Enhancing Mobile Learning Delivery through Exploration of the Learner Experience

This paper was presented as a short paper at the conference, on Wednesday, March 26th. There were several questions posed after the presentation. One person wondered if the small number of responders represented only a small group of people who would be using mobile devices anyway. Another person was interested in the IMD LD methodology used. A third person stated he would be interested in further research of this type that broke the responders down into demographics such as age and rural/urban locations. Attendees from the Ulyanovsk State Technical University in Russia expressed an interest in future collaboration based on the mobile technology in the presentation. Finally, two attendees from Massey University in New Zealand asked me submit a paper to present further results from the research at the DEANZ Conference in New Zealand Aug/08 and invited me to present to staff at Massey University in the same visit as well.M-Learning research at the School of Computing and Information Systems (SCIS) at Athabasca University has been directed at improving mobile device access to distance learning materials through improved device detection, use of mobile device style sheets, and alternate files and graphics that are tailored to smaller screens. However, there is a greater significance placed in determining how learners perceive these enhancements to online learning. During this study, students were directed to access their regular online course materials using their mobile devices, then asked to complete a survey regarding their perception of this experience. This paper discusses the results from this study.Office of the VP, Academic & Academic & Professional Development Fund (A&PDF

Promoting cognitive support technology use and employment success among postsecondary students with traumatic brain injuries

OBJECTIVE: This article applies positive psychology principles to the purpose and objectives of a five-year, federally-funded initiative to provide cognitive support technology (CST) training and career preparatory services for undergraduate college students with mild and moderate traumatic brain injuries (TBI). METHODS: A total of 48 students with TBI have participated in the project during its first 18 months of operation - 14 of whom are military veterans with disabilities who were in the Iraq and/or Afghanistan theaters. CONCLUSION: Positive psychology interventions such as Best Possible Self, Intensely Positive Experiences, and Asset-based Assessments provide a framework for examining the activities of this multi-site development project

The Grizzly, December 7, 1984

Campus Life Considers Alternative Housing • Meunch Proposes RA Pay Raise • French Department Plans Summer Study Aboard • Campus Enjoys Third Pub Night • Phone Jacks in Old Men\u27s by Spring Semester, Kane Says • College Bowl Enters Sixth Week • Grapplers Take Second at LVI • Men\u27s B-ball Jumps to 4-0 • Women\u27s B-ball Loses to Swarthmore • Fencing Club Co-sponsors Tourney • Mermen Win Big • Men\u27s Track Begins Indoor Season • Gymnasts Win Openerhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1130/thumbnail.jp

The ‘‘ICE’’ Study: Feasibility of Inexpensive Commercial Coolers on Mobile EMS Units

Introduction: Prehospital postresuscitation induced hypothermia (IH) has been shown to reduce neurological complications in comatose cardiac-arrest survivors. Retrofitting ambulances to include equipment appropriate to initiate hypothermia, such as refrigeration units for cooled saline, is expensive. The objective of this nonhuman subject research study was to determine if inexpensive, commercially available coolers could, in conjunction with five reusable ice packs, keep two 1 L bags of precooled 0.9% normal saline solution (NSS) at or below 48C for an average shift of eight to 12 hours in a real-world environment, on board in-service Emergency Medical Service (EMS) units, over varying weather conditions in all seasons. Methods: The coolers were chosen based on availability and affordability from two nationally available brands: The Igloo MaxxCold (Igloo Products Corp., Katy, Texas USA) and Coleman (The Coleman Company, Wichita, Kansas USA). Both are 8.5 liter (nine-quart) coolers that were chosen because they adequately held two 1 L bags of saline solution, along with the reusable ice packs designated in the study design, and were small enough for ease of placement on ambulances. Initial testing of the coolers was conducted in a controlled environment. Thereafter, each EMS unit was responsible to cool the saline to less than 48C prior to shift. Data were collected by emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and resident physicians working in seven different ambulance squads. Data analysis was performed using repeated measurements recorded over a 12-hour period from 19 individual coolers and were summarized by individual time points using descriptive statistics. Results: Initial testing determined that the coolers maintained temperatures of 48C for 12 hours in a controlled environment. On the ambulances, results based on the repeated measurements over time revealed that the saline solution samples as defined in the protocol, remained consistently below 48C for 12 hours. Utilizing the lower bound of the 2- sided 95% exact binomial confidence intervals, there was less than a five percent chance that saline samples could not be maintained below 48C for 12 hours, even during the summer months. Conclusions: Simple, commercially available coolers can maintain two 1 L bags of 0.9% NSS at 48C for 12 hours in ambulances in varying environmental conditions. This suggests that EMS agencies could inexpensively initiate prehospital IH in appropriate cases

Prognostic indices in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: a population-based comparison and validation study of multiple models

Currently, the International Prognostic Index (IPI) is the most used and reported model for prognostication in patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). IPI-like variations have been proposed, but only a few have been validated in different populations (e.g., revised IPI (R-IPI), National Comprehensive Cancer Network IPI (NCCN-IPI)). We aimed to validate and compare different IPI-like variations to identify the model with the highest predictive accuracy for survival in newly diagnosed DLBCL patients. We included 5126 DLBCL patients treated with immunochemotherapy with available data required by 13 different prognostic models. All models could predict survival, but NCCN-IPI consistently provided high levels of accuracy. Moreover, we found similar 5-year overall survivals in the high-risk group (33.4%) compared to the original validation study of NCCN-IPI. Additionally, only one model incorporating albumin performed similarly well but did not outperform NCCN-IPI regarding discrimination (c-index 0.693). Poor fit, discrimination, and calibration were observed in models with only three risk groups and without age as a risk factor. In this extensive retrospective registry-based study comparing 13 prognostic models, we suggest that NCCN-IPI should be reported as the reference model along with IPI in newly diagnosed DLBCL patients until more accurate validated prognostic models for DLBCL become available.</p

The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of SDSS-III

The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) is designed to measure the scale of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the clustering of matter over a larger volume than the combined efforts of all previous spectroscopic surveys of large scale structure. BOSS uses 1.5 million luminous galaxies as faint as i=19.9 over 10,000 square degrees to measure BAO to redshifts z<0.7. Observations of neutral hydrogen in the Lyman alpha forest in more than 150,000 quasar spectra (g<22) will constrain BAO over the redshift range 2.15<z<3.5. Early results from BOSS include the first detection of the large-scale three-dimensional clustering of the Lyman alpha forest and a strong detection from the Data Release 9 data set of the BAO in the clustering of massive galaxies at an effective redshift z = 0.57. We project that BOSS will yield measurements of the angular diameter distance D_A to an accuracy of 1.0% at redshifts z=0.3 and z=0.57 and measurements of H(z) to 1.8% and 1.7% at the same redshifts. Forecasts for Lyman alpha forest constraints predict a measurement of an overall dilation factor that scales the highly degenerate D_A(z) and H^{-1}(z) parameters to an accuracy of 1.9% at z~2.5 when the survey is complete. Here, we provide an overview of the selection of spectroscopic targets, planning of observations, and analysis of data and data quality of BOSS.Comment: 49 pages, 16 figures, accepted by A

Health-related quality of life of patients following selected types of lumbar spinal surgery: A pilot study

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Millennials in the Workplace: A Communication Perspective on Millennials’ Organizational Relationships and Performance

Stereotypes about Millennials, born between 1979 and 1994, depict them as self-centered, unmotivated, disrespectful, and disloyal, contributing to widespread concern about how communication with Millennials will affect organizations and how they will develop relationships with other organizational members. We review these purported characteristics, as well as Millennials’ more positive qualities—they work well in teams, are motivated to have an impact on their organizations, favor open and frequent communication with their supervisors, and are at ease with communication technologies. We discuss Millennials’ communicated values and expectations and their potential effect on coworkers, as well as how workplace interaction may change Millennials