ABSTRACT
We are experiencing a serious health crisis due to COVID-19 that has a major impact on the field of education. The educational system therefore needs to be updated and innovated, with the addition of digital resources, to adapt the teaching and learning processes to students with disabilities. To meet the goal of high-quality education, teachers must have adequate digital competence to face the educational demands that are placed on them. Therefore, the purposes of this study are: to know the teachers' knowledge about digital resources to support students with disabilities (O1);at each educational stage (O2), identify the variables that have a significant impact on the acquisition of teacher competence (O3);propose a selection of useful ICT resources for each type of disability (O4). An ex post facto design was used with 1194 teachers from Andalusia (Spain). The results showed the medium-low level of the teaching staff, especially in the higher education stage. In addition, gender, motivation, attitude and having students with special needs are determining factors in the development of teacher knowledge. The results highlight the urgent need for teachers to be trained in digital resources. We hope that the range of resources proposed in this study will help teachers enhance their teaching practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
The remarkable success of messenger RNA vaccines against the ongoing coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic renews attention toward nucleic acid therapeutics. While nucleic acid therapy using unmodified DNA or RNA is the primary focus in disease treatment, there is growing need to develop nucleic acid-based small molecules owing to their potential clinical benefits as drugs in terms of cost and scalability. While small molecules targeting protein-protein interactions are known to alter the transcriptional status of a cell, they can result in a transient effect and variation of bio-efficacy among patients. Small molecules targeting DNA and/or RNA are in demand in the precision medicine approach as they have consistent bioactivity among patients. This review details the progress of sequence-specific DNA-binding pyrrole-imidazole polyamides (PIPs) in modulating the transcriptional status of target gene(s) without altering the underlying DNA sequence. Here, the different versions of PIPs are listed, and also, how conjugating them with DNA alkylating agents, epigenetic modulators, and other drugs can improve their clinical utility as targeted transcription therapeutics. Owing to their specificity, functional diversity, and limited toxicity, PIP technology holds enormous promise as frontrunner in small-molecule-based nucleic acid drugs to precisely regulate therapeutically important genes on demand and treat intractable diseases.Copyright © 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.
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Introduction. Telemedicine strategies have been broadly introducing in health services during the COVID-19 pandemic, including in care of neurological diseases. Methods. A rapid realist review was conducted using EUnetHTAs Core Model 3.0 and GRADE evidence to decision frameworks were used as frameworks to describe the ethical, legal, organizational, social and patient aspects (ELSI+) related to the use of teleneurology (TN) A scoping multistakeholder meeting helped defined the scope and research questions of the assessment. Patient representatives, clinicians, scientific society representatives with relevant experience in TN were invited and participated. Industry representatives were also present. Systematic searches for ethical, legal, organizational, social and patients related aspects were conducted. Additional manual searches contributed to contextualize these dimensions in the Spanish context. A narrative synthesis was undertaken. Results. Main results of the assessment of the ELSI+ aspects of TN were described. TN applications are diverse depending on the condition, objective of care and technology used. The implementation of TN lacks specific legal frameworks which implies legal uncertainty. TN may increase geographical accessibility to neurological care in remote areas and by reducing difficult commuting to specialized care centers. Nevertheless, accessibility is challenged by reduced access to technology, the digital divide, lack of health literacy or technologies not adapted to functional diversity. Therefore, equity is not guaranteed if it is offered as a non-voluntary basis or with no support. TN tends to be accepted by patients and carers if it has enough quality, saves travelling time and costs and does not dehumanize care as it is perceived as more flexible and convenient. Quality of TN needs an interdisciplinary team with skills to coordinate organizational aspects of the implementation which include among others, the planification of the support to patients and carers before, during and after the consultation. Health professionals may also need to learn adapted communicational and technological skills. Conclusions. The implementation of TN poses many ethical, legal, organizational, social or patient-centered challenges.
ABSTRACT
The functional diversity in Extremadura is researched by comparing the problem in the media with the norma-tive activity. It also delves into its relationship with in-formation units. The objective is to discover whether the official regulations accompany the social problems reflected in the media. To do this, we investigated the news about functional diversity published in the DOE (Official Gazette of Extremadura), as a normative me-dium, and in the HOY newspaper of Extremadura, as a global communication medium, to see their differences regarding geographical area, terminology and typol-ogy, topics, temporal evolution, and relationship with the information units;and, finally, we delve into this last aspect. The research was carried out during 2020, co-inciding with the crucial period of the health pandemic caused by COVID19, which was a handicap for all citi-zens and, especially, for people with disabilities. Among the general results, a volume of news about functional diversity is obtained, very much in favour of HOY (1344 news) to the detriment of the DOE (29 news). A slight opening towards the outside is also ob-tained, a slight use of the term "functional diversity " and a greater thematic diversity in the HOY newspaper. As for the information units, there is a very low percentage of news (40, all in the HOY, 2.91%), the most frequently mentioned information units are libraries (70%) and the most recurrent theme is "Employment " (42.5%). It con-cludes with a lack of accompaniment on disability be-tween the political regulations and the social problems reflected in the media. It also concludes with the need for greater involvement and visibility in the media of the role played by information units in relation to helping the most vulnerable groups.
ABSTRACT
The health situation resulting from Covid-19 has led to a pedagogical transformation in the context of education, taking teaching from face-to-face to telematic. Therefore, the aim was to provide percentile values of the diagnostic questionnaire and teacher training for the incorporation of ICT in students with functional diversity considering gender, years of experience, educational stage and type of island. Method: a descriptive cross-sectional study was designed with a sample of 678 teachers. The questionnaire used was called Diagnosis and teacher training for the incorporation of ICT in students with functional diversity. The Hotelling test showed significant differences for the variables sex (F= 9.915;p < 0,001), years of experience (F= 5.318;p < 0,001), educational stage (F= 7.916;p < 0,001) and type of island (F= 5.812;p < 0,001). In conclusion, this study provides updated percentiles in a population of teachers in the Canary Islands regarding the diagnosis and training for the incorporation of ICT in students with functional diversity considering gender, years of experience, educational stage and type of island. © 2022 Authors. All rights reserved.
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The Covid-19 outbreak caused transition from face-to-face teaching to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT). Due to the hastily and disorganized implementation of ERT considerable difficulties were caused for all the students. Aim of the present study was to investigate (i) parents' views of students with functional diversity regarding ERT during the Covid-19 pandemic and (ii) how their children's functional diversity affected participation in ERT. ERT proved to be an even greater challenge for those students, who faced various learning, psychological and technical problems that further hindered the learning process. In the current research, the views of 12 parents of students with functional diversity were collected with semi-structured interviews. A Modern Greek dataset of qualitative humanistic-linguistic data was created. A novel type of data analysis, combining qualitative descriptive analysis by hand and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based linguistic analysis was performed on the interview text. Results revealed (i) how those students responded to ERT, (ii) the way that their functional diversity affected their attendance on the online courses and (iii) how their parents evaluate the educational dimension of ERT along with any changes noticed in their children's psychological and emotional state. Parents' evaluations disclosed the overall negative impact of ERT on their children and presented their suggestions for meeting their children's special needs in case of ERT appliance in the future. The current research is considered significant as it investigates ERT impact on K-12 students with functional diversity during the Covid-19 pandemic, based on authentic humanistic data. Our research contributes on (i) the creation of this kind of dataset, as this particular group of students is hard to come by and their collection constitutes a significant contribution and (ii) the two-fold way data analysis methodology, which is novel, combining linguistic and qualitative processes (semantic and sentiment analysis), providing important findings.
ABSTRACT
Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) has demonstrated to provide numerous benefits, such as alleviating stress, improving patients' wellbeing or being a motivational source that could foster and facilitate psychosocial activities in people with functional diversity. In-person AAT is limited to specific times per week, is sometimes not feasible due to safety limitations, and has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper proposes the definition and design of a technological intervention that would use the human-animal bond as a motivator to improve daily activities at home for children with functional diversity that participate regularly in AAT. We present the participatory design process of the system, potential case studies as well as future lines of research and evaluation of this on-going work. This manuscript aims to demonstrate the potential of the proposed solution in scenarios where the animal could not be physically present, helping to extend the benefits of AAT beyond in-person interactions. © 2021 ACM.
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Purpose Job-related diversity is significantly different from demographic diversity, referring to diverse skills, knowledge, and perspectives. Despite the significant relevance of diversity literature, researchers have paid relatively less attention to job-related diversity dimensions like functional, educational, and tenure diversity. This study aims to analyze the scattered job-related diversity literature and identify mediating, moderating, and outcome variables, including dominant theories, methodological practices, and statistical techniques that affect performance outcomes. Design/methodology/approach This paper consolidates the job-related diversity literature and conducts a systematic review to fill the research gap. This study undertook a systematic review of 101 articles on job-related diversity published between 1991 and 2020 in academic management journals. Findings This study has synthesized several theoretical frameworks and proposed an integrative framework of job-related diversity for future research and theory development. Conclusively, this study has highlighted the gaps, advanced the knowledge in job-related diversity, and suggested future research avenues and implications. Originality/value This study is the first systematic review of job-related diversity, which acknowledges the importance of job-related diversity literature. Job-related diversity has received significant attention in the crisis-like situation during COVID-19 to develop innovative ideas and decision-making from different perspectives.
ABSTRACT
Background: the migration from face-to-face to distance learning in education due to the pandemic caused by Covid-19 has led to the transformation of learning scenarios. Objective: to analyse the level of digital competence of teachers in the Canary Islands with regard to the application of ICT to cater for diversity according to the educational stage, ownership and type of educational centre. Method: a descriptive cross-sectional study was designed with a sample of 678 teachers. The questionnaire used is called Diagnosis and teacher training for the incorporation of ICT in pupils with functional diversity. Results and conclusions: I) primary and infant school teachers II) those who work in a private centre and, III) those who work in an Enclave Classroom obtain higher scores in ICT for attending to diversity. These results are of interest for the educational context as they serve to identify the current level and design improvement proposals to favour the teaching-learning process and achieve quality education for all pupils, regardless of the educational stage, ownership and type of educational centre. Personalised training pathways or SMOOCs (Social Massive Open Online Courses) can be of great help for teacher training and, therefore, higher academic achievement of the student. © 2022, AUFOP. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: An overlooked problem in food and nutrition system analysis is assuring adequate diversity for a healthy diet. Little is known about nutrient diversity in food and nutrition systems and how it transmits to dietary diversity. Nutritional functional diversity (NFD) is a metric that describes diversity in providing nutrients from farm to market and the consumption level. The objective of this study is to determine the NFD score at different stages of the rural food and nutrition system, including household's agricultural and home production, domestic food processing, purchased food, and diet. It also aims to explore the association between NFD and nutrient adequacy, food security, and anthropometric indicators. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 321 households in 6 villages of Zahedan district. The NFD score was measured at three subsystems (production, processing, and consumption) of the food and nutrition system. Household food security, mean adequacy ratio (MAR), and anthropometrics of the household's head were measured to assess the association between NFD and food and nutrition indicators. Linear and bivariate statistical techniques were applied to study the associations between variables. RESULTS: In the rural food and nutrition system, the food purchased from the city plays the main role in the households NFD score. Their contribution to total NFD was twice that of the food items purchased from the village. The NFD score of homestead production and households food processing was found to be five times less than those of food purchased from cities. The food insecure households had significantly lower NFD scores for food purchased from the city and higher NFD scores for purchased food items from the rural market and native wild vegetable consumption. A strong and positive relationship was observed between NFD of food items purchased from the city and households'MAR. No significant association was found between the NFD score of homestead production, processing, and dependent variables, i.e. food insecurity, MAR, and household head anthropometrics. CONCLUSION: NFD score, as a relatively new metric, could help in determining diversity from farm to diet and identifying the gaps to plan appropriate interventions for improving diversity in the local food system.