Contextual-Based E-Comic Media Through Maritime Thematic Learning In Early Childhood

This research aims to analyze the use of contextual-based e-comics through marine thematic learning in early childhood marine. Through this research, the problem will be solved by using e-comic learning media integrated into marine thematic learning for children aged 5-6 years at PAUD Bhayangkari Ternate City. The research uses a mixed method. While the design used to develop teaching materials is the 4-D model design, the development stages used are the development stages of Thiagarajan, Semmel & Semmel (1974) which include four development stages namely define, design, develop, and disseminate. The data that has been collected using the instruments above is then analyzed quantitatively and directed to explain the validity of the comic media developed. Data from the validation of experts were analyzed by considering input, comments, and suggestions from validators. The results of the analysis were used as guidelines for revising the developed learning media. The data analysis methods used in this development research are the qualitative descriptive analysis method and the quantitative descriptive method. This method is used to process data from the results of linguists, learning media experts, and individual and small-group trial experts. To be able to support the learning process at PAUD Bhayangkari, the e-comic media goes through the expert validation test stage (media experts, linguists, PAUD material experts) as well as product trials (small group tests) where all three experts give very good or valid assessments and student responses as subjects classified as very good. From media experts, the percentage of validity obtained is 89.2, from users with a percentage of 98.33, linguists the percentage achieved is 100. From this analysis, as foundational years for cognitive and social development, early childhood education plays a pivotal role in shaping future learning experiences. Integrating engaging and relevant materials, such as e-comics, can enhance children's interest and understanding of marine themes

PENINGKATAN KETERAMPILAN MOTORIK HALUS ANAK USIA 5-6 TAHUN MELALUI KEGIATAN ORIGAMI DI TK PENGEMBANGAN 21 TACIM KAB. HALMAHERA BARAT

This study aims at investigating the increases of children’s ages 5-6 years gross motor skills through origami activities at TK Pengembangan 21 Tacim, West Halmahera. This study is a Classroom Action Research (collaborative) which consists of two cycles in four meetings. The researcher acts as a teacher who runs the learning scenario while collaborator is a teacher assistant who act as observers (observers). The subjects of the study were 8 children of Class B Pengembangan Kindergarten 21 Tacim Kab. Halbar, they consist of 4 Male and 4 Female. Technique collecting data are observation and field notes. The instrument of research is observation sheets in the form of a checklist of children fine motor skills. The data were analyzed qualitative descriptive. The results of this study indicate that an increase in children's fine motor skills through origami activities in TK Tac 21 Pengembangan. Improvement of children gross motor skills in cycle I is 50% or 4 children of 8 children that were categozied very good and good in shapeing the paper neatly based on the shape of object. The result of cycle II indicates that 88% of children or 7 children of 8 children were categorized very good and good in shaping the paper quickly and neatly according to the shape of the object. Thus, origami activities can improve fine motor skills of children aged 5-6 years in TK Pengembangn 21 Tacim, West Halmahera

The double burden of COVID-19 and Israeli military rule on persons with disabilities in the West Bank of the occupied Palestinian territory’

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has enormous negative effects on people’s lives. People with disabilities (PWDs) who have been made vulnerable and who tend to face significant barriers in accessing public services are likely to be affected even more. This study aims to shed light on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on PWDs with special attention to their ability to access public services in the West Bank region of the occupied Palestinian territory. METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted between March 2021 and October 2021. The study was divided into two phases. The first phase consisted of interviews with people with different disabilities, while the second phase targeted policymakers and stakeholders in discussion of the results of the first phase. A total of 16 interviews with people with different types of disabilities (7 males, 9 females) were conducted via telephone. For the second phase, a total of 6 interviews were conducted with stakeholders most responsible for addressing the issue of disability and the needs of PWDs in the West Bank. Analytical memos were prepared for all interviews. Main themes and subthemes were identified by reading and re-reading memos and transcripts until themes and subthemes emerged. RESULTS: All participants agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected all aspects of life for all groups of people, including PWDs. The effects of the pandemic exacerbated the overall living conditions and access to basic services for PWDs. The results show that access to public transportation, public services, and to health services was all interrupted during the pandemic. This was compounded by deterioration of the financial situation for PWDs which further worsened their access. The stakeholders’ interviews confirmed and explained the findings as mainly due to lack of prioritization of PWD’s rights and needs. CONCLUSION: The study emphasized that most of the reported barriers to accessing essential services were intensified during the pandemic. Furthermore, the results show that PWDs and their needs are not considered a priority by the Palestinian Authority, exacerbated by the Israeli occupation. Our findings underline the importance of including PWDs in any future crisis planning

Cohesive Devices in EFL Students’ Essays and Problems Encountered during Writing

The research investigated the cohesive devices used in EFL students’ recount texts and the problems encountered during their writing. 33 high school students’ essays were analyzed, and the students were interviewed. The findings showed that all five types of cohesive devices appeared in the students’ writings, with reference the most, followed by a conjunction, lexical cohesion, ellipsis, and substitution the least. Three types of cohesive devices were identified as problematic to the students: conjunction, reference, and lexical cohesion. Four reasons were further found for the students’ difficulty in using the cohesive devices: pure error, absence of knowledge, overuse, and lack of writing practice. These findings may give new insights for language teachers in the attempt to understand the causes that lead to cohesion problems in students’ writing so that proper measures can be taken to address them and improve the quality of their writing generally.

The identification of the superior human resources in managing profitable entrepreneurs’ activities during Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia

Purpose: This project aimed to acknowledge the entrepreneurship program in managing human resources in the pandemic era in Indonesia. The essay to understand the entrepreneurship activities in managing human resources in the pandemic era is assumed to have a close connection with acknowledging the entrepreneurship programs in the outbreak of coronavirus 2019 in Indonesia. Methodology: A serial of online information searching and literature review sessions was conducted. After data was gathered, the analysis processing using a qualitative phenomenological approach and profound interpretations were done to see if the research question's reliability and validity were met. Findings: The existing literature on understanding the entrepreneurship program in managing human resources in the pandemic and crisis era of the Covid-19 showed that there are five entrepreneurship activities that were shown relatively significant business program in managing human resources since outbreaks 2020. Finally, we successfully outlined the five related programs as follows: 1) Creating a business crisis plan, 2) More care and services, 3) be among the community, 4) Community relations, 5) Creative thinking endure, 6) Be adjustable.    Originality: Direct insights into the entrepreneurship practices, policymaking, and academic business development are beneficial in creating the next entrepreneurship program plan, especially the strategy to manage human resources with an entrepreneurial role in the pandemic crisis. Research implication: Further project is needed to anticipate the next economic crisis and social-political changes that impacted economic development in Indonesia

Antitumor effect of the atypical retinoid ST1926 in acute myeloid leukemia and nanoparticle formulation prolongs lifespan and reduces tumor burden of xenograft mice

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is one of the most frequent types of blood malignancies. It is a complex disorder of undifferentiated hematopoietic progenitor cells. The majority of patients generally respond to intensive therapy. Nevertheless, relapse is the major cause of death in AML, warranting the need for novel treatment strategies. Retinoids have demonstrated potent differentiation and growth regulatory effects in normal, transformed, and hematopoietic progenitor cells. All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) is the paradigm of treatment in acute promyelocytic leukemia, an AML subtype. The majority of AML subtypes are, however, resistant to ATRA. Multiple synthetic retinoids such as ST1926 recently emerged as potent anticancer agents to overcome such resistance. Despite its lack of toxicity, ST1926 clinical development was restricted due to its limited bioavailability and rapid excretion. Here, we investigate the preclinical efficacy of ST1926 and polymer-stabilized ST1926 nanoparticles (ST1926-NP) in AML models. We show that sub-mmol/L concentrations of ST1926 potently and selectively inhibited the growth of ATRA-resistant AML cell lines and primary blasts. ST1926 induced-growth arrest was due to early DNA damage and massive apoptosis in AML cells. To enhance the drug's bioavailability, ST1926-NP were developed using Flash NanoPrecipitation, and displayed comparable anti-growth activities to the naked drug in AML cells. In a murine AML xenograft model, ST1926 and ST1926-NP significantly prolonged survival and reduced tumor burden. Strikingly, in vivo ST1926-NP antitumor effects were achieved at four fold lower concentrations than the naked drug. These results highlight the promising use of ST1926 in AML therapy and encourage its further development. ©2017 AACR

Forecasting the effects of smoking prevalence scenarios on years of life lost and life expectancy from 2022 to 2050: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundSmoking is the leading behavioural risk factor for mortality globally, accounting for more than 175 million deaths and nearly 4·30 billion years of life lost (YLLs) from 1990 to 2021. The pace of decline in smoking prevalence has slowed in recent years for many countries, and although strategies have recently been proposed to achieve tobacco-free generations, none have been implemented to date. Assessing what could happen if current trends in smoking prevalence persist, and what could happen if additional smoking prevalence reductions occur, is important for communicating the effect of potential smoking policies. MethodsIn this analysis, we use the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation's Future Health Scenarios platform to forecast the effects of three smoking prevalence scenarios on all-cause and cause-specific YLLs and life expectancy at birth until 2050. YLLs were computed for each scenario using the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 reference life table and forecasts of cause-specific mortality under each scenario. The reference scenario forecasts what could occur if past smoking prevalence and other risk factor trends continue, the Tobacco Smoking Elimination as of 2023 (Elimination-2023) scenario quantifies the maximum potential future health benefits from assuming zero percent smoking prevalence from 2023 onwards, whereas the Tobacco Smoking Elimination by 2050 (Elimination-2050) scenario provides estimates for countries considering policies to steadily reduce smoking prevalence to 5%. Together, these scenarios underscore the magnitude of health benefits that could be reached by 2050 if countries take decisive action to eliminate smoking. The 95% uncertainty interval (UI) of estimates is based on the 2·5th and 97·5th percentile of draws that were carried through the multistage computational framework. FindingsGlobal age-standardised smoking prevalence was estimated to be 28·5% (95% UI 27·9–29·1) among males and 5·96% (5·76–6·21) among females in 2022. In the reference scenario, smoking prevalence declined by 25·9% (25·2–26·6) among males, and 30·0% (26·1–32·1) among females from 2022 to 2050. Under this scenario, we forecast a cumulative 29·3 billion (95% UI 26·8–32·4) overall YLLs among males and 22·2 billion (20·1–24·6) YLLs among females over this period. Life expectancy at birth under this scenario would increase from 73·6 years (95% UI 72·8–74·4) in 2022 to 78·3 years (75·9–80·3) in 2050. Under our Elimination-2023 scenario, we forecast 2·04 billion (95% UI 1·90–2·21) fewer cumulative YLLs by 2050 compared with the reference scenario, and life expectancy at birth would increase to 77·6 years (95% UI 75·1–79·6) among males and 81·0 years (78·5–83·1) among females. Under our Elimination-2050 scenario, we forecast 735 million (675–808) and 141 million (131–154) cumulative YLLs would be avoided among males and females, respectively. Life expectancy in 2050 would increase to 77·1 years (95% UI 74·6–79·0) among males and 80·8 years (78·3–82·9) among females. InterpretationExisting tobacco policies must be maintained if smoking prevalence is to continue to decline as forecast by the reference scenario. In addition, substantial smoking-attributable burden can be avoided by accelerating the pace of smoking elimination. Implementation of new tobacco control policies are crucial in avoiding additional smoking-attributable burden in the coming decades and to ensure that the gains won over the past three decades are not lost. FundingBloomberg Philanthropies and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation