Your search

Background: Pakistan is a densely populated South Asian country. It is facing numerous health challenges, as well as problems of the digital divide. The government of Pakistan established e-libraries as a pilot project in 2018. These libraries are functioning through community centers/public libraries in the largest province of the country. Objective: This paper examines the role of Pakistani e-libraries in creating health awareness and providing health information to the public. Methods: The qualitative research design was based on focus group discussions with the head librarians of all 13 of the 20 e-libraries contacted. Results: The findings revealed that e-libraries actively create health-related awareness and connect the public to health advisors. The e-libraries were engaged in four types of health-related activities (seminars, awareness campaigns, open health camps, and special health day celebrations) with high attendance from the public. Attendees of these programs returned to librarians with additional health-related queries. Conclusions: The study suggests a need for more liaison between the community and local healthcare institutions. This approach can make these programs more effective in helping individuals manage their health. The results of this study can serve as a useful guide for other developing nations in developing similar services. © 2024 Health Libraries Group.

This chapter calls for urgent institutional changes to address structural inequalities through advocacy and legislative action. The authors discuss macro practice methods to address racial injustice through advocacy efforts such as fostering policies eliminating anti-Asian hate and violence, advocating for nondiscriminative policies, improving language access, campaigning for narrative change, building coalitions with social justice groups, encouraging civic engagement, strengthening links with social justice organizations, and promoting policies and programs on Asian American, Native Hawai’ian, and Pacific Islander history education and awareness. Policy advocacy to protect Asian Americans against racial hate crimes is lacking but much needed. Macro social workers’ efforts can pressure policymakers to directly address anti-Asian racism and violence, provide targeted assistance, and call on national, state, and local organizations to ensure investments in culturally appropriate services to Asian American communities.

This chapter begins with a review of the history of anti-Asian racism in the United States. Beginning in the mid-19th century, Asian immigrants played a vital role in the development of the country. However, Asian Americans have faced a long legacy of exclusion and inequality, particularly during periods of economic recession, disease outbreaks, or war throughout US history. Adopting the framework of “othering,” this chapter analyzes the major events in US history related to Asian Americans, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Immigration Act of 1924, the Japanese internment camps during World War II, and the anti-Asian immigration policies adopted by the Trump administration. Through this, the authors illustrate how historic racism and xenophobia at both individual and institutional levels have operated to marginalize Asian Americans and reproduce inequality, and they demonstrate the common roots of racism that lie in White supremacy.

We measure the absolute proper motion of Andromeda III (And III) using Advanced Camera for Surveys/Wide Field Channel and WFPC2 exposures spanning an unprecedented 22 yr time baseline. The WFPC2 exposures have been processed using a deep-learning centering procedure recently developed as well as an improved astrometric calibration of the camera. The absolute proper motion zero point is given by 98 galaxies and 16 Gaia EDR3 stars. The resulting proper motion is (μ α , μ δ ) = (−10.5 ± 12.5, 47.5 ± 12.5) μas yr−1. We perform an orbit analysis of And III using two estimates of M31's mass and proper motion. We find that And III’s orbit is consistent with dynamical membership to the Great Plane of Andromeda system of satellites although with some looser alignment compared to the previous two satellites NGC 147 and NGC 185. And III is bound to M31 if M31's mass is M vir ≥ 1.5 × 1012 M ⊙.

States and districts share an obligation to provide Multilingual Learners (MLLs) with access to high quality language programs that are proven to be effective in minimizing opportunity gaps between MLLs and non-MLLs. This article reviews how local education agencies (LEAs) allocated their state-issued funding to improve MLL language programs and increase student outcomes. Findings reveal that of the total state-issued MLL funding, LEAs used 88.7% on teacher salaries and benefits, 5.1% on teacher professional development, 4.9% on language program implementation, 0% on language program evaluation, and a small percentage of funding remained unspecified. Collectively, these findings indicate that LEAs did not adhere to the state's funding policies, nor did the state follow their own policies to regulate the LEAs' expenditures. We close with a discussion on how the state can improve their function as an organizational leader and serve as a model for other stakeholders in the shared obligation of the education of MLLs.

This study developed a framework for predicting usability factors through an understanding of how cognitive traits relate to human interaction with a computer system. Specifically, this study examined the relationship of field-independence, spatial visualization, logical reasoning, and integrative reasoning to interaction process and outcome. The research hypothesis was tested through correlation to determine the relationships among variables. As a post hoc analysis, multiple regression analysis was used to examine the predictive power of four cognitive variables on interaction outcome. The results of the study emphasize the importance of considering cognitive variables as important predictors to human interaction process and outcome. © 2024 IEEE.

As the population of Aotearoa New Zealand ages, informal family carers will play an increasingly important role in caring for older adults at home. Multi-generational living arrangements are a growing trend, particularly among Māori communities, where caring for older relatives within the family home is widespread. This article uses in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Māori whānau (extended family members) caring for kaumātua (older family members) at home to explore how carers experienced care coordination in the broader care collective. The findings centred on three interconnected factors that described the collective organisation of care: (1) whānau care as normal; (2) whānau care as collective coordination; and (3) whānau carer knowledge and needs as unseen. The findings show that although whānau care of kaumātua is highly valued, ‘structural holes’ within care systems contribute to challenges in care coordination. Despite extensive whānau support for kaumātua, primary carers often felt that their knowledge, preferences and self-care needs remained unseen and not translatable to those outside the everyday care situation. Rather than assuming an artificial binary difference between ‘collective’ and ‘individually oriented’ care contexts and cultures, analysing the cultural norms surrounding whānau care-giving confirms that collective care system members face similar and different challenges to carers with smaller caring capacities. © The Author(s), 2024.

We report multi-differential measurements of strange hadron production ranging from mid- to target-rapidity in Au+Au collisions at a center-of-momentum energy per nucleon pair of sNN = 3 GeV with the STAR experiment at RHIC. KS0 meson and Λ hyperon yields are measured via their weak decay channels. Collision centrality and rapidity dependences of the transverse momentum spectra and particle ratios are presented. Particle mass and centrality dependence of the average transverse momenta of Λ and KS0 are compared with other strange particles, providing evidence of the development of hadronic rescattering in such collisions. The 4π yields of each of these strange hadrons show a consistent centrality dependence. Discussions on radial flow, the strange hadron production mechanism, and properties of the medium created in such collisions are presented together with results from hadronic transport and thermal model calculations. © The Author(s) 2024.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 ensured millions of American students had a legal right to free and appropriate physical education. Yet, there is confusion about who delivers appropriate adapted physical education (APE). This article reflects on the half century of legally defined APE and a country’s response to preparing teachers for the disability-related demands of the job. A critical perspective is offered with the hope of improving physical educational outcomes for students with disabilities.

College student mental health has been a critical concern for professional counselors. Anxiety and depressive disorders have become increasingly prevalent over the past decade. Utilizing machine learning, a subset of artificial intelligence (AI), we developed predictive models (i.e., eXtreme Gradient Boosting [XGBoost], Random Forest, Decision Tree, and Logistic Regression) to identify US college students at heightened risk of diagnosable anxiety and depressive disorders. The dataset included 61,619 students from 133 US higher education institutions and was partitioned into a 90:10 ratio for training and testing the models. We employed hyperparameter tuning and cross-validation to optimize model performance and examined multiple measures of predictive performance (e.g., area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC], accuracy, sensitivity). Results revealed strong discriminative power in our machine learning predictive models with AUC of 0.74 and 0.77, indicating current financial situation, sense of belonging on campus, disability status, and age as the top predictors of anxiety and depressive disorders. This study provides a practical tool for professional counselors to proactively identify students for anxiety and depressive disorders before these conditions escalate. Application of machine learning in counseling research provides data-driven insights that help enhance the understanding of mental health determinants, guide prevention and intervention strategies, and promote the well-being of diverse student populations through counseling.

Alice Wieland and Amy Jansen explore the intersection of how power, adverse incentives, and gender bias combine to perpetuate gender inequity in higher education.

Purpose Schools provide high priorities to offer innovative curricular and cocurricular programs, and leaders make necessary efforts to promote enablers and overcome disablers for sustaining their innovativeness. With the background of quality management and stakeholder theories, the present study examines the interplay of hindrances to quality between empowering leadership, stakeholder involvement and organizational innovativeness. Design/methodology/approach Responses of 157 American school principals collected through the Teaching and Learning International Survey 2018 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development were used and analyzed to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings Results show that empowering leadership behaviors of school principals support promoting organizational innovativeness, and involvement of stakeholders with the school activities also promotes organizational innovativeness. Interestingly, when American schools faced a high level of hindrance to providing quality education to their students, principals’ high level of empowering leadership behaviors promoted organizational innovativeness. Originality/value This is the first time in the literature that the interplay between empowering leadership, stakeholder involvement and hindrance of quality education has been examined to promote organizational innovativeness.

In the context of globalization and migration, individuals may experience language loss or first language (L1) attrition. While migrant language loss is well documented and researched, its impact on bilingual autobiographical memory remains underexplored. Existing research indicates that bilingual speakers encode memories in either their L1 or second language (L2), depending on the language context of the event. Language’s pivotal role in autobiographical memory has also been confirmed by bilingual psychotherapy research. This paper investigates whether L1 attrition can impair memories encoded in that language. Focusing on Russian-English speakers with various degrees of L1 attrition, this study examines the phenomenological characteristics of memories (vividness, emotional valence, accessibility, significance, and confidence in the event). Results from partial correlation and linear regression analyses demonstrated that language loss significantly compromises vividness and confidence, underscoring language’s integral function in maintaining bilingual autobiographical memory. © 2024 De Gruyter Mouton. All rights reserved.

With a dynamical mass of 3 M Jup, the recently discovered giant planet AF Lep b is the lowest-mass imaged planet with a direct mass measurement. Its youth and spectral type near the L/T transition make it a promising target to study the impact of clouds and atmospheric chemistry at low surface gravities. In this work, we present JWST/NIRCam imaging of AF Lep b. Across two epochs, we detect AF Lep b in F444W (4.4 μm) with signal-to-noise ratios of 9.6 and 8.7, respectively. At the planet’s separation of 320 mas during the observations, the coronagraphic throughput is ≈7%, demonstrating that NIRCam’s excellent sensitivity persists down to small separations. The F444W photometry of AF Lep b affirms the presence of disequilibrium carbon chemistry and enhanced atmospheric metallicity. These observations also place deep limits on wider-separation planets in the system, ruling out 1.1 M Jup planets beyond 15.6 au (0.″58), 1.1 M Sat planets beyond 27 au (1″), and 2.8 M Nep planets beyond 67 au (2.″5). We also present new Keck/NIRC2 imaging of AF Lep b; combining this with the two epochs of F444W photometry and previous Keck photometry provides limits on the long-term 3–5 μm variability of AF Lep b on timescales of months to years. AF Lep b is the closest-separation planet imaged with JWST to date, demonstrating that planets can be recovered well inside the nominal (50% throughput) NIRCam coronagraph inner working angle.

Nature-based education has been increasingly recognized as a socially responsible approach to nurture curiosities in the hands, heads, and hearts of children. Research in the last ten years suggests that children who attend forest preschools, as opposed to traditional preschools, demonstrate growth in all domains of early childhood development. Domains include cognitive growth, executive functioning, physical development, linguistic proficiency, and socio-emotional well-being. In addition to cultivating these areas two Waldkindergarten or forest schools, studied in this chapter nourish as additional component—connectedness, compassion, and care for nature. There has been a steady increase in nature-based preschool programs as alternative approaches to traditional, indoor classrooms. With the expansion of programs, globally, and heightened awareness around environmental issues in the Anthropocene, nature-based education is increasingly recognized for cultivating socially responsible approaches that yield sustainable practices. This chapter reports on an exploratory study that synthesized two fieldwork experiences in German Wald-kindergarten, one in the north near Denmark and one in south, near the foothills of the Alps. Through a qualitative, thematic analysis of fieldnotes of direct and partici-pant observation, interviews with facilitators and analysis of student-created artifacts, this chapter explores how time in nature can be reconceived as a space to cultivate a connectedness to nature that fosters a commitment to conservation and sustain-ability. Primary goals of this research are to identify practices that center children learning with nature and, subsequently, to reconceptualize forest school practices in contexts outside of northern Europe. This research interrogates ways in which forest schools serve as spaces to engage in work around environmental stewardship while problematizing the accessibility of nature-based programs. Whilst reflecting upon lessons from Waldkindergarten, this chapter explores how nature-based Education provides opportunities towards a sustainable future for cultivating children’s curiosities in timeless traditions. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024.

Study Objectives: Prior research suggests that insomnia may increase the risk of death. However, the potential influence of age and sex is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the association of insomnia symptoms with all-cause mortality by age and sex. Methods: This prospective cohort was drawn from the Health and Retirement Study, a survey of Americans older than 50 years and their spouses of any age from 2002–2018. Insomnia symptom scores were based on difficulties initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, waking up too early, and nonrestorative sleep. Cox proportional-hazards regression models were employed to investigate the association between insomnia symptoms and all-cause mortality stratified by age and sex. Results: A total of 33,004 participants were included with a mean age of 61.7 years and 56.8% females. Over a mean follow-up of 8.4 years, 8,935 (27.1%) deaths were recorded. After adjusting for confounding, males with insomnia symptom scores ranging from 5–8 had a 71% increased risk of death (hazard ratio = 1.71; 95% confidence interval: 1.27, 2.30) compared with their counterparts without insomnia symptoms. Similarly, males aged ≥ 60 years and females aged < 60 years with insomnia symptoms ranging from 5–8 had an increased risk of death compared with their counterparts without insomnia symptoms (hazard ratio = 1.15; 95% confidence interval: 1.02, 1.31 and hazard ratio = 1.38; 95% confidence interval: 1.00, 1.90, respectively). However, there was no increased risk of death for females aged ≥ 60 years (hazard ratio = 0.94; 95% confidence interval: 0.84, 1.06). Conclusions: These findings suggest that insomnia symptoms may serve as predictors of low life expectancy. © 2024 American Academy of Sleep Medicine. All rights reserved.

This chapter provides information about the changing definition and views of intellectual disabilities that impact both classroom placement and education programs. It describes learning characteristics of student with intellectual disabilities that are quite "normal" and predictable for them, and task analysis, a most effective special education teaching approach that demonstrates how to address those learning characteristics. © 2025 National Art Education Association. All rights reserved.

Troubleshooting is a process designed to help teachers choose lessons, analyze their language and procedures, and organize classroom space and time. When an art lesson is planned, a logical expectation is that the lesson will go pretty much as written. Troubleshooting takes the opposite approach. It expects that things will go wrong and tries to prevent or minimize potential problems. "Murphy's Law" leads us to expect that whatever can go wrong will go wrong. The troubleshooting expectation that things will go wrong is the "Murphy's Law" of lesson planning. © 2025 National Art Education Association. All rights reserved.

It is important to remember that autism spectrum disorder is a spectrum disorder that represents many individuals who have a wide and disparate range of challenges and strengths. There is an old adage that says, "If you have met one person with autism, then you have met one person with autism," for no two individuals on the spectrum will be exactly alike and present with the same strengths and challenges. This wide spectrum, or great variability within individuals on the spectrum, can be seen when we look at the wide range of outcomes for adults with ASD. Some individuals on the spectrum will be quite challenged throughout their lives and require supportive settings and many services, whereas others on the spectrum will require moderate supports during their lifetime. © 2025 National Art Education Association. All rights reserved.