JointZone: users' view of an adaptive online learning resource for rheumatology

This paper describes an online learning resource for rheumatology that was designed for a wide constituency of users including primarily undergraduate medical students and health professionals. Although the online resources afford an informal learning environment, the site was pedagogically designed to comply with the general recommendations of the Standing Committee on Training and Education of EULAR (European League Against Rheumatism) for a rheumatology core curriculum. Any Internet user may freely browse the site content with optional registration providing access to adaptive features that personalize the user’s view, for example, providing a reading history and targeted support based on scores from completed case studies. The site has now been available since early 2003, and an online survey of site registrants indicates that well structured pedagogical materials that reflect a learners’ dominant ‘community of practice’ appear to be a successful aid to informal learning

The Application and Evaluation of Adaptive Hypermedia Techniques in Web-based Medical Education

This article discusses the design issues involved in delivering web-based learning materials. An existing application in the medical domain – JointZone - is used to illustrate how personalization and an interactive environment can be incorporated into web-based learning. This work applies the combination of an adaptive hypermedia, situated learning approach, and hypermedia linking concepts to facilitate online learning. A usability study was carried out on the work described and an evaluation was undertaken to measure the effect of personalization on various learning factors. The evaluation outcome was analyzed subjectively and objectively. The results proved to be contradictory but nevertheless, the work gives new insights into the use of technology to support learning

Understanding General Activity Motivation for Persons with Stroke—A Reversal Theory Perspective

Introduction: Motivation is the barrier identified for clients with stroke to reintegrate community living. Reversal Therapy may help to understand the pattern of bipolar variations of motivational factors. This study analyzed the general activity motivation of clients with stroke and their relationship with community participation and mental wellbeing. Methodology: Sampling of 115 subjects including 30 stroke clients and 85 normal subjects. Measurements included the validated Chinese version of General Activity Motivation Measure (GAMM), Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ) & Short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS). Results: In GAMM, the normal group scores (Mean 50.09 SD 5.79) higher then clients with stroke (Mean 46.09; SD 8.00) (p < 0.05). GAMM correlated positively with CIQ and SWEMWBS (p < 0.05). Four factors identified under GAMM namely Means-end, Relationship, Rules and Transactions that identified with Reversal Theory. Reversals between poles of each domain evidenced between two groups. “Acquiring new experiences” was strong predictor for community integration. Conclusion: Reversal Theory is useful to explain motivational changes among clients with stroke. To develop chances of “new experiences”, “feel accomplishment every day”, “get out of house regularly” and “to do the things that they can enjoy” at “their own pace” are the motivators for reintegrate into community living

Low threshold linear cavity mode-locked fiber laser using microfiber-based carbon nanotube saturable absorber

In this work, we demonstrate a linear cavity mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser in C-band wavelength region. The passive mode-locking is achieved using a microfiber-based carbon nanotube saturable absorber. The carbon nanotube saturable absorber has low saturation fluence of 0.98 µJ/cm2. Together with the linear cavity architecture, the fiber laser starts to produce soliton pulses at low pump power of 22.6 mW. The proposed fiber laser generates fundamental soliton pulses with a center wavelength, pulse width, and repetition rate of 1557.1 nm, 820 fs, and 5.41 MHz, respectively. This mode-locked laser scheme presents a viable option in the development of low threshold ultrashort pulse system for deployment as a seed laser

Effects of perceived social isolation, fear of social isolation and gratitude during COVID-19 pandemic on anxiety in Malaysia

YesMany governments including Malaysia imposed movement restrictions as public health measure to minimize COVID-19 (coronavirus) risks. Due to prolonged isolation, poorer physical and mental health is expected in the general population. Our aims were to examine (1) the mediating role of perceived social isolation (SI) and fear of social isolation (FSI) on the relationship between gratitude and anxiety, and (2) to explore the moderating role of age, education and socioeconomic status (SES) on the mediation model. A total of 427 participants currently living in Malaysia (Mage = 37.90, SD = 16.51, 313 females) completed a survey on isolation, gratitude and anxiety during a period of national lockdown. Results showed that that those with higher gratitude reported having less SI and FSI and less anxiety (Model 1). In Model 2 with age as moderator, young adults (YA) and middle-aged adults (MA) who had higher gratitude experienced lower SI and in turn had lowered anxiety, but such mediating role of SI was not observed among older adults (OA). As for FSI, MA who had higher gratitude had lower FSI and also lower anxiety but this relationship was not observed in YA or OA. We also examined the role of education and SES as moderators in the parallel mediation analysis. Results showed that the indirect association of gratitude with anxiety via FI and FSI was moderated by both education and SES. Specifically, among those with low education levels (regardless of SES), those with higher gratitude had lower SI and FSI which in turn reduced anxiety. This relationship is similar for those with medium level of education and from low and middle level of SES as well. Our findings highlight the importance of having some coping mechanism e.g., gratitude and social connection during the pandemic to have higher wellbeing and quality of life, especially for MA sample and people from low education and SES background.This work was supported by Newton Fund Institutional Links grant ID: 331745333, under Newton-Ungku Omar Fund partnership to MHY. The grant is funded by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) and delivered by the British Council. For further information, please visit www.newtonfund.ac.uk . The Newton Fund played no role in the planning and conceptualization of the manuscript, did not participate in the writing of the manuscript, and played no role in the decision to submit the manuscript

Resonant tunneling through ultrasmall quantum dots: zero-bias anomalies, magnetic field dependence, and boson-assisted transport

We study resonant tunneling through a single-level quantum dot in the presence of strong Coulomb repulsion beyond the perturbative regime. The level is either spin-degenerate or can be split by a magnetic field. We, furthermore, discuss the influence of a bosonic environment. Using a real-time diagrammatic formulation we calculate transition rates, the spectral density and the nonlinear $I-V$ characteristic. The spectral density shows a multiplet of Kondo peaks split by the transport voltage and the boson frequencies, and shifted by the magnetic field. This leads to zero-bias anomalies in the differential conductance, which agree well with recent experimental results for the electron transport through single-charge traps. Furthermore, we predict that the sign of the zero-bias anomaly depends on the level position relative to the Fermi level of the leads.Comment: 27 pages, latex, 21 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Reliability and Validity of the Monitored Functional Task Evaluation (MFTE) for Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

This article describes the development of a new functional measure — the Monitored Functional Task Evaluation (MFTE) — a symptom-limited evaluation that is used to measure the functional performance of an individual with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and to document a client's physiological changes through repeated testing. Stage I of the study included developing the content validity of the instrument. Stage II consisted of establishing the performance profile, test-retest and inter-rater reliability using a convenience sample of 27 inpatients and outpatients who had COPD. In stage III, the criterion-related and discriminative validity of the instrument was verified in a retrospective sample of 124 inpatients and day patients who had COPD. Results indicated that there was high intra- and inter-rater reliability for the total score of MFTE. Significant correlation of the MFTE was found with parameters such as Moser's Activities of Daily Living (ADL) class, COPD disability class, 6-minute walking distance, work capacity in terms the ratio of the metabolic rate associated with a given activity to the resting metabolic rate, and the fatigue dimension of the Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire. In addition, prediction of group membership to Moser's ADL class revealed that 52.4% of the original grouped cases could be correctly classified by the MFTE alone. In conclusion, the MFTE is a useful measure to evaluate functional performance as well as document physiological changes in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD from both conceptual and empirical perspectives

Dynamical 1/N approach to time-dependent currents through quantum dots

A systematic truncation of the many-body Hilbert space is implemented to study how electrons in a quantum dot attached to conducting leads respond to time-dependent biases. The method, which we call the dynamical 1/N approach, is first tested in the most unfavorable case, the case of spinless fermions (N=1). We recover the expected behavior, including transient ringing of the current in response to an abrupt change of bias. We then apply the approach to the physical case of spinning electrons, N=2, in the Kondo regime for the case of infinite intradot Coulomb repulsion. In agreement with previous calculations based on the non-crossing approximation (NCA), we find current oscillations associated with transitions between Kondo resonances situated at the Fermi levels of each lead. We show that this behavior persists for a more realistic model of semiconducting quantum dots in which the Coulomb repulsion is finite.Comment: 18 pages, 7 eps figures, discussion extended for spinless electrons and typo

Resonance Kondo Tunneling through a Double Quantum Dot at Finite Bias

It is shown that the resonance Kondo tunneling through a double quantum dot (DQD) with even occupation and singlet ground state may arise at a strong bias, which compensates the energy of singlet/triplet excitation. Using the renormalization group technique we derive scaling equations and calculate the differential conductance as a function of an auxiliary dc-bias for parallel DQD described by SO(4) symmetry. We analyze the decoherence effects associated with the triplet/singlet relaxation in DQD and discuss the shape of differential conductance line as a function of dc-bias and temperature.Comment: 11 pages, 6 eps figures include

PTPα regulates integrin-stimulated FAK autophosphorylation and cytoskeletal rearrangement in cell spreading and migration

We investigated the molecular and cellular actions of receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) α in integrin signaling using immortalized fibroblasts derived from wild-type and PTPα-deficient mouse embryos. Defects in PTPα−/− migration in a wound healing assay were associated with altered cell shape and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) phosphorylation. The reduced haptotaxis to fibronectin (FN) of PTPα−/− cells was increased by expression of active (but not inactive) PTPα. Integrin-mediated formation of src–FAK and fyn–FAK complexes was reduced or abolished in PTPα−/− cells on FN, concomitant with markedly reduced phosphorylation of FAK at Tyr397. Reintroduction of active (but not inactive) PTPα restored FAK Tyr-397 phosphorylation. FN-induced cytoskeletal rearrangement was retarded in PTPα−/− cells, with delayed filamentous actin stress fiber assembly and focal adhesion formation. This mimicked the effects of treating wild-type fibroblasts with the src family protein tyrosine kinase (Src-PTK) inhibitor PP2. These results, together with the reduced src/fyn tyrosine kinase activity in PTPα−/− fibroblasts (Ponniah et al., 1999; Su et al., 1999), suggest that PTPα functions in integrin signaling and cell migration as an Src-PTK activator. Our paper establishes that PTPα is required for early integrin-proximal events, acting upstream of FAK to affect the timely and efficient phosphorylation of FAK Tyr-397