Abilities, disabilities and possibilities: a qualitative study exploring the academic and social experiences of gifted and talented students who have co-occurring learning disabilities

It is estimated that 1-2.5% of the UK school population are gifted and talented students who have co-occurring learning disabilities (National Association for Gifted Children, 2001). Many authors have published recommendations for helping to support this unique group. However, far fewer have supported these with empirical research. The current study used 1:1 interviews with secondary school and university students (N=18) to explore their academic and social experiences. As well as being identified as gifted and talented, the students also had a diagnosis of dyslexia, dyspraxia or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A semi-structured interview schedule was used to ask students about their extra-curricular activities, friendships, bullying, support and future ambitions. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of interview transcripts revealed eight themes: everyday life, extra activities, social development, support, identification, underachievement, mental health issues and suggestions. Students were capable of making friends and mixing with peers but experienced problems with bullying and social isolation. Teachers, mentors, family and technology were found to be helpful, however, support could be inconsistent and parents themselves may benefit from support groups. Finally, some commonly used strategies to help these students were collated and could be useful to help others who share the same or similar experiences

Rank Minimization over Finite Fields: Fundamental Limits and Coding-Theoretic Interpretations

This paper establishes information-theoretic limits in estimating a finite field low-rank matrix given random linear measurements of it. These linear measurements are obtained by taking inner products of the low-rank matrix with random sensing matrices. Necessary and sufficient conditions on the number of measurements required are provided. It is shown that these conditions are sharp and the minimum-rank decoder is asymptotically optimal. The reliability function of this decoder is also derived by appealing to de Caen's lower bound on the probability of a union. The sufficient condition also holds when the sensing matrices are sparse - a scenario that may be amenable to efficient decoding. More precisely, it is shown that if the n\times n-sensing matrices contain, on average, \Omega(nlog n) entries, the number of measurements required is the same as that when the sensing matrices are dense and contain entries drawn uniformly at random from the field. Analogies are drawn between the above results and rank-metric codes in the coding theory literature. In fact, we are also strongly motivated by understanding when minimum rank distance decoding of random rank-metric codes succeeds. To this end, we derive distance properties of equiprobable and sparse rank-metric codes. These distance properties provide a precise geometric interpretation of the fact that the sparse ensemble requires as few measurements as the dense one. Finally, we provide a non-exhaustive procedure to search for the unknown low-rank matrix.Comment: Accepted to the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory; Presented at IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT) 201

Proof of Concept to Clinical Confirmation: Evolving Clinical Trial Designs for Targeted Agents

No single therapy benefits the majority of patients in the practice of oncology as responses differ even among patients with similar tumor types. The variety of response to therapy witnessed while treating our patients supports the concept of personalized medicine using patients' genomic and biologic information and their clinical characteristics to make informed decisions about their treatment. Personalized medicine relies on identification and confirmation of biologic targets and development of agents to target them. These targeted agents tend to focus on subsets of patients and provide improved clinical outcomes. The continued success of personalized medicine will depend on the expedited development of new agents from proof of concept to confirmation of clinical efficacy

A Blended Learning Design to Improve Non-Music Students' Knowledge of Chinese Traditional Music in Hunan Agriculture University

This study is a quasi-experiment research. The aims of the study are to determine if the blended Chinese Traditional Music Appreciation Course using Superstar Learning Application improves the Chinese traditional music knowledge of non-music majors and to explore the students’ opinions towards the use of Superstar Learning Application as a teaching and learning tool in a blended Chinese Traditional Music Appreciation Course. The research site is at Hunan Agriculture University, China, involving freshmen students taking the Chinese Traditional Music Appreciation Course. The study used a mixed methodology design. The Pre-test and post-test were administered to determine the effectiveness of the blended learning course. An in-depth interview was also conducted to explore the opinions of volunteer participants about the blended Chinese Traditional Music Appreciation Course and the application used. Comparison of the pre-test and post-test scores showed that the Chinese traditional music knowledge of non-music major students improved after learning in the blended Chinese Traditional Music Course. Students who volunteered to be interviewed showed positive opinions towards the blended learning course and the Superstar Learning Application as a teaching and learning tool

Bright light therapy as part of a multicomponent management program improves sleep and functional outcomes in delirious older hospitalized adults.

ObjectiveDelirium is associated with poor outcomes following acute hospitalization. A specialized delirium management unit, the Geriatric Monitoring Unit (GMU), was established. Evening bright light therapy (2000-3000 lux; 6-10 pm daily) was added as adjunctive treatment, to consolidate circadian activity rhythms and improve sleep. This study examined whether the GMU program improved sleep, cognitive, and functional outcomes in delirious patients.MethodA total of 228 patients (mean age = 84.2 years) were studied. The clinical characteristics, delirium duration, delirium subtype, Delirium Rating Score (DRS), cognitive status (Chinese Mini-Mental State Examination), functional status (modified Barthel Index [MBI]), and chemical restraint use during the initial and predischarge phase of the patient's GMU admission were obtained. Nurses completed hourly 24-hour patient sleep logs, and from these, the mean total sleep time, number of awakenings, and sleep bouts (SB) were computed.ResultsThe mean delirium duration was 6.7 ± 4.6 days. Analysis of the delirium subtypes showed that 18.4% had hypoactive delirium, 30.2% mixed delirium, and 51.3% had hyperactive delirium. There were significant improvements in MBI scores, especially for the hyperactive and mixed delirium subtypes (P < 0.05). Significant improvements were noted on the DRS sleep-wake disturbance subscore, for all delirium-subtypes. The mean total sleep time (7.7 from 6.4 hours) (P < 0.05) and length of first SB (6.0 compared with 5.3 hours) (P < 0.05) improved, with decreased mean number of SBs and awakenings. The sleep improvements were mainly seen in the hyperactive delirium subtype.ConclusionThis study shows initial evidence for the clinical benefits (longer total sleep time, increased first SB length, and functional gains) of incorporating bright light therapy as part of a multicomponent delirium management program. The benefits appear to have occurred mainly in patients with hyperactive delirium, which merits further in-depth, randomized controlled studies

The use of Communicative Language Learning (CLL) to Teach Speaking at a Taiwanese Elementary School: Implementation and Students’ Responses

Speaking is one of the important skills to master. The importance of learning speaking skills helps people to share their ideas, agreement or disagreement, compliment, and so on to others. Some students feel a lack of practice in learning English because they don't have enough support, including those in Taiwan. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to investigate how Taiwanese teachers apply CLL in speaking activities and the students' responses towards speaking activities which implement CLL at an elementary school in Taiwan. Data for this qualitative study were gathered from semi-structured interviews and reflective journals. The participants were one Taiwanese English teacher and 32 elementary school students. Data from the semi-structured interview were recorded, then transcribed. After that, themes were drawn based on the transcribed interviews. Based on the data, it was found that the Taiwanese English teacher applied CLL to teach the English language. Some activities such as group discussion and Think-Pair-Share were done. These activities were found useful because students could gain more vocabulary, a fun atmosphere created inside the classroom, and better fluency and pronunciation. 

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of clinically extremely vulnerable children and children living with clinically extremely vulnerable people in Wales: a data linkage study

Objectives: To determine whether clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) children or children living with a CEV person in Wales were at greater risk of presenting with anxiety or depression in primary or secondary care during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with children in the general population and to compare patterns of anxiety and depression during the pandemic (23 March 2020–31 January 2021, referred to as 2020/2021) and before the pandemic (23 March 2019–31 January 2020, referred to as 2019/2020), between CEV children and the general population. Design: Population-based cross-sectional cohort study using anonymised, linked, routinely collected health and administrative data held in the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage Databank. CEV individuals were identified using the COVID-19 shielded patient list. Setting: Primary and secondary healthcare settings covering 80% of the population of Wales. Participants: Children aged 2–17 in Wales: CEV (3769); living with a CEV person (20 033); or neither (415 009). Primary outcome measure: First record of anxiety or depression in primary or secondary healthcare in 2019/2020 and 2020/2021, identified using Read and International Classification of Diseases V.10 codes. Results: A Cox regression model adjusted for demographics and history of anxiety or depression revealed that only CEV children were at greater risk of presenting with anxiety or depression during the pandemic compared with the general population (HR=2.27, 95% CI=1.94 to 2.66, p<0.001). Compared with the general population, the risk among CEV children was higher in 2020/2021 (risk ratio 3.04) compared with 2019/2020 (risk ratio 1.90). In 2020/2021, the period prevalence of anxiety or depression increased slightly among CEV children, but declined among the general population. Conclusions: Differences in the period prevalence of recorded anxiety or depression in healthcare between CEV children and the general population were largely driven by a reduction in presentations to healthcare services by children in the general population during the pandemic

UNIC handbook on physical and virtual mobility. Teaching and learning in intercultural settings

This handbook reaches out to university teachers irrespective of their discipline and research fields. It shows the diversity of practice of intercultural teaching which is currently applied in different universities. International Mobility is supposed to increase the quality of teaching and research through the exchange of knowledge, international networking and common research projects. Regarding the involved individuals and organisations, mobility is expected to contribute to an attitude of respect towards the respective cultural values and to develop academic solidarity. Not at least the intercultural learning of mobile and home students and teachers shall be activated. The authors of this Handbook hope to give a taste of international exchange and collaboration in university teaching. The handbook consists of two parts. The first part deals with the shaping of teaching and learning situations in an international and diverse environment, and focuses on didactical reflections. It shall be used to enable teachers in their respective fields to design intercultural learning processes, which contribute to the learning of all – home as well as international exchange students. The first part also gives an impression of different options how universities can advance the internationalisation of higher education. Readers will find basic information, practical hints and examples from the partner universities. Reflective questions and practical hints take the form of bullet points from chapter 2 onwards. The sub-chapters on “Stories from the field” offer concise practical advice on designing internationally oriented teaching to support any such setting. Readers can rummage through stories from the different universities, where practical examples are elaborated. The second part lists information about funding and support programmes by the UNIC partner universities with a focus on teaching staff, with concrete links and contacts at the respective institution. (DIPF/Orig.