Tutor Assisted Browser-based Learning Environment for Students

poster abstractTutor Assisted Browser-based Learning Environment for Students (TABLES) is a collaborative online synchronous learning center for math assistance. Our proposed project is intended to recreate a MATH tutor center which provides guidance and assistance to students on mathematics concepts. The TABLES project will provide online access in a collaborative learning environment (through a "table"), moderated by a tutor, who is expert in a particular subject domain. TABLES is built to help students and teachers interact in real-time, which affords them the opportunity for group learning which is critical in a math learning environment. A combination of tutor-based and peer assisted learning strategies help students consistently engage in the concepts and learn faster. Site Observations have provided us with several insights into this proposed design solution. TABLES must consist a student and tutor interface each of which must be specifically designed to re create the experience of a physical learning center. Through the help of queues, a virtual whiteboard and innovative chat sessions we intend to improve collaboration across the student population and facilitate a more holistic experience for all individuals involved. The virtual whiteboard is intended to provide a range of benefits such as cross collaboration across geographical locations which has been shown to improve learning outcomes. In conclusion this proposed project, TABLES has the potential to create a MATH repository for common problems and solutions that would eventually assist all new incoming students that join the learning center. By leveraging the advantages of online synchronous learning environments we propose to create a scalable, reliable and efficient learning environment which is able to connect a diverse variety of students with individual expert tutors. Acknowledgements. Mathematics Assistance Center [MAC] at IUPUI with the guidance of Dr. Kevin Berkopes who supports this research project work under the COMET lab

Clinical evaluation of Amrita Ghrita Sneha-Pana followed by Pippalyadi Yoga Virechana in the management of Vicharchika (chronic dermatitis)

Background: Vicharchika is a Kapha dominated Tridoshaja Kshudra Kustha (minor skin disease) primarily characterized by eruptions with hyperpigmentation, itching and profuse discharge, but sometimes there may be dryness with itching, marked linings and thickening of the skin. The clinical presentation of Vicharchika is very much similar to that of Chronic Dermatitis or Eczema. The incidence of the disease is high and the relapsing nature of the disease makes it difficult to cure. Though many treatment modalities are there but in many of the cases the outcome is not satisfactory and long-term conventional treatment increases the chance of drug induced complications. So, in search of an effective, safe and affordable treatment modality the present study was carried-out. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of Amrita Ghrita Sneha-pana followed by Pippalyadi Yoga Virecana in the management of Vicarcika (chronic dermatitis). Materials and Methods: An open level clinical trial with pre-test and post test design were carried out where 30 patients suffering from Vicharchika were registered and were treated with Amrita Ghrita Sneha-pana followed by Virechana with Pippalyadi Yoga. Follow-up was done for 60 days. Assessment was done on 0-day, 15th day, 30th day and 60th day based on the symptoms and standard assessment tool specially designed for Chronic Dermatitis (Eczema). Appropriate statistical methods were used to analyse data. Result: Statistically significant improvement was observed in the symptoms of the disease. Conclusion: Amrita Ghrita Snehapana followed by Pippalyadi Yoga Virecana is found to be effective in the management of Vicharchika

Meta-analysis of the incidence and patterns of second neoplasms after photon craniospinal irradiation in children with medulloblastoma.

BACKGROUND: Second neoplasms (SNs) are a well-established long-term adverse effect of radiation therapy (RT), but there are limited data regarding their incidence and location relative to the radiation field, specific to medulloblastoma (MB) survivors after craniospinal irradiation (CSI). METHODS: A systematic literature review, per Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, identified six studies reporting the incidence and locations of SNs for 1,114 patients with MB, after CSI, with a median follow-up of ∼9 years (7.6-15.4 years). The study-specific cumulative incidence (CI) of SNs, second benign neoplasms (SBNs), and second malignant neoplasms (SMNs) were standardized to a 10-year time frame. Meta-analysis was performed using random effects models, with pooled data from selected studies and an institutional cohort of 55 patients. RESULTS: The 10-year CI was 6.1% for all SNs (excluding skin cancer and leukemia), 3.1% for SBNs, and 3.7% for SMNs. Fifty-eight percent of SNs were malignant; high-grade glioma was the most common SMN (15/33; 45%) and meningioma, the most common SBN (16/24; 67%). Forty percent of SNs occurred outside the target central nervous system (CNS) field, with a majority in areas of exit RT dose. Seventy-four percent of extra-CNS tumors (17/23) were malignant, most commonly thyroid carcinoma (7/17; 41%) and bone and soft-tissue tumors (6/17, 35%). CONCLUSIONS: Survivors of MB are at risk of SNs both within and outside the CNS. A significant proportion of SNs occur in areas of exit RT dose. Studies are needed to determine whether the use of proton therapy, which has no exit RT dose, is associated with a lower incidence of SNs

ViTaL: An Advanced Framework for Automated Plant Disease Identification in Leaf Images Using Vision Transformers and Linear Projection For Feature Reduction

Our paper introduces a robust framework for the automated identification of diseases in plant leaf images. The framework incorporates several key stages to enhance disease recognition accuracy. In the pre-processing phase, a thumbnail resizing technique is employed to resize images, minimizing the loss of critical image details while ensuring computational efficiency. Normalization procedures are applied to standardize image data before feature extraction. Feature extraction is facilitated through a novel framework built upon Vision Transformers, a state-of-the-art approach in image analysis. Additionally, alternative versions of the framework with an added layer of linear projection and blockwise linear projections are explored. This comparative analysis allows for the evaluation of the impact of linear projection on feature extraction and overall model performance. To assess the effectiveness of the proposed framework, various Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architectures are utilized, enabling a comprehensive evaluation of linear projection's influence on key evaluation metrics. The findings demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed framework, with the top-performing model achieving a Hamming loss of 0.054. Furthermore, we propose a novel hardware design specifically tailored for scanning diseased leaves in an omnidirectional fashion. The hardware implementation utilizes a Raspberry Pi Compute Module to address low-memory configurations, ensuring practicality and affordability. This innovative hardware solution enhances the overall feasibility and accessibility of the proposed automated disease identification system. This research contributes to the field of agriculture by offering valuable insights and tools for the early detection and management of plant diseases, potentially leading to improved crop yields and enhanced food security.Comment: Accepted and scheduled for presentation at CML 2024, this work will be published as a book chapter in Lecture Notes in Networks and System

Tele-Neurorehabilitation During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Practice in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

The importance of neurorehabilitation services for people with disabilities is getting well-recognized in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) recently. However, accessibility to the same has remained the most significant challenge, in these contexts. This is especially because of the non-availability of trained specialists and the availability of neurorehabilitation centers only in urban cities owned predominantly by private healthcare organizations. In the current COVID-19 pandemic, the members of the Task Force for research at the Indian Federation of Neurorehabilitation (IFNR) reviewed the context for tele-neurorehabilitation (TNR) and have provided the contemporary implications for practicing TNR during COVID-19 for people with neurological disabilities (PWNDs) in LMICs. Neurorehabilitation is a science that is driven by rigorous research-based evidence. The current pandemic implies the need for systematically developed TNR interventions that is evaluated for its feasibility and acceptability and that is informed by available evidence from LMICs. Given the lack of organized systems in place for the provision of neurorehabilitation services in general, there needs to be sufficient budgetary allocations and a sector-wide approach to developing policies and systems for the provision of TNR services for PWNDs. The pandemic situation provides an opportunity to optimize the technological innovations in health and scale up these innovations to meet the growing burden of neurological disability in LMICs. Thus, this immense opportunity must be tapped to build capacity for safe and effective TNR services provision for PWNDs in these settings

Global, regional, and national under-5 mortality, adult mortality, age-specific mortality, and life expectancy, 1970–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

BACKGROUND: Detailed assessments of mortality patterns, particularly age-specific mortality, represent a crucial input that enables health systems to target interventions to specific populations. Understanding how all-cause mortality has changed with respect to development status can identify exemplars for best practice. To accomplish this, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) estimated age-specific and sex-specific all-cause mortality between 1970 and 2016 for 195 countries and territories and at the subnational level for the five countries with a population greater than 200 million in 2016. METHODS: We have evaluated how well civil registration systems captured deaths using a set of demographic methods called death distribution methods for adults and from consideration of survey and census data for children younger than 5 years. We generated an overall assessment of completeness of registration of deaths by dividing registered deaths in each location-year by our estimate of all-age deaths generated from our overall estimation process. For 163 locations, including subnational units in countries with a population greater than 200 million with complete vital registration (VR) systems, our estimates were largely driven by the observed data, with corrections for small fluctuations in numbers and estimation for recent years where there were lags in data reporting (lags were variable by location, generally between 1 year and 6 years). For other locations, we took advantage of different data sources available to measure under-5 mortality rates (U5MR) using complete birth histories, summary birth histories, and incomplete VR with adjustments; we measured adult mortality rate (the probability of death in individuals aged 15-60 years) using adjusted incomplete VR, sibling histories, and household death recall. We used the U5MR and adult mortality rate, together with crude death rate due to HIV in the GBD model life table system, to estimate age-specific and sex-specific death rates for each location-year. Using various international databases, we identified fatal discontinuities, which we defined as increases in the death rate of more than one death per million, resulting from conflict and terrorism, natural disasters, major transport or technological accidents, and a subset of epidemic infectious diseases; these were added to estimates in the relevant years. In 47 countries with an identified peak adult prevalence for HIV/AIDS of more than 0·5% and where VR systems were less than 65% complete, we informed our estimates of age-sex-specific mortality using the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP)-Spectrum model fitted to national HIV/AIDS prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance systems. We estimated stillbirths, early neonatal, late neonatal, and childhood mortality using both survey and VR data in spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression models. We estimated abridged life tables for all location-years using age-specific death rates. We grouped locations into development quintiles based on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and analysed mortality trends by quintile. Using spline regression, we estimated the expected mortality rate for each age-sex group as a function of SDI. We identified countries with higher life expectancy than expected by comparing observed life expectancy to anticipated life expectancy on the basis of development status alone. FINDINGS: Completeness in the registration of deaths increased from 28% in 1970 to a peak of 45% in 2013; completeness was lower after 2013 because of lags in reporting. Total deaths in children younger than 5 years decreased from 1970 to 2016, and slower decreases occurred at ages 5-24 years. By contrast, numbers of adult deaths increased in each 5-year age bracket above the age of 25 years. The distribution of annualised rates of change in age-specific mortality rate differed over the period 2000 to 2016 compared with earlier decades: increasing annualised rates of change were less frequent, although rising annualised rates of change still occurred in some locations, particularly for adolescent and younger adult age groups. Rates of stillbirths and under-5 mortality both decreased globally from 1970. Evidence for global convergence of death rates was mixed; although the absolute difference between age-standardised death rates narrowed between countries at the lowest and highest levels of SDI, the ratio of these death rates-a measure of relative inequality-increased slightly. There was a strong shift between 1970 and 2016 toward higher life expectancy, most noticeably at higher levels of SDI. Among countries with populations greater than 1 million in 2016, life expectancy at birth was highest for women in Japan, at 86·9 years (95% UI 86·7-87·2), and for men in Singapore, at 81·3 years (78·8-83·7) in 2016. Male life expectancy was generally lower than female life expectancy between 1970 and 2016, an

Global, regional, and national disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 333 diseases and injuries and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

BACKGROUND: Measurement of changes in health across locations is useful to compare and contrast changing epidemiological patterns against health system performance and identify specific needs for resource allocation in research, policy development, and programme decision making. Using the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016, we drew from two widely used summary measures to monitor such changes in population health: disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) and healthy life expectancy (HALE). We used these measures to track trends and benchmark progress compared with expected trends on the basis of the Socio-demographic Index (SDI). METHODS: We used results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 for all-cause mortality, cause-specific mortality, and non-fatal disease burden to derive HALE and DALYs by sex for 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2016. We calculated DALYs by summing years of life lost and years of life lived with disability for each location, age group, sex, and year. We estimated HALE using age-specific death rates and years of life lived with disability per capita. We explored how DALYs and HALE differed from expected trends when compared with the SDI: the geometric mean of income per person, educational attainment in the population older than age 15 years, and total fertility rate. FINDINGS: The highest globally observed HALE at birth for both women and men was in Singapore, at 75·2 years (95% uncertainty interval 71·9-78·6) for females and 72·0 years (68·8-75·1) for males. The lowest for females was in the Central African Republic (45·6 years [42·0-49·5]) and for males was in Lesotho (41·5 years [39·0-44·0]). From 1990 to 2016, global HALE increased by an average of 6·24 years (5·97-6·48) for both sexes combined. Global HALE increased by 6·04 years (5·74-6·27) for males and 6·49 years (6·08-6·77) for females, whereas HALE at age 65 years increased by 1·78 years (1·61-1·93) for males and 1·96 years (1·69-2·13) for females. Total global DALYs remained largely unchanged from 1990 to 2016 (-2·3% [-5·9 to 0·9]), with decreases in communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional (CMNN) disease DALYs offset by increased DALYs due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The exemplars, calculated as the five lowest ratios of observed to expected age-standardised DALY rates in 2016, were Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Maldives, Peru, and Israel. The leading three causes of DALYs globally were ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and lower respiratory infections, comprising 16·1% of all DALYs. Total DALYs and age-standardised DALY rates due to most CMNN causes decreased from 1990 to 2016. Conversely, the total DALY burden rose for most NCDs; however, age-standardised DALY rates due to NCDs declined globally. INTERPRETATION: At a global level, DALYs and HALE continue to show improvements. At the same time, we observe that many populations are facing growing functional health loss. Rising SDI was associated with increases in cumulative years of life lived with disability and decreases in CMNN DALYs offset by increased NCD DALYs. Relative compression of morbidity highlights the importance of continued health interventions, which has changed in most locations in pace with the gross domestic product per person, education, and family planning. The analysis of DALYs and HALE and their relationship to SDI represents a robust framework with which to benchmark location-specific health performance. Country-specific drivers of disease burden, particularly for causes with higher-than-expected DALYs, should inform health policies, health system improvement initiatives, targeted prevention efforts, and development assistance for health, including financial and research investments for all countries, regardless of their level of sociodemographic development. The presence of countries that substantially outperform others suggests the need for increased scrutiny for proven examples of best practices, which can help to extend gains, whereas the presence of underperforming countries suggests the need for devotion of extra attention to health systems that need more robust support. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation