Planning Knowledge Research Articles

Humans versus models: a comparative assessment of ecosystem services models and stakeholders’ perceptions

Mapping the production of Ecosystem Services (ES) is imperative for sustainable ecosystem management. Likewise, incorporating expert knowledge enhances ES research. Here, we calculate eight multi-temporal ES indicators for mainland Portugal using a spatial modelling approach. These indicators are then integrated into the novel ASEBIO index—Assessment of Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity—which depicts a combined ES potential based on CORINE Land Cover, using a multi-criteria evaluation method with weights defined by stakeholders through an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Outputs from the modelling show how ES have changed in Portugal in relation to land use changes, including trade-offs between 1990 and 2018. The composed ASEBIO index is compared against the stakeholders’ valuation of ES potential for the year 2018. The results reveal a significant mismatch between the ES potential perceived by stakeholders and the models, with stakeholder estimates being 32.8% higher on average. All the selected ES were overestimated by the stakeholders. Drought regulation and erosion prevention have the highest contrasts, while water purification, food production and recreation are the most closely aligned among both approaches. Providing the first national overview about the status of multiple ES over a 28 year-period, our findings highlight potential disparities between data-driven and stakeholder-based evaluations. Therefore, we suggest the need for integrative strategies that consider scientific models with expert knowledge for more effective ES assessments and land-use planning. This approach could help bridge the gap between data-driven models and human perspectives, resulting in more balanced and inclusive decision-making.

Prevalence and incidence of chronic wounds in Austria - a population-based real-world data analysis

Abstract Background Chronic wounds are associated with pain, odor, loss of mobility, an increased risk for infection and sepsis and a reduced quality of life. Treatment costs are rising due to the longevity of the population and increasing number of diabetes cases. For service planning in healthcare, it is thus necessary to describe patient characteristics and estimate the prevalence and incidence of chronic wounds. Currently, no data exists on this subject broken down by age group, gender, and province in Austria. Methods A retrospective analysis of real-world data was conducted using two merged datasets from an outpatient wound centre and the Austrian Health Insurance Fund. The study population consisted of people who resided in Austria and were covered by statutory health insurance from 2018 to 2022. We performed a descriptive, socio-demographic analysis of the data of patients, followed by a set of cluster analyses using the unsupervised K-means algorithm. From these clusters, we derived subgroup characteristics and patient trajectories and calculated prevalence and incidence rates for chronic wounds according to diagnoses, different age groups, gender, and different regions. Results Gender was almost evenly distributed in the wound centre’s data set (n = 4963; 49.6% female). The age distribution revealed the age group from 71-80 years being the largest group. In general, more women than men are affected by chronic wounds from the age of 81 onwards. 31% of chronic wound patients had diabetes as an underlying condition. More men were affected by peripheral arterial occlusive disease and diabetic foot syndrome and, conversely, more women by chronic venous insufficiency. These are preliminary results of the analyses. Conclusions Chronic wound patients were characterised by older age and multi-morbidity. Interestingly, gender differences appeared in the occurrence of comorbidities. Key messages • This study makes a crucial contribution in making routine data usable for the epidemiological study of chronic wounds, a cluster of diseases of complex aetiology. • It thus contributes to filling a knowledge gap. The prevalence estimate serves as a basis of knowledge for health care planning and a basis for the health economic assessment of the problem.

Family planning knowledge, use, and associated factors among women with mental illness and epilepsy in Rwanda: a cross-sectional study

IntroductionFamily planning knowledge and access to quality family planning services occupy a central position in the lives of all women of reproductive age. However, women with mental illness and epilepsy who are at a high risk of sexual violence, unwanted pregnancies, poor obstetric outcomes, and drug interaction consequences, need it the most. Understanding their family planning knowledge and utilization remains crucial for meeting their needs. The present study aims to assess knowledge, use of family planning, and associated factors among women living with mental illness and epilepsy who attend the Ndera Neuropsychiatric Hospital and affiliated branches.MethodologyA cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2022 and February 2023. The study involved a purposive sample of 289 women who attended the Ndera Neuropsychiatric Hospital and its two affiliated branches during the data collection period. Psychiatric nurses administered a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the factors associated with the use of family planning methods.ResultsOut of 289 who participated in the study, the majority (96.9%) were aware of family planning methods, most (67.8%) had used one method once in their life course, a half (51.9%) were using a family planning method at the time of data collection, and a slight number (26%) expressed intentions of using a family planning method in the future. The most known and used methods were respectively the injectable (17.5%) and oral contraceptive pill (17.5%). Regarding the natural family planning methods, breastfeeding and withdrawal were less used. Being single (AOR = 66.4, 95% CI: 9.8, 44) or married (AOR = 51.4, 95% CI: 11.9–22), having a primary level of education (AOR = 5.6, 95% CI: 2.0, 15.9), knowing a contraceptive method (AOR = 5.8, 95% CI: 0.6, 49) and suffering from brief psychotic disorders (AOR = 2.7, 95% CI: 1.1, 6.6) predicted a higher utilization of family planning.ConclusionMost of the women with mental illness in this study were aware of family planning methods and had used one of the family planning methods in life. The national average is below when it comes to family planning awareness. It is important to improve family planning education and counseling for women who attend psychiatric outpatient clinics.

Who is the next leader? Understanding women leadership development and succession planning in Saudi Arabian higher educational institutions

Leadership development and succession planning is a valuable strategy for closing the gender gap and providing an equal chance for males and females to be trained and involved in leadership roles. This strategy is an incredibly effective tool in higher education, where there is a significant disparity between male and female academic leaders. Despite its effectiveness, succession planning remained an overlooked component of the higher education system. Further research studies enhance our understanding of the current state of succession planning and the factors that affect the recruitment and selection of future academic leaders. Hence, this study aims to identify the current women’s leadership development and succession planning practices in public and private universities in Saudi Arabia. A qualitative study was conducted in a Saudi Arabian higher education setting. The interest in Saudi Arabia stems from the fact that succession planning is less likely to be practiced since gender discrimination is apparent when assigning leadership positions. Results indicate that top powers typically select leaders since succession planning is absent in Saudi Arabia’s higher education institutions. In this circumstance, networking and relationships play a significant role, as these institutions have no formalized succession planning process. In a highly gender-segregated society like Saudi Arabia, women are deprived of expanding their networks and showcasing capabilities to male decision-makers. The results of this study further identified the underlying components of the women’s leadership and succession planning process in the Saudi Arabian setting. This study contributes to leadership and succession planning knowledge and its implications, which may extend opportunities for practitioners, consultants, and policymakers to include women in higher education succession planning.

Organizing planning knowledge for automated vehicles and intelligent transportation systems

AbstractIntelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are crucial for developing fully automated vehicles. While significant progress has been made with advanced driver assistance systems and automation technology, challenges remain, such as improving traffic information, enhancing planning and control systems, and developing better decision‐making capabilities. Despite these hurdles, the potential benefits of ITS are so many that its challenges have attracted substantial industrial investment and research groups interested in the automated driving field. In this work, a methodology based on state space search for planning knowledge integration is proposed. The main goal of the proposal is to provide a planning system with the necessary information to perform properly any task related to lateral and longitudinal control, path following, trajectory generation, arbitration and behavior execution by localizing the vehicle with respect to a high‐level road plan. To this end, this research compares cutting‐edge methods for rapidly finding the K nearest neighbor in relatively high dimensional road plans constructed from the traffic information stored in a high definition map. During the experimentation phase, promising real‐time results have been obtained for fast KNN algorithms, leading to a robust tree index‐based methodology for decision making in self‐driving vehicles combining path planning, trajectory tracking, trajectory creation, knowledge aggregation and precise vehicle control.

Identifying group metacognition associated with medical students’ teamwork satisfaction in an online small group tutorial context

BackgroundCollaborative learning is an essential pedagogy in medical education, within which small group learning constitutes an integral component. Online small group teaching has been widely applied and blended with in-person sessions in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. This study examined whether group metacognition was associated with teamwork satisfaction in an online small group teaching curriculum for medical students.MethodsWe enrolled medical students of the 2nd and 4th years during the 2021 fall semester after they participated in 3 consecutive sessions of online small group tutorials (SGTs), which have been implemented in our medical school for more than 20 years. The students completed a group metacognitive scale (GMS) and a teamwork satisfaction scale (TSS) after the sessions. We analyzed whether group metacognition in 4 dimensions (knowledge of cognition, planning, evaluating, and monitoring) could be connected with medical students’ teamwork satisfaction using partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).ResultsA total of 263 medical students participated in this study. Both GMS and TSS exhibited good reliability and validity. Three of the 4 dimensions of group metacognition (cognition, planning, and evaluating) positively correlated with teamwork satisfaction (path coefficients 0.311, 0.279, and 0.21; p = 0.002, 0.002, and 0.043, respectively) following the online SGT curriculum, whereas the monitoring dimension did not (path coefficient 0.087; p = 0.357). The model achieved an adjusted R square of 0.683.ConclusionWe discovered that group metacognition correlated positively with better teamwork satisfaction, supporting the importance of group metacognitive competency for online collaborative learning.

A Resident-Led Quality Improvement Initiative to Increase End-of-Life Planning in Primary Care.

Background Despite many benefits of end-of-life (EOL) planning, only 1 in 3 adults has EOL documentation, with low rates in resident primary care clinics as well. Objective To increase clinic completion of life-sustaining treatment (LST) notes and advance directives (AD) for veterans at highest risk for death. Methods The setting was a Veterans Affairs (VA) internal medicine primary care clinic. All clinic residents in the 2021-2022 academic year and all clinic patients identified through a VA risk-stratification tool as highest risk for death were included. Baseline AD and LST completion rates were determined through manual chart review. Our interventions included 2 hours of teaching to increase resident knowledge of EOL planning and a systematic process improvement to complete EOL planning appointments. Outcomes assessed included anonymous resident pre- and post-surveys of self-assessed knowledge and comfort with EOL conversations, as well as rates of LST and AD completion determined through serial chart review. Results In the 2021-2022 academic year, 22 residents (100%) and 54 patients were included. Post-intervention surveys (n=22, 100%) showed improved self-assessed knowledge of EOL concepts and comfort with patient discussions (median Likert increase 3 to 4). The number of residents who completed an EOL planning visit increased from 9 of 22 (41%) to 15 (68%). LST completion increased from 9 of 54 (17%) to 29 (54%), and AD completion increased from 18 of 54 (33%) to 33 (61%). Conclusions A brief teaching intervention to prepare residents for comprehensive EOL visits combined with process improvement to offer EOL planning visits improved self-reported knowledge and comfort and completion of EOL visits.

Parental perceptions and knowledge toward Asthma Action Plans

Introduction Personalized Asthma Action Plans (AAPs) are a cornerstone of pediatric asthma management. We aimed to assess parental knowledge and perceptions of the use of AAPs in managing their child’s asthma. Methods In 2023 we conducted a cross-sectional survey to assess knowledge and perceptions of AAPs in parents/caregivers of children aged 0–17 years with asthma who had an AAP and attended respiratory clinics at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick. The questionnaire included parental perceptions on the utility of AAPs, parental asthma management self-efficacy (PAMSE), and an adapted version of the Asthma Action Plan Knowledge Interview tool (AAPKI). Descriptive statistics and regression analyses were used to assess associations between AAPKI, PAMSE and other outcomes. Results Seventy-one parents completed the survey. Mean PAMSE score was 4.2/5 (SD 0.5). Median AAPKI score was 70.2% out of 100% (IQR 20.4%). Most parents (80.0%, n = 56) were satisfied/very satisfied with using AAPs to manage their child’s asthma. Most agreed/strongly agreed that AAPs were helpful in knowing when to seek medical attention for their child’s asthma (81.7%, n = 58), helped their understanding of asthma severity (81.7%, n = 58), and increased their confidence in asthma management (76.0%, n = 54). Over half of parents (55.7%, n = 39) would prefer AAPs digitally and majority (78.6%, n = 55) would like color-coded AAPs. Conclusion High levels of AAP knowledge and self-efficacy scores were demonstrated. Most parents expressed understanding of the benefits of AAPs. Our findings suggest parents of children with asthma prefer AAPs in color and in digital version which may help guide standardization of AAPs across Australia.

Exploring Trends in Sports Event Research (2014–2023): A Bibliometric Analysis

This study provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of sports event research from 2014 to 2023, using data from the Web of Science database. The research examines key trends, influential publications, prolific authors, and prevailing themes in the field. This study identifies the core areas of focus and emerging trends in sports event management, sustainability, and economic impacts through a detailed analysis of citations, co-authorship networks, and keyword co-occurrence. The results offer insights for researchers and practitioners interested in advancing knowledge in sports event planning, management, and legacy.

Water and the Urban Metabolism: Essays on the Remaking of Urban Water Regimes since the Eighteenth Century—Introduction

This introductory article explores the concept of urban metabolism, through which cities’ need for water transforms inputs into biomass and waste products, and its influence on urban water regimes. It provides a summary of existing literature, and explains how a cross-disciplinary approach, drawing on a range of urban experiences, can add value to current policy debates about the costs of urban water management, and environmental problems in general. The case studies presented here examine urban water regimes in Britain, Europe, Asia, and the United States since the eighteenth century. Using methods from a range of historical disciplinary approaches, this special issue identifies the diverse forces that generate a variety of outcomes, with non-linear improvements in urban water infrastructure shaped by contemporary technology and medical knowledge, social inequality, local politics, and path-dependent impact of previous planning and construction decisions.

Retirement Saving Behaviour: the moderating effect of socio-demographics

This study was conducted to examine the relationship between future time perspective (FTP), financial risk tolerance (FRT), knowledge of financial planning for retirement (KFPR), and retirement saving behaviour (RSB), as well as the moderating effect of demographics, on the relationship between these variables. Data was collected primarily through non-probability judgmental sampling. 312 United Arab Emirates (UAE) individuals working at universities participated in the study. Data analysis was carried out using Smart-PLS and SPSS software packages. It was found that FTP positively influenced RSB, while FRT was insignificant. Moreover, age, gender, nationality, education level, and monthly income played moderating roles in the model. Policymakers should implement policies to include personal finance and financial planning in school and university curricula to improve people's awareness of the importance of retirement planning. Education resources can be wisely channeled to address insufficient retirement planning by regulators and policymakers.

Teacher Learning Management

This study aimed to provide an overview of the implementation of teacher learning management in improving student academic achievement at Madrasah Tsanawiyah Darussalam Buriko. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and documentation using a qualitative descriptive method. The findings indicate that effective learning management at Madrasah Tsanawiyah Darussalam Buriko involves three key stages: (1) Learning Planning: Lesson plans and other administrative tools are prepared, although often only to meet administrative requirements. (2) Implementation: Teachers generally follow their lesson plans, except in certain subjects where they rely solely on student textbooks. (3) Evaluation: This involves formative and summative assessments and evaluations of students' spiritual and social attitudes. Improved student learning outcomes are evidenced by fewer remedial cases attributed to teachers' innovative methods. However, challenges include insufficient infrastructure, additional teacher assignments, inadequate knowledge of planning and implementation, limited study duration, and student-related issues such as afternoon drowsiness, lack of enthusiasm, and discipline problems.This study aimed to provide an overview of the implementation of teacher learning management in improving student academic achievement at Madrasah Tsanawiyah Darussalam Buriko. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and documentation using a qualitative descriptive method. The findings indicate that effective learning management at Madrasah Tsanawiyah Darussalam Buriko involves three key stages: (1) Learning Planning: Lesson plans and other administrative tools are prepared, although often only to meet administrative requirements. (2) Implementation: Teachers generally follow their lesson plans, except in certain subjects where they rely solely on student textbooks. (3) Evaluation: This involves formative and summative assessments and evaluations of students' spiritual and social attitudes. Improved student learning outcomes are evidenced by fewer remedial cases attributed to teachers' innovative methods. However, challenges include insufficient infrastructure, additional teacher assignments, inadequate knowledge of planning and implementation, limited study duration, and student-related issues such as afternoon drowsiness, lack of enthusiasm, and discipline problems.

Farmers’ pesticide use and knowledge of aquatic ecosystem contamination with its perceived health risk from contaminated fish consumption in northern Ghana

Pesticide residues in agricultural environments pose significant threats to aquatic ecosystems and human health. Most studies investigate the quantity, environmental, and risk assessment of pesticides in agricultural landscapes. However, farmers’ pesticide use and their knowledge on aquatic ecosystem contamination remain limited and poorly documented. This study evaluated pesticide residue concerns in agricultural settings, focusing on farmers’ uses and knowledge. It addressed pesticide application methods and their effects on aquatic ecosystems and human health through fish consumption. A cross-sectional design was employed and 300 farmers were selected using a multi-stage sampling technique from two agricultural districts – Savelugu Municipal and Tamale Metropolis. The study revealed that maize was most cultivated (29.6 %) with extensive pesticide treatment, particularly herbicides in the study setting. Findings revealed pesticide overuse (22.3 %), mixing of pesticides at the water bodies (24.7 %), improper leftover pesticide disposal methods (39.0 %) and inadequate storage practices (63.0 %) among farmers. About 21.3 % and 74.0 % of farmers have insufficient knowledge of the resulting consequences and the discharge of pesticides into the aquatic environment, respectively. Though the farmers are aware of the detrimental impact of pesticides on human health, there is still a lack of comprehension regarding the indirect consequences for aquatic ecosystems and non-target species. In the study setting, extension services may be important sources of knowledge. Thus, emphasizes the significance of improving extension programmes and utilizing peer-to-peer communication channels to support the adoption of best practices in pesticide management such as licenced high-temperature incinerators and cement kilns with sufficient emission controls. Focused training and outreach programmes designed to enhance farmers' knowledge and implementation of pesticide management plans are urgently needed. These interventions would help in reducing the dangers of pollution to aquatic ecosystems and human health.

Enhancing Adaptive Capacity by Engaging and Empowering Frontline Workers: A Case Study From a Water Utility

AbstractWater utility crews, including those who perform system maintenance and operations at drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities, are experiencing the impacts of changing rainfall characteristics first‐hand. These frontline crews have relevant, experiential knowledge about changing climate‐related risks and adaptation needs that, to date, are not included in utilities' strategic climate planning or implementation efforts, resulting in critical knowledge systems and action gaps. In this co‐production case study with Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), a municipal public water utility in Washington State, we use surveys and interviews to document barriers and opportunities for frontline crew engagement to enhance SPU's climate adaptation strategies to extreme rainfall. We find that 66% of crew workers perceive changes to rainfall intensity over the past decade and 59% report responding more to rainfall‐related issues. These frontline crews are coping with changes in extreme precipitation by increasing preventative maintenance, working overtime during major storm events, and doing more pre‐storm planning and preparation. Crews identified several aspects limiting their ability to respond to and prepare for extreme rainfall. To enhance their adaptive capacity, crews documented needs for infrastructure improvement, workforce facilities improvement, increased access to appropriate personal protective equipment, improved communication and coordination across the utility, and enhanced workforce capacity, including increased staff numbers. Findings suggest that for more effective, equitable, and responsive climate adaptation, water utilities should explicitly solicit and include crews' knowledge and lived experiences in adaptation planning while prioritizing strategies that enhance frontline crews' capacity and working conditions as a form of reciprocal action.

Demographic behaviour of the Scheduled Castes People of Dhubri District of Assam with a focus on their attitude to family planning and the adoption behaviour of family planning measures.

Knowledge and practice of family planning is one of the important variables regulation fertility of a couple. Bongaarts has suggested that family planning programmes not only reduce fertility, but they also help in diffusion of knowledge about fertility regulation1. Contraceptives use take place because of two reasons - for fertility control and for spacing. Initially, family planning methods were adopted only for birth control, but at present most of the newly married couples use it for spacing. The acquisition of knowledge and practice of family planning, a proximate determinant of fertility differentials, depend on different socio-economic and demographic variables. (Such as education of the mothers, occupation of the wives, total family income, live birth, age at marriage etc.) The immediate objective of the National Population Policy (2000) is to address unmet needs for contraception. Couples protection rate is an indicator of the prevalence of contraceptives practice in a population. It is defined as percent of eligible couples effectively protected against childbirth by one or other approved methods of family planning.2 Thegeneral objective of the research study is to highlight thedemographic behaviour of the Scheduled Castes People of Assam and their attitudes towards family planning and family planning measures. The specific objectives of the study is to study the level of penetration of family planning knowledge and the level of practicing such knowledge among the respondent females Scheduled Castes of Assam. The research project will be primarily based on field data collected from the sample households of the sample villages with the help of a series of questionnaires prepared for the purpose. The samples will be selected with the help of multi-phased (Stratified) sample technique both random and purposive.

Heterogenous impact of background meteorological factors on the cooling effect of two types of typical urban parks: Evidence from Shanghai, China

The cooling effect of urban parks (PCE) is widely recognized as an effective way to improve the urban thermal environment. While the influence of various background meteorological factors (BMFs) on PCE has been increasingly documented, further understanding of these impacts, particularly across different types of urban parks, remains insufficient. Here, we selected two typical urban parks, fifteen with green space (PG) and fifteen with blue-green space (PB&G) in Shanghai, China for comparative studies. The impact of BMFs on PCE and the threshold value of efficiency (TVoE) of sampled urban parks under six different dates were quantified through descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. The results showed that: (1) Compared with PG, PB&G had a stronger cooling effect, and were stable under different background meteorological conditions (BMCs). (2) The BMFs enable significant impact on the PCE, both PG and PB&G showed better PCE under higher background air temperature (Ta). (3) The blue space ratio (RBS) of urban parks presented a stronger correlation with PCE than the green space ratio (RGS) under various BMCs, especially in BMCs of lower relative humidity (Rh); thus, the regulation of RBS should be firstly considered for better PCE. (4) The TVoE of PB&G had better fitting results and was also less affected by BMCs, PB&G with an area of 0.93 ha was encouraged for optimal PCE from a cost-benefit perspective in the study area. These findings are essential to decision-makers and can provide actionable knowledge for urban climate adaptation planning.

Pedagogical decisions in lesson planning and making use of the planning: Perspective of both experienced and novice teachers

The differences between experienced and novice teachers can be observed in how they plan and implement lesson plans in the classroom. Understanding these strategies can aid teacher education programs in refining their curricula to better develop teachers' competencies. This research explores the perspectives and practices of both experienced and novice teachers regarding lesson planning and its actual use. A qualitative case study was conducted, involving two rounds of interviews with one experienced teacher and two novice teachers. Using qualitative data analysis techniques, the data were categorized into several themes. The findings reveal that all teachers recognize the importance of lesson planning. They unanimously agree that written lesson plans, referred to as lesson plan pro forma, are essential for guiding teaching and fulfilling administrative functions. However, differences emerged in how they planned their lessons, responded to policy changes and regulations, and made pedagogical decisions when addressing critical incidents in the classroom. The experienced teacher demonstrated greater readiness and adaptability to changes in the curriculum, classroom dynamics, students' needs, and school regulations. Conversely, the novice teacher, due to a lack of knowledge and skills in lesson planning, tended to rely on the school-selected workbook as the primary resource for teaching directions. Implications for teacher professional development programs and recommendations for further research are discussed.

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.