Student-Centred Assessments and their Impact on Learning – An IS Case Study

In higher education, one can find many different assessment methods ranging from the most traditional examination based assessment to computer-based on-line assessment and many other innovative assessment practices. Yet, achieving a high level of positive impact of assessment on student learning is always a major concern among academic practitioners. Choosing the right set of assessment modes, designing the assessment activities and evaluating their impact on student learning are some of the major challenges. This challenge is more pronounced in the recently emerging Information Systems (IS) programmes as there is an ever-growing wide variety of assessment methods matching with the ever-changing tools and techniques that evolve in the computer hardware and software disciplines. In such a dynamic context, IS courses in higher education are faced with a very short life-cycle and hence do not have the luxury of experimenting different assessment modes from time to time. They need to arrive at the right combination of assessments based on the prevailing situation. It is therefore a question as to which assessment methods are the best to be adopted and what is the impact of such assessments on student learning. This paper proposes a pragmatic four-step student-centred approach to identify and design suitable assessment methods and to examine their impact on student learning. The student-centred approach is illustrated through a study conducted for a particular IS course in a higher education setting. Due to the generic nature of this approach, it could be adopted in courses from other areas as well

Gynecological profile of patients undergoing laparoscopy/laparotomy in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Laparoscopy is not only used in the elective surgery but also used in the emergency surgery. It is also found to be useful in the acute abdominal emergencies. It is useful in removing any diagnostic doubts. It is also useful in the treatment of diseases. The objective of the study was to study the gynecologic profile of patients undergoing laparoscopy/laparotomy in gynecology department of a tertiary care hospitalMethods: A hospital based cross sectional study was carried out at department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of S. V. Medical College, Tirupati from September 2014 to February 2015, for a period of six months. A total of 36 patients were evaluated for gynecological problems during the study period based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. They were evaluated for menstrual complaints, chief presenting complaints, clinical diagnosis, scan diagnosis and laparotomy evaluation. Institutional Ethics Committee permission was taken before the start of the study. Informed consent was taken from all patients after explaining them about the nature of the study.Results: Ovarian cyst was the most common presentation which constituted more than half of the patients (55.6%). All patients i.e. 36 (100%) had menorrhagia as the complaint of menstrual irregularity. Out of 9 cases, clinical diagnosis differed in all cases, thus giving zero percent of accuracy for clinical diagnosis. Scan diagnosis matched with laparotomy confirmation in only 3 (33.3%) of cases. One case which was labeled as normal was found to have bilateral functional ovarian cyst on laparotomy confirmation. One case which was labeled as left ovarian cyst was found to have no cyst on laparotomy confirmation.Conclusions: Thus, laparoscopy is a useful tool for diagnosis and therapeutic accuracy in gynecological disease in routine as well as in emergencies. It is safe, effective, less time consuming, economical and patient friendly

Role of transvaginal sonography in gynecological diagnosis at a tertiary care hospital

Background: Transvaginal sonography (TVS) is very useful to assess the abnormalities in the anatomical structure of the uterus as well as endometrium. Not only this, it is capable of finding out any abnormalities of ovary, fallopian tubes, cervical structures as well as myometrium. The objective of the study was the role of transvaginal sonography in gynecological diagnosis at a tertiary care hospital.Methods: Present hospital based prospective study was carried out among 31 randomly selected eligible patients as per inclusion and exclusion criteria of the study for a period of one year at Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of S. V. Medical College, Tirupati. All ethical guidelines were followed. A pre-designed and semi structured pre-tested questionnaire was prepared for entry of patient data.Results: Transvaginal sonography was more accurate in terms of evaluation of both tubes. Overall diagnostic accuracy of transvaginal sonography was 90.9%. It was found that the accuracy of clinical diagnosis was 100% in comparison to diagnosis by scan. In five cases, the clinical diagnosis of infertility was made as ovarian cyst and in all those cases it was confirmed. In three cases, the clinical diagnosis of infertility was made as fibroids and in all those cases it was confirmed. It was found that in cases of ectopic pregnancy, copper T missing loop and missed abortion, the clinical diagnosis was 100% accurate in comparison to scan diagnosis. Only in case of pelvic inflammatory disease, the accuracy of clinical diagnosis was 66% in comparison to scan diagnosis.Conclusions: Despite the few disadvantages of transvaginal sonography in measuring large pelvic masses, the smallest details of the masses yield valuable preoperative information. The more accurate delineation of internal echo characteristics scores the benefit over transvaginal sonography has its rightful place in gynecological practice has diagnostic and minimally invasive therapeutic tool

A study on bacterial vaginosis in pregnancy and its effect on pregnancy outcome

Background: Bacterial vaginosis is an extremely prevalent vaginal condition and one of the causes of vaginitis among both pregnant and non pregnant women and associated with severe sequelae. Fifty percent of the women are asymptomatic. Current studies have found that the prevalence of BV ranges from 15% to 30% among non-pregnant women and 10% to 41% among pregnant women.Methods: This is a prospective study conducted among 150 pregnant women who attended the antenatal outpatient and inpatient clinic in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Narayana Medical College and Hospital, Nellore over a period of two years from Oct 2016 to Oct 2018. Obstetric cases fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled in the study by convenient sampling technique. They were followed till the outcome of pregnancy. The data was subjected to usual statistical analysis by employing the chi-square tests.Results: Prevalence of the bacterial vaginosis was 20% in the present study. BV was significantly (p0.05) between BV positive and negative women.Conclusions: Considering the vast spectrum of maternal and fetal morbidity associated with this infection, and the availability of rapid inexpensive diagnostic tests it may be prudent to screen BV in pregnancy, so that it may be treated early and hence prevent the adverse pregnancy outcomes

A clinical study of effects of pregnancy on diseases like painful crisis, seizure disorders, hepatopathy, acute anemia and its outcome

Background: The ability of the blood cells to carry oxygen is especially important in pregnancy. Anemia may result in lower amount of oxygen going to the fetus and slowed fetal growth. Because it affects so many organs and body systems, women with the disease are more likely to have complications in pregnancy. The main objective was to study the effects of pregnancy on disease and its outcomes.Methods: It is a hospital based prospective study. The study was conducted at Narayana Medical College Nellore, Andhra Pradesh. The patients admitted in Obstetrics and Gynecology Department were included in the study. The study included total of 45 patients. Detailed history included age, socioeconomic status, address, education and occupation of the patient’s Permission from Institutional Ethics Committee was obtained.Results: Maximum patients were gravida 2-3, and minimum were gravida 4 or more. Maximum numbers of patients were in group 20-25. The patients with preterm birth that is delivery before 37 weeks of pregnancy were 15. Low birth weights were 20 and of still birth and new born death was 4.Conclusions: The present study was carried out in 45 cases and appropriate prenatal care and careful monitoring throughout pregnancy, can have healthy pregnancy with significant improvement in pregnancy outcome

An adaptive framework for biometric systems

This paper provides guidelines to classify biometric systems based on the level of privacy and security risks associated with their transactions. The classification of biometric systems as Basic, Medium or Advanced details how the transactions make use of biometric information for one or more purposes, such as, authorisation, accountability and analysis of sensitive data. An adaptive framework proposed here considers this classification as the fundamental building block in providing a step-wise implementation procedure for implementing biometric systems. It is believed that by adopting such an adaptive framework, societies, businesses and government would be able to harness the benefits of biometrics. This would pave way for a significantly faster diffusion of biometric systems in many everyday life scenarios. © 2009 IEEE

An optimal transportation routing approach using GIS-based dynamic traffic flows

This paper examines the value of real-time traffic information gathered through Geographic Information Systems for achieving an optimal vehicle routing within a dynamically stochastic transportation network. We present a systematic approach in determining the dynamically varying parameters and implementation attributes that were used for the development of a Web-based transportation routing application integrated with real-time GIS services. We propose and implement an optimal routing algorithm by modifying Dijkstra’s algorithm in order to incorporate stochastically changing traffic flows. We describe the significant features of our Web application in making use of the real-time dynamic traffic flow information from GIS services towards achieving total costs savings and vehicle usage reduction. These features help users and vehicle drivers in improving their service levels and productivity as the Web application enables them to interactively find the optimal path and in identifying destinations effectively

Personalised measures of obesity using waist to height ratios from an Australian health screening program

Objectives The aim of the current study is to generate waist circumference to height ratio cut-off values for obesity categories from a model of the relationship between body mass index and waist circumference to height ratio. We compare the waist circumference to height ratio discovered in this way with cut-off values currently prevalent in practice that were originally derived using pragmatic criteria. Method Personalized data including age, gender, height, weight, waist circumference and presence of diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease for 847 participants over eight years were assembled from participants attending a rural Australian health review clinic (DiabHealth). Obesity was classified based on the conventional body mass index measure (weight/height(2)) and compared to the waist circumference to height ratio. Correlations between the measures were evaluated on the screening data, and independently on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey that included age categories. Results This article recommends waist circumference to height ratio cut-off values based on an Australian rural sample and verified using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database that facilitates the classification of obesity in clinical practice. Gender independent cut-off values are provided for waist circumference to height ratio that identify healthy (waist circumference to height ratio >= 0.45), overweight (0.53) and the three obese (0.60, 0.68, 0.75) categories verified on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey dataset. A strong linearity between the waist circumference to height ratio and the body mass index measure is demonstrated. Conclusion The recommended waist circumference to height ratio cut-off values provided a useful index for assessing stages of obesity and risk of chronic disease for improved healthcare in clinical practice