The Strategic Management of Mosque-Based Education

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As in the early days of Islam, mosques are not only places of worship but also places of empowerment and Islamic education for Muslims. As an Islamic educational institution, fostering personality attitudes, and the center of civilization for the people, mosques should be managed with modern, professional and accountable organizational management, following the management stages, in order to facilitate the service function for mosque congregations. Among these stages is to develop a good plan, which contains the formulation of actions to achieve the results according to the goals set, namely a decision on what to do in the future. This study uses a descriptive method with the aim of describing various phenomena that exist in the research location. The data collection techniques are through observation, interviews and documentation studies. The results showed that the planning of strategic management for mosque-based education used several strategies to develop, prosper the mosque, with the formulation starting with the development of the vision and mission, identifying various opportunities and threats as well as strengths and weaknesses faced by the al-Mukarromah mosque, determining the good goals for the mosque in short-term, medium-term and long-term goals, and determine alternative strategies and specific strategies to achieve.

Finding the Therapeutic Role of miRNAs in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC)

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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has become the second most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide, with approximately 782,500 new cases and 745,500 deaths occurring in the global during 2012. The main objective of the study is to find the therapeutic role of miRNAs in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC). This study was conducted using a systematic search on Google scholar, Pubmed and Web of science published until 20th June 2020. The cited references of retrieved articles and previous reviews were also manually checked to identify any additional eligible studies. MiRNAs perform their tumor suppressor functions through downregulating oncogene expression. Increasing evidence suggests that miRNAs are essential for the regulation of liver development, regeneration, and metabolic functions. It is concluded that deregulation of miRNAs significantly contributes to the development of HCC. miRNAs mainly functions to down regulate the expression of targeted genes. However, they may have other yet unknown functions including the activation of gene transcription.

 

Adherence to Contraceptive Use Guidelines and Preconception Advice in a Diabetes Clinic

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Background: Women with diabetes have more complications during pregnancy. Contraceptive advice to prevent unplanned pregnancy is of utmost importance for them. Maintenance of strict glycaemic control is essential to have a positive outcome in pregnancy and proper care. Preconception care and counselling to help pregnancy planning is thus essential.

Aim: To assess whether proper education regarding importance of contraceptive use, preconception care and advice is being imparted to female diabetics according to NICE guidelines

Method: This is a proposed monocentric retrospective clinical audit to evaluate adherence of a diabetes clinic to NICE guidelines regarding education and advice on contraceptive use and preconception care. The three criteria being assessed include documentation of patient’s intentions regarding contraceptive use and pregnancy at each visit with the diabetes care team; offering patients intending to get pregnant a structured education programme as soon as possible; and preconception care and advice being imparted to patients wanting to try for pregnancy before discontinuing contraception. Two patient cohorts, each consisting of 50 patients who meet the inclusion and exclusion parameters for the respective criteria will be made. Data collection will be done by the diabetologist, the diabetes specialist nurse and the practice nurse at St. June’s Diabetes Clinic. Data will be collected by accessing previous records of patients from 01 January 2021 to 31 December 2021. Data will be compiled as a percentage and compared with the standard.

Conclusion: Improved patient-staff communication is the key point to improve compliance with NICE guidelines regarding these standards.

Exploring the Significance of Elevated Antinuclear Antibodies in Medically Critically Ill Patients

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Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and a type of antibodies that are produced against macromolecules in cell nuclei or the cytoplasm. Indirect immunofluorescence is the most widely method to detect ANA with additional solid phase assays also being available. All the patient admitted to the ICU and had their ANA levels drawn at the SMDC within the past three years (Jan 2017 to Dec 2019) were included in the study.  In patient with multiple hospitalizations, the most recent one was considered for the study. ANA levels were detected using immunofluorescence assay technique. Between Jan 2017 and Dec 2019, 600 patients had their ANA levels drawn, out of which 78 were positive and 522 were negative. Out of the ANA positive patients, 14 (17 percent) had the values to 1:40, 29 (35 percent) had values to 1:80, 14 (17 percent) had values to 1:160, 8 (9.7 percent) had values to 1: 320, 11 (13.2 percent) had values to 1:640, 4 (4.8 percent) had values to 1:1280, 2 (2.4 percent) had values greater than >1:1280. It is concluded that in patients with RA, important differences exist between those who are ANA‐positive and ANA‐negative in terms of time to fulfillment of RA criteria and time to DMARD initiation as well as choice of initial pharmacotherapy.

A Correlational Study on Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load of Foods Consumed by Adolescents in Relation to Their Nutritional Status

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Background: A cross sectional study with random sampling over 442 adolescent of 14 to 19 years age studying in Govt & Private Schools in Mansehra was done  to assess nutritional status by selective anthropometric measurements.

Methods: Food frequency questionnaires were distributed among the students and nutritional assessment was done by selective anthropometric measurements. Descriptive data and correlation was measured by latest SPSS.

Results: Among 450 students of 14 to 19 years 442 students responded the study including (53%) male and (47%) female students, 205 girls participated in the study, 286 (64.7%) participants showed interest in daily exercise while 156 (35.3 %) participants showed no interest in exercise. out of 442 (100%) students 66 (14.9%), were on diet while 376 (85.1%) were not on diet. Out of (100%) students (25.5%), perceived diet impact on nutritional status while (73.7%) perceived no impact on nutritional status, minimum weight of the participants was 41 kg with maximum 84 kg and a mean of 57.25 kg.while (σ) of the Data was 9.74 minimum height was 132 cm and maximum was 185 cm with a mean of 162.97 cm; (σ) was 9.56 of the participant.

Conclusion: Z- Scores and Glycemic loads had correlation with p values 0.5 but with 2 **. There was very strong correlation between waist hip ratio and Glycemic loads of foods and p values 0.36 with 2** in Pearson correlation and p values 0.00 in 2-tailed showed strong correlation.

Influence of Adequacy of Financial Resources on Quality of Education in Public Day Secondary Schools in Embu County, Kenya

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This paper is conceptualized on the existing researches which propound that financial resources are fundamental enablers to an educational system or learning institution in providing quality education. The study sought to examine the influence of adequacy of financial resources on quality of education in public day secondary schools in Embu County, Kenya. The study drew on correlational research design. Using stratified random sampling and purposeful sampling 35 principals, 97 teachers and 384 students were sampled-all drawn from 35 public day secondary schools. The tools of data collection were questionnaires, interview schedule and observation checklist. The findings of the study revealed that the government was the main financier of public day secondary education and the parents were expected to meet the costs of transport, lunch, uniform and stationery for their children. The main challenge with finances from the government was late and untimely disbursement of funds. The study also found that the occupations of a majority of parents were those of low economic status and as such they had difficulties in meeting educational expenses of their children. The study established that the relationship between adequacy of financial resources and quality of education was statistically significant. The study recommends that the government should include the lunch levy in the student’s capitation. The study also recommends for introduction of free bicycle to school scheme by the government to improve on punctuality and also save on time spend on the way to school and increase the time for personal study. The study further recommends for termly stipend for uniform and stationery to the very needy cases.

Influence of Information Technology (IT) on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Good Corporate Governance (GCG) on Financial Performance

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With all its conveniences and benefits, the use of information technology is expected to help companies carry out their duties and improve their performance; the use of information technology to communicate has a positive influence on coordination. In this study, a re-examination of several companies in Bandung was carried out to correct the weaknesses of previous studies. This research uses quantitative research by using statistical or computational mathematics. The sample in this study is a manufacturing company listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in the 2016– 2020 period. The researcher determines the model in this study using the purposive sampling technique, selecting the specific criteria. Where the manufacturing population is 178 companies. The analytical tool used in this research is Path Analysis. The results of the descriptive study show that in general information technology, the role of IT in CSR and GCG on the company’s financial performance is considered good. Furthermore, based on the results of hypothesis testing, it is known that information technology has a significant effect on the company’s financial performance and simultaneously has a substantial impact on its economic performance.

Proposed Business Strategy for PT Aneka Tambang TBK for Market Development in Order to Increase Export of Ferronickel

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PT Aneka Tambang (ANTAM) Tbk is part of the SOE’s Holding Mining Industry which vertically integrated, export-oriented, diversified mining and metals company. ANTAM has two big commodities which are gold sectors and nickel sectors. Nickel based products consist of Nickel Ore, Ferronickel, Bauxite, and Alumina. Ferronickel is a high-grade product of nickel downstream which contains 20% – 25% of nickel and mostly consumed by stainless steel companies. ANTAM is the only company in Indonesia that can produce Ferronickel. In the nickel market, many companies produce the substitute product of Ferronickel which is Nickel Pig Iron (NPI). Ferronickel and NPI are serving the same market while NPI itself contain lower of nickel and cheaper than Ferronickel. Government of Indonesia supported the development of downstream industries in Indonesia. The growth of battery industries is escalating resulted high demand for it. Technology is currently improving the process to transform Ferronickel and NPI into Nickel Mattes (Ni Mattes) which used to be an intermediate component to produce electric vehicles (EV). Based on the demand of global market, there are many demands for Ferronickel supplies in the worldwide. However, the capacity exports of Ferronickel in ANTAM are still far behind. This study analyzes business problems using several tools to identify the external environment and internal environment of ANTAM. SWOT analysis is used to capture the strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat that affects the business of the company. The Root Cause Analysis is used to define problems that happened in ANTAM and needed to be solved. Data and information were obtained from various sources such as interviews with the internal of ANTAM, observation, and study from the literature. The study found that ANTAM has lower export sales caused by the limited market scope, lack of promotion, and no product development. To overcome the problems that faced by ANTAM, the author proposes a business strategy for ANTAM for market development to increase export of Ferronickel by using the Strategy Diamond Framework and Ansoff Matrix as the strategy that will be implemented in ANTAM. The stages in this strategy were concerned more with the issues and provide solutions to increase the export of Ferronickel. Therefore, ANTAM should focus on market development to reach the widen market and fulfill the demand of Ferronickel in the global market.

The Effect of Fermentation Time on Product Quality of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.Walp) Soft Cheese with Starter Culture of Lactobacillus plantarum B1765

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This research was conducted to determine the effect of fermentation time on lactic acid bacteria (LAB), pH, total titrated acid (TTA) and organoleptic (taste, flavor, color and texture) of cowpea soft cheese (Vigna unguiculata L.Walp) with starter culture Lactobacillus plantarum B1765. L.plantarum B1765 had been studied has a probiotic characteristics.   The fermentation time was 0, 6, 18 and 24 hours. The methods were total plate count (TPC) to measure the number of LAB, pH meter to measure pH, acid-base titration to measure TTA, and hedonic test for organoleptic. The results showed that the fermentation time affected the number of LAB, pH, TTA and organoleptic. The number of LAB increased by 3 log cycles from 8.7 x 106 CFU/mL to 5,3 x 109 CFU/mL. The pH value decreased from 6.53 to 3.69. The TTA value increased from 0.45% to 1.79%. The highest level of preference for taste, texture, color and flavor was at 18 hours of fermentation with a value of 3.17; 2.77; 2.70; 2.97 (likes). Cowpea soft cheese with starter L.plantarum B1765  could be improve potentially  as vegetable cheese and  probiotic agent.

 

Processes and Practices Improvement of Sample Receiving Counter at Government Clinical Laboratory in Sri Lanka

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Improving efficiency of a clinical laboratory service should be a first priority in healthcare development of any country. It plays a significant role as it facilitates diagnosing and treating diseases and finally to discharge the patients faster. Therefore, the reliability and the accuracy of a clinical laboratory should be guaranteed through a sound sample management. The aim of this study was to improve the process and practices of sample management at a sample receiving counter of a selected government clinical laboratory in Sri Lanka.

The study was an institution based interventional project. The research adopted mixed methods including a desk review, a checklist, focus group discussions and a staff satisfaction survey which was conducted among Medical Laboratory Technologists.  Proportions, percentages and means were calculated for quantitative data and narrative analysis was done for the analysis of qualitative data.

The results indicated that the incidences of missing samples and request forms and sample handling time have been significantly reduced at post intervention. Performance of the routine counter activities including proper documentation, updating the notice boards, monitoring temperatures of sample storing refrigerators and consideration of rejection criteria in accepting the samples were significantly improved after the intervention. Staff satisfaction on overall sample handling process and practices was significantly improved after the intervention except the current practice of sample data management and facility availability to carry out duties. The study recommends modifying the counter layout with adequate expansion. It also recognized the necessity of implementing a Laboratory Information Management System for whole laboratory operation.