Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Large impact of tiny model domain shifts for the Pentecost 2014
MCS over Germany

Abstract. The mesoscale convective system (MCS) that affected Germany at Pentecost 2014 (9 June 2014) was one of the most severe for decades. However, the predictability of this system was very low as the operational deterministic and ensemble prediction systems failed to predict the event with sufficiently long lead times. We present hindcasts of the event using the COnsortium for Small-scale MOdeling (COSMO) model at convection-permitting (2.8 km) resolution on a large (1668 × 1807 km) grid, which allowed us to simulate the whole life cycle of the system originating from the French Atlantic coast. Results show that this model configuration successfully reproduces the convective events of that day. However, the low predictability of the event was evident by the surprisingly large impact of tiny changes to the model domain. We systematically shifted the model domain by one grid point in eight different directions, from which three did not simulate any convection over Germany. The analyses show that no important differences in domain-averaged initial conditions nor in the preconvective environment ahead of the convective system exist. That one-third of these seemingly identical initial conditions fails to produce any convection over Germany is intriguing. The main reason for the different model results seems to be the proximity of the track of the initial convective system to the coast and colder sea surface. The COSMO model simulates small horizontal displacements of the precursors of the MCS which then determine if the cells dissipate close to the sea or reach a favourable area for convective development over land and further evolve into an MCS. This study demonstrates the potentially huge impact of tiny model domain shifts on forecasting convective processes in this case, which suggests that the inclusion of this simple method in convective-scale ensemble forecasting systems should be evaluated for different cases, models and weather regimes.
Mentor & Intern Teacher Boundary Practices: Integrating Theory and Practice in Effective Alternative Certification Programs.

Alternative certification programs for primary and secondary school teachers face a difficult challenge: they must develop highly qualified and high quality teachers while adapting to the unique on-the-job training needs of their participants. Research literature indicates that many programs suffer from a lack of cohesion between coursework and fieldwork, with a resulting sense of fragmentation on the part of participating teachers. The literature points to relevant and applied coursework combined with mentoring as possible remedies. However, little in the research literature describes the actual mentor practices and program design features that can accomplish this integration. This study addresses that gap, describing mentor practices and program design elements that foster theory and practice integration in effective alternative certification programs. Utilizing a cross case study design, I studied four mentor-novice pairs in two alternative teacher credential programs. Drawing conceptually on the theoretical literature on situated learning in communities of practice, I develop a means of categorizing mentor and novice practices as planned integration boundary practices, emergent integration boundary practices, program practices, and school site practices. I found that the mentors in this study, to varying degrees and with varying consistency, engaged in boundary practices that assisted novices in connecting coursework with fieldwork. Integration was most pronounced when mentors used their knowledge of the program's practices, their knowledge of classroom instruction generally, and their novice's instruction and teaching context specifically, to capitalize on opportunities for integration. Mentors made both spontaneous and structured connections between instruction and school site demands on the one hand; and coursework, assignments, and program conceptions of effective teaching on the other hand. Mentor practices were shaped by the design of the programs in several ways, including: programs sparing use of prescribed activities, intentional inclusion of mentors in the program community, flexible and adaptive protocols guiding mentor and novice interactions, and relevant and applied coursework. These conclusions have implications for program leaders seeking to foster deeper integration between theory and practice in alternative teacher certification programs.
The Association Between Alcoholic Consumption, Visual Acuity and Road Traffic Accident Among Okada Riders in Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State

This study investigates the association between alcoholic consumption, visual acuity function and road traffic accident among Okada riders in Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State. It involves 150 commercial motor cycle riders in the study area. Following standard laboratory procedures and ethics, history of alcohol ingestion and road traffic accident were obtained and visual acuity was examined in each participant who gave informed consent. The result showed that majority of the Okada riders were between 20 and 30 years. Overall, 85.30%, 47.30% and 69.30% respectively reported the ingestion of alcohol, have had accidents and fell below normal range visual acuity. Accident correlates weakly with visual acuity (OR=0.67; X 2 = 0.289) but strongly and significant with alcohol ingestion (OR = 2.75; X 2 = 0.041). On the other hand, alcohol correlates strongly with poor visual acuity (OR = 2.54). The implication is that Okada riders with poor vision who ingest alcohol are over 2.5 times more likely to have accident compared to Okada riders with good vision. Our findings therefore indicate that poor visual acuity due to alcohol consumption is a risk factor for accidents among Okada riders in Ekpoma.
Examining Warfarin Dosing Decisions to Improve Anticoagulation Management

Background: Adherence to relatively simple warfarin dosing algorithms has been found to be effective for improving anticoagulation control, and in turn for reducing adverse events. Achieving consistent use of such algorithms by clinicians managing the care is a known challenge. Objective: To examine warfarin management patterns at anticoagulation clinics in light of algorithm-recommended management and to develop a methodology for quality assurance around this issue. Methods: We reviewed 2711 postappointment clinician notes between October 1, 2011, and March 31, 2012, for 481 patients across 5 Veterans Health Administration (VA) sites. Key data gathered were of dosing decisions made following the latest available international normalized ratio (INR). Results: Dosing decisions discordant with algorithm recommendations were made at 45% of all the appointments studied; most (78%) followed an out-of-range INR value, as opposed to an in-range value. We found “signatures of care” at each site, characterized by consistent patterns of concordant and discordant management. For example, some sites were more discordant in terms of one-time dose changes (eg, take an extra dose for 1 day), while others were more discordant regarding follow-up intervals, and still others regarding the extent of weekly dose changes (usually larger than recommended). It was also not uncommon to change the dose following an in-range value (not recommended). Conclusions: We identified 5 distinct patterns of management across 5 sites; none were particularly adherent to clinical guidelines. Our method is a suitable basis for audit and feedback to help sites improve patient outcomes by practicing in a more guideline-concordant manner.
Sexuality in Older Adults: Effect of an Education Intervention on Attitudes and Beliefs of Residential Aged Care Staff

The sexual needs and wellbeing of older people living in residential aged care receives scant attention in practice, is easily dismissed by care staff, and remains a significant challenge for aged care service providers. This study reports on the evaluation of an education program delivered to residential aged care nurses to improve their knowledge about, and attitudes towards, older people's sexuality in this context. Participants' attitudes and beliefs towards older people expressing their sexuality in long-term care, including same sex couples and people with dementia, were more permissive following education. Findings further underscore the value of sexuality education as an important factor in dispelling the commonly held negative views of residential aged care staff about older people expressing their sexuality, thereby improving staff responses to this issue.
MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cell Line, a Model for the Study of the Association Between Inflammation and ABCG2-Mediated Multi Drug Resistance

Breast cancer is one of the most common and serious malignancies worldwide. Despite intensive cancer control efforts, it remains the second-leading cause of cancer death among women (Harris et al., 2000). While the overall response rate can be high, the duration of response is relatively short, and most patients with initially responsive tumors will experience a drug-resistance phenotype. Therefore, a lot of studies have centered on the field of drug resistance to improve cancer chemotherapy and management of cancers Gottesman, 2002). The development of intrinsic or acquired resistance to a wide variety of anticancer drugs is a major obstacle to successful cancer chemotherapy. Some cancers show primary resistance or natural resistance in which they do not respond to standard chemotherapy drugs from the beginning. On the other hand, many types of sensitive tumors respond well to chemotherapy drugs in the beginning but show acquired resistance later (Choi, 2005). Multidrug resistance (MDR) can be defined as the intrinsic or acquired resistance of cancer cells to multiple classes of structurally and mechanistically unrelated antitumor drugs (Teodori et al., 2002). To date, the most widely studied cellular mechanisms of MDR are those associated with drug efflux involving members of the adenosine triphosohate-binding cassette (ABC) membrane transporter family (Mao et al., 2005). Recently, several human ABC transporters with a potential role in drug resistance have been discovered. Among them, a novel known protein is ATP-binding cassette sub-family G member 2 (ABCG2). Human ABCG2 (also known as MXR, BCRP, and ABCP) was first cloned by Doyle et al. (Doyle et al., 1998) in the drug-resistant breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). ABCG2 is an efflux pump, which transports a variety of xenobiotics and endogenous compounds across cellular membranes. Tissue localization of ABCG2 in the mammary glands, intestine, kidney, liver, ovary, testis, placenta, endothelium and in hematopoietic stem cells indicates that ABCG2 plays an important role in absorption, distribution, and elimination of its substrates (Krishnamurthy et al., 2004; Mao & Unadkat, 2005). The expression of ABCG2 protein and/or mRNA has been detected in numerous types of human cancers (Diestra et al., 2002; Ross et al., 2000), and a large spectrum of anticancer drugs are effluxed by ABCG2
PENGARUH PEMAHAMAN AKUNTANSI, PEMANFAATAN SISTEM INFORMASI AKUNTANSI KEUANGAN DAERAH DAN PERAN INTERNAL AUDIT TERHADAP KUALITAS LAPORAN KEUANGAN PEMERINTAH DAERAH (Studi pada Pemerintah Kota Banda Aceh)

Penelitian ini dilaksanakan atas dasar adanya fenomena hasil audit Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan Republik Indonesia (BPK-RI) bahwa laporan keuangan pemerintah daerah tidak memenuhi kriteria sebagai syarat-syarat laporan keuangan yang berkualitas. Kriteria dan unsur-unsur pembentuk kualitas laporan keuangan yaitu relevan, andal, dapat dibandingkan dan dapat dipahami. Faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi kualitas laporan keuangan tersebut diduga adalah pemahaman akuntansi (X 1 ), pemanfaatan sistem informasi akuntansi keuangan daerah (X 2 ) dan peran internal audit (X 3 ). Populasi dalam penelitian ini SKPD yang menyampaikan laporan keuangan. Data yang digunakan adalah data primer yang diperoleh dari responden melalui penyebaran kuesioner. Selanjutnya untuk pengujian data dilakukan uji validitas, uji reliabilitas dan pengujian hipotesis. Data yang diperoleh kemudian dilakukan analisis regresi linier berganda antara variabel independen dengan variabel dependen baik secara simultan maupun secara parsial. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kesemua variabel independen yang diturunkan secara bersama-sama (simultan) berpengaruh positif terhadap kualitas laporan keuangan. Hal ini ditunjukkan oleh nilai R 2 sebesar 0,281 lebih besar dari nilai 0. Pengaruh sebesar 28,1% menunjukkan bahwa pengaruhnya lemah karena nilai koefisien determinasi R 2 = 0,281 lebih kecil dari 0,5. Diduga masih ada faktor lain yang mempengaruhi kualitas laporan keuangan. Sementara itu hubungan antara variabel independen dengan variabel dependen secara parsial menunjukkan bahwa pemahaman akuntansi mempengaruhi kualitas laporan keuangan sebesar 20,7%, pemanfaatan system informasi akuntansi keuangan daerah mempengaruhi kualitas laporan keuangan sebesar 5% dan peran internal audit mempengaruhi kualitas laporan keuangan sebesar 12,1%. Kata kunci : Pemahaman Akuntansi, Sistem Informasi Akuntansi Keuangan Daerah, Peran Interna Audit dan Kualitas Laporan Keuangan
Experiential learning and close mentoring improve recruitment and retention in the undergraduate environmental science program at an Hispanic-serving institution

Abstract The Training in Environmental Research and Academic Success (TIERA) program was created to increase recruitment and retention of environmental science majors at the University of Texas at El Paso, where ∼80% of students self-declare Hispanic origin, providing a unique opportunity to increase diversity in the future STEM workforce. Through curriculum redesign at freshman and sophomore levels, experiential learning and research mentoring were implemented and evaluated. Incoming freshmen coenrolled in Introduction to Environmental Science (lecture and lab) and a special section of university seminar to form a TIERA-learning community. Students started problem-based learning and research experiences in the spring of their freshman year, focusing on training in hypothesis testing, field methods, data collection, and teamwork. Students then registered for research courses in both semesters during their sophomore year. Under the supervision of a faculty mentor, they were immersed in ongoing research projects and ultimately presented a poster at a university-wide undergraduate research symposium. Students gave positive responses about the learning community approach, including the friendship and support the cohort-based classes provided, increased opportunities to interact with peers, an understanding of the goals and structure of the program, and the diversity of research and career opportunities in environmental science. Survey results show that experiential learning and one-on-one mentoring improved students’ technical, professional, and soft skills; increased their awareness of and interest in solving environmental issues; and increased their likelihood to pursue a STEM career. The enrollment for the program increased steadily from 66 to 102 over four years. Over the same period, the retention rate nearly doubled from 43% to 80%, and the average time it took a student to graduate decreased by almost two years. Learning communities and mentored research experiences are transferable to other institutions.
Factors Influencing the Performance of Delivery Centers in Urban Slums of Bangladesh: A Qualitative Study

Averting the devastating majority of maternal mortality, BRAC initiated an intervention named Manoshi in 2007; maternal, neonatal and child health program for the urban poor of Dhaka city. It established delivery centers (DC) to provide clean and safe delivery services by community health workers (CHW) as well as referring maternal and neonatal complications to equipped hospital. The study aimed to measure the performance of DCs and explore the factors related to its performance. Data was collected using qualitative methods during December 2009 – January 2010 from six DCs in the slums of Dhaka city. Findings revealed that the DCs at Magbazar and Kamrangir Char performed ‘well’ due to availability of CHWs, their emotional support and caring attitude, regular antenatal care (ANC) visits, convenient location, cleanliness and free services of the DCs. The DCs at Madertek and Shyampur performed ‘average’ and Ramna and Kotwali DCs performed poor. Poor performance was largely due to lack of CHWs, less motivation, frequent dropout due to low remuneration, and recurrent slum demolition. The reasons for women not attending DCs were fear of being referred to the hospital which might compel them to have a caesarean delivery, lack of comprehensive services at DCs including doctor-assisted normal deliveries, medicines, and emergency case management. Neonatal mortality rate in poor performed DCs found to be high. The respondents recommended that instead of referring women for minor complications, DCs should be competent of providing supervised skilled service package with basic treatment during childbirth, tetanus toxoid during ANC and child immunizations during postnatal care.Given the existing scenario, the program needs to pay attention to the ‘poor’ performed DCs with developing alternative strategies to enhance collaboration with existing health facilities and emphasizing community mobilization on ANC, safe delivery and strengthen appropriate referral for obstetric and neonatal complications.
Assessment of the eating habits of a selected group of school age children

The purpose of the research was to assess the eating habits, nutritional status and level of physical activity of a selected group of children. Empirical study was conducted with the use of an authorial questionnaire – survey in May 2013 in a group of 100 parents of children aged 6–9 years attending grades 1–3 of primary school in Gdynia. Eating habits of children were found to be beneficial in terms of regularity and the number of meals consumed, consumption of the first breakfast at home and a second breakfast at school and the lack of snacking in the course of time spent in front of a computer and a TV. As unbeneficial were considered eating habits of children in terms of snacking between main meals during the day and too short time of consumption of last meal before bedtime. It was found that the structure of consumption of individual food products is not compatible with the recommendations of the Institute of Food and Nutrition on low consumption of fruits and vegetables, whole grain products, leguminous plants, fish and high consumption of sweets. This trend may be the cause of shortage of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fiber and polyunsaturated fatty acids omega-3.
Frequency and Risk Factors of Depression among Elderly at Geriatric Clubs in Zagazig City

Background: Depression is one of most prevalent disabling health problems among elderly. The aim of the study was to improve quality of life of elderly and to assess frequency of depression among elderly (≥60) and identify its risk factors. Methods: A cross sectional study included 280 persons attending geriatric clubs in Zagazig City. Participants were asked about socio-demographic data, presence of chronic diseases, and participation in physical and social activities. Depression was measured by Geriatric Depression Scale short form (GDS-SF). Results: Prevalence of depression among the studied group was 66.1%, while 33.9% had no depression. According to severity, 61% of the depressed elderly had mild depression and 10% had severe depression. Results revealed that elderly belonging to the age group 70-75 years (63.9%), female sex (44.7%), urban residents (42.7), widowed (48.0%), and those with middle education (63.0%) were more exposed to depression than others. Also, elderly without past occupation (50.5%), those without current occupation (42.9%), and those of low social class (66.6%) had depression more than others. Lastly, elderly with minimal participation in physical activities (60.0%) and moderate participation in social (53.2%) activities, and those having chronic conditions were more prone to depression than others. Conclusion: Depression is an undiagnosed public health problem. It significantly increases with age, female sex, widowhood, urban residence, middle education, low socioeconomic level, past unemployment, and absence of current occupation. It is recommended to increase the awareness about the geriatric depression to allow early detection thus preventing its progression.
Assessing Quality Of Life and related factors in Bushehr,s elders – 1387-8

Background & Objective: Added to the achievement of the 21st century, human life longevity has been increased. Elders should be supported. Aging may cause various problems such as decrease the abilities and high risk conditions. Age increase is not a disease; it is a normal change of life that affects everybody. In this study elderly needs were assessed and the physical, social and spiritual aspects of their life were evaluated to assess the quality of life )QOL( and related factors in elderly population in Bushehr. Materials & Methods: This descriptive– analytical study was carried out on 360 elders )male and female( in Bushehr. Method of sampling was cluster random sampling. Two questionnaires consist of demographic data and SF-36 questionnaire were used to assess QOL. Data were collected through client interview and analyzed by SPSS 13 software program. Results: Results showed that mean scores of physical and mental health aspects of Bushehr’s elderly people is less than 50. So, the physical and mental health aspects of quality of life related to economic status, employment, chronic illness, educational levels, insurance service, and owning the house of elderly population were significantly (P<0.001) correlated. However, there were no significant relation with sex, daily activity and life condition. Conclusion: We conclude that a suitable plan and program should be considered by the director & managers to improve the life quality of elderly people.
Social Construction of Cervical Cancer Screening Among Panamanian Women

Abstract Background: Understanding how “health issues” are socially constructed may be useful for creating culturally relevant programs for Hispanic/Latino populations. Purpose: We explored the constructed meanings of cervical cancer and cervical cancer screening among Panamanian women, as well as socio-cultural factors that deter or encourage screening services. Women in this age group have the highest rate of HPV in Panama, placing them at elevated risk for cervical cancer. Methods: Using a social construction approach, four qualitative research techniques were employed to assess the meaning of cervical cancer in the lives of 132 Panamanian women between 20 and 40 years of age. Results: Emergent themes included the importance of religion and family, the relationship between sexuality and health, influence of media, and the influence of husbands and of other women in helping to construct screening knowledge. Also, the generalized belief that cancer signifies death was clear. Discussion: Cervical cancer and cancer screening arouse fears, embarrassment, and shame that serve as barriers to screening and impede better screening rates and earlier diagnosis of disease. Cervical cancer screening guidelines are not promoted causing lack of awareness. Translation to Health Education Practice: Culturally relevant health education interventions and programs delivered in a participatory group format at the community level may be effective in reaching Panamanian women. Women themselves may be good resources for identifying appropriate health education messages, interventions and delivery modes.