Using connectivism theory and technology for knowledge creation in cross-cultural communication

This study examined the significance of connectivism theory and technology for knowledge creation in cross-cultural communication. The findings rely on the exercise designed and conducted by the facilitators of two different institutions/universities based in two different countries. This exercise was conducted for two intercultural management classes in New Delhi, India and Graz, Austria. This article used student-centric teaching approach and output-oriented methodology based on the principles of connectivism and knowledge creation. It demonstrates how these approaches foster lifelong learning in students. The task involved selection of commercial advertisements (preferably national ones), in which students were expected to work in virtual teams and find cultural differences in the interpretation between the participants from two countries: India and Austria.The key findings of this article are the following: The students learnt that an answer to a specific question might match the expectations at one point of time with one specific group of people, but might be different in some other point or with some other group of people.They examined the role of connectivism and its potential application in knowledge creation.They learnt that people generally see the world not as it is, but as they are, or, as they are conditioned to see it

Public Sentiments towards the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights from the Academic Literature Review and Twitter Analytics

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted nations across the globe. Not only has it created economic shocks, but also long-term impacts on the social and psychological behaviors of the public. This can be attributed to the severity of the pandemic and because of the preventive and control measures such as global lockdowns, social distancing, and selfisolation that the governments imposed. Previous studies have reported significant changes in human emotions and behaviors are used to measure public sentiments about certain phenomena (such as the recent pandemic). The present study aims to study the public's sentiments during the COVID-19 outbreak based on an analytics review of public tweets highlighting changes in emotions. A dataset of 58,320 tweets extracted from Twitter and 61 academic articles was explored to analyze behavioral and emotional changes during previous and current pandemic situations. We chose the RPA – COV (Research Process Approach – COVID-19) approach, which was combined with the LBTA (Literature-Based Thematic Analysis) and the COVTA (COVID-19 Twitter Analytics). The sentiments' analysis results were coupled with word-tree analysis and highlighted that the public showed more highly neutral, positive, and mixed emotions than negative ones. The analysis pointed that people may react differently on Twitter as compared to real-life circumstances. The present study makes a significant contribution towards understanding how the public express their sentiments in pandemic situations

Dielectric Resonator Antenna for X band Microwave Application

ABSTRACT: A simple Dielectric Resonator Antenna (DRA) for X band frequency operation is proposed in this paper. X band is a microwave band lies between frequency range 8 to 12 GHz. In proposed DRA reflector plane is used beneath the microstrip feed line with a small air gap, introduced between feed substrate and reflector plane to reduce the back lobe. Slot coupling is used to excite this DRA. Proposed DRA design gives dual band operation in X band and resonates at frequency 8.6 GHz and 10.3 GHz. Antenna design offers minimum return loss of -20.3 db and -24.5 db at 8.6 GHz and 10.3 GHz respectively. It also offers high front to back ratio (FBR) of 12.35db and 9.83 db at 8.65 GHz and 10.3 GHz respectively. Return loss impedance bandwidth of 390 MHz (4.5%) for Band I and 730MHz (7.3%) for band II is obtained. Simple DRA design with high FBR is proposed here for X band application that shows a total bandwidth of 11.8%. DRA is analysed using Ansoft HFSS based on finite element method. Radiation characteristics of this DRA are observed at resonating frequencies. This DRA is useful at microwave X band application such as satellite communication

Chop & Learn: Recognizing and Generating Object-State Compositions

Recognizing and generating object-state compositions has been a challenging task, especially when generalizing to unseen compositions. In this paper, we study the task of cutting objects in different styles and the resulting object state changes. We propose a new benchmark suite Chop & Learn, to accommodate the needs of learning objects and different cut styles using multiple viewpoints. We also propose a new task of Compositional Image Generation, which can transfer learned cut styles to different objects, by generating novel object-state images. Moreover, we also use the videos for Compositional Action Recognition, and show valuable uses of this dataset for multiple video tasks. Project website: https://chopnlearn.github.io.Comment: To appear at ICCV 202

Platelet derived exosomes disrupt endothelial cell monolayer integrity and enhance vascular inflammation in dengue patients

BackgroundThrombocytopenia is the most notable phenomenon in dengue. Activation status of platelets and interaction of platelets with endothelium contribute towards dengue disease pathogenesis. Platelets are the major cell types known to release extracellular vesicles, especially exosomes in circulation. However, the role of platelet derived exosomes (PLT-EXOs) in endothelial dysfunction during dengue infection remains unknown.MethodsIn this study, we recruited 28 healthy subjects and 69 dengue patients categorized as WS- (n=31), WS+ (n=29) and SD (n=9). Platelets were isolated from platelet rich plasma of dengue patients and their activation was assessed by flow cytometry. PLT-EXOs were isolated by ultracentrifugation method. Western blot analyses were performed to characterize the exosomes. Exosome uptake experiment was carried out to see the internalization of exosomes inside endothelial cells (HUVECs). To observe the effect of exosomes on endothelial cells, exosomes were added on HUVECs and expression of adherens and tight junctional proteins were examined by immunofluorescence assay and western blot. Expression levels of vascular injury markers were measured in the culture supernatants of Exosome-HUVEC coculture and sera of dengue patients by MSD-multiplex assay.ResultsAs compared to healthy subjects, CD41/CD61 expression was significantly reduced (p<0.0001) and CD62p expression was significantly increased (p<0.0001) on platelets in dengue patients. PLT-EXOs isolated from the dengue patients showed higher expression of CD63 and CD9 proteins than the healthy subjects. With in-vitro immunofluorescence assays, we illustrated the internalization of PLT-EXOs by the HUVECs and observed disruption of endothelial cell monolayer integrity in the presence of PLT-EXOs from WS+ and SD patients. Furthermore, the significant reduction in the expressions of ZO-2, VE-Cadherin and CD31 in endothelial cells following exposure to PLT-EXOs from the dengue patients provide direct evidence of PLT-EXOs mediated vascular permeability. PLT-EXOs stimulated the release of inflammatory markers CRP, SAA, sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1 in the supernatants of HUVEC cells. Importantly, significantly higher levels of CRP, sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1 in the sera of severe than mild dengue patients (p<0.0001) suggest their role in disease severity.ConclusionsIn summary, our data suggest that PLT-EXOs promote vascular leakage via release of proinflammatory mediators and compromise vascular barrier integrity in dengue patients