Elements Of Practice Research Articles

New models, same practices? Examining professional values and peace journalism training

Existing work on peace journalism would suggest that some journalism cultures may be more receptive to—or perhaps already practice elements of—peace journalism. However, little research has documented, nor explored, perceptions of peace journalism when its practices are perceived as customary to situated professional environments. To better understand this phenomenon, this study examines how journalists ascribe value to peace journalism training, particularly when they were reportedly familiar with, or already practicing, peace journalism. Drawing on in-depth interviews with journalists from Uganda, South Sudan, and Kenya, findings suggest that values associated with attending peace journalism trainings at times transcend the ostensible goals of workshop organizers. These values include trainings as a means for building professional networks, improving general journalistic skills, and fulfilling social expectations. Understanding these professional values contextualizes the adaptation of peace journalism across contexts, with implications for journalism professionalization processes more broadly.

Changing Knowledge, Principles, and Technology in Contemporary Clinical Audiological Practice: A Narrative Review.

The field of audiology as a collection of auditory science knowledge, research, and clinical methods, technologies, and practices has seen great changes. A deeper understanding of psychological, cognitive, and behavioural interactions has led to a growing range of variables of interest to measure and track in diagnostic and rehabilitative processes. Technology-led changes to clinical practices, including teleaudiology, have heralded a call to action in order to recognise the role and impact of autonomy and agency on clinical practice, engagement, and outcomes. Advances in and new information on loudness models, tinnitus, psychoacoustics, deep neural networks, machine learning, predictive and adaptive algorithms, and PREMs/PROMs have enabled innovations in technology to revolutionise clinical principles and practices for the following: (i) assessment, (ii) fitting and programming of hearing devices, and (iii) rehabilitation. This narrative review will consider how the rise of teleaudiology as a growing and increasingly fundamental element of contemporary adult audiological practice has affected the principles and practices of audiology based on a new era of knowledge and capability. What areas of knowledge have grown? How has new knowledge shifted the priorities in clinical audiology? What technological innovations have been combined with these to change clinical practices? Above all, where is hearing loss now consequently positioned in its journey as a field of health and medicine?

Evaluation Resources for Asthma Programs and Beyond.

Evaluation can ensure the quality of public health programs. Systematic efforts to identify and fully engage everyone involved with or affected by a program can provide critical information about asthma programs and the broader environment in which they operate. To assist evaluators working at programs funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC's) National Asthma Control Program (NACP), we developed a package of tools that build on the CDC's 1999 Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health. The resulting suite of evaluation tools guides evaluators through a structured but flexible process, engaging a diverse array of interest holders and actively involving them in evaluation planning and implementation, all while strengthening their capacity to meaningfully contribute to the evaluation process. For our newest tool, our team reviewed the recent evaluation literature to create an enhanced version of the 1999 framework that describes important elements of professional evaluation practice. Although the original framework describes the steps to take in conducting an evaluation and the standards for a high-quality evaluation, our enhanced framework includes an explanation of how evaluators should approach their work: by incorporating critical reflection, interpersonal competence, situational awareness, and cultural responsiveness. In this article, we highlight many of the evaluation resources our team has created since the NACP's inception, culminating in a free e-text called Planting the Seeds of High-Quality Program Evaluation in Public Health. Public health professionals working in many types of programs - not just asthma - may find these resources useful.

Purity Independent Subtyping of Tumors (PurIST) Pancreatic Cancer Classifier: Analytic Validation of a 16-RNA Expression Signature Distinguishing Basal and Classical Subtypes

The two major molecular subtypes of pancreatic adenocarcinoma reportedly have differential response to FOLFIRINOX-based therapy. To promote rapid assignment of basal versus classical subtypes, an array-based single-sample classifier assay was developed and applied to 74 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded biopsy or resection specimens of known subtype based on transcriptomics. The Purity Independent Subtyping of Tumors (PurIST) algorithm assigns subtype based on relative expression of 16 RNAs counted by RNA sequencing (RNAseq) versus more practical array-based NanoString nCounter Elements XT technology. Subtype calls were largely concordant between RNAseq and array methods (72/74, 97% agreement). Compared with the lengthy RNAseq protocol, the array-based assay takes just 3 working days to analyze, permitting rapid reporting of tumor subtype. In conclusion, the PurIST pancreatic cancer classifier has robust performance to classify pancreatic adenocarcinoma into basal versus classical subtypes. Clinical validation studies are underway to evaluate outcome in patients whose standard-of-care chemotherapy regimen is selected on the basis of rapid subtype assignment (NCT04683315).

The Exploration and Practice of Constructing the Curriculum Cluster for Japanese (Teacher-oriented) Majors Under the Drive of Certification

Course teaching is the foundation of certification for Teacher-oriented programs, and it’s also an important component of the current reform in university-level Japanese language Teacher-oriented programs. Curriculum clusters have been widely applied in the teaching reform practices of relevant majors at universities due to their characteristics such as high integration of course contents, rich practical teaching elements and adaptability to professional development demands. To further integrate the curriculum cluster with Japanese (Teacher-oriented) programs, efforts are needed to adjust course outlines and optimize teaching content, emphasizing teaching guidance and shifting teaching paradigms, improving teaching methods and upgrading teaching models.

Writing as Social Work: Thematic Review of the Literature

Abstract This article offers a thematic review of research and analysis of academic and practice-based social work writing. It aims to highlight specific challenges, arguing that support is needed in the development of writing as a core element of professional practice. Social work writing in the United Kingdom has been framed as a ‘problematic’, time-intensive activity [Lillis, T. (2023) ‘Professional written voice “in flux”: The case of social work’, Applied Linguistics Review, 14(3), pp. 615–41]. It records practice, but is also a vital tool for undertaking assessments, formulating professional judgements, decision making and multi-agency collaboration. However, the centrality of writing to social work practice is not reflected in the regulatory frameworks for the profession in the United Kingdom where it only appears in the context of ‘report writing’ and loosely ‘communication’. The discussion is contextualised within a theoretical framing of social work writing followed by a discussion of student writing and then writing in professional practice. The article addresses the themes related to academic writing of concerns about the quality of writing; disciplinarity; conventions and implicit codes; and challenges to teach professional writing. In relation to practice-based writing, the article addresses the themes of social work as a ‘writing intensive’ profession; writing as enacting practice; and the challenges and experience of social work writers.

Enhancing research engagement in MSW students by investigating social work majors’ adverse life events and mental health outcomes

ABSTRACT Research literacy for graduate social work students may be enhanced by approaching the process of teaching research methods from an experiential learning perspective. This article provides an overview of an introductory MSW research course where students investigated adverse life events (ALEs) and their association with mental health outcomes in social work majors (N = 51). MSW students’ inquiry into ALEs helped to increase their understanding of the practical elements of trauma exposure and aftermath, along with conducting research that adds to the knowledge base of the topic. The findings on childhood maltreatment, adult interpersonal violence, and mental health outcomes are presented, along with students’ process of constructing and implementing their research studies. ALEs were common across the lifespan. However, few associations were found between ALEs, whether in childhood or adulthood, and mental (depression, anxiety, stress) and behavioral (alcohol use, cannabis use) health. Such findings underscored for students the complex relationship between psychological distress and resilience for social work trainees. Implications include further investigation to examine how positive coping skills may serve as essential moderators that create stress-buffering effects for social work trainees in the context of risk. Such information may enhance curricula to prepare students better to achieve professional competence.

Managing Brand Relationship Plurality: Insights From the Nonprofit Sector

The nonprofit sector is home to some of the most recognized and trustworthy brands, all competing for financial resources and volunteers. Akin to consumers, volunteers have relationships with nonprofit brands. These relationships have recently become more diverse as individuals increasingly look for more ephemeral and distant forms of involvement. Drawing on an extensive qualitative dataset of the Vienna Red Cross comprising participant observation, archival data, and in-depth interviews, the authors conceptualize this nonescalating, episodic engagement as a neither-growing-nor-fading (NGNF) relationship. This theorization adds to the literature on consumer–brand relationships, which has predominantly focused on the cultivation of strong relationships. Informed by practice theory, the authors elaborate distinct brand relationship practices key to successfully maintaining NGNF relationships (acquiring and activating) while catering to volunteers following the traditional path of relationship intensification (building and cultivating). The analysis identifies constellations of practice elements conducive to managing both types of brand relationships in a symbiotic manner. The authors argue for the importance of moving beyond an exclusive focus on relationship growth and embracing nonescalating relationships. This study thus contributes to nascent theorizing on brand relationships that do not follow an axiology that values growth and intensification.

Challenges for video research in complex contexts: experiences from Home Economics as an exemplar of a practical school subject

ABSTRACT This paper explores the challenges of filming as a qualitative research method in practical school subjects. We exemplify with an observation study using video data collected from lessons in Home Economics, but the issues we discuss are also relevant for other subjects with practical elements, such as Arts, Crafts, Music, Physical Education, and Natural Science. Based on a reflexive thematic analysis of sixteen videotaped Home Economics lessons, we discuss how potential limitations arise due to group work, obstructive furnishings, unpredictable movement, and the use of artefacts. The paper concludes with a discussion about the need to balance intrusiveness and visibility, the struggle to capture everything, the potentially problematic emphasis on visual data, and a section with recommendations for successful use of video as a research tool.

Semantically Equivalent Representatives of the Concept “Custom/Adat” in Russian and Kyrgyz Languages

This paper conducts a semantic study of the concept “custom/adat” and its representatives in the Russian and Kyrgyz languages. The conceptual content of the concept “custom/adat” is determined based on the study of relevant articles in explanatory, translated (bilingual), cultural, encyclopedic and other dictionaries. An analysis of Russian and Kyrgyz linguistic units denoting customs, rites, ceremonies and other elements of traditional practice of ethnic groups has been carried out. The study identifies the semantic dominant that organizes the functional-semantic field “custom”; in this regard, some central and peripheral nominees of the concept “custom” are identified and characterized on the basis of the lexicographic, literary, artistic, colloquial and folklore spaces of the two languages ​​being compared. The unity and differences in the linguoethnocultural ideas of native speakers of the Russian and Kyrgyz languages ​​about custom, its types and manifestations are shown, and explicit and implicit types of its nominees are identified. This work fills a small gap in the branches of linguistics that are actively developing in Kyrgyzstan — in cognitive linguistics, ethnolinguistics, linguoculturology, linguistic conceptology and the theory of intercultural communication.

How will education look like in the future?

There are many factors affecting educational practices. Changes in these factors create serious transformations in education. Some of the transformations are visible that imply a predictable future, while others have blurred influences which make the future forecasts difficult. Educational technologies often come and go but they all leave their marks on education when they are prevalent. In order to get prepared for the future, educators need to know which technologies will be dominant in the future practices of education. This article attempts to highlight the technologies that will be used commonly in the future education. It appears that virtual classroom, artificial intelligence, learning analytics, mobile applications, smart devices, extended reality, open educational resources, gamification, cloud computing, network society, post-truth, digital learning objects, online collaboration will be popular elements of educational practices in the future. On the other hand, social media, metaverse, and wearable technologies will lose their popularity in education to some degree. It is also likely that some of the current technologies will be modified while new ones will emerge to accommodate educational needs of the future.

‘You come as a human being…’: exploring sense of equality in arts interventions through an ethnographic study of Shared Reading

Research shows that the arts hold a particular potential for promoting health, well-being and social inclusion for vulnerable people. However, the use and consumption of the arts tend to be...

Analytical and numerical examinations on the stability investigation of Casson nanofluid flow in a permeable layer controlled by vertical throughflow

Purpose The purpose of the study is to analytically as well as numerically investigate the weight of throughflow on the onset of Casson nanofluid layer in a permeable matrix. This study examines both the marginal and over stable kind of convective movement in the system. Design/methodology/approach A double-phase model is used for Casson nanofluid, which integrates the impacts of thermophoresis and Brownian wave, whereas for flow in the porous matrix the altered Darcy model is occupied under the statement that nanoparticle flux is disappear on the boundaries. The resultant eigenvalue problem is resolved analytically as well as numerically with the help of Galerkin process with the Casson nanofluid Rayleigh–Darcy number as the eigenvalue. Findings The findings revealed that the throughflow factor postpones the arrival of convective flow and reduces the extent of convective cells, whereas the Casson factor, the Casson nanoparticle Rayleigh–Darcy number and the reformed diffusivity ratio promote convective motion and also decrease the extent of convective cells. Originality/value Controlling the convective movement in heat transfer systems that generate high heat flux is a real mechanical challenge. The proposed framework proved that the use of throughflow is one of the most important ways to control the convective movement in Casson nanofluid. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no inspection has been established in the literature that studies the outcome of throughflow on the Casson nanofluid convective flow in a porous medium layer. However, the convective flow of Casson nanofluid finds many applications in improving heat transmission and energy efficiency in a range of thermal systems, such as the cooling of heat-generating elements in electronic devices, heat exchangers, pharmaceutical practices and hybrid-powered engines, where throughflow can play a significant role in controlling the convective motion.

News Translation as Media Work in Agency Journalism? Evidence from United News of India Urdu

ABSTRACT Western liberal media theories often neglect to recognize “news translation” as one of the journalistic practices. This paper problematizes this dominant understanding of journalistic practice and expands the Bourdieusian media sociology project beyond western media systems by applying it to Indian agency journalism. A case study of the United News of India Urdu (UNIU) serves as the basis for this examination, drawing on an ethnography of news production practices, and supplemented with in-depth interviews conducted with Muslim journalists from 2018 to 2020 across four major Indian cities. Through this investigation, the paper asserts that “news translation” is indeed a vital but contested component of media work within the sphere of Indian-language journalism. The paper uses “media work” as a key concept to demonstrate that UNIU’s journalists are anchored in the field of journalism, as is evidenced by their institutional-cum-organizational location and their application of the elements of journalistic practice to their work.

Constructing the Clinical Preparation Field: Re-Envisioning the Role of Pre-Service Teacher Clinical Supervision

Given the difficulties that newly trained teachers currently encounter in entering the profession, it has become increasingly necessary to reexamine the nature of pre-service clinically-based teacher preparation. This paper focuses on the role of clinical supervisors in the context of the College–Field Partnership (CFP), an innovative program that reframes clinical preparation as going beyond a focus on classroom teaching to experiencing the school as a whole. The paper is based on “Self-in-Field” action research (SiFAR) involving eight experienced clinical supervisors who were leaders of teams of clinical supervisors in the CFP program. Through joint reflection on their professional practice, they came to see the clinical supervisor’s role as constructing a “clinical preparation field” that extends beyond the traditional “triad” of pre-service teacher, mentor teacher, and clinical supervisor. Constructing an expanded clinical preparation field involves building relationships among a wide variety of actors within the school and the academic preparation program as well as fostering learning and development for students and school staff alike. Two important implications of this new role for clinical supervisors were the need to become more skilled at (1) dealing with the emotional elements of school practice and (2) facilitating organizational learning processes in the school.

Newly qualified teachers in the eyes of principals: Moving beyond deficit perspectives

AbstractFeelings of shock, a difficult professional socialization process and unrealistic expectations create a challenging career entry phase for teachers. Too many newly qualified teachers feel stressed and leave the profession early, leading to a lingering teacher shortage. Much research in the field and many well-meant support interventions follow a deficit perspective and overlook newly qualified teachers’ potential for school development. This study aimed to better understand how school principals, a crucial but comparatively under-researched stakeholder group, characterize newly qualified teachers’ competences. Q methodology was selected to holistically study the views of 24 principals of compulsory schools in Southern Sweden without imposing any potentially deficit-oriented categories. Following standard protocol and enriched with interviews, four distinct factors were identified and qualitatively interpreted. Results show that newly qualified teachers are perceived as confident and well-prepared concerning pedagogical and didactical aspects of their profession. Regarding the use of digital tools, they are regarded as assets for school development, while diversity management and relationship-building emerged as areas of improvement. Based on our findings, we argue for more practical elements during campus-based pre-service teacher education and an intensified focus on reflective teacher identity development. Teachers’ career entry phase should be treated as a specific area of in-service teachers’ professional development at teacher education institutions, where a strengthened cooperation with employing schools will be particularly important. We expect these adaptations to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of support matters and provide future avenues that acknowledge newly qualified teachers’ expertise.

‘Let My Son Play’: Toys and Games for the Children of the Ancient Near East

ABSTRACT In the Ancient Near East, written and iconographic sources, and objects found in children's graves provide insight into children material culture. Rare finds, like clay figurines, miniature carts, and unique stone objects, suggest a mix of playthings and possibly ritual items. The presence of such items in children's tombs, different from adult burials, indicates a blend of practical and emotional elements in the burial ritual. The ambiguity surrounding these objects highlights the emotional and personal aspect of children's material culture, offering avenues on the complexity of their lives.

Cardiac transplantation and dentistry

The number of cardiac transplants carried out each year within the UK is increasing. With this rise in numbers, it is important that dental professionals are aware of both pre- and post-operative considerations for these patients. This paper considers the practical elements of managing these patients, outlining important aspects of history taking, treatment planning, and safe pain and anxiety management options. CPD/Clinical Relevance: The unilateral sagittal split osteotomy may present an alternative method for removing impacted mandibular third molar teeth in certain situations.

‘Hands on’, ‘hands off’ or ‘hands poised’? Exploring intrapartum midwifery decision making through ethnographic research

IssueInjury to the perineal tissues during childbirth is a frequent occurrence with most women likely to experience perineal injury during a first birth which, in some cases, can lead to significant long-term morbidity. The techniques used to minimise perineal injury are frequently termed ‘hands on’ and ‘hands poised’ or ‘hands off’. These terms are often undefined and used inconsistently in the literature, making it difficult to identify the best available evidence to inform midwifery practice. AimThis study aimed to answer the research questions: What do midwives do to minimise perineal injury during birth and what influences their decision-making? MethodsAn ethnographic study was undertaken during 2016 in a maternity unit in the southeast of England. Data were collected through participant-observation, ethnographic and semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis, informed by the pedagogic theory of threshold concepts. Findings31 midwives participated in the study. Evidence-based decision-making to minimise perineal injury during birth was identified as a complex concept. Within the context of threshold concept theory, three main themes were identified that contributed to the complexity: troublesome language, troublesome knowledge, and troublesome environments. ConclusionsMidwifery decision-making in the context of minimising perineal injury during birth is more varied and conceptually complex than has been previously described. Identification of the various aspects of troublesomeness in this context suggests that this element of practice is a midwifery threshold concept. Addressing this within midwifery curricula and practice education to enable evidence-based decision-making is important.

The Shoeshine Stand and the Renaissance of Primary Care.

Over the past century, family physicians have moved from small independently owned practices, many of them solo, to being employed by large hospital systems, corporate entities, or health systems. Today, almost three-quarters of all physicians are employed and the highest percentage of employed physicians are family physicians.This essay contrasts the elements of independent practice with employed practice as part of what has been lost in the past half century, but what might be regained if physicians demanded more autonomy and control over their practices.