Addressing Post-Truth in the Classroom: Towards a Critical Pedagogy

Post-truth strategies are characterized by the manipulation of facts and personal assertions of the truth for political gain. By seeding polarization, skepticism, and mistrust, post-truth presents challenges to teaching and learning within academic settings. In this paper, we explore how post-truth is articulated in higher education literature using a critical pedagogical lens. We suggest that pedagogical scholarship needs to expand its scope beyond a focus on the media antics of individual politicians in order to interrogate the reliance on dominant framings that simply define “post-truth” as circumstances where personal beliefs take precedence over established facts. We argue that the current framing of post-truth shapes the educational response to this issue, which focuses on helping students discern correct from incorrect information, as opposed to teaching students how power and knowledge are intertwined in post-truth and ways to understand and address the subsequent and potentially harmful power relations. Since post-truth strategies are enacted to restrict thoughtful reflection on dominant relations of power, we propose a critical pedagogical framework to problematize the notion of objective truth, account for the politics of exclusion, examine power relations, and contest post-truth strategies. Read the corresponding ISSOTL blog post here

The Transformative Role of Medical Wearable Devices in Healthcare: Benefits, Challenges, and Future Directions

Medical wearable devices are revolutionizing healthcare by enabling continuous monitoring, early disease detection, and improved patient engagement. This study explores the concepts, architecture, and impact of these devices, focusing on their benefits and challenges. Employing a qualitative approach, the research highlights the potential of wearables to mitigate medication errors and improve healthcare delivery. While benefits such as real-time monitoring and personalized care are evident, challenges like data inconsistency, cybersecurity risks, and interoperability remain. The findings provide actionable insights for advancing the adoption of medical wearable devices in modern healthcare

US Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter 2017: Community Report

This white paper summarizes the workshop "U.S. Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter" held at University of Maryland on March 23-25, 2017.Comment: 102 pages + reference

EVALUATION OF DIURETIC ACTIVITY OF MUSSAENDA FRONDOSA

The present study deals with the evaluation of diuretic activityof the plant Mussaenda frondossa Linn. ,using Lipschitz method. Wistar albino ratswas divided into 4 groups of 6 animals in each. Frusemide (20 mg/Kg p.o) used as a standard diuretics. Two doses of plant extract was used forthe study. In urine the volume and concentration of electrolytes was measured at the end of 24 hrs. Result shows significant increase in diureticactivity.Keywords: Mussaenda frondosa, Lipchitz method, Alcoholic extract, Diuretic activity

Vectorized Representation Dreamer (VRD): Dreaming-Assisted Multi-Agent Motion-Forecasting

For an autonomous vehicle to plan a path in its environment, it must be able to accurately forecast the trajectory of all dynamic objects in its proximity. While many traditional methods encode observations in the scene to solve this problem, there are few approaches that consider the effect of the ego vehicle's behavior on the future state of the world. In this paper, we introduce VRD, a vectorized world model-inspired approach to the multi-agent motion forecasting problem. Our method combines a traditional open-loop training regime with a novel dreamed closed-loop training pipeline that leverages a kinematic reconstruction task to imagine the trajectory of all agents, conditioned on the action of the ego vehicle. Quantitative and qualitative experiments are conducted on the Argoverse 2 multi-world forecasting evaluation dataset and the intersection drone (inD) dataset to demonstrate the performance of our proposed model. Our model achieves state-of-the-art performance on the single prediction miss rate metric on the Argoverse 2 dataset and performs on par with the leading models for the single prediction displacement metrics.Comment: Accepted for publication in IEEE Intelligent Vehicle Symposium (IV 2024

EVALUAION OF ANTI-INFLAMMATORY AND ANTI PYRETIC ACTIVITY OF ETHANOLIC LEAVES EXTRACT OF Myxopyrum smilacifolium (Wall.) Blume

ABSTRACTObjective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and antipyretic activity of ethanolic extract of Myxopyrum smilacifolium(EEMS) leaves in experimental animals.Methods: Plant material was collected from Meenadom, Kottayam district, Kerala, India, in the month of March 2014. The leaves were washed anddried under shade at room temperature. After 1-month, the leaves were powdered. The powder was weighed (50 g) and was extracted by successivesolvent extraction process using ethanol. The total yield of the ethanolic extract was 4.6%. Phytochemical screening was carried out for the detectionof the phytoconstituents by simple qualitative methods. The acute toxicity studies carried out as per OECD guidelines 423. The dosing was designedas per the acute toxicity study. The anti-inflammatory activity was performed by carrageenan and formalin induced paw edema model at two differentdoses, 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg. The antipyretic activity was performed by Brewer's yeast induced hyperpyrexia model at two different doses.Wistar rats weighing (150-200 g) of either sex were used for these studies.Results: The results of anti-inflammatory study revealed that the ethanolic leaves extract of M. smilacifolium inhibited the inflammation in carrageenanand formaline induced paw edema method. The ethanolic leaves extract of M. smilacifolium possesses a significant antipyretic effect in yeast inducedelevation of body temperature in experimental rats.Conclusion: EEMS leaves shows a dose dependent increase in the anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and immunomodulatory activities.Keywords: Ethanolic extract of Myxopyrum smilacifolium, Carrageenan, Formalin, Brewe's yeast

Compassionate nursing in challenging contexts: The importance of judgments

This article was originally published as: Peter, E., Mohammed, S., & Variath, C. (2024). Compassionate nursing in challenging contexts: The importance of judgments. Nursing ethics. https://doi.org/10.1177/09697330241272892Background: Nurses’ demonstration of compassion is an ethical and often regulatory expectation. While research has been conducted to examine the barriers and facilitators of compassion in nurses, little is known about how nurses develop and express compassion for patients who may be blamed for their health condition. Unvaccinated COVID-19 patients are an example of such patients. Research questions: How do nurses provide compassionate care for unvaccinated adults infected with COVID-19? How did the context of COVID-19 vaccination in Canada shape nurses’ relationships with unvaccinated patients?This work was supported by the Toronto COVID-19 Action Initiative

Addressing Post-Truth in the Classroom: Towards a Critical Pedagogy

Post-truth strategies are characterized by the manipulation of facts and personal assertions of the truth for political gain. By seeding polarization, skepticism, and mistrust, post-truth presents challenges to teaching and learning within academic settings. In this paper, we explore how post-truth is articulated in higher education literature using a critical pedagogical lens. We suggest that pedagogical scholarship needs to expand its scope beyond a focus on the media antics of individual politicians in order to interrogate the reliance on dominant framings that simply define “post-truth” as circumstances where personal beliefs take precedence over established facts. We argue that the current framing of post-truth shapes the educational response to this issue, which focuses on helping students discern correct from incorrect information, as opposed to teaching students how power and knowledge are intertwined in post-truth and ways to understand and address the subsequent and potentially harmful power relations. Since post-truth strategies are enacted to restrict thoughtful reflection on dominant relations of power, we propose a critical pedagogical framework to problematize the notion of objective truth, account for the politics of exclusion, examine power relations, and contest post-truth strategies

Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe