Complementary Expertise Research Articles

Incorporating Community Engagement in Primary Care Research Training: Eleven-Year Outcomes.

In response to a local workforce need for community-engaged scholars, a community-based participatory research (CBPR) curriculum was incorporated into an established primary care research fellowship. The program prepares researchers to partner with at-risk communities to address root causes and cultural, linguistic, and systems barriers that contribute to health disparities. To describe the context, design, implementation and evaluation of the Academic Fellowship in Primary Care and Community-Engaged Research. The traditional primary care research curriculum was enhanced with expanded enrollment, including social scientists with complementary expertise to physician fellows; a structured CBPR seminar series; involvement of fellows in mentored community-academic partnership projects with progression to independence; and relevant teaching and mentoring experiences. Between 2007 and 2016, 22 fellows enrolled, with 16 in the CBPR track. Fellows demonstrated significant prepost gain in self-assessed competency in CBPR. During their 2- to 3-year training period, each CBPR fellow developed at least one community-academic partnership project, and they collectively produced more than 50 articles and 70 regional or national presentations, and mentored 29 medical student projects. Graduates have assumed leadership positions in academia, and have improved institutional capacity for community-engaged research, teaching, and practice. Important factors related to success and feasibility of CBPR training within a 2- to 3-year timeframe were having dedicated, experienced faculty mentors with existing authentic, trusted community partners, and dedicated funding for new community-academic partnership projects. This model can prepare primary care researchers and teachers to genuinely collaborate with vulnerable communities to address important health priorities and advance health equity.

Hacking the hackathon format to empower citizens in outsmarting “smart” cities

This paper investigates the opportunities of leveraging a hackathon format to empower citizens’ abilities of using open data to improve their neighbourhoods and communities. The presented discussion is grounded in five civic hackathon case studies organised in five european cities. The research revealed specialised learning and collaborative alignment as two mutually complementing aspects of the involved learning processes, which were achieved with the help of high-fidelity and low-fidelity prototypes, respectively. Consequently, the paper identifies and discusses three main factors required to sustain social learning ecosystems beyond hackathon events, and with the purpose of democratisation of smart city services. These factors include a) supporting individuals in obtaining specific expert knowledge and skills, b) nurturing data-literate activist communities of practice made up of citizens with complementary expert skillsets, and c) enabling members of these communities to generate varying fidelity prototypes of open-data services.

Public service media beyond the digital hype: distribution strategies in a platform era

The notion of public service media is used to describe public broadcasters’ provision of services that contribute to the democratic, cultural and social objectives of society, and this on multiple devices and across various technologies. While most research focuses on the theoretical case for public service media, this contribution analyses how public broadcasters strategically position themselves as providers of public service media. What are their distribution strategies in a market that is no longer dominated by the media themselves, but is characterised by a growing concentration of power in the hands of the so-called platforms and a continuous influx of new entrants? The article is based on a qualitative document analysis of public broadcasters’ strategies in Flanders, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Complementary expert interviews were also carried out. Our main finding is that public broadcasters are distributing more and more varied types of content online, but that digital-only content remains limited and is considered as a subsidiary activity. Ample reference is made to the surrounding environment as a means to legitimise the existence of public broadcasters. However, this is not yet translated into concrete and focused distribution strategies.

University‐industry collaboration and front‐end success: the moderating effects of innovativeness and parallel cross‐firm collaboration

Collaboration with science‐based and/or market‐based partners is a promising means for firms’ R&D groups to leverage complementary expertise and resources to generate innovative results. However, R&D managers face the dilemma which partner type to choose in different innovative contexts and whether to focus on one partner type or to integrate both types in early stage R&D. Using survey data from 166 heads of R&D groups, this study investigates university–industry collaboration’s impact on front‐end success depending on the degree of innovativeness and the interaction with other industry partners. The results confirm an overall positive relationship between university–industry collaboration and front‐end success. However, innovativeness increases complexity in this relationship. Parallel collaboration with firms and universities can have a mixed impact on front‐end success depending on the degree of innovativeness. This simultaneous collaboration with firms and universities strengthens front‐end success for more radical innovations, while parallel collaboration activities for more incremental innovations do not necessarily strengthen front‐end success. These findings imply that both collaboration types should be used simultaneously in the front end of radical innovation and that firms could reduce complexity by focusing on either firms or universities as partners for incremental innovations.

International multidisciplinary collaboration toward an annotated definition of arthrogryposis multiplex congenita.

Arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC) has been described and defined in thousands of articles, but the terminology used has been inconsistent in clinical and research communities. A definition of AMC was recently developed using a modified Delphi consensus method involving 25 experts in the field of AMC from 8 countries. Participants included health care professionals, researchers, and individuals with AMC. An annotation of the definition provides more in‐depth explanations of the different sentences of the AMC definition and is useful to complement the proposed definition. The aim of this study was to provide an annotation of the proposed consensus‐based AMC definition. For the annotation process, 17 experts in AMC representing 10 disciplines across 7 countries participated. A paragraph was developed for each sentence of the definition using an iterative process involving multiple authors with varied and complementary expertise, ensuring all points of view were taken into consideration. The annotated definition provides an overview of the different topics related to AMC and is intended for all stakeholders, including youth and adults with AMC, their families, and clinicians and researchers, with the hopes of unifying the understanding of AMC in the international community.

Blended Facilitation as an Effective Implementation Strategy for Quality Improvement and Research in Nursing Homes

Blended facilitation, which leverages the complementary skills and expertise of external and internal facilitators, is a powerful strategy that nursing stakeholders and researchers may use to improve implementation of quality improvement (QI) innovations and research performed in nursing homes. Nursing homes present myriad challenges (eg, time constraints, top-down flow of communication, high staff turnover) to QI implementation and research. This methods article describes the theory and practical application of blended facilitation and its components (external facilitation, internal facilitation, relationship building, and skill building), using examples from a mixed QI and research intervention in Veterans Health Administration nursing homes. Blended facilitation invites nursing home stakeholders to be equal partners in QI and research processes. Its intentional use may overcome many existing barriers to QI and research performed in nursing homes and, by strengthening relationships between researchers and stakeholders, may accelerate implementation of innovative care practices.

Follow the leader: On the relationship between leadership and scholarly impact in international collaborations.

National contributions to science are influenced by a number of factors, including economic capacity, national scientific priorities, science policy, and institutional settings and cultures. Nations do not have equal opportunities to access the global scientific market, and therefore, often seek out international partners with complementary resources and expertise. This study aims at investigating national collaboration strategies, with a focus on research leadership—measured through corresponding authorship—and its relationship with scientific impact. Results show that countries with higher R&D investments are more scientifically independent, and confirm that international collaboration is positively related to citation impact. However, leadership in international collaboration is inversely related with a countries’ share of international collaboration and there is a very little relationship between citation impact and international leadership. For instance, most countries—and particularly those that have fewer resources—have higher scientific impact when they are not leading. This suggests that, despite increasing global participation in science, most international collaborations are asymmetrical, and that the research system remains structured around a few dominate nations.

Paediatric and adult bronchiectasis: Specific management with coexisting asthma, COPD, rheumatological disease and inflammatory bowel disease.

Bronchiectasis, conventionally defined as irreversible dilatation of the bronchial tree, is generally suspected on a clinical basis and confirmed by means of chest high-resolution computed tomography. Clinical manifestations, including chronic productive cough and endobronchial suppuration with persistent chest infection and inflammation, may deeply affect quality of life, both in children/adolescents and adults. Despite many cases being idiopathic or post-infectious, a number of specific aetiologies have been traditionally associated with bronchiectasis, such as cystic fibrosis (CF), primary ciliary dyskinesia or immunodeficiencies. Nevertheless, bronchiectasis may also develop in patients with bronchial asthma; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and, less commonly, rheumatological disorders and inflammatory bowel diseases. Available literature on the development of bronchiectasis in these conditions and on its management is limited, particularly in children. However, bronchiectasis may complicate the clinical course of the underlying condition at any age, and appropriate management requires an integration of multiple skills in a team of complementary experts to provide the most appropriate care to affected children and adolescents. The present review aims at summarizing the current knowledge and available evidence on the management of bronchiectasis in the other conditions mentioned and focuses on the new therapeutic strategies that are emerging as promising tools for improving patients' quality of life.

Sustainable Aquaculture Futures

Sustainable Aquaculture Futures

A Competency Framework to Assess and Activate Education for Sustainable Development: Addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals 4.7 Challenge

The UN Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (herein, Agenda 30) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer both a set of aspirations for the kind of future we would like to see for the world and a suite of targets and indicators to support goal implementation. Goal 4 promotes quality education and Target 4.7 specifically addresses Education for Sustainability. However, creating a monitoring and evaluation framework for Target 4.7 has been challenging. The aim of this research was to develop a meaningful assessment process. We used a dialogical intervention across complementary expertises and piloted concepts in a trainer workshop. We then developed a modified competency framework, drawing on previous competency models but innovating through the addition of intrapersonal competencies, a self-reflective validation scheme, a focus on non-formal learning, and specific alignment with SDG 4.7 requirements. Through exploration of how such learning could be activated, we proposed the use of multiple intelligences. Education plays a synergistic role in achieving the aspirations embedded within Agenda 2030 and the SDGs. We concluded that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) will require individuals to acquire ‘key competencies’, aligning with notions of transformational learning, in addition to other generic and context specific competencies.

Principles and strategies for involving patients in research in chronic kidney disease: report from national workshops.

There is widespread recognition that research will be more impactful if it arises from partnerships between patients and researchers, but evidence on best practice for achieving this remains limited. We convened workshops in three Australian cities involving 105 patients/caregivers and 43 clinicians/researchers. In facilitated breakout groups, participants discussed principles and strategies for effective patient involvement in chronic kidney disease research. Transcripts were analysed thematically. Five major themes emerged. 'Respecting consumer expertise and commitment' involved valuing unique and diverse experiential knowledge, clarifying expectations and responsibilities, equipping for meaningful involvement and keeping patients 'in the loop'. 'Attuning to individual context' required a preference-based multipronged approach to engagement, reducing the burden of involvement and being sensitive to the patient journey. 'Harnessing existing relationships and infrastructure' meant partnering with trusted clinicians, increasing research exposure in clinical settings, mentoring patient to patient and extending reach through established networks. 'Developing a coordinated approach' enabled power in the collective and united voice, a systematic approach for equitable inclusion and streamlining access to opportunities and trustworthy information. 'Fostering a patient-centred culture' encompassed building a community, facilitating knowledge exchange and translation, empowering health ownership, providing an opportunity to give back and cultivating trust through transparency. Partnering with patients in research requires respect and recognition of their unique, diverse and complementary experiential expertise. Establishing a supportive, respectful research culture, responding to their individual context, coordinating existing infrastructure and centralizing the flow of information may facilitate patient involvement as active partners in research.

EU-OPENSCREEN: A Novel Collaborative Approach to Facilitate Chemical Biology

Compound screening in biological assays and subsequent optimization of hits is indispensable for the development of new molecular research tools and drug candidates. To facilitate such discoveries, the European Research Infrastructure EU-OPENSCREEN was founded recently with the support of its member countries and the European Commission. Its distributed character harnesses complementary knowledge, expertise, and instrumentation in the discipline of chemical biology from 20 European partners, and its open working model ensures that academia and industry can readily access EU-OPENSCREEN’s compound collection, equipment, and generated data. To demonstrate the power of this collaborative approach, this perspective article highlights recent projects from EU-OPENSCREEN partner institutions. These studies yielded (1) 2-aminoquinazolin-4(3H)-ones as potential lead structures for new antimalarial drugs, (2) a novel lipodepsipeptide specifically inducing apoptosis in cells deficient for the pVHL tumor suppressor, (3) small-molecule-based ROCK inhibitors that induce definitive endoderm formation and can potentially be used for regenerative medicine, (4) potential pharmacological chaperones for inborn errors of metabolism and a familiar form of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and (5) novel tankyrase inhibitors that entered a lead-to-candidate program. Collectively, these findings highlight the benefits of small-molecule screening, the plethora of assay designs, and the close connection between screening and medicinal chemistry within EU-OPENSCREEN.

The Perspective of Cancer Patients on the Use of Complementary Medicine

Background: Cancer is considered one of the most important health issues in Iran. Regarding that Iranians have a positive attitude towards complementary medicine; the demand for this type of treatments is increasing. However, those undergoing this treatment often have limited awareness on it. Objectives: This study aims at determining the perspective of cancer patients on using complementary medicine. Methods: In this descriptive study, 176 cancer patients from all over the country were selected by purposeful sampling, according to the inclusion criteria and, then, completed demographic characteristics questionnaire and the Questionnaire on Integrating Complementary Medicine in Oncology Treatment. The data were analyzed, using SPSS software version 20. Results: More than half of the patients used complementary medicine and according to their viewpoints, using herbal medicine was considered their first priority. At the same time, 46% of the research samples consulted with care providers on how to use complementary medicine for cancer treatment. The most frequent referrals to specialists were referrals to complementary medicine experts. The researchers expected complementary medicine to improve their symptoms of anxiety, fatigue, and depression. Conclusions: The use of complementary medicine as a complementary approach in cancer patients can have an impact on the improvement of symptoms, which ultimately enhances the quality of life in patients. Due to the concerns about applying these approaches, it is necessary to train care providers in order to consider the perspective of cancer patients in this regard and to obtain their past medical history.

If a fish can pass the mark test, what are the implications for consciousness and self-awareness testing in animals?

The ability to perceive and recognise a reflected mirror image as self (mirror self-recognition, MSR) is considered a hallmark of cognition across species. Although MSR has been reported in mammals and birds, it is not known to occur in any other major taxon. Potentially limiting our ability to test for MSR in other taxa is that the established assay, the mark test, requires that animals display contingency testing and self-directed behaviour. These behaviours may be difficult for humans to interpret in taxonomically divergent animals, especially those that lack the dexterity (or limbs) required to touch a mark. Here, we show that a fish, the cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus, shows behaviour that may reasonably be interpreted as passing through all phases of the mark test: (i) social reactions towards the reflection, (ii) repeated idiosyncratic behaviours towards the mirror, and (iii) frequent observation of their reflection. When subsequently provided with a coloured tag in a modified mark test, fish attempt to remove the mark by scraping their body in the presence of a mirror but show no response towards transparent marks or to coloured marks in the absence of a mirror. This remarkable finding presents a challenge to our interpretation of the mark test—do we accept that these behavioural responses, which are taken as evidence of self-recognition in other species during the mark test, lead to the conclusion that fish are self-aware? Or do we rather decide that these behavioural patterns have a basis in a cognitive process other than self-recognition and that fish do not pass the mark test? If the former, what does this mean for our understanding of animal intelligence? If the latter, what does this mean for our application and interpretation of the mark test as a metric for animal cognitive abilities?Editor’s noteThis Short Report received both positive and negative reviews by experts. The Academic Editor has written an accompanying Primer that we are publishing alongside this article (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000112). The linked Primer presents a complementary expert perspective; it discusses how the current study should be interpreted in the context of evidence for and against self-awareness in a wide range of animals.

PRODUCING NEW SPATIAL(IZED) (HI)STORIES ON CONGOLESE CITIES: REFLECTIONS ON TEN YEARS OF COLLABORATION BETWEEN UGENT AND UNIKIN


 
 
 This article presents the context and some of the results of ten years of collaboration in the field of African urban history between researchers from Ghent University (UGent), and mainly its Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, and scholars of the Université de Kinshasa (UNIKIN), which, in part, has benefited from the forum created by the Ghent African Platform (GAP). What ties together this collaborative work, is the conviction that ‘History matters’ when thinking not only about the past, but also about the present and the future of cities in today’s DR Congo. Moreover, we argue, it is the combination of our complementary expertise in socio-demographic history and architectural/ urban planning history that has enabled us to develop new narratives on space and society in these urban environments. These, we believe, hold a relevance for the historiography of Congo’s colonial past as well as for current discussions on colonial heritage and urban development. By demonstrating that we have gained much through stimulating a cross-disciplinary and inter-generational conversation that brings together (the expertise from) scholars working on Congo/Africa and coming from different backgrounds, academic cultures and age, we explicitly want to advocate setting up forms of relationship between the ‘North’ and ‘South’ that go beyond the common trope of ‘Capacity Building’. A number of specific pieces of work related to the cities of Kinshasa and Matadi will be discussed, illustrating how we have also deliberately sought to target different audiences by producing different kinds of output, from academic publications to exhibitions, reports for policy makers to outreach activities in the cultural arena. As such, we believe that this ten years of collaboration on African Urban History is fully in tune with GAP’s main agenda of creating a cross-disciplinary forum where scholars from North and South, and from different generations can meet and exchange ideas, and we hope to embed our future collaboration in an even broader community, both at UGent and UNIKIN.
 KEYWORDS: DR CONGO, URBAN HISTORY, CROSS-DISCIPLINARITY, COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
 
 

A citizen science model for implementing statewide educational DNA barcoding.

Our aim was to develop a widely available educational program in which students conducted authentic research that met the expectations of both the scientific and educational communities. This paper describes the development and implementation of a citizen science project based on DNA barcoding of reptile specimens obtained from the Museums Victoria frozen tissue collection. The student program was run by the Gene Technology Access Centre (GTAC) and was delivered as a “one day plus one lesson” format incorporating a one-day wet laboratory workshop followed by a single lesson at school utilising online bioinformatics tools. The project leveraged the complementary resources and expertise of the research and educational partners to generate robust scientific data that could be analysed with confidence, meet the requirements of the Victorian state education curriculum, and provide participating students with an enhanced learning experience. During two 1-week stints in 2013 and 2014, 406 students mentored by 44 postgraduate university students participated in the project. Students worked mainly in pairs to process ~200 tissue samples cut from 53 curated reptile specimens representing 17 species. A total of 27 novel Cytochrome Oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) sequences were ultimately generated for 8 south-east Australian reptile species of the families Scincidae and Agamidae.

Sustaining the Buyout Governance Model: Inside Secondary Management Buyout Boards

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of private equity (PE) directors and their human capital on operating performance in a unique hand‐collected sample of 200 secondary management buyouts (SMBOs) during 2000–2015. It shows that PE directors’ human capital tends to play a statistically and economically important role in performance. Financial (rather than operational) experience of PE directors in acquiring PE firms tends to have a substantial impact on post‐SMBO profitability, while high‐level business education is especially important in post‐SMBO growth performance enhancement. Complementary expertise, provided by directors in buying and selling PE firms, plays an important role only in post‐SMBO growth improvements. Overall, the paper's results provide evidence that governance benefits of the buyout model tend not to be exhausted in the primary buyout stage, but the effects in the secondary buyout phase depend on the nature of PE directors’ human capital resource, notably in respect of the balance between board monitoring and advisory roles. This study therefore adds to growing evidence on how the ownership and life‐cycle nature of firms affect sustainability of boards fulfilling their roles. The results are robust to sample selection bias, different types of PE firms and different measures of human capital.

Editorial

Editorial A strong Editorial Board is essential to the success of any academic journal, especially one (such as this) with a broad remit spanning several disciplines and distinct periods. Comprising highly respected scholars, and supported by an International Advisory Board, the Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy plays an important role. Through regular meetings and correspondence with the editors and Publication Office staff, its members guide strategic thinking on the direction and promotion of the journal, and help with the acquisition of high-quality material, both by actively promoting it as a venue for publication and by their association with it. Their wide-ranging and complementary expertise in the journal’s core subject areas, often combined with extensive experience as editors of both journals and books, ensures that the editors of Proceedings are in the comfortable position of having access to ready expert advice on, for example, such matters as identifying suitable readers for a paper, and on guiding it through the peer review and editorial process. Up to now the Editorial Board had been renewed incrementally through invitation. When a position was due to become vacant, the board discussed what areas of expertise needed to be strengthened and sought to identify who would best be placed to do so. Individuals were nominated by the board whose recommendations were then considered the Academy’s Publications Committee. While this method has worked well, there is a lot to be said for casting the net wider. It can be difficult for Editorial Board members to judge on availability and there is always the danger that candidates who may have a lot to contribute get overlooked inadvertently. For these reasons the board of Proceedings readily embraced the Academy’s new policy of issuing Open Calls when the membership of editorial boards requires renewal. The first call was issued earlier this year with a deadline for expressions of interest in July. It outlined the journal’s remit, highlighted the forthcoming thematic issue on Climate and Society, and the ­ importance of expertise in helping further to enhance the journal’s impact factor. A large number of submissions were received from highly qualified individuals , far more in fact than the places available at this time. The interest shown by leading scholars with a range of disciplinary specialisms is very heartening and attests to the high standing of the journal both nationally and internationally . The selection process will, of course, be guided by the need to maintain the balance in terms of disciplines and periods as this is essential for the board to fulfil its core functions. We hope that future calls will attract similar interest, including from the individuals who could not be accommodated on this occasion , and we thank them all sincerely for their responses. If the first call is any Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy Vol. 119C, vii–ix © 2019 Royal Irish Academy doi: https://doi.org/10.3318/PRIAC.2019.119.10 Editorial viii indication, this new system will facilitate incremental renewal of the Editorial Board, thereby helping to secure the future of the journal. The quality of contributions to the current volume is another illustration of the journal’s status as a leading outlet for research in Irish archaeology, history, literature and cognate disciplines. Gandois and colleagues demonstrate that some of the copper axe-ingots produced in southwest Ireland at the start of the Bronze Age were traded along the Atlantic seaboard of north-west France, a discovery with wide-ranging implications for our understanding of prehistoric connections between these regions. There follows three papers on medieval­ ecclesiastical matters, one by a historian and two by archaeologists. Against the background of similar processes in Britain and the Continent, Paul MacCotter reviews the emergence of the parish system in Ireland and argues that aspects of the system of pastoral care established by AD 1100 survived in the high medieval parish structure, especially in areas that remained in Gaelic hands. Elizabeth Fitzpatrick considers the character of cathedral-centred communities in Gaelic areas and argues that the urban–rural paradigm that tends to dominate interpretations of such sites is unhelpful because their development was governed by different values. Tracy Collins...

Mavericks and lotteries

In 2013 the Health Research Council of New Zealand began a stream of funding titled ‘Explorer Grants’, and in 2017 changes were introduced to the funding mechanisms of the Volkswagen Foundation ‘Experiment!’ and the New Zealand Science for Technological Innovation challenge ‘Seed Projects’. All three funding streams aim at encouraging novel scientific ideas, and all now employ random selection by lottery as part of the grant selection process. The idea of funding science by lottery emerged independently in several corners of academia, including in philosophy of science. This paper reviews the conceptual and institutional landscape in which this policy proposal emerged, how different academic fields presented and supported arguments for the proposal, and how these have been reflected (or not) in actual policy. The paper presents an analytical synthesis of the arguments presented to date, notes how they support each other and shape policy recommendations in various ways, and where competing arguments highlight the need for further analysis or more data. In addition, it provides lessons for how philosophers of science can engage in shaping science policy, and in particular, highlights the importance of mixing complementary expertise: it takes a (conceptually diverse) village to raise (good) policy.

Linkage among stakeholders in livestock sector - A technology adoption perspective

India is endowed, as the largest milk producer (165.4 million tons) with largest livestock population (512.05 million) in the World. Indian livestock farming embrace major share of smallholder dairy farmers and have a great potential for further improvement and is mandated to bring different stakeholders in dairy sector together, share knowledge and resources in order to engage in concerted action. One of the major challenges of the livestock sector is dissemination of technology, skills and quality services to farmers for improving productivity and quality of the produce, which need to be addressed. Various stakeholders from government, non-government and private sector are involved in livestock research and extension activities. But the major focus of all these stakeholders goes on animal health care activities and underscores livestock extension activities. Due to lack of proper linkage between these stakeholders, the research carried out in various institutions are not in accordance with the priority needs of dairy farmers and reduces the fitness of technology in field level. In order to tackle the present situation, it is essential to relook and reframe policies that assure effective linkages among researchers, extensionist, decision-makers and farmers, who have complementary expertise.