Exploring Ways of Vocabulary Instructional Practices in ESL Classrooms in Pakistan

Word Power offers a key role when it comes to effective communication and comprehensive reading. Language teaching-learning is a complex phenomenon especially in learning L2 vocabulary. A learner is provided with a complete package of textual and non-textual language-based content to develop all four skills of L2 of a learner. A language curriculum is based on text aided by co-curricular activities like role plays, presentations, speeches/debates or declamation, essay writing competitions, etc. to improve the language proficiency of a learner. In such activities, vocabulary has a secondary role to play, whereas, it is hard to find such activities where the prime focus is to be given on the development of language learner’s vocabulary size. Language learners view vocabulary enhancement as one of the most challenging domains while learning a language Çelik & Toptaş, (2010). The present study reflects a brief overview of the most frequently practiced pedagogical practices of vocabulary items. This study is qualitative, where secondary level school learners are the target population. The researcher has chosen semi-structured interviews with students (n=20). The study finds that the vocabulary instructional process in Pakistani ESL learners lacks the proper induction of vocabulary teaching strategies. It doesn’t target the utilization of vocabulary items in a meaningful context. In addition, vocabulary items are heavily taught explicitly and implicit instructional methods are not taken much into consideration. Thus, the researcher recommends the integration of best teaching practices into the traditional language pedagogical process. It may involve CALL methods and other incidental and intentional approaches that can enable learners to enhance vocabulary size, retain, and use vocabulary items in a real-life context. Keywords: Vocabulary teaching/learning, ESL learners, CALL, traditional practices, pedagogical practices, vocabulary development, language learners DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/10-24-09 Publication date: December 31st 2020

Prevalence and clustering of unhealthy behaviours in young people: an analysis of health and wellbeing surveys in Southeast England

Background: Most chronic diseases are strongly associated with four modifiable behaviours: smoking, alcohol consumption, low fruit and vegetable consumption and physical inactivity. When established early in life, these lifestyle factors could persist in adulthood and predict the incidence of chronic diseases. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of these behaviours and association between sociodemographic/personal characteristics and clustering of multiple unhealthy behaviours in young people. Methods: Data from the Brighton and Hove Safe and Well at School Surveys (2010-2014) were analysed to examine the prevalence and clustering of these behaviours in Year 10 and 11 pupils (n=10,099; aged 14-16 year). Results: Of the 10,099 pupils aged 14-16 years, the vast majority (97%) were engaged in either one or more unhealthy behaviours: about 58% were engaged in 1-2 and 39% were engaged in 3-4 unhealthy behaviours, respectively. Multiple regression analysis showed that a number of factors were significantly associated with the clustering of 3-4 unhealthy behaviours in young people. These included: being in Year 10 (OR=2.0, 95% CI, 1.8-2.2), family problems (1.8, 1.6-2.0), being female (1.7, 1.5-1.9), not enjoying school (1.6, 1.4-1.8), and rarely/never feeling happy (1.3, 1.0-1.6). Conclusions: These findings highlight the need for modifications in community-based and in-school health and wellbeing programmes to increase awareness about health impacts of smoking and alcohol consumption and beneficial effects of healthy diet and exercise to decrease the prevalence and clustering of unhealthy behaviours in young people

Pregnancy outcomes of patients with ultrasound-indicated and history-indicated mcdonald cervical cerclage

Objective: To assess pregnancy outcomes of patients with ultrasound-indicated and history-indicated McDonald cervical cerclage. Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional study of pregnant women who had cervical cerclage performed at Aga Khan University Hospital, Karimabad campus. We obtained Institutional Review Board approval and reviewed the medical records of patients. A purposive continuous sampling technique was used. A total of 88 patients were included. There were no exclusion criteria. Outcome data were collected from the medical record of patients from January 2010 to December 2016. Results: Analysis reported a statistically significant lower gravidity and parity in the scan-indicated group as compared with other groups (p = 0.000 and p = 0.001, respectively). Previous history of cervical cerclage, history of mid-trimester miscarriage, and preterm labor were significantly associated with indication for cerclage (p = 0.001, 0.046, and 0.001, respectively). Cervical length was also significantly associated with the indication for cerclage (p p = 0.003 and p = 0.04 and 0.004, respectively). Conclusion: Our study showed that patients with a history suggestive of cervical incompetence or short cervix on ultrasound should be offered cerclage to prevent preterm birth and to improve neonatal outcomes. Ultrasound-indicated cerclage after the first trimester indicates that universal cervical-length screening by transvaginal ultrasound in the mid-trimester can pick silent cases, and inserting cerclage can prolong pregnancy to term. Clinical significance: Screening cervical length will help clinicians to reduce preterm birth rate, especially in resource-limited underdeveloped countries

A systematic review of economic evaluations of local authority commissioned preventative public health interventions in overweight and obesity, physical inactivity, alcohol and illicit drugs use and smoking cessation in the United Kingdom

Background Since 2013, local authorities in England have been responsible for commissioning preventative public health interventions. The aim of this systematic review was to support commissioning by collating published data on economic evaluations and modelling of local authority commissioned public health preventative interventions in the UK. Methods Following the PRISMA protocol, we searched for economic evaluations of preventative intervention studies in four different areas: overweight and obesity, physical inactivity, alcohol and illicit drugs use and smoking cessation. The systematic review identified studies between January 1994 and February 2015, using five databases. We synthesized the studies to identify the key methods and examined results of the economic evaluations. Results The majority of the evaluations related to cost-effectiveness, rather than cost-benefit analyses or cost-utility analyses. These analyses found preventative interventions to be cost effective, though the context of the interventions differed between the studies. Conclusions Preventative public health interventions in general are cost-effective. There is a need for further studies to support justification of continued and/or increased funding for public health interventions. There is much variation between the types of economically evaluated preventative interventions in our review. Broader studies incorporating different contexts may help support funding for local authority-sponsored public health initiatives

Developing a quality-of-life measure for autistic children and young people in schools

Aim: To develop a quality-of-life measure to be used by both school staff and autistic children and young people (CYP) in schools, in which public and community involvement (PCIE) is at the heart of the research.  Method: A prevalence questionnaire survey will be conducted with 20 primary and secondary schools across Kent, Surrey, and Sussex (KSS). 10 semi-structured interviews will be conducted with autistic CYP. This will inform development of a quality-of-life measure for autistic CYP. Results: Work so far has included PCIE in the early stages of the project, in which young people, school staff and collaborators have contributed to the study set up and designing study materials. Conclusion: With PCIE included in the planning of the project, the research team is confident that this will be useful further along in the project with dissemination and validating and implementing a quality-of-life measure for autistic CYP in schools

Trends in incidence and social gradient of thyroid cancer in adolescent and young adult females: an analysis of the national cancer registration data in England, 1985-2016

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A Novel Feature-Selection Algorithm in IoT Networks for Intrusion Detection

The Internet of Things (IoT) and network-enabled smart devices are crucial to the digitally interconnected society of the present day. However, the increased reliance on IoT devices increases their susceptibility to malicious activities within network traffic, posing significant challenges to cybersecurity. As a result, both system administrators and end users are negatively affected by these malevolent behaviours. Intrusion-detection systems (IDSs) are commonly deployed as a cyber attack defence mechanism to mitigate such risks. IDS plays a crucial role in identifying and preventing cyber hazards within IoT networks. However, the development of an efficient and rapid IDS system for the detection of cyber attacks remains a challenging area of research. Moreover, IDS datasets contain multiple features, so the implementation of feature selection (FS) is required to design an effective and timely IDS. The FS procedure seeks to eliminate irrelevant and redundant features from large IDS datasets, thereby improving the intrusion-detection system’s overall performance. In this paper, we propose a hybrid wrapper-based feature-selection algorithm that is based on the concepts of the Cellular Automata (CA) engine and Tabu Search (TS)-based aspiration criteria. We used a Random Forest (RF) ensemble learning classifier to evaluate the fitness of the selected features. The proposed algorithm, CAT-S, was tested on the TON_IoT dataset. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm, CAT-S, enhances classification accuracy while simultaneously reducing the number of features and the false positive rate.publishedVersio

P99 Changing epidemiology and age-specific incidence of breast cancer in England, 1985–2018

Background - Although the incidence of breast cancer has been steadily increasing in most countries over the past four decades, there is an indication of stabilisation in some of the Western countries (i.e. France, Italy, Norway, USA) in recent years. We conducted a retrospective population-based cohort study to examine whether there have been changes in the incidence of breast cancer in England during the past four decades. Methods - Individual level data for women diagnosed with breast cancer in England during 1985–2018 were obtained from the Office for National Statistics/Public Health England. Average annual incidence rates were calculated by two age categories (0–49, 50+ years) during the six five-year time periods (1985–89 to 2010–14) and the recent four-year period (2015–18). The percentage change in incidence was calculated as change in the average incidence rate from the first (1985–89) to the last time period (2015–18). Results - During the 34-year study period, a total of 1,218,109 women with breast cancer were registered in England. In women aged 0–49 years, the average annual incidence rates increased by about 50% (from 32.6/100,000 in 1985–89 to 48.8/100,000 in 2015–18); and in women aged 50+ years, the rates increased by 47% (from 241.3/100,000 in 1985–89 to 355.5/100,000 in 2015–18). There was some indication that the rates, particularly in younger women, may be stabilising (or levelling off). With regards to the levels of deprivation, least deprived women were more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer, compared to those who were most deprived (23.0% versus 15.2%). Conclusion - It appears that, like some other western countries, incidence rates of breast cancer in England, particularly among young women, may be stabilising (or levelling off). The relatively increased risk of breast cancer among least deprived women is consistent with that reported from other Western countries