The Effect of Using Digital Storytelling on Students' Reading Comprehension and Listening Comprehension

The purpose of this study was to find out the effect of using digital storytelling strategy on students' reading comprehension and listening comprehension. The design of this study was Quasi-Experimental with pretest and post-test. Thus, two classrooms containing the total of 60 students of level II at Language Development Center of UIN Suska Riau were selected as the sample based on their similar characteristics and were assigned into an experimental and a control group. In collecting the data, reading and listening tests as well as observations were utilized to assess participants' comprehension abilities prior to and after the treatment. In analyzing the data, the t-tests (paired sample, and independent sample) were run in SPSS. In addition, Cohen D formula was applied to determine the effect size. The results showed that there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) between the means of the pretests scores, and there were significant differences (p < 0.05) between the means of both groups post-tests scores, reading comprehension (p=0.02), and listening comprehension (p=0.04). In other words, the students' comprehension levels were similar prior to the treatment, and the students of the experimental group outperformed the control group after the treatment. In addition, the values of the effect size obtained, reading (0.5), and listening (0.5), were categorized into the moderate effect size. Thus it was inferred that the use of digital storytelling had a significant effect on students' reading and listening comprehension at Language Development Center of UIN Suska Riau

Mapping Connections between Neighborhoods in Response to Community-Based Social Needs

Geographic proximity might not be the only factor influencing the connections between neighborhoods within the same city. Most likely, the community's needs and behaviors play a role in facilitating or hindering any connections between these urban areas. Accordingly, relationships between communities may differ or be similar based on their respective characteristics. This paper aims to demonstrate that communities are close based on the needs they share, regardless of their ethnicity or geographic location. In this study, a time series analysis of neighborhoods' needs is explored to gain a deeper understanding of the communities' network. The study takes into account the co-occurrence of complaints/reports from residents regarding the same issue. The dataset was retrieved from the Boston Area Research Initiative (BARI) and the 311 system that describe the features of neighborhoods regarding non-emergency issues. Subsequently, the connection between neighborhoods in the City of Boston was analyzed using a mixture of PCA, K-means, association rule mining, and a network creation tool. Moreover, clustering coefficients and degrees of centrality were used as significant factors in identifying the members of groups and marking crucial nodes in the network. A series of graphs were generated to show how the neighborhoods are linked based on their socioeconomic concerns. The results prove that even geographically disconnected neighborhoods within Boston have similar social needs, despite their distance from one another. Furthermore, it revealed that some neighborhoods can act as linking bridges for other neighborhoods, while others may be isolated within the network graph. This study has increased awareness of urban aspects. The authorities may consider other dimensions than the traditional ones regarding neighborhood development and addressing problems. Finally, it helps to identify common characteristics between neighborhoods, which facilitates the policy making process

Prevention and management of type 2 diabetes: dietary components and nutritional strategies

In the past couple of decades, evidence from prospective observational studies and clinical trials has converged to support the importance of individual nutrients, foods, and dietary patterns in the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes. The quality of dietary fats and carbohydrates consumed is more crucial than is the quantity of these macronutrients. Diets rich in wholegrains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts; moderate in alcohol consumption; and lower in refined grains, red or processed meats, and sugar-sweetened beverages have been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes and improve glycaemic control and blood lipids in patients with diabetes. With an emphasis on overall diet quality, several dietary patterns such as Mediterranean, low glycaemic index, moderately low carbohydrate, and vegetarian diets can be tailored to personal and cultural food preferences and appropriate calorie needs for weight control and diabetes prevention and management. Although much progress has been made in development and implementation of evidence-based nutrition recommendations in developed countries, concerted worldwide efforts and policies are warranted to alleviate regional disparities

High Performance Liquid Chromatographic Assay for the Simultaneous Determination of Posaconazole and Vincristine in Rat Plasma

Purpose. Developing a validated HPLC-DAD method for simultaneous determination of posaconazole (PSZ) and vincristine (VCR) in rat plasma. Methods. PSZ, VCR, and itraconazole (ITZ) were extracted from 200 μL plasma using diethyl ether in the presence of 0.1 M sodium hydroxide solution. The organic layer was evaporated in vacuo and dried residue was reconstituted and injected through HC-C18 (4.6 × 250 mm, 5 μm) column. In the mobile phase, acetonitrile and 0.015 M potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate (30 : 70 to 80 : 20, linear gradient over 7 minutes) pumped at 1.5 mL/min. VCR and PSZ were measured at 220 and 262 nm, respectively. Two Sprague Dawley rats were orally dosed PSZ followed by iv dosing of VCR and serial blood sampling was performed. Results. VCR, PSZ, and ITZ were successfully separated within 11 min. Calibration curves were linear over the range of 50–5000 ng/mL for both drugs. The CV% and % error of the mean were ≤18% and limit of quantitation was 50 ng/mL for both drugs. Rat plasma concentrations of PSZ and VCR were simultaneously measured up to 72 h and their calculated pharmacokinetics parameters were comparable to the literature. Conclusion. The assay was validated as per ICH guidelines and is appropriate for pharmacokinetics drug-drug interaction studies