School cultural features and practices that influence inclusive education in Papua New Guinea: A consideration of schools in Southern Highlands Province.

Inclusive education is a recent phenomenon in the education system in Papua New Guinea. It is about giving equal educational opportunities to all children, whether with disabilities or not in the regular school or classroom. Schools are considered as social institutions that should endeavour to enhance all children's lives through appropriate teaching and learning practices. However, the school culture, which is generally defined as 'how things are done here' is vital for the promotion of inclusive practices. The main aim of this study was to identify the school cultural features and practices that influenced or did not influence inclusive education, and the impact on inclusion. Teachers and school administrators appeared to play a vital role in enhancing inclusive practices through their practices. The study was based on an interpretive/naturalistic research paradigm, the qualitative research approach and the case study methodology. Four schools were studied and categorised as rural and urban settings. The main purpose of categorisation was to identify some similarities and differences in terms of how inclusion was promoted in these schools. Teachers and school administrators were chosen as the main participants. The primary source of data collection was semi-structured interviews. Interview questions were developed for both teachers and school administrators respectively. A non-participant observation method was used as a support instrument to collect more data from selected research participants based on the preliminary interview data. The results suggested the existence of four broad school cultural features and practices. These included staff understanding of special and inclusive education concepts, leadership and organisation, school cultural features/practices and implications for staff, and policies. Teachers and school administrators appeared to have limited knowledge and understanding about what constitutes special and inclusive education practices. However, the school leadership, collaboration and inspection practices minimally influenced inclusive practices. At the same time other school cultural features such as the outcomes-based education curriculum and ecological assessment seemed to have the potential to influence the outcomes of the process of inclusion. The results suggest the value of Callan Services as a school support service agency to influence inclusive education in the Southern Highlands Province. It was noted that children with disabilities were already part of the education system. Though the teachers and school administrators claimed this to be inclusive education, according to the literature this was a manifestation of functional mainstreaming practices. The teachers and school administrators and the Department of Education at the provincial and national levels appeared to take less responsibility in disseminating information pertaining to inclusive practices. The teachers and school administrators received limited support and information from the national and provincial Departments of Education. Therefore, the special education policies developed at the national level had not trickled down to the school level. This situation created a gap between inclusive education policy and practice. One of the major channels of communication and connection was through the inspectors and their inspection practices, but this appeared to have been under-utilised

The Dynamics of Meranao Political Participation in Southern Philippines: An Analysis Using Milbrath’s Hierarchy of Political Involvement

The study analyzes the dynamics of political participation of the largest Muslim ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines – the Meranao. Using Milbrath’s hierarchy of political involvement, the researcher examines the nature of Meranaos’ political processes and the role played by demographic and socioeconomic factors including gender, place of origin, age, income, education, and occupation on the nature of their political participation. The study adopted quantitative approach whereby survey method is the primary technique during the collection of data. There were 315 respondents who took part in the five-month survey period in the two districts of the province of Lanao del Sur in Southern Philippines. The research question is summed up on how do Meranaos participate in Philippine politics vis-a-vis Milbrath’s Hierarchy of Political Involvement, and how do social stratification in the Meranao society influence their political participation. The study found that the nature of Meranaos’ political participation is not up to democratic setup as they are confined only to spectatorial level, while rarely participating in transitional and gladiatorial levels. In the same manner, there were no significant impacts of demographic and socioeconomic factors on political participation. The effects were only found in individual formative items at a lesser extent. The study recommends the massive information drive on the status and significant roles of political institutions in the Meranao society in order to entice higher political participation. Extension of this study to other Muslim ethnolinguistic groups and communities in the Philippines is essential

Emerging Lessons from Medium Sized Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the Kenyan Water Sector

In Kenya as many other countries of the world, Government tax revenues are constrained due to population pressures, expanded mandate of governments including social welfare and environmental protection that have resulted in fiscal constraints. The Kenya Water Master plan 2030 estimates that investments of KES 1.7 trillion are needed for rehabilitation and development of new Water Supply infrastructure to realise Vision 2030 goals of 100 percent water coverage and 80 percent sanitation coverage against a budget of KES 561.5 billion leaving a deficit of KES 1.2 trillion for the water sector that needs to be financed through other innovative financing mechanism. The Fiscal constraints experienced in Kenya have resulted in the adoption of Private Partnerships (PPPs) as an innovative approach to the provision and financing of public infrastructure and services such as water and sanitation, electricity and transport to supplement the traditional tax financing of services. This paper explores the genesis of Public-Private partnership (PPPs) projects in the water sector and the processes of project development to share on experiences and lessons learnt from implementing water PPPs in Kenya. Public-Private partnership was adopted by the Government of Kenya to mobilize private sector financing, innovation and management expertise in all sector of the economy including water service provision. The Kenyan Water sector PPPs initiative commenced in May 2013 when the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI) sent out a “call for PPP project proposals” to all Water Service Providers (WSPs). Fifteen WSPs across the country submitted twenty five (25) projects in response to the “call for proposals” which were reviewed and a final six projects from six county Governments’ identified as viable for further development as PPP projects. Keywords: Private sector, public private partnership (PPP), infrastructure, financing, water service

Digital transformation in healthcare: how the pandemic affected patients' use of telemedicine in Portugal

Digital transformation has had a tremendous impact in the healthcare sector throughout the years. A set of new technologies have been emerging that allow health facilities to deliver the best care to their patients. Throughout the last year and a half, the impact of the covid-19 pandemic has been undeniable. The healthcare sector never stopped working, being the most affected sector of our society in terms of lack of resources. Thus, hospitals were overflooded with covid-19 patients and had to find a way to prevent reaching its maximum overall capacity. While doctors were occupied treating covid-19 patients, they were forced to find other ways to treat patients with different and less critical diseases. Telemedicine (e.g., teleconsultations, teleradiology, etc.) has been around for many years, allowing patients to access healthcare from wherever they are. However, patients have never seen it as a first choice when it comes to medical treatment. With the coronavirus spreading, hospitals began to incorporate more teleconsultations in their daily activities, with the main goal to avoid unnecessary trips to the hospital. This thesis, focused on teleconsultations in Portugal, aims to evaluate how patients perceived them before and during the pandemic, and how their experience has been so far. Moreover, it aims to analyse their expectations for the future and understand if they would start or continue to use it. To better understand this matter, a survey was developed and distributed to the Portuguese population. In the end, conclusions are displayed, and further recommendations and limitations are portrayed.A transformação digital tem tido um impacto tremendo no setor da saúde ao longo dos anos. Um conjunto de novas tecnologias têm surgido ao longo do tempo, permitindo que as unidades de saúde prestem o melhor atendimento aos seus pacientes. Ao longo do último ano e meio, o impacto da pandemia covid-19 tem sido inegável. O setor da saúde nunca parou de trabalhar, sendo o setor mais afetado em termos de falta de recursos. Desta forma, os hospitais ficaram sobrecarregados com pacientes infetados com covid-19 e tiveram que encontrar uma forma de evitar atingir a sua capacidade máxima geral. A telemedicina (como por exemplo: teleconsultas, teleradiologia, etc.) está presente há muitos anos, permitindo que os pacientes tenham acesso a cuidados de saúde onde quer que estejam. No entanto, os pacientes nunca a viram como primeira escolha quando se trata de tratamento médico. Com a disseminação do coronavírus, os hospitais passaram a incorporar mais as teleconsultas nas suas atividades diárias, com o objetivo principal de evitar idas desnecessárias ao hospital. Esta tese, centrada nas teleconsultas em Portugal, tem como objetivo avaliar como os pacientes percecionam as mesmas, antes e durante a pandemia, e como têm sido as suas experiências até ao momento. Adicionalmente, visa analisar as suas expectativas para o futuro e entender se os pacientes começariam ou continuariam a aderir a teleconsultas. Para aprofundar este tema, foi desenvolvido um questionário e distribuído à população portuguesa. No final, as conclusões são expostas e outras recomendações e limitações são apresentadas

Integrative bioinformatics and omics data source interoperability in the next-generation sequencing era-Editorial

With the advent of high-throughput and next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies [1], huge amounts of \u2018omics\u2019 data (i.e. data from genomics, proteomics, pharmacogenomics, metagenomics, etc.) are continuously produced. Combining and integrating diverse omics data types is important in order to investigate the molecular machinery of complex diseases, with the hope for better disease prevention and treatment [2]. Experimental data repositories of omics data are publicly available, with the main aim of fostering the cooperation among research groups and laboratories all over the world. However, despite their openness, the effective integrated use of available public sources is hampered by the heterogeneity, complexity and large size of data stored therein

A big data approach for sequences indexing on the cloud via burrows wheeler transform

Indexing sequence data is important in the context of Precision Medicine, where large amounts of "omics"data have to be daily collected and analyzed in order to categorize patients and identify the most effective therapies. Here we propose an algorithm for the computation of Burrows Wheeler transform relying on Big Data technologies, i.e., Apache Spark and Hadoop. Our approach is the first that distributes the index computation and not only the input dataset, allowing to fully benefit of the available cloud resources. Copyright © 2020 for this paper by its authors

Modulatory role of adenosine upon GABAergic transmission : consequences for excitability control

Tese de doutoramento, Ciências Biomédicas (Neurociências), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Medicina, 2015Glutamatergic principal cell excitability in the hippocampus is regulated by local circuit neurons that release the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). These GABAergic interneurons exhibit vast structural, physiological and biochemical diversity, innervating both excitatory principal cells and other inhibitory interneurons. In the hippocampus, two classes of interneurons, the cholecystokinin (CCK)- and parvalbumin (PV)-containing neurons, are the most significant and abundant cell type displaying unique and complementary functions in the control of principal cells output. Hence a tuned modulation of inhibitory circuits is of great importance in the control of network hippocampal function. Adenosine, acting through high affinity A1 receptor (A1R) and A2A receptor (A2AR), is a well-recognized endogenous modulator of glutamatergic principal cells excitability. Actions mediated by A1Rs are long-known to decrease hippocampal excitability with neuroprotective effects while actions through A2ARs are associated with increased neuronal excitability and excitotoxicity. However, the role of adenosine to modulate inhibitory transmission is much less known. This work aimed to evaluate and characterize the involvement of A1Rs (Chapter 5.1, p99) and A2ARs (Chapter 5.2, p143) on inhibitory neuronal communication in CA1 hippocampus and its impact on principal cells excitability and in the control of epileptiform discharges. These main goals were achieved by performing ex vivo electrophysiology recordings (field and patch-clamp recordings) from rat and mice hippocampus. Regarding A1R-actions, it was found that tonic - mediated by GABA receptor type A (GABAAR) localized peri- and extrasynaptically - but not phasic - mediated by GABAARs located at synapses - inhibitory transmission in pyramidal cells and CCKpositive interneurons were diminished after A1R activation. The effect was dependent on a signaling cascade involving both protein kinase A (PKA) and protein kinase C (PKC) and was accompanied by decreased GABAAR δ-subunit expression. On the other hand, it was also found that A2AR-mediated increase in pyramidal cells excitability results from a direct increase of glutamatergic transmission in parallel with disinhibition of principal cells by a mechanism that involves increased GABA release from PV-positive cells to other interneurons. Also, A2AR activation or blockage respectively promotes or reduces synchronous pyramidal cell firing in hyperexcitable conditions induced by elevated extracellular potassium or following high-frequency electrical stimulation. Together the results presented in this thesis show for the first time a direct involvement of adenosine receptors in the control of inhibitory network transmission in the hippocampus. This results open new promising perspectives for the involvement of adenosine in the control of physiological hippocampal operations and maladaptive conditions.A transmissão glutamatérgica no hipocampo é continuamente controlada por neurónios inibitórios, denominados interneurónios, que libertam o neurotransmissor ácido gama-aminobutírico (GABA). Estas células apresentam uma grande diversidade anatómica, fisiológica e bioquímica, estando descritos mais de vinte e um tipos diferentes de interneurónios no hipocampo. Estes são capazes de comunicar quer com células principais excitatórias (denominadas células piramidais), quer com outros interneurónios inibitórios, com resultados diferentes para a excitabilidade do sistema. A inibição de células piramidais leva a uma diminuição direta da sua excitabilidade; ao passo que a inibição de outros interneurónios pode resultar na desinibição das células principais e consequente aumento da excitabilidade. Desta grande variedade de interneurónios, destacam-se duas grandes classes que correspondem às duas populações de interneurónios mais importantes e abundantes no hipocampo – os neurónios que expressam colecistocinina (CCK) e os neurónios que expressam parvalbumina (PV). As funções de cada uma destas populações no hipocampo são únicas e complementares no controlo da atividade das redes neuronais. Desta forma, um controlo rigoroso destes circuitos inibitórios é de extrema importância na regulação das funções do hipocampo. A adenosina é um neuromodulador ubíquo do sistema nervoso central que atua através de dois grandes tipos de recetores de alta afinidade – os recetores A1 (A1R) e os recetores A2A (A2AR). Os primeiros têm ações principalmente inibitórias da excitabilidade neuronal, e portanto estão normalmente associados a funções neuroprotetoras, enquanto os segundos atuam no sentido de aumentar a excitabilidade no hipocampo e induzir excitotoxicidade. Enquanto que a função da adenosina no controlo da transmissão excitatória glutamatérgica tem vindo a ser caracterizada há várias décadas, o papel da adenosina na modulação da transmissão inibitória tem sido muito menos explorada. O trabalho apresentado nesta tese tem como objetivo a caracterização das ações dos A1Rs (Capítulo 5.1, p99) e dos A2ARs (Capítulo 5.2, p143) na comunicação neuronal inibitória no hipocampo bem como tentar perceber quais as consequências que uma possível modulação a este nível tem na excitabilidade das células piramidais e no desenvolvimento de atividade do tipo epiléptica. Para responder a estas questões foi planeado e executado um trabalho experimental que envolveu o registo da atividade elétrica neuronal no hipocampo de ratos e ratinhos através de técnicas eletrofisiológicas ex vivo (nomeadamente registos extracelulares e registos de patch-clamp). Relativamente às ações dos A1Rs, foi demonstrado que apenas um tipo de respostas inibitórias, denominadas por respostas tónicas, são afetadas pela ativação dos A1Rs, levando à sua diminuição. Este tipo de resposta tónica tem caraterísticas lentas e prolongadas no tempo e é mediada principalmente por recetores ionotrópicos do GABA do tipo A (GABAAR) que estão localizados em porções peri- e extrasináticas dos neurónios. Pelo contrário, as respostas habitualmente rápidas e concertadas no tempo, denominadas por respostas fásicas, e que são mediadas por recetores localizados nas sinapses, não parecem ser afetadas pela ativação dos A1Rs. Curiosamente, estas ações ocorrem seletivamente em neurónios excitatórios piramidais e numa subpopulação de interneurónios que expressam o neuropéptido CCK. O efeito dos A1Rs na diminuição das respostas tónicas está associado a uma cascata de sinalização intracelular que envolve as proteínas cinase A (PKA) e C (PKC) e é acompanhado pela diminuição da expressão de GABAARs que contêm a subunidade δ, habitualmente implicada nas respostas tónicas. Neste trabalho foi também demonstrado que a adenosina, através dos A2ARs, também influencia a transmissão inibitória no hipocampo. De facto, os efeitos da ativação dos A2ARs levam a um aumento da excitabilidade das células piramidais, que pode ser explicado pela ação destes recetores em dois locais: (1) a ativação dos A2ARs aumentam diretamente as respostas glutamatérgicas sobre as células piramidais; (2) simultaneamente, os A2ARs vão desinibir as células principais através de um mecanismo que envolve o aumento da libertação de GABA dos terminais sinápticos de neurónios que expressam PV e que contactam com outros neurónios inibitórios. Estas ações moduladoras têm implicações importantes em modelos de hiperexcitabilidade neuronal induzida pelo aumento das concentrações extracelulares de potássio, na medida em que a ativação ou inibição dos A2ARs leva a um exacerbação ou diminuição, respetivamente, desta hiperatividade neuronal sincronizada. No seu conjunto, os resultados apresentados nesta tese revelam, pela primeira vez, o envolvimento dos recetores de adenosina na modulação da transmissão neuronal inibitória no hipocampo. Estes resultados poderão abrir novas e promissoras perspetivas relativamente ao envolvimento da adenosina no controlo das funções do hipocampo em condições fisiológicas e patológicas.Network of European Neuroscience Schools; Medical Research Counci

Nutrition and public hygiene among children under five years of age in Mukuru slums of Makadara division, Nairobi

Objective: To determine the relationship between sanitation and malnutrition among children below five years. Design: A random sampling followed by an experimental design on microbiological analysis of food and water samples. Setting: Mukuru slums of Makadara division in Nairobi City. Subjects: Eighty food and thirty water samples from households within the study area were used. Results: Poor food and personal hygiene were observed within the households in the study area. Most of the respondents did not practice hygienic methods during food handling such as washing hands and vegetables before preparation. Food especially the leftovers was served at ambient temperatures. Sneezing and coughing over food during preparation were also a common practice which exposed consumers to contamination, Garbage disposal and proper drainage were also poor deepening on the sanitation problem. Microbiological analysis of water and food revealed that Escherichia coli (E-coli) and Salmonella spp. pathogens which are known causes of diarrhoea in children under five years of age. Conclusion: Poor hygienic and unsanitary practices are major causes of diarrhoea, hence malnutrition in crowded Mukuru slums of Nairobi City.East African Medical Journal Vol. 85 (8) 2008: pp. 386-39

Contribuzione allo studio biografico e critico di Paolo Antonio Rolli in base a nuove richerche e documenti inediti, con speciale riferimento alle sue attivita letterarie in Inghilterra

Quando, dopo le prime ricerche preparatorie, fu sottoposto all'approvazione dell'Universita il titolo di questa Tesi, era mia mira di presentare un'ampia e dettagliata biografia del Rolli, ed uno studio critico della sua opera di divulgazione e quindi delle sue attivita letterarie, non originali, in Inghilterra. Tale mira non pote essere attuata nella sua interezza. Le lunghe ricerche compiute oltre che nelle pubbliche biblioteche, anche in numerosi archivi privati, hanno dato risultati pur troppo quasi negativi, mentre l'esame della traduzione del De Rerum Natura, per mano di Alessandro Marchetti, curata dal Rolli in Inghilterra, prendeva proporzi zioni sempre piu vaste. Pressata dalla scarsezza del tempo a mia disposizione, e considerato il valore di quest'ulti ma parte del mio lavoro come cosa non mai tentata,eppure indispensabile a formulare un giudizio equo sui meriti e demeriti del Rolli quale curatore di una prima edizione di un'opera di tanto rilievo, mi fu forza decidere di svolgere questo secondo tema, limitando la biografia a semplici note su notizie mancanti o dubbie, non appurate da altri, circoscrivendo ai testi piu salienti l'esame delle pubblicazioni curate dal Rolli. Le ragioni poi che dettarono di escludere da questo Saggio qualsiasi accenno o studio della traduzione rolliana del Paradiso Perduto appariranno ovvie qualora si consideri che questa pur nobile e ardita fatica del Rolli, fu gia ripetutamente sottoposta a esame critico di vaglia, e che io ho riconosciuto di non poter esamenmi dal concorrere, anche se con alcune riserve, nel giudizio su di essa gia universalmen te accettato. Cosi e che questo lavoro ha assunto piuttosto forma di contri buto parziale al mio soggetto, che di studio esauriente di esso. Nel sottoporre questo Saggio al giudizio degli esaminatori, non posso esimermi dal riconoscere il debito di gratitudine che ho verso il Duca di Richmond, the Earl of Stair, the Hon. Sir Hew Dalrymple, il signor John Purves, the Earl of Pembroke, Lord Sackville, Elena, Lountess of Radnor, il Duca di Sutherland, il Senatore Croce, il prof, Burgarda direttore della Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli, il Dott. Ros si della Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze, che tutti con tanta cortesia incoraggiarono le mie ricerche facilitandole, come pure verso la Signorina Dobelli che mi fu sempre cosi larga di consigli e di guida. <p