Additional Teaching Research Articles

Analysis of Definite and Indefinite Article Usage in Students' Paragraphs

Although they are among the most basic words in the English language, articles make writing difficult for EFL and ESL students. This study looks into how students use definite and indefinite articles in their paragraphs. What is the frequency of definite and indefinite articles in first-year English majors' paragraphs at Salahaddin University's College of Education? To what extent are students accurate in their use of definite and indefinite articles? are the main questions under investigation. The study aims to identify the frequency of definite and indefinite articles in 35 paragraphs written by English majors in their first year at Salahaddin University's College of Education, Erbil, Iraq, in the academic year 2022-2023. The study utilizes conceptual content analysis to ascertain the frequency of articles through descriptive statistics. The findings indicate that first-year English majors struggle to use articles correctly in their writing. They struggle to consistently use definite and indefinite articles appropriately. The results of this study will be significant for both researchers and language instructors. Understanding students' use of definite and indefinite articles can provide valuable insights into potential problems or areas requiring additional instruction. The results of this study have the potential to influence curriculum design and language teaching strategies, ultimately enhancing English language learning and proficiency among EFL and ESL students. Keywords: analysis, definite articles, indefinite articles, students’ paragraphs.

Does Trunk Self-Elongation Instruction Lead to Changes in Effective Trunk Height and Spino-Pelvic Parameters? A Radiographic Analysis

Background/Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in trunk height and variations in spino-pelvic parameters during trunk self-elongation. Two populations were studied: non-athletes and gymnasts, who differ in their engagement with core-strengthening exercises. Methods: EOS biplanar radiographs were taken on 14 non-athletes and 24 gymnasts in both neutral and trunk self-elongation positions. Three-dimensional reconstructions of the pelvis and spine were used to calculate effective trunk height, thoracic and lumbar contributions, and spino-pelvic parameters. Results: Trunk self-elongation resulted in a significant increase in trunk height for both groups (7 mm on average, range: −1 to 14 mm), accompanied by a reduction in thoracic kyphosis for all participants (−10° for non-athletes and −17° for gymnasts, on average) and a reduction in lumbar lordosis in most participants (−5° for non-athletes and −7° for gymnasts, on average). However, some individuals in both groups exhibited an increase in lumbar lordosis, which reduced the contribution of the lumbar region to overall trunk height. Conclusions: Trunk self-elongation instruction effectively increases trunk height, but additional instructions, such as pelvic retroversion, may enhance its effectiveness.

Impact of video instructions and additional hands-on instructions on the dental flossing performance – an observational study

ObjectivesThis study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an instruction-video, with and without additional hands-on instruction, in teaching young adults proper flossing performance.Materials and MethodsThis randomised intervention and observational study included 94 participants, 24 (23; 25) years, receiving an instruction-video with (group 1) or without additional hands-on instruction (group 2). The flossing performance was assessed by videotaping before instruction (T1), after instruction and one week of practice (T2), as well as after two weeks of practice (T3). Parameters of interest were number of interdental spaces reached, adaptation to mesial and distal surfaces, flossing technique, systematic approach and handling combined with self-assessment of flossing skills and time spent, assessed by questionnaires.ResultsAdditional hands-on instruction did not lead to a significant improvement in any parameter compared to video-instruction alone. At T1, the participants reached many interdental spaces, but only two managed to floss their entire dentition correctly. After video instruction (T2), the participants reached more interdental spaces (p = 0.039) using a systematic approach and improved adaptation, technique and handling (p < 0.001 each). Parameters improved again at T3, resulting in 42 participants flossing their entire dentition correctly. After instruction participants found flossing less difficult, although they estimated it took more time.ConclusionVideo-instruction significantly improved flossing performance, whereas hands-on instruction had no additional benefit. This indicates that video-instruction could be an effective and timesaving tool to improve flossing performance.Clinical relevanceThe results emphasize the importance of appropriate teaching-methods in dental prophylaxis and highlight the potential of video-instructions to improve interdental cleaning skills significantly.

Enhancing Light-curing Competence: A Study of Radiant Exposure and Training Outcomes Among Dental Students.

The aim of this study was to measure radiant exposure and time necessary to deliver 16 J/cm2 of radiant exposure to simulated Class I and Class III preparations by first-year dental students. First-year dental students (n=89) received a 60-minute lecture on light-curing. Using the Managing Accurate Resin Curing Patient Simulator (MARC-PS) and protective blue-light-blocking glasses, students twice light-cured Class I and Class III restorations, using the Valo Grand Cordless light-curing unit with infection-control barriers on both Standard and High Power Plus modes. After their first attempts, if students did not obtain at least 16 J/cm2 of radiant exposure (RE), they received additional instruction. Paired t-tests were used to determine the change between the first and second attempts. After averaging two attempts, radiant exposure and time were compared between Standard and High Power Plus modes within individuals using paired t-tests. 79% of students provided 16 J/cm2 of radiant exposure on both attempts for Standard and High Power Plus modes. High Power Plus mode provided statistically significantly more radiant exposure and required less time to obtain 16 J/cm2 of radiant exposure for both restorations. The MARC-PS is useful to identify students requiring instruction. It may be prudent to use High Power Plus mode or increase time on Standard mode to light-cure Class I restorations.

Evaluating the Reliability of Name Writing Rubric Scoring

Early literacy screening tools are often a critical component of schools’ intervention frameworks. As the use of screening tools becomes more prevalent for identifying students who may be at risk for learning difficulties and in need of additional instruction, it is important to continuously evaluate teachers’ implementation of these screening tools and to improve efforts to support their implementation. Measures of name writing as a part of a screening tool can pose specific implementation challenges due to the subjectivity that rubric scoring allows. As such, this study aimed to evaluate the reliability of a rubric used by pre-kindergarten teachers to score a name writing task, as part of a larger screening tool, in the context of their own classrooms, and to examine scoring patterns between researchers and teachers on the name writing rubric. Results revealed that researchers had higher interrater reliability among themselves than the reliability between researchers and teachers. Although there was not a substantial difference between the two groups, it is worthwhile to examine the implementation of screening tool scoring systems in the field to ensure proper identification of and intervention for students who may be at risk for learning difficulties. Implications for researchers and teachers are discussed.

T-Smade: A Two-Stage Smart Detector for Evasive Spectre Attacks Under Various Workloads

Evasive Spectre attacks have used additional nop or memory delay instructions to make effective hardware performance counter based detectors with lower attack detection successful rate. Interestingly, the detection performance gets worse under different workloads. For example, the attack detection successful rate is only 59.8% for realistic applications, while it is much lower 27.52% for memory stress test. Therefore, this paper proposes a two-stage smart detector T-Smade designed for evasive Spectre attacks (e.g., evasive Spectre nop and evasive Spectre memory) under various workloads. T-Smade uses the first-stage detector to identify the type of workloads and then selects the appropriate second-stage detector, which uses four hardware performance counter events to characterize the high cache miss rate and low branch miss rate of Spectre attacks. More importantly, the second stage detector adds one dimension of reusing cache miss rate and branch miss rate to exploit the characteristics of various workloads to detect evasive Spectre attacks effectively. Furthermore, to achieve the good generalization for more unseen evasive Spectre attacks, the proposed classification detector T-Smade is trained by the raw data of Spectre attacks and non-attacks in different workloads using simple Multi-Layer Perception models. The comprehensive results demonstrate that T-Smade makes the average attack detection successful rate of evasive Spectre nop under different workload return from 27.52% to 95.42%, and that of evasive Spectre memory from 59.8% up to 100%.

Internal Medicine Residents' Confidence and Preferences in Hospital Medicine Competencies: A Multi-Site Study.

Hospital medicine (HM) is an important career option for internal medicine (IM) residency graduates. Limited data exist regarding preferences and educational gaps in HM competencies among IM residents. To assess resident confidence and desire for additional instruction in HM competencies across a broad spectrum of residents. A multi-center survey-based assessment of IM resident confidence and desire for additional instruction in published HM competencies. PGY-1 through PGY-4 residents from eight US IM residency programs, including academic medical center (AMC) and community-based programs (CBPs). Resident confidence and desire for more teaching in HM competency domains including procedures, point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), system-level competencies, clinical skills, patient-level competencies, palliative care, and care transitions. We received survey responses from 272 of 594 (46%) residents. More than half of respondents envisioned a future HM position. Results demonstrated lower than expected confidence for all HM competencies surveyed. Confidence was lowest (30-36% confident) for procedures, POCUS, and system-level competencies, and highest (65-78%) in care transitions, patient-level competencies, and palliative care. Desire for more instruction was highest in the same competency domains rated with the lowest confidence. Junior residents (PGY-1 and PGY-2) reported significantly lower confidence levels than senior residents (PGY-3 and PGY-4) across all domains except patient-level competencies. Junior residents expressed a significantly higher desire than senior residents for more teaching in all domains. There were no significant differences in confidence or desire for more instruction between trainees who envision a future HM position versus those who do not. Residents from AMCs expressed significantly higher confidence than those from CBPs in POCUS, clinical skill, patient-level, palliative care, and care transitions, while residents from CBPs reported significantly higher confidence in procedures. Our data can inform targeted inpatient competencies and educational curricula for IM residents in the USA.

A "Conscious" Loss of Balance: Directing Attention to Movement Can Impair the Cortical Response to Postural Perturbations.

"Trying too hard" can interfere with skilled movement, such as sports and music playing. Postural control can similarly suffer when conscious attention is directed toward it ("conscious movement processing"; CMP). However, the neural mechanisms through which CMP influences balance remain poorly understood. We explored the effects of CMP on electroencephalographic (EEG) perturbation-evoked cortical responses and subsequent balance performance. Twenty healthy young adults (age = 25.1 ± 5 years; 10 males and 10 females) stood on a force plate-embedded moveable platform while mobile EEG was recorded. Participants completed two blocks of 50 discrete perturbations, containing an even mix of slower (186 mm/s peak velocity) and faster (225 mm/s peak velocity) perturbations. One block was performed under conditions of CMP (i.e., instructions to consciously control balance), while the other was performed under "Control" conditions with no additional instructions. For both slow and fast perturbations, CMP resulted in significantly smaller cortical N1 signals (a perturbation-evoked potential localized to the supplementary motor area) and lower sensorimotor beta EEG activity 200-400 ms postperturbation. Significantly greater peak velocities of the center of pressure (i.e., greater postural instability) were also observed during the CMP condition. Our findings provide the first evidence that disruptions to postural control during CMP may be a consequence of insufficient cortical activation relevant for balance (i.e., insufficient cortical N1 responses followed by enhanced beta suppression). We propose that conscious attempts to minimize postural instability through CMP acts as a cognitive dual-task that dampens the sensitivity of the sensorimotor system for future losses of balance.

Teaching Parents via Online Asynchronous Training to Use Speech-Generating Devices with Their Autistic Children: A Pilot Study.

Background/Objectives: Telepractice interventions have been found to alleviate barriers families face when seeking communication interventions. This study is a multiple-baseline single-subject design that measures parent communication opportunities and parent responsiveness to determine if parent training through online modules created for parents of children with communication support needs can be effective for training parents of autistic children with communication support needs. Methods: This study replicates work by utilizing online training used as well as the same variables and definitions. This study expands the original study by providing the children with speech-generating devices (SGDs). SGDs are an assistive technology tool to increase language production and give access to language to minimally verbal autistic people. A central difference between this study and study is that the only training parents received was the online modules and written instructions to set up the SGD. Results: Overall, the POWR modules appear to positively impact the communication opportunities provided by the parent during play and activities, increase child communication, and improve parent proficiency in implementing the POWR strategy. Conclusions: There is a need for a larger single-case study or a randomized control trial to replicate these findings. Additional instruction may be needed for parents of children with autism around responsive interactions. This study adds to innovative ways of providing family-centered training and access to AAC for those with barriers to service.

‘Harmonise with the rest of the Empire’: Empire’s influence on religious instruction in Australian and New Zealand primary schools, 1880–1962

ABSTRACT This article argues that imperial identities embracing Britishness within Anglo-settler colonies significantly influenced provisions for religious education in Australia and New Zealand primary schools from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, corresponding with James Belich’s chronology of recolonisation. The article begins with an overview of the foundational Education Acts of Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and New Zealand, each of which included stronger legal provisions for secularity than in other Australian and settler colonial contexts. The article then tracks the enduring campaigns to promote additional religious instruction in classrooms, revealing a common imperial imaginary shared by Protestant settlers within Australian and New Zealand contexts. Proponents drew upon one another’s tactics, including campaigns for referenda, the creation of Bible-in-Schools Leagues, and parliamentary lobbying campaigns. They also drew upon the idea that Britishness necessitated Christianity, though their calls sometimes did not reflect the legislative reality in Great Britain itself. In the mid-twentieth century, the context of the Second World War precipitated a renewed focus on Britishness as a bulwark and protector of the British Empire. When combined with the diffusion of Agreed Syllabuses, this enabled religious instruction advocates to overcome fierce opposition to strengthen systems of religious instruction from 1940 to 1962.

The effects of instruction on students’ argumentative scientific writing in a Basque medium of instruction setting

Abstract The present quasi-experimental study explores the effects of instruction on secondary students’ scientific argumentative writing in a Basque medium of instruction program. Secondary students (N = 105) completed written tasks before and after a unit on energy in their science class as part of this investigation. The experimental group (n = 61) additionally took part in three, one-hour sessions focused on scientific argumentation via instruction in cognitive discourse functions (Dalton-Puffer, 2013), while the control group (n = 44) completed the unit on energy without the additional instruction on argumentation. The final corpus of 210 texts was analysed using Toulmin’s Argumentation Pattern (1958). ANOVAs showed that the experimental group’s use of argumentation strategies increased significantly, while the control group’s use of such strategies did not increase. Thus, the results show that instruction on argumentation helps students to write better argumentative compositions. These findings suggest that instruction in the use of Cognitive Discourse Functions allows for academic language learning in bilingual education contexts. The pedagogical implications and future research directions of this study’s findings are discussed.

Inexperienced water users can “Float to Live” in realistic open water conditions

BackgroundThe RNLI “Float to Live” campaign is based on research conducted in indoor pools with experienced open water swimmers. Study 1 investigated whether the RNLI “Float to Live” guidance would enable less experienced individuals to float in realistic open water conditions. Study 2 examined the separate effects of practice and coaching on floating competence.MethodsStudy 1: Inexperienced water users conducted floats in either still, open fresh (n = 22) or open sea water (n = 13), followed by moving sea (n = 6) or fresh water (n = 5). Participants undertook three 2-min floats in still water wearing swimwear and one clothed float: 1) naïve; 2) following RNLI “Float to live” messaging; 3) individual float coaching; 4) simulated fall wearing summer clothing. In moving sea water, participants undertook two floats equivalent to Floats 3 and 4. In moving fresh water, participants undertook 3 floats: 1) naïve; 2) following “defensive floating” coaching; 3) simulated fall wearing summer clothing. Study 2: Two groups matched for skinfold thickness undertook three 2-min floats in a flume wearing swimwear. PRAC group (n = 12): 1) naïve; 2) following float practice; 3) float coaching; COACH group (n = 11) coaching followed by practice. Floating difficulty, confidence, competence, “efficiency” and perceived exertion were analysed using either a Friedman test or mixed model ANOVA.ResultsIn both fresh water and sea water, participants’ floating competence and confidence increased after viewing the RNLI messaging, it was further improved with individualised float coaching. The additional helpful instructions included: 1) “head back with ears submerged”; 2) “relax”; 3) “breathe normally”; 4) “it is OK if your legs sink”; 5) an accurate description of sculling for “active” floaters that needed it; 6) spread arms and legs for stability. The simulated fall with clothing did not impair floating competence. No difference in floating competence was seen between PRAC and COACH, though confidence may be increased sooner in COACH.ConclusionsThe RNLI float advice can be applied in realistic open water settings by less experienced water users. Additional content could be included to make the messaging even more effective.

A comprehensive protocol for efficient differentiation of human NPCs into electrically competent neurons

BackgroundThe study of neurons is fundamental to unraveling the complexities of the nervous system. Primary neuronal cultures from rodents have long been a cornerstone of experimental studies, yet limitations related to their non-human nature and ethical concerns have prompted the development of alternatives. In recent years, the derivation of neurons from human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) has emerged as a powerful option, offering a scalable source of cells for diverse applications. Neural progenitor cells (NPCs) derived from hiPSCs can be efficiently differentiated into functional neurons, providing a platform to study human neural physiology and pathology in vitro. However, challenges persist in achieving consistent and reproducible outcomes across experimental settings. Comparison with existing methodsOur aim is to provide a step-by-step methodological protocol, augmenting existing procedures with additional instructions and parameters, to guide researchers in achieving reproducible results. Methods and resultsWe outline procedures for the differentiation of hiPSC-derived NPCs into electrically competent neurons, encompassing initial cell density, morphology, maintenance, and differentiation. We also describe the analysis of specific markers for assessing neuronal phenotype, along with electrophysiological analysis to evaluate biophysical properties of neuronal excitability. Additionally, we conduct a comparative analysis of three different chemical methods—KCl, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), and bicuculline—to induce neuronal depolarization and assess their effects on the induction of both fast and slow post-translational, transcriptional, and post-transcriptional responses. ConclusionOur protocol provides clear instructions for generating reliable human neuronal cultures with defined electrophysiological properties to investigate neuronal differentiation and model diseases in vitro.

Performance and Communication Cost of Hardware Accelerators for Hashing in Post-Quantum Cryptography

SPHINCS+ is a signature scheme included in the first NIST post-quantum standard, that bases its security on the underlying hash primitive. As most of the runtime of SPHINCS+ is caused by the evaluation of several hash- and pseudo-random functions, offloading this computation to dedicated hardware accelerators is a natural step. In this work, we evaluate different architectures for hardware acceleration of such a hash primitive with respect to its use-case and evaluate them in the context of SPHINCS+. We attach hardware accelerators for different hash primitives (SHAKE128 and Ascon-Xof for both, full and round-reduced versions) to CPU interfaces having different transfer speeds. We show, that for most use-cases, data transfer determines the overall performance if accelerators are equipped with FIFOs and that reducing the number of rounds in the permutation does not necessarily lead to significant performance improvements when using hardware acceleration. This work extends on a conference paper accepted at COSADE’24, first published in [19], and written by the same authors, where different architectures for hardware accelerators of hash functions are benchmarked and evaluated for SPHINCS+ as a case study. In this paper, we provide results for additional parameter sets for SPHINCS+ and improve the performance of one of the accelerators by adding an additional RISC-V instruction for faster absorption. We then extend the performance benchmark by including the algorithms CRYSTALS-Kyber, CRYSTALS-Dilithium and Falcon. Finally we provide a power/energy comparison for the accelerators.

Using Simulation-Based Mastery Learning to Achieve Excellent Learning Outcomes in Physical Therapist Education.

The 2 aims of this observational study are (a) to describe the implementation and feasibility of a bed mobility skills simulation-based mastery learning (SBML) curricular module for physical therapist students and (b) to measure learning outcomes and student perceptions of this module. Simulation-based mastery learning is an outcome-based educational approach that has been successful in other health professions but has not been explored in physical therapy education. Eighty-seven students in a single cohort of a Doctor of Physical Therapy program. The SBML module in this pretest-posttest study included a pretest, instruction, initial posttest, and additional rounds of instruction and assessment as needed for all learners to achieve the minimum passing standard (MPS) set using the Mastery Angoff and Patient Safety methods. Outcome measures were bed mobility assessment pass rates and scores, additional student and faculty time compared with a traditional approach, and student perceptions of their self-confidence and the module. All students achieved the MPS after 3 rounds of training and assessment beyond the initial posttest. Mean Total Scores improved from 67.6% (12.9%) at pretest to 91.4% (4.8%) at mastery posttest (P < .001, Cohen's d = 1.8, 95% CI [1.4-2.1]); mean Safety Scores improved from 75.2% (16.0%) at pretest to 100.0% (0.0%) at mastery posttest (P < .001, Cohen's d = 1.5, 95% CI [1.2-1.9]). Students who did not achieve the MPS at the initial posttest (n = 30) required a mean of 1.2 hours for additional instruction and assessment. Survey results revealed an increase in student confidence (P < .001) and positive student perceptions of the module. Implementation of this SBML module was feasible and resulted in uniformly high levels of bed mobility skill acquisition. Based on rigorous learning outcomes, feasible requirements for implementation, and increased student confidence, SBML offers a promising approach for wider implementation in physical therapy education.

Development and usability testing of an online support tool to identify models and frameworks to inform implementation

BackgroundTheories, models and frameworks (TMFs) are useful when implementing, evaluating and sustaining healthcare evidence-based interventions. Yet it can be challenging to identify an appropriate TMF for an implementation project. We developed and tested the usability of an online tool to help individuals who are doing or supporting implementation practice activities to identify appropriate models and/or frameworks to inform their work.MethodsWe used methods guided by models and evidence on implementation science and user-centered design. Phases of tool development included applying findings from a scoping review of TMFs and interviews with 24 researchers/implementers on barriers and facilitators to identifying and selecting TMFs. Based on interview findings, we categorized the TMFs by aim, stage of implementation, and target level of change to inform the tool’s algorithm. We then conducted interviews with 10 end-users to test the usability of the prototype tool and administered the System Usability Scale (SUS). Usability issues were addressed and incorporated into the tool.ResultsWe developed Find TMF, an online tool consisting of 3–4 questions about the user’s implementation project. The tool’s algorithm matches key characteristics of the user’s project (aim, stage, target change level) with characteristics of different TMFs and presents a list of candidate models/frameworks. Ten individuals from Canada or Australia participated in usability testing (mean SUS score 84.5, standard deviation 11.4). Overall, participants found the tool to be simple, easy to use and visually appealing with a useful output of candidate models/frameworks to consider for an implementation project. Users wanted additional instruction and guidance on what to expect from the tool and how to use the information in the output table. Tool improvements included incorporating an overview figure outlining the tool steps and output, displaying the tool questions on a single page, and clarifying the available functions of the results page, including adding direct links to the glossary and to complementary tools.ConclusionsFind TMF is an easy-to-use online tool that may benefit individuals who support implementation practice activities by making the vast number of models and frameworks more accessible, while also supporting a consistent approach to identifying and selecting relevant TMFs.

Adapting the Cornell assessment of pediatric delirium for Swedish context: translation, cultural validation and inter-rater reliability

BackgroundPediatric delirium causes prolonged hospital stays, increased costs, and distress for children and caregivers. Currently, there is no delirium screening tool available in Sweden that has been translated, culturally validated, and tested for reliability. This study aimed to translate, culturally adapt, and assess the suitability of the Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium (CAPD) for implementation in Swedish healthcare settings.MethodsThe CAPD was translated and culturally adapted to Swedish context following the ten-step process recommended by the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Task Force for Translation and Cultural Adaptation. The Swedish CAPD was tested in the pediatric intensive care unit of Uppsala University Hospital, a tertiary hospital in Sweden. Inter-rater reliability was tested using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), with both Registered Nurses (RNs) and Assistant Nurses (ANs) conducting parallel measurements using the Swedish CAPD. A reliability score of ICC > 0.75 was considered indicative of good reliability.ResultsAfter translation of the CAPD into Swedish, 10 RNs participated in the cultural adaptation process. Issues related to word choice, education, and instructions were addressed. Wording improvements were made to ensure accurate interpretation. Supplementary training sessions were organized to strengthen users’ proficiency with the Swedish CAPD. Additional instructions were provided to enhance clarity and usability. Inter-rater reliability testing resulted in an ICC of 0.857 (95% CI: 0.708–0.930), indicating good reliability.ConclusionThis study successfully translated and culturally adapted the CAPD to align with Swedish contextual parameters. The resulting Swedish CAPD demonstrated good inter-rater reliability, establishing its viability as a tool for measuring delirium among pediatric patients in Swedish pediatric intensive care units.Trail registrationNot applicable.

Combining Statistical and Machine Learning Methods to Identify Predictors of Brazilian Students’ Proficiency in PISA 2018

Brazil’s education system lags behind international standards, with two-fifths of students scoring below the minimum level of proficiency in mathematics, science, and reading. Thus, this study combined machine learning with traditional statistics to identify the most important predictors and to interpret their effects on proficiency in the PISA 2018 mathematics, science, and reading tests. Predictors encompassed a wide range of variables, sociodemographic characteristics, teaching and learning processes, and non-cognitive skills. The outcome of the present study was proficiency in mathematics, science, and reading. PISA proficiency levels were grouped into “low proficiency” and “proficient” categories, using a classification system commonly employed in PISA reports. Using random forest analysis, a machine learning method, I compared the importance of predictors for proficiency in mathematics, science, and reading. I then adjusted multilevel logistic regression analyses to investigate the relationship between the top predictors and the outcomes. Among the top predictors for the three outcomes identified, annual household income, parents’ highest occupational status, and early childhood education and care were positively associated with proficiency in mathematics, science, and reading, while grade repetition and additional instruction were negatively associated with these outcomes. These findings urge Brazilian policymakers and educators to prioritize initiatives that strengthen early childhood programs, minimize grade repetition, and promote effective learning strategies.

Predictable and optimized single-path code for predicated processors

Single-path code is a code generation technique for real-time systems that reduces execution time variability. However, doing so can incur significant execution-time overhead and does not guarantee constant execution times. In this paper, we address the performance challenges of single-path code and solve the variability issue. We present the repetition dominance relation to identify and optimize code blocks that are always executed a fixed number of times. We show that single-path code’s instructions are uniquely easy to schedule, and we explore an extension to the Patmos architecture that allows additional instruction types in the second issue slot. Lastly, we present two techniques for ensuring that functions always perform the same number of accesses to memory, resulting in programs with constant execution time. We compare the performance of single-path code to that of statically analyzed traditional code. Our results show that single-path code’s performance is mostly competitive while outright superior in several cases. However, pathological cases of poor performance are still observed.

On-Site Physiotherapy in Emergency Department Patients Presenting with Nonspecific Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: There is a high incidence of nonspecific Low Back Pain (LBP) in patients visiting Emergency Departments (EDs), but there is a lack of knowledge regarding emergency physiotherapy for LBP. The effect of on-site physiotherapy in these patients was therefore never demonstrated. We assessed short-term outcomes, feasibility and patient satisfaction with physiotherapy in ED patients presenting with nonspecific LBP. Methods: A block-randomized, controlled, open-label trial with a follow-up of 42 days. Patients aged 18 years or older presenting to an ED with nonspecific LBP were prospectively enrolled. Both groups received the same booklet with written information on LBP management and exercises. Patients in the intervention group were given additional instructions by a certified physiotherapist. Results: We included 86 patients in the primary analysis. The median age was 40, and 40.7% were female. At day 7, the median Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) was 2 points lower in the intervention group compared to the control group, which was not statistically significant. There was no between-group difference in pain at day 7. Patients who received physiotherapy felt significantly more confident with the exercises they were taught (p = 0.004, effect size = 0.3 [95% CI 0.1 to 0.5]). Conclusions: On-site physiotherapy in ED patients presenting with nonspecific low back pain is associated with higher patient satisfaction, compared to standard of care. The effect of physiotherapy was small, with only minimal improvement in disability, but without a reduction in pain. Despite the very small effect size, physiotherapeutic interventions should be investigated in larger cohorts with an extended intervention including patient education, exercises, and other physiotherapeutic modalities.