KEMAMPUAN PENALARAN STATISTIS, KOMUNIKASI STATISTIS, DAN ACADEMIC HELP-SEEKING MAHASISWA MELALUI PEMBELAJARAN BERBASIS PROYEK BERBANTUAN ICT

Penalaran dan komunikasi statistis, serta academic help-seeking (AHS) merupakan aspek penting bagi perkembangan pengetahuan mahasiswa. Komunikasi statistis penting untuk memperjelas suatu masalah berdasarkan karakteristik data statistik dan penalaran statistis berperan membentuk keterampilan mahasiswa menggunakan konsep, aturan dan proses statistika, sementara AHS merupakan strategi self-regulatory penting yang memberikan kontribusi untuk belajar statistika. Kompetensi mahasiswa terhadap ketiga aspek tersebut masih rendah sehingga perlu dikembangkan dalam pembelajaran pengantar statistika. Salah satu model pembelajaran alternatif yang dapat mencapai kompetensi dimaksud adalah pembelajaran berbasis proyek berbantuan ICT (PBP berbantuan ICT). Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis secara komprehensif pencapaian dan peningkatan kemampuan penalaran statistis (KPS) dan kemampuan komunikasi statistis (KKS), serta pencapaian AHS mahasiswa melalui PBP berbantuan ICT. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode campuran dengan desain kelompok kontrol pretes-postes. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah mahasiswa S1 program studi Pendidikan Matematika pada salah satu universitas di Maluku Utara. Instrumen pengumpulan data meliputi: tes kemampuan awal statistis (KAS), pretes dan postes KPS dan KKS, skala AHS, lembar observasi dan wawancara. Analisis data menggunakan statistik uji: t, t^', Mann-Whitney U, anova dua jalur, dan uji asosiasi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa: (1) pencapaian KPS, KKS, dan AHS mahasiswa yang memperoleh PBP berbantuan ICT secara signifikan lebih tinggi daripada mahasiswa yang memperoleh pembelajaran konvensional (PK), (2) Peningkatan KPS dan KKS mahasiswa yang memperoleh PBP berbantuan ICT secara signifikan lebih tinggi daripada PK ditinjau dari KAS (tinggi dan sedang), (3) Peningkatan KPS dan KKS mahasiswa yang memperoleh PBP berbantuan ICT dengan KAS tinggi dalam kategori tinggi, KAS (sedang, rendah) dalam kategori sedang, dan mahasiswa yang memperoleh PK dengan KAS (tinggi, sedang, rendah) dalam kategori sedang, (4) Tidak terdapat pengaruh interaksi antara faktor pembelajaran dan KAS terhadap pencapaian dan peningkatan KPS dan KKS mahasiswa, (5) Tidak terdapat pengaruh interaksi antara pembelajaran dan KAS terhadap pencapaian AHS mahasiswa, (6) Ada asosiasi yang signifikan dan bersifat positif antara KPS dan KKS mahasiswa, KKS dan AHS mahasiswa yang diterapkan melalui PBP berbantuan ICT, namun tidak ada asosiasi yang signifikan antara KPS dan AHS, dan (7) Asosiasi antara KPS dan KKS dalam kategori kuat, antara KPS dan AHS dalam kategori kurang kuat, dan antara KKS dan AHS dalam kategori cukup kuat. PBP berbantuan ICT dapat digunakan sebagai salah satu modal alternatif dalam pembelajaran pengantar statistika untuk meningkatkan KPS dan KKS, serta menciptakan academic help-seeking statistis mahasiswa. ---------- Statistical reasoning and communication and academic help-seeking (AHS) are important aspects for students’ knowledge development. Statistical communication is important to clarify a problem, based on the characteristics of statistic data and statistical reasoning plays role to form students skill in using concepts, rules and statistics process. While academic help-seeking is self-regulatory strategy that contributes to learn statistics. The students still did not have enough ability in three competencies. One of alternative models enhances students’ ability in those three competencies is project-based learning assisted ICT (ICT-assisted PBL). This study aims to analyze comprehensively the achievement and improvement of statistical reasoning ability (SRA) and statistical communication ability (SCA), as well as students’ AHS through ICT-assisted PBL. This study used a mixed methods with pretest posttest control design. The population of this ware undergraduate students of Mathematics Education program at a State University in North Maluku. Data collection instruments include: prior statistical knowledge (PSK) test, pre-test and post-test of statistical reasoning ability and communication statistical ability, AHS scale, observation note and interviews. Analysis statistic used test: t, t', Mann-Whitney U, two-ways ANOVA, and the association test. The results showed that: (1) the students who got with ICT-assisted PBL have higher achievement in SRA, SCA, and AHS than students who got convensition learning (CL), (2) high, middle and low PSK students who got ICT-assisted PBL have enhancement and achievement significantly higher than CL. (3) Improved students’ AHS behavior who got ICT-assisted PBL bases on student’s PSK high, medium and low are in the low category, (4) there is a direct effect of the learning factor and prior statistical knowledge (PSK) to the students’ achievement and improvement of SRA, SCA and AHS, but simultaneously there is no interaction between factors learning and PSK to the student’s achievement and improvement of SRA and SCA, (5) there is not interaction between learning factors and PSK on students’ academic help-seeking, (6) there is significant assosiation and positive between student’s SRA and SCA, student’s SCA and AHS who receive ICT-assisted PBL, but not is significant association between student’s SRA and AHS, and (7) The association between student’s SRA and SCA in the highle category, between the student’s SRA and the AHS in the lower category, and between student’s SCA and AHS in middle category. ICT-assisted PBL can be used as an alternative model in teaching and learning statistics to enhancement statistical reasoning ability and statistical communication and students’ statistical academic help-seeking

Angiosperms Are Unique among Land Plant Lineages in the Occurrence of Key Genes in the RNA-Directed DNA Methylation (RdDM) Pathway

We are grateful for the FP7 Marie Curie IEF (Lu Ma), the FP7 Marie Curie ITN INTERCROSSING (Andrea Hatlen), the Czech Science Foundation (501/12/G090, Ales Kovarik), China Scholarship Council (Wencai Wang), and NERC (NE/ G01724/1, Laura Kelly, Ilia Leitch, Andrew Leitch). The Illumina sequencing of Fritillaria was funded by NERC (NE/G01724/1) and generated by the Centre of Genomic Research in the University of Liverpool, UK. This research utilised Queen Mary's MidPlus computational facilities, supported by QMUL Research-IT and funded by EPSRC grant EP/K000128/1. We thank an anonymous referee for a rigorous, insightful and helpful revie

Lung cancer - influence of comorbidity on incidence and survival: The Nord-Trøndelag Health study

PhD i klinisk medisinPhD in Clinical Medicin

On-board, Fourier-Based Image-Analysis System for Satellite Observation of Gravity Waves

The main objective of this thesis is obtaining data on gravity waves from images taken by the NTNU Test Satellite (NUTS). The satellite's main payload consists of a camera intended to capture images of gravity waves in the atmosphere. A limitation of the satellite is its ability to transmit data. Two separate approaches have been investigated to limit the amount of data that needs to be sent. One is the degree of image and video compression that can be applied to a series of images before data is corrupted. The second is implementing a 3D-Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) method that obtains the relevant data in the image series directly and only sends these. The NUTS-satellite is a project still in the making with a preliminary launch date in 2014. Currently there are no comparable, usable images of the wave phenomenon captured from space. Ground based images taken with fish-eye lenses are therefore used as a basis to make emulate satellite images. These are used to test how satellite images will be influenced by compression and how the 3D-FFT can extract the data. We found the 3D-FFT able to extract wave parameters from the images, providing significant reduction in the need for transmission of data compared to sending compressed images. In addition we found that the compression-approach corrupts data before a considerable reduction in transmitted data is achieved

Development of Speed Perception: A high-density EEG Study of Differences Between Two Speeds of Simulated Forward and Backward Motion from Childhood to Adulthood

Denne tverrsnittsstudien undersøkte utviklingen av optisk flyt hos 6-åringer, 16-åringer og unge voksne ved hjelp av simulerte økologiske hastigheter som tilsvarer gange- og sykkelfart i fremover- og bakover retninger. Analyser av visuelt fremkalte potensialer (VEP) og tidsfrekvens (TSE) ble brukt til å studere deltakernes hjerneaktivitet i respons til et mønster av simulert optisk flyt, med stolper som strømmer innover eller utover fra midten av en skjerm for å etterligne bevegelse på en vei. Redusert latenstid og amplitude ble observert med økende alder. Barn og ungdommer viste lengre latenstid på tvers av hastigheter og retninger sammenlignet med voksne. Barn viste lengre latenstid sammenlignet med voksne på tvers av retninger, mens ungdommer kun viste lengre latenstid i respons til bakoverbevegelse, sammenlignet med voksne. Kortere latenstider ble observert for fremoverbevegelse sammenlignet med bakoverbevegelse, på tvers av alle aldersgrupper. TSE-kart viste desynkronisert aktivitet for begge bevegelsesretninger, med marginalt lavere frekvenser hos barn sammenlignet med ungdommer og voksne. Sammenlignet med barn og ungdommer, viste voksne flest signifikante områder med desynkronisering i respons til begge bevegelsesretninger sammenlignet med statisk ikke-flyt. Disse funnene belyser det nyanserte samspillet mellom aldersrelatert nevrologisk utvikling og visuelle bevegelsesprosesser. Barn og ungdommer viste ikke hastighetsoppfatning på samme nivå som voksne, som igjen påvirker deres trygghet når de ferdes i trafikken. I tillegg er ikke fullstendig utvikling av persepsjon av visuell bevegelse oppnådd ved 16-års alder.This cross-sectional study investigated optic flow development in 6-year-olds, 16-year-olds, and young adults, using simulated ecological motion speeds equivalent to walking and cycling speed in forward and backward direction using high-density EEG. Analyses of visual evoked potentials (VEP) and time-frequency (TSE) were used to study participants' brain responses to a pattern of simulated optic flow, with poles radiating inward or outward from the centre of a screen to give the impression of moving down a road. VEP analyses displayed reduced latency and amplitude with age. Compared to adults, children and adolescents showed longer latencies across motion speeds and directions. Children exhibited prolonged latencies compared to adults across motion directions, while adolescents demonstrated prolonged latencies in response to backward motion only. Shorter latencies were observed for forward motion compared to backward motion across all age groups. TSE maps showed desynchronized activity for both motion directions, with lower frequencies in children relative to adolescents and adults. Compared to children and adolescents, adults had the highest number of areas displaying significant desynchronized activity in response to both motion directions when compared to static non-flow. The findings explain the nuanced interplay between age-related neural development and visual motion processing dynamics. Analyses showed that children and adolescents did not display speed perception at the adult level, that in turn effects their safety when navigating in traffic. Additionally, development of visual motion perception is not yet fully achieved at late adolescence

Rate of avoidable deaths in a Norwegian hospital trust as judged by retrospective chart review.

BACKGROUND: The proportion of avoidable hospital deaths is challenging to estimate, but has great implications for quality improvement and health policy. Many studies and monitoring tools are based on selected high-risk populations, which may overestimate the proportion. Mandatory reporting systems, however, under-report. We hypothesise that a review of an unselected sample of hospital deaths will provide an estimate of avoidability in-between the estimates from these methods. METHODS: A retrospective case record review of an unselected population of 1000 consecutive non-psychiatric hospital deaths in a Norwegian hospital trust was conducted. Reviewers evaluated to what degree each death could have been avoided, and identified problems in care. RESULTS: We found 42 (4.2%) of deaths to be at least probably avoidable (more than 50% chance of avoidability). Life expectancy was shortened by at least 1 year among 34 of the 42 patients with an avoidable death. Patients whose death was found to be avoidable were less functionally dependent compared with patients in the non-avoidable death group. The surgical department had the greatest proportion of such deaths. Very few of the avoidable deaths were reported to the hospital's report system. CONCLUSIONS: Avoidable hospital deaths occur less frequently than estimated by the national monitoring tool, but much more frequently than reported through mandatory reporting systems. Regular reviews of an unselected sample of hospital deaths are likely to provide a better estimate of the proportion of avoidable deaths than the current methods

Chronic pain self-management: Expectations towards and effect of chronic pain self-management intervention at a Healthy Life Centre in public primary care

Sammendrag Bakgrunn Kroniske smerter rammer en betydelig del av befolkningen, og omtrent en tredjedel av norske voksne har opplevd smerter i tre måneder eller mer. Kronisk smerte er en kompleks tilstand med både fysiologiske, psykologiske og sosiale konsekvenser. Kronisk smerte har også samfunnsøkonomiske konsekvenser i form av redusert produktivitet og høye kostnader innen helse. Behandling for kronisk smerte gir i beste fall beskjedne forbedringer, noe som fører til at for mange er det å egenmestre en hverdag med kroniske smerter viktig. Mestringsintervensjoner har blitt viktige tiltak for å styrke personer med kronisk smerte til å aktivt kunne ta del i det å håndtere helsen sin. De norske frisklivssentralene er en del av kommunenes helsetjeneste for personer med økt risiko for, eller som allerede har utviklet sykdom og som har behov for å endre levevaner og mestre helseutfordringer. Frisklivssentralene tar sikte på å være lett tilgjengelige ved at folk selv kan ta kontakt for å delta på aktivitetene som tilbys. Ved enkelte frisklivssentraler har mestringsintervensjoner blitt en del av de tjenestene som tilbys. Hensikt Hovedhensikten med avhandlingen var å bidra med kunnskap om forventninger til og effekt av, mestringstilbud for personer med kronisk smerte utviklet og tilbudt av frisklivssentral i en norsk bykommune. Mer spesifikt var hensikten å utforske forventninger til lett tilgjengelige smertemestringstilbud, og å undersøke korttids- og langtidseffekt av et mestringskurs for personer med kronisk smerte ved frisklivssentral. Metode En kvalitativ intervjustudie og en randomisert kontrollert studie ble gjennomført. I den randomisert kontrollerte studien ble intervensjonsgruppen tilbudt et gruppebasert kurs om mestring av kronisk smerte. Kurset besto av teori, øvelser med fokus på bevegelighet, samt gruppediskusjoner og utveksling av erfaringer. Kontrollgruppen ble tilbudt lett fysisk aktivitet i gruppe som besto av gåtur og enkle styrkeøvelser. Aktivitetene hadde ukentlige økter over en periode på seks uker, og resultatene ble målt etter tre, seks og 12 måneder. Det primære utfallsmålet var pasientaktivering målt med Patient Activation Measure (PAM). Dataene ble analysert ved bruk av «linear mixed models». Den kvalitative studien inkluderte individuelle semi-strukturerte intervju ved baseline før randomisering med et utvalg av deltakerne fra den randomisert kontrollerte studien. Deltagerne ble stilt åpne spørsmål om forventningene til deltakelse i intervensjonene, hvordan smerte virket inn på hverdagen deres, hva de gjorde for å håndtere et liv med kroniske smerter, og hvilke helsetjenester de tidligere hadde prøvd på grunn av kroniske smerter. De kvalitative dataene ble analysert med bruk av systematisk tekst kondensering. Resultat Totalt ble 121 deltakere inkludert i den randomisert kontrollerte studien. Av disse deltok 21 i den kvalitative studien. I den kvalitative studien ble det funnet at deltakerne hadde forventninger som hovedsakelig gjaldt et håp om at deltakelse kunne føre til en bedre hverdag. Forventningene hadde sammenheng med at dette var et tilbud de ikke hadde prøvd før, de så det som en mulighet til å friske opp og få ny kunnskap, til å utvikle seg som menneske, til å møte andre som var i en lignende situasjon og til å få tilgang til helsepersonell på en enkel måte. I den randomisert kontrollerte studien ble det funnet at mestringskurset ikke hadde noen effekt etter tre måneder i forhold til den lette fysiske aktiviteten tilbudt kontrollgruppen. Etter 12 måneder var det en forskjell i det primære utfallsmålet, pasientaktivering, men forskjellen var ikke statistisk signifikant. Begge gruppene hadde forbedringer med hensyn til opplevd smerte siste uke, egenrapportert helse og bedre skåre på en 30-sekunder sitte-stå test. Konklusjon Deltagernes håp om en bedre hverdag var en viktig faktor for å engasjere seg i nye tiltak og helsetjenester. Ingen statistisk signifikante forskjeller ble funnet mellom kurset om mestring av kronisk smerte og den lette fysiske aktiviteten tilbudt kontrollgruppen, verken på det primære utfallsmålet pasientaktivering, eller på noen av de sekundære utfallsmålene.Summary Background Chronic pain affects a substantial portion of the population with about one third of Norwegian adults having experienced pain for at least three months. Chronic pain is a complex condition due to its physiological, psychological and social impacts. Furthermore, it leads to burdens on society due to the socioeconomic consequences related to a reduced productivity and high health care costs. Chronic pain treatments provide modest improvements at best, which leaves many people obliged to self-manage pain and its consequences on a day-to-day basis. Consequently, self-management interventions have become important to empowering people with chronic pain so they can play an active role in managing their health. The Norwegian Healthy Life Centre (HLC) is a community-based public primary health care service that provides interventions related to behaviour changes, health promotion and disease prevention. The HLCs aim to provide easy access by accepting self-referrals for their services. In some centres, self-management initiatives have been added to the services offered. Aims The main aim of the thesis was to contribute knowledge related to the expectations towards and the effects that persons with chronic pain get from participating in self-management interventions developed and delivered at a Healthy Life Centre (HLC) in a Norwegian city. More specifically, the aims were to explore the expectations of easily accessible chronic pain self-management interventions and to investigate the short and long-term effects on persons with chronic pain when they participate in a self-management course at the HLC. Methods A qualitative interview study and a randomised controlled trial (RCT) were conducted. During the RCT, the intervention group was offered a group-based chronic pain selfmanagement course encompassing education, movement exercises, together with group discussions and sharing of experiences. The control group was offered a group-based lowimpact outdoor physical activity that consisted of walking and simple strength exercises. The activities had weekly sessions over a period of six weeks, and the outcomes were measured after three, six and 12 months. The primary outcome measurement used was the Patient Activation Measure (PAM). The data in the RCT were analysed using linear mixed models. The qualitative study included individual semi-structured interviews at the baseline before randomisation with a sample of participants from the RCT. They were asked open-ended questions about their expectations of participation in the interventions, how they experienced pain in their everyday lives, what they did to manage life with chronic pain and which health care services they had previously received due to chronic pain. The qualitative data were analysed using systematic text condensation. Results A total of 121 participants were included in the RCT. Of these, 21 participated in the qualitative study. During the qualitative study, it was found that the participants had expectations that mainly concerned a hope that participation could lead to a better everyday life. The expectations were based on the hope that the interventions represented a new and untried approach, providing opportunities to acquire and to reinforce skills that would foster continuous personal growth, to meet others in similar situations and to easily access professional support. During the RCT, it was found that the self-management course had no effect after three months compared to the low-impact physical activity. After 12 months, there was a difference in the primary outcome, patient activation; however, it was not statistically significant. Both groups improved regarding pain experienced in the previous week, the global self-reported health measure and the 30-second Chair to Stand Test. Conclusion The particapents ‘ hope to improve their everyday lives was an important factor in engaging in new interventions and healthcare services. No statistically significant differences were found between the chronic pain self-management course and the low-impact physical activity offered to the control group for the primary outcome, patient activation, or for any secondary outcome.digital fulltext not avialabl

Pervasive selection against microRNA target sites in human populations

MicroRNA target sites are often conserved during evolution and purifying selection to maintain such sites is expected. On the other hand, comparative analyses identified a paucity of microRNA target sites in coexpressed transcripts, and novel target sites can potentially be deleterious. We proposed that selection against novel target sites pervasive. The analysis of derived allele frequencies revealed that, when the derived allele is a target site, the proportion of nontarget sites is higher than expected, particularly for highly expressed microRNAs. Thus, new alleles generating novel microRNA target sites can be deleterious and selected against. When we analyzed ancestral target sites, the derived (nontarget) allele frequency does not show statistical support for microRNA target allele conservation. We investigated the joint effects of microRNA conservation and expression and found that selection against microRNA target sites depends mostly on the expression level of the microRNA. We identified microRNA target sites with relatively high levels of population differentiation. However, when we analyze separately target sites in which the target allele is ancestral to the population, the proportion of single-nucleotide polymorphisms with high Fst significantly increases. These findings support that population differentiation is more likely in target sites that are lost than in the gain of new target sites. Our results indicate that selection against novel microRNA target sites is prevalent and, although individual sites may have a weak selective pressure, the overall effect across untranslated regions is not negligible and should be accounted when studying the evolution of genomic sequences