Literacy, Technology and Discernment: Investigating the Role of Information Technology in Literacy Education

Regardless of geography, segments of the population struggle to read and write. This struggle is so pronounced that literacy has become an issue for many governments, and policies have been set in place to help ensure a literate society. Educators, in their struggle to respond to the problem, have looked to a variety of methods to help children become literate. One prominent means is the use of information technology and computer-assisted instruction. Because of its significant role, it is necessary for the Christian educator to examine the impact of computer technology, to investigate the role and extent of use of information technology in the classroom, and to form guiding principles that direct the purchasing and use of such technology. When the aforementioned is carefully examined and Biblical discernment is used in making decisions, information technology and computer-assisted instruction can be effectively employed to help students become literate citizens in society

A Study of Norovirus Molecular Epidemiology: impact, prevalence, diversity and genetic adaptation

Halfway into the past century molecular biology emerged as a science, and it has evolved and grown very rapidly since. As a result of their very nature, infectious diseases have always had the attention of physicians and scientists, and the possibilities for research offered by molecular biology were pre-eminently suitable for studying the causative agents of these infectious diseases, and especially for studying viruses. Noroviruses cause sudden onset gastro-intestinal illness in humans. Their ability to cause large scale outbreaks of debilitating illness, even if of quickly passing nature, has made them into a relevant topic of study. Rapid developments in molecular biology have generated diagnostic tools which enabled many labs in the world to perform norovirus diagnostics, and to perform sequence analyses of the detected strains. These sequence data form a very valuable basis for studies of the molecular epidemiology of noroviruses. By linking the sequence data to classical epidemiological data, such as time and place of illness, number of people affected, etc., a platform is made for unveiling information describing for example the spread of the virus, the impact, and the prevalence. The work presented in this thesis aims to further current knowledge of norovirus by studying its molecular epidemiology, to better enable taking public health actions aimed at decreasing the impact of disease

Gastroenteritis Caused by Norovirus GGII.4, the Netherlands, 1994–2005

From 1994 through 2005, gastroenteritis outbreaks caused by norovirus generally increased in the Netherlands, with 3 epidemic seasons associated with new GGII.4 strains. Increased percentages of GGII.4 strains during these epidemics, followed by a sharp decrease in their absolute and relative numbers, suggest development of immunity

Traumatic thoracolumbar spine fractures

Traumatic spinal fractures have the lowest functional outcomes and the lowest rates of return to work after injury of all major organ systems.1 This thesis will cover traumatic thoracolumbar spine fractures and not osteoporotic spine fractures because of the difference in fracture mechanism and treatment options. Fracture care has improved by incorporating scientific research in the whole continuum from basic science to the clinical application. In the following some aspects of the treatment of traumatic thoracolumbar spine fractures will be discussed with emphasis on the randomized clinical study of operative versus non-operative treatment of burst fractures of the thoracolumbar spine

Переклад у концепції національної літератури Івана Франка

Abstract: This paper presents a working model to estimate the solar photovoltaic potential using high- resolution LiDAR data and Geographic Information Systems. This bottom-up approach method has been selected to arrive at the potential as this gives a better estimate than a top-down approach. The novelty of the study lies in estimating the potential at high resolution and classifying the rooftop as suitable or not for solar photovoltaic installations based on factors like irradiation, slope and orientation. The city of Apeldoorn in the Netherlands has been selected as the study area. The model was able to successfully locate suitable sites for photovoltaic installations at rooftop level. In addition, the area feasible for the installations and the potential power output has also been calculated. We conclude that the city has a potential of 319 MWp capacity, which would yield 283.9 GWh/yr in relation to the 304 GWh/yr consumption from residential buildings in the area

An Integrated Approach to Identifying International Foodborne Norovirus Outbreaks1

Surveillance gaps can be bridged through analysis of combined molecular and epidemiologic data

Phylodynamic Reconstruction Reveals Norovirus GII.4 Epidemic Expansions and their Molecular Determinants

Noroviruses are the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis. An increase in the number of globally reported norovirus outbreaks was seen the past decade, especially for outbreaks caused by successive genogroup II genotype 4 (GII.4) variants. Whether this observed increase was due to an upswing in the number of infections, or to a surveillance artifact caused by heightened awareness and concomitant improved reporting, remained unclear. Therefore, we set out to study the population structure and changes thereof of GII.4 strains detected through systematic outbreak surveillance since the early 1990s. We collected 1383 partial polymerase and 194 full capsid GII.4 sequences. A Bayesian MCMC coalescent analysis revealed an increase in the number of GII.4 infections during the last decade. The GII.4 strains included in our analyses evolved at a rate of 4.3–9.0×10−3 mutations per site per year, and share a most recent common ancestor in the early 1980s. Determinants of adaptation in the capsid protein were studied using different maximum likelihood approaches to identify sites subject to diversifying or directional selection and sites that co-evolved. While a number of the computationally determined adaptively evolving sites were on the surface of the capsid and possible subject to immune selection, we also detected sites that were subject to constrained or compensatory evolution due to secondary RNA structures, relevant in virus-replication. We highlight codons that may prove useful in identifying emerging novel variants, and, using these, indicate that the novel 2008 variant is more likely to cause a future epidemic than the 2007 variant. While norovirus infections are generally mild and self-limiting, more severe outcomes of infection frequently occur in elderly and immunocompromized people, and no treatment is available. The observed pattern of continually emerging novel variants of GII.4, causing elevated numbers of infections, is therefore a cause for concern

EXPANSION OF BENEFITS TO PROMOTE FOOD SECURITY AMONG STUDENTS IN CLEVELAND COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA

Healthy People 2030 targets several social determinants of health (SDOH) for improvement, including eliminating very low food security in children (VLFS-C). VLFS-C is the most extreme version of food insecurity (FI) and is associated with negative outcomes in the short- and long-term. In Cleveland County (CC), North Carolina (NC), 23.2% of children under 18 years of age experience FI. Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer-CC (SEBT-CC) and Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) utilize proven methodologies within existing federal and school-level structures to increase food access in students under 18 in CC. SEBT-CC targets families receiving free and reduced lunch (FRL) at baseline to receive $60 monthly food benefits during school breaks, while CEP extends FRL benefits to all students in CC. The goal of SEBT-CC and CEP is to provoke a 30% reduction in CC childhood VLFS over a three-year implementation period.Master of Public Healt