This study focused on university students’ perceptions on democratic classroom management. This research investigated the effectiveness of democratic classroom management. The population of this study were the fifth semester students of class C1 of Muhammadiyah University of North Sumatera majoring in Primary School Teacher Education (PGSD). They consisted of 35 students. This research was conducted with qualitative method. The writer used questionnaire as the instrument of interview. The research findings indicated some important things. To begin with, students responded positive about democratic classroom management practices that have been implemented in the classroom for about 9 meetings. It means, the teacher has successfully practiced the democratic classroom management in her class. Next, knowing democratic classroom management helps university students to be more courageous, active and responsible for their own learning. They can express their ideas and opinions without being afraid to be judged. Lastly, for teachers, the student survey provides information to evaluate their own teaching practices, to improve the democratic classroom management style. Developing a democratic classroom management requires significant and consistent effort and in the joint work of teachers and active students through all stages of the teaching-learning process.

The aim of this work is to compare the time of surgical phases and the cumulative dissipated energy (CDE) of the phacoemulsification phase in femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) and in standard surgical procedures of phacoemulsification (PCS). This prospective, non-randomized study analyzed the data of 100 cataract surgeries, 66 using FLACS and 34 with standard PCS. The time of surgical phases was recorded by a digital chronometer; an additional parameter recorded was the CDE of the phacoemulsification phase. The mean time of femtosecond laser phase was 121.7 ± 27.3 s with minimal fluctuations in duration; the mean opening time of the corneal tunnel and the service incisions was 60.5 ± 20.4 s in the PCS, and 48.8 ± 17.4 s in FLACS (p = 0.04); the mean time of capsulorhexis was 39.6 ± 12.9 s in the PCS and 7.0 ± 5.2 s in FLACS (p < 0.0001); the mean time of phacoemulsification was 180.1 ± 45.6 s in the PCS and 163.0 ± 38.2 s in FLACS (p = 0.12); the mean aspiration time of the residual cortical was 66.3 ± 27.5 s in the PCS and 91.5 ± 35.7 s in FLACS (p = 0.02). Overall, the total surgical time of the cataract surgery was 742.3 ± 185.8 s in PCS and 985.1 ± 118.6 s in FLACS (p = 0.03). The mean CDE was 11.35 in the PCS and 8.3 in FLACS (p = 0.01). In conclusion, the greatest advantage obtained from the use of the femtosecond laser was the reduction of the duration of the phacoemulsification time and of the CDE parameter.

The purpose of this review is to evaluate the prediction of postoperative residual astigmatism and to determine the best prediction method for astigmatism correction. In recent findings for residual astigmatism in non-toric monofocal intraocular lens (IOL) implanted eyes, vector analysis can be used to correctly evaluate residual astigmatism by decomposing it. In predicting residual astigmatism, the with-the-rule (WTR) and against-the-rule (ATR) astigmatism components can now be almost predicted. This may be due to advances in inspection equipment and surgical technique. However, there are still issues with the oblique astigmatism component. In addition, corneal astigmatism is the most important predictor of postoperative residual astigmatism, and other predictors, such as refractive astigmatism, age, and lens thickness, have also been mentioned. However, all but corneal astigmatism are questionable because of the possibility of confounding variables. Total corneal astigmatism is more accurate in predicting residual astigmatism than anterior corneal astigmatism. Several predictions of residual astigmatism have been reported, but complete prediction has not been possible. Further research is needed, especially in predicting oblique astigmatism. However, I emphasize that the accuracy of predicting WTR and ATR astigmatism has improved considerably and can be predicted using regression equations with total corneal astigmatism.

Foraging refers to search involving multiple targets or multiple types of targets, and as a model task has a long history in animal behaviour and human cognition research. Foraging behaviour is usually operationalized using summary statistics, such as average distance covered during target collection (the path length) and the frequency of switching between target types. We recently introduced an alternative approach, which is to model each instance of target selection as random selection without replacement. Our model produces estimates of a set of foraging biases, such as a bias to select closer targets or targets of a particular category. Here we apply this model to predict individual target selection events. We add a new start position bias to the model, and generate foraging paths using the parameters estimated from individual participants’ pre-existing data. The model predicts which target the participant will select next with a range of accuracy from 43% to 69% across participants (chance is 11%). The model therefore explains a substantial proportion of foraging behaviour in this paradigm. The situations where the model makes errors reveal useful information to guide future research on those aspects of foraging that we have not yet explained.

Perceptual biases can be interpreted as adverse consequences of optimal processes which otherwise improve system performance. The review presented here focuses on the investigation of inaccuracies in multisensory perception by focusing on the perception of verticality and self-motion, where the vestibular sensory modality has a prominent role. Perception of verticality indicates how the system processes gravity. Thus, it represents an indirect measurement of vestibular perception. Head tilts can lead to biases in perceived verticality, interpreted as the influence of a vestibular prior set at the most common orientation relative to gravity (i.e., upright), useful for improving precision when upright (e.g., fall avoidance). Studies on the perception of verticality across development and in the presence of blindness show that prior acquisition is mediated by visual experience, thus unveiling the fundamental role of visuo-vestibular interconnections across development. Such multisensory interactions can be behaviorally tested with cross-modal aftereffect paradigms which test whether adaptation in one sensory modality induces biases in another, eventually revealing an interconnection between the tested sensory modalities. Such phenomena indicate the presence of multisensory neural mechanisms that constantly function to calibrate self-motion dedicated sensory modalities with each other as well as with the environment. Thus, biases in vestibular perception reveal how the brain optimally adapts to environmental requests, such as spatial navigation and steady changes in the surroundings.

The aim of the study was to assess various retinal vessel parameters of diabetes mellitus (DM) patients and their correlations with systemic factors in type 2 DM. A retrospective exploratory study in which 21 pairs of baseline and follow-up images of patients affected by DM were randomly chosen from the Sankara Nethralaya–Diabetic Retinopathy Study (SN DREAMS) I and II datasets. Patients’ fundus was photographed, and the diagnosis was made based on Klein classification. Vessel thickness parameters were generated using a web-based retinal vascular analysis platform called VASP. The thickness changes between the baseline and follow-up images were computed and normalized with the actual thicknesses of baseline images. The majority of parameters showed 10~20% changes over time. Vessel width in zone C for the second vein was significantly reduced from baseline to follow-up, which showed positive correlations with systolic blood pressure and serum high-density lipoproteins. Fractal dimension for all vessels in zones B and C and fractal dimension for vein in zones A, B and C showed a minimal increase from baseline to follow-up, which had a linear relationship with diastolic pressure, mean arterial pressure, serum triglycerides (p < 0.05). Lacunarity for all vessels and veins in zones A, B and C showed a minimal decrease from baseline to follow-up which had a negative correlation with pulse pressure and positive correlation with serum triglycerides (p < 0.05). The vessel widths for the first and second arteries significantly increased from baseline to follow-up and had an association with high-density lipoproteins, glycated haemoglobin A1C, serum low-density lipoproteins and total serum cholesterol. The central reflex intensity ratio for the second artery was significantly decreased from baseline to follow-up, and positive correlations were noted with serum triglyceride, serum low-density lipoproteins and total serum cholesterol. The coefficients for branches in zones B and C artery and the junctional exponent deviation for the artery in zone A decreased from baseline to follow-up showed positive correlations with serum triglycerides, serum low-density lipoproteins and total serum cholesterol. Identifying early microvascular changes in diabetic patients will allow for earlier intervention, improve visual outcomes and prevent vision loss.

Several studies have shown the presence of large anisotropies for tactile distance perception across several parts of the body. The tactile distance between two touches on the dorsum of the hand is perceived as larger when they are oriented mediolaterally (across the hand) than proximodistally (along the hand). This effect can be partially explained by the characteristics of primary somatosensory cortex representations. However, this phenomenon is significantly attenuated relative to differences in acuity and cortical magnification, suggesting a process of tactile size constancy. It is unknown whether the same kind of compensation also takes place when estimating the size of a continuous object. Here, we investigate whether the tactile anisotropy that typically emerges when participants have to estimate the distance between two touches is also present when a continuous object touches the skin and participants have to estimate its size. In separate blocks, participants judged which of two tactile distances or objects on the dorsum of their hand felt larger. One stimulation (first or second) was aligned with the proximodistal axis (along the hand) and the other with the mediolateral axis (across the hand). Results showed a clear anisotropy for distances between two distinct points, with across distances consistently perceived as larger than along distances, as in previous studies. Critically, however, this bias was significantly reduced or absent for judgments of the length of continuous objects. These results suggest that a tactile size constancy process is more effective when the tactile size of an object has to be approximated compared to when the distance between two touches has to be determined. The possible mechanism subserving these results is described and discussed. We suggest that a lateral inhibition mechanism, when an object touches the skin, provides information through the distribution of the inhibitory subfields of the RF about the shape of the tactile RF itself. Such a process allows an effective tactile size compensatory mechanism where a good match between the physical and perceptual dimensions of the object is achieved.

Visuospatial working memory (WM) requires the activity of a spread network, including right parietal regions, to sustain storage capacity, attentional deployment, and active manipulation of information. Notably, while the electrophysiological correlates of such regions have been explored using many different indices, evidence for a functional involvement of the individual frequency peaks in the alpha (IAF) and theta bands (ITF) is still poor despite their relevance in many influential theories regarding WM. Interestingly, there is also a parallel lack of literature about the effect of short-term practice on WM performance. Here, we aim to clarify whether the simple repetition of a change-detection task might be beneficial to WM performance and to which degree these effects could be predicted by IAF and ITF. For this purpose, 25 healthy participants performed a change-detection task at baseline and in a retest session, while IAF and ITF were also measured. Results show that task repetition improves WM performance. In addition, right parietal IAF, but not ITF, accounts for performance gain such that faster IAF predicts higher performance gain. Our findings align with recent literature suggesting that the faster the posterior alpha, the finer the perceptual sampling rate, and the higher the WM performance gain.

This study aimed to assess the anterior corneal wavefront aberrations, keratometry, astigmatism vectors and pupil size between Pentacam HR® (Oculus Optikgeraete GmbH, Wetzlar, Germany) and iTrace® (Tracey Technologies Corp., Houston, TX, USA). In this observational study, 100 eyes (50 healthy volunteers) were scanned in mesopic light condition with a Pentacam HR® and iTrace®. Anterior corneal aberrations (spherical aberration (Z40), vertical coma (Z3 − 1), horizontal coma (Z3 + 1)), keratometry in the flattest (K1) and steepest meridian (K2), mean astigmatism, astigmatic vectors (J0 and J45), and pupil size were measured. We found a significant difference in Z40 (Pentacam®: +0.30 ± 0.11 µm and iTrace®: −0.03 µm ± 0.05 µm; p < 0.01) with no correlation between the devices (r = −0.12, p = 0.22). The devices were in complete agreement for Z3 − 1 (p = 0.78) and Z3 + 1 (p = 0.39), with significant correlation between the machines (r = −0.38, p < 0.01 and r = −0.6, p < 0.01). There was no difference in K1, K2 and mean astigmatism. J0 was negative with both devices (against-the-rule astigmatism), but there was no correlation. J45 was negative with the Pentacam HR® (more myopic oblique astigmatism) but significantly correlated between the devices. Pupil size was smaller with Pentacam HR® (p < 0.01). In summary, these devices cannot be used interchangeably. Corneal Z40 was significantly different with more negative Z40 with iTrace® compared to Pentacam HR®. iTrace® operates with lower illumination, giving larger pupil size than Pentacam HR®, which uses intense blue light during measurement. No correlation was found for J0. Pentacam HR® had a trend to record more negative J45 (myopic oblique astigmatism).

Background: Myopia is a condition in which the visual images come to a focus in front of the retina of the eye. This disease is a major cause of visual disability, which presents in 108 million persons globally. Purpose: This study aims to determine the relationship between the degree of myopia, the axial length, and the choroidal thickness (CT). Methods: This is an observational analytical study that made use of a cross-sectional design. A total of 59 participants with refractive errors underwent treatment at Hasanuddin University Hospital and 116 eyes were measured and analyzed. The choroidal thickness was measured using the Enhance Depth Imaging OCT (EDI-OCT) tool, which is divided into nine observational areas. Furthermore, all data obtained were compared using statistical analysis, such as the one-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation test (p < 0.05). Results: There was a significant relationship between the choroidal thickness with axial length (p < 0.05) and myopia degrees (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The thickness of the choroid decreases with an increase in the axial length and degree of myopia, which further indicates that the higher the myopia degree, the thinner the choroidal vasculature.