Serology, infection, and clinical trachoma as tools in prevalence surveys for re-emergence of trachoma in a formerly hyperendemic district

Background To eliminate trachoma as a public health problem, countries must achieve a district-level prevalence of trachomatous inflammation—follicular (TF) <5% in children ages 1–9 years. Re-emergence of TF could trigger additional rounds of mass drug/antibiotic administration (MDA), so accurate tools for use in surveys assessing trachoma prevalence are essential. Methodology & principal findings We surveyed 2401 children ages 1–9 years from 50 villages in Kongwa, Tanzania, 2 years post-MDA and 1.5 years after an impact survey found TF <5% in the same villages. Our survey included multiple tools: clinical determination of TF, Cepheid testing for Chlamydia trachomatis infection, and testing for anti-pgp3 antibodies via multiplex bead array. Photographs of the upper tarsal conjunctiva were taken in a subset of children to corroborate the field grades. Overall TF prevalence in 1–9 year olds was 7.1% (95% CI: 5.6%-8.9%), which decreased with age (p = <0.0001). TF prevalence by village was heterogeneous, with 19 villages having TF <5% and 16 villages having TF >10%. There was a strong correlation between field and photo grading of TF (kappa = 0.69; 95% CI: 0.60–0.78) and between TF and infection, with 21.5% of TF-positive children also testing positive for infection, as compared to only 1.6% of TF-negative children (p = 0.0010). Overall seroprevalence was 18.2% (95% CI: 14.8%-22.1%), which increased with age (p = <0.0001). Notably, 1–2 year olds, who were born after the cessation of MDA and theoretically should not have had exposure to C. trachomatis in the absence of transmission, had an average seroprevalence of 6.7%. Conclusions & significance Field TF prevalence, supported by photographic review and infection data, suggested re-emergence of trachoma in Kongwa. Moreover, seropositivity in the children born after cessation of MDA indicated exposure to C. trachomatis despite a previous survey finding of TF <5%. Examining seropositivity in specific age groups expected to have limited exposure to C. trachomatis can be used to detect re-emergence.

Issues Facing Citizens In Iraq Towards Adoption Of E-Government

Developing countries have established promising e-Government initiatives with the objectives of enhancing the accessibility of government services and information for their citizens. Purpose: This research attempts to explore and investigate the key challenges and Issues that facing e-government adoption and the factors influencing citizen in Iraq. Methodology: The research depended on qualitative approach, the participants comprised undergraduate and postgraduate students at Baghdad university because university students are amongst the adult population for whom the Internet has become part of their daily routine. population of 369, Potential participants for the focus groups were identified from the questionnaire survey. Finding: The findings show that Trust and Awareness significant and direct relationship with adoption of e-government in Iraq. Corruption was found to have significant and negative relationship with the adoption of e- government.

You Are Ok Because I Am Ok: Religion: Idol of Divinity as an Agent of In-group and Out-group Feel

<p>Present study presents an inbuilt idol of divinity among humans that is related with religion and discusses that how it plays a role in the development of an in-group and out group feel among us? To explain an assumed human interaction between persons belonging to an old religion Judaism and ancient religion Hinduism with reference to a Hindu religious concept ‘Karma’ and psychological construct “ambivalence” discussed to highlight the inbuilt idol of divinity. A brief survey finding also supported the proposition about in-group and out-group assumptions. More studies would develop further.</p>

You Are Ok Because I Am Ok: Religion: Idol of Divinity as an Agent of In-group and Out-group Feel

<p>Present study presents an inbuilt idol of divinity among humans that is related with religion and discusses that how it plays a role in the development of an in-group and out group feel among us? To explain an assumed human interaction between persons belonging to an old religion Judaism and ancient religion Hinduism with reference to a Hindu religious concept ‘Karma’ and psychological construct “ambivalence” discussed to highlight the inbuilt idol of divinity. A brief survey finding also supported the proposition about in-group and out-group assumptions. More studies would develop further.</p>

Improving High School and Vocational School Teachers in Writing Skill

Sekolah Tinggi Teknologi Muhammadiyah Cileungsi has the duty of the College Dharma Chess which includes education and teaching activities, research and community service, and AIKA and Al-Islam. The purpose of this research is to teach writing methods to teachers, to facilitate teaching and learning. The method used in this research are identification of the problem, conduct a field survey, finding material, and direct training to representatives of each high school / vocational school teachers. In this training participants were given the easiest writing method. From telling great writers in life in the world, where they can exist in writing. Then the participants were asked to write an article to get used to writing. After the end of the activity, participants are asked to share in the group or discuss directly with the speaker, so that the writing that has been made can be immediately reviewed. Solutions in writing training, taking the time to write, and frequent discussions with people who often write. The result of this research is the teachers know writing techniques to develop teaching activity in the classroom.

ESTABLISHING FILIATION (NASAB) AND THE PLACEMENT OF DESTITUTE CHILDREN INTO NEW FAMILIES: WHAT ROLE DOES THE STATE PLAY?

The article comparatively maps state involvement in the establishment of filiation and the placement of destitute children into new families. It first reports findings from an expert survey that investigates four key areas of state involvement—the legal framework, the role of courts and ministries, guardianship regulations, and financial support and services for destitute children—across fourteen jurisdictions, twelve Muslim-majority countries, and two Muslim-minority countries. Overall, the placement of children into new families remains a sensitive issue because it is linked to different communities “claiming” the child. In principle, the states surveyed do not allow the creation of new families across religious lines. Using Jordan as a case study, the article then focuses on the implications of one particular survey finding: non-Muslims in Muslim-majority countries sometimes cannot have children placed into their homes. This finding is based on qualitative data collected in Jordan on adoption (tabannī) in the Greek Catholic community. The article argues that in settings of legal pluralism, state involvement affects different religious communities in different ways. In Jordan, due to structural factors, the state shapes Islamic family law differently than the family laws applied by Christian communities. This leads to the unequal development of different bodies of religious law and thereby to the unequal treatment of Muslim and Christian citizens.

A profile in FIRE: resolving the radial distributions of satellite galaxies in the Local Group with simulations

ABSTRACT While many tensions between Local Group (LG) satellite galaxies and Λ cold dark matter cosmology have been alleviated through recent cosmological simulations, the spatial distribution of satellites remains an important test of physical models and physical versus numerical disruption in simulations. Using the FIRE-2 cosmological zoom-in baryonic simulations, we examine the radial distributions of satellites with $M_*\gt 10^5$ M⊙ around eight isolated Milky Way (MW) mass host galaxies and four hosts in LG-like pairs. We demonstrate that these simulations resolve the survival and physical destruction of satellites with $M_*\gtrsim 10^5$ M⊙. The simulations broadly agree with LG observations, spanning the radial profiles around the MW and M31. This agreement does not depend strongly on satellite mass, even at distances ≲100 kpc. Host-to-host variation dominates the scatter in satellite counts within 300 kpc of the hosts, while time variation dominates scatter within 50 kpc. More massive host galaxies within our sample have fewer satellites at small distances, likely because of enhanced tidal destruction of satellites via the baryonic discs of host galaxies. Furthermore, we quantify and provide fits to the tidal depletion of subhaloes in baryonic relative to dark matter-only simulations as a function of distance. Our simulated profiles imply observational incompleteness in the LG even at $M_*\gtrsim 10^5$ M⊙: we predict 2–10 such satellites to be discovered around the MW and possibly 6–9 around M31. To provide cosmological context, we compare our results with the radial profiles of satellites around MW analogues in the SAGA survey, finding that our simulations are broadly consistent with most SAGA systems.

Financial Inclusion, Awareness, and Understanding of Financial Products among People Selected Gewogs (Blocks) of Bhutan

The financial products that are being offered by the banks in the contemporary era are significant to enhance the primary objective of the banks that is, ‘Financial Inclusion’ (FI). However, due to umpteen reasons, the banks in many countries have failed streamlining the poor and the majority of the rural folk. Bhutan is not an exception as it is in a landlocked country. The Survey finding (2013) depicted a smaller share of Bhutanese involvement in the formal financial system (48%) whereas larger percentage of them involved in informal financial system. Further, the present Governor of Royal Monetary Authority (The central bank of the country), Dasho Penjor in his discussion on the review of His Majesty’s address on 109th National day Celebration in Trongsa stated that the majority of the rural folks are unable to avail banking services extended by the formal institutions. Besides, financial services can be availed by mass only when banks and other financial institutions run some awareness programmes. There are a few literature on FI in Bhutan in general; however literature on the awareness and understanding of financial products of the people are minimal in the country. The present study, therefore, investigates the scenario of FI along with awareness and understanding of financial products of commercial banks among Bhutanese in four Gewogs (Blocks) of the country that is, Bongo, Chapcha, Darla and Samphelling. The structured questionnaire was designed and primary data from 378 respondents were collected. Further, various articles and papers published in survey findings, magazines, and journal articles are used as secondary data sources of the study. The collected data have been tabulated, analysed, and interpreted with the help of Descriptive statistics, Independent t-test and Analyses of Variance (ANOVA).

Neighborhood Blight Indices, Impacts on Property Values and Blight Resolution Alternatives

We identify the real and social costs associated with neighborhood blight by creating unique neighborhood blight indices based on average individual property blight scores in Memphis, Tennessee. Both individual property blight scores and neighborhood blight indices negatively impact single-family sale prices and assessed valuations. We validate the data accuracy of a 2016 blight survey, finding that supplemental information collected for each property accurately predicts its assigned blight score. We apply factor analysis, Shapley-Owen decomposition, and hedonic regressions to identify blight drivers that include neighborhood demographic and economic factors associated with both individual property and neighborhood blight. We find that blight scores provide informational value in addition to county assessor and data for each property and census data for each neighborhood. We quantify neighborhood characteristics and demographic factors impacting both individual property and neighborhood blight effects on neighborhood esthetics and property values that helps identify blight resolution alternatives.