Stand-alone Program Research Articles

Perspectives of Family Caregivers on Healthcare Provided to Older Adults With Hypertension and/or Diabetes Mellitus in Ghana.

This study explored the perspectives of family caregivers of older adults with hypertension and/or diabetes mellitus on the care provided to their kin when they visit the hospital. A qualitative research approach was used to conduct the study using family members providing informal care for older adults with hypertension and/or diabetes mellitus at a teaching hospital in Ghana. A total of 20 participants were purposively sampled, interviewed, and data was analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Family caregivers mainly had perceptions that their older adult kin had poor interactions with the healthcare system because of some healthcare workers' negative attitudes, inadequate facilities at the clinics, and lack of geriatric care services at the facility. This notwithstanding, family caregivers also derived some benefits from accompanying their kin to the hospital. Practice and education in gerontological nursing must be employed to pragmatically meet the unique healthcare needs of older adults in Ghana with a focus on geriatrics units and standalone programs of study to prepare specialized healthcare professionals to provide comprehensive services to older adults. For a thorough understanding of issues of older adult care in the country, their perspectives on this subject should also be explored in future studies.

IMPLEMENTASI KURIKULUM MERDEKA MELALUI METODE BERMAIN KELOMPOK UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN SOSIAL DAN EMOSIONAL ANAK USIA DINI DI UPT. TK NEGERI PEMBINA LIMA PLUH KECAMATAN LIMA PULUH KABUPATEN BATU BARA

Preparing a new curriculum is not easy for every education unit, it often becomes a polemic felt by educators, especially at the early childhood level. The curriculum is the main idea of ​​the educational process, without a good curriculum the learning process cannot run well so that national education goals cannot be achieved. To increase understanding regarding how an independent curriculum in Early Childhood Education is needed, a deeper discussion is needed regarding the study of the concept of its content and how the concept is actualized and implemented. This research aims to discuss the development and implementation of the independent curriculum in early childhood education, which includes the meaning of the independent curriculum, the characteristics and characteristics of the independent curriculum, and the stages of implementing the independent curriculum at the PAUD level. The method used is a descriptive qualitative method that uses theoretical analysis and literature study. The results of this research are. The independent study program is in accordance with the concept of independent learning put forward by the Ministry of Education and Culture. When preparing a standalone program, attention should be paid to the basic framework and structure of the program.

Understanding Emerging Adults’ Perspectives on Mental Health in Togo

Mental health worldwide is extremely important to address; unfortunately, many aspects of mental health are not visibly known or treated in the world. Moreover, some developmental groups are more affected than others; in fact, emerging adulthood is a crucial developmental phase that is prone to depression. With most mental health conditions beginning before the age of 24 and depression as the leading cause of disability globally, this study sought to identify emerging adults’ understanding of depression, a common disease among this population. A qualitative study was used to understand depression during emerging adulthood in Togo. There were 35 participants recruited for this study. With the growing younger population in Sub-Saharan Africa projected to double in a decade and the dearth of studies in the mental health field on the continent, this study serves as a foundation for research into emerging adults’ mental health. Like most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, the inexistence of a stand-alone mental health program, the shortage of qualified mental health professionals, and insufficient civil society education on mental health problems remain the fundamental barriers to accessible care in Togo. As the study indicated, there are many ways to provide new opportunities for emerging adults to self-educate about mental health. By increasing our understanding of depression among emerging adults, the findings of this research study offer valuable data as a foundation not only for future studies, but also for mental health policy development and targeted programming for emerging adults in Sub-Saharan Africa and Togo in particular.

Simple ePDF: A Pair Distribution Function Method Based on Electron Diffraction Patterns to Reveal the Local Structure of Amorphous and Nanocrystalline Materials.

Amorphous, glassy or disordered materials play important roles in developing structural materials from metals or ceramics, devices from semiconductors or medicines from organic compounds. Their local structure is frequently similar to crystalline ones. A computer program is presented here that runs under the Windows operating system on a PC to extract pair distribution function (PDF) from electron diffraction in a transmission electron microscope (TEM). A polynomial correction reduces small systematic deviations from the expected average Q-dependence of scattering. Neighbor distance and coordination number measurements are supplemented by either measurement or enforcement of number density. Quantification of similarity is supported by calculation of Pearson's correlation coefficient and fingerprinting. A rough estimate of fractions in a mixture is computed by multiple least-square fitting using the PDFs from components of the mixture. PDF is also simulated from crystalline structural models (in addition to measured ones) to be used in libraries for fingerprinting or fraction estimation. Crystalline structure models for simulations are obtained from CIF files or str files of ProcessDiffraction. Data from inorganic samples exemplify usage. In contrast to previous free ePDF programs, our stand-alone program does not need a special software environment, which is a novelty. The program is available from the author upon request.

Stack-DHUpred: Advancing the accuracy of dihydrouridine modification sites detection via stacking approach

Dihydrouridine (DHU, D) is one of the most abundant post-transcriptional uridine modifications found in tRNA, mRNA, and snoRNA, closely associated with disease pathogenesis and various biological processes in eukaryotes. Identifying D sites is important for understanding the modification mechanisms and/or epigenetic regulation. However, biological experiments for detecting D sites are time-consuming and expensive. Given these challenges, computational methods have been developed for accurately identifying the D sites in genome-wide datasets. However, existing methods have some limitations, and their prediction performance needs to be improved. In this work, we have developed a new computational predictor for accurately identifying D sites called Stack-DHUpred. Briefly, we trained 66 baseline models or single-feature models by connecting six machine learning classifiers with eleven different feature encoding methods and stacked different baseline models to build stacked ensemble learning models. Subsequently, the optimal combination of the baseline models was identified for the construction of the final stacked model. Remarkably, the Stack-DHUpred outperformed the existing predictors on our new independent dataset, indicating that the stacking approach significantly improved the prediction performance. We have made Stack-DHUpred available to the public through a web server (http://kurata35.bio.kyutech.ac.jp/Stack-DHUpred) and a standalone program (https://github.com/kuratahiroyuki/Stack-DHUpred). We believe that Stack-DHUpred will be a valuable tool for accelerating the discovery of D modifications and understanding their role in post-transcriptional regulation.

CCTVs and the Criminal City

This paper investigates how surveillance technologies used by the police, such as close circuit cameras (CCTVs) along with facial recognition, further solidify the perception of poor areas of the city as criminal, thus limiting the opportunities of the residents of these areas culturally, socially, and economically. Slums, immigrant colonies, and shanty towns have long been considered hotbeds of crime and illegal activities. These areas are generally marked as unsafe in the popular imagination. I am interested to see how (and if) communities in these spaces modify their behaviour in order to escape the extra watchful presence of the state in the form of CCTV cameras. I also want to see how these spaces evolve in terms of their interaction with other parts of the city as a result of the use of such exacerbated surveillance technologies. This paper is based on ongoing ethnographic work in one such marked area in the North East part of Delhi where video footage from CCTV cameras, along with mobile phone cameras, was extensively used for police investigations (with additional use of a standalone facial recognition program) following deadly riots that killed a record number of people in the area and destroyed many businesses in February 2020.

A New Way for Face Sketch Construction and Detection Using Deep CNN

Traditional hand-drawn face sketches have encountered speed and accuracy issues in the field of forensic science when used in conjunction with contemporary criminal identification technologies. To close this gap, we provide a ground-breaking research article that is built on a stand-alone program that aims to revolutionize the production and identification of composite face sketches. This ground-breaking approach does away with the requirement for forensic artists by enabling users to easily create composite sketches using a drag-and-drop interface. Utilizing the power of deep learning and cloud infrastructure, these generated sketches are seamlessly cross-referenced against an enormous police database to identify suspects quickly and precisely. Our research study offers a dual-pronged approach to combating the rise in criminal activity while using the quick breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. First, we demonstrate how a specific Deep Convolutional Neural Network model transforms sketches of faces into photorealistic photographs. Second, we employ transfer learning for precise suspect identification using the pre-trained VGG-Face model. Utilizing Convolutional Neural Networks, which are famous for their data processing powers and hierarchical feature extraction, is a key component of our strategy. This approach exceeds current methods and boasts an extraordinary average accuracy of 0.98 in identifying people from sketches, providing a crucial tool for strengthening and speeding up forensic investigations. A unique Convolutional Neural Network framework that demonstrates significant improvements over state-of-the-art techniques is also revealed as we dive into the challenging task of matching composite sketches with corresponding digital photos. Our thorough analysis shows the framework to be remarkably accurate, constituting a substantial advance in the field of forensic face sketch production and recognition.

Polyrate 2023: A computer program for the calculation of chemical reaction rates for polyatomics. New version announcement

Polyrate 2023: A computer program for the calculation of chemical reaction rates for polyatomics. New version announcement

Identification and Evaluation of Mobile Applications for Self-Management of Diet and Lifestyle for Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Mobile health applications (apps) providing diet and lifestyle self-management programs to patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are emerging. The objective of this study was to evaluate current apps available in the US and Canada based on app quality, perceived impact on diet and mental health and comprehensiveness to support self-management. The Apple iOS and Google Play app stores were searched for terms related to IBD. Apps were included if they targeted diet and lifestyle behaviours for patients living with IBD and were available to the general public. Apps were excluded if they were not specific to IBD, not available in English, did not target diet or lifestyle therapy, were not available in the US and Canada, or did not offer stand-alone self-management programs. The Mobile App Rating Scale was used to assess mobile app quality. A total of 1,512 apps were identified through the app stores. Six apps met inclusion criteria. My IBD Care: Crohn's and Colitis received the highest quality rating and LyfeMD received the highest overall app rating. Only these two apps provided behaviour tracking over time, and three (50 percent) apps provided good-quality information. While many IBD-related apps exist, few support self-management of diet and lifestyle behaviours. The My IBD Care and LyfeMD apps had the highest ratings and can be used to track lifestyle behaviours. The effectiveness of these apps to improve behaviours, and subsequently impact the disease course and quality of life, should be explored in future studies.

MIL-CELL: a tool for multi-scale simulation of yeast replication and prion transmission

The single-celled baker’s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, can sustain a number of amyloid-based prions, the three most prominent examples being [URE3], [PSI+], and [PIN+]. In the laboratory, haploid S. cerevisiae cells of a single mating type can acquire an amyloid prion in one of two ways (i) spontaneous nucleation of the prion within the yeast cell, and (ii) receipt via mother-to-daughter transmission during the cell division cycle. Similarly, prions can be lost due to (i) dissolution of the prion amyloid by its breakage into non-amyloid monomeric units, or (ii) preferential donation/retention of prions between the mother and daughter during cell division. Here we present a computational tool (Monitoring Induction and Loss of prions in Cells; MIL-CELL) for modelling these four general processes using a multiscale approach describing both spatial and kinetic aspects of the yeast life cycle and the amyloid-prion behavior. We describe the workings of the model, assumptions upon which it is based and some interesting simulation results pertaining to the wave-like spread of the epigenetic prion elements through the yeast population. MIL-CELL is provided as a stand-alone GUI executable program for free download with the paper. MIL-CELL is equipped with a relational database allowing all simulated properties to be searched, collated and graphed. Its ability to incorporate variation in heritable properties means MIL-CELL is also capable of simulating loss of the isogenic nature of a cell population over time. The capability to monitor both chronological and reproductive age also makes MIL-CELL potentially useful in studies of cell aging.

A randomized controlled trial of the online OurRelationship program with varying levels of coach support

Online programs that reduce relationship distress fill a critical need; however, their scalability is limited by their reliance on coach calls. To determine the effectiveness of the online OurRelationship program with varying levels of coach support, we conducted a comparative effectiveness trial with 740 low-income couples in the United States. Couples were randomly assigned to full-coach (ncouples = 226; program as originally designed), automated-coach (ncouples = 145; as a stand-alone program with tailored automated emails only), contingent-coach (ncouples = 145; as an adaptive program where tailored automated emails are followed by more coaching if couples did not meet progress milestones), or a waitlist control condition (ncouples = 224). All analyses were conducted within a Bayesian framework. Completion rates were comparable across conditions (full-coach: 65 %, automated-coach: 59 %, contingent-coach: 54 %). All intervention couples reported reliable pre-post gains in relationship satisfaction compared to waitlist control couples (dfull = 0.46, dcontingent = 0.47, and dautomated = 0.40) with no reliable differences across intervention conditions. Over four-month follow-up, couples in full- and contingent-coach conditions maintained gains in relationship satisfaction and couples in the automated-coach condition continued to improve. Given the comparable completion rates and minimal differences in effect sizes across intervention conditions, all three coaching models appear viable; therefore, the choice of model can vary depending on available resources as well as couple or stakeholder preferences. This study was preregistered (ClinicalTrials.govNCT03568565).

DeepCIP: A multimodal deep learning method for the prediction of internal ribosome entry sites of circRNAs

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been found to have the ability to encode proteins through internal ribosome entry sites (IRESs), which are essential RNA regulatory elements for cap-independent translation. Identification of IRES elements in circRNA is crucial for understanding its function. Previous studies have presented IRES predictors based on machine learning techniques, but they were mainly designed for linear RNA IRES. In this study, we proposed DeepCIP (Deep learning method for CircRNA IRES Prediction), a multimodal deep learning approach that employs both sequence and structural information for circRNA IRES prediction. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of the sequence and structure models used by DeepCIP in feature extraction and suggest that integrating sequence and structural information efficiently improves the accuracy of prediction. The comparison studies indicate that DeepCIP outperforms other comparative methods on the test set and real circRNA IRES dataset. Furthermore, through the integration of an interpretable analysis mechanism, we elucidate the sequence patterns learned by our model, which align with the previous discovery of motifs that facilitate circRNA translation. Thus, DeepCIP has the potential to enhance the study of the coding potential of circRNAs and contribute to the design of circRNA-based drugs. DeepCIP as a standalone program is freely available at https://github.org/zjupgx/DeepCIP.

Preparation of stable and long-lived source samples for the stand-alone beam program at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams

At the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), an oven-ion source combination was used to create rare isotope beams in support of the stand-alone user beam program of the ReAccelerator (ReA) facility. This ion source, called Batch-Mode Ion Source (BMIS), was loaded with enriched stable nuclides (30Si, 50Cr, and 58Fe) and long-lived radionuclides (26Al, 32Si). The introduced samples, herein designated as source samples, were thermally volatilized in the BMIS oven, and then ionization was used to generate the required beams. Owing to the different chemical behavior of the used samples, it was important to tailor the sample loading process for each desired beam species. An important parameter here is the volatility of the introduced species, which influences the adequate release of the isotope of interest. Additionally, any co-present, volatile components will affect the ion yields of the desired isotope, while isobaric contaminants will decrease the beam purity. To manufacture isotope source samples that meet these characteristics, various chemical methodologies were developed. All prepared samples were successfully used in BMIS to deliver beams for various user beam experiments. The here-established sample preparation techniques will greatly aid future efforts in developing offline rare-isotope beams.

Transnational public and global health education in China

Transnational public and global health programs in China have rapidly expanded over the past 20 years, and have potential to make important contributions to China’s global health workforce. However, there has been sparse if any literature specific to transnational public and global health higher education in China. In response, this perspective article aims to: (1) outline current transnational public and global health programs in China, and (2) delineate opportunities and challenges for transnational public and global health programs to enhance China’s global health workforce. Based on internet searches, eight active transnational public and global health programs in China were identified in September 2022 (one Bachelors; four Masters; three doctorate). Degree awarding institutions are located in Australia, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Courses for stand-alone transnational programs were co-delivered by faculty from the Chinese and foreign sponsoring institutions. The earliest and latest programs were respectively established in 2001 and 2022, and the average year of establishment was 2013. The endurance of some programs (three programs operating ≥ 10 years) indicates the potential sustainability of transnational public and global health programs in China. However, opportunities for cross-cultural engagement appear to be constrained by lack of English (or other language) requirements in some programs, limited recruitment of international students, pandemic travel restrictions, and a dearth of funding for global health research outside China. In addition, students enrolled at transnational universities in China are currently ineligible for China Scholarship Council funding. As China’s need for global health capacity grows amid a rapidly shrinking population of younger citizens, strategic investments in transnational public and global health programs may be of increasing value.

Application Of 3-Dimensional Modeling In Android-Based Adventure Game Applications

Role Playing Game (RPG) is a game that has complex story elements and acting that makes a person feel like a character in the game. One of the RPG editing engines is RPG Maker MV, where a 2D RPG can be a standalone program that can be played directly without the help of this program or other programs. Quests are assigned to players by non-player characters (NPCs) that the player cannot control and interact with them through dialogue. In the game mode each player can collect things into an inventory which contains the things needed to solve certain tasks during gameplay. In addition, game objects that represent learning objects have been assigned locations which can be NPCs or other objects. In addition, game objects that represent learning objects have been assigned locations which can be NPCs or other objects. Can apply 3-dimensional modeling to role-playing game applications by placing objects on characters that can walk up, down, left and right. NPC objects can be applied to weapon objects, namely axes, if gold points are collected then the NPC object will appear. It is hoped that this implementation can be a reference not only for 3-dimensional modeling in complex role-playing game applications but also for all circles as the development of Android and IOS-based RPG games.

Systemic Lupus, Metabolic Syndrome, Cardiac Disease, and Peripheral Artery Disease

Systemic Lupus, Metabolic Syndrome, Cardiac Disease, and Peripheral Artery Disease

Abalign: a comprehensive multiple sequence alignment platform for B-cell receptor immune repertoires.

The utilization of high-throughput sequencing (HTS) for B-cell receptor (BCR) immune repertoire analysis has become widespread in the fields of adaptive immunity and antibody drug development. However, the sheer volume of sequences generated by these experiments presents a challenge in data processing. Specifically, multiple sequence alignment (MSA), a critical aspect of BCR analysis, remains inadequate for handling massive BCR sequencing data and lacks the ability to provide immunoglobulin-specific information. To address this gap, we introduce Abalign, a standalone program specifically designed for ultrafast MSA of BCR/antibody sequences. Benchmark tests demonstrate that Abalign achieves comparable or even better accuracy than state-of-the-art MSA tools, and shows remarkable advantages in terms of speed and memory consumption, reducing the time required for high-throughput analysis from weeks to hours. In addition to its alignment capabilities, Abalign offers a broad range of BCR analysis features, including extracting BCRs, constructing lineage trees, assigning VJ genes, analyzing clonotypes, profiling mutations, and comparing BCR immune repertoires. With its user-friendly graphic interface, Abalign can be easily run on personal computers instead of computing clusters. Overall, Abalign is an easy-to-use and effective tool that enables researchers to analyze massive BCR/antibody sequences, leading to new discoveries in the field of immunoinformatics. The software is freely available at http://cao.labshare.cn/abalign/.

ITCep: a deep learning framework for identification of T cell epitopes by harnessing fusion features.

Neoantigens recognized by cytotoxic T cells are effective targets for tumor-specific immune responses for personalized cancer immunotherapy. Quite a few neoantigen identification pipelines and computational strategies have been developed to improve the accuracy of the peptide selection process. However, these methods mainly consider the neoantigen end and ignore the interaction between peptide-TCR and the preference of each residue in TCRs, resulting in the filtered peptides often fail to truly elicit an immune response. Here, we propose a novel encoding approach for peptide-TCR representation. Subsequently, a deep learning framework, namely iTCep, was developed to predict the interactions between peptides and TCRs using fusion features derived from a feature-level fusion strategy. The iTCep achieved high predictive performance with AUC up to 0.96 on the testing dataset and above 0.86 on independent datasets, presenting better prediction performance compared with other predictors. Our results provided strong evidence that model iTCep can be a reliable and robust method for predicting TCR binding specificities of given antigen peptides. One can access the iTCep through a user-friendly web server at http://biostatistics.online/iTCep/, which supports prediction modes of peptide-TCR pairs and peptide-only. A stand-alone software program for T cell epitope prediction is also available for convenient installing at https://github.com/kbvstmd/iTCep/.

The 2022 Certified Flight Registered Nurse Pulse Survey

ObjectiveThe Certified Flight Registered Nurse (CFRN) credential independently validates a registered nurse's advanced knowledge, skills, and abilities in the unique specialty of flight nursing. Introduced in 1993 and celebrating its 30th anniversary in July 2023, the CFRN is held by over 5,500 registered nurses. The purpose of the 2022 CFRN pulse survey was to better understand the ways CFRN-certified registered nurses value this national flight nursing specialty credential. The CFRN survey is a companion to the 2022 Certified Transport Registered Nurse pulse survey, which focused on the Certified Transport Registered Nurse critical care ground transport nursing credential. MethodsThe Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing e-mailed individuals in its database of CFRN credential holders and asked them to respond to a 14-question online survey between October 17, 2022, and November 8, 2022. Participation in the survey was voluntary. Of the 5,275 verified CFRN holders who received the survey, 992 responded, for a response rate of 18.8%. The survey instrument included discrete field and open-ended questions. Data were deidentified for analysis, and institutional review board exemption was received. Counts and percentages were reported, and descriptive statistics were used. ResultsThe highest percentage of flight nurses who responded have more than 10 years of experience in flight nursing (35.3%) and are employed by a stand-alone transport program (42.7%). Flight nurses reported they spent a mean of 70% of their work hours transporting via rotor wing aircraft, with a predominantly adult patient population. The top perceived benefits of being a CFRN-certified nurse were a sense of accomplishment and pride (90.7%) followed by flight physiology knowledge (85.4%), flight nursing clinical knowledge (83.4%), and confidence as a flight nurse (80.6%). ConclusionThe 2022 CFRN pulse survey identified current CFRN demographics, practice environments including transport percentage by mode and patient population types, and perceived benefits of the CFRN credential. The findings suggest CFRNs are very experienced, provide care for patients across the age continuum, and perceive multiple intrinsic and extrinsic benefits of CFRN certification, all of which are essential to safe, evidence-based advanced nursing practice in the unique, complex, autonomous, and dynamic flight environment.

A Learning Platform for Children with Special Needs in Schools of Kabwe District, Central Province in Zambia

Abstract—Technology has extended to the education sector especially when it comes to eLearning or virtual learning platforms in Zambia. Unfortunately, Children with special needs (SEN) in schools have not enjoyed this privilege. This paper aims to create an eLearning platform for the visually impaired and deaf in Kabwe district of Zambia. This platform or the stand-alone program will help the users to learn using text(deaf) and speech (voice) command (visually impaired). Since the inception or introduction of ICT, the Government of the Republic has put in a lot of effort and money to train human resources in the field of ICT to solve problems using ICT and foster the agenda of the government. The Ministry of Education is the prime target for the training of masses in ICT- related fields. A branch of government called Smart Zambia or eGovernment division has been involved in trying to propel this government agenda by training teachers around the country on ICT issues called eGovernment. A combination of simply available programming technologies such as Java and MYSQL is used in this project. The possible ways of learning via text for the deaf and voice command for the visually impaired learners in Kabwe are analyzed in this project. It reveals that it is possible to use simple technologies to create eLearning or virtual platforms for SEN learners apart from the traditional way, which is face to face type of learning in the classroom. This is in line with the Ministry of Education’s vision for all learners in the district in particular and the country at large that all children whether regular or with a disability should have access to education. Advantages of the eLearning platform that the eLearning platform for SEN is portable, meaning it can be used on any computer, is easy to use, and is inexpensive to develop. Not much computer hardware would be required to deploy this system in stipulated schools in the district. Keywords—SEN learners, Java, MYSQL, Ministry of Education