Effectiveness of the Teacher Resilience Distance Support Programme in Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia

As society becomes more modern, the economic and social significance of teleworking is increasing. This trend has been particularly accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Teleworking, as distance education/learning, has also been applied in the education system. However, there are limitations to such work, one of which is the loss of communication between teachers and students. School educators are in need of emotional resources and resilience when working remotely. There is a lack of targeted distance support programmes for teachers. Aim of the study. To investigate the effectiveness of the Teacher Distance Resilience Support Programme. Study participants. 161 teachers from different schools in Lithuania, Latvia and Slovakia. Methodology. Feedback questionnaire for the Teacher Resilience Support Programme (Svence, 2022); supervision of the training programme and focus group. Results. Relatively high Cronbach alpha values for the questionnaire modules were established. It was found that teachers in the whole sample have a positive perception of the effectiveness of the distance support training programme. Statistically significant differences were found in evaluations of individual modules submitted by teachers from Lithuania, Latvia, and Slovakia. The age and experience of teachers did not show statistically significant difference. Conclusions. Teachers in all the three countries have positive perceptions of the effectiveness of the distance support programme based on the feedback questionnaire and the supervision and focus group. In order to strengthen the resilience of teachers who work distance, it is recommended that the remote support programme is applied in school communities and included in teacher training studies.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Teachers’ social and emotional health indicators in the distance learning situation during the Covid-19 pandemic

There were 3 countries which participated in Erasmus+ project „Supporting teachers to face the challenge of distance teaching” (2020-1-LV01-KA226-SCH-094599) during last year. The aim of the project was to develop a well-functioning digital support system for teachers, promoting socio-emotional health and resilience. The main aim of this research was to outline a research problem on teacher well-being factors in three countries during the Covid-19 pandemic, when teachers worked remotely, and to further explore the problem in a focus group in Latvia. The following is a description of the study that was carried out in Latvia on the problems of teachers' social and emotional health factors during distance learning in 2020-2021. The study in Latvia took place in parallel with the study in Slovakia and Lithuania. This article describes the first part of the study in Latvia. One of the tasks of the study was to identify the factors that predicted teachers’ social and emotional health (SEH-T), to determine the relationships between teacher SEH, emotional burnout and teacher engagement in work indicators, and to perform a linguistic and psychometric adaptation of the teacher SEH-T (Social-emotional Health Survey – Teachers, Furlong and Gajdosova, 2019). Latvian teachers from different schools in Latvia participated in this study. Respondents completed three surveys: Teachers SEH-T (Social- emotional Health Survey – Teachers, Furlong and Gajdosova, 2018), Engaged Teachers Scale (ETS; Klassen, Yerdelen & Durksen, 2013) and the K. Maslach Burnout Survey – General Survey (MBI– GS, Maslach, Jackson & Leiter, 1996; Caune, 2004). The results showed that the translation of teachers' SEH-T survey into Latvian language had good internal coherence of articles, the article discrimination index indicator was statically significant, and the reaction index was within the normal range. Teachers SEH is positively predicted by teacher engagement indicators. Demographic and emotional burnout rates do not predict teachers' SEH-T scores. The results showed that there were statistically significant positive correlations between teacher SEH-T, teacher engagement, and emotional burnout rates. There were statistically significant negative correlations between teachers' SEH-T indicators, teacher involvement and emotional burnout indicators. Keywords: Teachers SEH, work engagement, emotional burnoutpublishersversionPeer reviewe

Use of the novel hemostatic textile Stasilon® to arrest refractory retroperitoneal hemorrhage: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Stasilon^®is a novel hemostatic woven textile composed of allergen-free fibers of continuous filament fiberglass and bamboo yarn. The development of this product resulted from controlled <it>in vitro </it>thrombogenic analysis of an array of potentially hemostatic textile materials and it has been cleared for both external and internal use by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the arrest of hemorrhage. The goal of the study was to assess the hemostatic and adhesive properties of Stasilon^®in the setting of life-threatening refractory hemorrhage.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 39-year-old Caucasian man presented with severe necrotic pancreatitis that failed multiple aggressive attempts to control associated bleeding with electrocautery, suture ligation, and sequential anatomic packing with cotton-based sponges. Subsequent retroperitoneal packing with Stasilon^®produced a non-adherent wound-dressing interface and resulted in the achievement of persistent hemostasis in the operative field.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In our patient, Stasilon^®was demonstrated to be effective in the arrest of refractory hemorrhage.</p

An investigation of the potential application of chitosan/aloe-based membranes for regenerative medicine

A significant number of therapeutics derived from natural polymers and plants have been developed to replace or to be used in conjunction with existing dressing products. The use of the therapeutic properties of aloe vera could be very useful in the creation of active wound dressing materials. The present work was undertaken to examine issues concerning structural features, topography, enzymatic degradation behavior, antibacterial activity and cellular response of chitosan/aloe vera-based membranes. The chitosan/aloe vera-based membranes that were developed displayed satisfactory degradation, roughness, wettability and mechanical properties. A higher antibacterial potency was displayed by the blended membranes. Moreover, in vitro assays demonstrated that these blended membranes have good cell compatibility with primary human dermal fibroblasts. The chitosan/aloe vera-based membranes might be promising wound dressing materials.The authors acknowledge financial support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (grants SFRH/BPD/45307/2008 and SFRH/BD/64601/2009), the "Fundo Social Europeu", and the "Programa Diferencial de Potencial Humano". This work was partially supported by the FEDER through POCTEP 0330_IBEROMARE_1_P

Analysis of structural effects formation in fancy yarn

21-26The fancy effects formation using one process and hollow spindles has been studied. A composite design has been formulated and three variables, namely delivery speed of fancy yarn, rotational speed of hollow spindle and supply speed of effect component, considered to understand how technological parameters influence the formation of fancy effects, like closed loop, opened loop, loop-knot, plain knot and knot made from various loops, and their combinations. Procedure of counting the effects per unit length using twist tester and stereomicroscope for precise establishment of fancy effect is also accomplished. It is observed that the technological parameters contribute significantly to structural effects formation. On the basis of graphical pictures of the mathematical model that express the relationship between the number of effects of plain knot-knot made of various loops per unit length of fancy yarn and all the parameters of technological process of production, the particular interrelations have been investigated and the received model could be used to predict the number of fancy effects of certain nature, to control the effect formation process, and to enlarge the base of information needful for yarn design

ТВОРЧІСТЬ ЯК ВАЖЛИВИЙ ФАКТОР ЗДОРОВ'Я EXYSD СЕРЕДНОЇ ШКОЛИ

The aim of investigation was to analyze pupils creative thinking at secondary school of 8-12-th grades (480 pupils tested), their health locus of control, anxious and academic chievments and their interrelations. T.E. Torrance (1974) tests o f creative thinking (TTCT), D. Walstone (1978) “Multidimentional health locus o f control scale” were used as main evaluation tools. Additionally was used Kondash modified technique (1973) - the scale of anxious. The main rezult showed that pupils creativity didin’t have a strong corrélation with their academic achievments and there were complicated positive connections between crearivity, health locus of control, anxious and academic achievments

Intimate partner violence and HIV: women experiences in Republic of Georgia

Background. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) continue to be two major global health concerns. The association between IPV and HIV has been the focus of a growing number of studies, however, the diverse South Caucasus region has been largely overlooked by academic scientists. There are a number of factors in Georgia, a highly religious lower-middle-income country in the South Caucasus region, that put women in an unsafe position for both HIV and IPV, such as lack of reproductive health education, gender inequality and male-favouring traditionalist attitudes. Methodology. A qualitative study design was chosen in order to explore the IPV experiences of women living with HIV in Georgia. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were held with women facing similar experiences in safe and encouraging environments. Findings. Four FGDs were conducted with a total of twenty HIV positive Georgian women. Almost half of participants shared being infected with HIV due to the previously unknown HIV positive status of their intimate partner or as a result of sexual violence. Twelve out of twenty participants shared experiencing domestic violence, perpetrated by their intimate partner and in some cases his family members. Most of them experienced violence for the first time after disclosing their HIV positive status. For the consequences HIV positive females who experienced different types of IPV have demonstrated repeated tendencies of past antiviral therapy disruptions, trauma and high levels of depression. Conclusions. The findings from this study suggest an indisputable connection between HIV and IPV by them being a risk factor and a result of one another. Georgian women appear to be in a vulnerable position for both HIV and IPV because of lack of legal protection, HIV-related education and public acceptance of unequal gender power relations. However, since the study was conducted solely in the capital city of Tbilisi, further research in rural settings in Georgia is needed to gain a better understanding of the overall country situation

Badanie odporności tkanin wykonanych z ramii i lnu na wyciąganie okrywy

The paper presents an investigation of the resistance to pile loop extraction of terry fabrics in relation to the pile height, impacts/finishing, and weft density. Terry fabrics analysed in the experimental work were made from linen/cotton or ramie/cotton yarns. The pile height of the fabrics was 6 and 12 mm, and the weft density varied from 80 to 200 dm-1. The samples were affected by impacts or finishing operations. Grey fabrics were also investigated. Analysing a 10 mm pulling distance, the highest resistance to pile loop extraction of grey terry fabrics (1064.2 mN) was determined for linen/cotton fabric with a 6 mm loop pile. It was found that an increase in the weft density of ramie/cotton terry fabrics from 80 to 160 dm-1 led to an increase in the resistance to pile loop extraction for all pulling distances investigated but with a different intensity: for a 5 mm pulling distance the difference was 3.2 times, and for a 25 mm pulling distance it was in 2.1 times. The decrease in the resistance to pile loop extraction of 18.6 - 38.0% of industrially finished and tumbled linen/cotton fabrics compared with grey ones was determined at a 10 mm pulling distance. The changes in the resistance to pile loop extraction in relation to the tumbling period were not statistically significant.Badano odporność na wyciąganie pętli okrywy tkanin frotowych w zależności od długości okrywy, sposobu wykańczania i gęstości wątku. Tkaniny frotowe zastosowane w eksperymencie wykonano z mieszanek len/bawełna oraz ramia/bawełna. Badano tkaniny o wysokości okrywy 6 i 12 mm oraz gęstości wątku od 80 - 200 dm-1. Próbki badano surowe oraz poddano działaniu rożnych procesów wykańczających

Coil length of binder and covering components of complex structure yarns

308-311Theoretical methods for predicting the coil length of the binder component in fancy yarn and the coil length of the covering component in covered yarn have been developed on the basis of geometrical models of both these complex structure yarns produced by hollow spindles technology. The structural indices of initial components as well as the technological parameters of yarn man ufacturing which influence the geometry of complex structure yarns are also di scussed. The comparison of theoretical and experimental results shows rather good coincidence