Predictors for Actual COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake and Intended Booster Dosage among Medical Students of an Osteopathic Medical School in New York

Exploring future physicians’ attitudes toward vaccination is crucial as physicians’ recommendation is the top predictor for individuals to receive vaccines. This study explored the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines and the intention for future booster dose uptake among students at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM). Predictors for actual vaccine and intended booster uptake were also examined. An electronic survey was distributed to Osteopathic Medical Students (OMS I-IV) in the Spring of 2021. A total of 1331 students received the survey, with 316 responses received (24%). In total, 95.3% (301/316) of the respondents reported that they already received vaccines, while 3.1% (13/316) reported that they had not yet received a vaccine. Moreover, 88.9% of the respondents (281/316) were in favor of a booster dose, which was a strong predictor for actual vaccine uptake. We identified that the Asian race, pharmaceutical mistrust, building immunity via vaccines, adequate vaccine testing, and willingness to get non-U.S. manufactured vaccines are the most significant predictors for willingness to accept a booster dose. A very high COVID-19 vaccine uptake among NYITCOM OMS was found in our study. The study also observed a high acceptance of an additional dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the future.

Effect of Soaking Maize Seeds with Selenium and Chitosan on Improving Germination, Vigour and Viability of Seed and Seedling

An experiment was carried out in the Laboratory of Seed Technology-College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences - University of Baghdad – Iraq, to studying the stimulation of maize seeds by soaking with selenium and chitosan to improve the vigour and viability of seeds. By using factorial experiment according to the Complete Random Design (CRD) with three replications. The seeds of two synthetic cultivars of maize (Baghdad 3 and Buhoth 5018) were soaked in selenium solutions at two concentrations (2 and 5 mg L-1), and chitosan (100 and 500 mg L-1) for 10 hours, as well as the two control treatments, which were dried seeds (without soaking) and the seeds soaked in distilled water. Results are shown that low concentration of 2 mg L-1 give highest mean were recorded in the percentage of germination in the first and final counts, the mean time germination, length of root and the plumule, the seedling vigour index, germination speed, and dry weight of the seedling. Seeds soaking with the solutions containing chitosan at both concentrations did not give significant results compared to the selenium treatments, both cultivars differed significantly in some germination characteristics and the vigour and viability of the seed: (length of root and the plumule, dry weight of the seedling). The results also showed a significant effect of the interaction between seed soaking treatments and cultivar on all studied traits. We conclude from this study that treatments of stimulating seeds by soaking them with distilled water and solutions of selenium and chitosan positively affected germination and its characteristics, so we recommend using low concentrations of selenium and chitosan to improve seed germination, vigour, and viability of the seedling.

Change Unplanned into Planned Online Learning: An Effort to Follow Health Protocols at an Information Technology College During the Covid-19 Pandemic Period

The Covid-19 pandemic not only has negative impacts, but also positive impacts, one of those is the development of online learning. Online learning, of course, does not mean simply moving face-to-face encounters to virtual ones, as happened during the first semester of the Covid-19 pandemic. The problem to be solved in this study is how to change sudden/unplanned online learning in the first semester of the Covid-19 pandemic into planned online learning in the second semester based on theoretical studies, and to define if there are changes in student responses in the two consecutive semesters. The results obtained are a theoretical study for the formation of planned online learning, as well as an increase in the results of student responses via questionnaires which indicate progress in efforts to prepare unplanned online learning into planned online learning.

O Ensino Mediado por Tecnologias na Percepção de Futuras Pedagogas

ResumoAs Tecnologias Digitais da Informação e Comunicação (TDIC) estão presentes na sociedade e fazem parte da vida cotidiana dos indivíduos, sobretudo nas salas de aula. A partir deste cenário, é fundamental uma ressignificação no processo de ensino e de aprendizagem. O uso das TDIC como estratégia de ensino possibilita ao professor elaborar diversas atividades pedagógicas, principalmente, no âmbito da Ensino Superior. Assim, o objetivo deste artigo é analisar a percepção de futuras pedagogas sobre os conhecimentos que possuem acerca das TDIC, bem como analisar os pontos positivos e negativos da utilização das TDIC nas práticas de ensino. Os sujeitos da pesquisa são acadêmicos do curso de Licenciatura em Pedagogia de uma faculdade privada do Estado do Paraná. Nesse contexto, a coleta de dados foi realizada por meio de um questionário e os dados foram interpretados à Luz da Análise Textual Discursiva. As análises revelam que as participantes possuem um conhecimento sobre o que são TDIC e como pontos positivos evidenciam que as TDIC podem ser utilizadas como estratégia de ensino dinâmica, interessante nas práticas de ensino. Os pontos negativos destacam a falta de capacitação de professores para o trabalho com as TDIC, bem como a utilização sem objetivos específicos de aprendizagem. Palavras-chave: Ensino. Tecnologia Digital da Informação e Comunicação. Educação Superior. AbstractDigital Information and Communication Technologies (TDIC) are present in society and are part of the individuals’ daily life, especially in classrooms. Based on this scenario, a new meaning in the teaching and learning process is fundamental. The use of TDIC as a teaching strategy enables the teacher to develop several pedagogical activities, mainly in the University Education context. Thus, the objective of this article is to analyze the perception of future pedagogues about the knowledge they have about TDIC as well as to analyze the positive and negative points regarding the use of TDIC in teaching practices. The research subjects are students from the Pedagogy Degree course at a private college in the state of Paraná. In this context, data collection was carried out through a questionnaire and the data were interpreted in the light of Discursive Textual Analysis. The analyzes reveal that the participants have a knowledge of what TDIC is and how positive points show that TDIC can be used as a dynamic teaching strategy, interesting in teaching practices. The negative points highlight the lack of teacher training to work with TDIC, as well as the use without specific learning objectives. Keywords: Teaching. Digital Information and Communication Technology. College education.

Research on the Practice of Communication Education Curriculum under the Background of Big Data

With the advent of the information age, the function of big data is becoming more and more powerful in the new era. In the process of news dissemination in colleges and universities, there are many deficiencies that affect teaching efficiency, such as strict teaching methods in traditional teaching mode, insufficient learning initiative of students, and poor practical ability. With the help of information technology and modern big data technology, college news communication technology can create rich and varied teaching environment for students, guide students to practice and promote the improvement of comprehensive quality.

The role of cloud technologies in digital transformation of education (on the example of secondary vocational education)

The article describes the capabilities of cloud technologies (using the example of Google services) in implementing the target model of the digital educational environment and developing the first stage of digital transformation of education using the example of the general education course “Informatics” in secondary vocational education. The article substantiates the relevance of updating the content of educational programs of secondary vocational education in accordance with the requirements of the digital economy in the context of the implementation of Federal State Educational Standards of Secondary Vocational Education for 50 most demanded in the labor market, new and promising professions and specialties (FSES of Secondary Vocational Education for TOP-50). The novelty of the work in the context of digital transformation of secondary vocational education is shown. The relationships between the didactic capabilities of cloud technologies and the types of educational activities of students and the requirements of digital transformation of education are analyzed. A comparative analysis of the functional support of the components of the target model of the digital educational environment by means of cloud technologies is carried out. The experience of organizing the training of students of the Perm Commerce and Technology College in the groups of the profession “Cook, Pastry Chef” in the framework of the general educational discipline “Informatics” based on the use of cloud technologies as a model of a digital educational environment in the formation of general and subject competences is presented. In the presented experience, cloud technologies (Google services) are considered as the main and as an auxiliary didactic tool in the context of general functionality of Google services, types of didactic tasks for open source software, approximate thematic planning in the subject of “Informatics” for secondary vocational education. The results of the work can be useful to scientists, teachers and methodologists of higher and secondary vocational education, and can also be used directly by teachers of the course “Informatics” in secondary vocational education.

Department of Computer Science and Information Technology, College of Computer Science & Information Technology, Firat University, turkey

This paper provides uses a new Ant Colony based algorithms called U-Turning Ant colony optimization (U-TACO) for solving one of NP-Hard problems which is widely used in computer science field called Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). U-Turning Ant colony Optimization based on making partial tour as an initial state for the basic Ant Colony algorithm. This paper provides tables and charts for the results obtained by U-Turning Ant colony Optimization for various TSP problems from the TSPLIB95.