) is quasi-complete for the topology of bounded convergence