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Feline morbillivirus (FeMV) is a recently discovered morbillivirus of the family Paramyxoviridae, which include several highly contagious viruses with zoonotic potential. In this case report we describe the detection of FeMV in archived brain tissue of a 2‐month‐old Bengal cat with nonsuppurative encephalitis from the year 2011 in Switzerland by high‐throughput sequencing (HTS). Our metagenomics approach was able to obtain a full‐length sequence covering the entire FeMV genome. Phylogenetic analysis showed that our FeMV strain clustered within FeMV genotype 1. We were able to detect FeMV RNA by in situ hybridization (ISH) in brain sections with inflammatory lesions and demonstrated its potential neurotropism and association with encephalitis. Our results provide further insight into this recently discovered morbillivirus and encourage further investigations into the pathogenesis and epidemiology of associated diseases in cats and potentially other species.

In a retrospective metatranscriptomics study, we identified tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) to be the causative agent for a fatal non-suppurative meningoencephalitis in a three-week-old Dalmatian puppy in Switzerland. Further investigations showed that the two other littermates with similar signs and pathological lesions were also positive for TBEV. By using an unbiased approach of combining high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and bioinformatics we were able to solve the etiology and discover an unusual case of TBEV in three young puppies. Based on our findings, we suggest that a vector-independent transmission of TBEV occurred and that most likely an intrauterine infection led to the severe and fulminant disease of the entire litter. We were able to demonstrate the presence of TBEV RNA by hybridization (ISH) in the brain of all three puppies. Furthermore, we were able to detect TBEV by RT-qPCR in total RNA extracted from formalin-fixed and paraffin embedded (FFPE) blocks containing multiple peripheral organs. Overall, our findings shed light on alternative vector-independent transmission routes of TBEV infections in dogs and encourage veterinary practitioners to consider TBEV as an important differential diagnosis in neurological cases in dogs.

The interest in and demand for online terminal degress across disciplines by professionals wishing to conduct research and fulfill doctoral degree requirements at a distance is only increasing. But what these programs look like, how they are implemented, and how they might be evaluated are the questions that challenge administrators and pedagogues alike. This book presents a model for a doctoral program that bridges theory, research, and practice and is offered completely or largely online. In their described program model, Kumar and Dawson enable researching professionals to build an online communtiy of inquiry, engage in critical discourse within and across disciplines, learn from and with experts and peers, and generate new knowledge. Their program design is grounded in the theoretical and research foundations of online, adult, and doctoral education, curriculum design and community-building, implementation and evaluation. The authors, who draw on their experience of implementing a similar program at the University of Florida, not only share data collected from students and faculty members but also reflect on lessons learned working on the program in diverse educational contexts. An important guide for program leaders who wish to develop and sustain an online professional doctorate, An Online Doctorate for Researching Professionals will also be a valuable resource for higher education professionals seeking to include e-learning components in existing on-campus doctoral programs.

Social networking site use is increasingly common among emerging medical professionals, with medical schools even reporting disciplinary student expulsion. Medical professionals who use social networking sites have unique responsibilities since their postings could violate patient privacy. However, it is unknown whether students and residents portray protected health information and under what circumstances or contexts. The objective of our study was to document and describe online portrayals of potential patient privacy violations in the Facebook profiles of medical students and residents. A multidisciplinary team performed two cross-sectional analyses at the University of Florida in 2007 and 2009 of all medical students and residents to see who had Facebook profiles. For each identified profile, we manually scanned the entire profile for any textual or photographic representations of protected health information, such as portrayals of people, names, dates, or descriptions of procedures. Almost half of all eligible students and residents had Facebook profiles (49.8%, or n=1023 out of 2053). There were 12 instances of potential patient violations, in which students and residents posted photographs of care they provided to individuals. No resident or student posted any identifiable patient information or likeness in text form. Each instance occurred in developing countries on apparent medical mission trips. These portrayals increased over time (1 in the 2007 cohort; 11 in 2009; P = .03). Medical students were more likely to have these potential violations on their profiles than residents (11 vs 1, P = .04), and there was no difference by gender. Photographs included trainees interacting with identifiable patients, all children, or performing medical examinations or procedures such as vaccinations of children. While students and residents in this study are posting photographs that are potentially violations of patient privacy, they only seem to make this lapse in the setting of medical mission trips. Trainees need to learn to equate standards of patient privacy in all medical contexts using both legal and ethical arguments to maintain the highest professional principles. We propose three practical guidelines. First, there should be a legal resource for physicians traveling on medical mission trips such as an online list of local laws, or a telephone legal contact. Second, institutions that organize medical mission trips should plan an ethics seminar prior the departure on any trip since the legal and ethical implications may not be intuitive. Finally, at minimum, traveling physicians should apply the strictest legal precedent to any situation.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of integrating Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) technology on middle school mathematics achievement in an urban school. Propensity score matching was used to create a comparable control group in order to isolate the effects of IWB technology on mathematics achievement. An initial experimental group (n = 716) of ethnically diverse urban students receiving IWB instruction was matched to a control population (n = 856) based on propensity scores generated from demographic and ability data. Student achievement data were analyzed with 2 × 4 ANOVA to access treatment main effects and the effects of demographic variables such as gender, ethnicity, and ability. Ethnicity was a significant moderator of the effects. Specifically, a positive effect size was observed for White students, and the achievement gap was also reduced for Hispanic students. Implications for mathematics pedagogy with an IWB are provided based on these conclusions.

The purpose of this research was to design and test a model of classroom technology integration in the context of K-12 schools. The proposed multilevel path analysis model includes teacher, contextual, and school related variables on a teacher's use of technology and confidence and comfort using technology as mediators of classroom technology integration. Data were collected from 1235 K-12 teachers, who were located in 336 schools in 41 districts across the state of Florida. The results suggest that a teacher's experience with technology significantly influenced his or her classroom technology integration. Access to technology in classrooms and the availability of quality technology support were related to classroom technology integration. In addition, how frequently a teacher uses technology and his or her confidence and comfort using technology were mediators for classroom technology integration. These results provide preliminary evidence that the proposed model is both useful and relevant in explaining classroom technology integration in K-12 schools.

This study explores differences among strategies used by eighth grade students with varying degrees of success in determining the credibility of an online website. A concurrent think-aloud protocol elicited verbal reports of what the students were thinking as they sought to determine the credibility of the site and screen recording software captured actions on the screen and voices of participants and researchers. Three types of students who were successful with the evaluation task (the Skeptic, the Rule Follower, the Rigid Thinker) and three types who were not (the Overly Impressionable, the Wanderer, and the Trust Seeker) were identified during multimodal data analysis and are presented in narrative form using direct quotes and descriptions of observed behaviors. We suggest these six profiles are distinct but not mutually exclusive and fall along three continua of strategies that led the participants to have more or less success with the task The first two continua (skepticism versus trust and rigid thinking versus overly impressionable) represent dispositions, or ways of being around information. The third continuum (rule-following versus wandering) is closely connected to information literacy skills. Implications how for how these profiles and continua might influence how to teach credibility assessment are provided.

Based on the achievement goal theory, this experimental study explored the influence of predictive and descriptive learning analytics dashboards on graduate students’ motivation and statistics anxiety in an online graduate-level statistics course. Participants were randomly assigned into one of three groups: (a) predictive dashboard, (b) descriptive dashboard, or (c) control (i.e., no dashboard). Measures of motivation and statistical anxiety were collected in the beginning and the end of the semester via the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire and Statistical Anxiety Rating Scale. Individual semi-structured interviews were used to understand learners’ perceptions of the course and whether the use of the dashboards influenced the meaning of their learning experiences. Results indicate that, compared to the control group, the predictive dashboard significantly reduced learners’ interpretation anxiety and had an effect on intrinsic goal orientation that depended on learners’ lower or higher initial levels of intrinsic goal orientation. In comparison to the control group, both predictive and descriptive dashboards reduced worth of anxiety (negative attitudes towards statistics) for learners who started the course with higher levels of worth anxiety. Thematic analysis revealed that learners who adopted a more performance-avoidance goal orientation approach demonstrated higher levels of anxiety regardless of the dashboard used.

Dissertation guiding principles and purposefully designed research curriculum guide the conceptualization and structure of dissertations in the EdD in Educational Technology at a large university in the US. An analysis of 69 dissertations completed by the first five cohorts over ten years was conducted to determine the theories, frameworks, and research designs used by professional students to conduct Educational Technology research in diverse contexts. The results indicated that students carefully assembled literature from various areas that reflect the diversity of disciplines and professional contexts in which dissertations were conducted, created and used conceptual frameworks that successfully provide a roadmap for research, adopted a variety of research approaches with mixed methods and qualitative approaches used more than quantitative approaches, and explicitly articulated processes for rigor and trustworthiness. Implications for program design and curriculum improvement are discussed.