Availability Of Specific Resources Research Articles

Exploring the Unmet Needs of Young Adults with Stroke in Australia: Can Technology Help Meet Their Needs? A Qualitative Study.

The post-stroke needs of young adults with stroke are not being met, as most resources are tailored to older people with stroke. This includes technology-based applications, which are being used more frequently in stroke rehabilitation. There is limited data on technology usage to support the unique needs of young adults with stroke in Australia. This study aimed to explore the unmet needs of young adults aged 18-30 years with stroke and ascertain how technology can help meet those needs to improve quality of life and participation. Sixteen in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with young adults with stroke (n = 10), healthcare professionals (n = 3) and caregivers of young adults with stroke (n = 3). The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed inductively. Five themes were generated: 'Support for recovery', 'Availability of specific resources', 'Continuity of care', 'Adjustment' and 'Knowledge'. This study revealed the unique needs of young adults under 30 years with stroke who requested more targeted post-stroke support, age-specific resources and improved awareness on young stroke, with technology playing a pivotal role in all these interventions. We suggest co-designing technology-based solutions with young people after stroke to maximize their effectiveness in improving quality of life and participation in this unique cohort.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ПЛАНУВАННЯ АУДИТУ ЕФЕКТИВНОСТІ ДІЯЛЬНОСТІ СІЛЬСЬКОГОСПОДАРСЬКИХ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ В УМОВАХ СТАЛОГО РОЗВИТКУ

The importance of the effective functioning of the agricultural sector of Ukraine is determined by both internal and external factors. The world's food security partly depends on the effective functioning of the domestic agricultural sector. Under these conditions, the efficiency and effectiveness of agricultural enterprises is important. An auditor can assess these factors by conducting an efficiency audit. The effectiveness of this form of audit is possible only with proper planning. When planning an audit of the efficiency of an agricultural enterprise, the auditor will have a standard algorithm for it: receiving a request for an audit from the owner of the enterprise, getting to know the agricultural enterprise, appointing a group of auditors, determining the topic, goals, questions, criteria, performing a risk assessment, outlining the scope and setting the terms of the audit . And since the auditor, conducting an efficiency audit, analyzes and evaluates the effective operation of agricultural enterprises, he will take into account its characteristic features when planning. Agriculture is a specific activity, because its functioning is influenced by factors that do not depend on humans: weather conditions, animal diseases, natural disasters. The availability of specific resources (land, biological assets) is also a feature for enterprises in this industry. The variety of areas of activity of agricultural enterprises, types of products, seasonality is what affects the activity of an agricultural enterprise. That is, all this will affect the planning of the efficiency audit. In addition, the auditor should also pay attention to trends in the agricultural sector, because today agribusiness, if it prefers to develop, must be socially responsible, function in such a way as not to harm the environment, and at the same time must function effectively to obtain its own benefits. That is, the audit of the efficiency of agricultural enterprises should be planned in such a way as to take into account the social, ecological, and economic components of the environment of the audited business entity, that is, the paradigm of sustainable development should be taken into account.

Multi-Dimensional Multiple Access With Resource Utilization Cost Awareness for Individualized Service Provisioning in 6G

The increasingly diversified Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirements envisioned for future wireless networks call for more flexible and inclusive multiple access techniques in 6G for supporting emerging applications and communication scenarios. To achieve this, we propose a multi-dimensional multiple access (MDMA) protocol to meet individual User Equipment’s (UE’s) unique QoS demands while utilizing multi-dimensional radio resources cost-effectively. In detail, the proposed scheme consists of two novel aspects, i.e., selection of a tailored multiple access mode for each UE while considering the UE-specific radio resource utilization cost caused by non-orthogonal interference cancellation; and multi-dimensional radio resource allocation among coexisting UEs under dynamic network conditions. To reduce the UE-specific resource utilization cost, the base station (BS) organizes UEs with disparate multi-domain resource constraints as UE coalition by considering each UE’s specific resource availability, perceived quality, and utilization capability. Each UE within a coalition could utilize its preferred radio resources, which leads to low utilization cost while avoiding resource-sharing conflicts with remaining UEs. Furthermore, to meet UE-specific QoS requirements and varying resource conditions at the UE side, the multi-dimensional radio resource allocation among coexisting UEs is formulated as an optimization problem to maximize the summation of cost-aware utility functions of all UEs. A solution to solve this NP-hard problem with low complexity is developed using the successive convex approximation and the Lagrange dual decomposition methods. The effectiveness of our proposed scheme is validated by numerical simulation and performance comparison with state-of-the-art schemes. In particular, the simulation results demonstrate that our proposed scheme outperforms these benchmark schemes by large margins.

Implementation of an enhanced recovery after surgery protocol for bariatric surgery - A qualitative study

BackgroundEnhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Protocols are well-established in fields such as colorectal surgery but within bariatric surgery have not been uniformly adopted by all programs. MethodsQualitative study with focus groups at five hospitals participating in a statewide bariatric surgery quality improvement collaborative. Members of the clinical care team at each pilot site participated. Participants described barriers to implementation, and strategies to address these. ResultsParticipants expressed satisfaction with the implementation process. Barriers included a lack of buy-in from team members, availability of specific resources, staffing turnover, and interruption to implementation. Increased communication at all phases and a specific point-person to guide implementation would improve success. ConclusionsThese findings will be integrated into our work as we continue to implement this protocol at all hospitals participating within the collaborative. Future work will focus on the impact of the protocol on clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction following surgery.

Effect Heterogeneity in Responding to Performance-Based Incentives: A Quasi-Experimental Comparison of Impacts on Health Service Indicators Between Hospitals and Health Centers in Malawi

ABSTRACT Heterogeneity of effects produced by performance-based incentives (PBIs) at different levels of care provision is not well understood. This study analyzes effect heterogeneities between different facility types resulting from a PBI program in Malawi. Identical PBIs were applied to both district hospitals and health centers to improve the performance of essential health services provision. We conducted two complementary quasi-experiments comparing all 17 interventions with 17 matched independent control facilities (each 12 health centers, five hospitals). A pre- and post-test design with difference-in-differences analysis was used to estimate effects on 14 binary quality indicators; interrupted time series analysis of monthly routine data was used to estimate effects on 11 continuous quantity indicators. Effects were estimated separately for health centers and hospitals. Most quality indicators performed high at baseline, producing ceiling effects on further measurable improvements. Significant positive effects were observed for stocks of iron supplements (hospitals) and partographs (health centers). Four quantity indicators showed similar positive trend improvements across facility types (first-trimester antenatal visits, voluntary HIV-testing of couples, iron supplementation in pregnancy, vitamin A supplementation of children); two showed no change for either type of facility (skilled birth attendance, fully immunized one-year-olds); five indicators revealed different effect patterns for health centers and hospitals. In both health centers and hospitals, the largely positive PBI effects on antenatal care included resilience against interrupted supply chains and improvements in attendance rates. Observed heterogeneity might have been influenced by the availability of specific resources or the redistribution of service use.

Dietary carotenoid supplementation facilitates egg laying in a wild passerine.

During egg laying, females face a trade‐off between self‐maintenance and investment into current reproduction, since providing eggs with resources is energetically demanding, in particular if females lay one egg per day. However, the costs of egg laying not only relate to energetic requirements, but also depend on the availability of specific resources that are vital for egg production and embryonic development. One of these compounds are carotenoids, pigments with immuno‐stimulatory properties, which are crucial during embryonic development. In this study, we explore how carotenoid availability alleviates this trade‐off and facilitates egg laying in a small bird species, the blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus). Blue tits have among the largest clutch size of all European passerines and they usually lay one egg per day, although laying interruptions are frequent. We performed a lutein supplementation experiment and measured potential consequences for egg laying capacity and egg quality. We found that lutein‐supplemented females had less laying interruptions and thus completed their clutch faster than control females. No effects of treatment were found on the onset of egg laying or clutch size. Experimentally enhanced carotenoid availability did not elevate yolk carotenoid levels or egg mass, but negatively affected eggshell thickness. Our results provide hence evidence on the limiting role of carotenoids during egg laying. However, the benefits of laying faster following lutein supplementation were counterbalanced by a lower accumulation of calcium in the eggshell. Thus, even though single components may constrain egg laying, it is the combined availability of a range of different resources which ultimately determines egg quality and thus embryonic development.

ASSESSING SOME IMPORTANT FACTORS TO REDUCE OBSTACLES IN PRODUCT INNOVATION

The need for effective and efficient Product Innovation (PI) is a great challenge for organisations in today’s hypercompetitive global markets. Many research studies addressed problems/obstacles to successful PI from various perspectives. Many other studies proposed factors to help companies mitigate such problems. Here, the primary objective is to propose an integrated model, to empirically test this model, and get insights about which factors, if managed appropriately, will help reduce the obstacles to PI in practice. A questionnaire was developed, pilot tested, and used to collect data from 47 PI managers. The results support the theoretical importance of a formal PI process, characteristics of the company environment, and the availability of specific resources as important factors to reduce obstacles to company PI. Based on the results recommendations are made to practitioners and researchers in this important area.

Landscapes and Land Use along Soda Playa in the Mojave Desert

The settlement and subsistence practices of the Late Prehistoric Period occupants of the Mojave Sink correspond to the availability of specific resources across the landscape and changed in response to climatic conditions. In this article, we propose that Late Prehistoric archaeological sites in the Mojave Sink are part of a larger regional pattern of landscape use and thus should be viewed on a regional scale to interpret land use patterns. This approach is well suited to the Mojave Sink due to the seasonal availability of local plant, animal, and water resources in the region and the potential variation present during wet and dry periods. The significance of this study is to determine the land use patterns of the Mojave Sink as a region, rather than the patterns at individual sites.

Resource-Centred Rural Development Plans in Nigeria: Policies, Impacts, Challenges and Opportunities

This paper discusses the role and impacts of resource availability in driving rural development in Nigeria. Particular emphasis is focused on understanding how the availability of specific resources in Nigeria’s rural areas have shaped policy discourses, initiation and implementation processes. From the discussion, rural resources have been important in driving rural policy changes both positively and negatively. Agriculturalcentered rural development policies were important in developing the rural areas both at pre-independence and in the period of commercial petroleum oil exploration. However, the commercial exploitation of petroleum resources in the 1970s served to undermine relevant and potential policy drives aimed at developing available rural resources. In this way rural resources have failed to transform into opportunities for development despite its contributions to the national economy. It is the recommendation of this paper that a national diversification be emphasized beyond petroleum oil dependence. More emphasis should be placed on strengthening agricultural productivity as well as exploring other natural resources potentials. These will reposition the rural areas as centers of development activities.

Influence of dietary specialization and resource availability on geographical variation in abundance of butterflyfish

Empirical evidence indicates that both niche breadth and resource availability are key drivers of a species’ local abundance patterns. However, most studies have considered the influence of either niche breath or resource availability in isolation, while it is the interactive effects that are likely to influence local abundance. We examined geographic variation in the feeding ecology and distribution of coral-feeding butterflyfish to determine the influence of dietary specialization and dietary resource availability on their local abundance. Dietary composition and abundance of five butterflyfish and coral dietary resource availability were determined at 45 sites across five locations (Lizard Island and Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef; Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea; Noumea, New Caledonia; and Moorea, French Polynesia). Multiple regression models using variables representative of total dietary resource availability, availability of specific dietary resources, and interspecific competition were used to determine the best predictors of local abundance across all sites and locations for each species. Factors influencing local abundance varied between butterflyfish with specialized and generalized diets. Dietary resource availability had the strongest influence on the abundance of Chaetodon trifascialis—the most specialized species. Local abundance of C. trifascialis was best predicted by availability of the Acropora corals that it preferentially feeds on. In contrast, abundance of generalist butterflyfish was poorly described by variation in availability of specific resources. Rather, indices of total dietary resource availability best predicted their abundance. Overall, multiple regression models only explained a small proportion of the variation in local abundance for all five species. Despite their relatively specialized diets, dietary resource availability has limited influence on the local abundance of butterflyfish. Only the most specialized species appear to be consistently limited by prey availability. Local and total abundance of species are influenced by a wide range of different factors and there is definite need to conduct independent species assessments.

Materials in a steady state world

With the rise in public concern over the depletion of natural resources, the social role of the materials industry has come up for closer scrutiny. World models such as those being developed by Professor Forrester and his colleagues at M.I.T. leave little room for doubt that economic growth cannot continue far into the twenty-first century without enormous advances in the economical use and recycling of nonrenewable resources. Although studies of specific resource availability such as those carried out by Resources for the Future indicate no materials crisis before the year 2000, this optimistic picture is predicated on large and continuing advances in materials technology ranging all the way from geophysical exploratioh through the more economical use of materials in design. There is a serious question as to whether economic incentives to private industry will continue to be sufficient . to call forth the necessary rate and direction of technological innovation in the materials field to insure the necessary husbanding of the world’s resources. Wider governmental, and eventually multinational intervention in the allocation of scarce materials resources may become necessary to supplement the signals from the marketplace which may not act sufficiently far in advance. On the other hand, there is a growing realization in the underdeveloped world that they control the resources which the developed world needs to feed its industrial machine and can increasingly set their own prices. This may not be wholly bad in that it will tend to stimulate more innovation in the economical use of scarce materials and in the development of substitute materials. Furthermore in the long run it may provide a more acceptable way of transferring needed foreign exchange to the less-developed countries. The materials industry needs to face up more squarely to the future long-range challenge provided by the utilization of materials in a world in which material consumption simply cannot grow at anything like the rates of the recent past to which we have become accustomed.