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This article focuses on identifying the variable which has the highest predictive power in predicting electoral behaviour. To do this, we apply a tree-based machine learning technique to data from [...]

Technology-enhanced learning has attracted increasing attention of educational community focused on improvement of traditional classroom learning. Augmented immersive reality (AIR) technologies enhance users' perception of reality by augmenting it with computer-generated components such as audio, video, 2/3-D graphics, GPS data, etc. The AIR introduces new dimensions of learning experience that ensure better attention, focus, and entertainment, thereby boosting students' motivation and attainment. This work presents an award winning AIR-based educational mobile system, code-named AIR-EDUTECH, that was developed to help high school students learn chemistry. The AIR-EDUTECH introduced new AIR features to help students better understand and learn basic concepts of molecular chemistry. It offers immersive 3D visualization and visual interaction with the examined structures that provides a broader and more retentive knowledge and improves intuition around forming basic chemical reactions. The system was introduced and tested in a field study with 45 students in the 11th grade chemistry class, and its impact was evaluated by the formal assessment quiz along with the feedback from survey conducted after the trial. Collected data have been subjected to an in-depth multi-modal quantitative analysis that revealed that AIR-EDUTECH stimulated significant improvements in understanding and retention of the taught content as well as turned learning chemistry into a fun, interesting and interactive experience. It also uncovered a hidden structure of taught knowledge dependencies and highlighted the role that AIR technology could play in reinforcing the retention of critical knowledge that may otherwise widen student knowledge gaps.

Background: Vaccination has been one of the most effective preventive strategies to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as the COVID-19 vaccines' effect wanes off after some time and given their reduced level of protection against mutation strains of the virus, the calls for boosters and second boosters signal the need for continuous vaccination for the foreseeable future. As Malaysia transitions into the endemic phase, the nation's ability to co-exist with the virus in the endemic phase will hinge on people's continuance intention to be vaccinated against the virus. Adapting the expectations confirmation model (ECM) to the public health context and in a developing country, this study integrates the ECM with the health belief model (HBM) and the theory of reasoned action (TRA) to examine the inter-relationships of the predictors of people's continuance intention to vaccinate against COVID-19. Methodology: Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires from 1,914 respondents aged 18 and above by a marketing consulting firm via its online panel. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was used to analyze the data. Results: Out of the 1,914 respondents, 55.9% reported having a continuance intention to vaccinate against COVID-19, similar to other developing countries. The multivariate analysis revealed that perceived usefulness and satisfaction significantly influenced individuals' continuance intention to vaccinate against COVID-19. Additionally, attitude was found to play a key role in influencing behavioral change among individuals towards their perceptions of continuously getting vaccinated against COVID-19. Conclusions: By integrating three theoretical frameworks (i.e., HBM, TRA and ECM), this study showed that behavioral characteristics could provide insights towards continuance vaccination intention. Hence, policymakers and key stakeholders can develop effective public health strategies or interventions to encourage vaccine booster uptake by targeting behavioral factors such as perceived usefulness, attitude, satisfaction, and subjective norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Multiple analysis techniques evaluate electrograms during atrial fibrillation (AF), but none have been established to guide catheter ablation. This study compares electrogram properties recorded from multiple right (RA) and left atrial (LA) sites. Methods: Multisite LA/RA mapping (281 ± 176/239 ± 166 sites/patient) was performed in 42 patients (30 males, age 63 ± 9 years) undergoing first (n = 32) or redo‐AF ablation (n = 10). All electrogram recordings were visually reviewed and artifactual signals were excluded leaving a total of 21 846 for analysis. Electrogram characteristics evaluated were cycle length (CL), amplitude, Shannon's entropy (ShEn), fractionation interval, dominant frequency, organizational index, and cycle length of most recurrent morphology (CLR) from morphology recurrence plot analysis. Results: Electrogram characteristics were correlated to each other. All pairwise comparisons were significant (p <.001) except for dominant frequency and CLR (p =.59), and amplitude and dominant frequency (p =.38). Only ShEn and fractionation interval demonstrated a strong negative correlation (r = −.94). All other pairwise comparisons were poor to moderately correlated. The relationships are highly conserved among patients, in the RA versus LA, and in those undergoing initial versus redo ablations. Antiarrhythmic drug therapy did not have a significant effect on electrogram characteristics, except minimum ShEn. Electrogram characteristics associated with ablation outcome were shorter minimum CLR, lower minimum ShEn, and longer mimimum CL. There was minimal overlap between the top 10 sites identified by one electrogram characteristic and the top 10 sites identified by the other 10 characteristics. Conclusion: Multiple techniques can be employed for electrogram analysis in AF. In this analysis of eight different electrogram characteristics, seven were poorly to moderately correlated and do not identify similar locations. Only some characteristics were predictive of ablation outcome. Further studies to consider electrogram properties, perhaps in combination, for categorizing and/or mapping AF are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has revolutionized the teaching pedagogy in higher education as universities are forecasted to increase investments in learning technology infrastructure to transition away from traditional teaching methods. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate whether academics intend to continually integrate learning technologies as part of a permanent pedagogical change beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing upon the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), and Expectation Confirmation Model (ECM), this study examines the salient determinants influencing the continuance intention of academics to use learning technologies in their teaching pedagogy during and after COVID-19. Primary data collected from a private university was analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modelling technique (PLS-SEM). The findings revealed two sequential mediating relationships which serve as the mechanism linking the relationship between facilitating conditions and their continuance intention to use learning technologies during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose First, to examine both the reproducibility of the multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) recorded on different versions of the same instrument, and the repeatability of the mfERG recorded on a single instrument using two different amplifiers. Second, to demonstrate a means by which multicenter and longitudinal studies that use more than one recording instrument can compare and combine data effectively. Methods Three different amplifiers and two mfERG setups, one using VERIS™ 4.3 software (mfERG1) and another using VERIS™ Pro 5.2 software (mfERG2), were evaluated. A total of 73 subjects with normal vision were tested in three groups. Group 1 (n = 42) was recorded using two amplifiers in parallel on mfERG1. Group 2 (n = 52) was recorded on mfERG2 using a single amplifier. Group 3 was a subgroup of 21 subjects from groups 1 and 2 that were tested sequentially on both instruments. A fourth group of 26 subjects with diabetes were also recorded using the two parallel amplifiers on mfERG1. P1 implicit times and N1-P1 amplitudes of the 103 local first order mfERGs were measured, and the differences between the instruments and amplifiers were evaluated as raw scores and Z-scores based on normative data. Measurements of individual responses and measurements averaged over the 103 responses were analyzed. Results Simultaneous recordings made on mfERG1 with the two different amplifiers showed differences in implicit times but similar amplitudes. There was a mean implicit time difference of 2.5 ms between the amplifiers but conversion to Z-scores improved their agreement. Recordings made on different days with the two instruments produced similar but more variable results, with amplitudes differing between them more than implicit times. For local response implicit times, the 95% confidence interval of the difference between instruments was approximately ±1 Z-score (±0.9 ms) in either direction. For local response amplitude, it was approximately ±1.6 Z-scores (±0.3 μV). Conclusions Different amplifiers can yield quite different mfERG P1 implicit times, even with identical band-pass settings. However, the reproducibility of mfERG Z-scores across recording instrumentation is relatively high. Comparison of data across systems and laboratories, necessary for multicenter or longitudinal investigations, is facilitated if raw data are converted into Z-scores based on normative data.

Voluntary intake of cold fluid is greater than warm fluid as a result of more favorable palatability, resulting in better maintenance of hydration status and improved exercise performance. It remains unclear whether voluntary ingestion of ice slurry beverages compared with cold fluid during exercise yields superior results. Eight recreationally active subjects (mean ± SD; age = 24 ± 4 years, height = 175.2 ± 7.8 cm, mass = 79.6 ± 11.2 kg, body fat = 13.0 ± 5.2%) completed a pretest in 22° C to determine maximal workload (Wmax). Then, in 2, separate, counterbalanced trials, they cycled for 60 minutes at 50%Wmax in 35° C and 40% relative humidity with either ad libitum ice slurry (-1.3 ± 0.3° C) or cold fluid (11.1 ± 2.4° C) ingestion. This was immediately followed by a 15-minute cycling time trial. Subjects avoided 2% body mass loss in both conditions but ingested twice as much cold fluid as ice slurry (fluid: 1,074.7 ± 442.1 g, ice slurry: 526.9 ± 214.1 g; p = 0.001). Nonetheless, neither 15-minute performances (cold fluid: 119.5 ± 34.8 kJ, ice slurry: 114.6 ± 20.9 kJ; p = 0.59) nor whole-body sweat rates (fluid: 1,370 ± 311 ml·h-1, ice slurry: 1,242 ± 191 ml·h-1; p = 0.20) were different between the conditions. Despite ingesting half as much ice slurry as cold fluid, subjects experienced similar physiological responses and thus had similar performances under heat stress while avoiding excessive hypohydration. Under the conditions of this study, ice slurry ingestion was an effective alternative form of exercise hydration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]