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Enhancing Scholarship in Undergraduate Students Through the Use of Evidence-Based Practice Presentations
No full textEffects of joint mobilisation on clinical manifestations of sympathetic nervous system activity: a systematic review and meta-analysis
No full textBackground: A potential mechanism of action of manual therapy is the activation of a sympathetic-excitatory response. Objective: To evaluate the effects of joint mobilisation on changes in clinical manifestations of sympathetic nervous system activity. Data sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED, CINAHL, EBSCO, PubMed, PEDro, Cochrane Collaboration Trials Register, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and SCOPUS databases. Study selection: Randomised controlled trials that compared a mobilisation technique applied to the spine or the extremities with a control or placebo. Data extraction and data synthesis: Human studies collecting data on skin conductance or skin temperature were used. Data were extracted by two reviewers. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane guidelines, and quality of evidence was assessed using the GRADE approach. Standardised mean differences (SMD) and random effects were calculated. Results: Eighteen studies were included in the review and 17 were included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis found a significant increase in skin conductance [SMD 1.21, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.88 to 1.53, n = 269] and a decrease in temperature (SMD 0.92, 95% CI −1.47 to −0.37, n = 128) after mobilisation compared with the control group. An increase in skin conductance (SMD 0.73, 95% CI 0.51 to 0.96, n = 293) and a decrease in temperature (SMD −0.50, 95% CI −0.82 to −0.18, n = 134) were seen after mobilisation compared with placebo. The risk of bias was generally low, but the heterogenicity of the results downgraded the level of evidence. Limitations: Most trials (14/18) were conducted on asymptomatic healthy subjects. Conclusion: There is moderate evidence suggesting a sympatho-excitatory effect of joint mobilisation. Systematic Review Registration Number PROSPERO CRD42018089991
Using Graphic Novels to Engage Students With Learning Disabilities During Fluency Instruction
No full textStrong oral reading fluency skills are an important indication of good reading. In addition, reading engagement is often correlated with reading success. Unfortunately, students with learning disabilities (LD) often struggle to read fluently and engage with text. Incorporating graphic novels as part of a comprehensive reading program may help support student engagement with text during reading fluency instruction. This article outlines how teachers can use graphic novels as part of a comprehensive reading program to help engage students with LD in reading during fluency instruction. A brief summary of the literature surrounding comprehensive fluency instruction and the use of graphic novels is provided. In addition, a scenario is provided to illustrate guidelines for fluency planning and instruction using graphic novels. Finally, conclusions are summarized
Midsagittal tissue bridges are associated with walking ability in incomplete spinal cord injury: A magnetic resonance imaging case series
No full textContext: Following spinal cord injury (SCI), early prediction of future walking ability is difficult, due to factors such as spinal shock, sedation, impending surgery, and secondary long bone fracture. Accurate, objective biomarkers used in the acute stage of SCI would inform individualized patient management and enhance both patient/family expectations and treatment outcomes. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and specifically a midsagittal T2-weighted image, the amount of tissue bridging (measured as spared spinal cord tissue) shows potential to serve as such a biomarker. Ten participants with incomplete SCI received MRI of the spinal cord. Using the midsagittal T2-weighted image, anterior and posterior tissue bridges were calculated as the distance from cerebrospinal fluid to the damage. Then, the midsagittal tissue bridge ratio was calculated as the sum of anterior and posterior tissue bridges divided by the spinal cord diameter. Each participant also performed a 6-minute walk test, where the total distance walked was measured within six minutes. Findings: The midsagittal tissue bridge ratio measure demonstrated a high level of inter-rater reliability (ICC = 0.90). Midsagittal tissue bridge ratios were significantly related to distance walked in six minutes (R = 0.68, P = 0.03). Conclusion/clinical relevance: We uniquely demonstrated that midsagittal tissue bridge ratios were correlated walking ability. These preliminary findings suggest potential for this measure to be considered a prognostic biomarker of residual walking ability following SCI
Consider visualizing society within the acm code of ethics
No full textThe effect of introducing a Stakeholder Impact Visualization into the Consider step of the CARE process in The ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct is presented. This treatment increased the number and type of societal stakeholders identified and the number and type of requests for situational contextual made by computing students, when using the CARE process to consider an ethical decision contained in a malware case study
Shift happens; moving from the ivory tower to the mushroom factory
No full textThe values of higher education (HE) are undergoing a disruptive shift. How the rising cost of higher education is being shared between the student and society is driving many of the changes within HE. External pressures on institutions of higher education include reduced public funding, wider student participation and increased competition. These external pressures are influencing the current environment within HE. Academic capitalism encourages institutions to focus on efficiencies and outcomes. Administrators are increasing in numbers and in influence. Students in HE have more choice and are viewed as customers instead of apprentice learners. These collective changes are influencing faculty employment, working conditions, and teaching practices. Institutions are turning to a tiered faculty system. Academic work is being unbundled as paraprofessionals develop and deliver classes. Tenure’s influence is dwindling and an increasing number of faculty are hired as contingent employees. This article will address the external pressures and changing expectations of universities in Australia, the UK and US, and how changing values are influencing faculty, staff utilization and teaching practices
Press freedom in 10 African nations: Citizen attitudes and global rankings
No full textPress freedom is said to be a necessary pillar of democracy. As many sub-Saharan African nations move towards creating or strengthening democracies, examining their levels of press freedom may be an important element. This study utilizes public opinion data from 10 nations in the sub-Saharan African region and international press freedom rankings from Reporters Without Borders to better understand both how important (or not) citizens view press freedom to be in their country and how those beliefs compare to global metrices between 2011 and 2018. Results show clear differences in citizen beliefs about press freedom across countries, but no clear relationship between citizen beliefs and global rankings. A connection between individual perceptions and global rankings may take more time to manifest, and/or a nation’s cultural values and political landscape likely have the strongest impact on citizen beliefs
An Institutional Risk Reduction Model for Teaching Cybersecurity
No full textThis work presents a model for reviewing the risks of institutions teaching cybersecurity. The work is based on efforts in this direction at Regis University and Adams 12 Five Star Schools in Colorado. These two institutions are described in a comparative case study reviewing the following four aspects of addressing risk: policy, adjudication, infrastructure protection, and curricular boundaries. The model is presented in a generalizable framework to facilitate risk analysis across the education of children in public schools, university level education, and professional development programs. This framework is not intended to supplement a traditional threat analysis program and not replace it. In addition to the specialized risks addressed here, institutions teaching cybersecurity are often perceived as potential targets for adversaries because of the schools as a pipeline to cyber defense activities, and because institutions teaching cybersecurity are part of societal long-term cyber defense strategies that confront criminal, nation state, and activist threats
On the sandpile group of eulerian series-parallel graphs
No full textA sandpile configuration is a representation of the current layout of theoretical sand on a graph in which every vertex is assigned a nonnegative integer value. The Abelian sandpile group is a finite group composed of the recurrent sandpile configurations of a graph. We investigate the sandpile group of graphs constructed using the composition rules of series-parallel graphs, and determine the sandpile groups of parallel compositions of path-graphs
‘We will march side by side and demand a bigger table’: Anger as dignity claim
No full textMartha Nussbaum’s (2016) account of anger limits its utility in part due to its vengeful and narcissistic aspects; she notes that even when anger rightfully identifies a harm or unjust act, it too frequently represents a desire for retribution or status degradation of the offender. I think this viewpoint is incomplete, because it reduces human relations and status to a zero-sum tussle: I can only gain status if you (at least theoretically) lose it. While Nussbaum does not explore a connection between human dignity and anger, I argue that feminist political uses of anger are often premised on exactly this sort of idea. To be specific, the use of dignity that is present in feminist political anger is not of the zero-sum variety (women gain status through men’s loss of status), but as a claim of worth. Feminist political anger argues that women count too, and women deserve dignity and respect: first, as a kind of personal or bodily dignity, and second as an assertion of political identity or autonomy. It is the absence of their dignity and recognition that is the injury; their rage is an assertion of presence, a demand for dignity and recognition. This demand does not require the lessening of another’s dignity