Opportunity extended — via development of an interactive counterterrorism toolkit

BackgroundRelatives of people with psychosis experience high levels of distress. Interventions are needed which can reduce distress and are widely available.AimsThis study presents the views of relatives on how to design a supported self-management intervention for relatives.MethodFour focus groups were carried out and relatives were asked for their views on the content, format, support required, likely barriers and potential impact on the outcome of a self-management toolkit.ResultsRelatives were generally very positive about the development of a toolkit. Relatives had clear ideas about the design, emphasising particularly that it needs to be comprehensive, modular, supported and able to translate general information into the specific detail they require for their family member. Many of the ideas informed the development of Relatives Education And Coping Toolkit. Some suggestions, such as multiple modes of delivery, earlier access to the toolkit in primary care and peer support from other relatives, were not possible in this study but should be considered for future development.ConclusionsRelatives supported the development of a supported self-management toolkit intervention. They also emphasised the importance of offering such interventions alongside other valued aspects of services including face-to-face contact with clinicians, peer support from other relatives and crisis support.

In this book, the local research and development process of the small-farmers (campesino) union of Huancarani (Cochabamba region in Bolivia) is discussed. Research activities were carried out by farmers themselves as well as by facilitators and scientists, but the farmers union kept control on planning, evaluation, decision-making and action. The book refers on the one hand to a technical issue; the development of cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica M.) and cochineal (Dactylopius coccus C.) production. The main question became why the experience was so successful. On the other hand it refers to a social issue (when the relation between farmers and scientists is addressed and applied methodology is analysed). The intellectual challenge for me was to show to a large and diversified public that, from a particular project, lessons can be drawn to improve interactive learning for farm innovation. This challenge has everything to do with the cooperation and communication issue between farmers and scientists. The exercise covers a reconstructed logic of applied research, design and development methodology and is therefore abstract. The final result of this exercise was the production of the management toolkit for the design of interactive learning processes. This toolkit became a practical instrument for managing and facilitating farm innovation processes in other contexts. It is the development of this toolkit, the learning process, based on the mantra learning in practice - learning from practice - learning for practice, that I want to share with other scientists and development workers.

PurposeCommunity Makers (https://communitymakers.co) is an active UK wide network that evolved rapidly in response to COVID-19 and the negative impact of social isolation and distancing on people and families affected by dementia. The network is led by the Alzheimer’s Society, UK Dementia Research Institute Care Research and Technology Centre and The Association for Dementia Studies, at the University of Worcester. This study aims to investigate what works for whom and why and in what circumstances as a basis for the development of an online toolkit for people supporting people affected by dementia to connect and reconnect during the pandemic and beyond.Design/methodology/approachThe development of the toolkit was informed by an iterative approach of engagement with people affected by dementia, learning from a network of community organisations and a rapid realist literature review.FindingsFour common factors that combine to make a successful support intervention, regardless of its type, size or location were identified: relationships, purpose, technology and community. The application of the factors, adopted as principles, is illustrated by applying them to three real-world examples.Social implicationsThe main output was the online tool kit, which is a resource of creative ideas to inspire groups with different approaches to digital involvement and help reduce social isolation.Originality/valueThis report offers new insight, based on identification of four principles, into how people affected by dementia can be supported online and offline during a pandemic and beyond.

This article describes the reasons for creating a toolkit to study the energy system resilience using the capabilities of GIS technologies using the example of the Oil and Gas of Russia software package. A metamathematical model of the system and its division into main components, namely, topological and functional is described where the structural model reflects the topology of the power network in the form of a grap, and the functional model evaluates the performance taking into account both topological capabilities and functional constraints. Examples of the use of geographic information systems to aid in survivability research and the description of the requirements for developing tools for a new metamathematical model are considered. The architecture of the current "Oil and Gas of Russia" version, its features and problems that influenced the development of the new toolkit are described. The reasons for the use and features of the QT API during the development of the toolkit are given. The new toolkit assumes the use of the Model-View-Controller architecture, which allows you to modify each component independently of the other. This architecture also helps to decouple the topological and functional components by encapsulating the topological model in the form of a separate graph, and to use a controller to communicate with the functional component. This makes it possible to use different types of functional models without the need to change the topological model. Each functional model uses its own controller which sets complex of the country as a whole. Thus, the proposed changes to the "Oil and Gas of Russia" complex will make it possible to move in the study of resilience from modeling individual power plants to the fuel and energy.

This paper addresses development of an opensource Toolkit for constructing secure IEC-61850-based systems for a variety of utility automation applications. Development of the Toolkit was originally focused on control system cyber security. Subsequently, extension of the Toolkit was explored to address grid integration of wind power. It also became necessary to identify the security and other benefits of 61850 and provide tools to enable their achievement. The paper provides some background, an overview of the Toolkit, an overview of 61850 and its benefits, a description of Toolkit architecture and functionality, and a discussion of its status.

Deep learning algorithms have shown superior performance than traditional algorithms when dealing with computationally intensive tasks in many fields. The algorithm model based on deep learning has good performance and can improve the recognition accuracy in relevant applications in the field of computer vision. TensorFlow is a flexible opensource machine learning platform proposed by Google, which can run on a variety of platforms, such as CPU, GPU, and mobile devices. TensorFlow platform can also support current popular deep learning models. In this paper, an image recognition toolkit based on TensorFlow is designed and developed to simplify the development process of more and more image recognition applications. The toolkit uses convolutional neural networks to build a training model, which consists of two convolutional layers: one batch normalization layer before each convolutional layer, and the other pooling layer after each convolutional layer. The last two layers of the model use the full connection layer to output recognition results. Batch gradient descent algorithm is adopted in the optimization algorithm, and it integrates the advantages of both the gradient descent algorithm and the stochastic gradient descent algorithm, which greatly reduces the number of convergence iterations and has little influence on the convergence effect. The total training parameters of the toolkit model reach 1.7 million. In order to prevent overfitting problems, the dropout layer before each full connection layer is added and the threshold of 0.5 is set in the design. The convolution neural network model is trained and tested by the MNIST set on TensorFlow. The experimental result shows that the toolkit achieves the recognition accuracy of 99% on the MNIST test set. The development of the toolkit provides powerful technical support for the development of various image recognition applications, reduces its difficulty, and improves the efficiency of resource utilization.

For Black adolescent girls, hair is a significant aspect of gender and ethnic identity, influencing both intrapersonal reflections and interpersonal interactions. Gendered racism and Eurocentric beauty standards marginalize Black girls and their hair, causing them to experience high rates of hair-related harassment and discrimination. These experiences negatively affect the self-esteem of Black girls, which has critical implications for various health behaviors. The purpose of this article is to describe the development of a culturally relevant digital toolkit aimed at promoting hair esteem and self-esteem. The development of the toolkit for Black girls was grounded in a youth participatory research approach and co-created with Black adolescent girls who were part of an existing youth advisory board (YAB). Existing literature and YAB discussions were used to create the "Hair-Esteem Toolkit for Black Girls." The toolkit includes hair empowerment strategies alongside activities and resources designed to enhance self-esteem among Black girls. This study emphasizes the development of the toolkit and the importance of centering Black girls in intervention development. The resulting toolkit marks a potential first step toward addressing hair discrimination and empowering Black girls.

This panel presentation addresses development of an open-source Toolkit for constructing IEC-61850-based systems for a variety of utility automation applications. Development of the Toolkit was originally focused on control system cyber security, but the Toolkit is now being extended to address grid integration of wind power. The presentation will provide an overview of the Toolkit, provide an overview of 61850 and its benefits, describe the Toolkit architecture and functionality, and discuss issues in using open source software. Issues addressed in the presentation will include selection of open source components, development of toolkit-specific components, and development challenges and issues, such as variability of open source documentation, open source licensing and its interaction with software architecture and business model, and open source packaging and distribution.

Meiosis is usually described as 4 essential and sequential processes: (1) homolog pairing; (2) synapsis, mediated by the synaptonemal complex; (3) crossing over; and (4) segregation. In this canonical model, the maturation of crossovers into chiasmata plays a vital role in holding homologs together and ensuring their segregation at the first meiotic division. However, Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) undergo 3 distinct meiotic processes, only one of which is canonical. Lepidoptera males utilize 2 meiotic processes: canonical meiosis that produces nucleated fertile sperm, and a noncanonical meiosis that produces anucleated nonfertile sperm which are nonetheless essential for reproduction. Lepidoptera females, which carry heteromorphic sex chromosomes, undergo a completely achiasmate (lacking crossovers) meiosis, thereby requiring an alternative mechanism to ensure proper homolog segregation. Here, we report that the development of a molecular cell biology toolkit designed to properly analyze features of meiosis, including the synaptonemal complex structure and function, in the silkworm Bombyx mori. In addition to standard homology searches to identify Bombyx orthologs of known synaptonemal complex encoding genes, we developed an ortholog discovery app (Shinyapp) to identify Bombyx orthologs of proteins involved in several meiotic processes. We used this information to clone genes expressed in the testes and then created antibodies against their protein products. We used the antibodies to confirm the localization of these proteins in normal male spermatocytes, as well as using in vitro assays to confirm orthologous interactions. The development of this toolkit will facilitate further study of the unique meiotic processes that characterize meiosis in Lepidoptera.

This study aimed to develop a practical toolkit to support non-government organizations (NGOs) in tackling health inequalities in the UK and to highlight the challenges and lessons learned. A mixed qualitative methodology within an action research framework was conducted. Semi-structured questionnaires, focus group interviews and discussions with an expert reference group aimed to identify the important themes and produce the toolkit content. A practical guide of information materials for NGOs working on addressing health inequalities was subsequently developed and successfully piloted. The experience of using participatory action research revealed a number of lessons and challenges. The key challenges were lack of training and experience in conducting action research, costs and insufficient resources, slow and time-consuming process, lack of commitment from marginalized groups, and differences in emphasis of goals and vision among participants. The main lessons learned were importance of effective leadership and project management skills, importance of integrating researchers and the researched as equal partners, creation and nurturing of trust, importance of evaluating and piloting processes, importance of engaging with marginalized groups, and use of evidence base in decision making. The lessons and challenges enumerating herein are of value to researchers aiming to implement participatory action research in developing checklists, tools, practical guidance and frameworks, and they offer important areas to consider before starting such projects. In addition, this offers an insight into how the dynamics of participatory action research methodology evolved in the development of the toolkit. Future research and initiatives in this area should focus on ways to improve the toolkit and make it more relevant to a wider community, and methods for evaluating the impact of the toolkit on practice.

Ensuring safety and optimal performance in Long Distance and Duration Exploration Missions (LDDEM) is critical to enabling success in future missions. However, selecting appropriate metrics for assessing safety and performance remains a challenge. The current research endeavor aims to address this challenge through the development of a metric selection tool architecture. Prior to the current facet of metric toolkit development, a systematic review of NASA documents and literature aided in identifying overarching themes for measuring human-automation interaction. However, many of the studies found in this literature review, were not specific to the spaceflight domain. Since this toolkit is being constructed to serve a specific audience – NASA designers and engineers – it is critical that the toolkit be designed based on their unique needs and preferences. Therefore, so as to inform toolkit design and development for the spaceflight domain, structured interviews were conducted with NASA employees to enhance effectiveness of the measurement selection apparatus. Interviews were coded to detect trends in responses and incorporate feedback into the next prototype design stage. Results provided insight into design features, measurement challenges, current procedures, and work environmental factors that will be integrated into the current toolkit. Respondent feedback implications and future directions for toolkit improvement are discussed.

A Method to This Madness: Do we need a methods section for implementation guides and toolkits?

As sustainability related issues are becoming increasingly import in business decision making, simulation modeling is needed to analyze the system performance not only using traditional performance measures such as productivity and efficiency, but also taking into account sustainability related performance measures. This paper describes the design and development of a sustainability toolkit for simulation with the intent of making sustainability related performance measures as easy to model and collect as traditional productivity based performance measures. The focus here is on the development of a toolkit for modeling and analysis of environmental performance measures in discrete-event systems simulation.

As sustainability related issues are becoming increasingly import in business decision making, simulation modeling is needed to analyze the system performance not only using traditional performance measures such as productivity and efficiency, but also taking into account sustainability related performance measures. This paper describes the design and development of a sustainability toolkit for simulation with the intent of making sustainability related performance measures as easy to model and collect as traditional productivity based performance measures. The focus here is on the development of a toolkit for modeling and analysis of environmental performance measures in discrete-event systems simulation.

The COVID-19 pandemic challenged society, requiring measures that impacted communities socially and economically. Rurally dispersed older adults [RDOA] have a greater number of health comorbidities, poorer finances and limited access...