Evolution of the Rate of Live and Tapped Trees of Hevea brasiliensis Clones, Muell. Arg. the First 15 Years of Plantation Establishment

The density of tapped rubber trees in a plantation is a determining parameter of its productivity. It is related to the number of trees planted per hectare, the evolution of which can be influenced by several factors that act on the trees from the year of establishment to the time of tapping. To this end, a study to determine the evolution of the rate of live trees and tapped trees of eight rubber clones during the first fifteen years of establishment was carried out in southwestern Côte d'Ivoire. At opening, rubber trees planted at 510 trees/ha (7 m x 2.80 m) were bled in a descending half-spiral at different tapping and stimulation frequencies. The experimental design was a Fisher block design with 6 treatments (d2, d3/4y, d4/4y, d4/8y, d5/8y, d6/10y) and 3 replications. The results revealed that the rate of live trees and tapped trees was not influenced by either clone or latex harvesting treatment. The rate of live trees decreased progressively from the immature phase of the plantation (94.71 ± 1.34%) to the end of the downward tapping (91.55 ± 0.67%). The rate of tapped trees increases from the time of planting (69.51 ± 8.03%), over the years (92.00 ± 1.39%) until it equals the rate of live trees (92.00 ± 1.08%) before gradually decreasing to 88 ± 3.78%. It should be noted that the factors influencing the evolution of the rates of live and taped trees caused less damage to the rubber trees. And this influence is not dependent on clone, metabolic activity class and latex harvesting system.

Identifying Protein Features and Pathways Responsible for Toxicity using Machine learning, CANDO, and Tox21 datasets: Implications for Predictive Toxicology

Humans are exposed to numerous compounds daily, some of which have adverse effects on health. Computational approaches for modeling toxicological data in conjunction with machine learning algorithms have gained popularity over the last few years. Machine learning methods have been used to predict toxicity-related biological activities using chemical structure descriptors. However, proteomic features have not been fully investigated. In this study, we construct a computational model using machine learning for selecting the most important proteins representing features in predicting the toxicity of the compounds in the Tox21 dataset using the multiscale Computational Analysis of Novel Drug Opportunities (CANDO) platform for therapeutic discovery. Tox21 is a highly imbalanced dataset consisting of twelve in-vitro assays, seven from the nuclear receptor (NR) signaling pathway and five from the stress response (SR) pathway, for more than 10,000 compounds. For our computational model, we employed a random forest (RF) with the combination of Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) and Edited Nearest Neighbor (ENN) method, aka SMOTE+ENN, which is resampling method to balance the activity class distribution. Within the NR and SR pathways, the activity of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (NR-AhR), toxicity mediating transcription factor, and microchondrial membrane potential (SR-MMP) were two of the top-performing twelve toxicity endpoints with AUROCs of 0.90 and 0.92, respectively. The top extracted features for evaluating compound toxicity were passed into enrichment analysis to highlight the implicated biological pathways and proteins. We validated our enrichment results for the activity of the AhR using a thorough literature search. Our case study showed that the selected enriched pathways and proteins from our computational pipeline are not only correlated with NR-AhR toxicity but also form a cascading upstream/downstream arrangement. Our work elucidates significant relationships between protein and compound interactions computed using CANDO and the associated biological pathways to which the proteins belong, with twelve toxicity endpoints. This novel study uses machine learning not only to predict and understand toxicity but also elucidates therapeutic mechanisms at a proteomic level for a variety of toxicity endpoints.

Socioeconomic Classes among Oldest-Old Women in South Korea: A Latent Class Analysis

Oldest-old women are known to live at the intersection of multiple socioeconomic disadvantages in South Korean society. This study classified oldest-old Korean women into several socioeconomically homogeneous classes based on various socioeconomic status (SES) risks and compared health characteristics among the identified classes. This cross-sectional study utilized the 2019 Korean Community Health Survey, including data from 11,053 women (≥80 years). Latent class analysis determined the number of underlying socioeconomic classes based on nine selected SES variables. Four distinct socioeconomic classes were identified: “Urban, living alone, recipient of NBLSS, moderate education, leisure activity” (Class 1), “Rural, traditional house, living with others, not financially deprived, low education, employed” (Class 2), “Urban, living with family, financially affluent, not employed, no barriers to healthcare” (Class 3), “Rural, traditional house, living alone, financially deprived, uneducated, employed, barriers to healthcare” (Class 4). Depressive symptoms, subjective stress, and the prevalence of sleep disorder and diabetes were higher in Class 1 compared to other classes. Health-related quality of life, perceived health, and self-rated oral health were the poorest in Class 4. Class 3 reported the best health status. Understanding the intersecting SES risk factors in this group can aid in developing targeted interventions.

Human Group IIA Phospholipase A2—Three Decades on from Its Discovery

Phospholipase A2 (PLA2) enzymes were first recognized as an enzyme activity class in 1961. The secreted (sPLA2) enzymes were the first of the five major classes of human PLA2s to be identified and now number nine catalytically-active structurally homologous proteins. The best-studied of these, group IIA sPLA2, has a clear role in the physiological response to infection and minor injury and acts as an amplifier of pathological inflammation. The enzyme has been a target for anti-inflammatory drug development in multiple disorders where chronic inflammation is a driver of pathology since its cloning in 1989. Despite intensive effort, no clinically approved medicines targeting the enzyme activity have yet been developed. This review catalogues the major discoveries in the human group IIA sPLA2 field, focusing on features of enzyme function that may explain this lack of success and discusses future research that may assist in realizing the potential benefit of targeting this enzyme. Functionally-selective inhibitors together with isoform-selective inhibitors are necessary to limit the apparent toxicity of previous drugs. There is also a need to define the relevance of the catalytic function of hGIIA to human inflammatory pathology relative to its recently-discovered catalysis-independent function.

Influence of Downward Tapping Delay on Agronomic Parameters of Upward Tapping Rubber Trees

The nine-year period of downward tapping prior to upward tapping is often considered too long and irrelevant. Thus, a study was carried out to determine the minimum time needed for downward tapping for which the agronomic parameters (rubber production, vegetative growth) of the rubber trees could best be expressed in upward tapping. Clones with slow (PB 217 and IRCA 41), moderate (GT 1) and fast (PB 260 and IRCA 18) metabolisms were used as plant material in the experiments carried out in Gagnoa, Bettié, Daoukro, San Pedro and Divo. The rubber trees were tapped in a half-spiral downward direction at different times followed by quarter-spiral upward or upward tapping. The experimental design was a Fisher block design with 9 treatments and 4 replications. The results showed that upward tapping preceded by downward tapping for 5 and/or 6 years was the best regardless of the metabolic activity class of the clone. Rubber production expressed in kg.ha-1. year-1 [Slow (5y-2675 ± 79) (6y-2488 ± 59) (T9y-2238 ± 45); Moderate ((5y-5417 ± 127) (6y-5094 ± 141) (T9y-3993 ± 58); Fast (5y-5210 ± 239) (6y-4733 ± 500) (T9y-3723 ± 245)] resulting from these upward tappings increased with an increasing gradient of clone metabolism without, however, detrimental to vegetative growth (cm. yr-1) [Slow (5 yr-3.90 ± 1.27) (6 yr-4.05 ± 1.48) (T9 yr-3.40 ± 1.13); Moderate ((5 yr-3.02 ± 0.25) (6 yr-2.80 ± 0.05) (T9 yr-2.39 ± 0.02); Fast (5 yr-4.27 ± 0.42) (6 yr-3.97 ± 0.28) (T9 yr-3.60 ± 0.05)]. These results show that upward tapping in year 6 is more advantageous than tapping in year 10.

Analysis of Verbal Interactions Between Brazilian Students in a Physics Investigative Activity Class With STS Approach: A Case Study

This article presents results on the analysis of verbal interactions of students from a federal public high school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during an investigative activity class about the properties of magnets. This experimental assignment was part of a didactic sequence developed for the study of Electromagnetism, which was structured using a Science, Technology and Society (STS) approach combined with the investigative activities method, in which students divided into groups carried out a series of experimental essays on the contents that were presented to them. The objective was to determine if students were able and capable of structuring their own causal statements to a problem involving knowledge of Physics, when given the proper conditions to work with an experimental setup. Differently from the traditional transmission-reception didactic model, the STS didactic orientation seeks out to incorporate the scientific syllabus into the students' daily life relationships. A qualitative methodology was used from the transcriptions of video and digital audio recordings that were registered during classes, some scenes of an educational episode were selected and the verbal interactions of the students among themselves were analyzed, looking for some indicators that could identify whether scientific literacy was accomplished. Analysis showed evidence that students were able to construct meaning with their own words by reasoning about what was observed in the experiments performed.

RANCANG BANGUN SISTEM UJIAN ONLINE MENGGUNAKAN ALGORITMA COSINE SIMILARITY BERBASIS WEB

Ujian Online merupakan suatu cara yang digunakan untuk mengevaluasi hasil belajar siswa dalam mengukur taraf pencapaian siswa sebagai peserta didik, sehingga siswa dapat mengetahui batas kemampuan dirinya dalam memahami bidang studi yang ditempuh selama mengikuti pendidikan dengan pelaksanaan ujian menggunakan internet. Rancang bangun sistem ujian online menggunakan algoritma cosine similarity yaitu melakukan perkalian skalar antara query dengan dokumen kemudian dijumlahkan, setelah itu melakukan perkalian antara panjang dokumen dengan panjang query yang telah dikuadratkan, setelah itu di hitung akar pangkat dua. Selanjutnya hasil perkalian skalar tersebut di bagi dengan hasil perkalian panjang dokumen dan query, hasil rancangan sistem ini dapat mempermudah proses pendataan ujian sekolah yang sistematis dan terkomputerisasi, dan dengan adanya sistem ujian sekolah ini dapat mengurangi penumpukan kertas. Rancangan sistem ujian onlie menggunakan use case, diagram activity, class diagram dan rancangan database. Pengujian menggunakan metode black box untuk menguji Interface sistem ujian, Pengujian fungsi dasar sistem, pengujian form handle sistem, dan pengujian keamanan sistem aplikasi

The Effects of Facebook Live-Stream Teaching on Improving Students' Dance Skills

The purpose of this study is to enhance the effect of dance skill learning, learning motivation, and physical activity class satisfaction. Moreover, the outcome of these quasi-experiments illustrate the effects of Facebook Live-stream teaching, co-regulated learning (CRL), and experience-based learning (ExBL) on improving students' learning performance. The experimental design in this study was a 2 (CRL vs. non-CRL) × 2 (ExBL vs. non-ExBL) factorial pretest/post-test design. Four classes of a course titled ‘Physical Education: Dance' at university level were chosen for this study in one semester. According to the analysis of results, conclusions of this study are that students who receive ExBL have significantly higher physical activity class satisfaction than students who do not receive ExBL. In addition, in the case of ExBL teaching, the concurrent implementation of CRL can improve students' dance skill learning more than ExBL alone.

Promosi Kinerja Guru Sekolah Dasar Islam Ummu Aiman Lawang melalui Penggunaan Supervisi Klinis

AbstrakKualitas pengajaran dan instruksi sangat diperlukan bagi keberhasilan pembelajaran di sekolah. Supervisi di sekolah bertujuan untuk meningkatkan kinerja pengajaran dan instruksi guru. Supervisi sebagai tulang punggung yang menentukan efektivitas sebuah sekolah. Supervisi yang baik melibatkan kegiatan bantuan untuk guru secara langsung dan menginformasikan tentang apa yang harus dilakukan atau telah dilakukan. Supervisi belajar-mengajar di kelas berusaha membantu guru untuk mengajar secara efektif belum tercapai. Metode yang digunakan dalam kegiatan supervisi klinis ini yaitu 1) konferensi perencanaan; 2) observasi kelas; 3) konferensi umpan balik; 4) perencanaan evaluasi. Hasil kegiatan menunjukkan bahwa 1) konferensi perencanaan berhasil memberikan penjelasan kepada pihak sekolah dan guru terkait konsep kegiatan yang akan dilakukan; 2) observasi kelas dilakukan selama aktivitas mengajar yang meliputi pembukaan, main activity, manajemen kelas, dan aktivitas lainnya; 3) konferensi umpan baik dapat memberikan masukan bagi guru terkait kekurangan atau kelemahan yang perlu diperbaiki dalam proses mengajarnya; 4) rancangan evaluasi dapat memformulasi rancangan program khusus untuk guru berdasarkan hasil konferensi umpan balik. Dengan demikian, dapat disimpulkan bahwa adanya supervisi klinis sangat berguna dalam mempromosikan kinerja guru.Kata Kunci: Kinerja Guru, Guru Sekolah Dasar, Supervisi Klinis AbstractThe quality of teaching and instruction is indispensable for successful learning in schools. Supervision in schools aims to improve teaching performance and teacher instruction. Supervision is the backbone that determines the effectiveness of a school. Good supervision involves directly assisting teachers and informing them of what needs to be done or has been done. Supervision of teaching and learning in the classroom trying to help teachers to teach effectively has not been achieved. The methods used in this clinical supervision activity are 1) planning conference; 2) class observation; 3) feedback conference; 4) evaluation planning. The results of the activities showed that 1) the planning conference was successful in providing explanations to the school and teachers regarding the concept of the activities to be carried out; 2) class observations are carried out during teaching activities which include opening, main activity, class management, and other activities; 3) feedback conferences can provide input for teachers regarding deficiencies or weaknesses that need to be improved in the teaching process; 4) the evaluation design can formulate a special program design for teachers based on the results of the feedback conference. Thus, it can be concluded that clinical supervision is very useful in promoting teacher performance.Key Word: Clinical Supervision, Elementary School Teacher, Teacher Performance.