Fourth Challenge Research Articles

Expectations and experiences of a dance programme for autistic children: A qualitative study of parents, teachers and therapists

AbstractThis study explores the expectations of dance therapists/practitioners and parents and teachers of autistic children engaging in a developmental dance programme. Information gathered will support development of an evaluation tool aligned with the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF) Core Sets for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A qualitative study included a convenience cohort of teachers (n = 6), parents (n = 2) of children with ASD and therapists (n = 3). Three role specific focus groups were undertaken considering potential benefits and challenges of the programme. Content and thematic analysis was undertaken using NVivo12. Findings reflected four positive themes relating to behaviour, skills, social interaction and environmental supports. Therapists, teachers and parents focused differently on stereotypical and restricted behaviours, environmental supports and habits and routines respectively. These themes also emerged as challenges (to implement/achieve); with parents identifying more emotional and behavioural restrictions. A fourth challenge theme of transferability of skills emerged from teachers and therapists. Items mapped against 28 ICF Core Sets (across the lifespan) and six to ICF categories, with creativity and imagination mismatched. Findings highlight need for a specific outcome measure for dance and/or movement programmes for autistic individuals that captures meaningful functions across ICF domains for differing stakeholders.

Artificial intelligence, algorithms, and compensation strategy: Challenges and opportunities

Compensation strategy plays a crucial role in attracting, motivating, and retaining strategic human capital. Amping up the advantages of being strategic about compensation are advances in technology such as cloud computing and storage along with digitized big data that make the sheer amount of information available and analyzed electronically, a huge competitive opportunity. The good news is these advances have unleashed a tsunami of technology solutions that promise to solve all compensation challenges. In this paper, I synthesize and summarize the literature on artificial intelligence and compensation management and describe four key challenges that companies face in using AI to manage compensation strategically. The first challenge is when and how to use AI to automate and augment compensation tasks and decisions. The second challenge is how to use AI effectively to improve fairness and equity in compensation practices. The third challenge is explaining how AI recommended changes in compensation practices are derived. The fourth challenge is how to actually be strategic using AI solutions. In describing these four challenges, I identify issues, opportunities, gaps, and current limitations of existing AI applications in supporting the strategic management of compensation in organizations.

Dynamic urban traffic rerouting with fog‐cloud reinforcement learning

AbstractDynamic rerouting has been touted as a solution for urban traffic congestion. However, its implementation is stymied by the complexity of urban traffic. To address this, recent studies suggest the efficacy of novel technologies like fog computing and deep reinforcement learning. However, there exist significant challenges in this regard: (1) sorting massive amounts of data associated with large urban networks, (2) large action space that hinders learning efficiency, (3) impairment of rerouting efficacy due to overreliance on regional/local information, and (4) the issue of congestion shifting. To overcome these challenges, this paper presents a novel two‐step approach that integrates graph attention Q network (GAQ) with entropy‐balanced k shortest path (EBkSP) via fog‐cloud information framework to carry out vehicle rerouting in dynamic traffic environments typical of large cities. The first challenge is addressed by GAQ that uses attention mechanism to evaluate traffic and assign region indices based on the relative importance of information. The second challenge is addressed using fog nodes that reduce the action space, and the third is addressed using fog computing combined with cloud computing to facilitate the computation of global optimal information in a centralized planning decentralized execution pattern. The fourth challenge is addressed using EBkSP, which identifies vehicle optimal routes based on route popularity and vehicle priority. After conducting a numerical experiment involving two other cutting‐edge vehicle rerouting models as baselines, it was established that the proposed model delivers results that are 14%–54% superior from perspectives of the mean travel speed and congestion. The superior efficacy of the proposed learning‐based (compared to rule‐based) models is pronounced when rerouting ratios are low. As the rerouting ratio increases, both the learning‐based and rule‐based model outcomes exhibit reduced likelihoods of severe congestion. However, the learning‐based model consistently outperforms the rule‐based model across all scenarios. The proposed model can effectively reroute vehicles under different situations of rerouting ratio and total count of vehicles and can help improve traffic mobility and reduce congestion in urban areas. It can be implemented easily by urban road agencies.

Socioeconomic Difference and Adequate Antenatal Care in Indonesia: Evidence from a Nationwide Household Survey

BACKGROUND: Inadequate antenatal care (ANC) has been identified as a risk factor for poor pregnancy outcomes in low-income nations. The World Health Organization recommends adequate ANC for a minimum of eight visits. While universal health coverage has been implemented since 2014, Indonesia as fourth largest populous country encounters challenge on socioeconomic disparities. AIM: This study aims to explore the socioeconomic difference of adequate ANC in Indonesia. METHODS: Data from the Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey 2017 was used for the analysis and includes 15,313 mothers age 15–49 who had a last live birth in the 5 years preceding the survey. Multivariate logistic regression was employed to assess correlation between socioeconomic status and adequate ANC. RESULTS: About 20.8% of mothers had adequate ANC and the proportion ranging between 11.4% in the poorest group and 34.5% in the richest group. Poorest (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.54–0.86) and poorer (AOR 0.79; 95% CI: 0.64–0.97) mothers are less likely to have adequate ANC compared to the richest mothers. In addition, mothers who lived in Java-Bali region, had better knowledge on danger sign of pregnancy, exposed to internet every day, health insurance ownerships, and having ANC at health facilities were more likely to have adequate ANC. CONCLUSION: Socioeconomic status was significantly associated with adequate ANC, where inequality was profound among poor mothers. Therefore, specific intervention to expand universal health coverage for poor mothers is essential to reduce socioeconomic disparities.

Abstract 906: Development of a repeated challenge potency assay for evaluation of immune cell-mediated cytotoxicity in vitro

Abstract The development of immunotherapies relies on the use of in vitro potency assays - which are key for understanding complex interactions between immune (effector) cells and cancer (target) cells - to evaluate the function, specificity, and sensitivity of a product. A variety of in vitro assays are used to characterize the proliferation, cytokine release, and cell-mediated cytotoxicity of engineered immune cells, such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, each representing an important aspect driving clinical efficacy of the cellular product. Importantly, adoptive cell therapies must exhibit potent tumor killing over a prolonged period in vivo. Here, we describe an in vitro potency assay that quantifies immune cell-mediated cytotoxicity in response to repeated challenges with target cells. The repeated challenge assay was performed with two separate protocols, each providing a unique assessment of the effector cell function. In the first method, SKOV3 target cells (5k cells/well) were seeded into a multiwell microplate with embedded electrodes in the substrate. Electrical impedance measurements from the electrodes in each well detected the attachment and proliferation of the target cells. HER-2 specific CAR T effector cells were added 24 hours after the target cells and co-cultured with the target cells at a 1:1 effector to target ratio. Cytolysis of the target cells was calculated by comparing treated wells to no treatment control wells. Additional SKOV3 target cells (5k per well) were added every 24 hours for the repeated challenge conditions, with total tumor cell killing computed from the area under the impedance curve. The repeated challenge condition reached complete killing after the 6th tumor cell challenge (144 hours after first effector addition), whereas the single challenge condition reached complete killing within 96 hours of effector addition. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that the effector cells proliferated significantly more for the repeated challenge condition (4.7 fold increase) than the single challenge condition (1.5 fold increase). In the second method, the CAR T cells were removed after each challenge, counted, and added to a fresh plate of SKOV3 target cells at a 1:1 effector to target cell ratio. Here, the E:T ratio was kept constant for each challenge, allowing a direct comparison of the killing kinetics (KT50) for each subsequent challenge. The KT50 decreased from the first challenge (19.9 hr) to the fourth challenge (83.5 hr). Flow cytometry analysis revealed a reduction in CD8+ cells for the repeated challenge condition, indicating a change in the make-up of the immune cell population. The paradigms described above facilitate a label-free, in vitro workflow to assess potency of immune effector cells across repeated challenges, with the opportunity to incorporate additional assays, like flow cytometry or cytokine release, after each successive challenge. Citation Format: Denise Sullivan, Stacie Chvatal, Daniel Millard. Development of a repeated challenge potency assay for evaluation of immune cell-mediated cytotoxicity in vitro [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 906.

Kontekst jest wszystkim. O trudnej sztuce komparatystyki „europejskiego” orzecznictwa sądów konstytucyjnych

Context is Everything. On the Difficult Art of “European” Comparative Studies Jurisprudence of Constitutional Courts Comparative research of the case-law of constitutional courts concerning the membership of a given state in the EU (referred to in the article as “European” case-law of constitutional courts) requires taking into account various contexts in which this case-law is involved. The aim of this article is to indicate and analyze the most important of them, namely: the systemic context, the temporal context, the political context (including related problem of the politicization of the constitutional court), and the theoretical context. Moreover, the article draws attention to the necessity to contextualize “constitutional borrowings”, which acquires special meaning in connection with the perceived phenomenon of abuse of the “comparative argument”. Sometimes the distinguished contexts overlap, for example in the case of the temporal context and political context, but their separation allows for a better understanding of the complexity of comparative research on the European acquis constitutionnel. The specificity of this subject of legal-comparative research proves the correctness of the thesis that the contemporary constitutional comparative law must face several challenges. The first is the integration of the classical “horizontal” comparative method with the “vertical” dimension related to the influence of international and supranational norms on national constitutional systems. The second challenge is related to supporting an interdisciplinary approach to comparative constitutional law, which will take into account the perspective of social sciences, such as political science, sociology or history. The third challenge, then, is related to establishing the right balance between focusing on specific (not only) legal issues related to the analyzed issue and taking into account a broader vision of the directions of changes in European constitutionalism. The fourth challenge, in turn, concerns the popularization of the results of scientific research related to comparative studies of the “European” acquis constitutionnel. The last (and perhaps the most difficult) challenge facing the comparative research of “European” case law of constitutional courts is an attempt to answer the question to what extent this diverse jurisprudence conglomerate is a manifestation of the stability of constitutional law and the constitution, and to what extent it is a driving force for dynamic changes in contemporary public law.

Local IL-10 replacement therapy was effective for steroid-insensitive asthma in mice

Subgroups of patients with severe asthma showing marked increases in sputum eosinophils and/or neutrophils are insensitive to corticosteroids. Previous reports have shown that exogenous administration of an anti-inflammatory cytokine, interleukin (IL)-10 negatively regulated both eosinophilic and neutrophilic migration into tissues. The objective of this study was to elucidate whether intratracheal IL-10 administration suppresses asthmatic responses in a steroid-insensitive model of mice. Ovalbumin (OVA)-sensitized BALB/c mice were intratracheally challenged with OVA at 500 µg/animal four times. Dexamethasone (1 mg/kg, intraperitoneal) or IL-10 (25 ng/mouse, intratracheal) was administered during the multiple challenges. The number of leukocytes, expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), and IL-10 receptor in the lung, and the development of airway remodeling and hyperresponsiveness were evaluated after the fourth challenge. Consistent with our previous study, dexamethasone hardly suppressed the development of airway remodeling and hyperresponsiveness. Although intratracheal IL-10 administration did not affect the development of airway remodeling, the infiltration of eosinophils and neutrophils, and the development of airway hyperresponsiveness were significantly inhibited. Moreover, IL-10 administration significantly decreased the numbers of ICAM-1+ and VCAM-1+ pulmonary vascular endothelial cells, which express IL-10 receptor 1, even though neither production of eosinophilic nor neutrophilic cytokines in the lung was inhibited. Therefore, IL-10 can suppress eosinophil and neutrophil infiltration by inhibiting the proliferation of ICAM-1+ and VCAM-1+ pulmonary vascular endothelial cells, resulting in inhibition of airway hyperresponsiveness in steroid-insensitive asthmatic mice. IL-10 replacement therapy may be clinically useful for the treatment of steroid-insensitive asthma.

In defence of multiculturalism – theoretical challenges

ABSTRACT Although it seems that multiculturalism has been dismissed as a failed experiment or sham in the public debate, there has been an ongoing internal academic discussion of theoretical approaches to multiculturalism. This theoretical dialogue is, of course, parallel to and affected by developments in society. This article dissects and analyses some key and ‘classical’ nodes in the theoretical exploration of multiculturalism and brings forward key dimensions in this field of research. The main bulk of the literature used is from the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the twenty-first century. The most significant works on multiculturalism were written during this period and what we see today is often a more politicized discussion of multiculturalism. The article discerns and identifies some key dimensions and questions in the theoretically informed discussion of multiculturalism. Four challenges are identified. The first concerns the conceptualization of collective or group identities. The second concerns the discussion of ‘race’ and ethnicity and the third identity politics. A fourth challenge is raised by questions about the limits of the national space and about transnationalism.

A Multistep Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation Scanning Strategy in Long-Term ECGs

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a progressive disease often initially manifested by intermittent episodes spontaneously terminating and is an insidious disease. The previous work trained the support vector machine (SVM) classifier on multiple RR interval features. The trained AF detector was tested on the fourth China Physiological Signal Challenge (CPSC 2021) database, achieving 97.59% and 89.83% for sensitivity and specificity on dataset 1, respectively. The test results were 96.46% and 78.64% on dataset 2, respectively. The results show that the AF detector based on rhythm is insufficient for the recognition of non-AF. Therefore, this work developed AF scanning algorithm integrating rhythm and P-wave information for long-term ECGs. The proposed algorithm is divided into three steps. First, utilize <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$a$ </tex-math></inline-formula> <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">priori</i> knowledge to locate suspected AF, and then, employ a trained rhythm-based AF detector to detect AF. Finally, adopt the dynamic time warping (DTW) and an autoencoding (AE) network to quantize the P-wave information to identify the non-AF signal from AF. The results on dataset 1 were 97.44% and 98.50% and on dataset 2 were 96.13% and 87.42%. This work scanned 11 patients with 24-h paroxysmal AF (PAF). The best result is that the detection accuracy is 99.33%, and the false detection is 0.01%, and the worst outcome is that the detection accuracy is 88.75%, and the false detection is 14.06%. The results proved that the proposed method could provide reliable scanning for PAF events.

Educational management decision-making function model based on the perspective of technological change education

With the development of information technology and the maturity of knowledge economy, educational function management has risen to the stage of educational decision-making function management. It is one of the important issues of functional education management decision-making. Taking the bottleneck faced by the development of higher education decision-making mechanism as the breakthrough point, and the rapid development of technological change education provides opportunities for the optimization of educational decision-making mechanism, we should make full use of the core value advantage of technological change education in educational decision-making to improve the scientific and accurate level of educational management decision-making. The educational reform driven by technology is essentially the reform of educational technology. The essence of technology reshaping education is that technology reshapes the "technology for education". Technology and education, as the two driving forces to promote the development of human history, are closely related in depth. With the evolution of technology, the structure of education will change, change the whole arrangement of educational methods, processes and organizational forms, and reconstruct the structure of education system. Especially since the fourth industrial technology revolution, the impact and challenge of technology on education has become an important topic of common concern for the world and localization. This paper discusses the decision-making function model of education management from the perspective of education based on technological change.

Developing Earthquake-Resistant Structural Design Standard for Malaysia Based on Eurocode 8: Challenges and Recommendations

In late 2017, the Malaysian National Annex (NA) to Eurocode 8 (EC8) was released and enacted following some 13 years of deliberations and preparations. The authors of this paper aim to use this article to share their experiences and reflections during this period of developing the first national standard for the seismic design of buildings for Malaysia. To begin with, there were major challenges in implementing the 20-year-old EC8 framework for a country so far away from Europe. The first challenge was adapting the probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) methodology in a low-to-moderate seismicity region where the paucity of representative seismic data presented a great deal of uncertainties. To address this situation, imposing a minimum level of seismic hazard was recommended. The second challenge was about dealing with the outdated EC8 site classification scheme, which poorly represents the potential effects of soil amplification in certain geological settings. To address this situation, an alternative site classification scheme in which the site natural period is an explicit modelling parameter was introduced. The third challenge was concerned with difficulties generated by the EC8 provisions mandating Ductility Class Medium (DCM) detailing in certain localities where the level of seismic hazard is predicted to exceed a certain threshold. To address this situation, the viable option of using strength to trade off for ductility was recommended, or in cases where ductility design is needed, a simplified set of code-compliant DCM designs was presented. The fourth challenge was about handling the requirements of EC8 that the majority of buildings are to involve dynamic analysis in their structural design when the majority of practising professionals did not have the skills of exercising proper use of the requisite software. To address this situation, a generalized force method was introduced to control the use dynamic analysis in commercial software. It is hoped that, through sharing the lessons learnt, code drafters for the future would be able to find ways of circumventing the multitude of challenges with clear thinking and pragmatism.

The implications of digital visual media for human–nature relationships

The implications of digital visual media for human–nature relationships

Chemoprophylaxis under sporozoites-lumefantrine (CPS-LMF) immunization induce protective immune responses against Plasmodium yoelii sporozoites infection in mice.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-021-03022-0.

On Seven Fundamental Optimization Challenges in Machine Learning

Many recent successes of machine learning went hand in hand with advances in optimization. The exchange of ideas between these fields has worked both ways, with machine learning building on standard optimization procedures such as gradient descent, as well as with new directions in the optimization theory stemming from machine learning applications. In this thesis, we discuss new developments in optimization inspired by the needs and practice of machine learning, federated learning, and data science. In particular, we consider seven key challenges of mathematical optimization and develop a solution to each. Our first contribution is the resolution of a key open problem in Federated Learning: we establish the first theoretical guarantees for the famous Local SGD algorithm in the heterogeneous data regime. As the second challenge, we close the gap between the upper and lower bounds for the theory of two algorithms known as Random Reshuffling (RR) and Shuffle-Once that are widely used in practice, and set as the default data selection strategies for SGD in modern machine learning software. Our third contribution can be seen as a combination of our new theory for proximal RR and Local SGD yielding a new algorithm, which we call FedRR. Unlike Local SGD, FedRR can provably beat gradient descent in communication complexity in the heterogeneous data regime. The fourth challenge is related to the class of adaptive methods. In particular, we present the first parameter-free stepsize rule for gradient descent that provably works for any locally smooth convex objective. The fifth challenge is the development of an algorithm for distributed optimization with quantized updates that preserves linear convergence of gradient descent. Finally, in our sixth and seventh challenges, we develop new VR mechanisms applicable to the non-smooth setting based on proximal operators.

A Phenomenological study of teachers’ lived experiences on the challenges of holding in-service training courses by Ministry of Education

Background and Objectives: Qualified and experienced teachers with high professional and educational ability are very necessary and vital for quality education. In this regard, professional development programs with lifelong and continuous training courses in various formats, including in-service training courses, are held for teachers. Despite the importance of these courses, a review of the findings of many studies suggests that in-service education courses were not so effective for many teachers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the challenges of holding in-service training courses in education from the teachers’ perspectives.Materials and Methods: The method of the present study is qualitative with a phenomenological approach in terms of lived experiences. The participants of the present study were all teachers working in West Azerbaijan Province. The research sample was selected by using non-probability purposeful sampling method with considering the criteria such as teachers' reputation, obtaining technology-related rewards in provincial or national festivals, and teaching experience of technology training courses in the Department of Education. The sample size was determined by considering the theoretical saturation rule. In order to receive the feedback of adequacy and theoretical saturation, after each interview, the data were immediately transcribed, handwritten, and encoded. After 22 interviews (13 women and 9 men), the data reached the theoretical saturation. The data collection method was the semi-structured interview. Two techniques of voice recording and note-taking (with the emphasis laid on voice recording) were used for data collection method. To analyze the data and extract the main themes, the content analysis approach was performed based on the four-step approach of Giorgi (1970) in the platform of MAXQDA10 software.Findings: The findings showed that the challenges of holding in-service courses can be classified and presented in four themes or main challenges which are: 1) Motivation of the teachers for active and purposeful participation in the courses (including subcategories of internal challenges and external challenges); 2) the quality of and the method of holding the courses (including subcategories of lack of attention to the thematic nature of the courses, and lack of attention to the required infrastructure); 3) the Continuity (thematic and temporal) in holding the courses (including subcategories of lack of continuity of thematic hierarchy and lack of time continuity in holding the courses); and 4) adapting the content of the courses to the needs of the teachers (including lack of need-oriented courses, lack of attention to the proportion of the prerequisite knowledge of the teachers to participate in the courses and lack of specialized courses).Conclusions: Comsidering that like other government organizations, holding in-service training courses for the teachers is mandatory in the Education Organization, it is assumed that holding such courses is somehow ‘fulfilling a duty’without paying attention to the ‘effectiveness’ of the courses. Therefore, it is cocluded that the first challenge should be lack of teachers’ motivation in participating in such courses. The second challenge is that since the required infrastructures for holding such courses are not provided, thus the courses lack the required effectiveness. The third challenge is that since in-service training courses are not held continuously, both thematically and temporally, therefore, despite spending a large amount of costs, their effectiveness is not evident. According to fourth challenge, since the prerequisite of ‘participation in the course’ and ‘determining the level of the teachers’ are not observed, thus, the content of the courses is not regulated with respect to the development of the professional skills of the teacher. Therefore, it is suggested that for holding such courses, first the assessment of needs and prerequisites of the courses should be formulated, the teachers should be graded, the required prerequisites for such courses should be provided. Considering the sequence of the topics, the courses

Prediction of protein assemblies, the next frontier: The CASP14-CAPRI experiment.

We present the results for CAPRI Round 50, the fourth joint CASP-CAPRI protein assembly prediction challenge. The Round comprised a total of twelve targets, including six dimers, three trimers, and three higher-order oligomers. Four of these were easy targets, for which good structural templates were available either for the full assembly, or for the main interfaces (of the higher-order oligomers). Eight were difficult targets for which only distantly related templates were found for the individual subunits. Twenty-five CAPRI groups including eight automatic servers submitted ~1250 models per target. Twenty groups including six servers participated in the CAPRI scoring challenge submitted ~190 models per target. The accuracy of the predicted models was evaluated using the classical CAPRI criteria. The prediction performance was measured by a weighted scoring scheme that takes into account the number of models of acceptable quality or higher submitted by each group as part of their five top-ranking models. Compared to the previous CASP-CAPRI challenge, top performing groups submitted such models for a larger fraction (70-75%) of the targets in this Round, but fewer of these models were of high accuracy. Scorer groups achieved stronger performance with more groups submitting correct models for 70-80% of the targets or achieving high accuracy predictions. Servers performed less well in general, except for the MDOCKPP and LZERD servers, who performed on par with human groups. In addition to these results, major advances in methodology are discussed, providing an informative overview of where the prediction of protein assemblies currently stands.

Comprehensive or Political Liberalism? The Impartial Spectator and the Justification of Political Principles

AbstractJohn Rawls raises three challenges – to which one can add a fourth challenge – to an impartial spectator account: (a) the impartial spectator is a utility-maximizing device that does not take seriously the distinction between persons; (b) the account does not guarantee that the principles of justice will be derived from it; (c) the notion of impartiality in the account is the wrong one, since it does not define impartiality from the standpoint of the litigants themselves; (d) the account would offer a comprehensive, rather than a political, form of liberalism. The narrow aim of the article is to demonstrate that Adam Smith's impartial spectator account can rise to Rawls's challenges. The broader aim is to demonstrate that the impartial spectator account offers the basis for a novel and alternative framework for developing principles of justice, and does so in the context of a political form of liberalism.

The Christian philosophy of man in Poland in the face of the challenges of the 20th and 21st centuries

According to the author of the article, Christian anthropology is characterized by an affirmative approach to Christianity and personalism in the understanding of man. During the last century in Poland it faced four key challenges for its development which were: 1) searching for a proper model of social life connected with the rejection of individualism and collectivism; 2) the clash with collectivist totalitarianism (communism) which imposes an erroneous concept on man; 3) resignation of the Church in her teaching from the domination of the Thomistic model of understanding the world and man; 4) establishment of a naturalistic and transhumanistic model of man in the culture of the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. Christian anthropology responded to the first three calls with a specific type of personalism: social – in the first case, metaphysical – in the second, liberalist and ethical – in the third. At present time, it must seek a personalistic response to the fourth challenge, while the author believes that Christian anthropology is threatened by fideistic personalism resulting from the acceptance of the naturalistic image of man coming from detailed sciences and the abandonment of attempts to philosophically justify his personal status.

How are nature-based solutions contributing to priority societal challenges surrounding human well-being in the United Kingdom: a systematic map

BackgroundThe concept of nature-based solutions (NBS) has evolved as an umbrella concept to describe approaches to learning from and using nature to create sustainable socio-ecological systems. Furthermore, NBS often address multiple societal challenges that humans are facing in the medium to long-term and as such can enhance human well-being (HWB). This study was commissioned to fulfil the need for a targeted systematic evidence map on the linkage between NBS and HWB to support focused research going forward that addresses the key knowledge needs of policy makers in the UK and beyond.MethodsA consultation with policy makers and government agency staff (n = 46), in the four component parts of the UK (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland) was conducted in spring 2019. This identified four key societal challenges of operational experience lacking a scientific evidence base. Three of these challenges related to management issues: NBS cost-efficacy, governance in planning, environmental justice. The fourth challenge related to the acoustic environment (soundscape). Using systematic methods, this study searched for and identified studies that assessed NBS on HWB with regard to these four selected societal challenges.Review findingsA total of 7287 articles were returned from the systematic search and screened for suitability at the level of title and abstract. A total of 610 articles passed screening criteria to warrant full text screening. Of these, 115 studies met the full text criteria for eligibility in the final systematic map database. Included studies were coded for twelve NBS interventions and ten HWB related outcome categories. Most of the evidence reviewed referred to natural, blue or green infrastructure in the urban environment and focused on economic, material and health aspects of HWB. Less than 2% of studies identified in the searches robustly reported the role of NBS actions or interventions on HWB compared with non-NBS actions or interventionsConclusionThis systematic map found the evidence base is growing on NBS-HWB linkages, but significant biases persist in the existing literature. There was a bias in favour of the urban environment and restoration studies focused on conservation aspects, with only a few studies investigating the full suite of advantages to HWB that can be delivered from NBS actions and interventions. The soundscape was the least studied of the societal challenges identified as being of key importance by policy makers, with cost-efficiency the most reported. There was a lack of robust long-term studies to clearly test the potential of NBS regarding the HWB outcomes compared with non-NBS alternatives. This lack of robust primary knowledge, covering all four key societal challenges identified, confirms that the knowledge gaps identified by the policy makers persist, and highlights a clear research need for long-term, transdisciplinary studies that focus on comparisons between NBS and non-NBS alternatives

Covid-19: Addressing health systems deficits and peculiarities in the african region

Covid-19: Addressing health systems deficits and peculiarities in the african region