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The incorporation of computer technology in higher education has experienced substantial expansion and evolution in recent years. This study aims to examine the possibilities and problems that emerge throughout the integration process. Through an analysis of the multifaceted components associated with integrating computer technology within higher education, this study attempts to elucidate the prospective advantages and challenges encountered by educational institutions, instructors, and learners. The study relies on an examination of pertinent academic literature, case studies, and empirical research. This study identifies and assesses various significant opportunities, such as accessibility to educational resources, personalized learning experiences, enhanced engagement and collaboration, and the acquisition of crucial digital skills that arise from the integration of computer technology. Furthermore, this study delves into the possible beneficial implications of computer technology on the efficacy of institutions, cost-efficiency, and administrative functions. Incorporating computer technology in higher education poses several challenges, such as the digital gap, concerns about privacy and data security, the necessity for faculty training and support, alterations in pedagogy, and the possible diversions that may arise due to technology that require careful consideration. The study suggests a thorough examination of the many opportunities and challenges that are involved with technological integration in higher education.

The rapid advancement of the school education system in Nepal underscores the importance of technology-driven professional development (PD) for English teachers transitioning to digital teaching methods. This study delves into English teachers' views on technology-based PD to evaluate its effectiveness, challenges, and advantages. Using a qualitative research approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted via Zoom to collect data. The study examines key aspects such as access to digital resources, the impact of technology on teaching approaches, and the enhancement of instructional skills. Key findings emphasize the significance of institutional support, the relevance of PD content, and teachers' prior tech experience in shaping their perceptions of technology-driven PD. These insights provide valuable guidance for policymakers and education stakeholders aiming to improve PD practices for English teachers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide and reshaped the existing educational system. Due to travel constraints and physical separation, there has been a global shift toward distance learning, and Nepal is no exception. This research intends to assess the practicality of online education by evaluating learners' experiences amidst COVID-19. A cross-sectional study was directed among HEIs students in Nepal using self-structured questionnaires. Our study revealed that 64.6% of the respondents were unsatisfied with online classes. More than half of the respondents (53.4%) use cell phones for online studies. Online education was reported to be unappealing to 28.8% of respondents. Variables such as age group (p = 0.05), enjoying class (p < 0.001), hours spent for an online class in a day (p = 0.05), and period for educational work using an electronic device (p = 0.1) were found significant with satisfaction level using both bivariate test and inferential test of univariate binary logistics regression. The challenges and opportunities encountered among students and faculties are highlighted along with the recommendations for fortifying communication in online-based teaching/learning.

This essay reviews the emergency teaching-learning pedagogy in K-12 schools of Nepal during the COVID-19 global pandemic. It discusses three models (unidirectional, e-participatory, and mobile teaching) as alternative pedagogies of Nepalese educational institutions to continue teaching-learning for different disciplines such as language, arts, and social studies. Moreover, the essay discusses the appropriateness of each model for teaching-learning in urban, semi-urban, and rural settings in Nepal.

Natural disasters create immense challenges for young children by exposing them to a high degree of adversity. Interventions designed to build resilience in the aftermath of a natural disaster may help buffer the negative consequences of these adverse experiences. In this article, we report the results of our quasi-experimental evaluations of two interventions designed by Save the Children to improve children's developmental outcomes and parental engagement during a critical period. These interventions provided resources across eco-developmental levels to young survivors of the 2015 earthquake in Nepal's Sindhupalchok district by targeting children's families, teachers, and communities. The first was a caregiver-focused intervention aimed at improving parents' and caregivers' ability to provide early stimulation and responsive, positive caregiving for children ages 0-3; the other was a facilitator-focused intervention at an early childhood development (ECD) center that aimed to improve the quality of learning environments, family engagement, and psychosocial supports for children ages 3-6. We found that the interventions had a mixed impact. The age 0-3 components had no detectable effect on developmental outcomes, whereas the age 3-6 components had a positive impact on children's early learning and development, particularly their pre-academic skills. Neither intervention improved parental engagement. We highlight the challenges of implementing family-focused interventions in emergency contexts and the importance of the delivery agents in ECD programs. Despite the null effects for the 0-3 group, these evaluations demonstrate that bolstering the quality of early learning environments and the skills of ECD facilitators can have a meaningful impact on child-level outcomes, even in postdisaster and emergency settings.

This article discusses the use of appropriate medium of instruction in multilingual classroom contexts, which is one of the most debated issues in education around the world. It first briefly overviews mother tongue education in relation to English language teaching in Nepal. Then, presenting a case study from Nepal, it offers theoretical insights about the use of mother tongue for higher education in general. Given that the issue of language of instruction is less often questioned in higher education around the world, it calls for such a discussion by drawing insights from the use of English, a foreign language, as the medium of instruction at different levels of education in Nepal.

Community pharmacists contribute in osteoarthritis management via evidence-based pain management services. However, their roles and impacts on osteoarthritis management in low- and middle-income countries have yet to be explored. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of community pharmacist-led educational intervention and medication review among osteoarthritis patients. A 6-month cluster-randomized controlled study was conducted in 22 community pharmacies of Nepal. Patients clinically diagnosed with osteoarthritis, aged 18 years and above, with a poor knowledge level of osteoarthritis and pain management were enrolled in the study. The intervention groups were educated on osteoarthritis and pain management, and had their medications reviewed while control group received usual care. Primary outcomes evaluated for the study were the change in pain levels, knowledge, and physical functional scores at 3 and 6 months. Repeated analyses of covariance were performed to examine the outcomes. A total of 158 participants were recruited for the study. The intervention group reported improvements in pain score (mean difference 0.473, 95 % CI 0.047 to 0.900) at 3 months and the end of the study (mean difference 0.469, 95 % CI 0.047 to 0.891) as compared to control. Similarly, improvement in knowledge scores were observed in the intervention group at 3 months (mean difference 5.320, 95 % CI 4.982 to 5.658) and 6 months (mean difference 5.411, 95 % CI 5.086 to 5.735). No differences were observed in other outcomes, including physical functional score, depression, and quality of life. Community pharmacist-led intervention improved patients' knowledge of osteoarthritis and pain management. While pain scores improved, physical functional score, depression, and quality of life score remained unchanged. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05337709. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timalsina S, Gyawali P, Bhattarai A. Int J Womens Health. 2016;8:627-631. The Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of International Journal of Women’s Health wish to retract the published article. The journal was notified of similarities reported between the published article and material published as an abstract in Clinical Chemistry, as part of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry’s annual meeting in 2011 (https://meeting.aacc.org/-/media/Files/Meetings-and-Events/Annual%20Meeting/2011/AACC_11_FullAbstract.pdf?la=en&hash=A762BB9A047239D3DB858A1DE4D0C21C4C378A7E). It was observed both articles appeared to be reporting the same study, with the same number of participants and identical results. However, the International Journal of Women’s Health article reported results for oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) whereas the abstract published in Clinical Chemistry reported results for antioxidized low-density lipoprotein (anti-OxLDL) antibody. The author explained that, in fact, the data collected for the study was for anti-OxLDL antibody and this had been misrepresented as oxLDL in the published study. The Editor concluded that oxLDL and anti-OXLDL antibody represent two separate assays which have different biological significance and cannot be used interchangeably. The Editor determined the findings of the study were no longer valid and requested for the article to be retracted. The authors wish to apologise for this error. Our decision-making was informed by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retraction. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”. This retraction relates to this paper

Santosh Timalsina,1 Prajwal Gyawali,2 Aseem Bhattarai2 1Department of Biochemistry, Chitwan Medical College, Bharatpur, 2Department of Biochemistry, Maharajgunj Medical Campus, Maharajgunj, Kathmandu, Nepal Introduction: Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific complication that significantly contributes to maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality worldwide, even more so in developing countries such as Nepal. The potential contribution of dyslipidemia and elevated levels of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) in the pathogenesis of preeclamptic pregnancies has been observed in several studies. The aim of this study was to compare the maternal lipid profile parameters and particularly oxLDL between preeclamptic and healthy pregnancies and also correlate oxLDL with other lipid profile parameters. Patients and methods: A total of 54 preeclamptic women were selected as cases for this cross-sectional study. Age and gestational week-matched 60 pregnant women were enrolled as controls. Preeclampsia was defined as per Australasian Society Consensus Statement research definition. The serum lipid parameters were measured using automated enzymatic systems and a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine oxLDL concentrations in the serum. Student’s t-test was used to compare oxLDL levels between preeclamptic and healthy pregnancies, and Pearson’s correlation analysis was carried out to assess the relation between oxLDL and other variables. Results: The mean values of serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, non-high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (non-HDL-c) and oxLDL were significantly higher in the preeclamptic cases (P

Citizen science is blossoming in the water sciences and benefits to the scientific community are well reported. The experiences of involved citizens are less well researched, however, particularly in the Global South. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated the participant motivations of citizen science water projects in Nepal and the benefits and negative impacts of involvement. Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were utilised with 74 participants and 15 project organisers, mainly from 5 projects. Participant responses yielded evidence of most of the commonly reported potential benefits of involvement in citizen science, including knowledge gain, increased scientific literacy, and empowerment. Not all benefits were experienced by all participants, however, and there was evidence - albeit minimal - of negative impacts, with some participants reporting the net effect of involvement as being burdensome or disappointing. Participant motivations matched those typically observed among Global North citizen scientists; most commonly, contributing to scientific research, having the opportunity to learn, and helping the community. While this study indicated that involvement in the investigated projects was mostly beneficial, further Global South citizen scientist assessments are needed to enable benefits to be maximised, negative impacts to be avoided, and motivations to be understood for improved participant targeting and retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing resilience has become the favoured approach in efforts to curb the impact of disasters. It is central to the United Nations' International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction and to its Sustainable Development Goals, and it is now championed by most of the nations and civil society organisations working with hazards. But who decides what resilience looks like? We explore this question through the Nepali phrase ke garne? (what to do?). Often seen as an expression of fatalism, its true meaning is pretty much the opposite: resilience in the face of adversity. Drawing on the theory of plural rationality, we show how the proponents of Disaster Risk Reduction in Nepal, in making the invalid fatalist assumption, are bent on bestowing resilience on a social and cultural system that unbeknown to them is already, of its very nature, resilient: unnecessary at best; positively harmful at worst. This is not to say that they should not intervene; only that they need to first understand what it is that they are intervening in. And central to that understanding is the indigenous knowledge – in the case of landslides, the ethnogeomorphology – of those they have mistakenly assumed to be fatalistic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a consultation process that took place in Nepal from January 2003 to July 2004 involving dam builders, dam managers and dam critics. It discusses the key findings of the review and reflects on the differences between dams built with domestic designs and funding that suffer no controversy and ongoing dam projects involving international agencies that are mired in dispute. The paper concludes that Nepal must continue with the deliberative process which characterised the period immediately after the WCD Report was released if it is to end the policy impasse that plagues the development of hydropower in the country. The government of Nepal, like the governments of its neighbours India and China, unequivocally rejected the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD) Report soon after its release in November 2000. Later, more considered reactions revealed more complex sentiments among Nepalis inasmuch that social activists welcomed the recommendations as valid and necessary, while the dam building community, including the official hydrocracy, held that they were impracticable. The then government, assessing that the business-as-usual dam building approach would face an impasse and not help meet Nepal's growing need for water and electricity, concluded that the country could ill-afford to reject the WCD's findings. It took a policy initiative in December 2002 to engage with the report more aggressively, comparing the WCD recommendations with Nepal's own national laws, acts and policies in order to explore the contours of an alternative approach. Lessons from the consultative and inclusive global review effort that the WCD represented needed to be thoroughly internalised by Nepal so that no bad dams would be proposed for funding and only good dams built. The consultations of 2003-2004 revealed that many Nepali laws were already robust and did, in fact, incorporate the WCD recommendations adequately. A second cycle of consultations identified many second-generation problems, including those related to ensuring compliance, gaining public acceptance, recognising entitlements, sharing benefits and conducting comprehensive options assessments. The major limitation to Nepal's ability to take up the WCD recommendations turned out to be less in the laws themselves and more in the implementation of, and compliance with, these laws. The findings of the two consultative reviews meant little to either subsequent governments of Nepal or to the international aid industry, despite the opportunity for change that the dramatic democratic movement of 2005/2006 offered - government hydrocracy and the political parties guiding it, as well as international donors, continued to favour the conventional model of dam building. Their silence about the review is inexplicable, especially in light of the flaws in, and controversy surrounding, the ADB-funded Kali Gandaki A and German-funded Middle Marsyangdi dams, both of which followed conventional practice. A new electricity act currently tabled in the parliament also fails to take into account many of the lessons that should have been learnt so easily from past mistakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]