Hybrid Programming Research Articles

Studies on Genetic Diversity and Principal Component Analysis in Wheat Germplasm (Triticum aestivum L.)

This study aimed to assess the potential genetic diversity among wheat genotypes by using cluster analysis and principal component analysis for selection of desired parents in hybridization programmes. The study was carried out at the Crop Research Center, Department of Agriculture, Himgiri Zee University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, during Rabi season 2021-2022 under irrigated conditions. Twenty germplasm lines of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were grown in Randomized Block Design with three replications with an objective to study the genetic variability and diversity through D2 statistics in wheat. The Analysis of variance revealed the significant differences among the genotypes for all the traits studied indicating that the presence of genetic material under the study. The clustering pattern as per Tocher’s optimization method obtained on the basis of magnitude of D2 value revealed that the twenty genotypes were grouped into five clusters. The maximum intra cluster D2 value was observed in cluster I (130.89) followed by cluster II (108.06) and cluster III (97.93). The inter cluster distance values ranged from 249.44 to 1101.59. The maximum inter cluster distance was observed between cluster II and IV (1101.59) followed by II and III (1017.07) that indicated wide divergence existed among the genotypes of these clusters. From the results obtained by Principal component analysis six principal components PC 1 to PC6, which are extracted from the original data and having latent roots greater than one thereby accounting to 84.30% of the total variation.

Unraveling the Genetic Architecture of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Using Variability, Correlation, Path analysis and Diversity Analysis: Insights for Crop Improvement Strategies

The present study aimed to assess the genetic architecture of rice through various biometrical techniques and this was achieved through a field experiment conducted during the Kharif 2022 season utilizing 23 distinct genotypes of rice. The trial was performed at the field experimentation center, Department of genetics and plant breeding, School of agriculture, Lovely Professional University. The research concluded that the highest genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation were for the number of productive tillers per plant, grain L/B ratio and grain yield per plant. Additionally, high heritability was observed for all traits except for kernel breadth. The investigation also explains high genetic advance as a percent of the mean for all traits except spikelet fertility and kernel breadth. Grain yield per plant had a significant positive genotypic correlation with the number of productive tillers per plant, filled grains per panicle, and total number of grains. Path analysis revealed that kernel L/B ratio, kernel length, filled grains per panicle, total number of grains, and number of productive tillers per plant had the maximum positive direct effects. The study suggests that selection based on these traits could be more effective in improving rice yield. The germplasms falling in different clusters with high mean for grain yield and other component characters can be utilized for hybridization programme to obtain elite segregants.

Comparing targeted intervention modalities for high conflict co‐parents: A quasi‐experimental study

AbstractHigh conflict co‐parents engage in recurrent litigation that significantly strains the court system and exacerbates their conflict. Given barriers to their engagement in service delivery (e.g., level of conflict, transportation, child care), it is vital to evaluate targeted interventions and to examine different intervention modalities (e.g., online, hybrid). This study compared court involvement and rates of parental agreement among 178 high conflict cases that received a multi‐component intervention, either in‐person or in a hybrid version. Results demonstrated no significant differences between groups in the change in number of court negotiations, child‐related issues, or court services from before to after‐intervention completion or in the proportion of parenting cases who reached an agreement. Both versions demonstrated significant reductions in parents' court involvement from before to after‐intervention completion. These findings suggest the need for future research to evaluate the comparative efficacy of hybrid programs and in‐person programs for high conflict co‐parents with greater methodological rigor in light of the current study's findings and limitations.

The Implementation of Social Work Hybrid Program in Medical Mission Group College of General Santos City, Incorporated: Basis for Curriculum Development Plan

The Implementation of Social Work Hybrid Program in Medical Mission Group College of General Santos City, Incorporated: Basis for Curriculum Development Plan

Current Breeding Approaches in Pearl Millet to Enhance the Nutritional Quality

Pearl millet is an important millet crop, as it is a powerhouse of nutrition with capability to grow at harsh climatic conditions. It is able to overcome sudden climate changes and other natural disasters which can create food security problem by raising the price of foods there by reduce the availability of food materials. Pearl millet can be an alternative nutritious crop for the poor men which provide enough nutrition for active and healthy life. It is cheap source of nutrition when compared to other major cereal crops. While having its nutrition and health benefits, utilization of this crop is restricted due to lack of knowledge and poor keeping quality.
 Different breeding strategies like biofortification breeding, making of synthetic and composites, hybridization techniques by using A,B,R lines, Genomics, Speed breeding are frequently utilized in worldwide. Different improved lines with enhanced zinc and iron content may be used under hybridization programme to overcome the problem of low zinc and iron varieties. Therefore, the aim of this review is to provide the information about nutritional profile, health benefits, biofortification process, current breeding approaches and future prospects.

Determination of Drought Tolerance Indices as Selection Criteria of Rice Genotypes under Water Deficit Conditions in Egypt

The development of rice genotypes with impressive tolerance to abiotic stress is one of the primary objectives of rice breeding programs. The current study was carried out to assess the capability of different indices to identify rice genotypes that are drought-tolerant under Egyptian conditions during the two growing seasons 2018 and 2019. Thirteen drought tolerance indices were calculated using the grain yield of twenty rice genotypes. According to the combined analysis of variance for grain yield, there were highly significant differences between genotypes (G), irrigation regimes (I), and their interactions. All drought tolerance indices, as well as grain yields under non-stress and stress conditions (Yp and Ys), exhibited significant variations among genotypes. For Yp, Ys, and all indices assessed, estimates of broad sense heritability (h2) and genetic advance as a percentage of mean (GAM%) were high. Using mean performances, drought tolerance indices, and multivariate analysis, the genotypes Giza 179, Sakha 104, IET 1444, and GZ 6296-12-1-2-1 were superior genotypes under both stress and non-stress conditions, as were the genotypes Sakha 107, IRAT 170, IR 68552-55-3-2, WAB 56-104, IRGA 318-11-6-2-6, and NERICA -4 under stress conditions. Hence, it was suggested that they can be utilized as parents in hybridization programs that aim to improve the drought tolerance of other rice genotypes in Egypt. Furthermore, mean productivity index (MP), geometric mean productivity (GMP), stress tolerance index (STI), harmonic mean (HM), and yield index (YI) were the tolerance indices that can be classified as better predictors of drought tolerance considering the yield potentials of the genotypes.

Morpho-nutritional status of micronutrient efficient wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes under changing environments.

In India, where cereal-based meals make up the majority of the daily diet, bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a key grain crop. Micronutrient deficiencies are a result of the lack of a diverse food culture in the nation. Genotypes of bread wheat that have been biofortified might be introduced to address this. It is anticipated that more information on the genotype x year interaction of these nutrients in grain will help us better understand the size of this interaction and perhaps even identify more stable genotypes for this attribute. Year revealed divergent responses to grain iron and zinc. Compared to zinc, iron showed lowest variation across year. Maximum temperature was the major determinant for the four traits. Iron is also significant correlation with zinc. Among the total fifty-two genotype, HP-06, HP-22, HP-24, HP-25, HP-33, HP-44, and HP-45 were found superior for zinc and iron content. These genotypes with high levels of zinc and iron can be used in a hybridization programme to further crop improvement. Wide-scale cultivation of the chosen genotype with high zinc and iron content in the agro-climatic conditions of Jammu will work with the region's current cropping systems.

Genetic Analyses of Mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] Breeding Traits for Selecting Superior Genotype(s) Using Multivariate and Multi-Traits Indexing Approaches.

Mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] is an important food, feed, and cash crop in rice-based agricultural ecosystems in Southeast Asia and other continents. It has the potential to enhance livelihoods due to its palatability, nutritional content, and digestibility. We evaluated 166 diverse mungbean genotypes in two seasons using multivariate and multi-traits index approaches to identify superior genotypes. The total Shannon diversity index (SDI) for qualitative traits ranged from moderate for terminal leaflet shape (0.592) to high for seed colour (1.279). The analysis of variances (ANOVA) indicated a highly significant difference across the genotypes for most of the studied traits. Descriptive analyses showed high diversity among genotypes for all morphological traits. Six components with eigen values larger than one contributed 76.50% of the variability in the principal component analysis (PCA). The first three PCs accounted for the maximum 29.90%, 15.70%, and 11.20% of the total variances, respectively. Yield per plant, pod weight, hundred seed weight, pod length, days to maturity, pods per plant, harvest index, biological yield per plant, and pod per cluster contributed more to PC1 and PC2 and showed a positive association and positive direct effect on seed yield. The genotypes were grouped into seven clusters with the maximum in cluster II (34) and the minimum in cluster VII (10) along with a range of intra-cluster and inter-cluster distances of 5.15 (cluster II) to 3.60 (cluster VII) and 9.53 (between clusters II and VI) to 4.88 (clusters I and VII), suggesting extreme divergence and the possibility for use in hybridization and selection. Cluster III showed the highest yield and yield-related traits. Yield per plant positively and significantly correlated with pod traits and hundred seed weight. Depending on the multi-trait stability index (MTSI), clusters I, III, and VII might be utilized as parents in the hybridization program to generate high-yielding, disease-resistant, and small-seeded mungbean. Based on all multivariate-approaches, G45, G5, G22, G55, G143, G144, G87, G138, G110, G133, and G120 may be considered as the best parents for further breeding programs.

Implementing an interprofessional palliative care education program to speech-language therapy and dietetic students

ABSTRACT Palliative care education for allied health professionals has received minimal research attention. This longitudinal study followed the development of an education program for speech-language therapy (SLT) and dietetic (DT) students. The project comprised three stages. In Stage I, consenting SLT and DT graduates (n = 9) were interviewed 6 months after graduation exploring preparedness for working in palliative care. Interviews were transcribed, and topics were extracted through content analysis. In Stage II, a new palliative care curriculum was developed using the extant literature and gaps reported in Stage I. In Stage III, we implemented and evaluated the new curriculum. Students were surveyed before (n = 68) and after (n = 42) the new program and at 6-month post-graduation (n = 15) to capture student-reported changes in knowledge and confidence in palliative care. In Stage I, 10 topics were developed covering knowledge, roles, team, family-focused care, and feelings. In Stage II, a hybrid program was developed including e-learning modules, didactic lectures, and a simulated learning experience. In Stage III, student feedback demonstrated positive shifts in knowledge and confidence ratings from medians 3–6 to 5–8 (1 = none; 10 = excellent) across all domains. Gains in knowledge and confidence were consistently higher at 6-month post-graduation for final survey respondents. Mixed modality interprofessional palliative care education for allied health professionals has merit in improving knowledge, confidence, and perceived preparedness for practice.

Hybrid Cardiac Telerehabilitation After Acute Coronary Syndrome: Self-selection Predictors and Outcomes.

To evaluate the effectiveness of a hybrid cardiac telerehabilitation (HCTR) program after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) on patient quality of life (QoL) and physical activity indices throughout phases 2-3 and establish predictors for hybrid program self-selection. This single-centre longitudinal retrospective study included patients who attended a cardiac rehabilitation program (CRP) between 2018-2021. Patients self-selected between two groups: Group 1 - conventional CRP (CCRP); Group 2 - HCTR. Baseline characteristics were registered. EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) were applied at three times: T0 - phase 2 onset; T1 - phase 3 onset; T2 - 3 months after T1. 59 patients participated (Group 1 - 27; Group 2 - 32). We found significant between-group differences regarding occupation (p=0.003). Diabetic patients were less likely to self-select into HCTR (OR=0.21; p<0.05). EQ-5D visual analogue scale and IPAQ result significantly improved between T0-T2 only for HCTR (p=0.001; p=0.021). HCTR was superior to CCRP on physical activity indices and QoL of ACS patients.

Biochemical and SSR based molecular characterization of elite rice varieties for straw lignocellulose.

Lignocellulosic biomass from rice straw possesses enormous potential in generating bioenergy thereby reducing the dependence of human on non-renewable fuel sources. Developing rice varieties of such calibre necessitates biochemical characterization as well as assessing the presence of genetic diversity among the rice genotypes with respect to cellulose content. Forty-three elite rice genotypes were selected for biochemical characterization and SSR marker-based genetic fingerprinting. For genotyping, 13 cellulose synthase specific polymorphic markers were used. The diversity analysis was performed using TASSEL 5.0 and GenAlE × 6.51b2, software program. Of the 43 rice varieties, CR-Dhan-601, CR-Dhan-1014, Mahanadi, Jagabandhu, Gouri, Samanta and Chandrama were found to possess desirable lignocellulosic composition with respect to harnessing green fuels. The marker OsCESA-1.3 expressed the highest PIC (0.640), while the marker OsCESA-6.3 of lowest PIC (0.128). A moderate average estimate (0.367) of PIC was observed under current set of genotypes and marker system. The dendrogram analysis grouped the rice genotypes into two principal clusters i.e., cluster I and II. Cluster-II is monogenetic, while cluster-I is having 42 genotypes. The moderate level of both PIC and H average estimates indicate the narrow genetic bases of the germplasms. The varieties falling under different clusters possessing desirable lignocellulosic composition can be used in a hybridization programme to develop bioenergy efficient varieties. The promising varietal combinations that can be used as parents for developing bioenergy efficient genotypes are Kanchan / Gobinda, Mahanadi / Ramachandi, Mahanadi / Rambha, Mahanadi / Manika, Rambha / Manika, Rambha / Indravati and CR-Dhan-601 / Manika as they offer an advantage of higher cellulose accumulation. This study helped in identification of suitable dual purpose rice varieties for biofuel production without compromising food security.

EVALUATION OF INTERSPECIFIC WHEAT HYBRIDS (T. DURUM × T. AESTIVUM) FOR SPIKE-RELATED TRAITS

The presented study analyzed the inheritance via heterosis of interspecific F1 hybrids between durum and bread wheat over better parents and ratios of dominance for spike-related traits affecting their productivity and transmission to future segregating populations. The research transpired in the crop seasons of 2017–-2019 at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnologies, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Baku, Azerbaijan. The hybridization program used eight durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf) genotypes, i.e., Shark, Karabagh, Barakatli-95, Tartar, Garagilciıg-2, Vugar, Mirbashir- 50, and Shiraslan-23, and 13 bread wheat (T. aestivum L.) cultivars, viz., Mirbashir-128, Kyrmyzygul-1, Gobustan, Layaqatli, Kyzyl Bughda, Gunashli, Taleh-38, Sheki-1, Murov, Nurlu-99, Aran, and two foreign cultivars Bezostaya-1 (Russia) and Dagdash (Turkey) to generate 24 interspecific F1 hybrids. Studying the heterosis over better parents and degree of dominance in these interspecific F1 hybrids compared their performance with parental genotypes for spike-related traits, i.e., spike length, spikelets per spike, grains per spike, and grain weight per spike. In the F1 interspecific hybrids’ evaluation, the recorded desirable positive heterosis over better parents and dominance ratios appeared in cross combinations, i.e., Barakatli-95 × Gobustan, Karabagh × Mirbashir-128, Karabagh × Shark, Sheki-1 × Gobustan, Murov × Daghdash, Nurlu-99 × Layaqatli, Gobustan × Sheki-1, and Mirbashir-50 × Shiraslan-23 for spike-related traits. However, the F1 hybrid Garabagh × Gobustan revealed negative heterosis and depression for yield-related traits.

Effectiveness of a Training Program for Parents of Toddlers with or at Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate a hospital-provided hybrid parental support program designed to help parents implement routine interventions for their toddlers under 34 months, with or at risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).Methods: An experimental group including 15 pairs of toddlers and their parents received eight weekly sessions, while a control group including nine pairs received no sessions. Toddlers’ joint attention, autism-related behaviors, and adaptive behaviors, as well as parenting stress and parenting efficacy, were compared between baseline and 8 weeks later. Results: The toddlers in the experimental group showed significant improvement in their joint attention scores on the Early Social Communication Scales (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt;&lt;0.01) and the Korean-Childhood Autism Rating Scale scores (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt;&lt;0.01). However, statistically significant differences were not found in the adaptive behavior composite scores of the Korean Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-II and total behavior problem scores of the Korean version of the Child Behavior Checklist. Parenting efficacy in the experimental group showed significant improvement (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt;&lt;0.05). Parenting stress increased in the experimental group, but the difference was not significant. Additionally, parents showed a statistically significant between-group difference in parenting efficacy (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt;&lt;0.05). Conclusion: A hospital-provided hybrid program affected the development of toddlers with ASD and parents’ implementation of interventions. It is significant that an online platform was used to provide individualized support for families to continue practicing the interventions and that the effectiveness of this program was demonstrated. This intervention can be considered as an efficient and sustainable alternative system to support toddlers with ASD and their families.

Heterogeneous acceleration algorithms for shallow cumulus convection scheme over GPU clusters

The physical process of atmospheric cumulus convection plays a crucial role in climate modeling, and its complex computational process severely restricts the development of high-resolution climate models. Accelerating the cumulus convective process calculation in climate models is a significant challenge. Traditional CPU-accelerated computing is increasingly unable to meet the growing demand for computing resources from high-resolution climate models. Therefore, developing an efficient cumulus convection scheme is quite valuable and necessary. In response to this demand, this paper selects the University of Washington shallow cumulus (UWshcu) model as the research object and proposes its parallel algorithms suitable for large-scale, heterogeneous, high-performance computing systems: (1) the single GPU acceleration algorithm based on CUDA C, namely GPU-UWshcu; (2) the multi-NVIDIA GPUs acceleration algorithm based on the MPI+CUDA hybrid programming model, namely CGPUs-UWshcu; (3) the multi-AMD GPUs acceleration algorithm based on MPI+HIP, namely HGPUs-UWshcu; (4) the multiple CPUs+GPUs acceleration algorithm based on MPI+OpenMP+HIP, namely MOH-UWshcu. Experimental results show that these algorithms are efficient and have good scalability. GPU-UWshcu achieves a speedup of 74.39× on a single Tesla V100 GPU compared with the serial algorithm running on an Intel Xeon E5-2680 v2 CPU core, and CGPUs-UWshcu achieves a 151.22× speedup on 16 Tesla V100 GPUs compared to a single Intel Xeon E5-2630 v4 CPU (10 cores). On the ORISE supercomputer, HGPUs-UWshcu uses 1024 AMD GPUs to achieve a 664.65× speedup compared to a single CPU (32 cores), with a parallel efficiency of 68.91% compared to using 32 GPUs. Compared to using the same number of CPU cores, MOH-UWshcu uses 8192 CPU cores+1024 GPUs to achieve a speedup of 4.98×, with 55.22 TFLOPS in double precision.

Multivariate analysis in pearl millet parental lines for diversity estimation and association study of yield contributing traits for genetic improvement of hybrids

Sixty parental lines of pearl millet containing R and B lines were evaluated at ICAR-AICRP on Pearl millet, Mandor, Rajasthan during Kharif-2020 to determine the extent of genetic diversity and association among yield and yield contributing traits. Multivariate techniques such as Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis were used to analyze the data. The results of PCA revealed four principal components with eigen values greater than one, explaining 33.53%, 18.51%, 14.06% and 8.49% of the total variability, respectively, with a cumulative effect of 74.59%. The study identified the traits such as number of productive tillers, dry fodder yield and plant height as excellent selection indicators that exhibit positive loading toward genetic diversity. Cluster analysis sorted all the parental lines into seven distinct clusters, with cluster VII having the highest number of lines followed by cluster III due to similar ancestry of parental lines. The parental lines J-2591, PPMI-1267 and RIB-109-120-S/19, RIB 3135-18, ICMB 95222, ICMB 94555, ICMB 04999, ICMB 93333 and ICMB 97111 display diversity in both cluster and PCA analyses, indicating the utilization of these lines for hybridization programme to harness heterosis and to select superior segregants in pearl millet.

Evaluation of Sodium Azide as a Chemical Mutagen in Developing Cold-Tolerant Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) Lines

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is an allotetraploid grain crop belonging to the Amaranthaceae family. With a nutritionally well-balanced nature and rich oil, protein, vitamin, carbohydrate, and amino acid content, it has various health benefits. Hybridization programs to induce genetic variation are difficult processes in quinoa plants; however, the introduction of variations through mutation to obtain promising genotypes is much easier. In this research, quinoa cultivar Atlas seeds were exposed to different doses and application durations of sodium azide (NaN3) were cultivated in pots. The present findings revealed distinctive differences in all studied traits between native and mutant plants. NaN3 mutagenesis caused genetic variations that were categorized based on studied traits and RAPD data, which led to two distinct groups during M2. It was noted that 2 mM + 3 h NaN3 treatments had the greatest effects on genetic variations and germination parameters. Present findings were also confirmed by molecular analysis. This research will provide new insights into molecular breeding programs to be conducted to improve present quinoa genotypes and produce better genotypes.

Genetic diversity analysis in sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)

In the present investigation, 70 genotypes of sesame were characterized for 12 morphological and 14 quantitative characters and subjected to genetic divergence (UPGMA hierarchial clustering) analysis. It revealed that a considerable amount of genetic variability was exhibited for majority of the morphological traits except for locule number per capsule, capsule number per leaf axil and capsule shape. In divergence analysis for both morphological and quantitative characters, 70 genotypes were grouped into seven clusters at the genetic distance of 0.5 using Ward’s minimum variance method and Gower’s method of genetic distance. Selection of the genotypes present in different clusters having more genetic distance, preferably belonging to different geographical origin may result in more heterotic effects in the hybridization programme. Good recombinants can be obtained by mating between clusters I and VII for genotypes viz., GJT-5, RT-46 with TMV-3, VRI-3, Paiyur 1 as they have maximum genetic distance between them. Most of the characters recorded high mean values in cluster VII. Hence, for improvement of these traits, the genotypes present in cluster VII could be exploited as parents. Keywords: Sesame, Diversity, Cluster, UPGMA

Principal component and cluster analyses for assessing agro-morphological diversity in rice

Forty-five rice genotypes were evaluated for determining the pattern of variation and relationship among 14 yield contributing traits. Four principal components (PCs) exhibited eigen values &gt;1.0 and explained about 79.5 % of the total phenotypic variability. From rotated component matrix it has been observed that the highest positive eigen vector was taken by secondary branches (0.945), followed by total spikelet number (0.945), fertile spikelet number (0.889), primary branches (0.676) and harvest index (0.632) in PC1, indicating the major effects in the overall variation among the genotypes. Seven groups were formed after cluster analysis. Cluster I had lowest average for days to 50% flowering, Cluster II had highest mean value for harvest index, Cluster III had highest mean for flag leaf area, test weight, and straw and grain yield per plant, and Cluster V had highest mean value for primary branches, total spikelet number, fertile spikelet number and fertility %. So, desirable genotypes fromdifferent cluster can be selected and hybridization programme may be initiated to utilize heterosis in F1 generation and wide spectrum of recombinants in segregating generations for selection of promising segregants.

Multivariate analysis for evaluation of indigenous rice (Oryza sativa L.) accessions collected from Madhya Pradesh

Eighty indigenous rice genotypes were evaluated for twenty-nine quantitative and quality traits, planted in RCBD with three replications. The data on different characters were analyzed through Mahalanobis' generalized distance D2 (1936) and Principal Component Analysis for estimating genetic diversity and identification of superior rice genotypes. On the basis of genetic distance the 80 genotypes were grouped into 18 clusters following Tocher's method. Among them, five clusters contain more than one genotype, while thirteen clusters contain single genotype. The genotypes of cluster VIII and IX showed a higher (19816.1) inter cluster distance followed by cluster IV and VIII (12414.7). Cluster V has been discovered to have the largest intra-cluster distance. In order to increase the genetic diversity of rice, genotypes from these clusters may be crossed. On the basis of PCA findings, among all genotypes contributing their presence in more than one PC with high PC score only five genotypes viz., Biranjphool Shivram, Jeera Phool, Basmati Purani, Kardhana Baldev and Kailari Ram Madan confine with favourable yield as well as quality associated PCs, and had excellent remark for both the traits. These genotypes might be utilized in hybridization programme for the transfer of good yield as well as good quality traits in the recipient rice genotypes for the development of promising rice cultivars.

Hybrid-Flexible Classroom Design in the Physical Therapist Classroom.

Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) education has traditionally been delivered in a face-to-face format. However, alternative educational models are on the rise with the proliferation of hybrid programs. Although hybrid education may benefit students in unique ways, many students prefer the personal interaction afforded by a face-to-face format. An alternative model, Hybrid-Flexible (HyFlex), allows students to have the benefits of a hybrid education while allowing for face-to-face interactions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the application of an alternative educational method-HyFlex-in the DPT classroom. In a HyFlex model, students can choose to attend each class period in person, synchronously online, or asynchronously. Although previous research has found that hybrid programs have equivalent performance compared with traditional style, there is a paucity of published research on the effectiveness of HyFlex in the DPT classroom. Thirty-six students (n = 26 female students) enrolled in a first-year DPT kinesiology course participated in this study. Students chose which method of engagement they preferred, and attendance choice was recorded. Students were categorized into synchronous engagement, partial asynchronous engagement, or asynchronous engagement groups. Quantitatively, grades for quizzes, tests, and the final examination were recorded and compared across the groups. Qualitatively, the students filled out a survey asking about their experience, and answers were assessed using a qualitative descriptive approach. Quantitative data analysis revealed no differences between the groups in academic performance. Qualitative data revealed that students felt the HyFlex model allowed for better organization, flexibility, and reduced stress. However, there were concerns about the social impact, academic loss, decreased motivation, and technological issues. This study describes how a HyFlex model can be implemented in a DPT classroom that allows for greater flexibility and reports of improved stress reduction with no academic loss.