An empirical two-group study into electronic note-taking

The relationship between students learning traditionally or through virtual worlds using computer-oriented tools is of keen interest. Although, the extent to electronic learning varies in great degrees from entire online environments to partial complimentary tools which differ according to their functions. The focus of this research paper is to discuss the paradigm shift from traditional means of study to computerisation, in particular relating to the area of note-taking. Research into cognitive factors associated with learning and performance including memory have put forward suggestions, which could assist the cumulative learning process. Comparative analysis between a number of note-taking techniques refined the study with the electronic adaptation of the popular Cornell method with the proposed En-AISR platform. Emphasis has been placed on the influence and significance towards the amalgamation of multi-modal features to enhance and stimulate students learning experience. A two-group study measured students learning, performance, and experience between both systems using usability criteria. Outcomes from this experiment suggest a positive influence of a multi-modal note-taking tool as a complimentary learning aid

Diagnostic accuracy of pelvic MRI for determination of the cervical involvement in endometrial cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of pelvic MRI for assessment of the cervical involvement in endometrial cancer. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional analytical study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Radiology Department of the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi from January 2014 to December 2015. METHODOLOGY: Patients with biopsy-proven endometrial cancer were included, who had both their MRI and histopathological diagnosis performed at our institution. Those patients treated with chemo/radiotherapy or had incomplete medical records, were excluded. The extent of cervical involvement by endometrial carcinoma was seen on T2WI images, and findings were correlated after surgery taking histopathology as the gold standard. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy were calculated. RESULTS: The mean age of the 56 patients was 60.87 ±8.80 years (range 37-84 years). The most common clinical indication was post-menopausal bleeding (n=37, 66.1%). The most common histological subtype was endometrioid adenocarcinoma (n=50, 89.3%). The sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic accuracy, positive and negative predictive values of MRI in the detection of cervical invasion were 92.85%, 88.09%, 89.28%, 72.22% and 97.36%, respectively. CONCLUSION: MRI is a highly sensitive and specific imaging modality for detection of cervical invasion in endometrial carcinoma

Cultural violence and gender identities: a feminist post-structural discourse analysis of this house of clay and water

The present study explores the dialectic relation between gender, identity, violence, discourse and social practices, as portrayed in Mansab’s book This House of Clay and Water. Viewing gender as a biological trait determined at birth whereas all the social roles and identities are considered fixed is a prevalent social practice in countries like Pakistan. Proving that gender is a socio-cultural construct is the first step towards awareness that gender roles are not fixed and certain violent social norms can be transformed to help the marginalized groups like intersex/transgenders, and women. This study aims to show that certain forms of abuse, repression and cultural violence are normalized through the use of language and literary discourses, and the very same tools can be used to counter these structures. The theoretical insights for this research are drawn from Feminist post-structural discourse Analysis and Butler’s Queer theory. The qualitative analysis is based on the closed textual reading and discourse analysis within the parameters of the chosen framework. The significance of this study lies in the fact that it applies FPDA to study fictional characters who are a reflection of humans and social practices in general, and how they are forced to suffer and ultimately resist gender-based violence to co-construct their ever-shifting identities through discourse

Digital social support for undergraduate students during COVID-19: Pivotal support for the digital transformation

Background: In a time of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, digital social support can prove helpful in buffering the stress and anxiety especially for students whose lives were being affected both socially and academically. The present study aims to explore the emotional and informational social support available to students during the online transformation of their education. It further investigates factors affecting anxiety and stress among students. Design and Methods: An online survey was administered among 479 undergraduate students at a private university in Saudi Arabia from 2nd March till 17th June 2020. Descriptive analysis was used to report the findings of students’ self-reported data. Results: The results revealed that more than 70% of the students reported that they were satisfied with the informational and emotional support available to them via digital platforms. However, they felt less connected with the teachers and academic administration. Feeling sick (46%), being locked down at homes and isolation (43%) were major causes of stress and anxiety. 71% of the students reported their ability to keep themselves busy, however, only 55% of students mentioned that they did not feel lonely while confined to their homes. In these circumstances, the continuation of studies via online platforms helped students reduce stress and anxiety (52%). Conclusions: Although this online transformation was not planned, the university was able to provide adequate informational support to the students. However, students were dependent upon friends, family and relatives for emotional support. The results of the study point towards the need of training for teachers and academic administrative staff in order to better address students’ needs for social support during the crisis.  The results also contribute to the body of data reporting the various effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on students in a way to reach a sustainable framework for supporting students

A hybrid mask RCNN-based tool to localize dental cavities from real-time mixed photographic images

Nearly 3.5 billion humans have oral health issues, including dental caries, which requires dentist-patient exposure in oral examinations. The automated approaches identify and locate carious regions from dental images by localizing and processing either colored photographs or X-ray images taken via specialized dental photography cameras. The dentists’ interpretation of carious regions is difficult since the detected regions are masked using solid coloring and limited to a particular dental image type. The software-based automated tools to localize caries from dental images taken via ordinary cameras requires further investigation. This research provided a mixed dataset of dental photographic (colored or X-ray) images, instantiated a deep learning approach to enhance the existing dental image carious regions’ localization procedure, and implemented a full-fledged tool to present carious regions via simple dental images automatically. The instantiation mainly exploits the mixed dataset of dental images (colored photographs or X-rays) collected from multiple sources and pre-trained hybrid Mask RCNN to localize dental carious regions. The evaluations performed by the dentists showed that the correctness of annotated datasets is up to 96%, and the accuracy of the proposed system is between 78% and 92%. Moreover, the system achieved the overall satisfaction level of dentists above 80%

The effect of training in Mobile Assisted Language Learning on attitude, beliefs and practices of tertiary students in Pakistan.

Pakistan has two official languages, Urdu and English, where Urdu is the contact language and English is the language of business, higher education, military, government and is considered the symbol of status in the society. Due to religious pressure and language as a power struggle among political parties, choosing a language as a medium of instruction has always been a controversial issue in Pakistan. As a result, many language policies were developed since the creation of Pakistan in 1947, favouring either of the official language. Consequently, English language teaching lacked innovation and expertise which directly affected students’ performances (Ammar, Ali, Fawad & Qasim, 2015). Many researchers have pointed out the most important factors continuing to affect the performance of students such as outdated teaching techniques, stress on rote learning, crowded classrooms, poor planning while designing a syllabus and lack of motivation on the part of teachers as well as students (Awan & Shafi, 2016; Khan, 2011; Mohammad, Masum, Ali & Baksh, 2017; Yaqoob & Zubair, 2012). The incorporation of technology, especially mobile devices, might be a solution to the above problem. In other contexts, many researchers have reported that learners view mobile devices as a supportive aid which allows them to gather information, study, work, and communicate with their teachers and peers in an effective manner. Flexibility, low cost, small size, durability, convenience and interactivity are few of the advantages of mobile devices in the language learning process (Ogata & Yano, 2004; Huang, Huang, Huang, & Lin, 2012). In the last couple of decades Pakistan has progressed dramatically in the field of technology especially in the use of mobile phones. The telephone penetration rate per 100 individuals (teledensity) has jumped from 4% in 2004 to 74.98% in 2018 with an increase in total mobile subscribers from 5 million in 2004 to 149 million in 2018 (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, 2018a). Although, the above-mentioned scenario ensures the availability of a certain form of technology in Pakistan, it does not guarantee that students possess adequate knowledge and expertise in the use of mobile phones for language learning. Researchers have claimed that technology-enhanced environments allow learners to take a significant amount of responsibility for their own learning, but a lack of individual expertise, limited knowledge, and reduced comfort level result in major constraints in getting maximum benefits from the use of technology (Hubbard, 2004; Lai, Shum & Tian,2016; O’Bryan, 2008; Romeo & Hubbard, 2010). The present descriptive case study explores the attitudes, beliefs and practices of undergraduate students at a public university in Pakistan regarding the use of smartphones (a modern form of technology and readily available in lower- and upper-middle income economies at low cost) for enhancing English writing skills. It further investigates the effect of training in the use of ubiquitous smartphones on learner autonomy. 1. What are the digital practices of undergraduate students both inside and beyond the classroom in Pakistan? 2. What are the effects of learner training in MALL on learners’ attitude towards, beliefs about, and use of smartphones for autonomous language learning? A mixed method approach was used and both qualitative and quantitative data were collected using various tools. The research design was descriptive in nature, which divided the study into two main phases. The first stage included carrying out an online survey for digital practices which yielded a data set of 316 participants. The second stage consisted of conducting an online training course in MALL techniques in which 23 participants volunteered to participate. In the present study both Hubbard’s (2004) learner training principles and Romeo and Hubbard’s (2010) three-part training framework (Technical, pedagogical and strategic training) were used to inform the design of the course. This was an eight-week training course in MALL, hosted through a blog: Weeks 1, 2 & 3 were technical training, Weeks 4, 5 &7 pedagogical training and independent writing practice and Weeks 6 & 8 were used for strategic training. Participants practiced self-directed use of smartphones for writing and writing support during these weeks. Online surveys, semi-structured interviews, participants’ written feedback, frequency of blogposts and number of words written in each blog post were used as data collection tools. The data analysis stage consisted of quantitative analysis using R and qualitative thematical analysis through NVivo. The results of the study revealed that undergraduate students in Pakistan were well equipped with digital tools, having smartphones (96%) as the most accessed digital tool. However, they were not using their smartphones for learning English language rather their use was primarily for entertainment and making phone calls. The results of the study showed that the training was successful in developing positive attitudes among students towards use of smartphones for enhancing English writing skills. By the end of the course, students perceived smartphones to be a helpful digital learning tool and showed an increased use of smartphones for practicing English writing skills on their blogs. The results of the study also showed that all students reported a perceived improvement in their English writing skills after practicing English writing through their personal blogs. They became more careful about word choice and spelling, and spent more time in planning and revising their English writing tasks. Overall, 92% of students reported an improvement in English writing skills which helped them to perform better in exams and in class assignments in English. An improvement in students’ confidence, motivation and engagement in English classroom activities was also reported by the English teacher

Efficacy of MI Paste® on Bleaching-Related Sensitivity: Randomized Clinical Trial

Background. To evaluate the effectiveness of MI Paste® in reducing sensitivity associated with vital tooth bleaching. Methods. This randomized controlled split-mouth clinical trial included 45 subjects that were randomly divided into two groups. In Group 1, the maxillary arch was the control arch (only bleaching), while the mandibular arch was the intervention arch (bleaching and MI Paste®). In Group 2, the mandibular arch was the control arch (only bleaching), while the maxillary arch was the intervention arch (bleaching and MI Paste®). Subjects started with the control arch and then switched to the intervention arch after two weeks. Subjects were instructed to use MI Paste® in a custom tray for 5 minutes, wait for 1 hour, and then bleach overnight using a different tray. Sensitivity was measured using both a thermal sensitivity test and a daily log of sensitivity for 14 days. Shade was evaluated using a colorimeter and a shade guide. Results. Immediately after treatment, the thermal test sensitivity scores for the arches bleached without MI Paste® were greater than those with MI Paste® (p=0.011). Arches not receiving the MI Paste® treatment showed significantly higher VAS sensitivity scores during the 14-day period of bleaching (p=0.002). The mean score for the 14-day period was 37.9 for the arches not treated with MI Paste® versus 27.5 for the treated arches. Both the intervention group and the control group showed significantly lighter shade relative to baseline (p<0.001) with no significant difference between them (p=0.42). Conclusion. MI Paste® significantly reduced the sensitivity associated with bleaching and did not interfere with shade change

Blogging with smartphones for independent writing practice beyond the EFL classroom

This study investigated how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students at a university in Pakistan experienced blogging on their smartphones as a means to gain more extensive autonomous practice writing in English. The blogging was done as a stand-alone activity, independent of the students’ university EFL programme. Using a mixed-methods case study design, data were collected from 23 undergraduate students through interviews, surveys, and reflective written accounts. This paper foregrounded the students’ voices to reveal their attitudes to blogging, their experiences using smartphones for that purpose, and perceived changes in their English writing skills. The findings indicated that many of the participants developed a virtuous cycle, in which their interest and enjoyment of blogging, along with perceived improvements in their ability to communicate in English, contributed to increase both confidence and motivation to write more. The findings also pointed to other worthwhile social and educational outcomes that could be fostered through this type of activity. As a result, the study has implications for teachers and learners in a wide range of EFL contexts, i.e., offering further insights into strategies for harnessing existing digital tools in order to extend students’ opportunities for students to use the target language, within and beyond formal educational settings

RELEVANCY OF JUST WAR THEORY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: MOHAMMED HANIF’S RED BIRDS, AS A POST-WAR CASE STUDY

The paper discusses the inception of just-war theory and the way it has been manipulated over the course of time, to the advantage of the few. The research focuses on the consequence of armed conflicts that undermine the moral aspect linked with jus-bellum justum. Developing its case on Hanif’s latest novel Red Birds, the paper deconstructs the notion of just-war and pre-emptive strikes and focuses on the post-war ramifications that are entirely ignored. The research utilises a fictional narrative to shed light on the fact that United States befittingly wielded its financial and military ascendency to evade the international jurisdictions and to materialise the desired geo-strategic significance in a third-world country. It\u27s witnessed that frequent bombings constitute an everyday survival routine of the characters. The novel transcends the enforced doctrine of warfare to support mankind through its narrators. Momo, Mutt, Mother Dear, and an American war pilot, Ellie, enlighten a liminal space between acceptance and reverberations. The satiric connotations shake the western weltanschauung of appropriation of the Persian-speaking population. The paper intends to give a critical interpretation of asymmetric warfare, war repercussions, and of the absence of post-war responsibility that is adding to the human devastation in the twenty-first century