Measuring Cultural Competency in Educators: The Educators Scale of Student Diversity

The purpose of this study was to uncover a rich theoretical basis of cultural competency and awareness in education and create an instrument, Educators Scale of Student Diversity (ESSD), which reliably and validly measures cultural competency in educators. Current measures lack in both a wide theoretical basis of cultural competency as it relates to educators in diverse teaching environments and in reported psychometric quality. The ESSD derived from a wide range of theoretical constructs that encompass the experience of modern teachers in diverse environments. The original 50 items, which were written after an extensive literature review, were reviewed by a panel of experts in the fields of cultural competency and race in education, resulting in a 48-item instrument. A pilot study of 372 K-12 teachers in a medium-sized public school district in the Pacific Northwest was then conducted. A factor analysis resulted in a 22-item instrument consisting of 4 subscales: Race and Bias, Culturally Responsive Instruction, Sociopolitical Context, and Diversity in Education. Cronbach’s alpha, an assessment of reliability, was .88 for the scale, suggesting reliability. A correlational analysis was performed with the Cultural Diversity Awareness Index to establish convergent validity and showed a moderate positive relationship

Studies on Heterocyclic Compounds of Therapeutic Importance

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Surgical treatment of long-standing overt ventriculomegaly in adults (LOVA)

Background Longstanding overt ventriculomegaly in adults (LOVA) is characterised by chronic hydrocephalus presumed to begin during infancy, but arresting before becoming clinically detectable. Later in life clinical features of hydrocephalus ensue, typically in the 5th or 6th decades. Only a relatively small number of LOVA case series have been published, and ambiguity remains regarding optimal management. This case series describes a series of patients with LOVA treated successfully at a single neurosurgical institution using endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV). Methods A series of 14 patients were diagnosed with LOVA using established clinical and radiological criteria. All patients underwent an ETVand their clinical conditions were followed up for up to 5 years post-operatively. Results Fourteen patients (100 %) reported either improvement or halt of progression in their presenting symptoms 3 months after ETV; 93 % of patients (n = 13) did not require any further surgical intervention. One patient (7 %) reported deterioration in symptoms beyond 3 months post-operatively, which necessitated further surgery (ventriculoperitoneal shunt). These promising outcomes after ETV are mirrored in numerous other LOVA case series. Other works have analysed the value of CSF shunting procedures in LOVA, with mixed results. A direct, prospective comparison of outcomes after shunt procedures and ETV, with a specific focus on LOVA patients, is yet to be completed. A minority of patients fail to respond, or develop recurrence of symptoms, months or years after initial surgical interventio

Parallel and Context Based Search in Cloud using Multi Agent System

Cloud Computing is one of the fast growing Technology. Cloud computing support large scale infrastructure used to increase high performance of computing. This technology support agents and with the help of integration of the agents that is Multi Agent System (MAS) which is capable of intelligent behavior. They run in an environment where they communicate with each other using message passing technique. Each agent has its own set of behavior and they run independent of each other. When a message arrives each agent shows their own behavior and hence an agent shows their coordination. The use of MAS in cloud computing help us for searching context with better performance. The JADE is a platform which supports agent. This paper discusses about Cloud computing models and architectures, information retrieving technique and the use of MAS that improve the performance of big data search from Distributed File System (DFS) which is difficult to achieve using single agent or thread. Keywords: Cloud Computing, Distributed File System, JADE, MA

CORROSION DAMAGE STUDIES THROUGH MICROSCOPY AND STRESS ANALYSIS

Corrosion is the destructive result of chemical reaction between a metal or metal alloy and its environment. Airplanes, power generating plants, chemical process and manufacturing plants, concrete structure, and many others which widely uses aluminum alloy and stainless steel alloys are subjected to corrosion. The estimated cost of corrosion damage is in order of 3 to 5 percent of gross national product (GNP). Out of all forms of corrosion, pitting corrosion is most commonly observed in aluminum alloy 2024 and stainless steel type 316. There is a need to study the stress environment around the pits in order to predict the nucleation of the crack. The objective of this thesis is to investigate the correlation between pits and stresses in AA2024 and SS316 alloys under different types of loading. Corrosion experiments were carried out on both alloys samples for a fixed time interval and were imaged on optical and AFM. The optical microscope provided the information on forms of corrosion expected on the surface while the AFM provided the pit profile on the surface. An analysis procedure was developed using CAD and finite element analysis to predict stresses resulting from corrosion pits under different types of loadings. The average corrosion rate of AA2024 is six times higher than that of SS316 in 2 Molar NaCl corrosive environment. Based on the results from the optical microscope, AA2024 usually initiated with localized corrosion along with pitting and localized regions grows in size and soon uniform corrosion is observed. However, the stainless steel SS316 usually initiated with pitting corrosion and soon followed by film forming corrosion. Based on the analysis, it was observed that the stress distribution and levels on the corroded surface varied due to irregularities in the corrosion process. From the stress analysis result of AA2024 under bending, it was observed that there was 80% stress increase during first 30 min of corrosion and then the increase was about 6% from 30min to 60 min and then soon reaches a plateau. Similar results were obtained for both AA2024 and SS316 materials under different type of loadings. Initially, the stress increases sharply as time increases but the amount of stress increase demises as time progress and soon reaches a plateau. There was a sharp increase of Bending and shear loading are induces higher level of stresses compared to tension loading. From these stresses it is possible to estimate the initiation of crack, from which the life can be estimated for failure in the material

Search Space Representation of Near Field 3D Scenes using Microsoft Kinect

Augmented Reality (AR) systems allow users to experience reality with extra data. These systems can be used in various applications such as real-time informatics and games. An important requirement for many games is the ability to find a path from one point to another with minimum cost. In recent years, pathfinding algorithms have evolved tremendously, and researchers have created numerous variations and techniques that have improved game experience. AR games can be played in an immersive way using the real world as a game world, however, the information perceived by these systems do not provide suitable search spaces (and search graphs) for pathfinding algorithms. This thesis proposes a novel method which generates a search space representation from the perceived information from an AR system, specifically Microsoft’s Kinect. The generated search space can provide a basis to apply existing knowledge of pathfinding to augmented reality

Retrograde study of patients with adenomyosis at tertiary health centre, a spectrum from clinical presentation to its final diagnosis and treatment

Background: Adenomyosis is a disease where ectopic endometrial glands affect the muscular wall of the uterus. It is considered a specific entity in the PALM-COEIN FIGO (polyp; adenomyosis; leiomyoma; malignancy and hyperplasia; coagulopathy; ovulatory dysfunction; endometrial; iatrogenic; and not yet classified- International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics). Aims and objectives were to diagnose adenomyosis accurately with help of data of clinical findings and imaging modalities. Methods: It was a retrospective study done at tertiary hospital, Junagadh from June 2022 to November 2022. The HPE reports and case records of all the hysterectomy specimen were reviewed. Data regarding age, parity, symptoms, obstetric history, examinations, co-morbidities, investigation findings and treatment modalities were noted. They were tabulated and analysed. Results: Out of the 50 patients, 30 patients (60%) were in the age group of 41-50 years. The prevalence of adenomyosis in our study was only 6% in post-menopausal women when compared to the age group 41-50 years (60%). Multiparous women had 92% incidence of adenomyosis. 62% had menstrual disturbances. Dysmenorrhea and dyspareunia were the next common symptoms. Fibroid was the commonest associated pathology 44%. 32% had endometrial hyperplasia, whereas 68% had no pathology. Imaging picked up only 36% of cases contrary to 28% of clinical diagnosis and was raised to 64% with gross examination of specimen and 100% with HPE. Conclusions: Better modality to diagnose adenomyosis is clinical presentation. USG failed to diagnose all the cases. Gold standard modality is histopathological examination

Human Trafficking in the Emergency Department

Human trafficking continues to persist, affecting up to 200 million people worldwide. As clinicians in emergency departments commonly encounter victims of intimate partner violence, some of these encounters will be with trafficking victims. These encounters provide a rare opportunity for healthcare providers to intervene and help. This case report of a human trafficking patient from a teaching hospital illustrates the complexity in identifying these victims. Clinicians can better identify potential trafficking cases by increasing their awareness of this phenomenon, using qualified interpreters, isolating potential victims by providing privacy and using simple clear reassuring statements ensuring security. A multidisciplinary approach can then be mobilized to help these patients