Is Online Learning Effective to All?

Technological advances in virtual learning have made the option of remote learning accessible to most student as an alternative, however, is it effective to all learners? Due to recent pandemic of COVID-19 the option for online learning was the only option for a close alternative to in-person learning for all grade levels. Nonetheless, some school districts were unable to provide proper tools to conduct virtual learning through the abrupt transition at the start of the outbreak. When schools were responding to the pandemic of COVID-19, the first consideration was to ensure the safety and health for all (The Education Trust, 2020). Students and teachers had to adjust immediately to this new way of learning. By utilizing many types of online tools and resources to maintain the continuity of education. The purpose of this paper is to examine online tools and resources used by teachers to provide virtual education and their effectiveness for replicating learning and face to face interaction

Spatial Irregularities Of Compound Action Potential Origination In Individual Cochleae

The present study aims to evaluate the origin of compound action potential (CAP) responses in the guinea pig ear using the following method. Pipettes were sealed into the cochlear apex of 26 guinea pigs to inject ototoxic pharmaceuticals that inhibit nerve responses without affecting cochlear function. The rate of the injection was adjusted once each minute to account for variations in the diameter of the cochlea and to maintain a steady flow of pharmaceuticals. CAP measurements collected at around 90-second intervals using tone burst stimuli during the injections allowed evaluation of the neural responses over time. Responses to higher stimulation levels revealed a later ablation time, indicating they originate from a more basal, higher frequency region than 2 kHz. CAP abolition rates revealed variations between individual ears. Additionally, distortion-product otoacoustic emission (DPOAEs) measurements were collected to evaluate cochlear response. Findings showed that the injection did not alter DPOAE response amplitudes, indicating it had no effect on cochlear mechanics. These findings provide insight into irregular spatial origins of cochlear responses, and therefore an irregular frequency-place map, in individual ears

Service delivery interventions to increase uptake of voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention: A systematic review.

BackgroundVoluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) remains an essential component of combination HIV prevention services, particularly in priority countries in sub-Saharan Africa. As VMMC programs seek to maximize impact and efficiency, and to support World Health Organization guidance, specific uptake-enhancing strategies are critical to identify.MethodsWe systematically reviewed the literature to evaluate the impact of service delivery interventions (e.g., facility layout, service co-location, mobile outreach) on VMMC uptake among adolescent and adult men. For the main effectiveness review, we searched for publications or conference abstracts that measured VMMC uptake or uptake of HIV testing or risk reduction counselling within VMMC services. We synthesized data by coding categories and outcomes. We also reviewed studies assessing acceptability, values/preferences, costs, and feasibility.ResultsFour randomized controlled trials and five observational studies were included in the effectiveness review. Studies took place in South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. They assessed a range of service delivery innovations, including community-, school-, and facility-based interventions. Overall, interventions increased VMMC uptake; some successfully improved uptake among age-specific subpopulations, but urban-rural stratification showed no clear trends. Interventions that increased adult men's uptake included mobile services (compared to static facilities), home-based testing with active referral follow-up, and facility-based HIV testing with enhanced comprehensive sexual education. Six acceptability studies suggested interventions were generally perceived to help men choose to get circumcised. Eleven cost studies suggested interventions create economies-of-scale and efficiencies. Three studies suggested such interventions were feasible, improving facility preparedness, service quality and quantity, and efficiencies.ConclusionsInnovative changes in male-centered VMMC services can improve adult men's and adolescent boys' VMMC uptake. Limited evidence on interventions that enhance access and acceptability show promising results, but evidence gaps persist due to inconsistent intervention definition and delivery, due in part to contextual relevance and limited age disaggregation

Economic compensation interventions to increase uptake of voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BackgroundEconomic compensation interventions may help support higher voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) coverage in priority sub-Saharan African countries. To inform World Health Organization guidelines, we conducted a systematic review of economic compensation interventions to increase VMMC uptake.MethodsEconomic compensation interventions were defined as providing money or in-kind compensation, reimbursement for associated costs (e.g. travel, lost wages), or lottery entry. We searched five electronic databases and four scientific conferences for studies examining the impact of such interventions on VMMC uptake, HIV testing and safer-sex/risk-reduction counseling uptake within VMMC, community expectations about compensation, and potential coercion. We screened citations, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias in duplicate. We conducted random-effects meta-analysis. We also reviewed studies examining acceptability, values/preferences, costs, and feasibility.ResultsOf 2484 citations identified, five randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and three non-randomized controlled trials met our eligibility criteria. Studies took place in Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Meta-analysis of four RCTs showed significant impact of any economic compensation on VMMC uptake (relative risk: 5.23, 95% CI: 3.13 to 8.76). RCTs of food/transport vouchers and conditional cash transfers generally showed increases in VMMC uptake, but lotteries, subsidized VMMC, and receiving a gift appeared somewhat less effective. Three non-randomized trials showed mixed impact. Six additional studies suggested economic compensation interventions were generally acceptable, valued for addressing key barriers, and motivating to men. However, some participants felt they were insufficiently motivating or necessary; one study suggested they might raise community suspicions. One study from South Africa found a program cost of US$91 per additional circumcision and US$450-$1350 per HIV infection averted.ConclusionsEconomic compensation interventions, particularly transport/food vouchers, positively impacted VMMC uptake among adult men and were generally acceptable to potential clients. Carefully selected economic interventions may be a useful targeted strategy to enhance VMMC coverage

Prospectus, July 12, 2018

ARTICLE HIGHLIGHT: APRIL 4, 2018: PENALTIES FOR TOBACCO USE TO BE IMPLEMENTED ON CAMPUS; Humans of Parkland: Cole Argoudelis; Article Highlight: April 4, 2018: Parkland launches new website; Excerpts from Diana McDonald Essay Contest 2018 Winning Essays; Article Highlight: April 11, 2018: Parkland promotes awareness of sexual assaulthttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_2018/1032/thumbnail.jp

Supporting a Racially Diverse Facial Dataset: Normative Valence and Arousal Ratings Across Race and Moderation by Race

The primary goal of this project was to collect normative emotional valence and arousal ratings using the RADIATE facial database. The RADIATE database is one of the few that is racially diverse, yet it is underutilized, due in part to a lack of normative valence and arousal ratings. A secondary goal was to explore whether the race of the rater moderated emotion ratings. As part of an ongoing study, 204 participants (Asian: 9, Black: 25, Latinx: 39, White: 131) were randomly assigned to one of 10 blocks of 36 faces. Each block included faces counterbalanced on race, gender, and emotion so that each participant rated an identical number of faces with respect to these categories. Participants viewed faces in Qualtrics and rated each on valence (from 1-9, unpleasant to pleasant) and arousal (from 1-9, low to high). A 4-way Race of Rater x Race of Face x Emotion x Gender repeated-measures ANOVA with repeated-measures on the last 3 factors was used for valence and arousal ratings. As expected, across racial face categories, happy faces were rated as more pleasant (M = 6.50) and sad faces as more unpleasant (M = 3.03). In addition, happy (M = 4.29) faces were rated more emotionally arousing than sad (M = 3.76) and neutral faces (M = 3.29). The race of the rater moderated valence but not arousal ratings. Black raters rated Asian females as happier than Asian males and Latinx raters rated Latinas as sadder than Latinos, with no other evident effects. Present results contribute to sparse valence and arousal data for the RADIATE dataset. Results further suggest that emotional faces are not rated in a universal manner as some emotion theories presume. Implications of the results and future research directions are discussed

Life In The Cold: An Investigation Of Polar Regions

Polar areas provide unique environments that, though they may seem extreme and uninhabitable, are flourishing with life. These areas around the North and South poles include deep oceans, shallow shelf regions, tundra, mountain ranges and vast glaciers. With the increasing effects of global climate change, a basic knowledge of polar regions is crucial to understand future impacts and implications. The purpose of this book is to give a broad background of polar biology, and also provide details on specific examples through case studies. Topics included throughout this book are: Ice, Life in Polar Regions, Species Interactions, and Anthropogenic Impacts. The students in the Polar Biology course (MAR 464) at the University of New England have researched and reviewed scientific literature to educate readers about these regions. The class, comprised of fourteen junior and senior Marine Science, Ocean Studies and Marine Affairs, and Environmental Sciences students, selected the different topics, presented the material, wrote the chapters, and assembled the final versions into this book. This book cannot be all inclusive, but we think it will provide an excellent broad overview of the most important aspects of Polar Biology and will stimulate the reader to dive into the material further.https://dune.une.edu/marinesci_studproj/1001/thumbnail.jp

Risk Factors for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Among Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B Infection in an Urban Hospital Setting

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2017-06Background: Risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have not been well documented among immigrant populations with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, and most data come from native Asian cohorts. We conducted a case-control study to determine the risk factors associated with HCC among immigrant patients with chronic HBV in a US-based academic urban hospital setting, with the goal of further clarifying HCC risk in this key subset of patients. Methods: We identified a total of 278 patients with HCC and chronic HBV; these cases were age- and sex-matched in a 1:3 ratio with 823 non-cancer control subjects with chronic HBV. Logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the risk of HCC associated with race (with black race stratified by foreign-born status), adjusted for patient demographics and clinical conditions. Results: In the multivariate analysis, Asian race was the only risk factor associated with a statistically significant greater odds of HCC; adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 3.2 (95% CI [2.1 – 5.1]). Black patients comprised only 7% (19 of 278) of cases, and did not have increased odds of HCC. The crude OR was 0.6 (95% CI [0.3 – 1.1]) in African immigrants and 0.4 (95% CI [0.1 – 1.1]) in non-immigrant blacks. The aOR was 1.3 (95% CI [0.6 – 2.9]) in African immigrants and 0.6 (95% CI [0.2 – 1.8]) in non-immigrant blacks. Diabetes was associated with decreased HCC in the multivariate analysis aOR 0.6 (95% CI [0.4 – 0.9]). In a secondary multivariate analysis without cirrhosis in the model, alcohol was associated with HCC aOR 1.7 (95% CI [1.0 – 2.9]). We found no association between HCC and other risk factors including HCV coinfection and HIV coinfection. Conclusions: Asian patients were the only racial subgroup with an increased odds of HCC in our cohort. Our African-immigrant patients, many of whom were from Ethiopia or Somalia, were not at increased risk of HCC, which questions our current guidelines for early screening in these patients

Immigration Within the United States: Prevalence of Childhood Hearing Loss Revisited

Purpose: As more adult and child immigrants enter the United States each year, there is a high likelihood that the prevalence of childhood hearing loss in the United States is underestimated, given estimations of the number of immigrant children entering the country with hearing loss. Method: Information was collected using online search engines and peer-reviewed journals. The most recent articles available through search engines included in EBSCOhost at the time were used. The gathered data were organized by emigrating country, and the 2 countries with the highest immigration rates were presented. Estimations of the number of children immigrating with hearing loss were made using data from published peer-reviewed articles and government reports on immigration. Conclusions: The prevalence of hearing loss in the United States is underestimated when considering undetected hearing loss in immigrant children. The addition of the immigrant children from only Mexico and China presents a 7.5% increase in the total number of children in the United States with hearing loss. This reinforces the importance of early detection of hearing loss in these children, resulting in more accurate estimation of the rate of childhood hearing loss in the United States and better planning for intervention programs