Long and short Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) training courses in Afghanistan: a cross- sectional cohort comparison of post-course knowledge and performance

Background: In 2003 the Afghan Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) adopted the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) for delivering child health services in primary care facilities. Key problems were subsequently identified: high cost of training, frequent health worker turnover and poor quality of IMCI implementation by those trained – specifically in the use of job aids and protocols for assessment, classification, treatment and counselling. The high financial, human resources and opportunity costs of implementing IMCI spurred the MoPH to prioritize developing a shortened IMCI course of comparable quality to the 11-Day training. Methods: This cross-sectional evaluation compared knowledge before and after training, and health worker performance in assessment, classification and treatment of sick children in two similar cohorts, eight months post-training. Results: The mean increase in knowledge scores of the thirty 7-Day course trainees was 29 [95% Confidence Interval (CI): 24, 34] compared to 23 (95% CI: 18, 28) in the 31 trained in the 11-Day course. During assessment visits, mean scores in the 7-Day course trainees and the 11-Day course trainees were 93% (95% CI: 91, 95) versus 94% (95% CI: 91, 96) in assessment; 95% (95% CI: 89, 100) versus 96% (95% CI: 91, 100) in classification; 95% (95% CI: 92, 100) versus 97% (95% CI: 95, 100) in treatment; and 81% (95% CI: 76, 86) versus 80% (95% CI: 75, 85) in counselling. The 7-Day course was 36% less expensive than the 11-Day course. For each course opportunity costs, measured as numbers of children who potentially received poorer care than usual during trainee absence, were 3,160 for the 11-Day course and 2,016 for the 7-Day course. This measure was chosen because trainee absence commonly resulted in higher patient volumes per remaining provider or complete closure of a health facility with one single health worker. Conclusion: Given similar performance and knowledge of health workers trained in both courses, potential cost savings, the possibility of training more health workers and the relative ease with which health workers in remote settings might participate in a shorter course, it seems prudent to standardize the 7-Day course in Afghanistan where child mortality rates remain unacceptably high

The Relationship between the Oil Market and the Stock Market: An Empirical Study for 2010 – 2019

Energy prices, which are an important indicator in the world economy, change frequently. Especially crude oil prices have an important place for both the world economy and financial markets. This study analyzes the relationship between commodity markets and the stock market for the United State of America. The weekly data used for Brent oil, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil, and stock market (S&P 500) for the period from January 2010 to 30 November 2019. The findings show that after 2008 there is no Granger causality existed between the variables under observation period

Evolution of Smartphone Design : Repairability and Material Use

This study concerns the evolution of smartphone design, focusing specifically on repairability and material usage. The purpose of this study was to analyze how design choices in smartphones have changed over the years, particularly between older models such as the iPhone 4 and the latest models like the iPhone 15. This comparative analysis aims to uncover trends that affect both the ease of repair, and the sustainability of materials used in smartphone construction. The investigation utilized a theoretical framework based on an extensive literature review, analyzing repairability scores, material specifications, and consumer feedback gathered from industry reports and databases. This study selected a range of smartphones as case studies, examining the implications of design decisions on repairability and environmental impact. The results indicated notable advancements in material selection and design that enhance repairability while also addressing sustainability concerns. Despite some challenges identified in certain models regarding accessibility for repairs, the overall trend shows a movement towards more repair-friendly designs. This study contributes to the ongoing dialogue within electronic engineering regarding sustainable design practices. By shedding light on the interplay between design choices and repairability, this study paves the way for future innovations in smartphone manufacturing, emphasizing the importance of user-centered design in reducing electronic waste and promoting environmental responsibility

イスラム国家における聖戦・マドラサ戦略的アクターと政策領域 : アフガニスタン及びパキスタンの戦略文化と安全保障政策の分析

広島大学(Hiroshima University)博士(学術)Doctor of Philosophydoctora

Securitisation of Islam in the West: Analysing Western Political and Security Relations with the Islamic States

The contemporary securitisation of Islam owes its main sources to a series of post-Cold War, Muslim associated terrorist attacks in the Western world. The flagrant atrocities of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States followed by a new phase of similar attacks in 2004 and 2005 in Spain and the United Kingdom provided a new spectrum along which a wide array of discourses – through the lenses of politicians, academics, as well as the popular media – quickly securitised Islam as an existential threat to Western liberal democracies. This article explores issues surrounding a growing negative perception of Islam and whether or not the process of institutionalising the notion of Islam as a security threat to the West impacts Western political and security relations with Islamic states. To grasp the theoretical perspective of the issue, this undertaking employs securitisation theory as a method to demonstrate whether the changing perception of Islam as a matter of security threat to Western societies developed pertinent to Western hostile political relations with Islamic states or are they paradoxical to the contemporary Western political and security relations with Islamic states

Synthesis of 4H-Benzo[e][1,3]oxazin-4-ones by a Carbonylation–Cyclization Domino Reaction of ortho-Halophenols and Cyanamide

A mild and convenient one-step preparation of 4H-1,3-benzoxazin-4-ones by a domino carbonylation–cyclization process is developed. Readily available ortho-iodophenols are subjected to palladium-catalyzed carbonylative coupling with Mo(CO)6 and cyanamide, followed by a spontaneous, intramolecular cyclization to afford 4H-1,3-benzoxazin-4-ones in moderate to excellent yields. Furthermore, the scope of the reaction is extended to include challenging ortho-bromophenols. Finally, to highlight the versatility of the developed method, Mo(CO)6 is successfully replaced with a wide array of CO-releasing reagents, such as oxalyl chloride, phenyl formate, 9-methylfluorene-9-carbonyl chloride, and formic acid, making this an appealing strategy for the synthesis of 4H-benzo[e][1,3]oxazin-4-ones

Effect of Feature Selection on the Accuracy of Machine Learning Model

In real life data science problems, it’s almost rare that all the features in the dataset are useful for building a model. In machine learning, feature selection is the process of selecting a subset of relevant features or attributes for constructing a model. Removing irrelevant and redundant features and, selecting relevant features will improve the accuracy of a machine learning model. Furthermore, adding unnecessary variables to a model increases the overall complexity of the model. Our experiment indicates that the accuracy of a classification model is highly affected by the process of feature selection. We train three algorithms (K-Nearest Neighbors, Decision Tree, Multi-layer Perceptron) by selecting all the features and we got accuracies 49%, 84% and 71% accordingly. After doing some feature selection without any logical changes in models code the accuracy scores jumped to 82%, 86% and 78% accordingly which is quite impressive

Oral participation practices in classroom among university students in Afghanistan

This study aimed at exploring factors affecting classroom participation among students in the English department of Laghman University, Afghanistan. More precisely, this research discovered factors related to teachers and class-size that hinder students’ practice of oral participation in the classroom. In collecting the data, this study employed mixed-method research with concurrent design. An adapted questionnaire and a semi-structured interview have been used as the data collection instrument of this study. An online survey questionnaire was conducted with 110 respondents. In addition, a semi-structured interview was conducted with five of the respondents at the English Department of Laghman University. The data from the questionnaire was descriptively analyzed through using statistical package for social science (SPSS), and the semi-structured interview data were thematically analyzed and interpreted. The findings revealed that classsize related factor is the first influential factor in affecting oral participation among students and it is due to having large number students in a class. Teacher’s related factor is the second influential factor that affects the oral participation of students. Majority claimed that teachers’ approach, behavior, and qualification have prominent impact on their level of oral participation. Based on the finding, it can be seen that class-size related, and teachers’ factors affected oral participation of the students at the English Department of Laghman University. It is recommended that the Ministry of Higher Education of Afghanistan strive to decrease the number of students in each class and enforce teachers in implementing a student-centered learning approach while teaching

Measles Outbreaks in Afghanistan

Afghanistan has been facing multiple measles outbreaks recently. As Afghanistan is currently witnessing a severe humanitarian crisis, controlling measles outbreaks has become very challenging due to the country's nearly collapsed health infrastructure. Even though there have been years of efforts to eliminate measles such as measles vaccination and campaigns, multiple outbreaks and dozens of fatalities are reported every year. Lately a widespread measles vaccination campaign was held in 2022, but still, thousands of measles cases were reported afterwards. Severe widespread poverty, decades of civil unrest, armed conflict, and recently coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and lack of funding have been a huge obstacle to curb the disease. To eliminate the disease and prevent its spread to measles-free countries through migration, Afghanistan needs immediate global support. Purpose: This paper aims to comment on the measles outbreak challenges amid the current severe humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, along with recommendations to overcome the persistent outbreaks