STUDENTS AND STAFF AWARENESS ON SCHOOL SAFETY MEASURES IN PUBLIC BOARDING SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN TRANS-NZOIA COUNTY, KENYA

The Kenyan government is committed to ensure access, equity, participation, retention, completion and quality of education at all levels. Education is bound to be affected if safety and security concerns of students are not addressed fully. The objective of the study was to find out the levels of awareness of school safety measures among students and staff in public boarding secondary schools in Trans- Nzoia County, Kenya. The study used descriptive survey research design. The study targeted 40 principals, 754 teachers, 22,562 students and 84 security officers in 40 public boarding secondary schools in Trans-Nzoia County. Simple random sampling and purposive sampling procedure were used to select boarding secondary schools. The total sample was 403 respondents which comprised of 20 principals, 143 teachers, 220 students and 20 security officers. Questionnaires, interview schedule, document analysis, observation checklist and focus groups were used as data collection instruments. Data was analysed using descriptive statistical techniques that were frequencies and percentages. Data was presented in tables. The study established that, students and staff were not trained on safety requirements as per the Ministry of Education Safety Manual and therefore not aware of the safety measures. The student, teacher and any other stake holder should be sensitized on the safety rule. The school principals should ensure that all students and staff are trained on safety measures in order to prevent insecurity issues in boarding schools. Article visualizations

Assessing Forest Type and Tree Species Classification Using Sentinel-1 C-Band SAR Data in Southern Sweden

The multitemporal acquisition of images from the Sentinel-1 satellites allows continuous monitoring of a forest. This study focuses on the use of multitemporal C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data to assess the results for forest type (FTY), between coniferous and deciduous forest, and tree species (SPP) classification. We also investigated the temporal stability through the use of backscatter from multiple seasons and years of acquisition. SAR acquisitions were pre-processed, histogram-matched, smoothed, and temperature-corrected. The normalized average backscatter was extracted for interpreted plots and used to train Random Forest models. The classification results were then validated with field plots. A principal component analysis was tested to reduce the dimensionality of the explanatory variables, which generally improved the results. Overall, the FTY classifications were promising, with higher accuracies (OA of 0.94 and K = 0.86) than the SPP classification (OA of 0.66 and K = 0.54). The use of merely winter images (OA = 0.89) reached, on average, results that were almost as good as those using of images from the entire year. The use of images from a single winter season reached a similar result (OA = 0.87). We conclude that multiple Sentinel-1 images acquired in winter conditions are feasible to classify forest types in a hemi-boreal Swedish forest

Assessing the accuracy for area-based tree species classification using Sentinel-1 C-band SAR data

Forest type (FTY) and tree species classification (SPP) over the Remn-ingstorp test site were performed using ground-based field observations and remote sensing data sources. The field inventory for the forest estate and for the surrounding natural reserve of Eahagen was carried out in 2016. The re-mote sensing data used were C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from Sentinel-1. Dual polarization backscatter values were extracted for the period October 2017 - February 2019 and the area-based method was applied. The metrics obtained, i.e. monthly mean backscatter, were used to perform classification by machine learning models’ random forest (RF) and linear dis-criminant analysis (LDA). The models were evaluated with the leave-one-out cross-validation method and the classification outcomes were compared with reference values in terms of confusion matrixes. The best performing model was LDA with an overall accuracy of 88% for FTY and 61% for SPP, whereas RF achieved values of 84% for FTY and 56% for SPP. It was concluded that C-band SAR data can be used for FTY and SPP classification, but further investigation is needed to determine which factors affect the backscatter in order to obtain more accurate classifications

Logging Residue Assessment in Salvage Logging Areas: a Case Study in the North-Eastern Italian Alps

Salvage logging operations often occur after large disturbances and usually leave behind a substantial quantity of residues, which is fundamental for maintaining soil fertility and facilitating ecosystem dynamics. This study aims to estimate the amount of logging residues following salvage operations categorized by two wood harvesting systems: Cut-To-Length (CTL) and Full-Tree System (FT). Logging residues in the harvested areas were sampled using linear transects and the data collected were divided into classes based on diameter. The quantity of residues was estimated using the Brown method for Fine Wood Debris (FWD) and the Van Wagner method for Coarse Wood Debris (CWD). Furthermore, the carbon and nutrient content associated with logging residues were also determined, considering their interaction with the soil organic layer. Overall, a higher quantity of FWD was detected in the sites cleared with the FT system and a higher quantity of CWD in the sites logged with the CTL system. Differences could be observed for all three years and systems considered, but only the third year reported statistically significant results (p<0.01). The soil and residue chemical analysis for carbon and nutrient contents revealed a high amount of carbon stored in a potential layer of 10 cm of soil (up to 85 Mg·C·ha-1), while only up to 15 Mg·C·ha-1 for the woody material

Implementación de reporte financiero de flujo de efectivo para la toma de decisiones de la empresa Ladrillera el Diamante S.A.C., 2021

El presente informe titulado “Implementación de reporte Financiero de flujo de efectivo para la toma de decisiones de la empresa Ladrillera El Diamante S.A.C., 2021” tiene como objetivo identificar y clasificar correctamente a nivel sistema (ERP) los ingresos y egresos generados por las llamadas tareas de operación, financiamiento e inversión; para la toma de decisiones de la organización en el periodo 2021, y así poder plantear estrategias que ayuden a obtener mejores resultados en su situación financiera, las cuales permitan contrarrestar los efectos ocasionados por la pandemia, generando mejores indicadores de liquidez, solvencia y gestión. En base a lo anteriormente mencionado, en el primer capítulo se dará alcances generales acerca de la organización, detallaremos los puntos más relevantes sobre su origen y crecimiento a lo largo del tiempo, la operativa principal que esta viene desarrollando junto con su visión y misión, las cuales tienen significativa importancia dado que nos permitirán construir un concepto de lo que desea alcanzar con la compañía a futuro. Además, en este primer capítulo se describirá el área que ocuparemos para analizar y que contribuiremos a mejorar en este presente informe. Para el segundo capítulo, que tiene por nombre Marco teórico, se encuentran los antecedentes Internacionales y Nacionales, información General y específica como base necesaria para la identificación y detalle del problema señalado en nuestro informe, aparte de diversas investigaciones que guardan relación con el mismo. Dentro del tercer capítulo se describe la “Aplicación profesional”, mencionaremos todos los aspectos del área de la que se elaboró este trabajo de investigación, de igual manera daremos a conocer detalladamente todas las funciones que se vienen llevando a cabo en Ladrillera El Diamante S.A.C. En esta sección también se mencionan las contribuciones que venimos aportando para la perfección en la gestión y elección de decisiones en la compañía. Asimismo en el Capítulo 4 se dará la aplicación práctica, donde se menciona la problemática de la empresa utilizando datos reales, mostraremos estados financieros y la aplicación de los procedimientos contables y de gestión realizados en la organización. Para finalizar este informe presentaremos las conclusiones y recomendaciones que fueron extraídas del estudio ejecutado, de igual manera referenciaremos las fuentes de datos bibliográficos que contribuyeron a hacer el mismo y por último, exhibiremos los anexos que consideramos imprescindibles para la comprensión de este.Campus Arequip

Lifestyle and dietary factors, iron status and one-carbon metabolism polymorphisms in a sample of Italian women and men attending a Transfusion Medicine Unit: a cross-sectional study

Iron (Fe) status among healthy male and female blood donors, aged 18–65 years, is estimated. General characteristics and lifestyle factors, dietary habits and major one-carbon metabolism-related polymorphisms were also investigated. An explorative cross-sectional study design was used to examine a sample of blood donors attending the Transfusion Medicine Unit of the Verona University Hospital, Italy. From April 2016 to May 2018, 499 subjects were enrolled (255 men, 244 women, 155 of whom of childbearing age). Major clinical characteristics including lifestyle, dietary habits and Fe status were analysed. The MTHFR 677C &gt; T, cSHMT 1420C &gt; T, DHFR 19bp ins/del and RFC1 80G &gt; A polymorphisms were also assayed. Mean plasma concentrations of Fe and ferritin were 16·6 µmol/l (95 % CI 16·0, 17·2) and 33·8 µg/l (95 % CI 31·5, 36·2), respectively. Adequate plasma Fe concentrations (&gt; 10·74 µmol/l) were detected in 84·3 % and adequate ferritin concentrations (20–200 µg/l) was found in 72·5 % of the whole cohort. Among the folate-related polymorphisms analysed, carriers of the DHFR 19bp del/del mutant allele showed lower ferritin concentration when compared with DHFR 19bp ins/del genotypes. In a sample of Italian healthy blood donors, adequate plasma concentrations of Fe and ferritin were reached in a large proportion of subjects. The relationship of Fe status with lifestyle factors and folate-related polymorphisms requires more investigation to clarify further gene–nutrient interactions between folate and Fe metabolism

Novel protein-truncating variant in the APOB gene may protect from coronary artery disease and adverse cardiovascular events

Background and aims: Genetic testing is still rarely used for the diagnosis of dyslipidemia, even though gene variants determining plasma lipids levels are not uncommon.Methods: Starting from a a pilot-analysis of targeted Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) of 5 genes related to familial hypercholesterolemia (LDLR, APOB, PCSK9, HMGCR, APOE) within a cardiovascular cohort in subjects with extreme plasma concentrations of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, we discovered and characterized a novel point mutation in the APOB gene, which was associated with very low levels of apolipoprotein B (ApoB) and LDL cholesterol.Results: APOB c.6943 G &gt; T induces a premature stop codon at the level of exon 26 in the APOB gene and generates a protein which has the 51% of the mass of the wild type ApoB-10 0 (ApoB-51), with a trun-cation at the level of residue 2315. The premature stop codon occurs after the one needed for the synthesis of ApoB-4 8, allowing chylomicron production at intestinal level and thus avoiding potential nutritional impairments. The heterozygous carrier of APOB c.6943G &gt; T, despite a very high-risk profile encompassing all the traditional risk factors except for dyslipidemia, had normal coronary arteries by angiography and did not report any major adverse cardiovascular event during a 20-years follow-up, thereby obtaining advantage from the gene variant as regards protection against atherosclerosis, apparently without any metabolic retaliation.Conclusions: Our data support the use of targeted NGS in well-characterized clinical settings, as well as they indicate that.a partial block of ApoB production may be well tolerated and improve cardiovascular outcomes. (C) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V

Detection of urinary exosomal HSD11B2 mRNA expression: a useful novel tool for the diagnostic approach of dysfunctional 11β-HSD2-related hypertension

Apparent mineralocorticoid excess (AME) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by the 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11β-HSD2) enzyme deficiency, traditionally assessed by measuring either the urinary cortisol metabolites ratio (tetrahydrocortisol+allotetrahydrocortisol/tetrahydrocortisone, THF+5αTHF/THE) or the urinary cortisol/cortisone (F/E) ratio. Exosomal mRNA is an emerging diagnostic tool due to its stability in body fluids and its biological regulatory function. It is unknown whether urinary exosomal HSD11B2 mRNA is related to steroid ratio or the HSD11B2 662 C&gt;G genotype (corresponding to a 221 A&gt;G substitution) in patients with AME and essential hypertension (EH)

One-carbon genetic variants and the role of MTHFD1 1958G>A in liver and colon cancer risk according to global DNA methylation

Several polymorphic gene variants within one-carbon metabolism, an essential pathway for nucleotide synthesis and methylation reactions, are related to cancer risk. An aberrant DNA methylation is a common feature in cancer but whether the link between one-carbon metabolism variants and cancer occurs through an altered DNA methylation is yet unclear. Aims of the study were to evaluate the frequency of one-carbon metabolism gene variants in hepatocellular-carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma and colon cancer, and their relationship to cancer risk together with global DNA methylation status. Genotyping for BHMT 716A&gt;G, DHFR 19bp ins/del, MTHFD1 1958G&gt;A, MTHFR 677C&gt;T, MTR 2756A&gt;G, MTRR 66A&gt;G, RFC1 80G&gt;A, SHMT1 1420C&gt;T, TCII 776C&gt;G and TS 2rpt-3rpt was performed in 102 cancer patients and 363 cancer-free subjects. Methylcytosine (mCyt) content was measured by LC/MS/MS in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) DNA. The MTHFD1 1958AA genotype was significantly less frequent among cancer patients as compared to controls (p = 0.007) and related to 63% reduction of overall cancer risk (p = 0.003) and 75% of colon cancer risk (p = 0.006). When considering PBMCs mCyt content, carriers of the MTHFD1 1958GG genotype showed a lower DNA methylation as compared to carriers of the A allele (p = 0.048). No differences were highlighted by evaluating a possible relationship between the other polymorphisms analyzed with cancer risk and DNA methylation. The MTHFD1 1958AA genotype is linked to a significantly reduced cancer risk. The 1958GG genotype is associated to PBMCs DNA hypomethylation as compared to the A allele carriership that may exert a protective effect for cancer risk by preserving from DNA hypomethylation