Instruction Length Research Articles

Prescription Adherence Rates Across Medication Categories

Prescription adherence is a major public health challenge, as non-adherence to medication instructions can lead to poorer health outcomes and higher healthcare costs. Although prescription adherence is crucial for managing patient compliance and health outcomes, adherence rates differ greatly between medication types. The main objectives of this study were to determine prescription adherence rates across six medication types (antibiotic, cardiac, chronic health, pediatric, and psychiatric) and identify sources of variation. We searched PubMed and Web of Science databases for relevant published articles. Previous research data were selected related to prescription adherences and compliance rates were included in our analysis. Results from twenty-three previous studies were included: four to five studies per medication category to limit the influences of geographic location and difference in adherence measurement. The average prescription adherence rate for antibiotics, cardiac, chronic health, pediatrics, and psychiatric medications were 58.3%, 75.6%, 68.8%, 55.2%, and 29.2% respectively. The data found highlights the medications with the highest and lowest average adherence overall. Factors affecting adherence rates include regimen length, parental control, cognitive impairment, polypharmacy, and understanding instructions. Drug counseling has been shown to improve adherence. These findings provide a foundation for future research aimed at enhancing prescription adherence and improving patient health outcomes.

Prevalence of Occupational Voice Disorder Among Teachers of Kathmandu District, Nepal.

The objective of this research was to identify the prevalence of voice disorders among teachers in the Kathmandu District of Nepal, with an emphasis on identifying possible risk factors that may be associated with these disorders. A cross-sectional study design was used, with both quantitative and qualitative data-gathering techniques using a mixed-methods approach. Data were collected from 95 non-teachers and 194 participating teachers from different schools in Kathmandu Valley. The analysis covered self-reported voice problem prevalence, job details, and demographic data. We examined the relationships between several variables and voice issues, including gender, class size, length of instruction, and tobacco usage. Findings: Compared with nonteachers (33.7%), teachers had a considerably greater prevalence of voice issues (69.1%). Greater class size and more than ten years of teaching experience were shown to be risk factors, while female instructors reported a greater prevalence of voice issues. Additionally, it was shown that instructors' voice issues are also linked to tobacco usage. The results of this study highlight how critical it is to provide voice therapy to educators employed in the Kathmandu District, particularly those in at-risk categories such as female instructors, more experienced educators, and educators with larger class sizes. The outcomes demonstrated important impacts on teacher well-being, job satisfaction, and academic achievement. More research and intervention strategies are needed to minimize the effects of voice problems and promote a positive teaching andlearning environment.

The effectiveness of note taking through exposure to L2 input: A meta-analysis

AbstractThere has been increasing interest in the effects of note taking in second language (L2) research. However, no meta-analysis has been conducted to examine the relationship between note taking and learning through exposure to L2 input. We retrieved 28 effect sizes from 21 studies (N = 1992) to explore the overall effects of note taking as well as to examine the extent to which the effectiveness of note taking is likely to vary as a function of a set of potential moderators (i.e., learner variables, treatment variables, note-taking features, learning target, and measurement type). Results revealed that note taking had a small to medium positive overall effect on learning through exposure to L2 input (g = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.24–0.88). Subsequent moderator analyses revealed that variability in the size of note-taking effects across studies was explained by learner variables (context, region, orthographic scripts, institutional level), treatment variables (mode of input, material type), note-taking features (note-taking behavior, number of note-taking sessions, provision and type of note-taking strategy instruction, total length of instruction, opportunity to review notes), learning target, and measurement type. Based on the obtained findings, teachers are recommended to incorporate note taking in L2 classrooms. Pedagogical suggestions and directions for future research are also provided.

Reviewing How Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity Affect the Ability in Following Instructions

This literature review aims to analyze the role of individual differences in working memory capacity in following instructions based on theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence. Individual differences in working memory capacity have an impact on the encoding, and retrieval stage. In general, the output from the review stated that the performance difference between individuals relates to the experimental design and treatment, which include delivery of the instructions, presentation of objects, the length of instructions, involvement of dual tasks, and retrieval methods. In addition, the contents of instructions can be transferred into working memory space if the individuals can give a high level of attention and control the attention to suppress the distractors. Therefore, the ability to follow instructions depends on the individual's understanding of the instructions' meaning and matching them with the available space of their working memory (capacity). This review also adds value and suggestions to the need to conduct more research on the role of working memory capacity in following instructions.

The congruency effect in L2 collocational processing: The underlying mechanism and moderating factors

AbstractThe congruency effect—that is, faster and more accurate processing of congruent multiword units, has been demonstrated in multiple studies. It is still unclear, however, what its underlying mechanism is, and how congruency may interact with other factors. Using an acceptability judgement task, this study examined the congruency effect in immersive (Experiment 1) and nonimmersive (Experiment 2) L2 learners’ collocational processing while taking into account L2 collocation frequency, immersive learners’ L2 use, their length and starting age of immersion, nonimmersive learners’ length of instruction, and their L2 proficiency. The study also tested whether L1 counterparts of words in L2 collocations were activated. Nonmmersive learners showed a congruency effect in both processing speed and accuracy. In contrast, immersive learners were affected by congruency only in processing accuracy. Higher L2 collocation frequency, greater length of instruction, and higher L2 proficiency did not reduce the congruency effect, whereas longer duration of immersion improved the processing of incongruent items. An effect of L1 lexical frequency was found, an indication of L1 activation. Results were discussed in light of how L2 proficiency and experiences changed the amount of L1 influence in L2 collocational processing.

Aboutness in a second language text: A large-scale study on topic reactivation by L2 Italian learners

Objectives: The study reports adult L2 Italian learners’ and native speakers’ (NS) choices between null and overt subject pronouns in a written illustrated story. The aim of the study is to ascertain whether learners have different perceptions of the aboutness topic compared with NS. Methodology: A total of 338 adult L2 Italian learners having different L1s filled in the blanks of a written story by choosing between the null pronoun and the third-person pronoun lui “he.” Data and analysis: The outcome variable was learners’ and NS’ choices between null and overt pronominal subject. Independent variables were: “anaphora” (“null” or “pronominal”) and “position” (“intrasentential,” when the antecedent and the gap were in the same sentence, and “intersentential,” when the antecedent and the gap were in two separate sentences). Findings: When the antecedent and the gap occurred in adjacent scenes of the story separated by punctuation, L2 learners—unlike NS—tended to reactivate the overt subject pronoun. Learners’ proficiency, L1, length of instruction, and knowledge of verb morphology significantly modulated the results. Originality: Punctuation in written texts strongly affects the likelihood that L2 learners use anaphoric means to reactivate the topic. L2 learners’ perception of aboutness in discourse is less robust and more affected by topic shifts and interruptions. Implications: Null subjects in texts should be dealt with upfront in second language instruction. Syllabi should deal with the difference between the use of overt and null pronouns in discourse.

When teaching works and time helps: Noun modification in L2 English school children

AbstractThe study focuses on the interaction between length of exposure and instruction in the L2 English acquisition process of L1 Spanish school children. Two target structures involving noun premodification are targeted: noun–noun (NN) compounds and adjective–noun (AN) strings. Four groups of participants have been studied for 3 years: a group that has been exposed to a specifically designed teaching program targeting NN compounds and a group that has received the regular English instruction program which does not address this structure as part of the curriculum. Two age subgroups appear in each case. The longitudinal judgment data elicited show that performance improves in the cooperation between length of exposure and the exposure to the NN instruction program. Furthermore, it is this last issue that actually takes the lead in that the NN instruction program directly impacts on not only NN compounds but also AN strings. This points to instruction being determinant in the L2 learning process; that is, a consciously and carefully directed instruction is proven to be more effective than length of exposure itself. This study on longitudinal experimental data contributes to shed light on the factors involved in instructed L2 acquisition.

A pressure pulse recognition method based on flow-adaptive double threshold for pressure pulse telemetry

Pressure pulse telemetry as a novel and effective method of communication has received more and more attention in the field of separate layer water injection for the intelligent oilfield, and identification of the effective pulses and their positions is one of the key technologies. For the logging while drilling process, the fixed threshold method is widely used to identify the pressure pulse. However, in the process of water injection, the amplitude of pressure pulse changes with the change of flowrate controlled by process, which will lead to low recognition rate of traditional fixed threshold pressure pulse. Therefore, a pressure pulse recognition method based on flow-adaptive double threshold with fixed time window is proposed. The packet length of instructions and responses is designed to be short and fixed in order to reduce communication time and failure cost, and the fixed time window method is adopted to improve the decoding efficiency of for a frame of data. The pressure pulse recognition method based on flow-adaptive double threshold is used to identify the effective pulses and their positions to adapt to the change of pressure pulse amplitude induced by different flowrates. The first threshold which is set to fixed and lower than the pulse peak with minimum possible flowrate, is used to filter the most of noise and catch the effective pulses with little noise pulses. The second threshold which is adaptive to changes of the flowrates, is determined by average of three maximum peaks of caught pulses from the first threshold, and is used to identify the effective pulses and their positions. In the experimental well with 2000 m deep, the test results show that the error rate of pulse recognition reduce to 0.003% and communication success rate significantly increase from 50% to more than 96.5%. It means that the proposed double threshold method can be adaptive to identify effective pressure pulse under different flowrates, and then can significantly reduce the error rate of pulse recognition and improve two-way communication performance between the wellhead controller and downhole distributors.

Non-optimal processing of auxiliaries in L2 Italian: An eye-movement and acceptability judgment study

Abstract We investigated whether 68 non-native, tutored beginning L2 learners of Italian – with alphabetical and non-alphabetical L1s – discriminated between sentences containing target-like and non-target-like auxiliaries. We questioned whether learners’ choices could be informed by a grammatical rule, frequency of auxiliaries in the input or whether both grammatical and statistical knowledge could be eclipsed by processing difficulties. Eye-tracking and timed acceptability judgment data showed that – unlike native speakers – these L2 learners were unskilled readers of the target language and that their processing was still non-optimal. In particular, they did not process “core” (i. e., strongly agentive and inherently telic) and “peripheral” (i. e., less semantically specified) intransitive predicates differently, nor did they do so with “matching” and “mismatching” predicates. Frequency and transition probabilities speeded up learners’ decisions on acceptability, but did not affect response accuracy or reading patterns. Finally, recency and length of classroom instruction – unlike learners’ L1, duration of stay in Italy, and proficiency level – positively correlated with greater nativelikeness in the processing of auxiliaries. Our results indicate that beginning L2-Italian learners – as long as their processing is still non-optimal – are not sensitive to the consequences of the unaccusative/unergative split at the syntax-semantics interface.

An Improved and Efficient and Dynamic Load Balancing Approach in Cloud Computing Environments

Cloud Computing Environment (CCE) is a newly rudimentary knowledge in the IT industry. Central to these problems lies in the establishment of an active LB algorithm. The network load can be CPU load, memory limit, postponement, or system load. In the proposed algorithm, Load Balancing (LB) done by considering priority policy. An Efficient and Dynamic Load Balancing Approach in Cloud Computing (EDBA-CC) proposed, and the related algorithm executed on CloudSim (CS). A resource allocation approach that takes into account Resource Utilization (RU) would lead to better energy efficiency. The outcomes indicate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The outcomes exhibited that the EDBA-CC algorithm reduced Response Time (RT). The decreasing in RT is about 2.23 ms when the instruction length was 275 Byte, and the decreasing became more obviously with 10.12 ms for RT and 5.54 ms for RT when the instruction length was 2000 Byte.

Does domain-general auditory processing uniquely explain the outcomes of second language speech acquisition, even once cognitive and demographic variables are accounted for?

AbstractExtending the paradigm in L1 acquisition, scholars have begun to investigate whether participants’ domain-general ability to represent, encode, and integrate spectral and temporal dimensions of sounds (i.e., auditory processing) could be a potential determinant of the outcomes of post-pubertal L2 speech learning. The current study set out to test the hypothesis that auditory processing makes auniquecontribution to L2 speech acquisition, for 70 Japanese classroom learners of English with different levels of L2 proficiency when biographical backgrounds (length of instruction and immersion)andmemory abilities (working, declarative, and procedural memory) are controlled for. Auditory processing loaded onto modality-general capacities to represent and incorporate anchor stimuli (relative to target stimuli) into long-term memory in an implicit fashion, but dissociated from explicit abilities to remember, associate, and elaborate sensory information. Auditory processing explained a small-to-medium amount of variance in L2 speech learning, even after the other potentially confounding variables were statistically factored out.

The Effects of Length of Instruction on Rhythm-Reading Learning and Retention on Second-Grade Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate second-grade students’ ( N = 128) rhythm-reading achievement and retention after 5 or 10 min of weekly instruction for 3 weeks. Eight intact classes were placed into two groups. Group 1 received 5 min of rhythm-reading instruction during weekly music class, whereas Group 2 received 10 min of rhythm-reading instruction during weekly music class. Treatment lasted 3 weeks, after which students individually completed posttest I. After 2 weeks of no rhythm-reading instruction or practice, students were individually administered posttest II to measure retention. Results indicated that both groups successfully read rhythms after instruction and retained rhythm-reading skills after two additional weeks of no instruction. Between-group analysis suggested that 5 min of instructional time is equally as effective as 10 min on student achievement and retention. Implications include increased efficiency in planning and teaching, increased student engagement, and effective instructional practices in the elementary music classroom.

Sprachenwahl und Sprachkenntnisse zukünftiger Ökonomen in Finnland: Am Beispiel der Hanken School of Economics in Vaasa

This paper deals with language choice in terms of languages other than English and language skills of future economists at the Hanken School of Economics in Vaasa/Finland. German is the most frequently chosen language, followed by Spanish. With focus on German, it is investigated (i) how the future economists assess their own German skills, (ii) what objective language skills they have in German and (iii) what the relationship is between objective German skills and length of previous German language instruction. The paper shows that at the beginning of their studies at the Hanken School of Economics in Vaasa, the future economists attest themselves “no” to “very good knowledge” of German. The objective German language skills, measured by the C-test-based onSET Deutsch, typically increase from course level to course level. However, there is quite a large variation within each of the course levels German I, German II and German III. There is a tendency for objective German language skills to improve with the length of previous German language instruction. Nevertheless, it is possible that individual future economists achieve a better global language competence in German after two years of previous German language instruction than others after eight or nine years.

Teacher Written vs. Audio Feedback on Undergraduates’ Written Assignments

Due to the importance of instructor’s feedback on students’ written assignment as part of formative assessment and the relatively new way of delivering audio feedback, this case study aimed to explore instructor’s audio vs. written feedback provided on 15 pairs of undergraduates’ written tasks through Google Docs over an academic semester in a Saudi public university. The data was collected from actual feedback comments in both modes and follow-up interviews with the students. The content analysis of feedback revealed that audio feedback differed from written feedback in terms of quantity and content. Despite the potential of audio feedback revealed through the content analysis, the majority of students (16) preferred written feedback over audio feedback for its clarity, easiness, easy access to feedback and its focus on a certain issue in the assignments, whereas 14 of them preferred audio feedback. Several challenges highlighted by the students, including its length and detailed instruction and the difficulty in accessing it served as good points for several pedagogical implications for instructors in this study.

Receptive academic vocabulary knowledge and extramural English involvement – is there a correlation?

Abstract Extramural English (EE) exposure has been shown to correlate with general vocabulary knowledge. It remains uncertain, however, how academic vocabulary knowledge correlates with EE and can be explained by EE factors and demographic factors. Therefore, an academic vocabulary test, a background questionnaire, and a survey on current EE involvement were administered to 817 Swedish upper-secondary students in university-preparatory study programmes. A linear model revealed little explanation from demographic factors (age, gender, number of first languages, length of English instruction, and parental educational level) whereas EE factors (reading, listening & viewing without textual support, viewing with Swedish subtitles) accounted for 26% of the variation. Since extensive EE involvement may support the incidental learning of academic lexis, the paper suggests pre-tertiary instructional principles being guided by extramural as well as intramural incidental learning opportunities.

Young learners’ L2 English after the onset of instruction: longitudinal development of L2 proficiency and the role of individual differences

AbstractIn this study we investigated 107 young learners’ L2 English receptive vocabulary knowledge and speaking skills at two points in time, before and after the onset of instruction. We also investigated the role of several individual difference variables: out-of-school exposure to English, length of instruction, analytic reasoning ability, working memory, L1 vocabulary knowledge and prior L2 knowledge. Results show that L2 English proficiency in receptive vocabulary knowledge and speaking skills greatly improved over time and that the effects of schooling and contextual learning are largely additive. The main predictor of the children's proficiency at time 2 was their L2 prior knowledge, which they had acquired through contextual language learning before getting formal education. When considering the other variables that predicted L2 proficiency, the contribution of internal variables (L1 vocabulary size and working memory) was considerably smaller than that of external variables (out-of-school exposure and length of instruction).

A multilevel analysis of the importance of oral health instructions for preventing tooth loss: The 8020 Promotion Foundation Study of Japanese Dental Patients

BackgroundMany studies have reported risk factors for tooth loss. Oral health instruction is considered effective at improving oral health behavior and oral health. However, few studies have examined the relationship of dental clinic factors, such as the number of dental hygienists and implementation of oral health instructions, with tooth loss. Here, we conducted a multilevel analysis to clarify the dental clinic risk factors associated with tooth loss.MethodsBaseline surveys were conducted at 1216 dental clinics in 46 prefectures in Japan, and 12,399 dental patients aged 20 years and over underwent oral examinations and completed a questionnaire. The dental clinics also completed a questionnaire at baseline. A 3-year follow-up survey included 2488 patients in 585 dental clinics. Multilevel multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the risk of tooth loss at the patient and clinic levels.ResultsOf the patient variables, older age, higher mean probing pocket depth, current or past smoking, and bleeding during tooth brushing were associated with higher risks of tooth loss. Individuals with many teeth who visited dental clinics for maintenance were at significantly lower risk of tooth loss. Of the clinic variables, patients attending dental clinics with four or more dental hygienists had a significantly lower risk of tooth loss (OR 0.68, 95% CI 0.50–0.99). Patients attending dental clinics that provide oral health instructions for 20 min or more had a significantly lower risk of tooth loss (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.50–0.96).ConclusionsIn addition to individual risk factors for tooth loss, dental clinic factors such as length of oral health instruction and number of dental hygienists are associated with tooth loss. In dental clinics, ensuring sufficient time for dental hygienists to provide oral health instructions can help prevent tooth loss in dental patients.

Scaling Up Behavioral Skills Training: Effectiveness of Large-Scale and Multiskill Trainings.

We used behavioral skills training (BST) to teach multiple skills to 2 cohorts of 18 participants. BST consisted of the standard 4 components: (a) didactic instruction, (b) modeling, (c) role-play, and (d) feedback, modified to be delivered in a large-group format. All components were provided by 1 trainer, simultaneously to all participants, with peers delivering feedback during role-plays. Across 4 targeted skills (e.g., discrete-trial teaching), the average performance of Cohort 1 improved from less than 60% correct implementation in baseline to a performance of between 85% and 100% correct, across participants, following BST. We used social validity data collected from Cohort 1 to modify the length of instruction across skills for Cohort 2. BST was similarly effective for Cohort 2, with a decrease in the additional training required for trainees to demonstrate the skill in a novel role-play scenario or with a client. Implications for effectively scaling up BST are discussed.

Second language perception of English vowels by Portuguese learners: The effect of stimulus type

The present study investigated L2 English vowel perception and the effect of stimulus type on the identification of vowel segments that present difficulties for Portuguese learners. It also examined the effect of subject factors such as age of acquisition, length of formal instruction, language use and vocabulary size, on the L2 learners’ perceptual performance. Twenty-nine adult Portuguese learners of English were tested on six English vowels (/iː ɪ ɛ æ ɜː ʌ/) with two tasks, differing in stimulus type, i.e., in the lexical status of trials (real words and pseudo words) in which the target vowels were auditorily presented. The testing stimuli consisted of 72 trials with real CVC words and 72 trials with pseudo CVC words, naturally produced by two speakers of standard southern British English (SSBE). The L2 vocabulary size of the participants was measured with two receptive vocabulary size tests and the language background data, viz. age of learning, length of formal instruction and L2 use was collected with a questionnaire. Results confirmed the Portuguese learners’ difficulties in accurately categorizing the target vowels, particularly when identifying the vowel target sounds embedded in pseudo words, which suggests that L2 phonological categories may be established after lexical forms. Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between L2 language use and accurate perception of four of the target vowels, which indicates that the more frequently learners use the target language, the more accurate is their L2 English vowel perception.

Physical assessment educational programs for pharmacists and pharmacy students: A systematic review

AbstractIntroductionThe scope of pharmacy practice has evolved to include physical assessment (PA) as part of the management of drug therapy.ObjectiveTo describe programs developed to teach pharmacists/pharmacy students PA and identify factors associated with improved knowledge, skill, confidence, and utilization.MethodsA librarian‐assisted search was performed of MEDLINE, Embase, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature using the terms “pharmacist,” “student,” and “physical examination,” supplemented with manual reference searches. Studies published exclusively as abstracts were excluded. No language restrictions were applied. Extracted data included design, location, participants, methods of instruction, PA skills taught, assessment, utilization, and follow‐up.ResultsThe search yielded 635 unique citations, which were independently reviewed by two authors. Twenty‐eight articles were reviewed in full and 16 were included. Most studies were conducted in the United States or Canada. Thirteen studies enrolled pharmacy students (mainly second or third year), which focused on comprehensive PA skills or blood pressure measurement. Length of instruction ranged from a single session to a full‐year course. Generally, any type of instruction improved knowledge and confidence with PA. Students preferred pharmacist instructors to other clinicians, and live subjects to simulators/manikins. Three studies evaluated courses for practicing pharmacists, which included comprehensive PA instruction and consisted of 2‐30 contact hours. Participants' confidence with performing PA improved from precourse to postcourse surveys. One study showed improved confidence with performing PA 6 months after the course, while another study showed no improvement in confidence but increased PA use at 6 months postcourse. Utilization of PA after 6 months ranged from 49% to 66%.ConclusionsA variety of programs have been developed to teach PA skills to pharmacists/pharmacy students. Limited data suggest that sessions which included pharmacist instructors and live subjects to practice PA skills were preferred. Courses for practicing pharmacists improved confidence with performing PA, but persistent confidence and utilization at 6 months were variable.