Factors Associated with Knowledge and Awareness of Stroke Among the Jordanian Population: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background and objective: Stroke is the second leading cause of death in Jordan and over the world. Knowledge and awareness towards stroke play a crucial role in the management and prevention of its complications. This study aims to assess the knowledge and awareness about stroke among the Jordanian population and determine factors associated with stroke awareness. Methods: This cross-sectional study through a web-based anonymous questionnaire that needed 10 minutes to be completed. It examined sociodemographic characteristics and recognition of the risk factors, warning signs, stroke consequences, and early response to stroke symptoms. Logistic regression analysis identified the factors associated with poor knowledge of stroke. Results: A total of 573 Jordanian adults participated in this study. The participant's ability to identify at least one early symptom of stroke and the proper response to the symptoms were significantly correlated with the educational level (OR of 3.4 and 2.5, respectively). At least one consequence of stroke was significantly associated with different demographic factors such as gender, socioeconomic income, females versus males and those with medium income versus low income had significantly higher odds (OR of 6.6 and 4.1, respectively). Conclusion: This study revealed a good knowledge and awareness level about stroke among Jordanians correlated mainly with their educational level. Therefore, new strategies should be considered to decrease the prevalence of stroke in Jordan, including the need for engagement in enhanced awareness campaigns.

Impact of Smoking Status on Lung Cancer Characteristics and Mortality Rates between Screened and Non-Screened Lung Cancer Cohorts: Real-World Knowledge Translation and Education

This was a retrospective hospital-based cohort study of participants diagnosed with lung cancer in the lung cancer register database, and our goal was to evaluate the impact of smoking and screening status on lung cancer characteristics and clinical outcomes. According to the hospital-based lung cancer register database, a total of 2883 lung cancers were diagnosed in 2883 patients between January 2007 and September 2017, which were divided into four groups according to smoking and screening status. A comparison was performed in terms of clinical characteristics and outcomes of lung cancer between the four groups. For non-smokers, age, gender, screened status, tumor size, targeted therapy, and curative surgery were independent prognostic factors of overall survival for lung cancer subjects. However, screened status and gender were not significant prognostic factors for lung cancer survival in smokers with lung cancer. For the non-smoker group, about 4.9% of lung cancer subjects (N = 81) were detected by screening. However, only 0.97% of lung cancer subjects (N = 12) were detected by screening in smokers. This could be attributed to smokers’ negative attitudes and low socioeconomic status preventing LDCT lung cancer screening. In summary, our real-world data suggest that effectively encouraging smokers to be more willing to participate in lung cancer screening programs with screening allowance and educational training in the future is an important issue.

Internship Program Management Information System with Lean Management

Internship program intends to empower students with real-world knowledge, skills, and desirable attitudes by allowing them to gain hands-on experience. This study focuses on implementing lean management principles in developing a web-based information system that manages the data and processes undertaken by the students in their internship program. The system was developed using the Rapid Application Development (RAD) model which was divided into four main modules. These modules are for monitoring and supervision of the internship program. The system will help the coordinators to manage documents, the supervisor to give grades, the students to create a journal that will monitor progress, and the administrator to manage the system. To determine if the developed system is efficient and functional, trials were conducted utilizing test scenarios, test cases, and comparison table. The developed system was evaluated using a survey questionnaire based on ISO 25010 software quality model as to Product Quality. It obtained an overall mean of 4.32 with a standard deviation value of 0.666. This validates that the objectives of the study were met and achieved. Moreover, the system was able to reduce the cost and time spent from the previous process, which proves that it successfully integrated lean management principle in its design.

Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery in Big Data for Decision Making in Higher Education

Artificial intelligence and data mining plays a fundamental role in improving the intelligence of education through special standards for improving teaching quality, better learning experience, predictive teaching, assessment method, effective decision-making, and improved data analysis. BD (Big Data) are also used to assess, detect, and anticipate decision-making, failure risk, and consequences to improve decision-making and maintain high-quality standards. According to the findings of this study, certain universities and governments have adopted BD to help students transition from traditional to smart digital education. Many obstacles remain in the way of complete adoption, including security, privacy, ethics, a scarcity of qualified specialists, data processing, storage, and interoperability. Learning today is getting smarter, thanks to the rapid development of the use of data and knowledge for big data analysis. Besides delivering real-world knowledge discovery applications, specialized data mining methodologies, and obstacles have real-world applications. Therefore, this article aims to explain the current concept of an intelligent learning environment in higher education. It explores the main criteria, and presents evaluation methods through the use of the proposed model.

Perceiving fingerspelling via point-light displays: The stimulus and the perceiver both matter

Signed language users communicate in a wide array of sub-optimal environments, such as in dim lighting or from a distance. While fingerspelling is a common and essential part of signed languages, the perception of fingerspelling in varying visual environments is not well understood. Signed languages such as American Sign Language (ASL) rely on visuospatial information that combines hand and bodily movements, facial expressions, and fingerspelling. Linguistic information in ASL is conveyed with movement and spatial patterning, which lends itself well to using dynamic Point Light Display (PLD) stimuli to represent sign language movements. We created PLD videos of fingerspelled location names. The location names were either Real (e.g., KUWAIT) or Pseudo-names (e.g., CLARTAND), and the PLDs showed either a High or a Low number of markers. In an online study, Deaf and Hearing ASL users (total N = 283) watched 27 PLD stimulus videos that varied by Realness and Number of Markers. We calculated accuracy and confidence scores in response to each video. We predicted that when signers see ASL fingerspelled letter strings in a suboptimal visual environment, language experience in ASL will be positively correlated with accuracy and self-rated confidence scores. We also predicted that Real location names would be understood better than Pseudo names. Our findings show that participants were more accurate and confident in response to Real place names than Pseudo names and for stimuli with High rather than Low markers. We also discovered a significant interaction between Age and Realness, which shows that as people age, they can better use outside world knowledge to inform their fingerspelling success. Finally, we examined the accuracy and confidence in fingerspelling perception in sub-groups of people who had learned ASL before the age of four. Studying the relationship between language experience with PLD fingerspelling perception allows us to explore how hearing status, ASL fluency levels, and age of language acquisition affect the core abilities of understanding fingerspelling.

Exploiting Tagline Slogans as Authentic Materials in English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) Classroom

Tagline slogans are aggressively used in the marketing field to promote specific products or services to consumers. However, they are least used as authentic materials in the teaching and learning of English as a Second Language (ESL) class. The too-brief structure embodying tagline slogans makes them difficult to be exploited to be used as materials for teaching and learning processes. Studies on the use of tagline slogans in ESL speaking lessons are still scarce, making it inconclusive to fully comprehend why they are underutilized as opposed to the other authentic materials. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the reasons for such ill preference towards the employment of tagline slogans as authentic materials in speaking lessons from the view of English for occupational purposes (EOP) students. The qualitative data of this study was obtained from seven participants who had utilized tagline slogans in their class presentations. The findings show that tagline slogans are less preferable due to inappropriate words or sentence structures used, presenters’ inefficient explanation resulting in the audience’ misunderstanding and suitability issues with context. Even though there lie limitations in using tagline slogans as authentic materials, with the right selection, they could act as a platform to improve learners’ shared world knowledge in particular and their productive skills of the target language in the long run. This study has unearthed the case against the use of tagline slogans in speaking lessons from the lenses of EOP learners and at the same time has provided lessons learned on how tagline slogans could positively nurture learners’ speaking skills.

Factors Associated with Knowledge and Awareness of Stroke Among the Jordanian Population: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background and objective: Stroke is the second leading cause of death in Jordan and over the world. Knowledge and awareness towards stroke play a crucial role in the management and prevention of its complications. This study aims to assess the knowledge and awareness about stroke among the Jordanian population and determine factors associated with stroke awareness. Methods: This cross-sectional study through a web-based anonymous questionnaire that needed 10 minutes to be completed. It examined sociodemographic characteristics and recognition of the risk factors, warning signs, stroke consequences, and early response to stroke symptoms. Logistic regression analysis identified the factors associated with poor knowledge of stroke. Results: A total of 573 Jordanian adults participated in this study. The participant's ability to identify at least one early symptom of stroke and the proper response to the symptoms were significantly correlated with the educational level (OR of 3.4 and 2.5, respectively). At least one consequence of stroke was significantly associated with different demographic factors such as gender, socioeconomic income, females versus males and those with medium income versus low income had significantly higher odds (OR of 6.6 and 4.1, respectively). Conclusion: This study revealed a good knowledge and awareness level about stroke among Jordanians correlated mainly with their educational level. Therefore, new strategies should be considered to decrease the prevalence of stroke in Jordan, including the need for engagement in enhanced awareness campaigns.

Developing Equity-Focused Education in Academic Public Health: A Multiple-Step Model

Education and training support public health practitioners in identifying and addressing challenges related to equitable health concerns. This article details a four-step Curricular Responsive Review Model (CRRM) generated by educators in a Council on Education for Public Health–accredited public health program to systematically understand and gather feedback on how to develop a responsive curriculum for their students. A review of all course syllabi was conducted by two faculty members and a doctoral student to identify curricular gaps and overlap. These findings, critical team dialogues, and a review of the literature informed the development of a survey to identify the health equity concepts and skills needed by MPH students. Community partners ( n = 4) responded to health equity education questions to detail the essential concepts and skills needed to teach students. Health equity educators (HEEs; n = 4) were then consulted on how to address knowledge gaps through pedagogy and educational resources. Community partners provided a list of areas that students should be educated in to enrich their health equity understandings. Recommendations were generated for integrating those concepts/skills into course teaching plans. The four-step CRRM in health equity education provides an opportunity for public health programs to engage in systematic mapping and critically reflective review processes to address curricular gaps and overlap. Mechanisms to receive real-world knowledge on health equity from a variety of stakeholders are essential to ensure real-word practical learning. The CRRM identifies systematic, responsive curricular mapping and review in public health as essential for meaningful, real-world equity education in disciplines beyond public health and health promotion.