Address Issues Research Articles

Glacier dynamics assessment in Eastern Dhauliganga basin (1994–2018), Kumaun Himalaya, India

AbstractThe glacier database provides an opportunity to track its dynamics and address issues linked with water resources, hazards and sustainability. To better understand the dynamics of Eastern Dhauliganga basin, we mapped the clean and debris‐covered glaciers by using satellite images from Landsat‐series and Sentinel 2. The band‐ratio based methods—NDSI (Normalised Difference Snow Index) and NDVI (Normalised Difference Vegetation Index) were used to map the clean ice glaciers. The debris‐covered glaciers were delineated using topographic parameters and thermal band of Landsat TM. The glacier extent and length change were monitored for 25 glaciers in the basin, of which 13 are clean ice and 12 are debris‐covered glaciers. During the time period from 1994 to 2018, higher area loss was observed for clean ice glaciers (±20.6%) compared with debris‐covered glaciers (±10.9%). The clean‐ice glaciers retreated at a rate of 4.8–33.7 m/year, whereas debris‐covered glaciers retreated at a rate of 2.9–28.8 m/year during 1994–2018.

Progress in Object Detection: An In-Depth Analysis of Methods and Use Cases

Object detection, a fundamental task in computer vision, involves identifying and localizing objects within images or videos. This paper provides a comprehensive review of traditional and deep learning-based object detection techniques and their applications, challenges, and future directions. We first discuss traditional object detection methods, which rely on handcrafted features and classical machine learning algorithms. We then explore the advancements brought by deep learning, including convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and transformer-based architectures, which have significantly improved the accuracy and efficiency of object detection tasks. A thorough comparison and evaluation of different object detection techniques are presented, considering performance metrics, speed, and robustness to object size, orientation, and occlusion variations. We also examine the diverse applications of object detection across various domains, such as robotics, autonomous vehicles, surveillance, medical imaging, and augmented reality. We outline open challenges and future research directions, emphasizing the need to combine object detection with other tasks, develop few-shot and zero-shot learning approaches, and address issues related to fairness, accountability, and transparency. This paper aims to comprehensively review the most prominent object detection techniques, their evolution, and their applications in diverse domains. We discussed traditional methods and recent deep learning-based approaches, emphasizing their strengths and limitations.

Access to Employer Benefits and Financial Insecurity Among Frontline Healthcare Workers

Concern is growing about financial stress among U.S. workers, many of whom experience financial insecurity (FIS) as they struggle to make ends meet, manage debt, and save. Benefits comprise almost a third of total compensation and affects hiring and retention, which is important with respect to the shortage of frontline healthcare workers (FHWs). We present results from a survey of 2321 FHWs, finding that FHWs without college degrees and working in home health and private duty settings have lower access to benefits and greater FIS compared to those with college degrees and who work in facility-based settings. Among all FHWs, access to benefits has a strong association with FIS, even while controlling for income. Our findings suggest that employers consider improving benefits to help address FIS and within healthcare, address issues of compensation equity based on educational attainment. Still, addressing worker FIS may take strengthening the public social safety net.

Localization of cultural heritage sites in settlements across Sverdlovsk region. Quantitative chronological characteristic

The article address issues in the protection and preservation of cultural heritage objects in the Sverdlovsk region, Urals, Russia based on the results of a statistical study of the historical and architectural heritage of the Sverdlovsk region beyond the city of Ekaterinburg. The quantitative distribution of objects over settlements is considered and correlated with the number of residents. The principal and secondary historical and architectural centers of the region are identified and characterized, and territories with a small number of cultural heritage sites are highlighted.

Impact of Talent Management Practices in Higher Educational Institutions

Purpose: Talent management best practises, including as learning and development, employee engagement, and succession planning, are applicable to all industries, including education. Institutions of higher learning must develop their talent. Due to rising competition, these institutions must map the competencies of their current workforces and address issues with upcoming leadership talent. Finding and keeping skilled employees, as well as managing their weaknesses or maximising their strengths, is another difficulty. Employees believe that their skills and abilities are undervalued, hence organisations are giving up talented and skilled staff to rivals. Additionally, there are no procedures in place that address any deficiencies in knowledge and abilities so that they can perform their jobs successfully. Therefore, getting a staff that lacks the drive to perform at their best is the main issue for these institutions. The purpose of the paper is to examine the effects of talent management strategies in higher education institutions through a literature review. Design/Methodology/Approach: Academic documents, reports, and websites are just a few of the secondary sources used to gather the information for the literature survey. Findings/Result: Most higher education institutions' current talent management strategies are generally ineffective because they fail to engage, inspire, and ensure talent retention as well as enhanced achievement at their institutions. The fact that it takes too long for new hires to be inducted and learn about their institutions' culture and procedures, institutional leadership doesn't prioritise talent management activities, there is a high staff turnover rate in the institutions, and institutional managers in the institutions spend very little of their time on talent management is evidence of the ineffectiveness of talent management strategies in most higher education institutions. Originality/Value: This article attempts to examine the talent management practises used in the higher education industry utilising the secondary data available. Paper Type: Literature Review

Nursing strategies for the mechanically ventilated patient.

The goal of this manuscript is to provide a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary review of the best nursing practices of caring for mechanically ventilated patients. By reviewing human medicine literature, the authors will extrapolate procedures that have been found to be most effective in reducing the risk of mechanical ventilation (MV) complications. Paired with review of the current standards in veterinary medicine, the authors will compile the best practice information on mechanically ventilated patient care, which will serve as a detailed resource for the veterinary nursing staff. Written from a nursing standpoint, this manuscript aims to consolidate the nursing assessment of a mechanically ventilated patient, addressing both systemic and physical changes that may be encountered during hospitalization. The goal of this review article is to present information that encourages a proactive approach to nursing care by focusing on understanding the effects of polypharmacy, hemodynamic changes associated with MV, complications of recumbent patient care, and sources of hospital acquired infections. When applied in conjunction with the more technical aspects of MV, this manuscript will allow veterinary technicians involved in these cases to understand the dynamic challenges that mechanically ventilated patients present, provide guidance to mitigate risk, address issues quickly and effectively, and create an up-to date standard of practice that can be implemented.

CamPype: an open-source workflow for automated bacterial whole-genome sequencing analysis focused on Campylobacter

BackgroundThe rapid expansion of Whole-Genome Sequencing has revolutionized the fields of clinical and food microbiology. However, its implementation as a routine laboratory technique remains challenging due to the growth of data at a faster rate than can be effectively analyzed and critical gaps in bioinformatics knowledge.ResultsTo address both issues, CamPype was developed as a new bioinformatics workflow for the genomics analysis of sequencing data of bacteria, especially Campylobacter, which is the main cause of gastroenteritis worldwide making a negative impact on the economy of the public health systems. CamPype allows fully customization of stages to run and tools to use, including read quality control filtering, read contamination, reads extension and assembly, bacterial typing, genome annotation, searching for antibiotic resistance genes, virulence genes and plasmids, pangenome construction and identification of nucleotide variants. All results are processed and resumed in an interactive HTML report for best data visualization and interpretation.ConclusionsThe minimal user intervention of CamPype makes of this workflow an attractive resource for microbiology laboratories with no expertise in bioinformatics as a first line method for bacterial typing and epidemiological analyses, that would help to reduce the costs of disease outbreaks, or for comparative genomic analyses. CamPype is publicly available at https://github.com/JoseBarbero/CamPype.

Bringing the Clinic Home: An At-Home Multi-Modal Data Collection Ecosystem to Support Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation.

Adaptive deep brain stimulation (aDBS) shows promise for improving treatment for neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD). aDBS uses symptom-related biomarkers to adjust stimulation parameters in real-time to target symptoms more precisely. To enable these dynamic adjustments, parameters for an aDBS algorithm must be determined for each individual patient. This requires time-consuming manual tuning by clinical researchers, making it difficult to find an optimal configuration for a single patient or to scale to many patients. Furthermore, the long-term effectiveness of aDBS algorithms configured in-clinic while the patient is at home remains an open question. To implement this therapy at large scale, a methodology to automatically configure aDBS algorithm parameters while remotely monitoring therapy outcomes is needed. In this paper, we share a design for an at-home data collection platform to help the field address both issues. The platform is composed of an integrated hardware and software ecosystem that is open-source and allows for at-home collection of neural, inertial, and multi-camera video data. To ensure privacy for patient-identifiable data, the platform encrypts and transfers data through a virtual private network. The methods include time-aligning data streams and extracting pose estimates from video recordings. To demonstrate the use of this system, we deployed this platform to the home of an individual with PD and collected data during self-guided clinical tasks and periods of free behavior over the course of 1.5 years. Data were recorded at sub-therapeutic, therapeutic, and supra-therapeutic stimulation amplitudes to evaluate motor symptom severity under different therapeutic conditions. These time-aligned data show the platform is capable of synchronized at-home multi-modal data collection for therapeutic evaluation. This system architecture may be used to support automated aDBS research, to collect new datasets and to study the long-term effects of DBS therapy outside the clinic for those suffering from neurological disorders.

Prophetic Message Of Amos And Its Relevance To The African Society

This paper examines Amos’s prophetic witness and its relevant for today’s church in African countries for promoting social justice. There are three basic concerns that motivate this paper: First, there is growing corruption in African societies; second, there are glaring weaknesses of the church’s prophetic witness in African societies today; and third, there is a great need for the church in Africa to speak out against social injustices. Thus, the writer seeks an appropriate biblical response that could serves as viable response for the church in curtailing social injustices in African society. To achieve this, the writer investigated scholarly opinions on the prophetic roles of the church in promoting social justice while considering the argument for and against. Furthermore, the prophetic witness of Amos was examined and its relevance to the African church. It is therefore recommended based on the prophetic message of Amos, that the church should: (a) support those believers who speak out against the evils in our time: crimes and injustices within the socio-economic and political climate of our time; (b) address issues, such as substance abuse, eating disorders, sexual misconduct and AIDS from a Biblical stance; (c) make people aware of the needs of our time; (d) motivate people to get involved in the sustainable development of their environment, and in addressing issues such as unemployment and poor education; and (e) support those people who are still oppressed, maltreated, abused and belittled.

Elements of the core area transport system oriented to station–city integration

Currently, China's urban rail transit construction projects are faced with several challenges including inconsistent planning and execution, lack of alignment with urban development, overly protracted timelines for some projects, sub-optimal land utilization rates, and significant wastage of precious urban resources. To mitigate these issues, it is essential to enhance land utilization around stations, implement scientific planning, and adopt intelligent management for underground space development. Moreover, all parties involved in construction must adhere strictly to planning guidelines during project execution. This study investigates the integrated development strategy of urban rail transit stations and their correlating cities, with the primary objective of enhancing the land utilization of stations and their surrounding areas. This involves fortifying the functionality of transportation, commerce, offices, residences, entertainment, and leisure in these areas, thereby catering to the varying needs of residents for travel, work, or entertainment activities. This type of an approach is anticipated to ease the pressure on urban road traffic, stimulate the economic growth of the stations and the areas along the routes, decrease environmental pollution, conserve urban space resources, and address issues associated with urban rail transit development. The insights gained from this research offer a valuable reference for future rail transit construction endeavors, carrying substantial practical significance.

The Causes and Modes of European Disintegration

This thematic issue on the causes and modes of European disintegration seeks to answer two main questions: What are the causes of (potential) European disintegration across countries? And what are the actual and potential modes of European disintegration? The articles on the causes of EU disintegration go beyond the immediate causes of Brexit, to date the prime example of European disintegration. They address, for instance, the impact of ignoring the results of referendums on EU treaty changes. The articles demonstrate that the extensively studied proximate causes of Brexit may be different from more long-term drivers of potential disintegration in the UK and other member states. The second question raises a point that has been largely overlooked. Going beyond the growing literature on Brexit, differentiated integration, and non-compliance, the articles on the modes of European disintegration address issues such as (temporary) opt-outs from the Schengen agreement. The thematic issue is innovative not only due to the questions it raises but also by deploying a multi-disciplinary social science perspective. Contributions are quantitative, qualitative, and theoretical from a wide array of social science disciplines. Taken together, the contributions to this thematic issue advance scholarly understanding of European (dis)integration.

Fractures in the Faultline: Addressable Issues in Nursing.

The nursing profession is at a paradigm shifting moment. The cracks in the profession and the health system were exacerbated by the global pandemic of COVID-19 and chronic workforce issues. Nursing must explicitly acknowledge the broken systems and work specifically to address them. Through innovation leadership, health care leaders can identify the issues and create novel solutions to lead nursing into our desired future.

Evaluation of a charge nurse leadership development program.

Evaluation of a charge nurse leadership development program.

Factors that Influence Women's Decision on the Mode of Birth After a Previous Caesarean Section: A Meta-ethnography.

Caesarean section (CS) rates are continuing to rise worldwide. Elective repeat CS (ERCS) greatly contribute to the rising rate which increases unnecessary risks of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Vaginal birth after caesarean (VBAC) is a safe mode of birth for most women; however, uptake remains low. Our objective is to find the factors that influence women's decision-making to support informed choices for the mode of next birth after caesarean section (NBAC). A literature search was conducted in CINAHL, Maternity and Infant Care, Embase, EmCare, Cochrane Library and Medline databases. Primary, qualitative, peer reviewed, English language research articles were assessed according to inclusion/exclusion criteria. Articles were systematically assessed for inclusion or exclusion. Included studies were assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme qualitative studies checklist, Noblit and Hare's seven-step meta-ethnography approach synthesised themes. Fourteen primary research articles were included. Six studies on 287 women focused on VBAC, and eight studies examined both VBAC and ERCS with 1861 women and 311 blogs. Thematic analysis yielded four primary themes: Influence of health professionals, impact of previous birth experience, optimal experience, and being in control. This meta-ethnography highlights health professionals' influence on women's decision making. To assist in decision-making, women need supportive health professionals who provide the current evidence-informed information about risks and benefits of each mode of birth. Health professionals need skills to provide supportive shared decision-making, debrief women regarding indications for their primary caesarean, and address issues of safety, fear, and expectations of childbirth.

Exploration of System Chief Nurse Executive's Leadership Practices to Support, Mentor, Develop, and Retain Nurse Leaders.

In 2019, the National Academy of Science identified clinician burnout as a growing public health concern. The COVID-19 pandemic has only compounded this crisis and transformed it into an escalating fracture within the US health care system. Concurrently evolving with this emergency is a rise in the number of nurses who intend to leave the profession. Frontline nurse leaders are the lynchpin in ensuring health care systems function. These leaders have accountability over patient care and clinician well-being. Focused efforts must address clinician burnout. However, without addressing the well-being of frontline nurse leaders, the fault line in our health care system becomes a vast chasm. Recently, published literature began to emerge describing and addressing frontline clinician burnout. Unfortunately, only a few, if any, address issues related to leaders. The aim of this qualitative case study research was to explore and discover general themes in system chief nurse executive leadership practices that support, mentor, develop, and retain nurse leaders as a basis for future research. Three major themes were identified for future study and exploration: enhancing leadership development programs; improving leader work environments; and focusing on leader well-being and support. Further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of these themes.

Using Social Media Data for Exploring Healthcare Service Quality

The provision of quality services in the healthcare sector has become a highly prioritized goal, as it is seen as a key factor in the satisfaction and loyalty of patients. This study aims to explore patients' perception of service quality in the UAE, a topic that has not yet been extensively studied. A qualitative approach, using social media data, was employed. Grounded theory techniques were used to analyze online feedback and comments on clinical services posted by patients. Results revealed five key factors that shape patients' perception of service quality: time efficiency, human interaction, complementary facilities, value for money match, and accountability. This study's findings and implications, particularly regarding how technology can be used to guarantee quality services and address issues raised in the research, are discussed.

Partnering to Improve Equity in Publishing

SPEAKERS: Sowmya Swaminathan (she/her/hers) Head of Collaborations & Chair Springer Nature Research & Solutions DEI Programme Springer Nature Allison Leung (she/her/hers) Assistant Director Researcher Products & Engagement American Chemical Society Dorraya El-Ashry Chief Scientific Officer Breast Cancer Research Foundation Antonio Baines (he/him/his) Associate Professor North Carolina Central University and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill MODERATOR: Sowmya Swaminathan REPORTER: Pablo Luis Clemente Assistant Managing Editor Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences The scientific publishing community must “push toward greater equity in publishing and research at large,” said moderator Dr Sowmya Swaminathan, Head of Collaboration & Chair, Springer Nature Research & Solutions DEI Programme, to start this session at the CSE 2023 Annual Meeting. Referencing the recently released the National Academies (NASEM) report1 on Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in STEMM organizations, she noted that it is the responsibility of individuals or organizations who have power and influence—described as “gatekeepers” in the NASEM report—at publishers, funders, and societies to develop and implement policies and opportunities for historically excluded researchers to participate equitably in scientific discourse across all areas of research. Along with her panel of speakers, the message was clear: Creating an effective ecosystem of lasting, meaningful partnerships with organizations and institutions that employ and recruit largely from historically marginalized and excluded populations is absolutely necessary to boost their participation in scientific research and publishing. It is a problem that has wider implications on research and the types of research that can help address and diagnose issues affecting these […]

Stable High-Capacity Elemental Sulfur Cathodes with Simple Process for Lithium Sulfur Batteries.

Lithium sulfur batteries are suitable for drones due to their high gravimetric energy density (2600 Wh/kg of sulfur). However, on the cathode side, high specific capacity with high sulfur loading (high areal capacity) is challenging due to the poor conductivity of sulfur. Shuttling of Li-sulfide species between the sulfur cathode and lithium anode also limits specific capacity. Sulfur-carbon composite active materials with encapsulated sulfur address both issues but require expensive processing and have low sulfur content with limited areal capacity. Proper encapsulation of sulfur in carbonaceous structures along with active additives in solution may largely mitigate shuttling, resulting in cells with improved energy density at relatively low cost. Here, composite current collectors, selected binders, and carbonaceous matrices impregnated with an active mass were used to award stable sulfur cathodes with high areal specific capacity. All three components are necessary to reach a high sulfur loading of 3.8 mg/cm2 with a specific/areal capacity of 805 mAh/g/2.2 mAh/cm2. Good adhesion between the carbon-coated Al foil current collectors and the composite sulfur impregnated carbon matrices is mandatory for stable electrodes. Swelling of the binders influenced cycling retention as electroconductivity dominated the cycling performance of the Li-S cells comprising cathodes with high sulfur loading. Composite electrodes based on carbonaceous matrices in which sulfur is impregnated at high specific loading and non-swelling binders that maintain the integrated structure of the composite electrodes are important for strong performance. This basic design can be mass produced and optimized to yield practical devices.

CSE—Comprehensive Sexuality Education: Urgensi dan Implementasinya pada Pembelajaran Sosiologi di SMA

The study aims to recognize the urgency of comprehensive sexuality education, the implementation of comprehensive sexuality education in the curriculum, and the integration of comprehensive sexuality education through sociological learning in schools. The study uses a qualitative approach with literary analysis techniques. The study used relevant literature from books and national and international journals related to material on CSE—Comprehensive Sexuality Education—and adolescent sexual behavior. The results of the analysis showed that comprehensive sexuality education gives adolescents the strength to exercise their rights, avoid unplanned pregnancies, build relationships that respect each other, and value equality, respect, consent, and diversity. It also helps address issues such as violence against women and girls and patriarchal dominance. Comprehensive sexuality education can be integrated with sociological learning in schools to examine topics related to sexuality, gender discrimination, consent, stereotypes, and gender-based violence. Schools need to implement it through curricula and equip teachers with training, involving parents and the community. The implications of this study are to provide an understanding of the importance of comprehensive sexual education to policymakers and the general public in order to minimize the negative impact of pre-sexual behavior on adolescents

Artificial Intelligence and its scope in Latin American higher education

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is having a significant impact on Latin American higher education. Through a bibliographic methodology of a qualitative nature, it has been possible to analyze and understand the scope of AI in this area. In the first place, it is highlighted that AI in Latin American higher education has allowed expanding access to education, breaking geographical and economic barriers. This is achieved through the availability of digital educational resources and the ability to participate in online learning programs. In addition, AI has promoted the personalization of learning, adapting the educational process to the individual needs of students. Through intelligent tutoring systems and AI-based educational platforms, relevant content can be offered and adapted to each student, as well as provide instant and personalized feedback. AI has also improved the efficiency and quality of higher education. By automating administrative and repetitive tasks, time is freed up for educators to focus on more meaningful activities, such as curriculum design and individual attention to students. In addition, AI enables data analysis and pedagogical reporting, facilitating evidence-based decision making. However, ethical and privacy challenges associated with the use of AI in higher education are recognized. It is necessary to ensure the protection of students' personal data and address issues of fairness and transparency in the development and implementation of AI systems. In conclusion, AI is transforming higher education in Latin America, providing access, personalization, efficiency and quality. The qualitative bibliographic methodology has allowed us to understand the scope of AI in this area, highlighting its positive impact and the challenges that must be addressed for its responsible implementation.