Inequality and Dropout in Higher Education in Colombia. A Multilevel Analysis of Regional Differences, Institutions, and Field of Study

In Colombia, the gaps of regional inequalities and social opportunities permeate people’s economic, political, and social participation. Additionally, the initial endowments of individual and socioeconomic background, barriers to financial aid, and academic and personal skills restrict decision-making about studying. In this context, the main objective is to analyze the determinants of dropout rates in Colombia and the differences between the type of institutions, field of study, and regions. We used data from three public administrative agencies for the period 2000–2012. The methodology combines multiple correspondence analysis and a lineal hierarchical model to explain the effect of variables operating at different levels. As a result, we retained four dimensions to represent the individuals’ socioeconomic and financial conditions. The findings obtained from the multilevel model suggest the variation between institutions (11%) and the interaction between institutions and the program cycle (17.8%). It confirms the influence of inequities on desertion. The student chooses between programs with differences in fees and study costs in general, such as quality, social recognition, and employment. In sum, contextual and institutional disparities in the dropout phenomenon’s behavior are explained mainly by the supply conditions in these regions and the individuals’ socioeconomic backgrounds.

Cycle System of Product Industrial Activities Berbasis Iptek dengan Mengoptimalisasikan Sumber Daya Lokal Potensi Kulit Kopi untuk Desa Sejahtera Kemiri

Desa Kemiri, Kecamatan Jabung Kabupaten Malang merupakan salah satu desa penghasil kopi terbesar di Kabupaten Malang. Pengelolaan kopi memberikan hasil samping berupa kulit kopi (Cascara) yang berpotensi menjadi limbah. Alternatif solusi yang bisa dilakukan yaitu dengan cara mengolah limbah kulit kopi (Cascara) tersebut menjadi produk olahan minuman seduh (teh) yang bisa dimanfaatkan oleh masyarakat sekitar, terutama untuk kelompok PKK Desa Kemiri sebagai Usaha Mikro, Kecil dan Menengah (UMKM). Program Cycle System Of Product Industrial Activities (CSPIA) Berbasis IPTEK ini bertujuan untuk memberdayakan kelompok PKK Desa Kemiri melalui pemanfaatan kulit kopi (Cascara). Metode yang digunakan yaitu metode terencana dengan beberapa tahapan yaitu persiapan, pelaksanaan, evaluasi dan penyusunan laporan. Pada tahap pelaksanaan ini diakukan pelatihan Cycle System Of Product Industrial Activities (CSPIA) berbasis IPTEK, pendampingan kewirausahaan, dan pengenalan UMKM. Hasil dari pelaksanaan program ini adalah meningkatkan pengetahuan dan keterampilan kelompok PKK tentang pengolahan limbah kulit kopi (Cascara) menjadi produk olahan minuman seduh (teh) yang dapat memberikan nilai ekonomis pada kulit kopi.

South-to-south mentoring as a vehicle for implementing sustainable health security in Africa

Background While sustainability has become a universal precept in the development of global health security systems, supporting policies often lack mechanisms to drive policies into regular practice. ‘On-paper’ norms and regulations are to a great extent upheld by frontline workers who often lack the opportunity to communicate their first-hand experiences to decisionmakers; their role is an often overlooked, yet crucial, aspect of a sustainable global health security landscape. Initiatives and programs developing transdisciplinary professional skills support the increased bidirectional dialogue between these frontline workers and key policy- and decisionmakers which may sustainably narrow the gap between global health security policy design and implementation. Methods The International Federation of Biosafety Associations’ (IFBA) Global Mentorship Program recruits biosafety and biosecurity champions across Africa to provide local peer mentorship to developing professionals in their geographic region. Mentors and mentees complete structured one year program cycles, where they are provided with written overviews of monthly discussion topics, and attend optional virtual interactive activities. Feedback from African participants of the 2019–2020 program cycle was collected using a virtual Exit Survey, where aspects of program impact and structure were assessed. Results Following its initial call for applications, the IFBA Global Mentorship Program received considerable interest from professionals across the African continent, particularly in East and North Africa. The pilot program cycle matched a total of 62 individuals from an array of professional disciplines across several regions, 40 of which were located on the African continent. The resulting mentorship pairs shared knowledge, skills, and experiences towards translating policy objectives to action on the front lines. Mentorship pairs embraced multidisciplinary approaches to harmonize health security strategies across the human and animal health sectors. South-to-South mentorship therefore provided mentees with locally relevant support critical to translation of best technical practices to local capacity and work. Conclusion The IFBA’s South-to-South Global Mentorship Program has demonstrated its ability to form crucial links between frontline biosafety professionals, laboratory workers, and policy- and decision-makers across several implicated sectors. By supporting regionally relevant peer mentorship programs, the gap between health security policy development and implementation may be narrowed.

Groundwater Information Network: GIN

Groundwater Information Network. Fed-prov-terr-int'l collaboration to share groundwater data online, using international standards; aligned with FGP, GOC Open Data Portal and Open Science, Google Dataset Search. Third program cycle, since 2010. https://gw-info.net

Adjoint Reactive GUI Programming

Most interaction with a computer is via graphical user interfaces. These are traditionally implemented imperatively, using shared mutable state and callbacks. This is efficient, but is also difficult to reason about and error prone. Functional Reactive Programming (FRP) provides an elegant alternative which allows GUIs to be designed in a declarative fashion. However, most FRP languages are synchronous and continually check for new data. This means that an FRP-style GUI will “wake up” on each program cycle. This is problematic for applications like text editors and browsers, where often nothing happens for extended periods of time, and we want the implementation to sleep until new data arrives. In this paper, we present an asynchronous FRP language for designing GUIs called $$\lambda _{\mathsf {Widget}}$$ λ Widget . Our language provides a novel semantics for widgets, the building block of GUIs, which offers both a natural Curry–Howard logical interpretation and an efficient implementation strategy.

Trachoma Prevalence After Discontinuation of Mass Azithromycin Distribution

Background As the World Health Organization seeks to eliminate trachoma by 2020, countries are beginning to control the transmission of trachomatous inflammation–follicular (TF) and discontinue mass drug administration (MDA) with oral azithromycin. We evaluated the effect of MDA discontinuation on TF1–9 prevalence at the district level. Methods We extracted from the available data districts with an impact survey at the end of their program cycle that initiated discontinuation of MDA (TF1–9 prevalence <5%), followed by a surveillance survey conducted to determine whether TF1–9 prevalence remained below the 5% threshold, warranting discontinuation of MDA. Two independent analyses were performed, 1 regression based and 1 simulation based, that assessed the change in TF1–9 from the impact survey to the surveillance survey. Results Of the 220 districts included, TF1–9 prevalence increased to >5% from impact to surveillance survey in 9% of districts. Regression analysis indicated that impact survey TF1–9 prevalence was a significant predictor of surveillance survey TF1–9 prevalence. The proportion of simulations with >5% TF1–9 prevalence in the surveillance survey was 2%, assuming the survey was conducted 4 years after MDA. Conclusion An increase in TF1–9 prevalence may represent disease resurgence but could also be due to measurement error. Improved diagnostic tests are crucial to elimination of TF1–9 as a public health problem.