Social-Psychological Interventions in Education

One of the primary objectives of educators at all levels is to facilitate the personal and academic development of learners in a successful manner. Helping students achieve positive experiences and outcomes as a result of their own effort and decision making can lead to the development of independent, knowledgeable, and skilled members of society. Educators possess a powerful platform in which they are able to communicate influential ideas and messages to their students, some of which could be lifelong-lasting and determine the trajectory of where one is headed towards in life.Therefore, the direct and indirect messages conveyed by educators to their students can significantly impact their students’ futures, regardless of whether one is fully cognizant of the message at the time of delivery. A good teacher wants their students to achieve the greatest heights possible, within their own self-determination, and this paper describes how the use of social-psychological interventions in education can aid in raising student development and achievement in educational settings

Teacher-orientated Pedagogical Practices for Reducing Demotivation in English Language Learning Contexts in Japan

　Teachers often contemplate and ask questions about what they can do to motivate learners. Their primary focus may be on matters related to lesson design, teaching methods and styles, or motivational strategies. It is also necessary and of considerable value to consider what should not be done or avoided in learning contexts, hence research studies on learner demotivation examine such an issue. An analysis and review of existing studies on demotivational factors among L2 learners in Japan reveal a range of pedagogical practices that demotivate learners. Awareness of these demotivational factors and influences can significantly assist educators in knowing what they can change within themselves and their classrooms to foster a better, more enriching educational experience for their learners. By following the pareto principle, educators can quickly identify teacher-orientated causes of demotivation in learners and effectively apply practical pedagogical solutions to improve upon these factors

Workplace Learning Strategies and Professional Competencies in Innovation Contexts in Brazilian Hospitals

Competencies mobilized by service providers form an element of hospital services insofar as scientific and technological procedures that are part of the service become tangible. In view of the fact that hospitals have adopted Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), it would be logical to assume that learning contributes towards acquiring competencies related to changes in hospitals resulting from the adoption of new technologies. This paper aims to analyze relationships between workplace learning strategies and professional competencies after the adoption of innovations supported ICT in hospitals. Eleven interviews were carried out with professionals from three different hospitals and identifying the professional competencies resulting from innovations supported by ICT. This was followed by a cross-sectional survey involving 425 employees at the hospitals surveyed. The data analysis was undertaken by means of structural equation modeling (SEM). The results confirm the hypothesis and indicate that the performance of professional competences based on new ICT is determined by the way the respondents think, change and apply their knowledge, skills and attitudes in the workplace by use of new information and communication technologies

Implementation of semi-autonomous vehicle for environmental feedback

In a world marked by war and terrorism, the Department of Defense has found an increasing need for the use of unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) to facilitate the safety of its soldiers in the battlefield. UGVs can be used for scouting and surveying enemy territory instead of placing soldiers at risk. In response to this matter, the objective of this report is to propose a design for a microcontroller based vehicle that can give the user feedback on the environment. We propose to implement a camera sensor on a vehicle that will be used to track and follow a marked line on the ground. Additional information including direction and speed of the vehicle will be recorded using magnetometer and accelerometer sensors, respectively. The direction information is needed to give the user an idea of the vehicle’s orientation. The speed information is needed to control the response of the motors based upon the type of ground topography (e.g. sloped surface vs. flat surface). The goal of the project is to implement the combination of these three sensors (camera, magnetometer, and accelerometer) for better control of the vehicle in its environment. The intended deliverable will be a small vehicle powered by a rechargeable battery and controlled by the ATMega16 microcontroller. The vehicle will also contain the accelerometer, magnetometer, and camera sensors

Decision support system in a patient-centered medical home

Lack of sufficient primary care to manage chronic diseases has been quoted as a major drawback of the healthcare system within the United States. Patient-Centered Medical Home is a care delivery model to transform how primary care is delivered. The information technology revolution has brought about several advancements and solutions for medicine and care delivery, and medical homes are no exception to this. However, it is only through a robust decision support system that these medical homes can in fact provide truly coordinated and patient-centered care. The paper describes preliminary work that has been completed at the University of Missouri Health System and next steps in achieving high quality care delivery through a decision support system implementation. Originally presented at the IEEE HealthCon Medial Home conference in June 2011

Pharmacogenomics and the Yin/Yang actions of ginseng: anti-tumor, angiomodulating and steroid-like activities of ginsenosides.

In Chinese medicine, ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) has long been used as a general tonic or an adaptogen to promote longevity and enhance bodily functions. It has also been claimed to be effective in combating stress, fatigue, oxidants, cancer and diabetes mellitus. Most of the pharmacological actions of ginseng are attributed to one type of its constituents, namely the ginsenosides. In this review, we focus on the recent advances in the study of ginsenosides on angiogenesis which is related to many pathological conditions including tumor progression and cardiovascular dysfunctions. Angiogenesis in the human body is regulated by two sets of counteracting factors, angiogenic stimulators and inhibitors. The 'Yin and Yang' action of ginseng on angiomodulation was paralleled by the experimental data showing angiogenesis was indeed related to the compositional ratio between ginsenosides Rg1 and Rb1. Rg1 was later found to stimulate angiogenesis through augmenting the production of nitric oxide (NO) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Mechanistic studies revealed that such responses were mediated through the PI3K-->Akt pathway. By means of DNA microarray, a group of genes related to cell adhesion, migration and cytoskeleton were found to be up-regulated in endothelial cells. These gene products may interact in a hierarchical cascade pattern to modulate cell architectural dynamics which is concomitant to the observed phenomena in angiogenesis. By contrast, the anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic effects of ginsenosides (e.g. Rg3 and Rh2) have been demonstrated in various models of tumor and endothelial cells, indicating that ginsenosides with opposing activities are present in ginseng. Ginsenosides and Panax ginseng extracts have been shown to exert protective effects on vascular dysfunctions, such as hypertension, atherosclerotic disorders and ischemic injury. Recent work has demonstrates the target molecules of ginsenosides to be a group of nuclear steroid hormone receptors. These lines of evidence support that the interaction between ginsenosides and various nuclear steroid hormone receptors may explain the diverse pharmacological activities of ginseng. These findings may also lead to development of more efficacious ginseng-derived therapeutics for angiogenesis-related diseases