Introduction
In the spot of the new emerging COVID-19 pandemic and its major impact worldwide on day-to-day activities many rules had to be changed in order to fight this pandemic. Lockdown started in Jordan and around the globe affecting several aspects of life including economy, education, entertainment, and government policies. Regarding education, the priority was to ensure the safety and progress of the educational process. Thus, new methods of teaching had to be applied using the online learning at Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), Faculty of Medicine. This study was done to assess (1) Class Experience (2) Students and Lecturers' Interaction (3) Online Learning Advantages & Disadvantages (4) Students’ Preference.
Methods
A cross sectional study was conducted Convenience sampling technique was used to collect the data from the participants using a survey composed of 18 questions on Google Forms platform. A link was sent to the undergraduate medical students at the Jordan University of Science & Technology via their e-learning accounts (n = 3700). The form was available from May 22nd, 2020 to May 30th, 2020 for 8 days long. Data analysis was done using SPSS V 23.
Results
2212 out of 3700 students responded, (55.8%) of them were in the basic years and (44.2%) of them were in the clinical years. (55.8%) of students started to take online lectures after 3 weeks. (45.7%) used the hybrid teaching method (asynchronous and synchronous), (31.4%) used live classes, and 22.8% recorded classes. Zoom was the most used platform. (48.7%) and (57%) of clinical students and basic students express their interaction as bad, while the others had good and excellent interaction. Maintaining social distance was the most advantage of online teaching, while poor technical setup and no direct contact were the most disadvantage, furthermore inability to have real clinical access was a significant problem for clinical students (p < .001). With reference to students’ preferences 75% of students were not pleased with their experience and 42% of students prefer to integrate online learning with traditional learning.
Conclusion
Most medical students at JUST preferred the traditional face-to-face teaching method over the solo online teaching methods with recommendations to convert to a more integrated educational system. Also, a well-established infrastructure should be done in involving online teaching.
In this paper, a controller learns to adaptively control an active suspension system using reinforcement learning without prior knowledge of the environment. The Temporal Difference (TD) advantage actor critic algorithm is used with the appropriate reward function. The actor produces the actions, and the critic criticizes the actions taken based on the new state of the system. During the training process, a simple and uniform road profile is used while maintaining constant system parameters. The controller is tested using two road profiles: the first one is similar to the one used during the training, while the other one is bumpy with an extended range. The performance of the controller is compared with the Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) and optimum Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID), and the adaptiveness is tested by estimating some of the system’s parameters using the Recursive Least Squares method (RLS). The results show that the controller outperforms the LQR in terms of the lower overshoot and the PID in terms of reducing the acceleration.
Aim: Myxoid liposarcoma (MLS) is a rare malignant soft-tissue neoplasm in which brain metastasis is still considered rare. We present a case of MLS brain metastasis and review of the literature. Case presentation: A 24-year-old male patient presented with headache, decreased level of consciousness and vomiting. He was treated for distal right thigh MLS 2-years ago. Imaging studies of the brain showed a left frontal intracranial mass. The patient underwent surgical resection followed by stereotactic radiosurgery. The histopathological study revealed metastatic myxoid/roundcell liposarcoma infiltrating the bone and peripheral margins. Conclusion: Treatment options for MLS usually includes surgical resection and adjuvant radiotherapy. A case-by-case based multidisciplinary approach is recommended for the management of similar cases.
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