Access Arrangements Research Articles

ACCESS ARRANGEMENT PRACTICES, ITS EFFECTIVENESS AND INFLUENCE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF LEARNERS WITH DYSGRAPHIA IN PUBLIC LOWER-PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN VIHIGA COUNTY, KENYA

The study explored the access arrangement practices, their effectiveness, and their influence on the performance of learners with dysgraphia in public lower-primary schools in Emuhaya Sub-County, Vihiga County. This study was anchored on Robert Gagne’s Conditions of Learning theory, proposed in 1965. A descriptive research design was adopted. The study aimed to include all 163 learners diagnosed with dysgraphia enrolled in lower public primary schools within the Emuhaya sub-county. Additionally, the study targeted 16 headteachers from public primary schools, 153 teachers, and 10 sub-county Education officers in the same sub-county. The researcher utilized stratified sampling to select 5 public primary schools. Purposive sampling was used to select 5 headteachers from the sampled schools. Similarly, purposive sampling was employed to select 6education officers from the Emuhaya sub-county. The researcher sampled 50 lower primary school teachers and 50 learners identified with dysgraphia from grade 1 to grade 3 in the sampled schools using simple random sampling. The researcher employed a combination of open and closed questionnaires, as well as interview guides, to gather data from different categories of participants. A pilot study was conducted in two public primary schools, which were not included in the main data collection. Qualitative data underwent content analysis, while quantitative data was analyzed using frequencies and percentages with SPSS. Results indicated that schools in Emuhaya utilized various access arrangements for students with dysgraphia. Dysgraphia was found to impact academic performance negatively, but with intervention, student performance improved by 5%–10% in successive exams. Students reported a positive change in attitude towards education due to the intervention, feeling supported by the school. The study concluded that access arrangements have an impact on the academic performance of students with dysgraphia. Before the intervention, dysgraphia hurt students' academic performance, as evidenced by poor performance in previous exams. The study recommended that the government need to implement a systematic identification method for documenting students with learning disabilities early in their academic journey. Early identification and intervention can significantly improve outcomes for dysgraphia students and facilitate timely support and resources. Schools should prioritize the implementation of recommended interventions to support dysgraphia students, promote inclusivity, and foster a positive attitude towards education among all students, regardless of their learning needs.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0798/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Implementation of Access Arrangements for Agrarian Reform: A Case Study in the Kampung Tua of Tanjung Riau, Batam City

Abstract: Access arrangement is one of the agrarian reform programs that continues from asset arrangement. Access arrangements aim to provide assistance in capital provision, training, and marketing strategies to communities facing obstacles in their companies. In 2022, Kampung Tua Tanjung Riau served as the location for access arrangements; data collection yielded various types of Micro-Medium Small Businesses (MSMEs), also known as agrarian reform access objects. This study aims to find out how agrarian reform access is put into action in Kampung Tua Tanjung Riau. It will do this by using a qualitative approach and collecting data from the ground about the types of businesses that agrarian reform access participants run, the status of their businesses, the status of their certificates (mortgaged or not mortgaged), and how successful their businesses are by looking at how they've grown since being given more power and by mortgaging their land ownership certificates for extra business capital. There was an increase in the number of participants who pledged certification from 40 in 2022 to 53 in 2023. However, some of the participating businesses have not experienced significant development. The constraints in the implementation of the agrarian reform access arrangement in Kampung Tua Tanjung Riau are the lack of community understanding of the program, where not all participants are registered for empowerment training, and the abundance of similar businesses that are not balanced with existing market demands, resulting in competition among MSME players. Keywords: Agrarian Reform, Access Arrangement, Community Empowerment

Land Governance and Environmental Management in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region

The importance of governance arrangements for access, use and control of land and resources is being increasingly recognized by international institutions. This paper overviews land governance initiatives being promoted by UN Habitat, and the growing importance of rapidly developing geospatial technologies. The paper next addresses land governance issues in the MENA region, particularly the Arab Land Governance initiative, and presents a brief case study of Oman’s land governance, and its effects upon society, urban settlement patterns, and land markets. Issues of education and training for better land governance are discussed. Recommendations and conclusions address the issues and ways forward for the region.

Community Preferences for Agrarian Reform in Kampung Reforma Agraria: A Case Study of Mekarsari Village, Banten

Abstract: An agrarian reform program encompassing asset and access arrangement was implemented to address the inequality in land ownership. Furthermore, asset management and access management models are integrated in the same location to increase the effectiveness of the agrarian reform program. As a pilot project, the first Kampung Reforma Agraria (KRA) was implemented in Mekarsari Village, Panimbang District, Pandeglang Regency, by distributing land to 225 subjects. However, after five years of implementing agrarian reform, some subjects still have not occupied KRA locations. This condition indicates that some subjects are reluctant to live in the designated location. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the profile and characteristics of TORA subjects’ residences who have yet to occupy the land granted in the KRA and the influence of these two factors on their spatial preferences regarding agrarian reform policies. By interviewing 23 TORA subjects who had yet to occupy the Tanah Objek Reforma Agraria (TORA) location and transfer their land rights, the results show that 52.5% wanted to move to KRA. In contrast, 47.5% did not want to occupy their land in KRA. Based on the analysis of the physical characteristics of the TORA subjects’ residences, the relationship between the physical distance from the subject’s current residence to KRA and the subject’s preference to move to KRA was not very significant. The factors most influencing the subject’s preferences are the residence’s non-physical characteristics, the land’s current legal status, and the socio-economic profile. Based on these findings, policymakers responsible for setting the criteria for land recipients should enhance the supervision system for subject selection from the outset. Furthermore, when designing access provision programs, it is essential to account for the diverse preferences and needs of each subject group. Keywords: Agrarian Reform; Access Arrangement; Asset Arrangement; Kampung Reforma Agraria; Spatial Preferences.

‘Pity the poor independent scholar!’: The Lament of a Latecomer Historian

Abstract This commentary article explores some of the problems encountered by independent scholars seeking to get their work published in peer-reviewed journals and in particular the difficulties they face in accessing online resources. Though often hidden, these issues are nevertheless very real for aspiring historians and those who have returned late to the historical fold. The article acknowledges the efforts of a number of journals to encourage different voices, but highlights how the limitations of current licensing and Open Access arrangements hinders this ambition.

Informal governance and transnational access in world politics

AbstractThe governance turn in political research has led to increased attention to informal institutions. For scholars of international relations this has contributed to recent scholarship that reveals a notable growth in the number of informal intergovernmental organizations (IIGOs). Many aspects of IIGOs remain unknown, including whether they involve transnational actors (TNAs). Yet, whether IIGOs are open to TNAs or not may affect their performance and legitimacy. Given the importance of TNA access to IIGOs, this article explores IIGOs openness to TNAs. We illustrate that IIGOs vary whether they are open or not and that arrangements for TNA access differ. Theoretically, we build on existing literature to posit that the political costs of involvement, TNA resources, and the institutional environment affect whether IIGO are open or closed to TNAs. Empirically, we present new data on TNA access to 94 IIGOs and examine the variation in IIGO openness to explore the validity of our theoretical expectations. We find that no single account can be offered to understand access across IIGOs, and our explanatory factors show variegated effects across different subgroups of the sample. Our findings have implications for debates on the rise of informal global governance and the openness of global governance.

Data access arrangements in genomic research consortia

One of the most common terms that is used to describe entities responsible for sharing genomic data for research purposes is ‘genomic research consortium’. However, there is a lack of clarity around the language used by consortia to describe their data sharing arrangements. Calls have been made for more uniform terminology. This article reports on a review of the genomic research consortium literature illustrating a wide diversity in the language that has been used over time to describe the access arrangements of these entities. The second component of this research involved an examination of publicly available information from a dataset of 98 consortia. This analysis further illustrates the wide diversity in the access arrangements adopted by genomic research consortia. A total of 12 different access arrangements were identified, including four simple forms (open, consortium, managed and registered access) and eight more complex tiered forms (for example, a combination of consortium, managed and open access). The majority of consortia utilised some form of tiered access, often following the policy requirements of funders like the US National Institutes of Health and the UK Wellcome Trust. It was not always easy to precisely identify the access arrangements of individual consortia. Greater consistency, clarity and transparency is likely to be of benefit to donors, depositors and accessors alike. More work needs to be done to achieve this end.

Urban Agriculture’s ‘Invisible’ Short Food Value Chain: How Small-scale Farming Contributes to Johannesburg Food Security

AbstractUrbanisation into poverty in cities of the global South gives impetus to urban agriculture (UA) as a strategy to improve food security for low-income residents. This study disputes that UA is a trivial sector by arguing through the invisible short food value chain lens that it contributes to food security in local communities. The study adopted the extended case method that immersed researchers for more than a year to understand the practices of 11 farming entities and 20 of their customers in Johannesburg. Open-ended interview guides were administered to key informants from the city, provincial government, and non-governmental organisations. Findings show that UA increases food availability in local communities through the short food value chain. However, the local economy is undocumented and invisible to city stakeholders, negatively affecting their land use planning decisions for the sector. Though stakeholder consensus on UA is still lacking, the City of Johannesburg recognised UA’s potential and allocated both temporary and permanent land access arrangements for farming. Small-scale farmers lack the capacity to supply formal institutions, which can be overcome by intermediaries, such as civil society facilitation. The limitations of UA manifest in its inability to attract labour and keep records which inhibits its potential and support at the city level.

EGMS-toolkit: a set of Python scripts for improved access to datasets from the European Ground Motion Service

Continental-scale, open-access datasets of ground surface displacement in all countries of the European Union, plus Norway, United Kingdom, and Iceland, are now available from the European Ground Motion Service (EGMS). Under the European Union’s Copernicus program, the EGMS has been available since the end of 2022 and will continue for the foreseeable future. The EGMS data are presently derived from Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) processing of the Sentinel-1 SAR satellite imagery, which has been collected from 2015 to date. While EGMS data can be visualised and obtained through an online platform (EGMS Explorer), the data access arrangements are inefficient for large-scale analysis of ground surface displacements due to the volume of data, the tile-formatting of datasets and some server limitations. Here we present a Python-based toolkit, named EGMS-toolkit, to provide a unified and more efficient workflow for accessing EGMS datasets. The toolkit can automatically detect and download EGMS datasets based on a Region of Interest provided by users, then it can merge, clip, and crop the results to that region regardless of its scale. The toolkit then produces files of EGMS ground surface motions in GIS-ready formats for further analysis.

A geopolitical-economy of distant water fisheries access arrangements

AbstractIn recent decades, fishing fleets and effort have grown in aggregate throughout the waters of lower-income coastal countries, much of which is carried out by vessels registered in higher-income countries. Fisheries access arrangements (FAAs) underpin this key trend in ocean fisheries and have their origins in UNCLOS’s promise to establish resource ownership as a mechanism to increase benefits to newly independent coastal and island states. Coastal states use FAAs to permit a foreign state, firm, or industry association to fish within its waters. This paper provides a conceptual approach for understanding FAAs across the global ocean and for exploring their potential to deliver on the promise of UNCLOS. Illustrated with the findings from multiple case studies, we advance understanding of FAAs by developing a geopolitical-economy of access that attends to the combination of contingent and context-specific economic, ecologic, and geopolitical forces that shape the terms, conditions and practices of the FAAs shaping this persistent phenomenon of higher-income industrial fleets fishing throughout lower-income countries’ waters.

Arrangement of Access to the Religious Tourism Area of The Tomb K.H. Abdurrahman Wahid Jombang Regency

Jombang Regency is one of the regencies in the East Java region that boasts numerous tourist destinations. One of the religious attractions in Jombang Regency is the Tomb of K.H. Abdurrahman Wahid. Suboptimal road traffic conditions occur in the tourism area, particularly on K.H. Hasyim Asyari Street. This road segment frequently experiences high traffic volume due to tourism activities, numerous obstacles such as roadside parking, and non-motorized vehicles moving around the tourism area. This research adheres to the Guidelines for Indonesian Road Capacity (PKJI) 2014 regarding Urban Road Capacity. The primary data required for this study include geometric road data, traffic volume data, and roadside obstacle data. Meanwhile, secondary data in this study comprise road network data and Average Daily Traffic (ADT) data from the relevant authorities, namely the Jombang Regency Transportation Agency. From the traffic performance calculations, the saturation degree values for the existing conditions on K.H. Hasyim Asyari Street towards the south (DJ) = 0.7624 and towards the north (DJ) = 0.7075 were obtained. Based on the survey results, K.H. Hasyim Asyari Street towards the north has a capacity (C) = 2465, and towards the south, it also has a capacity (C) = 2465. The parking space requirements in the Religious Tourism Area of the Tomb of K.H. Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) are planned to be 171 parking spaces for motorcycles, 54 parking spaces for cars, and 53 parking spaces for buses.

PELAKSANAAN REDISTRIBUSI TANAH DALAM RANGKA REFORMA AGRARIA DI KABUPATEN KUBU RAYA

The agrarian reform program launched by the government basically aims to improve the welfare of the people, especially landless farmers. Through Presidential Regulation Number 86 of 2018 concerning Agrarian Reform, the government is trying to redistribute land for farmers, including those carried out in Kubu Raya Regency. However, in practice the land redistribution program carried out by the government isn’t in accordance with the procedures stipulated in Presidential Regulation Number 86 of 2018. Of the 10 access arrangement activities as stated in Presidential Regulation Number 86 of 2018, only 2 activities were carried out by Kubu Raya District Land Office. Before carrying out the implementation of land redistribution, the Land Office must first make a plan which is preceded by the preparation of operational instructions. Counseling on land redistribution activities should be carried out at the planning stage. In practice, the Kubu Raya Land Office doesn’t go through established mechanisms or procedures and directly conducts counseling at the implementation stage of activities that should have been carried out at the planning stage. In addition, the Land Office doesn’t control land whose area exceeds the maximum land ownership limit, which the government wants to control through the agrarian reform program.

A multi-stakeholder collaborative approach to awareness, education and support needed in the haemophilia gene therapy patient journey – a report on insights from a European patient advisory board

Abstract Gene therapy presents a potentially transformational approach to haemophilia management. The patient journey for gene therapy is unlike that for other haemophilia treatments, and its one-time, irreversible nature has led to broad agreement that informed shared decision-making is essential. Understanding the educational and support needs of people with haemophilia (PwH) who may consider or undergo gene therapy in the future is key to enabling this. A one-day patient advisory board was conducted with the aim of gaining insights on what education and support would enable PwH to have appropriate conversations with health care practitioners (HCPs) about gene therapy and participate in informed shared decision-making. The participants were 11 age-diverse men with severe haemophilia A or B, including six who had received gene therapy in phase 1-3 clinical trials. Two were members of a national patient organisation or a patient organisation leader. Participants agreed that informed shared decision-making was essential for gene therapy, but most felt the choice to have gene therapy would be limited by healthcare budgets and access arrangements. They identified key education needed by PwH to enable true informed decision-making, best delivered through a collaborative approach by patient organisations and HCPs. Eligibility criteria should be more widely shared within the community as part of general education around gene therapy. Gene therapy should be presented as one of a range of treatment options; understanding its risks, uncertainties and benefits is key to managing expectations and minimising treatment remorse. Awareness of how different factor levels impact bleeding tendency and frequency would be helpful, as success of gene therapy cannot be determined by factor activity alone. Other key educational needs included follow-up commitments, the role and potential side effects of corticosteroids or other immunosuppressants, impact on sense of identity, mental health, family planning, and managing bleeds after gene therapy. Teach-back could help ensure appropriate levels of understanding; psychological support could aid managing expectations. Peer-to-peer learning delivered across a variety of platforms, to share experiences of gene therapy and contextualise more ‘formal’ gene therapy education, was considered invaluable.

User-centric Heterogeneous-action Deep Reinforcement Learning for Virtual Reality in the Metaverse over Wireless Networks

The Metaverse emerging as maturing technologies are empowering the different facets. Virtual Reality (VR) technologies serve as the backbone of the virtual universe within the Metaverse to offer a highly immersive user experience. As mobility is emphasized in the Metaverse context, VR devices reduce their weights at the sacrifice of local computation abilities. In this paper, for a system consisting of a Metaverse server and multiple VR users, we consider two cases of (i) the server generating frames and transmitting them to users, and (ii) users generating frames locally and thus consuming device energy. As Metaverse emphasizes on the accessibility for all users anywhere and anytime, the users can have totally different characteristics, devices and demands. In this paper, the channel access arrangement (including the decisions on frame generation location), and transmission powers for the downlink communications from the server to the users are jointly optimized by our proposed user-centric Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) algorithm, namely User-centric Critic with Heterogenous Actors (UCHA). Comprehensive experiments demonstrate that our UCHA algorithm leads to remarkable results under various requirements and constraints.

PENDAMPINGAN DENGAN PENDEKATAN KDEPE DALAM PENGEMBANGAN TAMAN TEMATIK LIANA DI KEBUN RAYA GIANYAR

Since its soft opening on July 17 2017, the Gianyar Botanical Gardens has built several thematic parks, namely the upakara thematic park, liana thematic park, and other parks currently under construction. The liana thematic park is one of the thematic parks that is being developed based on the potential diversity of liana plant types that already exist in the KRG. The main problems addressed in mentoring activities in the development of liana thematic gardens are lack of access arrangements to liana thematic park, minimal collection of plant types, minimal information about liana thematic park, and lack of supporting hardscape facilities to increase liana thematic park capacity. Implementation of activities from 29 September to 1 October 2022, by applying the KDEPE approach (Coordination, Documentation, Evaluation, Common Perception and Execution). The results achieved are (a) entry access to the liana thematic park is more organized, making it easier for visitors; (b) there was an increase in the number of liana plant collections based on their types (initial 12 after assistance became 21 types). (c) There is information regarding collection of liana plants with scientific name labels and the writing of a book entitled Liana Botanical Gardens Gianyar.

Preliminary Concept of Alternative Agrarian Reform for Justice: The Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM) Approach to Constructing a Just Society in Indonesia

The implementation of agricultural reform comprises the enactment of access and asset reform. In order to ensure compliance with the aforementioned instructions, the Indonesian government issued Presidential Regulation Number 86 of 2018, which stipulates the commencement of agricultural reform as a means to support asset and access reform. The primary goal of access arrangements is to enhance access to finance and various forms of support to enhance welfare outcomes through land utilization. This particular methodology is frequently denoted as community empowerment. The normative juridical research technique, commonly known as library law research, perceives law as a normative system that possesses autonomy, independence, and distinctiveness from society. The methodology necessitates the utilization of a conceptual framework that incorporates a social tenure domain model and a legal perspective. The research findings indicate that the central concept of agrarian reform for justice entails implementing a comprehensive land administration system encompassing diverse land claims and rights through the utilization of the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM) approach. The concept of the social method pertains to a theoretical framework that centers on the impact of social influences on human behavior. The notion of the STDM explores the interconnection between individuals and land.

Coverage Probability and Area Potential Spectral Efficiency Analysis of 3D Dense SCMA Cellular Networks

This paper investigates the dense multi-user sparse code multiple access (SCMA) cellular networks, where base stations (BSs) and users are randomly deployed in a 3D space by using stochastic geometry tools. First, a method increasing the dimension of the assignment matrix is presented to provide massive connectivity in each cell. The random pattern of arrangement of non-zero elements access (RPA) policy is utilized to allocate the available SCMA resources. Then the coverage probability is characterized under the nearest-BS (NBS) association mechanism by developing a multi-user connectivity model based on the RPA policy and average connectivity ratio (ACR). A compact closed-form expression of the coverage probability and its approximation are derived by utilizing the Toeplitz matrix and finite sum of power series, respectively. We then extract the area potential spectral efficiency (APSE) based on the coverage probability, and provide new insights into the 3D dense multi-cell SCMA networks. Simulation results confirm the precision of the theoretical results and demonstrate the advantage of the SCMA scheme.

OP152 Use of Real-world Evidence By The Brazilian Health Technology Assessment Committee (Conitec) For Monitoring Of Health Technologies

IntroductionIn Brazil, the incorporation or disinvestment of health technologies into the Unified Health System (SUS) are advised by the National Committee for Health Technology Incorporation (Conitec). Despite the thorough evaluation carried out by Conitec, the results measured after implementation do not always reflect the economic and clinical impact expected from the incorporation. Thus, real-world evidence (RWE) is essential for monitoring health technologies. The aim of this study was to report how Brazil is using the RWE to obtain additional information about the incorporated technologies.MethodsActions related to the use of RWE for monitoring of technologies incorporated into the SUS were described. The period evaluated was between 2012 and 2022.ResultsThe first Conitec recommendation in which the use of real-life data in the decision-making process was evidenced occurred in 2016. Administrative data from a cohort of patients identified that beta-interferons for Multiple Sclerosis were less effective than the other drugs used in the Brazilian public system. A further eight reports have been published assessing the performance of technologies using administrative data.Another strategy for RWE generation was through the funding of primary studies, highlighting a study with 21 rare diseases and another one to evaluate Zolgensma gene therapy, acquired through court for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Both studies are ongoing and aim to evaluate the effectiveness, safety, adherence, and cost of medications in the evaluated diseases. Conitec is also following studies in RWE financed by pharmaceutical companies to evaluate effectiveness for incorporated technologies subject to reassessment. Additionally, managed access arrangements have been promoted for generating RWE when there is uncertainty about outcomes.ConclusionsReal-world evidence from administrative data and clinical research allows monitoring after the implementation of technologies in the Unified Health System in Brazil. This makes it possible to reallocate resources in health and contribute for the system sustainability, in addition to generating data that reduce the uncertainties assumed at the time of incorporation.

Patients' Acceptability and Satisfaction With Teleconsultation for Pelvic Floor Exercises for Stress Urinary Incontinence During COVID-19

ObjectivesThis was the first urogynaecology specialty nurse teleconsultation offered by a public hospital during COVID-19 for learning pelvic floor exercises. This study assessed patients’ perception, acceptance, and satisfaction using 2 validated questionnaires. MethodsIn total, 25 patients with stress urinary incontinence attended the teleconsultation via videoconferencing in April 2022, and completed the Telemedicine Perception Questionnaire (TMPQ) and Telemedicine Satisfaction Questionnaire (TSQ). The TMPQ was a 17-item, 5-point Likert scale questionnaire for assessing the acceptability of telemedicine. The TSQ was a 14-item, 5-point Likert scale questionnaire for assessing satisfaction with teleconsultation. The higher the score, the greater the acceptance and satisfaction. Information on demographics, symptom severity by Urogenital Distress Inventory-6 and Incontinence Impact Questionnaire-7, internet access, and transport arrangements were included. ResultsParticipants had a mean age of 54.6 ± 7.37 years. Their mean Urogenital Distress Inventory-6 score was 40.60/100 (SD = 17.83) and Impact Questionnaire-7 was 27.90/100 (SD = 19.83). Pre-teleconsultation mean TMPQ score was 59.16 ± 5.78/85. Post-teleconsultation mean score was 64.92 ± 5.21/85, which was 3.64 higher (t = 3.642, df = 24, P = 0.001), indicating a significant increase in positive perception and acceptability. There were fewer concerns with the usage (P = 0.017) and reliability (P = 0.003) of technology, while there was increased agreement that teleconsultation is cost-saving for the health care system (P = 0.003) and offers easier access to health care providers (P = 0.006) after the teleconsultation. Mean TSQ score was 59.85 ± 9.46/70. ConclusionOur pilot study demonstrated positive perception, high acceptability, and satisfaction from patients’ first teleconsultation experience. Further multi-centre studies with the inclusion of a control group would help in understanding patients’ needs and for service planning.

Driving for Work Crashes: A Systems Analysis

Work-related road safety is a government priority. A Safe System analysis of 300 driving for work (DFW) crashes was carried out, along with an exploratory socio-technical analysis of one significant case to better understand the context around DFW crashes. The Safe System analysis showed three distinct crash types: 1) multiple vehicle crashes often involving work vans, utes, and SUVs in side impact crashes; 2) vulnerable road users often involving professional drivers; and 3) single vehicle crashes involving people driving vans or light trucks for work losing control on rural roads with fatigue, non-seat belt use, and speed often implicated. There was a range of unique characteristics of DFW crashes, in particular, injuries to others who were implicated in DFW crashes but not those DFW themselves. Socio-technical systems analyses show promise for understanding the context around DFW crashes, but arrangements for better data access, coordination, and use are needed.