scholarly journals A Reading Tutor for Low-Literacy Adults

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-6
Author(s):  
Sarah Amaneddine ◽  
Tyler Heise ◽  
Jill Zheng ◽  
William Wong ◽  
Shuonan Pei ◽  
...  

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the mean proficiency in literacy among adults in the US and Canada is at Level 2. Adults at this level cannot process dense texts, eliminate irrelevant information, perform multi-step operations, or evaluate the reliability of a source. The Reading Tutor is a website that was created to help low-literacy adults improve their English. It will be free to use the website that is personalized to the literacy level of every user. Creating a website allows people to increase their literacy levels without facing the stigma that comes with attending a class in person. Adults are inclined to improve their English because it often affects their career potential, socio-economic status, and health. The Reading Tutor has two major components: the passages and the scenarios. Passages are stories that the user can read and answer questions about. Scenarios are plots with questions that the user must answer to move on. In recent work, the information for each scenario was organized into spreadsheets to simplify the process of entering data into the code.  The system architecture consists of HTML, CSS, Javascript, MySQL, Python, and Django. The newest development in this project was the improvement of the user intake experience. Before starting the passages and scenarios, the website collects information from each adult. The user "interests" pages are the latest additions to the site and these pages ask about the user’s hobbies. That data will then be used to incorporate their interests into later questions. It was important to add this feature to the website because relevance is a motivator for the user demographic. The next steps for the website are to log the user’s interests into the database. Future enhancements also include the creation of more scenarios to accommodate to the different user interests.  


2015 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 86-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Doležalová ◽  
Josef Zemek ◽  
Luboš Tuček

Introduction: Cellulitis remains a very serious disease even today. Mortality, which varied between 10–40%, has been reduced owing to the standard securing of airway patency and use of an appropriate surgical treatment approach. Materials and methods: A total of 195 patients were hospitalised for cellulitis at the University Hospital in Hradec Králové during 2007–2011. The following parameters were evaluated: age, gender, dependence of incidence of the disease on the season of the year, frequency of attacks of the particular areas and their clinical characteristics, aetiology of the inflammation, types of patient complaints, prevalence of current systemic diseases, results of microbiological and selected laboratory analyses, socio-economic status of the patients, and duration of patient stay at the hospital. Statistical analysis was performed by using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, the statistical significance level was p < 0.05. Results: The mean age of the patients was 39.8 years. The group of 195 patients included 108 (55%) males and 87 (45%) females. The mean time between the first symptoms of the disease and admission to the Department was 5 days. From among the 195 patients, 116 (59.5%) were working persons, 79 (40.5%) were non-working (children, students, unemployed persons, women on maternity leave, retired people). The odontogenic origin of the disease was verified in 173 (88.7%) patients. In total, 65 (33.3%) patients had no coinciding complicating systemic disease, 22 (11.3%) patients had diabetes mellitus. The most frequent symptom of cellulitis was painful swelling, found in 194 (99.5%) patients, followed by jaw contracture, found in 153 (78.5%) patients. Conclusion: The results are largely very similar to those of previous studies performed in other countries, except that we found no correlation between the prevalence of cellulitis and the socio-economic status, nor have we confirmed Klebsiella pneumoniae sp. as the cause of cellulitis in patients with diabetes mellitus.



1975 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glen T. Evans ◽  
Millicent E. Poole

Previous research indicates that mean patterns of mental ability show striking differences between different ethnic groups. In this paper, some salient features of information processing on which there are likely to be differences between children of Australian born parents of low SES and children of migrant parents are discussed. An empirical study of these differences is described. The mean performance of the migrant children studied compared with children of low SES Australian born parents was found to be related to the balance between verbal and cognitive aspects of the task. The greater the cognitive demand for a given verbal requirement the better the performance of the migrant children relative to the children in the “Australian” group. Further, the intercorrelations between performances were found to be markedly different for the two groups. The results suggest that migrant children in particular may benefit from teaching which emphasises the pragmatic use of language to indicate desired discriminations and concepts.



Author(s):  
R. K. Nath ◽  
B. Sarma ◽  
M. Choudhury ◽  
P. Ahmed ◽  
G. K. Upamanya ◽  
...  

The present study delves into the Socio-economic Status of Farmers of Char area of Dhubri district of Assam. The study was confined to the selected Char areas of the district, namely Faujdar Char, Simlabari and Bamunpara Part IV village. The quantitative study collected information using personal interview of each farmer through a semi-structured questionnaire. A multistage purposive cum random sampling design was followed for the purpose. A total sample of 150 farmers were randomly selected from the three indicated villages during 2021. This study revealed that farmers were of poor economic condition with low literacy and knowledge about agricultural methods. The farmers grow only rice, jute, summer and winter vegetables and without any awareness about their improved management practices. It is imperative that  the introduction of modern agricultural technologies can uplift the present socioeconomic status of the farming community in the Char areas.



2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e19034-e19034
Author(s):  
Amy Leader ◽  
Lauren Waldman ◽  
Liana Yocavitch ◽  
Ayako Shimada ◽  
Rebecca Cammy ◽  
...  

e19034 Background: Low health literacy is more prevalent among older adults and minority populations, and it has been linked to excess health care utilization and poor health outcomes in cancer patients. Screening for health literacy may improve communication and care, such that discussions and information can be tailored to patient need. The purpose of this study was to describe health literacy levels and correlates among patients at an urban, NCI-designated cancer center. Methods: In September 2019, we began health literacy screening for each newly diagnosed, English-speaking cancer patient. Patients were categorized as having low, medium, or high health literacy using the BRIEF health literacy screener; results are visible in the EMR. For this analysis, we included patient age, gender, insurance type, race/ethnicity, and socio-economic status (SES), which was calculated using an Area Deprivation Index (ADI) ranging from 0 (no deprivation) to 100 (extreme deprivation). Data was summarized using descriptive statistics; ANOVA and Chi-squared tests investigated associations between patient’s health literacy levels and potential correlates. Results: Among 284 patients, 68%, (n = 195) were Caucasian, 25% (n = 70) were African American and 7%, (n = 19) identified as Hispanic, Asian American or some other race. Seventy-five percent (n = 211) were male; the mean age was 63 years (SD: 12). The mean ADI was 42 (SD: 28), indicating a low to moderate SES. Seventy percent (n = 200) had a high health literacy score, 20% (n = 57) had a medium score, and 10% (n = 27) had a low health literacy score. Only a patient’s race/ethnicity and the ADI were significantly associated with their health literacy score. Seventy-seven percent of Caucasian patients had high health literacy scores compared to 59% of African American patients and 48% patients of Hispanic, Asian or some other origin (P < .001). Patients with low health literacy had an ADI score (65.1) that was almost double the score of patients with high health literacy scores (38.5) (p < .001). Conclusions: Roughly one-third of patients seen at this urban cancer center did not have a high health literacy score. Socio-economic status was a stronger correlate to health literacy than patient age, marital status, or insurance type. EMRs should capture a patient’s SES in some manner, as this is strongly associated with health literacy.



2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-263
Author(s):  
Gerdine M. Ulysse ◽  
Khaled Al Masaeed

Abstract This study investigated the relationship between socio-economic status, age, gender, and literacy level and Haitian Gonâviens‘ attitudes towards Haitian Creole or Kreyòl and French. Most studies that investigated language attitudes of Creolophones have found that they have negative attitudes towards Kreyòl. Nevertheless, previous studies often included participants who are affiliated with education such as students, teachers, and language policy makers, or those from higher social classes. The current study, however, utilized a language attitudes questionnaire to collect data from 78 adult informants from diverse backgrounds. These participants included 21 highly literate, 51 partially literate and 6 illiterate Haitians. Findings revealed that participants of higher socio-economic status have more positive attitudes towards French than those from lower socio-economic status. Results also showed that there is a tendency for age, gender, and literacy level to affect language attitudes. For instance, positive attitudes towards Kreyòl were found to be more prevalent among older participants than younger respondents. Similarly, male participants had more negative attitudes towards French than female informants. Moreover, respondents of lower literacy levels had more negative attitudes towards French than those who were highly literate.



Popular Music ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Helbig

AbstractIn the last decade, multi-racial hip-hop scenes in Kharkiv, a predominantly Russian-speaking eastern Ukrainian city close to the Russian border, have fostered the development of socially-conscious hip-hop among African students. Drawing on musical elements from their respective home countries, the US and local hip-hop traditions, African male youths use Ukrainian-, Russian- and English-language lyrics to express concerns about socio-economic status, personal struggle and racial inclusion. This study analyses how African musicians use hip-hop as a social means through which to fight the escalating violence against dark-skinned foreigners and migrants. It draws on ethnographic data to identify several ways in which African-performed hip-hop has influenced contemporary public opinions regarding ‘black’ identity in eastern Ukraine.



2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1286-1294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraldine McNeill ◽  
Lindsey F Masson ◽  
Leone CA Craig ◽  
Jennie I Macdiarmid ◽  
Bridget A Holmes ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectiveTo assess the intake and sources of non-milk extrinsic sugars (NMES) and fat among children in Scotland in relation to socio-economic status, and to estimate the changes in diet required to achieve recommended levels of intake.DesignCross-sectional survey with diet assessed by semi-quantitative FFQ.SettingEighty postcode sectors across Scotland.SubjectsChildren (n 1398) aged 3–17 years recruited from the Child Benefit register (76 % of those contacted).ResultsThe mean intake of NMES of 17·4 (95 % CI 17·0, 17·8) % food energy was considerably higher than the UK recommended population average of 11 % food energy. The mean intake of total fat of 32·9 (95 % CI 32·7, 33·2) % food energy met the recommended population average of no more than 35 % food energy, while the mean intake of SFA of 13·8 (95 % CI 13·7, 14·0) % food energy was above the recommended population average of no more than 11 % food energy. Despite clear socio-economic gradients in the mean daily consumption of many ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ food groups, socio-economic differences in NMES as a percentage of food energy were limited and there was no significant variation in the intake of total fat or SFA as a percentage of food energy with socio-economic status. Modelling of the data showed that removing sugar-sweetened soft drinks and increasing fruit and vegetable intake by 50 % would not restore the intake of NMES and SFA to recommended levels.ConclusionsMajor changes in the intake of many food groups will be required to bring the NMES and saturated fat intake in line with current dietary recommendations.



2020 ◽  
pp. 58-71
Author(s):  
P.A. Rachev ◽  

More than 80% of US population live in metropolitan areas. Voting in agglomerations largely determines the outcome of the presidential, or any other, elections. The electoral processes inside high-density territories are a derivative of settlement peculiarities, and socio-economic status, ethnic and racial composition of people at these areas. Researchers record the increase of polarization level in recent decades. This increase closely related to the population’s political preferences. Polarization can lead to the disunity of society, a reduction in socio-economic interactions and to local isolationism in the long term. This article analyzes the results of the US presidential election at the level of metropolitan areas in the period of 2000–2016 and shows the distribution of all 382 agglomerations depending on the voting results within their boundaries. It is also revealing the spatial patterns of locations of these agglomerations. The article determined that more than two-thirds of all agglomeration’s population has stable electoral preferences, and also provides evidence of the ongoing and, in some cases, intensifying process of “The Big Sort” and an increase of polarization level in US urban population.



Author(s):  
Latifat Apeke Saka ◽  
Bola Sebiomo

Politics is a necessary result of man‟s relationship with each other, it is everywhere and influencing the affairs of human being, it is a means by which an individuals or group of people achieve and maintain power and influence positively the socio-economic status of the parties concerned. This paper reports the practices and attitude of youth in politics in Epe local government area, Lagos state. From the study fifty (50) youths were randomly selected from five zones, ten (10) youths from each zone in Epe Local area. Each technique contained four items. Findings shows that youth wing of political parties came first under political attitudes while violence came first with mean score of 2.58 under youth anti-social behavior in politics followed by maltreatment of youth in the society with mean score of 2.98 under the causes of youth negative behaviors in politics, introducing programme of protection to youth came first with the mean score of 3.74 under how could government of Nigeria help the youth to become an instrument for natural rebirth. There is significant difference between male and female views in causes and solution to youth problems in politics. There is no significant difference between male and female views in the practices and attitudes of youth in politics. It is recommended that Government should enlighten the youth on how to practice politics without violence more so National rebirth could be advanced if also organize seminars and workshop for the youths.



2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-151
Author(s):  
Kooffreh-Ada Mbang ◽  
Okonkwo Uchenna ◽  
Ugbong Emmanuel ◽  
Essien Aniekan ◽  
Chukwudike Evaristus ◽  
...  

Helicobacter pylori is an ubiquitous organism. It is estimated that more than 50% of the world’s population is infected with the bacteria. The infection is typically acquired in infancy and has been associated with poor living conditions and low socio-economic status. Once helicobacter pylori is acquired, it commonly persists lifelong unless treated. This pathogen has been implicated as a major aetiologic agent in the pathogenesis of peptic ulcer disease and is an established carcinogen. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of helicobacter pylori infection among our dyspeptic patients. This was a retrospective study conducted from April 2014 to December 2018. A total of one hundred and fifteen (115) patients who had symptoms of dyspepsia were recruited within this period of time. The presence of helicobacter pylori was determined using urea breath test. The results showed that 42.6% of the patients were positive for helicobacter pylori, while 51.3% of patients had a negative result. A borderline result was seen in 6.1% of patients. The mean age of the studied population was 45.10 years (SD= 12.55), with most patients aged between 41-60 years. This study showed no sex predilection, with an equal sex distribution of the study participants. Reports from other parts of the country also found the prevalence of helicobacter pylori to be highest in individuals between the 4th and 5th decade of life. This study concluded that the prevalence of helicobacter pylori infection is relatively high among patients with dyspepsia in South South Nigeria.Keywords: Helicobacter pylori, dyspepsia, urea breath test, South South Nigeria



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