bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Expanding HIV testing and linkage to care in southwestern Uganda with community health extension workers
Authors: Asiimwe Stephen , Ross Jennifer M. , Arinaitwe Anthony , Tumusiime Obed , Turyamureeba Bosco , Roberts D. Allen , O’Malley Gabrielle , Barnabas Ruanne V. 
Published: July 2017

AbstractIntroduction: Achieving the UNAIDS goals of 90–90‐90 will require more than doubling the number of people accessing HIV care in Uganda. Community‐based programmes for entry into HIV care are effective strategies to expand access to HIV care, but few programmes have been evaluated with a particular focus on scale‐up.Methods: Integrated Community Based Initiatives, a Uganda‐based non‐governmental organization, designed and implemented a programme of community‐based HIV counselling and testing and facilitated linkage to care utilizing community health extension workers (CHEWs) in rural Sheema District, Uganda. CHEWs performed programme activities during 1 October 2015 through 31 March 2016. Outcomes for this evaluation were (1) the number of people tested for HIV, and (2) the proportion of those testing positive who were seen at an ART clinic within three months of their positive test, and (3) the cost of the programme per person newly diagnosed with HIV. Microcosting methods were used to calculate the programme costs. Program scalability factors were evaluated using a published framework.Results: Sixty‐two CHEWs attended a five‐day training that introduced the biology of HIV, the conduct of confidential HIV testing, HIV prevention messages, and linkage, referral, and reporting requirements. CHEWs received a $30 monthly stipend and a field testing kit that included a bicycle, field bag, umbrella, gumboots, reporting booklet, pens, and HIV testing materials. Trained CHEWs tested 43,696 persons for HIV infection during the six‐month programme period. Nine‐hundred seventy‐four participants (2.2%) were identified as HIV positive, and 623 participants (64%) were linked to HIV care. An estimated 69% of adult residents received testing as part of this campaign. The programme cost $3.02 per person test, $135.70 per positive person identified, and $212.15 per HIV‐positive person linked to care.Conclusions: Lay community health extension workers (CHEWs) can be rapidly trained to scale‐up home‐based HIV testing and counselling (HTC) and linkage to care in a high‐quality and low‐cost manner to large numbers of people in a rural, high burden setting. A combination HIV testing approach, such as adding partner testing to community‐based testing, could increase the proportion of HIV‐positive persons identified.
Effect of frequency of clinic visits and medication pick‐up on antiretroviral treatment outcomes: a systematic literature review and meta‐analysis
Authors: Mutasa‐Apollo Tsitsi , Ford Nathan , Wiens Matthew , Socias Maria Eugenia , Negussie Eyerusalem , Wu Ping , Popoff Evan , Park Jay , Mills Edward J. , Kanters Steve 
Published: July 2017

AbstractIntroduction: Expanding and sustaining antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage may require simplified HIV service delivery strategies that concomitantly reduce the burden of care on the health system and patients while ensuring optimal outcomes. We conducted a systematic review to assess the impact of reduced frequency of clinic visits and drug dispensing on patient outcomes.Methods: As part of the development process of the World Health Organization antiretroviral (ARV) guidelines, we systematically searched medical literature databases for publications up to 30 August 2016. Information was extracted on trial characteristics, patient characteristics and the following outcomes: mortality, morbidity, treatment adherence, retention, patient and provider acceptability, cost and patients exiting the programme. When feasible, conventional pairwise meta‐analyses were conducted.Results and discussion: Of 6443 identified citations, 21 papers, pertaining to 16 studies, were included in this review, with 11 studies contributing to analyses. Although analyses were feasible, they were limited by the sparse evidence base, despite the importance of the research area, and relatively low quality. Comparative analyses of eight studies reporting on frequency of clinic visits showed that less frequent clinic visits led to higher odds of being retained in care (odds ratio [OR]: 1.90; 95% CI: 1.21–2.99). No differences were found with respect to viral failure, morbidity or mortality; however, most estimates were favourable to reduced clinic visits. Reduced frequency of ARVs pick‐ups showed a trend towards better retention (OR: 1.93; 95% CI: 0.62–6.04). Strategies using community support tended to have better outcomes; however, their implementation varied, particularly by location. External validity may be questionable.Conclusions: Our systematic review suggests that reduction of clinical visits (and likely ARVs pick‐ups) may improve clinical outcomes, and that they are a viable option to relieve health systems and reduce burden of care for PLHIV. Strategies aimed at reducing clinic visits or drug refill services should focus on stable patients who are virally suppressed, tolerant to their drug regimen and fully adherent. These strategies may be critical to the current changes taking place in HIV treatment policy; thus, due to the data limitations, further high quality research is needed to inform policy and programmatic interventions.
The future of the teaching profession from the perspective of students with a Major in Education
Authors: Campos Céspedes Jensy , Solano Gutiérrez Walter 
Published: July 2017

Abstract
The article offers the results obtained in a study where, through the application of a survey and the development of a discussion forum with students from education majors, information about their perceptions with regard to four axes related to the future of the teaching profession was obtained, as follows: the teacher profile, the student characteristics, the participation of the family and the community in the education process and the curricular changes. From the study, it can be observed that the family and the community are perceived as the organizations with greater trends towards change as a consequence of the technological development and the globalization processes of societies, whilst the teacher profile, the concept of student, of school and curricula, tend to remain within the status quo. The perceptions shown by the future teachers who participated in the study demand relevant changes in the training processes of the education professionals.
Effectiveness of Tutoring to Improve Academic Performance in Nursing Students at the University of Seville
Authors: Guerra-Martín María Dolores , Lima-Serrano Marta , Lima-Rodríguez Joaquín Salvador 
Published: July 2017

Abstract
In response to the increase of Higher Education support provided to tutoring programs, this paper presents the design, implementation and evaluation of a tutoring program to improve the academic performance of at-risk students enrolled in the last year of a nursing degree characterized by academic failure (failed courses). A controlled experimental study was carried out to evaluate a tutoring program that included a minimum of nine meetings performed by an expert professor as tutor. A questionnaire for assessing the academic needs was designed and interventions were performed when responses were: nothing, a little or something. Medium to large effects were found in the progress of failed course to passed course (p =.000, rφ = .30), improving the information about courses (p < .001, d = 2.01), the information comprehension (p < .001, d = 0.85) and the strategies to improve academic performance (p < .001, d = 1.37). The intervention group students’ response highlighted program satisfaction and effectiveness. The significance of the study lies in reinforcing the formal tutoring as a tool to improve academic performance in at-risk students.
Can the integration of a PLE in an e-portfolio platform improve generic competences?
Authors: Galván-Fernández Cristina , Rubio-Hurtado María José , Martínez-Olmo Francesc , Rodríguez-Illera José Luis 
Published: July 2017

Abstract
The study analyzes the improvement in generic competences through e-portfolio/PLE platform and didactic planning. The new version of the platform, Digital Folder, contains utilities for students and teachers and some PLE components that help the learning process through e-portfolios. Didactic planning is compared for students from the University of Vic and the University of Barcelona, with a total of 61 participants. A questionnaire has been applied for measuring the use of functions and how much these functions aid in the improvement of the generic competences (reflection, planning and selection of information). The results confirm that the most helpful functions for students are: the Schedule, the Academic tasks, the Teacher’s portfolio and Dialogue with the teacher. However, the implication of these functions in the improvement of the competences depends on didactic planning overall for reflection on learning.
Social Learning Analytics in Higher Education. An experience at the Primary Education stage
Authors: Díaz-Lázaro José Javier , Solano Fernández Isabel M. , del Mar Sánchez Vera María 
Published: July 2017

Abstract
The concept of Learning Analytics, as we understand it today, is relatively new but the practice of evaluating user behavior is not innovative. For years, technological development, along with other educational aspects, have encouraged, developed and facilitated this practice as a way of providing a personalized quality experience to students. The main goal of this study, carried out in the Primary Education Degree of the University of Murcia, was to research, from the perspective of Social Learning Analytics, how students learn and collaborate in online environments, specifically through their use of social media. With the idea of improving and optimizing future teaching experiences, a pilot study was conducted using weblog, Twitter and Facebook to work with different topics on the subject. The method used in this research was a participant observation and the analysis performed was both quantitative, based mainly on the data gathered from the learning analytics, and qualitative (analyzing students’ content from comments). Results show that there was greater interaction on Facebook than weblogs, where students interacted to deal with aspects related to the learning process and the topic of the subject. This exchange of information grew during the development of the experience. In addition, learning analytics shows that there is a relationship between group members and their interaction and behavior in networks.
Covariation in patterns of turbulence‐driven hyporheic flow and denitrification enhances reach‐scale nitrogen removal
Authors: Li Angang , Aubeneau Antoine F. , Bolster Diogo , Tank Jennifer L. , Packman Aaron I. 
Published: July 2017

AbstractCoinjections of conservative tracers and nutrients are commonly used to assess travel time distributions and nutrient removal in streams. However, in‐stream tracer data often lack information on long‐term hyporheic storage, and removal rate coefficients are often assumed to be uniform despite plentiful evidence that microbially mediated transformations, such as denitrification, exhibit strong spatial variability in the hyporheic zone. We used process‐based particle‐tracking simulations to explore the coupled effects of spatial patterns in hyporheic flow and denitrification on reach‐scale nitrogen removal. We simulated whole‐stream nitrogen dynamics with exponential, layered, and uniform profiles of hyporheic denitrification. We also simulated nitrogen dynamics in Little Rabbit Creek, an agricultural headwater stream in the Kalamazoo River Basin (Michigan, USA) where vertical profiles of hyporheic denitrification were measured in situ. Covariation between pore water velocity and mixing causes rapid exchange in the near‐surface bioactive region and substantially prolonged exchange in the deeper hyporheic. Patterns of hyporheic denitrification covary with patterns of hyporheic flow. This covariation directly controls tailing of in‐stream breakthrough curves and hence reach‐scale nutrient removal. Enhanced denitrification near the sediment‐water interface strongly tempers breakthrough curve tails at time scales associated with flushing of the near‐surface region, while more spatially uniform denitrification causes weaker tempering over a wider range of hyporheic exchange time scales. At the reach scale, overall nitrogen removal increases with heterogeneity of hyporheic denitrification, indicating that covariation between flow and denitrification—particularly the rapid flushing of highly bioactive regions near the sediment‐water interface—controls whole‐stream transformation rates.
Simulation of Mercury's magnetosheath with a combined hybrid‐paraboloid model
Authors: Parunakian David , Dyadechkin Sergey , Alexeev Igor , Belenkaya Elena , Khodachenko Maxim , Kallio Esa , Alho Markku 
Published: July 2017

AbstractIn this paper we introduce a novel approach for modeling planetary magnetospheres that involves a combination of the hybrid model and the paraboloid magnetosphere model (PMM); we further refer to it as the combined hybrid model. While both of these individual models have been successfully applied in the past, their combination enables us both to overcome the traditional difficulties of hybrid models to develop a self‐consistent magnetic field and to compensate the lack of plasma simulation in the PMM. We then use this combined model to simulate Mercury's magnetosphere and investigate the geometry and configuration of Mercury's magnetosheath controlled by various conditions in the interplanetary medium. The developed approach provides a unique comprehensive view of Mercury's magnetospheric environment for the first time. Using this setup, we compare the locations of the bow shock and the magnetopause as determined by simulations with the locations predicted by stand‐alone PMM runs and also verify the magnetic and dynamic pressure balance at the magnetopause. We also compare the results produced by these simulations with observational data obtained by the magnetometer on board the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft along a dusk‐dawn orbit and discuss the signatures of the magnetospheric features that appear in these simulations. Overall, our analysis suggests that combining the semiempirical PMM with a self‐consistent global kinetic model creates new modeling possibilities which individual models cannot provide on their own.
On the relation of earthquake stress drop and ground motion variability
Authors: Oth Adrien , Miyake Hiroe , Bindi Dino 
Published: July 2017

AbstractOne of the key parameters for earthquake source physics is stress drop since it can be directly linked to the spectral level of ground motion. Stress drop estimates from moment corner frequency analysis have been shown to be extremely variable, and this to a much larger degree than expected from the between‐event ground motion variability. This discrepancy raises the question whether classically determined stress drop variability is too large, which would have significant consequences for seismic hazard analysis. We use a large high‐quality data set from Japan with well‐studied stress drop data to address this issue. Nonparametric and parametric reference ground motion models are derived, and the relation of between‐event residuals for Japan Meteorological Agency equivalent seismic intensity and peak ground acceleration with stress drop is analyzed for crustal earthquakes. We find a clear correlation of the between‐event residuals with stress drops estimates; however, while the island of Kyushu is characterized by substantially larger stress drops than Honshu, the between‐event residuals do not reflect this observation, leading to the appearance of two event families with different stress drop levels yet similar range of between‐event residuals. Both the within‐family and between‐family stress drop variations are larger than expected from the ground motion between‐event variability. A systematic common analysis of these parameters holds the potential to provide important constraints on the relative robustness of different groups of data in the different parameter spaces and to improve our understanding on how much of the observed source parameter variability is likely to be true source physics variability.
Characterization of the 3‐D fracture setting of an unstable rock mass: From surface and seismic investigations to numerical modeling
Authors: Colombero C. , Baillet L. , Comina C. , Jongmans D. , Vinciguerra S. 
Published: July 2017

AbstractThe characterization of the fracturing state of a potentially unstable rock cliff is a crucial requirement for stability assessments and mitigation purposes. Classical measurements of fracture location and orientation can however be limited by inaccessible rock exposures. The steep topography and high‐rise morphology of these cliffs, together with the widespread presence of fractures, can additionally condition the success of geophysical prospecting on these sites. In order to mitigate these limitations, an innovative approach combining noncontact geomechanical measurements, active and passive seismic surveys, and 3‐D numerical modeling is proposed in this work to characterize the 3‐D fracture setting of an unstable rock mass, located in NW Italian Alps (Madonna del Sasso, VB). The 3‐D fracture geometry was achieved through a combination of field observations and noncontact geomechanical measurements on oriented pictures of the cliff, resulting from a previous laser‐scanning and photogrammetric survey. The estimation of fracture persistence within the rock mass was obtained from surface active seismic surveys. Ambient seismic noise and earthquakes recordings were used to assess the fracture control on the site response. Processing of both data sets highlighted the resonance properties of the unstable rock volume decoupling from the stable massif. A finite element 3‐D model of the site, including all the retrieved fracture information, enabled both validation and interpretation of the field measurements. The integration of these different methodologies, applied for the first time to a complex 3‐D prone‐to‐fall mass, provided consistent information on the internal fracturing conditions, supplying key parameters for future monitoring purposes and mitigation strategies.
Understanding the spatial variation of sea level rise in the North Sea using satellite altimetry
Authors: Sterlini Paul , Le Bars Dewi , de Vries Hylke , Ridder Nina 
Published: July 2017

AbstractThis paper examines the spatial variation of sea surface height trends in the North Sea Basin as seen by satellite altimetry and assesses its underlying causes. Changes in the potential temperature and salinity of the North Sea are transposed into corresponding changes in sea surface height and regional anomalies of linear sea level trend calculated. The same is carried out for the meteorological processes which act on the sea surface. The steric and meteorological regional sea level rise anomalies are summed with those from contributions from land ice and compared against the values seen by satellite altimetry over the period 1993–2014. Results show that there is good agreement between the observations and the reconstruction. The local meteorological contribution appears to be most important in describing regional variation in linear sea level rise and is reinforced with a local halosteric contribution which shows a similar spatial pattern.
Seasonal cycle of hydrography on the eastern shelf of the Filchner Trough, Weddell Sea, Antarctica
Authors: Ryan S. , Hattermann T. , Darelius E. , Schröder M. 
Published: July 2017

AbstractNew 2 year long records from three moorings, located at
S along the eastern flank and shelf of the Filchner Trough, give insight in the seasonal cycle of hydrography to a region where Modified Warm Deep Water (MWDW) enters the southern Weddell Sea continental shelf, possibly reaching the Filchner Ronne Ice Shelf, the biggest ice shelf (by volume) in Antarctica. A persistent northward flow of Ice Shelf Water (ISW) is found along the eastern flank of the trough at 400 m depth, while the data on the eastern shelf indicate a seasonal cycle, characterized by four phases. A distinct warm inflow period (separated in two phases), with maximum temperatures of
C, appears to be related to the seasonal heaving of the Antarctic Slope Front thermocline along the continental shelf break further north and a seasonal extension of the ISW layer onto the eastern shelf. The density gradients between the ISW in the trough and the MWDW on the adjacent shelf drive the southward flow during these phases. A flow reversal is found in winter, ceasing the southward flow along the eastern flank of the trough. Weaker density gradients between the trough and the shelf during winter allow a westward flow, partly driven by a N‐S density gradient, existing across the eastern shelf during this time. From spring through to summer, the ISW layer in the trough extends onto the eastern shelf where it occupies the bottom layer at our moorings, associated with northward flow.
Types of lightning discharges that abruptly terminate enhanced fluxes of energetic radiation and particles observed at ground level
Authors: Chilingarian A. , Khanikyants Y. , Mareev E. , Pokhsraryan D. , Rakov V. A. , Soghomonyan S. 
Published: July 2017

AbstractWe present ground‐based measurements of thunderstorm‐related enhancements of fluxes of energetic radiation and particles that are abruptly terminated by lightning discharges. All measurements were performed at an altitude of 3200 m above sea level on Mount Aragats (Armenia). Lightning signatures were recorded using a wideband electric field measuring system with a useful frequency bandwidth of 50 Hz to 12 MHz and network of five electric field mills, three of which were installed at the Aragats station, one at the Nor Amberd station (12.8 km from Aragats), and one at the Yerevan station (39 km from Aragats). We observed that the flux‐enhancement termination was associated only with close (within 10 km or so of the particle detector) negative CGs and normal‐polarity ICs; that is, with lightning types which reduce the upward directed electric field below the cloud and hence suppress the acceleration of electrons toward the ground.