Seminar Series Research Articles

Ten Years of Tartu–Konstanz Co-operation: Joint Seminars on Private Law and Successfully Defended Doctoral Theses in the Faculty of Law of the University of Tartu

Ten years ago, the faculties of law of the University of Tartu and the University of Konstanz initiated a project of joint doctoral seminars. The first seminar took place in Tartu on 7–14 June 2010. Since then, joint seminars on private law have been held annually, alternately in Tartu/Tallinn and Konstanz. Professors and doctoral students from both universities, along with some master’s students, have given more than 200 presentations at these joint seminars. Articles have already been published on the basis of several presentations made in the seminar series. Of the doctoral students participating in the seminars, 13 have successfully defended their doctoral dissertations.

The Autophagy, Inflammation and Metabolism Center international eSymposium - an early-career investigators' seminar series during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Autophagy, Inflammation and Metabolism (AIM) Center organized a globally accessible, virtual eSymposium during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The conference included presentations from scientific leaders, as well as a career discussion panel, and provided a much-needed platform for early-career investigators (ECIs) to showcase their research in autophagy. This Perspective summarizes the science presented by the ECIs during the event and discusses the lessons learned from a virtual meeting of this kind during the pandemic. The meeting was a learning experience for all involved, and the ECI participants herein offer their thoughts on the pros and cons of virtual meetings as a modality, either as standalone or hybrid events, with a view towards the post-pandemic world.

Knowledge of school teachers regarding Asthma in Aseer region of Saudi Arabia

Background: Asthma is a leading cause of impairment, high health-care costs and poor quality of life for those who suffer from it. Asthma is the most prevalent chronic medical illness that schoolteachers must deal with in their students, impacting more than 10% of them. Teachers may be required to supervise inhaler administration and determine the necessity for additional treatment in acute attacks. Asthma prevalence varies greatly over the world, ranging from 1 to 20% for both children and adults. Methods: The data for this cross-sectional study was acquired using a specially designed questionnaire. The questionnaire includes demographic questions as well as questions about asthma awareness and knowledge. After collection of data, it was coded and entered in the SPSS ver.20 software for analyses descriptive statistics (mean standard deviation, frequencies and percentages were computed), to measure the significance differences t test and chi-square test was used at 5% level of significance. Data was collected from the teachers of Aseer region of KSA. Ethical approval was obtained from King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia. The study duration was from January-2021 to April-2021. Results: Out of a total 759 respondents, the mean (S.D.) of the respondents were 31.6(12.8). 14.2% were male while 85.8% were females. The Cronbach alpha of the questionnaire was 0.79. We have observed that age and education have a significant impact over the prevalence of Asthma awareness. Conclusion: We should train our teachers by conducting series of seminars, webinars and workshops. We will also incorporate training the trainer sessions for teaching staff to enhance their skills to deal with asthma. Key words: Asthma, diseases, teacher, knowledge, awareness

Preface PT Seminars 2020

Non-Hermitian theories that are explicitly PT-symmetric and/or quasi/pseudo-Hermitian have become the subject of an active research field for the last two decades. They constitute well-defined classical and quantum theories possessing real eigenvalue spectra and unitary time-evolution. Since the underlying concepts are generic, the general principles have been applied in essentially all areas of physics and have unravelled new theoretical insights and experimental realisations especially in optical applications.Beginning in 2003 a regular conference series entitled “Pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians in Quantum Physics” has taken place annually to bring together researchers in order to take stock of the current state of the field and to assist participants to collaborate in developing new ideas. Unfortunately, the 20th meeting in this series, which was scheduled originally for 2020 to be held in Los Alamos had to be postponed to 2022 due to the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic. To bridge the gap and to provide a platform to allow for a continued exchange of ideas and novelties a virtual seminar series via Zoom with a dedicated website (https://vphhqp.com) was organised by Andreas Fring and Francisco Correa. With currently more than 50 seminars scheduled and well over 200 registered participants, the series is still ongoing. The main motivation behind this special issue has been to allow speakers and participants in this series to present their results in a coherent written in the form of mini-reviews of certain subtopics in the field and new research results.We hope that this special issue will become a valuable reference and inspiration for a broad scientific community, experts and newcomers alike, working in mathematical and theoretical physics. Carl Bender, Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA;cmb@wuphys. wustl. edu Francisco Correa, Institute de e Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas , Universidad Austral de ChileCasilla 567, Valdivia, Chile; francisco.correa@uach.cl Andreas Fring, Department of Mathematics, City, University of London, Northampton SquareLondon EC1V 0HB, UK; a.fring@city.ac.uk

Science by Diverse Scientists: A Cal-Bridge Physics & Astronomy Seminar Series

Science by Diverse Scientists: A Cal-Bridge Physics & Astronomy Seminar Series

Early career immunology: A digital space to support early career investigators

Early career immunology: A digital space to support early career investigators

Transitions in development – an interview with Rosa Uribe

Rosa Uribe is an Assistant Professor of BioSciences at Rice University. Having established her lab in 2017, her research focusses on identifying the genetic, cellular and signalling-level mechanisms of neural crest stem cell proliferation, migration and differentiation during embryogenesis. We caught up with Rosa to find out more about her career, her opinions about mentorship and a series of virtual seminars that she co-organises.

Impact of an Education Intervention on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in a Military Base Population.

ABSTRACTBackgroundCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy is a major impediment to achieving herd immunity and overcoming the current pandemic. Our aim was to decrease the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy through an education intervention.MethodAn education intervention, consisting of a PowerPoint presentation addressing the two mRNA COVID-19 vaccine concerns/myths and a question and answer panel comprising health care providers from various specialties, was implemented to address vaccine hesitancy among personnel associated with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base through a series of virtual and in-person seminars. Participants completed a post-seminar survey as a retrospective self-assessment to identify attitudes and views surrounding vaccine hesitancy and the impact of the education intervention. Chi-squared test was used to examine relationships between categorical variables, and multiple logistic regression was used to identify risk factors for vaccine hesitancy pre- and post-seminar. All analyses were done using SPSS Statistics Version 25.0 (IBM, Armonk, NY). Institutional Review Board approval was not obtained before this study as it began as a non-research initiative and received non-research determination post hoc.ResultsFive hundred participants completed the survey. Mean age was 44.7 years with 13.4 and 86.6% medical and non-medical personnel, respectively. Nearly all (98.8%) had not received their first shot of the vaccine series. 402 (80.9%) were receptive to vaccination, and 95 (19.1%) were hesitant post-seminar. Of the 139 participants who reported they were initially hesitant after our intervention, 50 (36%) indicated that they were now receptive to the vaccine, while 89 (64%) remained hesitant. Of those 50, 48 (96%) had moderate to great amount of trust in COVID-19 vaccine information presented by physicians/other providers. Six respondents who wanted the vaccine before the intervention no longer wanted the vaccine. A medical occupation (OR = 4.85, 95% CI = 2.63-8.96, P < .001), little or no trust in COVID-19 vaccine information from physicians/other providers (OR = 19.48, 95% CI = 7.31-51.90, P < 0.001), and being age 30 or younger (OR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.02-3.2, P = 0.041) were independent predictors of vaccine hesitancy. Trust in providers was a significant factor in change of intent from vaccine hesitant to receptive post-intervention (OR 0.13, 95% CI = 0.03-0.59, P = .008). Age and occupation were not significant factors associated with change in intent.ConclusionOur education intervention was effective in reducing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in a military base population. Study limitations include applications toward other military and non-military populations, the possibility of nonresponse bias, and absence of prior validated interventions. Area for future studies includes improvement upon educational intervention, development of other effective methods, and application of intervention in other populations.

Reduction of post-operative opioid use in neonates following open congenital diaphragmatic hernia repairs: A quality improvement initiative

BackgroundA limited number of post-operative opioid reduction strategies have been implemented in the neonatal population. Given the potential neurodevelopment effects of prolonged opioid use, we created a quality improvement initiative to reduce opioids in our NICU and evaluated the intervention in our CDH population. MethodsOur opioid reduction intervention was based on standing post-operative IV acetaminophen, standardizing post-surgical sign-out between the surgical, anesthesia and NICU teams and a series of education seminars with NICU providers on post-operative pain control management. A historical control was used to perform a retrospective cohort analysis of opioid prescribing patterns in addition to a utilizing process control charts to investigate time trends in prescribing patterns. ResultsForty-five children with CDH underwent an operation were included in our investigation- 18 in our pre-intervention cohort, 6 in a roll-out cohort and 21 in our post-intervention cohort. Each cohort was clinically similar. The intervention reduced total post-operative opioid use (morphine equivalents) from 82.2 (mg/kg) to 2.9 (mg/kg) in our post-intervention group (p < 0.0001). Our maximum Neonatal Pain and Agitation Sedation Score over the first 48 post-operative hours were equivalent (p = 0.827). Safety profiles were statistically equivalent. The opioid reduction intervention reduced post-operative intubation length from 156 to 44 h (p = 0.021). ConclusionA multi-tiered intervention can decrease opioid use in post-surgical neonates with complex surgical pathology including CDH. The intervention proposed in this investigation is safe and does not increase pain or sedation scores in neonates, while lessening post-operative intubation length. Evidence levelLevel II

Establishing a Global Standard for Wearable Devices in Sport and Exercise Medicine: Perspectives from Academic and Industry Stakeholders.

Millions of consumer sport and fitness wearables (CSFWs) are used worldwide, and millions of datapoints are generated by each device. Moreover, these numbers are rapidly growing, and they contain a heterogeneity of devices, data types, and contexts for data collection. Companies and consumers would benefit from guiding standards on device quality and data formats. To address this growing need, we convened a virtual panel of industry and academic stakeholders, and this manuscript summarizes the outcomes of the discussion. Our objectives were to identify (1) key facilitators of and barriers to participation by CSFW manufacturers in guiding standards and (2) stakeholder priorities. The venues were the Yale Center for Biomedical Data Science Digital Health Monthly Seminar Series (62 participants) and the New England Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting (59 participants). In the discussion, stakeholders outlined both facilitators of (e.g., commercial return on investment in device quality, lucrative research partnerships, and transparent and multilevel evaluation of device quality) and barriers (e.g., competitive advantage conflict, lack of flexibility in previously developed devices) to participation in guiding standards. There was general agreement to adopt Keadle et al.'s standard pathway for testing devices (i.e., benchtop, laboratory, field-based, implementation) without consensus on the prioritization of these steps. Overall, there was enthusiasm not to add prescriptive or regulatory steps, but instead create a networking hub that connects companies to consumers and researchers for flexible guidance navigating the heterogeneity, multi-tiered development, dynamicity, and nebulousness of the CSFW field.

The Hotel Narrative in Turkish, Mexican, and Bengali Fiction

This webinar was presented on November 27, 2020 at the Fall 2020 Seminar Series organized by the Department of English and Humanities (DEH), University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB). The lecture was transcribed by Khadija Rubaiyat Tasmia (Supervisor, The English Zone, ULAB), Mashiur Rahaman, Vincent Dip Gomes, and Shahriyer Hossain Shetu (students of DEH). It is based on a chapter taken from Ian Almond, World Literature Decentered: Beyond the ‘West’ through Turkey, Mexico and Bengal (Routledge, 2021). The lecture may be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/125162620861384/videos/222975315894460.

Using remote seminars to teach animal behavior

AbstractIn response to the COVID‐19 crisis, numerous academic conferences and seminars were moved online. Some remote (online) seminars have the aim to be maintained permanently after the pandemic, offering weekly opportunities for scientists, postdocs, and students to learn about research and to improve global networking. Remote seminars are a good option to promote inclusion and diversity, allowing students worldwide to participate and to interact with researchers from a broad cultural and ethnic background. Capitalizing on our experience with the ongoing International Remote Seminar on Frontiers in Social Evolution (FINE), we propose four teaching tools that can be integrated into undergraduate and graduate courses and that can be adapted for use with most remote seminar series. We make recommendations for the use of: (i) Certified remote seminar attendance. (ii) Relevant articles from the primary literature. (iii) Teaching slides, and (iv) Recorded seminars. Our aims are to promote and facilitate the use of the proposed teaching tools in Animal Behavior and related courses, and to encourage other remote seminar organizers to make teaching tools available.

Open dialogue and co-production: promoting a dialogical practice culture in the co-production of teaching and learning within nurse education

PurposeThe evidence base associated with Open dialogue (OD) continues to develop. However, much of the literature associated with this “whole system philosophy” is focussed within therapeutic clinical practice. The purpose of this paper is to explore another key aspect of OD within a higher education context, the creation of “dialogical practice culture” and the application of key OD principles to enable an open, empowering ethos which permeates all aspects of teaching and learning and supports co-production.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a collective auto ethnographic approach to reflect on their experiences of developing and delivering a series of co-produced seminars within pre-registration mental health nurse education over a period of 4 years. This paper explores the data produced through this process focussing on the pedagogical impact and challenges of applying OD principles to teaching and learning practice.FindingsThe paper highlights the way in which two core principles of OD, resonate with the co-production process within teaching design and delivery. Moreover, the paper illustrates the impact that threading these principles throughout teaching practice can have: enhancing the learning environment and facilitating mutual empowerment, and thus supporting the students’ development of empowering therapeutic practice with service users. A significant theme in these reflections has been the nature of empowerment and the necessity to openly address power differentials and relationships.Originality/valueThis innovative paper is the first to explore the application of OD principles within a nurse education context; considering how they support co-production and enable an empowering culture. This exploration helps to provide a foundation for further inquiry and research.

One year of Young EFIS: achievements and future directions

One year of Young EFIS: achievements and future directions

For those we've lost

Every day on my way to lab, I pass a bulletin board tacked with 4-by-6 photos of a petite brunette with twinkling eyes and a broad smile. In one, she's celebrating her successful qualifying exam. In another, she's en pointe , arms arched gracefully above her head. It was in this spot just over 2 years ago that I last spoke to Maria, who was standing in the hallway eating her lunch. “Why don't you go sit down in the break room to eat?” I laughed as I passed by. “If I sit down, I'll fall asleep,” she answered. I walked on, concerned but telling myself she must have been tired from working long hours, as she always did. > “Maria's sudden death was a wake-up call. … I was only alone to the extent that I stayed silent.” A few weeks later, Maria passed away suddenly from a mysterious autoimmune disease. It was as though the life went out of our department. Maria had been a near-constant, vivid presence, and a bright light of welcome to everyone who entered the building. The hallways felt empty without the echo of her laughter. Her death was especially shocking because I, like many in the department, didn't even know she'd been sick. Maria was by all accounts the model student: She had received a prestigious fellowship, was about to publish two high-profile research articles, and was deeply involved in serving the community. It was only after her death that I learned Maria had spent the last weeks of her life searching for answers to unexplained symptoms. As I weighed her public accomplishments against her private hospitalizations and struggle to find a diagnosis, I felt like a hypocrite. For me, hiding the effects of my connective tissue disorder—my chronic pain, crushing fatigue, and skeletal deformities—was an art form. Summer of 2013, the classes taken during my recovery from major surgery to hide my summer “off.” Summer of 2016, another major surgery and the pain of sitting through a short course too soon after having my rib cage pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle. Fall of 2016, weeks of 7 a.m. physical therapy scheduled to avoid missing classes. Summer of 2017, sleeping through my flight to a conference. Perhaps worse than any of the physical symptoms was my sense of alienation from my classmates, who seemed to know more about backpacking across the country and pulling all-nighters in the lab than appealing denied health insurance claims or juggling doctor's appointments. I wondered whether there was a place for me in academic science. Maria's sudden death was a wake-up call. I began to reach out to fellow students, disability services, and the diversity office to discuss how to better support trainees with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and mental health conditions. We started a seminar series featuring senior scientists and clinicians with these conditions and held social events for trainees to connect over our shared experiences. Along the way, I met a classmate with a similar condition just down the hallway. As we compared notes on physical therapy techniques and whether our insurance covers compounded medications, I began to regret that I'd wasted 4 years in solitude. I was only alone to the extent that I stayed silent. I'd been so blinded by my fear of being vulnerable that I couldn't imagine the immense relief I would feel when I finally let go. I've now talked to countless students with a range of conditions and experiences. Ironically, the one feeling we all share is a deep sense of isolation. It can seem a privilege to be able to pass as nondisabled and avoid the potential consequences of disclosure, but it is also a curse when we choose to suffer in silence. In 4 more years, the graduate students in our department will know Maria only as a name on a plaque. But the community can honor Maria's legacy by taking steps to ease the burdens of those with chronic illnesses and disabilities. Include us in diversity initiatives. Simplify access to health care and insurance. Promote a climate that prioritizes health above productivity. Foster a sense of community where we feel safe to disclose our conditions. Show us that we belong in science and don't let us fall through the cracks.

University of Washington Nathan Shock Center: innovation to advance aging research.

The University of Washington Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging provides leadership and resources to support the geroscience community locally, nationally, and internationally. Services are provided through our Resource Cores and funds are available annually to support pilot projects by external investigators. Aging-related studies involving proteomics, metabolomics, invertebrate model organisms, and bioinformatics/artificial intelligence are supported by our Cores. The UW Nathan Shock Center also serves as the administrative home for a Geropathology Research Resource. In addition, the Center works in conjunction with the University of Washington Healthy Aging and Longevity Research Institute to organize and support an annual Seminar Series in the Biology of Aging, an annual 1-day Geroscience Symposium, didactic training for the Biological Mechanisms of Healthy Aging Training Program, and other strategic initiatives. Our Center also supports the American Aging Association Annual Meeting, and we have recently partnered with the American Aging Association and the JAX Aging Center to create a set of video lectures on select topics in geroscience as part of the AGE Presents Video Lecture Series.

Dialogue as therapy: the role of the expert in the ICRP Dialogues

Science communication is commonly framed as a battle with ignorance and the field of radiological protection is not exempt from this tendency. By correcting deficits in the public's understanding of science, the expert is often imagined to be able to convince the public of its objective safety ('anzen'), thereby inspiring a sense of calm ('anshin'). In the wake of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster, however, the International Commission on Radiological Protection has sought to break with this tradition by organising a series of participatory seminars in which experts engage those affected by the disaster as equals. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, this article suggests that the Dialogue seminars can be best understood using the metaphor of therapy; using it to describe the premise, form, and objectives of the Dialogues with a view to identifying good practice for future radiological protection scenarios.

Preface

It is a great honour for us to be the host of the 3rd International Conference on Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in the Tropics (FSSAT) on January 8th – 9th, 2021 at Agriculture Faculty of Hasanuddin University, Makassar City of South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. This conference is a series of international scientific seminars held by the Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Hasanuddin, Makassar, Indonesia, which has been held annually since 2017.This conference was held as a forum for exchanging information on productivist paradigm in Indonesian food policies to feed 260 million people targets the self-sufficiency of rice, sago, corn, soybean, and meat production, including the infrastructure development such as dams, irrigation channels building, and the expansion of paddy and sago fields in the Eastern Indonesia. The unintended outcomes of these efforts are the marginalization of the local food system and dispossession of the local communities from their land and food culture. As a consequence, the human-environmental relationship has changed dramatically posing calamitous disaster and slowly disappearing foodways through local wisdom in everyday life of the local community. It also brings health issues due to the excessive use of chemical agricultural inputs in production, and the increase of degenerative disease and obesity due the unhealthy practices in the consumption level.The International Conference on Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in the Tropics will be held every two years, the first in 2017, the second in 2019, and the third in 2021. The covid-19 conditions that have hit the whole world have resulted in restrictions on activities to reduce the spread of Covid-19 sufferers so that the conference model from the form of a live conference has turned into a virtual conference.The condition of the Covid-19 pandemic has raised concerns about food security throughout the world, including Indonesia, through restrictions on community activities. Several things have implications for the existence of Covid-19, including the occurrence of a very significant supply chain disruption caused by a reduction in capacity to produce food, closing transportation routes so that it will slow down the distribution of food from producers to consumers. The inability of people to consume enough healthy and nutritious food will reduce the immune system and increase disease risk. Thus ensuring an affordable food supply chain is essential during the Covid-19 outbreak. To solve this problem globally, cooperation is needed that involves scientists, academics, practitioners, professionals, governments, entrepreneurs, and communities across countries. To build a network between stakeholders, an international conference held by the Hasanuddin University Faculty of Agriculture in 2021 is important as a forum for building connectivity between researchers and/or research institutions. At this conference, a multi-disciplinary approach based on the knowledge and experience of scientists, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers will be brought together.If the meeting cannot be held virtually, then solutions in dealing with the food crisis during the Covid-19 pandemic will not find a way out and add to the length of the crisis period chain.This conference presents keynote speakers from 5 countries, namely Dr. Ir. Bayu Krisnamurthi, M.Si.from IPB University, Indonesia, Prof. Dr. Ir. Sumbangan Baja, M.Phil from Universitas Hasanuddin, Indonesia, Prof. Takuya Sugahara from Ehime Univerity, Japan, Dr. Ravindra C Joshi from CABI South-East Asia, Dr. Lau Wei Hong form University Putra Malaysia, Mr. Moh, Guo-Jhong from ICDF Taiwan. First plenary session and discussion with 2 speakers for 1 hour and the second plenary and discussion with 3 speakers for 2 hours. For participant presentations (oral presentation and video presentation) it was held in 2 sessions, each session was divided into 10 rooms. The number of participants per room was 11-14 participants with an allocation of presentations for 7 minutes/participants conducted in parallel as many as 7 parallel sessions. Discussions session were held in parallel in each parallel session with an allocation of 3 minutes per participant. Virtual FSSAT 3 implementation using the zoom meeting application by the Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Hasanuddin has which is obtained by subscription.List of COMMITTEES, EDITORS & REVIEWERS are available in this pdf.

Preface

It is a great honour for us to be the host of the 3rd International Conference of Animal Science and Technology (ICAST) 2020. This conference is a series of international scientific seminars held by the Faculty of Animal Science, Universitas Hasanuddin, Makassar, Indonesia, which has been held annually since 2018.This conference was held as a forum for exchanging information on science and technology in the field of animal science which is currently being developed, as well as to promote the latest research topics between researchers to advance the field of animal science in the 4.0 era. The theme of this conference was “Animal Production and Sustainable Agriculture for Food Security in the Tropical Environment”. This topic was raised to expected to have an impact on increasing understanding of the importance of local Indonesian livestock, which is Indonesia’s wealth that must be preserved.In connection with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the implementation of ICAST3 on November 3, 2020, at Harper Hotel Makassar city, South Sulawesi was entirely conducted in the virtual conference. The conference was held virtually, considering that most of the conference participants came from outside the island, so they could not attend offline to protect the spread of Covid-19. This conference is held regularly every year as one of the annual work programs of the Faculty of Animal Science to disseminate information on the latest research developments carried out during the past year, and if it is postponed, it will have an impact on the progress of further research developments.List of Conference Committee avaialble in the pdf.

An Exploration of the Perceived Application Preparedness of Undergraduate Students Applying for Professional School

Abstract This research study investigated the perceived application preparedness of undergraduate students preparing to apply for professional school. Perceptions of preparedness were measured before and after attending a seminar series focusing on the Centralized Application Service (CAS) portal, writing a personal statement, identifying personal strengths and weaknesses, and interview skills. Data was collected from pre-and post-surveys from undergraduate students enrolled at a small, private liberal arts university in West Tennessee. Electronic surveys were distributed to undergraduate students in a pre-health arts professional program hosted by the university before and after attending the seminar series. Data from 44 students were analyzed to determine if there was a significant impact on perceived level of preparedness before and after attending the seminar series. The data revealed that students had higher perceived application preparedness after receiving formal instruction compared to having no instruction regarding the graduate application process.