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This paper studies the impact of gender on the interest in engineering and technical subjects of the students in the first courses of secondary education. A statistical analysis was carried out, analyzing the use of a free virtual-reality application, developed by the 3M Foundation, which aims to bring these subjects to the students. Non-parametric statistical methods were used to analyze several variables, such as repetition of the experience, new learning and knowledge reinforcement as well as learning in different ways, which were collected through two questionnaires. These were "Pre" and "Post" the playing of the game and later, subsequently validated. This analysis demonstrated that gender has an impact on the interest of the students in engineering and technology but it does not have any influence on the rest of the studied variables. The results show that the interest of girls could be increased through group activities. Age has only influence on the desire to repeat the experience, with a varied level of influence, in the case of the technological contents. The motivational factors that have a greater influence on each variable, "innovation" and "usefulness", were also analyzed.

Objective: To evaluate the physical compatibility between intravenous magnesium sulfate and potassium and sodium phosphate, a common electrolyte intravenous supplementation in pediatric intensive care units. Study design: Magnesium sulfate was mixed separately with potassium phosphate and sodium phosphate at ratios of 1:1, 1:4, and 4:1. Binary mixtures were prepared, in triplicate and under sterile conditions, by permuting the order of addition. The undiluted pure drugs were used as controls for possible sequence effects. Visual changes, turbidity, and pH were assessed immediately after mixing (baseline) and at 4 and 24 hours. Two observers performed visual changes by naked-eye visual inspection in order to search visible haze, particulate matter, gas formation, or color change. Turbidity was measured by nephelometry and incompatibility was defined as an increase of ≥0.5 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) from baseline. pH was measured using a portable pH meter and incompatibility was defined as a variation of >1 pH unit during the observation period. Results: None of the admixtures exhibited visual changes or significant variations in turbidity (increases of ≥0.5 in nephelometric turbidity units) or pH (changes of >1 unit) during the observation period and neither compared with baseline. Conclusion: In this study, no visual changes were observed, and turbidity and pH evaluated by instrumental methods remained within acceptable limits and showed no significant variations from baseline, therefore no physical incompatibility between magnesium sulfate and potassium or sodium phosphate was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is expected to lead to a drier world, with more frequent and severe droughts, constituting a growing threat to biodiversity, especially in drylands. Positive plant−plant interactions, such as nurse plants facilitating beneficiary communities in their understorey, could mitigate such climate‐induced stress. However, testing the real‐world relevance of nurse facilitation under drought requires accounting for interactions within the diverse beneficiary communities, which may reduce, or amplify the buffering effect of a nurse. Here, we investigated when and how the interactions among nurse plants and beneficiary community members buffered drought effects in a Mediterranean semiarid abandoned cropland. We transplanted sapling beneficiary communities of either one or three species either under a nurse or in open microsites for different soil moisture levels through watering. Net facilitative effects on survival and biomass were only observed when beneficiary communities were species‐diverse and under drought (without watering), meaning that under these conditions, facilitation provided by the nurse had larger positive effects than the negative effects stemming from competition with the nurse and among beneficiary species. Nurses appear to be generating these increases in survival and biomass in drought conditions via two mechanisms commonly associated with watering in open sites: they generate complementarity among the beneficiaries and shift traits to lower stress profiles. Contrasting with watering, which was found to enhance competitive hierarchy, our study shows that nurses appear to alter species dominance, favouring the less competitive species. Our results highlight three mechanisms (complementarity, competitive dominance, and trait plasticity) by which nurse species could mitigate the loss of biodiversity and biomass production due to water stress. Maintaining and supporting nurse species is thus a potentially pivotal approach in the face of projected increase in drought conditions for many drylands across the world. Keywords: biodiversity, dryland, ecosystem functioning, facilitation, functional traits, plant–plant interactions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Despite the progress made by the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in terms of gender equality and social and, above all, educational emancipation, today there are still disparities in terms of the participation of women in the labour market. This paper proposes a descriptive and qualitative analysis of the situation of women in two MENA countries, which are Algeria and Morocco, and of the socioeconomic factors that hinder their autonomy in the field of work. As a result, the role of the family and the social environment on women is emphasised so that they could be active members of society and consequently become an additional labour force trained for the growth of the region, is emphasised, but it is condemned for the achievement of this triple challenge: education, professional integration, and economic empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frontline health workers are the backbone of effective health systems - they are often based in the community and come from the community they serve, they play a critical role in providing a local context for proven health solutions, and they connect families and communities to the health system. Supartini (2022) resolute that nurses can create a more comfortable and comforting environment for the patients they serve especially in times of uncertainty. Undesirably, as the Philippines scuffled with the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Health is filling up the slots for much-needed healthcare workers in both the private and public sectors to help the country battle the COVID19 pandemic (Department of Health, 2020). Likewise, Tomacruz (2021) mentioned the government is also facing another battle that health workers groups warned mass resignations and protests could take place in hospitals across the country if the government does not fulfill its promise to improve support for the sector. Hence, American Nurses Association (2020) denounced nurses may struggle with the call and may choose not to respond. Consequently, nurses account for the biggest chunk of hires by profession. This study aimed at understanding and unveiling into the grey: the lived experiences of clinical instructors turned frontliners in the now normal. The researcher utilized the phenomenological research design to understand and explore the lived experiences of clinical instructors as frontliners in the now normal. The substantial outcomes of the study as to the lived experiences of clinical instructors turned frontliners in the now normal: ten (10) themes shared reality pertained to the lived experiences of clinical instructors turned frontliners in the now normal. It was disclosed that achieving professional goals, financial support and selfdevelopment, fulfilling job, shaping the lives of young people vs. providing hands on care for patients, intense physical and emotional pressure, work commitment and dedication, competitive pay was livened and appreciated by the clinical instructors who left the academe and served as frontliners in now normal. Moreover, coping mechanisms with demands and challenges of respondents involved prioritizing, time management, benefits, adaptability and self-care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to identify the relationship between leadership factors, organizational culture and teacher competence in private higher education institutions. Descriptive correlational research design was used in this study. The study revealed that leadership factors of the educational leaders was highly favorable with an average weighted mean of 3.39, the organizational culture was highly favorable with an average weighted mean of 3.37, the teacher competence was very high with an average weighted mean of 3.38. Correlations indicated that there was a significant relationship between Leadership Factors and Organizational Culture, Leadership Factors and Teacher Competence as well as Organizational Culture and Teacher Competence. The results also showed that there was a high level of prediction of the dependent variable (level of Teacher Competence). The obtained R square of 0.823 shows that independent variables (leadership factors and organizational culture) explain the variability of the dependent variable (level of teacher competence). Further, the independent variables leadership factors along attitude, determination and motivation and organizational culture in terms of create, collaborate and control are the drivers of teacher competence in higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To study the association between gestational age (GA) and weight at birth and the development of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and in particular the link between postnatal weight gain during the first 6 weeks and need for ROP treatment. Material and methods Retrospective observational study of premature infants who underwent ophthalmoscopy at Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona, Spain, between June 2017 and December 2018. We collected data on obstetric and birth characteristics, comorbidities, GA and weight at birth, and weekly weight for the first 6 weeks. Results Ninety patients with a mean ± SD GA of 26.87 ± 1.90 weeks and a mean birth weight of 884.29 ± 227.40 g were studied. The mean weight at 6 weeks was 1656.89 ± 478.51 g, which corresponds to a gain of 776.17 ± 298.12 g. Thirty-seven patients (41.1%) were diagnosed with ROP and nine (10%) needed treatment. Significant predictors of the need for treatment in patients with ROP were GA (p = .018) and weight at 6 weeks (p = .021). Birth weight was not significant (p = .361). Conclusions GA and weight gain during the first 6 weeks of life are significantly associated with the need for treatment in infants with ROP. Sex and birth weight were not significant predictors. Postnatal weight gain at 6 weeks is predictive of the need for ROP treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology represents a benchmark ally for today's rural world and is a sine qua non-condition for achieving sustainable development. Indeed, today the arrival of digitization and information and communication tools makes life easier for the inhabitants of the rural world in general and for those who work in agriculture. However, not everyone has and knows how to use these technologies. There are very visible differences between the rural world and the urban one in the accessibility and use of technology, especially among vulnerable people (unemployed, elderly, women, etc.), causing a digital divide that reflects the great discrimination suffered by the rural world, full of stereotypes and very traditional role assignments. The objective of this study is to evaluate the differences in terms of access and use of technology. For this reason, the results of a survey carried out on the Spanish rural population have been analyzed with the structural equations tool "PLS-SEM". They show digital gaps, as well as a disturbance between the different gaps and the socioeconomic situation of users, which imposes the need to take immediate measures to reduce and fight against this type of inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "FRIDA" framework is a guide for the agile development of accessible software for users with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as a tool for strengthening emotional and social skills in the treatment of autism. It is based on the use of accessible software for the development of emotional and social skills, and designed with a focus on the user with intellectual disabilities. A mixed quasi-experimental study is carried out with three focus groups: children with ASD, expert therapists in ASD treatments and software designers adapting the Design Thinking model for the co-creation of the functional characteristics of the software and its use in therapies. The findings and results show that using FRIDA facilitates the agile design of accessible apps by reducing their development time by 94% and increasing their usability level by more than 90%. This facilitates the treatment of people with ASD, especially in the development of emotional self-recognition skills and social adaptation. The experience applied collaborative design thinking models and agile software design methodologies, articulating knowledge between software developers, therapists, and families of users with ASD. Users were characterized separately, and the functionalities required for the software that would be developed and linked in the treatment of autism were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's world, new and advanced forms of technology are increasingly providing great changes in universities, thus generating new possibilities and impacting pedagogy and learning methodology. Unfortunately, not all students can use these tools in the same way and with the same ability. Not only are there digital gender gaps that limit women from enjoying these learning opportunities, but there are also digital gaps between foreign and natives' students who have been trained in these technologies in their countries of origin, which impedes the achievement of the sustainable development goals planned for 2030. This study addresses theoretical foundations on the digital gender gap in university studies and provides an econometric analysis, through a simple linear regression, on the existence of a correlation between this digital gender gap and the university study gap by gender. A more specific analysis is also presented on the digital gender gap in the case of foreign students from four groups of countries, according to their income. The results show, on one hand, that differences in the access and use of technologies represent one of the factors that affects the percentage of graduates in higher education by gender; on the other, that there is a highly visible digital divide between countries with high income, compared to low- and lower-middle-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guaranteeing gender equality in the access and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has become today a determining element in the achievement of food security and as a consequence of the achievement of rural development, which constitutes one of the goals of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Indeed, the fight against digital gender gaps and other gaps in a general way allow a greater contribution in the agri-food sector, which is becoming increasingly digitized and technological. In fact, the objective of the study is to analyse the impact that have determined gaps, such as: force labour participation rate, literacy rate, pay rate and ICT study rate, on the participation rate gap in the agricultural sector. For this reason, a multiple linear regression is proposed that considers 64 countries and subsequently the situation of four of these countries is examined in more detail: France, Spain, Morocco and Algeria. The results of this show the existence of a positive correlation between our variables but also the effect that some socio-economic and cultural factors have on this achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the factors that control grass–shrub interactions and coexistence is critical to the design of dryland management and restoration strategies. Using Stipa tenacissima tussocks as adult neighbor and Olea europaea var. sylvestris as target woody species, we performed a 5‐year‐long, large‐scale manipulative experiment to investigate the independent and combined effects of water and nutrient availability, and the modulating effects of O. europaea ontogeny on the net outcome of grass–shrub interaction. At two contrasting dryland sites, we conducted experimental plantings of Olea seedlings on two microsites: contiguous to a Stipa tussock (Stipa microsite) and on the intertussock bare‐soil areas (Open microsite), and manipulated resource availability by combining nutrient and water addition. The experiment followed a full factorial design, with all treatment combinations applied at each site. We monitored survival, height, and stem basal diameter of Olea individuals over a study period of 5 years. All across the wide range of conditions considered, negative effects of Stipa on Olea largely prevailed during the first 2 years after the plantation. We found that competition was stronger in the drier steppe, where extra inputs of water favored neutral interactions. Conversely, nutrient addition increased competition strength, particularly when combined with water inputs, pointing to the contrasting role of different resources and the importance of interactions between them in the control of plant–plant interaction outcome. The competition effects of Stipa faded with time and gradually shifted to neutral interaction as Olea individuals aged. Our results are particularly relevant to guide restoration efforts in formerly wooded xeric grasslands and rangelands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]