Search results for: oral language competence

Authors: Bersufekad Wubie

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Introduction: Near visual impairment is presenting near visual acuity of the eye worse than N6 at a 40 cm distance. Teachers' regular duties, such as reading books, writing on the blackboard, and recognizing students' faces, need good near vision. If a teacher has near-visual impairment, the work output is unsatisfactory. Objective: The study was aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors near vision impairment among school teachers at Gondar city Northwest Ethiopia, August 2022. Methods: To select 567 teachers in Gondar city schools, an institutional-based cross-sectional study design with a multistage sampling technique were used. The study was conducted in selected schools from May 1 to May 30, 2022. Trained data collectors used well-structured Amharic and English language questionnaires and ophthalmic instruments for examination. The collected data were checked for completeness and entered into Epi data version 4.6, then exported to SPSS version 26 for further analysis. A binary and multivariate logistic regression model was fitted. And associated factors of the outcome variable. Result: The prevalence of near visual impairment was 64.6%, with a confidence interval of 60.3%–68.4%. Near visual impairment was significantly associated with age >= 35 years (AOR: 4.90 at 95% CI: 3.15, 7.65), having prolonged years of teaching experience (AOR: 3.29 at 95% CI: 1.70, 4.62), having a history of ocular surgery (AOR: 1.96 at 95% CI: 1.10, 4.62), smokers (AOR: 2.21 at 95% CI: 1.22, 4.07), history of ocular trauma (AOR : 1.80 at 95%CI:1.11,3.18 and uncorrected refractive error (AOR:2.01 at 95%CI:1.13,4.03). Conclusion and recommendations: This study showed the prevalence of near vision impairment among school teachers was high, and it is not a problem of the presbyopia age group alone; it also happens at a young age. So teachers' ocular health should be well accommodated in the school's eye health.

Keywords: Gondar, near visual impairment, school, teachers

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Authors: Putri Mentari Racharjo

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The development of current technology is simplifying globalization process. An easier globalization process and mobilization are increasing interactions among individuals and societies in different countries. It is also easier for foreign culture to enter a country and create changes to the society. Differences brought by foreign culture will most likely affect any society. It will be easier for heterogeneous society to accept new culture, considering that they have various cultures, and they are used to differences. So it will be easier for a heterogeneous society to accept new culture as long as the culture is not contrary to their essential values. However for a homogenous society, where they have only one language and culture, it will take a longer adjustment time to fully accept the new culture. There will be a tendency for homogenous societies to react in a more negative way to new culture. Greece and South Korea are the examples for homogeneous societies. Greece, a destination country for immigrants, is having a hard time adjusting themselves to accept many immigrants with many cultures. There are various discrimination cases of immigrants in Greece, when the Greek society cannot fully accept the new culture brought by immigrants. South Korea, a newly popular country with K-pop and K-dramas, is attracting people from all over the world to come to South Korea. However a homogenous South Korean society is also having a hard time to fully accept foreign cultures, resulting in many discrimination cases based on race and culture in South Korea. With a qualitative method through a case study and literature review, this article will discuss about Greek and South Korean societies reaction to new cultures as an effect of globalization.

Keywords: foreign culture, globalization, greece, homogenous society, South Korea

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Authors: Vishwanath Pethri Kamath, Jayantha Gowda Sarapanahalli, Vishal Mishra, Siddhesh Balwant Bandgar

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Recognition of emotional information is essential in any form of communication. Growing HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) in recent times indicates the importance of understanding of emotions expressed and becomes crucial for improving the system or the interaction itself. In this research work, textual data for emotion recognition is used. The text being the least expressive amongst the multimodal resources poses various challenges such as contextual information and also sequential nature of the language construction. In this research work, the proposal is made for a neural architecture to resolve not less than 8 emotions from textual data sources derived from multiple datasets using google pre-trained word2vec word embeddings and a Multi-head attention-based bidirectional LSTM model with a one-vs-all Multi-Level Classification. The emotions targeted in this research are Anger, Disgust, Fear, Guilt, Joy, Sadness, Shame, and Surprise. Textual data from multiple datasets were used for this research work such as ISEAR, Go Emotions, Affect datasets for creating the emotions’ dataset. Data samples overlap or conflicts were considered with careful preprocessing. Our results show a significant improvement with the modeling architecture and as good as 10 points improvement in recognizing some emotions.

Keywords: text emotion recognition, bidirectional LSTM, multi-head attention, multi-level classification, google word2vec word embeddings

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Authors: Júlia Alarcon Pinto, Carlos João Schaffhausser, Gustavo Alarcon Pinto

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Introduction: The deaf people in Brazil communicate through the Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS), which is restricted to this minority and people that received training. However, there is a lack of prepared professionals in the health system to deal with these patients. Therefore, effective communication, health education, quality of support and assistance are compromised. It is of utmost importance to develop measures that ensure the inclusion of deaf parents and children since there are frequent doubts about sphincter training and an absence of tools to promote effective communication between doctors and their patients. Objective: Use of an efficient, rapid and cheap communication method to promote social inclusion and patient education of deaf parents and children during pediatrics appointments. Results; The application demonstrates how to express phrases and symptoms within seconds and this allows patients to fully understand the information provided during the appointment and are capable to evaluate the signs of readiness, learn the correct approaches with the child, what are the adequate instruments, possible obstacles and the importance to execute medical orientations in order to achieve success in the process. Consequently, patients feel more satisfied, secured and embraced by professionals in the health system care. Conclusion: It is of utmost importance to use efficient and cheap methods that support patient care and education in order to promote health and social inclusion.

Keywords: application, deaf patients, social inclusion, sphincter training

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Authors: Geena Kim

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The Romantic movements in Spain and Germany served as turning points in European literary history, advancing cognitive-emotional ideals of the essential unity between literature, life, and the natural world in reaction against the rising tide of mechanization, urban growth, and industrial progress. This paper offers a comparative study of the literary-theoretic underpinnings of the Romantic movements in Spain and Germany, particularly with regard to the reception history of Schlegel’s Romantic philosophy of history. By far one of the better-known figures of the period, Schlegel has traditionally been considered one of the principal theorists of German Romanticism, one of the first to embrace and acknowledge the more radical changes that the movement brought forth. His well-studied contributions to the German Romanticism were certainly significant domestically, but their impact on comparatively less industrialized Spain have been largely neglected, a puzzling oversight in light of Schlegel’s extensive efforts in advocating for the dissemination of Spanish literature under the guise of a kind of pan-European Romanticism. Indeed, Schlegel’s somewhat problematically exoticizing view of Spain as the quintessential embodiment of the spirit of Romanticism was itself enormously influential on the genesis and growth of the Spanish Romantic theory. This was especially significant considering earlier, pre-Romantic tropes of the ‘black legend,’ by which means Spain was demonized with even cruder essentializing, nationalistic language. By comparing Schlegel’s theorizing around Spain with contributions to Romantic theory by Hispanophone writers, this paper sheds light on questions of linguistic identity and national influence from two alas infrequently compared contexts of European Romanticism.

Keywords: schlegel, Spanish romantic theory, German romanticism, romantic philosophy

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Authors: Sadeq Al Yaari, Fayza Alhammadi, Ayman Al Yaari, Montaha Al Yaari, Aayah Al Yaari, Adham Al Yaari, Sajedah Al Yaari, Saleh Al Yami

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Background: There has been a debate in the literature over the years as to whether or not MossTalk Words program fits Arab Broca’s aphasics (BAs) due to that language differences and also the fact that the technique has not yet been used for aphasics with semantic dementia (SD aphasics). Aims: To oversimplify the above mentioned debate slightly for purposes of exposition, the purpose of the present study is to investigate the “usability” of this program as well as pictures and community as therapeutic techniques for both Arab BAs and SD aphasics. Method: The subjects of this study are two Saudi aphasics (53 and 57 years old, respectively). The former suffers from Broca’s aphasia due to a stroke, while the latter suffers from semantic dementia. Both aphasics can speak English and have used the Moss Talk Words program in addition to intensive picture-naming therapeutic sessions for two years. They were tested by one of the researchers four times (a time per six months). The families of the two subjects, in addition to their relatives and friends, played a major part in all therapeutic sessions. Conclusion: Results show that in averages across the entire therapeutic sessions, MossTalk Words program was clearly found more effective in modeling BAs’ pronunciation than that of SD aphasic. Furthermore, picture-naming intensive exercises in addition to the positive role of the community members played a major role in the progress of the two subjects’ performance.

Keywords: moss talk words, program, technique, Broca’s aphasia, semantic dementia, subjects, picture, community

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Authors: Farhat Jabeen, Syed Asfaq Hussain Bukhari

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In the wake of the contemporary period the basic objective of the research paper points out that socio-cultural scenario of Pakistan reveals that gender-based violence is deep rooted in the society irrespective of language and ethnicity. This paper would reconnaissance the possibility reforms in Pakistan for diminishing of violence. Women are not given their due role, rights, and respect. Furthermore, they are treated as chattels. This presentation will cover the socio-customary practices in the context of discrimination, stigmatization, and violence against women. This paper envisages justice in a broader sense of recognition of rights for women, and masculine structure of society, socio-customary practices and discrimination against women are a very serious concern which needs to be understood as a multidimensional problem. The paper will specially focus on understanding the existing obstacles of women in Pakistan in the constitutional scenario. Women stumble across discrimination and human rights manipulations, voluptuous violation and manipulation including domestic viciousness and are disadvantaged by laws, strategies, and programming that do not take their concerns into considerations. This presentation examines the role of honour killings among Pakistani community. This affects their self-assurance and capability to elevation integrity campaign where gender inequalities and discrimination in social, legal domain are to be put right. This paper brings to light the range of practices, laws and legal justice regarding the status of women and also covers attitude towards compensations for murders/killings, domestic violence, rape, adultery, social behavior and recourse to justice.

Keywords: discrimination, cultural, women, violence

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Authors: Marvin Chibuzo Offiah, Susanne Rosenthal, Markus Borschbach

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Certain research projects in Computer Science often involve research on existing signal processing algorithms and developing improvements on them. Research budgets are usually limited, hence there is limited time for implementing the algorithms from scratch. It is therefore common practice, to use implementations provided by other researchers as a template. These are most commonly provided in a rapid development, i.e. 4th generation, programming language, usually Matlab. Rapid development is a common method in Computer Science research for quickly implementing and testing new developed algorithms, which is also a common task within agile project organization. The growing relevance of mobile devices in the computer market also gives rise to the need to demonstrate the successful executability and performance measurement of these algorithms on a mobile device operating system and processor, particularly on a smartphone. Open mobile systems such as Android, are most suitable for this task, which is to be performed most efficiently. Furthermore, efficiently implementing an interaction between the algorithm and a graphical user interface (GUI) that runs exclusively on the mobile device is necessary in cases where the project’s goal statement also includes such a task. This paper examines different proposed solutions for porting computer algorithms obtained through rapid development into a GUI-based smartphone Android app and evaluates their feasibilities. Accordingly, the feasible methods are tested and a short success report is given for each tested method.

Keywords: SMARTNAVI, Smartphone, App, Programming languages, Rapid Development, MATLAB, Octave, C/C++, Java, Android, NDK, SDK, Linux, Ubuntu, Emulation, GUI

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Authors: Lito M. Amit, Venecio U. Ultra, Young Woong Song

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The purpose of this study was to document the prevalence and types of work-related health and safety problems among Filipino migrant workers and the link between their migration status and occupational health and safety (OHS) problems. We conducted a survey among 116 Filipino migrant workers who were both legal and undocumented. To assess the various forms of occupational health problems, we utilized the Korean occupational stress scale (KOSS), Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire (NMQ) and a validated health and safety questionnaire. A focus group discussion (FGD) was also conducted to record relevant information that was limited by the questionnaires. Descriptive data were presented in frequency with percentages, mean, and standard deviation. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate the degree of association between variables (p < 0.05). Among the eight subscales of KOSS, inadequate social support (2.48), organizational injustice (2.57), and lack of reward (2.52) were experienced by workers. There was a 44.83% prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders with arm/elbow having the highest rate, followed by shoulder and low back regions. Inadequate social support and discomfort in organizational climate and overall MSDs prevalence showed significant relationships with migration status (p < 0.05). There was a positive association between migration status and seven items under language and communication. A positive association was seen between migration status and some of the OHS problems of Filipino migrant workers in Korea. Undocumented workers in this study were seen to be more vulnerable to those stressors compared to those employed legally.

Keywords: Filipino workers, migration status, occupational health and safety, undocumented workers

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Authors: Natalia Naoumova

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Facing changes and continuous growth of the contemporary cities, along with the globalization effects that accelerate cultural dissolution, the maintenance of cultural authenticity, which is implicit in historical areas as a part of cultural diversity, can be considered one of the key elements of a sustainable society. This article focuses on the polychromy of buildings in a historical context as an important feature of urban settings. It analyses the coloring of Brazilian urban heritage, characterized by the study of historical districts in Pelotas and Piratini, located in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The objective is to reveal the coloring characteristics of different historical periods, determine the chromatic typologies of the corresponding building styles, and clarify the connection between the historical chromatic aspects and their relationship with the contemporary urban identity. Architectural style data were collected by different techniques such as stratigraphic prospects of buildings, survey of historical records and descriptions, analysis of images and study of projects with colored facades kept in historical archives. Three groups of characteristics were considered in searching for working criteria in the formation of chromatic model typologies: 1) coloring palette; 2) morphology of the facade, and 3) their relationship. The performed analysis shows the formation of the urban chromatic image of the historical center as a continuous and dynamic process with the development of constant chromatic resources. It establishes that the changes in the formal language of subsequent historical periods lead to the changes in the chromatic schemes, providing a different reading of the facades both in terms of formal interpretation and symbolic meaning.

Keywords: building style, historic colors, urban heritage, urban polychromy

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Authors: María Rosa Mucci

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Tzvetan Todorov (1971) designs a model of narrative transformation where the plot is constituted by difference and resemblance. This binary opposition is a synthesis of a central figure within narrative discourse: metaphor. Narrative operates as a metaphor since it combines different actions through similarities within a common plot. However, it sounds paradoxical that metonymy and not metaphor should be the key figure within the narrative. It is a metonymy that keeps the movement of actions within the story through syntagmatic relations. By the same token, this articulation of verbs makes it possible for the reader to engage in a dynamic interaction with the text, responding to the plot and mediating meanings with the contradictory external world. As Roland Barthes (1957) points out, there are two codes that are irreversible within the process: the codes of actions and the codes of enigmas. Virginia Woolf constructs her plots through a process of symbolism; a scene is always enduring, not only because it stands for something else but also because it connotes it. The reader is forced to elaborate the meaning at a mythological level beyond the lines. In this research, we follow a qualitative content analysis to code language through the proairetic (actions) and hermeneutic (enigmas) codes in terms of Barthes. There are two novels in particular that engage the reader in this process of construction: Mrs Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse (1927). The bridge from the first to the second brings memories of childhood, allowing for the discovery of these enigmas hidden between the lines. What survives? Who survives? It is the reader's task to unravel these codes and rethink this dialogue between plot and reader to contribute to the predominance of texts and the textuality of narratives.

Keywords: metonymy, code, metaphor, myth, textuality

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Authors: Iman Al Khalidi

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Recently, English has become the language of globalization and technology. In turn, this has resulted in a seemingly bewildering array of influences and trends in the domain of TESOL curriculum. In light of these changes, higher education has to provide a new and more powerful kind of education. It should prepare students to be more engaged citizens, more capable to solve complex problems at work, and well prepared to lead meaningful life. In response to this, universities, colleges, schools, and departments have to work out in light of the requirements and challenges of the global and technological era. Consequently they have to focus on the adoption of contemporary curriculum which goes in line with the pedagogical shifts from teaching –centered approach to learning centered approach. Ideally, there has been noticeable emphasis on the crucial importance of developing and professionalizing teachers in order to engage them in the process of curriculum development and action research. This is a qualitative study that aims at understanding and exploring the process of designing EFL courses by teachers at the tertiary level from the perspectives of the participants in a professional context in TESOL, Department of English, a private college in Oman. It is a case study that stands on the philosophy of the qualitative approach. It employs multi methods for collecting qualitative data: semi-structured interviews with teachers, focus group discussions with students, and document analysis. The collected data have been analyzed qualitatively by adopting Miles and Huberman's Approach using procedures of reduction, coding, displaying and conclusion drawing and verification.

Keywords: course design, components of course design, case study, data analysis

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Authors: Iman Al Khalidi

Abstract:

Recently, English has become the language of globalization and technology. In turn, this has resulted in a seemingly bewildering array of influences and trends in the domain of TESOL curriculum. In light of these changes, higher education has to provide a new and more powerful kind of education. It should prepare students to be more engaged citizens, more capable to solve complex problems at work, and well prepared to lead a meaningful life. In response to this, universities, colleges, schools, and departments have to work out in light of the requirements and challenges of the global and technological era. Consequently, they have to focus on the adoption of contemporary curriculum which goes in line with the pedagogical shifts from teaching –centered approach to learning centered approach. Ideally, there has been noticeable emphasis on the crucial importance of developing and professionalizing teachers in order to engage them in the process of curriculum development and action research. This is a qualitative study that aims at understanding and exploring the process of designing EFL courses by teachers at the tertiary level from the perspectives of the participants in a professional context in TESOL, Department of English, a private college in Oman. It is a case study that stands on the philosophy of the qualitative approach. It employs multi-methods for collecting qualitative data: semi-structured interviews with teachers, focus group discussions with students, and document analysis. The collected data have been analyzed qualitatively by adopting Miles and Huberman's Approach using procedures of reduction, coding, displaying, and conclusion drawing and verification.

Keywords: course design, components of course design, case study, data analysis

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Authors: Emily Moore, Andrew Gaukroger, Matthew Solan, Lucy Bailey, Alexandra Boxall, Andrew Carne, Chintu Gadamsetty, Charlotte Morley, Katy Western, Iwona Kolodziejczyk

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Introduction: Rupture of the Achilles tendon is common and has a long recovery period. Most cases are managed non-operatively. Foot and Ankle Surgeons advise an ultrasound scan to check the gap between the torn ends. A large gap (with the ankle in equinus) is a relative indication for surgery. The definitive decision regarding surgical versus non-operative management can only be made once an ultrasound scan is undertaken and the patient is subsequently reviewed by a Foot and Ankle surgeon. To get to this point, the patient journey involves several hospital departments. In nearby trusts, patients reattend for a scan and go to the plaster room both before and after the ultrasound for removal and re-application of the cast. At a third visit to the hospital, the surgeon and patient discuss options for definitive treatment. It may take 2-3 weeks from the initial Emergency Department visit before the final treatment decision is made. This “wasted time” is ultimately added to the recovery period for the patient. In this hospital, Achilles rupture patients are seen in a weekly multidisciplinary OneStop Heel Pain clinic. This pathway was already efficient but subject to occasional frustrating delays if a key staff member was absent. A new pathway was introduced with the goal to reduce delays to a definitive treatment plan. Method: A retrospective series of Achilles tendon ruptures managed according to the 2019 protocol was identified. Time taken from the Emergency Department to have both an ultrasound scan and specialist Foot and Ankle surgical review were calculated. 30 consecutive patients were treated with our new pathway and prospectively followed. The time taken for a scan and for specialist review were compared to the 30 consecutive cases from the 2019 (pre-COVID) cohort. The new pathway includes 1. A new contoured splint applied to the front of the injured limb held with a bandage. This can be removed and replaced (unlike a plaster cast) in the ultrasound department, removing the need for plaster room visits. 2. Urgent triage to a Foot and Ankle specialist. 3. Ultrasound scan for assessment of rupture gap and deep vein thrombosis check. 4. Early decision regarding surgery. Transfer to weight bearing in a prosthetic boot in equinuswithout waiting for the once-a-week clinic. 5. Extended oral VTE prophylaxis. Results: The time taken for a patient to have both an ultrasound scan and specialist review fell > 50%. All patients in the new pathway reached a definitive treatment decision within one week. There were no significant differences in patient demographics or rates of surgical vs non-operative treatment. The mean time from Emergency Department visit to specialist review and ultrasound scan fell from 8.7 days (old protocol) to 2.9 days (new pathway). The maximum time for this fell from 23 days (old protocol) to 6 days (new pathway). Conclusion: Teamwork and innovation have improved the experience for patients with an Achilles tendon rupture. The new pathway brings many advantages - reduced time in the Emergency Department, fewer hospital visits, less time using crutches and reduced overall recovery time.

Keywords: orthopaedics, achilles rupture, ultrasound, innovation

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Authors: Dewi Indah Irianti

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Introduction: Street children include one of the populations at risk of HIV infection. Their vulnerability to these situations is increased by their lack of understanding of the changes associated with adolescence, the lack of knowledge and skills which could help them to make healthy choices. Social integration increased AIDS knowledge among migrant workers in Thailand. Although social integration has been incorporated into health research in other areas, it has received less attention in AIDS prevention research. This factor has not been integrated into models for HIV prevention. Objectives: The goal of this review is to summarize available knowledge about factors related to HIV/AIDS knowledge and to examine whether social integration was reviewed among street children. Methodology: This study performed a systematic search for English language articles published between January 2006 and March 2016 using the following keywords in various combination: street children, HIV/AIDS knowledge and social integration from the following bibliographic databases: Scopus, ProQuest, JSTOR, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, EBSCOhost, Sage Publication, Clinical Key, Google Web, and Google Scholar . Results: A total of 10 articles met the inclusion criteria were systematically reviewed. This study reviews the existing quantitative and qualitative literature regarding the HIV/AIDS knowledge of street children in many countries. The study locations were Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Africa. The most determinants associated with HIV/AIDS knowledge among street children are age and sex. In this review, social integration that may be associated with HIV/AIDS knowledge among street children has not been investigated. Conclusion: To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study found that there is no research examining the relationship of social integration with the HIV knowledge among street children. This information may assist in the development of relevant strategies and HIV prevention programs to improve HIV knowledge and decrease risk behaviors among street children.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS knowledge, review, social integration, street children

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Authors: Huan Peng, Chenye Zeng, Zhao Wang

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Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disease that is a leading cause of dementia syndromes and has become a huge burden on society and families. The main pathological features of AD involve excessive deposition of β-amyloid (Aβ) and Tau proteins in the brain, resulting in loss of neurons, expansion of neuroinflammation, and cognitive dysfunction in patients. Researchers have found effective drugs to clear the brain of error-accumulating proteins or to slow the loss of neurons, but their direct administration has key bottlenecks such as single-drug limitation, rapid blood clearance rate, impenetrable blood-brain barrier (BBB), and poor ability to target tissues and cells. Therefore, we are committed to seeking a suitable and efficient delivery system. Inspired by the possibility that exosomes may be involved in the secretion and transport mechanism of many signaling molecules or proteins in the brain, exosomes have attracted extensive attention as natural nanoscale drug carriers. We selected exosomes derived from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSC-EXO) with low immunogenicity and exosomes derived from hippocampal neurons (HT22-EXO) that may have excellent homing ability to overcome the deficiencies of oral or injectable pathways and bypass the BBB through nasal administration and evaluated their delivery ability and effect on AD. First, MSC-EXO and HT22 cells were isolated and cultured, and MSCs were identified by microimaging and flow cytometry. Then MSC-EXO and HT22-EXO were obtained by gradient centrifugation and qEV SEC separation column, and a series of physicochemical characterization were performed by transmission electron microscope, western blot, nanoparticle tracking analysis and dynamic light scattering. Next, exosomes labeled with lipophilic fluorescent dye were administered to WT mice and APP/PS1 mice to obtain fluorescence images of various organs at different times. Finally, APP/PS1 mice were administered intranasally with two exosomes 20 times over 40 days and 20 μL each time. Behavioral analysis and pathological section analysis of the hippocampus were performed after the experiment. The results showed that MSC-EXO and HT22-EXO were successfully isolated and characterized, and they had good biocompatibility. MSC-EXO showed excellent brain enrichment in APP/PS1 mice after intranasal administration, could improve the neuronal damage and reduce inflammation levels in the hippocampus of APP/PS1 mice, and the improvement effect was significantly better than HT22-EXO. However, intranasal administration of the two exosomes did not cause depression and anxious-like phenotypes in APP/PS1 mice, nor significantly improved the short-term or spatial learning and memory ability of APP/PS1 mice, and had no significant effect on the content of Aβ plaques in the hippocampus, which also meant that MSC-EXO could use their own advantages in combination with other drugs to clear Aβ plaques. The possibility of realizing highly effective non-invasive synergistic treatment for AD provides new strategies and ideas for clinical research.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cell, intranasal administration, therapy-carrier dual roles

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Authors: Abiodun Amusan, Olugbenga Akinola, Kazeem Akano, María Hernández-Castañeda, Jenna Dick, Akintunde Sowunmi, Geoffrey Hart, Grace Gbotosho

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Introduction: Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACTs) is the cornerstone malaria treatment option in most malaria-endemic countries. Unfortunately, the malaria control effort is constantly being threatened by resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to ACTs. The recent evidence of artemisinin resistance in East Africa and its possibility of spreading to other African regions portends an imminent health catastrophe. This study aimed at evaluating the occurrence, prevalence, and influence of artemisinin-resistance markers on treatment outcomes in Ibadan before and after post-adoption of artemisinin combination therapy (ACTs) in Nigeria in 2005. Method: The study involved day zero dry blood spot (DBS) obtained from malaria patients during retrospective (2000-2005) and prospective (2021) studies. A cohort in the prospective study received oral dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine and underwent a 42-day follow-up to observe treatment outcomes. Genomic DNA was extracted from the DBS samples using a QIAamp blood extraction kit. Fragments of P. falciparum kelch13 (Pfkelch13), P. falciparum coronin (Pfcoronin), P. falciparum multidrug resistance 2 (PfMDR2), and P. falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter (PfCRT) genes were amplified and sequenced on a sanger sequencing platform to identify artemisinin resistance-associated mutations. Mutations were identified by aligning sequenced data with reference sequences obtained from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and student t-tests. Results: Mean parasite clearance time (PCT) and fever clearance time (FCT) were 2.1 ± 0.6 days (95% CI: 1.97-2.24) and 1.3 ± 0.7 days (95% CI: 1.1-1.6) respectively. Four mutations, K189T [34/53(64.2%)], R255K [2/53(3.8%)], K189N [1/53(1.9%)] and N217H [1/53(1.9%)] were identified within the N-terminal (Coiled-coil containing) domain of Pfkelch13. No artemisinin resistance-associated mutation usually found within the β-propeller domain of the Pfkelch13 gene was found in these analyzed samples. However, K189T and R255K mutations showed a significant correlation with longer parasite clearance time in the patients (P<0.002). The observed Pfkelch13 gene changes did not influence the baseline mean parasitemia (P = 0.44). P76S [17/100 (17%)] and V62M [1/100 (1%)] changes were identified in the Pfcoronin gene fragment without any influence on the parasitological parameters. No change was observed in the PfMDR2 gene, while no artemisinin resistance-associated mutation was found in the PfCRT gene. Furthermore, a sample each in the retrospective study contained the Pfkelch13 K189T and Pfcoronin P76S mutations. Conclusion: The study revealed absence of genetic-based evidence of artemisinin resistance in the study population at the time of study. The high frequency of K189T Pfkelch13 mutation and its correlation with increased parasite clearance time in this study may depict geographical variation of resistance mediators and imminent artemisinin resistance, respectively. The study also revealed an inherent potential of parasites to harbour drug-resistant genotypes before the introduction of ACTs in Nigeria.

Keywords: artemisinin resistance, plasmodium falciparum, Pfkelch13 mutations, Pfcoronin

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Authors: Andreas Aceranti, Simonetta Vernocchi, Elisabetta Aldrovandi, Marco Colorato, Carolina Ascrizzi

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Nowadays, especially due to an increasing flow of migration and uncontrolled globalisation, linguistic, cultural and religious differences can be a major obstacle for people belonging to different ethnic groups. Each group has its own traditional background, which, in addition to its positive aspects, also includes extremely unpleasant and dramatic situations: culture-related crimes. We analysed several cases belonging to this category of crime which is becoming more and more present in Europe, creating not only a strong social rift dictated by the misunderstanding between migrants and host populations but also by the isolation and ghettoisation of subjects classified as 'different'. Such social rejection, in fact, represents a great source of stress and frustration for those who seek to be part of the community and can generate phenomena of rebellion that result in violent acts. Similar situations must be addressed by the figure of the cultural-linguistic mediator who, thanks to his or her multidisciplinary knowledge, assumes the role of a 'bridge', thus helping the process of awareness and understanding within the social group through the use of various tools, including awareness-raising campaigns and interventions in both the school and social-health sectors. By analysing how the notions of culture and offense have evolved throughout history until they have merged into a single principle and, secondly, how the figure of the language mediator represents a fundamental role in the resolution of conflicts related to cultural diversity has helped us define the basis for new protocols in dealing with such crimes. Especially we have to define the directions of further investigations that we will carry out in the next months.

Keywords: cultural crimes, hatred crimes, immigration, cultural mediation

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Authors: Nadeem Hassan, Farooq Ahmad

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The quality of education has a direct impact on individual, family, society, economy in general and the mankind as a whole. Because of that thousands of research papers and articles are written on the quality of education, billions of dollars are spent and continuously being spent on research and enhancing the quality of education. Academic programs accredited agencies define the various criterion of quality of education; academic institutions obtain accreditation from these agencies to ensure degree programs offered at their institution are of international standards. This R&D aims to build a web based analytical tool (OptiBaha) that finds the gaps in AlBaha University education system by taking input from stakeholders, including students, faculty, staff and management. The input/online-data collected by this tool will be analyzed on core areas of education as proposed by accredited agencies, CAC of ABET and NCAAA of KSA, including student background, language, culture, motivation, curriculum, teaching methodology, assessment and evaluation, performance and progress, facilities, availability of teaching materials, faculty qualification, monitoring, policies and procedures, and more. Based on different analytical reports, gaps will be highlighted, and remedial actions will be proposed. If the tool is implemented and made available through a continuous process the quality of education at AlBaha University can be enhanced, it will also help in fulfilling criterion of accreditation agencies. The tool will be generic in nature and ultimately can be used by any academic institution.

Keywords: academic quality, accreditation agencies, higher education, policies and procedures

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Authors: Marian Sagat, Mariana Remesikova

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In civil engineering, there is a problem how to industrially produce tensile membrane structures that are non-developable surfaces. Nondevelopable surfaces can only be developed with a certain error and we want to minimize this error. To that goal, the non-developable surfaces are cut into plates along to the geodesic curves. We propose a numerical algorithm for finding approximations of open geodesics on meshes and surfaces based on geodesic curvature flow. For practical reasons, it is important to automatize the choice of the time step. We propose a method for automatic setting of the time step based on the diagonal dominance criterion for the matrix of the linear system obtained by discretization of our partial differential equation model. Practical experiments show reliability of this method. Because approximation of the model is made by numerical method based on classic derivatives, it is necessary to solve obstacles which occur for meshes with sharp corners. We solve this problem for big family of meshes with sharp corners via special rotations which can be seen as partial unfolding of the mesh. In practical applications, it is required that the approximation of geodesic has its vertices only on the edges of the mesh. This problem is solved by a specially designed pointing tracking algorithm. We also partially solve the problem of finding geodesics on meshes with holes. We implemented the whole algorithm in Rhinoceros (commercial 3D computer graphics and computer-aided design software ). It is done by using C# language as C# assembly library for Grasshopper, which is plugin in Rhinoceros.

Keywords: geodesic, geodesic curvature flow, mesh, Rhinoceros software

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Authors: Ibrahim Abdulla Labib, Medhat Mohamed Morsy, Gamal Hosny, Hanan Dawood Yassa, Gaber Hassan

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Amiodarone is a very effective drug, widely used for arrhythmia. Unfortunately it has many side effects involving many organs especially thyroid gland. The current work was conducted to elucidate the effect of amiodarone on the thyroid gland and the possible protective role of vitamin E. Fifty adult male albino rats weighed 200 – 250 grams were divided into five groups; ten rats each. Group I (Control): Five rats were sacrificed after three weeks and five rats were sacrificed after six weeks. Group II (Sham control): Each rat received sunflower oil orally; the solvent of vitamin E for three weeks. Group III (Amiodarone-treated): each rat received an oral dose of amiodarone; 150 mg/kg/day for three weeks. Group IV (Recovery): Each rat received amiodarone as group III then the drug was stopped for three weeks to evaluate recovery. Group V (Amiodarone + Vitamin E-treated): Each rat received amiodarone as group III followed by 100 mg/kg/day vitamin E orally for three weeks. Thyroid gland of the sacrificed animals were dissected out and prepared for light and electron microscopic studies. Amiodarone administration resulted in loss of normal follicular architecture as many follicles appeared either shrunken, empty or contained scanty pale colloid. Some follicles appeared lined by more than one layer of cells while others showed interruption of their membrane. Masson's Trichrome stained sections showed increased collagen fibers in between the thyroid follicles. Ultrastructurally, the apical border of the follicular cells showed few irregular detached microvilli. The nuclei of the follicular cells were almost irregular with chromatin condensation. The cytoplasm of most follicular cells revealed numerous dilated rough endoplasmic reticulum with numerous lysosomes. After three weeks of stopping amiodarone, the follicles were nearly regular in outline. Some follicles were filled with homogenous eosinophilic colloid and others had shrunken pale colloid or were empty. Some few follicles showed exfoliated cells in their lumina and others were still lined by more than one layer of follicular cells. Moderate amounts of collagen fibers were observed in-between thyroid follicles. Ultrastructurally, many follicular cells had rounded euchromatic nucleui, moderate number of lysosomes and moderately dilated rough endoplasmic reticulum. However, few follicular cells still showing irregular nucleui, dilated rough endoplasmic reticulum and many cytoplasmic vacuoles. Administration of vitamin E with amiodarone for three weeks resulted in obvious structural improvement. Most of the follicles were lined by a single layer of cuboidal cells and the lumina were filled with homogenous eosinophilic colloid with very few vacuolations. The majority of follicular cells had rounded nuclei with occasional detection of ballooned cells and dark nuclei. Scanty collagen fibers were detected among thyroid follicles. Ultrastructurally, most follicular cells exhibited rounded euchromatic nuclei with few short microvilli were projecting into the colloid. Few lysosomes were also noticed. It was concluded that amiodarone administration leads to many adverse histological changes in the thyroid gland. Some of these changes are reversible during the recovery period however concomitant vitamin E administration with amiodarone has a major protective role in preventing many of these changes.

Keywords: amiodarone, recovery, ultrastructure, vitamin E.

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Authors: S. Jonsson, D. Millard, C. Bokhove

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Smartphones are ubiquitous and frequently used as learning tools, which makes the design of educational apps an important area of research. A key issue is designing apps to encourage engagement while maintaining a focus on the educational aspects of the app. Flow experience is a promising method for addressing this issue, which refers to a mental state of cognitive absorption and positive emotion. Flow experience has been shown to be associated with positive emotion and increased learning performance. Studies have shown that immediate feedback is an antecedent to Flow. This experiment investigates the effect of immediate feedback on Flow experience. An app teaching Spanish phrases was developed, and 30 participants completed both a 10min session with immediate feedback and a 10min session with delayed feedback. The app contained a task where the user assembles Spanish phrases by pressing bricks with Spanish words. Immediate feedback was implemented by incorrect bricks recoiling, while correct brick moved to form part of the finished phrase. In the delayed feedback condition, the user did not know if the bricks they pressed were correct until the phrase was complete. The level of Flow experienced by the participants was measured after each session using the Flow Short Scale. The results showed that higher levels of Flow were experienced in the immediate feedback session. It was also found that 14 of the participants indicated that the demands of the task were ‘just right’ in the immediate feedback session, while only one did in the delayed feedback session. These results have implications for how to design educational technology and opens up questions for how Flow experience can be used to increase performance and engagement.

Keywords: feedback timing, flow experience, L2 language learning, mobile learning

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Authors: Seham El Kareh, Miramar Etman

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Recently, detecting liars and extracting features which distinguish them from truth-tellers have been the focus of a wide range of disciplines. To the author’s best knowledge, most of the work has been done on facial expressions and body gestures but only few works have been done on the language used by both liars and truth-tellers. This paper sheds light on four axes. The first axis copes with building an audio corpus for deceptive and truthful speech for Egyptian Arabic speakers. The second axis focuses on examining the human perception of lies and proving our need for computational linguistic-based methods to extract features which characterize truthful and deceptive speech. The third axis is concerned with building a linguistic analysis program that could extract from the corpus the inter- and intra-linguistic cues for deceptive and truthful speech. The program built here is based on selected categories from the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count program. Our results demonstrated that Egyptian Arabic speakers on one hand preferred to use first-person pronouns and present tense compared to the past tense when lying and their lies lacked of second-person pronouns, and on the other hand, when telling the truth, they preferred to use the verbs related to motion and the nouns related to time. The results also showed that there is a need for bigger data to prove the significance of words related to emotions and numbers.

Keywords: Egyptian Arabic corpus, computational analysis, deceptive features, forensic linguistics, human perception, truthful features

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Authors: Cissy Li

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Mentorship is a commonly used strategy for career development that has obvious benefits for students in undergraduate pre-service teacher training programs. In contrast to teaching practicum, which generally involves pedagogical supervision and performance evaluation by teachers, mentorship is more focused on sharing experiences, supporting challenges, and nurturing skills in order to promote personal and professional growth. To empower pre-service teachers and prepare them for potential challenges in the context of local English language teaching (ELT), an alumni mentoring program was established in the framework of communities of practice (CoP), with the mentors being in-service graduates working in local schools and mentees being students on the teacher-training programme in a Hong Kong university. By triangulating audio transcripts of mentoring sessions delivered by three top mentors with data from questionnaire responses and mentor logs, this paper examines the mentoring styles of the three best mentors from the metadiscursive perspective. It was found that, in a community of practice, mentors who may seem to enjoy a relative more dominant position, in fact, had to strategically and pragmatically employ metadiscursive resources to manage relationships with the mentees and organize talks in the mentoring process. Other attributing factors for a successful mentoring session include mentor personality and prior mentorship experiences, nature of the activities in the session, and group dynamics. This paper concludes that it is the combination of all the factors that constitute a particular mentoring style. The findings have implications for mentoring programs in teacher preparation.

Keywords: mentoring, teacher education, mentoring style, metadiscourse

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Authors: Kusmayadi Ita Nursita, Sundoro Ali

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Cleft lip and palate are one of the most common congenital abnormalities in the face. It could happen to anyone, but mostly affect Asian population including Indonesia. Factors that influence the occurrence of cleft lip and palate vary from genetic to environmental factors. Children with cleft lip and palate will often have various problems such as airway disorders, eating disorders, speech and language developmental disorders, hearing disorders and psycho-social disorders, one of which is caused by appearance disorders. During his life, the child will experience multidisciplinary surgery and non-surgical treatment and can be accompanied by a psychological and financial burden on himself and his family. In Indonesia, there are no detailed scientific data on the prevalence and characteristic of cleft lip and palate patients. It was mainly caused by the absence of a national level organization, differences in geographical location, and the absence of national guidelines. This study aimed to describe the characteristic and prevalence of cleft lip and palate patients in Bandung Cleft Lip and Palate Center from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017. A total of 560 patients were included in the study. The highest percentage of cases are left unilateral cleft lip and palate with higher number of female patient and labioplasty as the most often surgical procedure to be conducted in Bandung Cleft Lip and Palate Center. In order to improve quality of life in patients with cleft lip and palate, early recognition and early treatment based on actual comprehensive data should be conducted. The data from Bandung Cleft Lip and Palate Center as one of the largest center of cleft lip and palate in West Java Indonesia hopefully could provide a big step of further comprehensive data collection in Indonesia and for the better overall management of cleft lip and palate in the future.

Keywords: cleft lip, cleft palate, characteristic, prevalence

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Authors: Prapaipan Phingchim

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The number of women approaching menopausal age in Thailand is increasing, making menopause an important health topic. In order to understand Thai women's different ways of interpreting menopausal experiences and the way they construct meaning relating to menopause, it is necessary to include the context in which meaning is constructed as well as the background of cultural attitudes to menopause existing in the Thai society. The aim of this study was to describe different discourses on menopause in Thailand that present themselves to menopausal women through the use of language and to analyze linguistic strategies used to represent such identity. This study adopts discourse theory and a close pragmatic analysis to examine the discursive construction of menopause for Thai women. Two hundreds and fifteen pieces of text under the heading or subject of `menopause' or `becoming a middle-aged woman', published from 2010 to 2019, were included. All material was addressed to Thai women, and consisted of booklets and informational material, articles from newspapers and magazines and popular science books. Five different discourses on menopause were identified: the biomedical discourse; the health-promotion discourse; the consumer discourse; the alternative discourse; and the feminist/ critical discourse. The biomedical discourse on menopause was found to be dominant, but was expanded or challenged by other discourses by offering different scopes of action and/or resting on different fundamental values. The discourses constructed and positioned individual women differently; thus, the women's position varied noticeably from one discourse to another. There are seven major linguistic strategies used to construct those identities. That is, lexical selection, presupposition manipulation, presupposition denial, the use of implication, the use of passive construction, using the cause and effect sentence structure, and rhetoric questions.

Keywords: discourse analysis, discursive construction, menopause, Thai women

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Authors: Ngo Thi Thanh Mai, Nguyen Thu Ha, Frances Crawford

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The demand for developing international social work field education is on the rise. Global foreign universities have considered international collaboration and cross-cultural perspective as an essential part of their social work training curriculum. International placement program at Faculty of Social Work (FSW), Hanoi National University of Education (HNUE) has met the need of international social work students, as well as the institutions involved in achieving social work professional social work knowledge in the Vietnamese context. This program has also lead to a long-term collaboration between HNUE and several global institutions in developing social work education, research and practice skill. This paper focuses on the benefits and challenges of students who involved in the global placement programme at Faculty of Social Work (FSW), Hanoi National University of Education (HNUE) and content of international field education provided to the international students based on the experience of the authors. Study results indicated that the participants have opportunity them to explore a new culture and social work system abroad especially in the Vietnamese context. However, there are still difficulties that international students have to face during different phases of the exchange process such as language and communication barriers, cultural value differences, insufficient support and supervision during placement. Basing on these results, the authors intend to propose some recommendations to enhance the programme activities such as pre-departure orientation, support and supervision during placement, cultural exchange and follow-up activities.

Keywords: social work education, social work, international placement, field placement, Vietnam

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Authors: Camille Charlebois-Plante, Marie-Ève Bourassa, Gaelle Dumel, Meriem Sabir, Louis De Beaumont

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To the extent of our knowledge, there has been little interest in the chronic effects of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) on cognition during normal aging. This is rather surprising considering the impacts on daily and social functioning. In addition, sustaining a mTBI during late adulthood may increase the effect of normal biological aging in individuals who consider themselves normal and healthy. The objective of this study was to characterize the persistent neuropsychological repercussions of mTBI sustained during late adulthood, on average 12 months prior to testing. To this end, 35 mTBI patients and 42 controls between the ages of 50 and 69 completed an exhaustive neuropsychological assessment lasting three hours. All mTBI patients were asymptomatic and all participants had a score ≥ 27 at the MoCA. The evaluation consisted of 20 standardized neuropsychological tests measuring memory, attention, executive and language functions, as well as information processing speed. Performance on tests of visual (Brief Visuospatial Memory Test Revised) and verbal memory (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and WMS-IV Logical Memory subtest), lexical access (Boston Naming Test) and response inhibition (Stroop) revealed to be significantly lower in the mTBI group. These findings suggest that a mTBI sustained during late adulthood induces lasting effects on cognitive function. Episodic memory and executive functions seem to be particularly vulnerable to enduring mTBI effects.

Keywords: cognitive function, late adulthood, mild traumatic brain injury, neuropsychology

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Authors: Chul Lee, Seoae Cho, Erich D. Jarvis, Heebal Kim

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Vocal learning, the ability to imitate vocalizations based on auditory experience, is a homoplastic character state observed in different independent lineages of animals such as songbirds, parrots, hummingbirds and human. It has now become possible to perform genome-wide molecular analyses across vocal learners and vocal non-learners with the recent expansion of avian genome data. It was analyzed the whole genomes of human and 48 avian species including those belonging to the three avian vocal learning lineages, to determine if behavior and neural convergence are associated with molecular convergence in divergent species of vocal learners. Analyses of 8295 orthologous genes across bird species revealed 141 genes with amino acid substitutions specific to vocal learners. Out of these, 25 genes have vocal learner specific genetic homoplasies, and their functions were enriched for learning. Several sites in these genes are estimated under convergent evolution and positive selection. A potential role for a subset of these genes in vocal learning was supported by associations with gene expression profiles in vocal learning brain regions of songbirds and human disease that cause language dysfunctions. The key candidate gene with multiple independent lines of the evidences specific to vocal learners was DRD5. Our findings suggest cAMP-based learning pathway in avian vocal learners, indicating molecular homoplastic changes associated with a complex behavioral trait, vocal learning.

Keywords: amino acid substitutions, convergent evolution, positive selection, vocal learning

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Authors: Atin Adhikari, Sushma Kurella, Pratik Banerjee, Nabanita Mukherjee, Yamini M. Chandana Gollapudi, Bushra Shah

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Different sharp instruments, drilling machines, and high speed rotary instruments are routinely used in dental clinics during dental cleaning. Therefore, these cleaning procedures release a lot of oral microorganisms including bacteria in clinic air and may cause significant occupational bioaerosol exposure risks for dentists, dental hygienists, patients, and dental clinic employees. Two major goals of this study were to quantify volumetric airborne concentrations of bacteria and to assess overall microbial activity in this type of occupational environment. The study was conducted in several dental clinics of southern Georgia and 15 dental cleaning procedures were targeted for sampling of airborne bacteria and testing of overall microbial activity in settled dusts over clinic floors. For air sampling, a Biostage viable cascade impactor was utilized, which comprises an inlet cone, precision-drilled 400-hole impactor stage, and a base that holds an agar plate (Tryptic soy agar). A high-flow Quick-Take-30 pump connected to this impactor pulls microorganisms in air at 28.3 L/min flow rate through the holes (jets) where they are collected on the agar surface for approx. five minutes. After sampling, agar plates containing the samples were placed in an ice chest with blue ice and plates were incubated at 30±2°C for 24 to 72 h. Colonies were counted and converted to airborne concentrations (CFU/m3) followed by positive hole corrections. Most abundant bacterial colonies (selected by visual screening) were identified by PCR amplicon sequencing of 16S rRNA genes. For understanding overall microbial activity in clinic floors and estimating a general cleanliness of the clinic surfaces during or after dental cleaning procedures, ATP levels were determined in swabbed dust samples collected from 10 cm2 floor surfaces. Concentration of ATP may indicate both the cell viability and the metabolic status of settled microorganisms in this situation. An ATP measuring kit was used, which utilized standard luciferin-luciferase fluorescence reaction and a luminometer, which quantified ATP levels as relative light units (RLU). Three air and dust samples were collected during each cleaning procedure (at the beginning, during cleaning, and immediately after the procedure was completed (n = 45). Concentrations at the beginning, during, and after dental cleaning procedures were 671±525, 917±1203, and 899±823 CFU/m3, respectively for airborne bacteria and 91±101, 243±129, and 139±77 RLU/sample, respectively for ATP levels. The concentrations of bacteria were significantly higher than typical indoor residential environments. Although an increasing trend for airborne bacteria was observed during cleaning, the data collected at three different time points were not significantly different (ANOVA: p = 0.38) probably due to high standard deviations of data. The ATP levels, however, demonstrated a significant difference (ANOVA: p <0.05) in this scenario indicating significant change in microbial activity on floor surfaces during dental cleaning. The most common bacterial genera identified were: Neisseria sp., Streptococcus sp., Chryseobacterium sp., Paenisporosarcina sp., and Vibrio sp. in terms of frequencies of occurrences, respectively. The study concluded that bacterial exposure in dental clinics could be a notable occupational biohazard, and appropriate respiratory protections for the employees are urgently needed.

Keywords: bioaerosols, hospital hygiene, indoor air quality, occupational biohazards

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