Online learners’ experiences and views towards online courses: A case study of the University of the South Pacific

In higher education, demand for online courses has risen over the years, and higher education institutes (HEIs) are investing heavily in the development and delivery of online courses. As a regional university, the University of the South Pacific (USP) is no exception and has made an incremental shift from face‐to‐face and print methods to blended and fully online methods in course delivery. At USP, significant attention has been given to developing an online learning environment using the Moodle platform, upskilling academics and supporting employees to offer good experience to the learners regardless of their location. An area that needs research, however, is the study experiences of online learners. Are they getting what they expected from online learning? Are online courses intended to satisfy the styles and preferences of their learning? This study tries to answer these two questions by collecting online learners ' opinions and experiences at USP. Data were collected from 75 learners registered in 3 online courses using a questionnaire. Positive student experiences of online learning included greater flexibility, timely feedback and greater opportunities for interaction with academic and peers. Challenges identified included poor internet connectivity and lack of familiarity with the online learning management system and tools for first time online learners. Students highly rated the use of multimedia, online learning materials and online assessments as positive contributors to their learning in online courses. Most of the learners were satisfied with online course design and delivery and reported positive learning experience for the three online courses at USP. However, 20 percent of the learners were not satisfied with their online learning experience. Some aspects such as course navigation and feedback system could be improved and training of first time online learners could further improve student learning experience

Use of Case Histories to Enhance Practical Geotechnical Engineering

Mathematical models are constructed to describe the behavior of engineering systems in quantitative terms. During conceptualization stage of modelling several valid assumptions have to be made so as to make the model predict the behavior of the system as accurately as possible. Refinement of mathematical models need feed back from practice. Many practical cases are of interest in updating and enhancing quantitative judgment of geo-technical systems behavior. This paper envisages to present a few interesting cases where the situation forced true synthesis of theory and practice for innovation and advancement of practical geo-technical engineering

Barriers of Drug Adherence among Patients with Epilepsy: in Tertiary Care Hospital, South India

Introduction: Epilepsy is a treatable and curable brain disorder. However major proportion of individuals with this disease in developing countries receives no treatment because of misunderstandings of the public. Other than that, poor adherence to ordered medication is considered the primary cause of drug therapy failure in epilepsy. This study conducted to assess the adherence pattern to antiepileptic regimen, among patients with epilepsy and to identify the clinical and patient-related factors contributing as barriers. Methods: A cross sectional survey design was used in 100 epilepsy patients in an Outpatient unit of tertiary care center. A Convenient sampling technique was used to enroll the patients who meet inclusion criteria. Structured interview with pre-tested questionnaire and eight item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale was used to collect the data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis of data. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentages) were used to describe the clinical and demographic variables of study participants. The determinants of medication adherence were analyzed using Chi-Square test and independent student t- test. The analysis was done with SPSS 20th version. Results: Majority (71%) of patients were not adherent to antiepileptic treatment. Severity of seizure (indicated by the presence of seizure last year), medication frequency and complexity of treatment were found to have significant association with the Anti-Epileptic Drugs (AED) adherence status. Status of adherence is significantly associated with frequency of seizure/year and positive life style. Conclusion: As Medication adherence was observed to be low, services for adherence counseling and health educational interventions in the epilepsy clinics is recommended

Engineering change in a non-deterministic FSM setting

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Canagliflozin and renal outcomes in type 2 diabetes and nephropathy

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to <90 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area and albuminuria (ratio of albumin [mg] to creatinine [g], >300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of <15 ml per minute per 1.73 m2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P<0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P<0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years

Nations within a nation: variations in epidemiological transition across the states of India, 1990–2016 in the Global Burden of Disease Study

18% of the world's population lives in India, and many states of India have populations similar to those of large countries. Action to effectively improve population health in India requires availability of reliable and comprehensive state-level estimates of disease burden and risk factors over time. Such comprehensive estimates have not been available so far for all major diseases and risk factors. Thus, we aimed to estimate the disease burden and risk factors in every state of India as part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2016

GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral

On August 17, 2017 at 12∶41:04 UTC the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave detectors made their first observation of a binary neutron star inspiral. The signal, GW170817, was detected with a combined signal-to-noise ratio of 32.4 and a false-alarm-rate estimate of less than one per 8.0×104  years. We infer the component masses of the binary to be between 0.86 and 2.26  M⊙, in agreement with masses of known neutron stars. Restricting the component spins to the range inferred in binary neutron stars, we find the component masses to be in the range 1.17–1.60  M⊙, with the total mass of the system 2.74+0.04−0.01M⊙. The source was localized within a sky region of 28  deg2 (90% probability) and had a luminosity distance of 40+8−14  Mpc, the closest and most precisely localized gravitational-wave signal yet. The association with the γ-ray burst GRB 170817A, detected by Fermi-GBM 1.7 s after the coalescence, corroborates the hypothesis of a neutron star merger and provides the first direct evidence of a link between these mergers and short γ-ray bursts. Subsequent identification of transient counterparts across the electromagnetic spectrum in the same location further supports the interpretation of this event as a neutron star merger. This unprecedented joint gravitational and electromagnetic observation provides insight into astrophysics, dense matter, gravitation, and cosmology

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM