Case Stories Research Articles

Lessons Learnt From The Home Office: An Autoethnographic Case Study

The Corona pandemic has certainly acted as a catalyst for technology enabled and technology enhanced learning. In this paper technology enabled learning is defined as learning activities that are supported and made possible by technology, while technology enhanced learning refers to learning activities where technology has improved the quality. To what degree, and how teaching and learning activities and meetings have been transformed depends on the actual educational orchestration before the pandemic. This case story is based on experiences from courses and collaborations at a department of computer and system science. The question that guided this study was: "What are the lessons learnt from online activities at the home office during the pandemic?". This study was carried out as an autoethnographic case study with five case units: 1) A programming course 2) A course for Bachelor's thesis writing, 3) A course for system development by internship, and 4) Staff meetings and 5) Research collaborations. Results indicate that at a department where technology enabled blended synchronous learning was the standard mode already before the pandemic, the forced changes have not been that drastic. However, the course with internship and workplace learning has really suffered. The course where students have their Bachelor's thesis supervision has been much alike, while the other units show improvements that could be classified as technology enhancement. Ensemble programming online has worked very well, staff meetings have been more focused than in face-to-face mode, and the research collaborations have been efficient and with a high number of publications. Research methods seems to have changed with more literature reviews, more of email interviews and more of focus group interviews in video conference systems. The part of research that has suffered is the one with conferences, and as an example, networking at a virtual conference has been rather poor. Finally, many home offices seem to survive the pandemic due to the high and high-quality delivery from home, with the known risk of distance workers becoming workaholics.

Case stories and moral prophylaxis in the 19th-century novel

Cet article porte sur l’exemplarité problématique des romans français du XIXe siècle mobilisant une visée prophylactique, soit des romans où l’éthique est explicitement reliée au récit d’une maladie. Exemplarité problématique dans la mesure où le comportement décrit dans la fiction n’est a priori pas le comportement à suivre en dehors de la fiction. Cette tension entre finalité romanesque et finalité éthique recoupe en outre un des enjeux majeurs auquel le roman du xixe siècle doit faire face : prouver sa capacité à produire et à transmettre un savoir en prise avec le réel, en dépit des accusations traditionnelles faisant de lui un art trompeur.

Android Application of English Learning as Learning Media for Junior High School Students

One form of technological advances in computers is a mobile device. At this time English is a very important requirement in all fields of education and work even in daily life, because English itself has become an international language where most countries use this language. However, most junior high school students often have difficulty in learning English. This research aims to create an English learning application based on the existing curriculum using Adobe Animate CC 2017 which is offline. The stages used to make the application in this study are problem analysis, problem, problem solving strategies and system design. The global system design uses UML modeling which consists of Use case Diagrams, Story Boards, Activity Diagrams, Sequence Diagrams and Flow Charts. This application makes it easier for junior high school students to learn English so that it helps make it easier for teachers to convey material and also this application considers all aspects of development, is meaningful, interesting, and functional. features after testing on several smartphone devices.

“I Have Been Carrying This Letter Around With Me Like a Talisman”: A Case Story of Narrative Therapy With a Transgender Client

This article demonstrates the practice of narrative therapy and the use of therapeutic letters with a transgender individual. Despite the growth of this practice, limited attention has been devoted to how beneficial therapeutic letters can be for transgender individuals who are in the process of coming out and transitioning. This case story aims to addresses the gaps in literature surrounding the use of therapeutic letters with transgender individuals in counseling practice. In this case story we discuss the therapeutic process of using narrative therapy. We communicate our findings through counselor-written therapeutic letters and Martha's response to the therapeutic letters. The use of therapeutic letters in counseling supported Martha's gender transition and agency to continue their gender transition.

Case Study Based Learning for System Development

The presented case study based activity supports collaboration between students. Case study based activity consists of a story of an organization and how the problem is solved by using planning strategy, coordination and using any advance system for example management information system is a subject which can be taught using the case study based activity .Outcome to analyse the problem, develop problem solving capabilities and to take appropriate decision that leads to success. The student’s role is to read and explore case study. Participate in online discussions, lead a discussion, engage in classroom discussion and present their reflections. Finally the discussion leads to idea or solution to the problem. The teacher’s role is to select the appropriate case study or story or provide case material, set up questions and explain requirements or expectations. The teacher should keep the discussion on track and make sure that all the questions are answered. Finally teacher should read or summarize the points of discussion .The teacher should prepare rubric for final grading. The paper deals with how this activity was implemented to teach management information system (MIS) subject of final year engineering study.

Translanguaging as a Strategy for Supporting Multilingual Learners’ Social Emotional Learning

In this study, two teachers of multilingual learners in the U.S. report case stories about how they implemented translanguaging approaches in support of their students’ social emotional learning. Translanguaging refers to bilinguals’ meaning-making process using their multilingual resources. In the first case story, Deborah created and utilized multilingual writing checklists in her 3rd grade classroom to encourage and support students’ multilingual writing practices. She enacted translanguaging as a collaborative space, which enabled students to shift their roles from learners to teachers, helping them to increase their confidence and collaboration. In the second case story, Walny applied translanguaging approaches to reading in his 9th grade English classroom. He utilized translanguaging to explain literary concepts, create a multilingual reading list, and send letters to families in students’ first languages, enacting translanguaging as a space for connecting the multilingual texts. His approaches enhanced his students’ engagement with the text, the teacher, and the peers. The results highlight the significance of teachers’ advocating for multilingual learners’ use of their entire linguistic repertoire for their academic success and personal growth, providing implications for language teacher education.

Kilden Performing Arts Centre

Most texts on project governance and project management portrays the organization as populated by anonymous people in abstract roles like ‘project manager’, ‘sponsor’, ‘team member’. This paper takes the contrasting position that the project organization is developed by individuals with a specter of competences, strong and weak sides and relations to other people and organizations. The storyline presents a case study from a real-life project developing a new culture institution in Norway over a period of 10 years. Data was gathered ex-post by two researchers through interviews and document studies. The paper first defines key concepts and then presents an analytical framework for the purpose of analyzing the roles in this case story. It gives new insight to the roles as project manager and project executive. The story illustrates the importance of continuity and persistence in the role as project executive. These issues are relevant in future projects given the growing size and complexity seen in projects and the focus on stakeholder value that is prominent in project literature.

Participatory Approach to Develop Evidence-Based Clinical Ethics Guidelines for the Care of COVID-19 Patients: A Mixed Method Study From Nepal.

During health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers face numerous ethical challenges while catering to the needs of patients in healthcare settings. Although the data recapitulating high-income countries ethics frameworks are available, the challenges faced by clinicians in resource-limited settings of low- and middle-income countries are not discussed widely due to a lack of baseline data or evidence. The Nepali healthcare system, which is chronically understaffed and underequipped, was severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in its capacity to manage health services and resources for needy patients, leading to ethical dilemmas and challenges during clinical practice. This study aimed to develop a standard guideline that would address syndemic ethical dilemmas during clinical care of COVID-19 patients who are unable to afford standard-of-care. A mixed method study was conducted between February and June of 2021 in 12 government designated COVID-19 treatment hospitals in central Nepal. The draft guideline was discussed among the key stakeholders in the pandemic response in Nepal. The major ethical dilemmas confronted by the study participants (50 healthcare professionals providing patient care at COVID-19 treatment hospitals) could be grouped into five major pillars of ethical clinical practice: rational allocation of medical resources, updated treatment protocols that guide clinical decisions, standard-of-care regardless of patient's economic status, effective communication among stakeholders for prompt patient care, and external factors such as political and bureaucratic interference affecting ethical practice. This living clinical ethics guideline, which has been developed based on the local evidence and case stories of frontline responders, is expected to inform the policymakers as well as the decision-makers positioned at the concerned government units. These ethics guidelines could be endorsed with revisions by the concerned regulatory authorities for the use during consequent waves of COVID-19 and other epidemics that may occur in the future. Other countries affected by the pandemic could conduct similar studies to explore ethical practices in the local clinical and public health context.

Role of Traditional Crafts in Sustainable Development and Building Community Resilience: Case Stories from India

Abstract Concepts of sustainability build on slow fashion, local production, recycling, and reuse. These principles are quite inherent in traditional crafts. The paper shares examples of how traditional crafts can support the transition into a more sustainable and resilient way of living. It shares how a quilting tradition called Kantha has been developed, refined, and transmitted to rehabilitate women refugees and has over a span of a few decades led to women’s empowerment and the promotion of sustainable fashion. It also examines the potential of developing a traditional craft-based green economy for fostering inclusive, resilient, and sustainable development. Natural fiber-based crafts for making mats and basketry based on locally sourced raw materials reflect the long-term relationships between people and their environments. The paper shares how strategies for safeguarding a fine mat weaving tradition based on a kind of water reed called Madurkathi contributed to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Qualitative Study of Mental Health Improvements with Traditional Cultural Healers in North America

Introduction Traditional cultural healers -- their methods and their results -- are often invisible to conventional medical practitioners. When confronted with a result that does not make sense, we often ignore it.ObjectivesWe wanted to understand the process that happened between people and traditional cultural healers when these people experienced substantial improvement in mental health without psychiatric treatment.MethodsWe collected 56 case stories from people who consulted traditional cultural healers instead of conventional medical practitioners for serious mental health problems. We confirmed the stories with family members and interviewed the healers as well. We used constructivist grounded theory to explore commonalities in the stories from the clients’ points of view and from the healers’ perspectives. The context is indigenous people in North America.ResultsPatients had a range of diagnoses, including psychotic disorders (12), bipolar disorder (28), and evere unipolar depression (16). Co-morbid anxiety disorders were common (22). Improvement in mental health was associated with participation in ceremonies within a community, building relationships with members of that community, engaging in prescribed daily practices endorsed by that community, with a resulting report of feeling increases in social and spiritual connectedness. The healers believed strongly that the embeddedness in community contributed to the results and that spirit beings played important roles in helping people feel better. The use of psychiatric medications was minimal.ConclusionsPsychiatry can acknowledge that people can have substantial improvements in mental health when working with traditional cultural healers outside of conventional settings. Studying these settings and results can improve conventional practice.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Avoiding Hardship, Deflecting Conflict: From Fostering to Reluctant Relatives among World-Connected Bamiléké Families (Cameroon)

In 1982, Esther Goody demonstrated the importance of child fostering for social reproduction. Why, in the 2010s and 2020s, does the idea of child fostering remain a valorized expression of “African solidarity” when so many Bamiléké simultaneously retreat—even recoil—from engaging in this practice? Bamiléké parents replace fostering, once praised for promoting resilience, with concerted cultivation. This contribution explores how changes in kinship and class formation contribute to the decline of child fostering among transnationally-connected middle-class Bamiléké in Cameroon and in several of its international diasporas. It presents two contrasting emic ideals regarding the who and the how of good parenting, employing sharply distinct notions of kinscription—or which kin should be responsible for which aspects of childrearing—and of the role of hardship in child development. Three further case stories, from the perspectives of fostered children and foster parents, illustrate exemplars that influence new norms and debates regarding child fostering, kinship obligations, and good parenting that emerged during the early 21st century. The multiplicity of ideas regarding responsible parenthood generates conflict, which many Bamiléké parents seek to avoid by becoming reluctant relatives. New orientations toward parenting demonstrate that parenting and parenthood reflect and contribute to social inequality.

Storytelling beyond body text in popular science books: a multimodal analysis

AbstractThis article examines multimodal storytelling performed outside the main body text in book-length popular science. By employing a case study approach, the study examines three kinds of visually detached stories: i) fragmentary case stories of lay experience, ii) fictional stories of prehistorical lifeworld and iii) scientists’ personal stories with everyday photography. The article shows that detached stories are digressions from the locally, or also globally, dominant ways of making meaning. These digressions can be modality shifts (from verbal to multimodal) but also more complex shifts that engage with cultural boundaries of (popular) science. Furthermore, the article complements prior studies of photographic storytelling by discussing the affordances of everyday photography in public occasions. The analytic framework combines Systemic-Functional genre studies, Social Semiotic and related models of visual design as well as approaches to factuality and fictionality in Narrative Studies. The data consists of contemporary Finnish popular science books representing the natural sciences.

Myeloproliferative neoplasms – a global view

Myeloproliferative neoplasms – a global view

Select Profiles of Indian Businessman: A Sprinkling From the Past

India has a long history of business and international trade that spans 4000 years, however, profiles of ancient businessmen are rarely available to students to help them visualize a person and environment of an earlier era. This article has short profiles of businessmen across many centuries based on ancient texts, recent findings of ancient inscriptions and other recorded history. The case stories will hopefully provide human faces to help understand business history and the unique business practices in India. The practice of 'Dana' and the hindu suggestion to businessmen to return some of the profits for the welfare of society can be seen from most profiles. The article is barely representative with numerous recent findings of inscriptions across India, Indonesia, South East Asia that refer to Indian Businessmen, however an attempt was made to capture profiles from across the timeline. The article has short introductions to Saddalputra, Ananthapindaka, Dhannavriddhi, Nagarshrestin Ribhupala, Jagat Sheth, Chatti Setti, Dhananjaya, Kaundinya, Jagdu Shah and Elelasingan.Classification-JEL: G10

Chronic appendicitis: two case reports\xa0

BackgroundChronic appendicitis is a condition unfamiliar to many physicians and is often referred to as a controversial diagnosis. This can give rise to diagnostic delay.Case presentationWe present two cases of chronic appendicitis: a Caucasian female aged 21 years and a Caucasian male aged 34 years. The patients had different clinical presentations, which led the initial investigations in very different directions—tropical infectious disease and possible malignancy, respectively. In both cases, radiological imaging was the key investigation leading to the final surprising diagnosis.ConclusionWith these two case stories, we wish to draw attention to chronic appendicitis as a possible differential diagnosis in younger patients with chronic or recurrent abdominal pain, particularly if the pain is located in the lower abdomen and is accompanied by fever.

Global Inquiry as a Form of Positive Institution Building: A Living Case Story on The Generative Power of Story-getting

In this article the authors pose a bold proposition that inquiry at the scale of the whole world is both possible and perhaps key to eclipsing seemingly irreversible problems and volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous times. They offer an ongoing case study of a mobilization of a world-wide inquiry and their experiences with the generative power of story-getting and story-sharing.

Intersectional discrimination, gender-based violence, and social participation of women with disabilities in Burkina Faso

ABSTRACT This study used in-depth interviews with a diverse sample of women with disabilities in Burkina Faso to explore how discrimination based on gender and disability intersects and influences exposure to violence, as well as the impact of such discrimination on social participation, a theme barely studied in West Africa. The study thematically analysed the narratives of 35 women with disabilities – including mental, physical, auditory and visual – (age range = 15-53), rural and urban that were collected through four focus groups and eight case stories of rape survivors. As presented in the statements of the women surveyed, the combination of stereotypes and prejudices linked to disability and unequal gender relations make these women predominantly vulnerable to gender-based violence, especially sexual violence. This increased vulnerability to sexual assault emphasises the processes of social exclusion these women experience, at all levels of society, which for most of them results in limited social participation. The findings of this study showed the need for policies related to women’s empowerment and inclusion of people with disabilities to adopt an intersectional approach, to better consider the specific issues of women with disabilities.

100 Years of Paper Seismograms from Denmark and Greenland, 1907–2008

Abstract The paper seismograms from 100 years of observations in Denmark and Greenland has since October 2021 been made available through the Danish National Archives. Five case stories illustrate the quality and variation of the seismograms, and the historical context of operation of the stations. (1) The earliest recorded earthquake in the archive is recorded at GDH station in Greenland, where the 1907 Mw 7.2 earthquake in Tajikistan is recorded on smoked paper. (2) The first Danish earthquake is a local event close to Copenhagen in 1930. (3) We have illustrated the 50 megaton nuclear explosion in Novaya Zemlya in 1961—the largest nuclear test explosion ever. (4) The M 9.2 earthquake in Alaska in 1964 recorded on several instruments at COP. (5) A local earthquake in northeast Greenland recorded both on paper on World-Wide Standard Seismographic Network instruments and digitally on a modern broadband instrument.

Kilden Performing Arts Centre

Most texts on project governance and project management portrays the organization as populated by anonymous people in abstract roles like ‘project manager’, ‘sponsor’, ‘team member’. This paper takes the contrasting position that the project organization is developed by individuals with a specter of competences, strong and weak sides and relations to other people and organizations. The storyline presents a case study from a real-life project developing a new culture institution in Norway over a period of 10 years. Data was gathered ex-post by two researchers through interviews and document studies. The paper first defines key concepts and then presents an analytical framework for the purpose of analyzing the roles in this case story. It gives new insight to the roles as project manager and project executive. The story illustrates the importance of continuity and persistence in the role as project executive. These issues are relevant in future projects given the growing size and complexity seen in projects and the focus on stakeholder value that is prominent in project literature.

Insights into internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy for public safety personnel: Exploration of client experiences during and after treatment

Canadian public safety personnel (PSP) experience high rates of mental health problems and barriers to receiving care. Internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) may help reduce barriers to care; however, there is no literature involving qualitative analyses of client feedback to describe PSP experiences with ICBT. Identifying these experiences is important because it can inform future use of ICBT with this group that has unique needs. The current study was designed to explore how clients (N = 82) experienced ICBT that had been tailored to meet their needs; specifically, the study assessed their perceptions of program impacts, what clients found helpful, and client suggestions for improvements. The ICBT course included five core lessons, client stories, and nine initial additional resources, as well as flexible frequencies (optional, once weekly, or twice weekly) and durations (8 to 16 weeks) of therapist support. A qualitative reliability thematic analysis was used to analyze client communications and feedback. Responses to a Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire administered at eight weeks post-enrollment were available for 57 clients. Client emails with therapists were also examined among all clients, including an additional 25 clients who did not complete the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire. Themes identified in the qualitative analyses were related to: reported impacts and hindering events, helpful and challenging course skills and content, helpful aspects of the course, and areas for improvement. Clients who completed the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire and those who did not reported beneficial impacts from the program, with the most commonly endorsed themes being skill development and normalizing mental health issues. Hindering events were experienced by both groups and included timeline challenges, technology challenges, and negative effects. Comments from both groups suggested that clients had more success than challenges when practicing the skills. Thought challenging was the skill most frequently identified as helpful. Clients described many aspects of the program as helpful with the most frequently endorsed themes being the course format and content, the flexible nature of the course, access to additional materials and case stories, and therapist assistance. Clients also provided suggestions for improving the course (e.g., case stories, additional resources, timelines audio and videos). Overall, client communications suggest that ICBT is accepted and perceived as beneficial among PSP. These results informed rapid improvements to the ICBT program tailored for PSP and may inform others seeking to provide digital mental health services to PSP.