Categorising Asynchronous Discussion Threads: Improving the Quality of Student Learning

My paper will focus on the generative potential of categorising asynchronous discussion threads as one strategy for improving the quality of students’ learning in a blended learning module. The approach to categorisation is based on social network analysis using intuitively simple descriptors of message posting patterns e.g. passive facilitator, dominant facilitator, unresponsive star and formulaic discussion. The intention is to produce descriptively vivid illustrative examples of the categories and to begin to suggest affordances of the different participation patterns. Looking forward to the beginning of the next module, it is anticipated that discussion during the module of approaches to participating in asynchronous discussion will contribute to effective engagement patterns and deeper learning.

Image guided critical screw placement precision in the cervical spine : important or incidental? : results of a series of 91 consecutive cases using OVEM

Study design: A retrospective study of image guided cervical implant placement precision. Objective: To describe a simple and precise classification of cervical critical screw placement. Summary of Background Data: "Critical" screw placement is defined as implant insertion into a bone corridor which is surrounded circumferentially by neurovascular structures. While the use of image guidance has improved accuracy, there is currently no classification which provides sufficient precision to assess the navigation success of critical cervical screw placement. Methods: Based on postoperative clinical evaluation and CT imaging, the orthogonal view evaluation method (OVEM) is used to classify screw accuracy into grade I (no cortical breach), grade la (screw thread cortical breach), grade II (internal diameter cortical breach) and grade III (major cortical breach causing neural or vascular injury). Grades II and III are considered to be navigation failures, after accounting for bone corridor / screw mismatch (minimal diameter of targeted bone corridor being smaller than an outer screw diameter). Results: A total of 276 screws from 91 patients were classified into grade I (64.9%), grade la (18.1%), and grade II (17.0%). No grade III screw was observed. The overall rate of navigation failure was 13%. Multiple logistic regression indicated that navigational failure was significantly associated with the level of instrumentation and the navigation system used. Navigational failure was rare (1.6%) when the margin around the screw in the bone corridor was larger than 1.5 mm. Conclusions: OVEM evaluation appears to be a useful tool to assess the precision of critical screw placement in the cervical spine. The OVEM validity and reliability need to be addressed. Further correlation with clinical outcomes will be addressed in future studies.

Lumbar-sacral pedicle screw insertion with preoperative CT-based navigation

Objectif: Nous avons effectué une étude chez 135 patients ayant subis une chirurgie lombo-sacrée avec vissage pédiculaire sous navigation par tomographie axiale. Nous avons évalué la précision des vis pédiculaires et les résultats cliniques. Méthodes: Cette étude comporte 44 hommes et 91 femmes (âge moyen=61, intervalle 24-90 ans). Les diamètres, longueurs et trajectoires des 836 vis ont été planifiés en préopératoire avec un système de navigation (SNN, Surgical Navigation Network, Mississauga). Les patients ont subi une fusion lombaire (55), lombo-sacrée (73) et thoraco-lombo-sacrée (7). La perforation pédiculaire, la longueur des vis et les spondylolisthesis sont évalués par tomographies axiales postopératoires. Le niveau de douleur est mesuré par autoévaluations, échelles visuelles analogues et questionnaires (Oswestry et SF-36). La fusion osseuse a été évaluée par l’examen des radiographies postopératoires. Résultats: Une perforation des pédicules est présente pour 49/836 (5.9%) des vis (2.4% latéral, 1.7% inférieur, 1.1% supérieur, 0.7% médial). Les erreurs ont été mineures (0.1-2mm, 46/49) ou intermédiaires (2.1 - 4mm, 3/49 en latéral). Il y a aucune erreur majeure (≥ 4.1mm). Certaines vis ont été jugées trop longues (66/836, 8%). Le temps moyen pour insérer une vis en navigation a été de 19.1 minutes de l΄application au retrait du cadre de référence. Un an postopératoire on note une amélioration de la douleur des jambes et lombaire de 72% et 48% en moyenne respectivement. L’amélioration reste stable après 2 ans. La dégénérescence radiologique au dessus et sous la fusion a été retrouvée chez 44 patients (33%) and 3 patients respectivement (2%). Elle est survenue en moyenne 22.2 ± 2.6 mois après la chirurgie. Les fusions se terminant à L2 ont été associées à plus de dégénération (14/25, 56%). Conclusion: La navigation spinale basée sur des images tomographiques préopératoires est une technique sécuritaire et précise. Elle donne de bons résultats à court terme justifiant l’investissement de temps chirurgical. La dégénérescence segmentaire peut avoir un impact négatif sur les résultats radiologique et cliniques.

Effect of meloxicam and diclofenac sodium on peri-implant bone healing in rats

Background: This study evaluated the effects of diclofenac sodium and meloxicam on peri-implant bone healing. Methods: Thirty male rats were divided into three groups: the control group (CG) received no drug; the diclofenac sodium group (DSG) received 1.07 mg/kg twice a day for 5 days; and the meloxicam group (MG) received 0.2 mg/kg daily for 5 days. A screw-shaped titanium implant was placed in the tibia. Fluorochromes, oxytetracycline (OxT), calcein (CA), and alizarin (AL), were injected at 7, 14, and 21 days, respectively, after implantation, and the animals were sacrificed 28 days after implant placement. The percentages of OxT-, CA-, and AL-labeled bone as well as the percentages of bone-to-implant contact (BIC), cortical bone area (CBA), and trabecular bone area (TBA) within the implant threads were evaluated. Results: Bone healing was delayed in the DSG during the first 14 days after implant placement (OxT-labeled bone: DSG: 5.3% +/- 7.3% versus CG: 13.2% +/- 9.8%, P= 0.002, and versus MG: 14.4% +/- 13.1%, P = 0.05). The percentages of BIC (DSG: 49.6% +/- 21.9%; MG: 67.1% +/- 22.8%; and CG: 68.1% +/- 22.8%) and CBA (DSG: 63.7% +/- 21.2%; MG: 82.7% +/- 12.4%; CG: 84.9% +/- 10.6%) were lower in the DSG compared to the MG and CG (P<0.001). The percentage of TBA was significantly greater in the DSG compared to the MG and CG (DSG: 36.3% +/- 21.2% versus MG: 17.3% +/- 12.7% and versus CG: 15.1% +/- 10.6%; P<0.001). Conclusion: Diclofenac sodium seemed to delay peri-implant bone healing and to decrease BIC, whereas meloxicam had no negative effect on peri-implant bone healing.

Stress distribution in orthodontic mini-implants

The objective of this study was to evaluate the stress distribution in the resin in contact with the spirals of cylindrical and conical mini-implants, when submitted to lateral load and insertion torsion. A photoelastic model was fabricated using transparent gelatin to simulate the alveolar bone. The model was observed with a plane polariscope and photographically recorded before and after activation of the two screws with a lateral force and torsion. The lateral force application caused bending moments on both mini-implants, with the uprising of fringes or isochromatics, characteristics of stresses, along the threads of the mini-implants and in the apex. When the torsion was exerted in the mini-implants, a great concentration of stress upraised close to the apex. The conclusion was that, comparing conical with cylindrical mini-implants under lateral load, the stresses were similar on the traction sides. The differences appear (1) on the apex, where the cylindrical mini-implant showed a greater concentration of stress, and (2) along the spirals, in the compression side, where the conical mini-implant showed a greater concentration of stress. The greater part of the stress produced by both mini-implants, after torsion load in insertion, were concentrated on the apex. With the cylindrical mini-implant, the greater concentration of tension was close to the apex, while with the conical one, the stresses were distributed along a greater amount of apical threads.

Bate-papo sobre processos e threads

O material apresenta explicações e exemplos de processos e threads (tarefas). Destaca ainda a multitasking (capacidade do Sistema Operacional de ter mais de um processo em execução ao mesmo tempo), a estrutura interna de um Sistema Operacional, as interrupções síncronas e assíncronas, o gerenciamento de múltiplos processos (tarefas, ou tasks) e a técnica de multiprogramação. O material também cita e descreve o sistema operacional multiusuário; o multiprocessamento e as múltiplas threads (tarefas) em um mesmo processo.

Processos e Threads

O material apresenta processos e threads (tarefas). Destaca a necessidade da criação de um código executável apropriado para a arquitetura (processador) e do sistema operacional do computador onde se deseja executá-lo. Além do código e das áreas de dados, diversas informações de controle precisam ser mantidas pelo Sistema Operacional para um processo em execução. O texto também apresenta processos no sistema operacional UNIX, os processos leves - threads ou linhas de execução, as vantagens do uso de threads, exemplo de programa Java que utiliza threads, e por fim, traz exercícios resolvidos sobre conceitos de processos na literatura técnica e mecanismo.

Processos e Threads - Slides

O material apresenta o conceito de processo, os estados de processo e transições, blocos de controle de processos (PCBs) e seus descritores, o chaveamento de processos/troca de contexto, a definição de interrupções em relação com hardware/software, a comunicação interprocessos (IPC) e os processos no UNIX. Além desses tópicos, o material também descreve threads, suas semelhanças e diferenças com processos, seu ciclo de vida, e noções básicas sobre threads POSIX, Linux, Windows XP e Java.

Políticas de escalonamento de processos e threads

O material apresenta políticas de escalonamento de processos e threads. O escalonamento de processos (ou Escalonamento do processador) trata da decisão sobre qual processo será executado em um determinado instante e por qual processador. O material apresenta também algoritmos de escalonamento relevantes, incluindo exemplos de algoritmos preemptivos e não-preemptivos, objetivos e critérios do escalonamento e diferentes tipos de escalonamentos: Escalonamento FIFO (first-in first-out), Escalonamento circular RR (Round-Robin ), Escalonamento SPF (Shortest Process First), Escalonamento SRT (Shortest Remaining Time), Escalonamento FSS (Fair Share Scheduling), Escalonamento de tempo real, Escalonamento de threads Java – JVM, Escalonamento no Windows XP e UNIX.

Sincronização de Threads

O material apresenta a sincronização de threads no Windows, as vantagens do uso de padrões no projeto com thread,e assuntos como: problemas com threads, Race Condition & Deadlock, métodos de sincronização (WaitForSingleObject e WaitForMultipleObject), Seção Crítica, e Objetos do Kernel. O material também destaca o armazenamento volatile; Mutex e CreateMutex; Objeto Semaphore, CreateSemaphore e ReleaseSemaphore.

Gerenciamento de Threads - Slides

O material apresenta o gerenciamento de threads no Windows. Um sistema operacional envolve atividades assíncronas e algumas vezes paralelas, sendo que a noção de processo de software é usada em sistemas operacionais para expressar o gerenciamento e controle de suas atividades. Processo é um dos conceitos fundamentais no projeto de um sistema operacional moderno. Threads podem ser gerenciados pelo sistema operacional ou pela aplicação do usuário. Além desses conceitos, o material destaca a motivação para o uso de threads; o parâmetro CreateThread; e a prioridade e escalonamento.

Processos e Threads

A videoaula apresenta os principais conceitos sobre processos e threads com destaque para estados de processo e transições, blocos de controle de processos e descritores, chaveamento de processos e troca de contexto, comunicação interprocessos (IPC), processos no Unix, semelhanças e diferenças entre processos e threads, o ciclo de vida de um thread e, por fim, conceitos básicos sobre threads POSIX, Linux, Windows XP e Java.