Novice Learner Experiences in Software Development: A Study of Freshman Undergraduates

This paper presents a study that is part of a larger research project aimed at addressing the gap in the provision of educational software development processes for freshman, novice undergraduate learners, to improve proficiency levels. With the aim of understanding how such learners problem solve in software development in the absence of a formal process, this case study examines the experiences and depth of learning acquired by a sample set of novice undergraduates. A novel adaption of the Kirkpatrick framework known as AKM-SOLO is used to frame the evaluation. The study finds that without the scaffolding of an appropriate structured development process tailored to novices, students are in danger of failing to engage with the problem solving skills necessary for software development, particularly the skill of designing solutions prior to coding. It also finds that this lack of engagement directly impacts their affective state on the course and continues to negatively impact their proficiency and affective state in the second year of their studies leading to just under half of students surveyed being unsure if they wish to pursue a career in software development when they graduate

Follow up from the Lebanese Heart Failure Snapshot: Reflection of geopolitical instability.

BACKGROUND: Heart failure has a great cost on the health care system. The readmission and mortality rates and their predictors are greatly affected by political and sociocultural unrests. AIMS: To determine the readmission and mortality rates and their predictors in heart failure population in times of political and sociocultural unrests. DESIGN: A cross-sectional follow-up with patients recruited for the Lebanese Heart Failure Snapshot was conducted over the month of June in 2019. METHODS: Phone calls were conducted at 30-90 days, 6-12 months following hospital discharge for patient previously admitted to one of the study hospitals for heart failure exacerbation. Follow-up data was conducted from July 2019 till May 2020. FINDINGS: The mean age of the 120 participants was 71 years with a mean ejection fraction of 41%. The 30-90 days, 6-12 months readmission rates were 20%, 56%, 75%, and 78%, respectively. Readmission predictors were non-sinus rhythm and low diastolic blood pressure at admission. Mortality rates at 30-90 days, 6-12 months were 7%, 11%, 17%, and 28%, respectively. Low diastolic blood pressure and longer length of hospital stay were associated with mortality. CONCLUSION: The rapid changes in the country make it difficult to formulate an intervention plan. This was seen in the increased rates of readmission and the decreased rates of mortality. Rigorous research should be conducted at every phase of the sociocultural changes in developing countries that were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and had their economy largely affected. IMPACT: The occurrences of the countries can greatly influence the outcomes of patients with heart failure. This is true in developing countries that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic socially, economically, and politically. Research should be done regularly to establish the effect of these changes on patients with heart failure. Nevertheless, nursing roles are the common denominator that should be adapted to all the changes and provided despite all challenges to assure improved outcomes. Such practices include discharge education tailored to the subjective needs of the patients and continuous, uninterrupted follow-up despite of all the occurrences. These practices are likely to decrease adverse outcomes in patients with heart failure

Identifying Wrong-Way Driving Hotspots by Modeling Crash Risk and Assessing Duration of Wrong-Way Driving Events

Because wrong-way driving (WWD) crashes are often severe, it is important for transportation agencies to identify WWD hotspot segments appropriate for potential implementation of advanced WWD countermeasures. Two approaches to identify these hotspot segments were developed and applied to a case study of limited-access highways in Central Florida. The first approach used a Poisson regression model that predicted the number of WWD crashes in a roadway segment based on WWD citations, 911 calls, traffic volumes, and interchange designs. Combining this predicted crash value with the actual number of WWD crashes in the segment gave the WWD crash risk of the segment. Ranking roadway segments by WWD crash risk provided agencies with an understanding of which segments had high WWD crash frequencies and high potential for future WWD crashes. This approach was previously applied to South Florida; the research presented here extended this approach to Central Florida. The second approach was based on operational data collected in traffic management centers and could be used if accurate WWD 911 and citation data with GPS location were not available or as a supplement to the first approach. The approach identified and ranked WWD hotspots on the basis of the reported duration of WWD events. In Central Florida, the results of the two approaches agreed with each other and were used by agencies to decide where to implement advanced WWD countermeasures. Together, these approaches can help transportation agencies determine regional WWD hotspots and cooperate to implement advanced WWD countermeasures at these locations

Framework For Evaluating Level Of Service At Electronic Toll Collection Plazas

The objective of this paper is to develop a framework for evaluating level of service (LOS) at toll plazas with and without Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) systems. Quantifying the level of service at toll plazas will provide a standard tool for comparing between performance of traffic operations strategies and evaluating the true potential of ETC systems in traffic management at toll plazas. Three methods are proposed to evaluate LOS. In the first method, the plaza will be treated as a traffic signal, and the average delay per vehicle at the plaza is used to assess the LOS. In the second method, the plaza is treated as a freeway section, and the average density at the plaza is used to assess the LOS. In the third method, a combination of both average delay and average density is applied to LOS. The three methods will be validated with data collected by the University of Central Florida (UCF) at three toll plaza sites in Orlando

Framework For Atis Safety

Advanced Traveler Information Systems utilize advance techniques to acquire, process, and disseminate information to motorists. The main purpose of ATIS is to provide motorists with information prior to and during a trip. This process may improve the System performance and route traffic around congested sections of the street network, however, there is no assurance that the potential trip time savings gained by ATIS will not be compromised by safety issues

Literacy critical to heart failure management: a scoping review.

Heart failure is a complex clinical syndrome most commonly encountered among older adults. This complex clinical syndrome is associated with poor health outcomes such as frequent admissions and mortality. These adverse outcomes are commonly associated with poor self-care and lower health literacy. Literacy is a combination of knowledge and skills and often reflected by appropriate interaction with the community, while health literacy is the cognitive and social skills reflected by accessing and comprehending health information and making appropriate health decisions. These decisions are common and challenging to patients with heart failure. Poor outcomes are said to be reduced by adequate self-care, which is associated with health literacy among heart failure patients. Better self-care was also shown to be associated with self-efficacy and self-confidence that were in turn associated with health literacy. Hence, enhancing health literacy among patient with heart failure is critical to enable them to increase control over their disease by better understanding and participating in health care, while being empowered to take part in designing health care services and even tailoring research to serve their needs and consequently improve outcome at the individual and community level. In clinical practice, assessing health literacy, measuring health literacy, and identifying patients at risk of low nutrition literacy is important to enhance health literacy and health outcomes. Hence, developing reliable and valid methods and tools for assessment and developing tailored and targeted interventions is of critical importance

A simple model for route guidance benefits

This paper concerns the benefits from vehicle route guidance in urban networks. We suppose that routes can be altered in such a way as to achieve system optimal assignment. Benefits are measured by the savings in total travel time when comparing this assignment with the user equilibrium, which is assumed to occur in the absence of route guidance. A continuum approach is used to analyze an idealized corridor in which a freeway is superimposed over a dense grid of surface streets. The main role of route guidance is to divert traffic from the freeway whenever its marginal cost exceeds that of the street system. It is found that saving in total system travel time of the order of 3-4% can be achieved from route guidance. Benefits are quite sensitive to city street speed. At low speed more users would choose the freeway resulting in congestion, and the potential benefits of route guidance are relatively high. However, as street speed increases and approaches that of the freeway, route guidance would be of less value as more of the motorists would be choosing the city street on their own. Benefits can be enhanced if information is customized to motorists on the basis of their origins and destinations. Finally, it is shown that benefits are reduced when the freeway network is dense. This paper does not consider important aspects of the evaluation of route guidance, such as the equity issue stemming from increasing some trip times in order to achieve system optimum, or the local impact of diverted traffic.