Planning Knowledge Research Articles

Religious leaders’ nuanced views on birth spacing and contraceptives in Sierra Leone - qualitative insights

BackgroundSierra Leone is a religiously diverse country, with Christianity and Islam being the dominant faiths. This religious landscape plays a significant role in shaping attitudes towards family planning and contraceptives. We examined religious leaders’ knowledge of family planning and modern contraceptive methods.MethodsIn September 2021, data was collected from 116 religious leaders in Sierra Leone, including 32 Muslims and 84 Christians from nine different denominations from sixteen districts, through 16 focus group discussions. The data was subjected to a thematic analysis using NVIVO 12 software.ResultsThe study found a spectrum of opinions among religious leaders, both between religions (Christianity vs. Islam) and within denominations of Christianity. There was a general acceptance of natural birth spacing methods, like abstinence during fertile periods, across both Christian and Muslim leaders. Views on modern contraceptives were more divided. Catholics generally opposed them, citing religious doctrines against interfering with procreation. Pentecostals and some Muslims, however, found them permissible under certain circumstances, like promoting family well-being or spacing births for health reasons.ConclusionThe study reveals that religious leaders’ views on family planning in Sierra Leone are multifaceted. Understanding these nuances is crucial for designing effective family planning programs. By working with denominations that are more accepting of modern methods and leveraging the support for natural birth spacing methods across religions, there’s potential to improve reproductive health outcomes in Sierra Leone.

Optimal operational planning of a bio-fuelled cogeneration plant: Integration of sparse nonlinear dynamics identification and deep reinforcement learning

This paper presents a novel data-driven approach for short-term operational planning of a cogeneration plant. The proposed methodology utilizes sparse identification of nonlinear dynamics (SINDy) to extract a dynamic model of heat generation from operational data. This model is then employed to simulate the plant dynamics during the training of a reinforcement learning (RL) agent, enabling online stochastic optimization of the production plan in real-time. The incorporation of SINDy enhances the accuracy of capturing the plant's nonlinear dynamics and significantly improves the computational speed of plant simulations, enabling efficient RL agent training within a reasonable timeframe. The performance of operational planning with the RL agent is compared to that of dynamic programming, a widely used method in the literature. The evaluation metric encompasses energy efficiency, unmet demands, and wasted heat. The comparison investigates the effectiveness of RL and dynamic programming under various scenarios with different qualities of energy demand forecasts. The RL agent exhibits robustness and notably improves the operational planning performance, particularly when faced with uncertain energy demands in the environment. Furthermore, the findings show that the RL agent, trained on a school building data, could successfully perform planning tasks for a hotel building, indicating the transferability of learned planning knowledge across different cogeneration use cases.

Advance personal planning knowledge, attitudes, and participation amongst community-dwelling older people living in regional New South Wales, Australia: A cross-sectional survey.

Advance personal planning (APP) involves planning for future periods of incapacity, including making legal decisions and documents. APP ensures that a person's values and preferences are known and respected. This study aimed to examine knowledge of APP, attitudes and confidence towards APP, and participation in APP activities among older people residing in regional and rural areas. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with people aged over 65 years residing in and around regional towns in New South Wales, Australia. Participants responded to a social media advertisement or information provided through a community organisation. Data was collected via pen and paper survey or an online survey. The survey was developed for the study and included questions about the participant and their experiences with APP. Poisson regression modelling was conducted to explore the relationship between APP participation and APP knowledge, confidence and attitudes as well as the participant characteristics associated with APP participation. Overall, 216 people completed the survey. Most participants had a will (90%) but only a third (32%) had documented an advance care directive. Knowledge of APP was low with only 2.8% of participants correctly answering all 6 knowledge questions. Participants had a positive attitude towards APP and high level of confidence that they could discuss APP issues with important people in their life. Those with increased knowledge, confidence and attitude towards APP were significantly more likely to participate in APP activities. Older age and having private health insurance were significantly associated with engaging in APP activities. Increased frailty and the presence of health conditions were not associated with increased APP participation. There is a need to increase engagement with APP particularly among those who may be considered frail or have chronic health conditions. Increasing knowledge of, confidence and attitudes towards, APP could help to increase engagement in APP activities.

Knowledge, Acceptance, and Uptake of Family Planning: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of Group Antenatal Care in Ghana.

The use of family planning (FP) methods significantly contributes to improved outcomes for mothers and their offspring. However, the use of FP remains low, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. A cluster randomized controlled clinical trial was implemented in Ghana, comparing group antenatal care (ANC) with routine care. The group ANC intervention included eight meetings where the seventh group meeting incorporated information and discussion regarding methods of FP. Data collection occurred at five time points: baseline (T0), 34 weeks' gestation (T1), 6-12 weeks post birth (T2), 5-8 months post birth, and 11-14 months post birth (T4). At T1, there was a significantly greater increase in the knowledge of FP methods as well as the intention to use FP after the birth among the intervention group. The uptake of FP was significantly higher in the intervention group for all post-birth timepoints except for T4 where the control group had significantly higher rates. The reasons for the diminishing effect are unclear. An increasing uptake of FP methods requires a multifaceted approach that includes increasing accessibility, knowledge, and acceptability as well as addressing societal and cultural norms.

A spatial scientometric analysis of urban planning publications from 2010–2020: geographic disparities in urban planning knowledge production

PurposeThis paper analyzes and illustrates the spatial distribution of publications in international urban planning journals from 2010 to 2020.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs the Biblioshiny bibliometrix package in R to analyze 44,123 articles from 95 international planning journals. To conduct the spatial scientometric analysis, we adopted the United Nations’ geoscheme focusing on three geographical scales: country, subregion, and region. Collaboration patterns at the country and subregional levels were examined using the VOSviewer tool.FindingsThe study found evidence of a spatial polarization of urban planning scholarly knowledge production. Scholars based in the United States and the United Kingdom consistently published at higher rates than any other country in our data set. The region producing the largest number of publications was Europe, consisting of 39.92% of the total publication count. However, urban planning scholars from the Global South authored only 20.96% of planning publications from 2010–2020. Centralization of planning research is also evident within each region and subregion. As such, both the Global North and the Global South should not be framed as homogenous entities and spatial patterns of knowledge production should not be generalized. The analysis also established the emerging role of Northern America as a major collaborator in inter-country and inter-subregional research collaborations. Co-authorship patterns indicate low intra-regional collaboration in planning research, except for Europe.Originality/valueThis article argues that a culture of exclusivity may be occurring in urban planning publication production. By highlighting the spatial disparities in knowledge production, we emphasize the need to examine the structural and institutional barriers that exclude urban planning knowledge emerging from the peripheries in international planning journals.

The green city as a driver of sustainable development

AbstractGiven the accelerating pace of urbanization and worsening environmental constraints, it has become imperative to explore innovative and integrated solutions to shape a sustainable urban future. In this context, the emergence of the “Green City” stands out as an innovative approach to addressing environmental challenges while promoting sustainable urban development. This study aims to deepen our understanding of the crucial role played by the Green City as a driver to overcome obstacles related to environmental and urban sustainability. To achieve this objective, our methodology is based on several essential steps. Firstly, we establish a solid conceptual framework by comparing the Green City to sustainable cities. This initial step allows us to precisely define the contours and specific objectives of each concept, laying the groundwork for our comparative analysis. Next, we conduct a comprehensive analysis to explore how the Green City can contribute in a targeted manner to achieving sustainable development goals. By integrating these different approaches, our goal is to substantially advance knowledge and practices in sustainable urban planning, as well as the creation of more resilient and environmentally friendly cities.

Transpedicular Percutaneous Discectomy for High-Grade Down-Migrated Lumbar Disc Herniation

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes of percutaneous endoscopic discectomy using the transpedicular approach for hernias with down-migration.Methods: The study involved a retrospective descriptive analysis of 7 patients who underwent surgery by 2 senior surgeons at 4 different hospitals between 2016 and 2024. The minimum follow-up period was 6 months. All patients were treated with lumbar discectomy through a transpedicular approach with an oblique trajectory. Preoperative and postoperative clinical data were collected for statistical analysis.Results: The surgical procedures were successful and complication-free for all patients. The preoperative and postoperative radicular visual analogue scale and Oswestry Disability Index scores were compared, and the differences were statistically significant (p<0.05).Conclusion: At the last follow-up, 100% of patients had good to excellent results according to the modified MacNab criteria. The transpedicular approach, when using a percutaneous endoscopic technique, requires precise surgical planning and accurate knowledge of the vertebral anatomy. The technique can be made more accessible to inexperienced surgeons by describing it with different instrumentation.

Home Care Services in the Last Year of Life by Type of Care Management.

Care management of home-based long-term care is vital for community-dwelling older adults. Regarding care planning, which is a part of care management, appropriate care plans according to individual conditions are extremely important for older adults to continue living independently in their familiar environment for as long as possible. We compared the use of care services in the last year of life between advanced and conventional care management. The results showed that among the older adults with a care-need level of 3, 4, or 5, the advanced care management group had a significantly higher rate of use of home-visit nursing services than the conventional care management group. These differences could be attributed to differences in the care planning knowledge, experience, and the training environment of the care managers' offices.

Challenging Complexity with Simplicity: Rethinking the Role of Single-Step Models in Computer-Aided Synthesis Planning.

Computer-assisted synthesis planning has become increasingly important in drug discovery. While deep-learning models have shown remarkable progress in achieving high accuracies for single-step retrosynthetic predictions, their performances in retrosynthetic route planning need to be checked. This study compares the intricate single-step models with a straightforward template enumeration approach for retrosynthetic route planning on a real-world drug molecule data set. Despite the superior single-step accuracy of advanced models, the template enumeration method with a heuristic-based retrosynthesis knowledge score was found to surpass them in efficiency in searching the reaction space, achieving a higher or comparable solve rate within the same time frame. This counterintuitive result underscores the importance of efficiency and retrosynthesis knowledge in retrosynthesis route planning and suggests that future research should incorporate a simple template enumeration as a benchmark. It also suggests that this simple yet effective strategy should be considered alongside more complex models to better cater to the practical needs of computer-assisted synthesis planning in drug discovery.

Views on advance care planning of family members of older adults with Turkish and Moroccan backgrounds: An exploratory interview study

Background: Significantly fewer individuals with migration backgrounds than native-born individuals undertake advance care planning. Older adults with Turkish and Moroccan backgrounds represent one of the largest ageing non-Western minority groups in Europe. Their relatives could play important roles in facilitating or hindering advance care planning, but their views remain underexplored. Aim: To explore advance care planning knowledge, experience, views, facilitators and barriers among older Turkish and Moroccan adults’ relatives in Belgium. Design: Qualitative thematic analysis of semi-structured interview data. Setting/participants: Twenty-two relatives of older Turkish and Moroccan adults in Brussels, Mechelen and Antwerp, recruited via general practitioners. Results: Participants had limited advance care planning knowledge and had not discussed it with healthcare professionals. Some found discussing end-of-life preferences with relatives beneficial; others opposed the discussion of specific topics or felt discussions were unnecessary, as they felt responsible for caregiving and trusted by their relatives to make future decisions. Barriers included personal and relational characteristics, emotional difficulty and perceived non-urgency. Facilitators included information in older adults’ native languages, general practitioners’ cautious initiation and the involvement of several family members. Conclusions: Relatives of older people with Turkish and Moroccan backgrounds are unfamiliar with advance care planning and have highly variable views on it. People should be given opportunities to discuss advance care planning in a culturally appropriate manner, and the diversity of perspectives regarding whether and how to engage in such planning should be recognised. ClinicalTrials.gov no. NCT05241301.

Development of an online tool to support financial and legal planning in dementia

ObjectiveTo develop, assess, and refine an online educational tool, Plan for Clarity, to support financial and legal planning in dementia. MethodsA Delphi mixed-method study with three rounds of anonymous review by lay and professional stakeholders was designed to reach consensus about the content of the online tool and explore the socio-cultural and behavioral factors that could affect access and use. ResultsConsensus showed that the online tool covered key information, knowledge, and communication skills for financial and legal planning. Study themes: 1) the online tool had to be easy to navigate with relevant, easily understood information; 2) people with early signs of memory difficulties would be able to use the tool; 3) a referral from a trusted source is a primary way to facilitate access and use of the tool; and 4) discussions about financial and legal issues should be held early, ahead of barriers that can block discussion. ConclusionThese data suggest this online tool is relevant and feasible for dementia care and support as well as aging more generally. InnovationPlan for Clarity is innovative as an evidence and theory-driven online education tool to address financial and legal planning for dementia care, particularly among underserved older adults.

Including local knowledge in conservation planning: the case of the western coastal protected areas in Suriname

ABSTRACT There is increasing recognition of the importance of local knowledge in conservation governance and sustainable use of natural resources. This article studies three social-ecological systems: Bigi Pan, Noord Coronie, and Noord Saramacca – each designated as a Multiple Use Management Area (MUMA) by the Surinamese government. The main focus of this article is how local knowledge and user perspectives may contribute to the management of a MUMA, including to making decisions about biodiversity and natural resources. We use an action research approach that includes qualitative case study methodology, participant observations, group and individual interviews. The analytical framework is based on the SES model from Ostrom (2009) to understand interactions between subsystems as mediated by local and other forms of knowledge. We also explore how participatory engagement with MUMA resource users includes local knowledge and user perspectives. The findings show how local knowledge can offer tools and solutions to improve conservation governance by supporting the development of realistic management plans and by supporting better understanding of the interactions between social and ecological subsystems. Moreover, action research helps to recognize local knowledge as valuable for science and promotes social learning among stakeholders. This paper concludes that local knowledge has contributed to policy decisions that are connected to the use practices of the people who are of the place and know the context well. The inclusion of local knowledge through participatory drafting of management plans has contributed to overcoming some major management challenges and helped to build a supportive social environment for conservation.

EXPLORING THE INFLUENCE FROM FINANCIAL KNOWLEDGE FOR RETIREMENT AND RETIREMENT SELF-EFFICACY ON LIFE SATISFACTION THROUGH THE MEDIATOR - RETIREMENT READINESS AMONG WORKING ADULTS IN CHINA

Objective: The main purpose of this study is to explore the influences of Financial Knowledge for Retirement and Retirement Self-efficacy on Life Satisfaction, with a specific focus on the mediating role of Retirement Readiness among working adults in China. Theoretical Framework: The study is grounded in the context of China’s aging population and slowing economic growth, highlighting the increasing importance of Retirement Readiness. It posits that Financial Knowledge for Retirement and Retirement Self-efficacy are key determinants of Retirement Readiness, which in turn impacts Life Satisfaction. Method: Utilizing a quantitative research methodology, data were collected from a stratified sample of working adults in China, covering diverse age groups, regions, and occupational backgrounds. Results and Discussion: The findings confirm all five proposed hypotheses, demonstrating that both Financial Knowledge for Retirement and Retirement Self-efficacy have a statistically significant impact on Retirement Readiness. Retirement Readiness, in turn, has a statistically significant influence on Life Satisfaction. This suggests that enhancing financial knowledge and self-efficacy in retirement planning can improve Retirement Readiness and, consequently, Life Satisfaction among working adults in China. Research Implications: The study highlights the importance of financial education and tailored guidance for retirement planning. It suggests that working adults, policymakers, educators, financial advisors, and researchers should focus on improving Financial Knowledge for Retirement and Retirement Self-efficacy to help individuals better prepare for retirement. Originality/Value: This study provides a comprehensive investigation into the determinants of Life Satisfaction among working adults in China, with a particular emphasis on the mediating role of Retirement Readiness.

Barriers to Natural Disaster Risks Management Within Coastal Communities: The Case of Limbe and Ideneau in Cameroon

Globally, many coastal zones characterized by high population concentration lie across rigid zones defined by natural disasters such as flood, heat waves, landslide and subsidence which are often difficult to manage. The Limbe and Ideneau Coastal communities of Cameroon overtime have been shrouded by such natural disasters. The aim of the study was to identify the barriers to natural disaster management along the Limbe and Ideneau coastal communities of Cameroon. The study adopted a multi-stage sampling design whereas, areas prone to different hazards were mapped, and through a simple random sampling method, 300 persons were selected from each stratum to provide information on disaster management. Questionnaires, interview guides, interrogations and field investigations were the main primary data sources of the study whereas, secondary data sources such as published related articles, magazines and public libraries provided credential information. Quantitative and qualitative data collected during field survey were analyzed through the inferential and descriptive statistical techniques. The outcomes of the study were presented on graphs, figures, charts, tables and histograms. Findings revealed that natural disasters have caused enormous harms to the population occupying the aforementioned communities such as the disruption of communication infrastructures and housing facilities, touristic activities, farmlands and loss of human lives. Further results showed that many adaptation measures cannot contain the magnitudes and the intensities of these disasters. Limited technology, government negligence, poor planning and insufficient public knowledge on natural disasters are hindrance to the effective management of these natural disasters. The work concludes that these coastal communities remain “bonanza” and recommends that a participatory, holistic and an objective disaster management planning be implemented in order to offset the adverse effects of these disasters while deriving the potentials of the coast.

Education needs in palliative care and advance care planning of Italian residents in neurology: an online survey.

Most neurological diseases have a chronic and progressive clinical course, with patients living for extended periods with complex healthcare needs. Evidence from other countries suggests that palliative care (PC) is insufficiently integrated in the care of these patients. This study aims to identify PC and advance care planning (ACP) knowledge and the perceived preparedness of Italian residents in neurology. This is a cross-sectional online survey of physicians attending the 36 Italian neurology residency programmes. Of 854 residents, 188 (22%) participated. Their mean age was 28.4 ± 2.0 years; 49% were women; 45% were from the north, 23% from the centre and 32% from the south of Italy. Few residents (6%) reported that a teaching course in PC was part of the graduate programme, and 3% of the postgraduate programme. During their residency, 9% of participants received PC training, and 18% ACP training. Only 13% reported to have participated in the ACP process, half within their neurology residency programme. Residents considered PC support very/extremely important in all the pre-specified clinical situations, with values ranging between 78% and 96%. Over 70% of residents revealed education needs, particularly concerning ACP. Our data confirm the need for improving PC training in the graduate and postgraduate curriculum. This, together with collaboration and joint training of neurology and PC, is essential to improve the quality and continuity of care and respond to the complex needs of people with neurological disorders causing severe disability.

From process-based to technology-driven: a study on functionalities as key elements of collaborative planning methods for construction projects

With the advancement of emerging technologies, significant attempts have been made to develop collaborative planning methods and to involve as many project stakeholders as possible in the construction project planning and control process. However, inadequate consideration has been paid to the characteristics, goals, and principles underlying these methods to meet the needs of collaboration for project planning between project teams. To deal with this, a multi-stage methodology was carried out to achieve the aims of this study. The first step was identifying collaborative planning methods and their functionalities in the construction sector. Further, a quantitative analysis based on Social Network Analysis (SNA) was conducted to determine the most frequently utilized functionalities in collaborative planning methods. The results revealed that process-based collaborative planning methods’ functionalities prioritized process and people-related characteristics such as team trust and promise, as well as social interactions, whereas technology-driven methods highlighted visualization along with collaboration and communication as a key element of collaborative planning. Subsequently, this study contributes to the body of construction project planning and control knowledge from both theoretical and practical perspectives by enhancing the understanding and sensemaking of project stakeholders towards the underlying concepts and objectives of collaborative planning methods.

Knowledge and utilization of family planning services among tertiary students in Northern Ghana: The case of College of Nursing and Midwifery, Nalerigu.

Though tertiary students studying health-related programs are assumed knowledgeable about family planning, this does not always translate to increased use of family planning services. In a cross-sectional survey, this study assessed 411 nursing, midwifery and allied health students' knowledge of family planning, contraceptive use, perceptions, and factors affecting the utilisation of family planning services. Each student completed a 24-itemised questionnaire in a Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing Survey. The data was analysed with Stata /IC version 16. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Overall knowledge of family planning was 99.7%, commonly gained in school (51.8%), followed by clinics and hospitals (41.4%). Only 21.7% of the students used family planning services. Menstrual cramps (57.9%), infertility (33.1%), and weight gain (32.5%) were the commonly perceived side effects of contraceptive use. The high proximity of participants to family planning service providers and lack of community, family, and partner acceptance of modern contraceptives were associated with underutilisation. Despite the high level of knowledge of family planning, the student's utilisation of family planning services was poor. To boost family planning service uptake among tertiary health students, it is essential to tackle barriers related to community, family, and partner acceptance. This can be achieved through educational programs that involve men in family planning discussions and by enhancing service accessibility.

Formation and transformation of critical modern rural architecture: the case of the Göl Village Institute Campus in Kastamonu, Türkiye

ABSTRACT Having emerged in the 1980s, the term 'critical regionalism' discusses the network of relations between the modern and the local by prioritizing the characteristics of the place. The ‘village institutes', which were established in the Anatolian rural landscape in the 1940s, were village teacher training schools that served the modernization movements in the Turkish rural scene and used local and traditional resources and knowledge for architecture and planning. Most of the planning and design projects for educational campuses were the result of 15 different national architectural competitions held between 1940 and 1943. This study discusses the dialectical relationship and transitions between modern planning approaches and local and rural architectural characteristics by utilizing the critical regionalist theory in the context of Göl Village Institute in Kastamonu. The spatial transformation of the institute’s campus, which is registered as cultural heritage and encapsulates a variety of values ranging from landscape to historical, cultural and architectural values, is discussed as a process that oscillates between critical regionalist approaches and building activities incompatible with the context. The study concludes that Göl Village Institute, which is hardly conserved despite its legal registration status as cultural heritage, implements unique modern planning and needs appropriate conservation interventions.

Developing mathematical knowledge for teaching through lesson planning and technological pedagogical content knowledge among rwandan teacher training college tutors

Developing mathematical knowledge for teaching through lesson planning and technological pedagogical content knowledge among rwandan teacher training college tutors

The Influence of Islamic Financial Planning in Buying Life Insurance

In Indonesia there is still a big opportunity to develop the sharia industry in Indonesia, especially sharia life insurance. This is based on the penetration rate of life insurance in Indonesia in 2018 only reaching 1.3%, which shows a decrease from the previous year which was 1.4%. Therefore a strategy is needed to increase the penetration of sharia insurance through research on the factors that influence a person's interest in participating in sharia life insurance. This study aims to examine the effect of financial literacy, Islamic life insurance knowledge, Islamic financial planning, and financial behavior on interest in participating in Islamic life insurance. This research is a quantitative research. Primary data was obtained through a survey that obtained 140 respondents aged over 17 years and domiciled in the city of Bogor. The analysis uses the Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) method with SmartPLS software. The results of this study indicate that the variable knowledge of sharia life insurance and sharia financial planning has a significant effect on interest in participating in sharia life insurance. On the other hand, the variables of financial literacy and financial behavior do not significantly influence interest in participating in sharia life insurance.