Practitioner Perspectives Research Articles

Harmonizing DevOps taxonomies — A grounded theory study

Context:DevOps responds to the growing need of companies to streamline the software development process and thus has experienced widespread adoption in the past few years. However, the successful adoption of DevOps requires companies to address important cultural and organizational changes. Nevertheless, it is crucial to recognize that various DevOps taxonomies exist, both from academic and practitioner perspectives, which may lead to misleading or failed adoption of DevOps. Objective:This paper presents empirical research on the structure of DevOps teams in software-producing organizations. The goal is to better understand the organizational structure and characteristics of teams adopting DevOps by harmonizing the existing knowledge. Methods:To achieve this, we employed a grounded theory approach with collaborative coding, involving two research groups. Inter-Coder Agreement (ICA) was utilized to guide the discussion rounds. We conducted a comprehensive analysis of existing studies on DevOps teams and taxonomies to gain a deeper understanding of the subject. Results:From the analysis, we built a substantive and analytic theory of DevOps taxonomies. The theory is substantive in that the scope of validity refers to the ten secondary studies processed and analytic in that it analyzes “what is” rather than explaining causality or attempting predictive generalizations. A public repository with all the data related to the products resulting from the analysis and generation of the theory is available. Conclusions:We built a theory on DevOps taxonomies and tested whether it harmonizes the existing taxonomies, i.e., whether our theory can instantiate the others. This is the first step to define which taxonomies are best suited to approach DevOps culture and practices according to the companies’ objectives and capabilities.Editor’s note: Open Science material was validated by the Journal of Systems and Software Open Science Board.

IoT Integration in Telemedicine: Investigating the Role of Internet of Things Devices in Facilitating Remote Patient Monitoring and Data Transmission

Introduction: The integration of Internet of Things (IoT) technology with telemedicine has ushered in a groundbreaking era for healthcare, allowing for remote monitoring and data transmission of patients. This research paper aims to explore the complex relationship between IoT devices and telemedicine, examining their combined potential to improve patient care and transform healthcare workflows. Method: To gain a deeper understanding of the impact of IoT-powered telemedicine, a qualitative study was conducted to explore the experiences and perspectives of both healthcare practitioners and patients. Using in-depth interviews and content analysis, we examined the integration of IoT devices, such as wearables and remote sensors, into telemedicine platforms. This allowed us to uncover real-time health data collection and transmission from patients' homes to medical professionals. Result: This study's analysis of the benefits, challenges, and user satisfaction indicates that IoT-powered remote patient monitoring significantly enhances patient care by facilitating timely interventions and reducing hospital admissions, ultimately leading to improved healthcare outcomes and highlighting the effectiveness of IoT-powered remote patient monitoring in relation to healthcare outcomes. Furthermore, we analyze the complex technical factors that influence the effective deployment of IoT devices in telehealth settings. The integration of telemedicine with IoT technology is a complex process that requires careful consideration of several factors, including data security, interoperability, and data analytics. These factors play a crucial role in ensuring the effective and secure exchange of health information between different systems. The insights gained from this research can help to inform the development of best practices for telemedicine, ultimately improving patient care and outcomes. The findings also have implications for healthcare providers, technology developers, and policymakers who seek to leverage IoTintegrated telehealth solutions in their work.

Practitioner perspectives on the application of palaeoecology in nature conservation

It is widely recognised that palaeoecology holds great potential to inform and support nature conservation, but that there are difficulties in knowledge exchange between academia and practitioners that inhibit the operationalisation of research. To facilitate the integration of palaeoecology into the conservation toolkit, it is essential to understand perspectives of the practitioners themselves and the contexts in which they work. This paper reports the results of a survey of 153 UK-based conservation practitioners, concerning their perceptions of palaeoecology, the barriers to its use and potential solutions for making palaeoecological insights more accessible in conservation practice. The survey was conducted online over a period of 3 months; closed question responses were analysed for statistical trends and thematic analysis was done on open question responses. The majority of respondents were strongly positive about the role palaeoecological research could play, though they also exhibited a limited understanding of how and why one might implement it. They identified time constraints as the biggest barrier to using palaeoecology within their work, and also flagged concerns around financial resources and the accessibility of the research. Access to applied case studies and a centralised database were the most favoured solutions among respondents. Respondents with prior experience of working with palaeoecology were generally more optimistic about its incorporation. This paper makes several key recommendations to progress the integration of palaeoecology into conservation, including improving data accessibility, aligning research design with conservation and policy drivers, and increasing both respective groups’ understanding of the other.

EEG based automated seizure detection – A survey of medical professionals

Diagnosing and managing seizures presents substantial challenges for clinicians caring for patients with epilepsy. Although machine learning (ML) has been proposed for automated seizure detection using EEG data, there is little evidence of these technologies being broadly adopted in clinical practice. Moreover, there is a noticeable lack of surveys investigating this topic from the perspective of medical practitioners, which limits the understanding of the obstacles for the development of effective automated seizure detection. Besides the issue of generalisability and replicability seen in a small amount of studies, obstacles to the adoption of automated seizure detection remain largely unknown. To understand the obstacles preventing the application of seizure detection tools in clinical practice, we conducted a survey targeting medical professionals involved in the management of epilepsy. Our study aimed to gather insights on various factors such as the clinical utility, professional sentiment, benchmark requirements, and perceived barriers associated with the use of automated seizure detection tools.Our key findings are: I) The minimum acceptable sensitivity reported by most of our respondents (80%) seems achievable based on studies reported from most currently available ML-based EEG seizure detection algorithms, but replication studies often fail to meet this minimum. II) Respondents are receptive to the adoption of ML seizure detection tools and willing to spend time in training. III) The top three barriers for usage of such tools in clinical practice are related to availability, lack of training, and the blackbox nature of ML algorithms. Based on our findings, we developed a guide that can serve as a basis for developing ML-based seizure detection tools that meet the requirements of medical professionals, and foster the integration of these tools into clinical practice.

A feminism of the soul? Postfeminism, postsecular feminism and contemporary feminine spiritualities

Increasingly popular ‘feminine spiritualities’ urge women to foster personal transformation and social change through spiritual empowerment and healing of ‘the feminine’. However, in spite of feminist undertones, feminism is rarely explicitly evoked, and is often even rejected. Gender scholars have debated over the ambivalent feminism of contemporary spiritualities, which are readily seen as closer to postfeminist rather than feminist ideals, or framed as a form of old-fashioned cultural feminism. While some recent analyses do explore the feminist potential of feminine spiritualities in more positive terms, the debates often lack practitioner perspectives on feminism and deeper considerations of the practitioners’ own self-definitions. Based on ethnographic interview material across Finnish and Anglo-American contexts, this article explores how adherents of feminine spirituality imagine feminism, and whether they consider their spirituality to be feminist or not and why. I argue that while practitioners hold varying, often ambiguous positions in relation to feminism, the narratives iterate shared themes that render feminism and feminine spirituality as incompatible: an emphasis on femininity over feminism, and a focus on spirituality instead of politics. Furthermore, practitioners critique mainstream feminism for being too secular, while often simultaneously agreeing with feminist criticisms of both cultural feminist and postfeminist ideals. I suggest that failing to take the voices of spiritual women into account prevents constructive dialogue and solidarity among secular and spiritual feminists as well as non-feminist women, and offers little room for emerging postsecular feminist identities.

Hospital doctors’ and general practitioners’ perspectives of outpatient discharge processes in Australia: an interpretive approach

BackgroundUnnecessary delays in patient discharge from hospital outpatient clinics have direct consequences for timely access of new patients and the length of outpatient waiting times. The aim of this study was to gain better understanding of hospital doctors’ and general practitioners’ perspectives of the barriers and facilitators when discharging from hospital outpatients to general practice.MethodsAn interpretative approach incorporating semi-structured interviews with 15 participants enabled both hospital doctors and general practitioners to give their perspectives on hospital outpatient discharge processes.ResultsParticipants mentioned various system problems hampering discharge from hospital outpatient clinics to general practice, such as limitations of electronic communication tools, workforce and workload challenges, the absence of agreed discharge principles, and lack of benchmark data. Hospital clinicians may keep patients under their care out of a concern about lack of follow-up and an inability to escalate timely hospital care following discharge. Some hospital clinicians may have a personal preference to provide ongoing care in the outpatient setting. Other factors mentioned were insufficient supervision of junior doctors, a patient preference to remain under hospital care, and the ease of scheduling follow-up appointments.An effective handover process requires protected time, a systematic approach, and a supportive clinical environment including user-friendly electronic communication and clinical handover tools. Several system improvements and models of care were suggested, such as agreed discharge processes, co-designed between hospitals and general practice. Recording and sharing outpatient discharge data may assist to inform and motivate hospital clinicians and support the training of junior doctors.General practitioners participating in the study were prepared to provide continuation of care but require timely clinical management plans that can be applied in the community setting. A hospital re-entry pathway providing rapid access to outpatient hospital resources after discharge could act as a safety net and may be an alternative to the standard 12-month review in hospital outpatient clinics.ConclusionOur study supports the barriers to discharge as mentioned in the literature and adds the perspectives of both hospital clinicians and general practitioners. Potential solutions were suggested including co-designed discharge policies, improved electronic communication tools and a rapid hospital review pathway following discharge.

Store-and-forward (asynchronous) doctor-to-dermatologist non-skin cancer specific teledermatology services in Australia: A scoping review.

Store-and-forward teledermatology (SAFT) has become increasingly popular as a means to increase access to specialist care and address healthcare disparities such as those experienced by rural communities. A contemporary systematic overview of the Australian SAFT services and outcomes for all dermatological conditions is missing. This scoping review provides an overview of Australian SAFT models. Twelve studies were identified through web databases, grey literature sites and reference lists of eligible articles. Eligibility criteria included studies evaluating doctor-to-dermatologist Australian SAFT services provided to Australians for all skin conditions but excluded the studies that solely focused on skin cancers. Data on study design, setting, population, SAFT model, referral characteristics, patient, and general practitioner perspectives, diagnostic concordance, and measured outcomes such as follow up, investigation and waiting time were extracted. Quality of the included studies was assessed using CASP tools. Synthesis reveals that SAFT can be used for patients with any dermatological condition, provides more accurate diagnostics compared to cases without dermatologist input, may reduce waiting times for dermatological expertise, and users generally had positive experiences with SAFT. Although results are positive, this review reveals the heterogenous nature of the literature on SAFT in Australia and a need to establish a uniform approach to assessing the outcomes and impacts of such services.

Drivers of dropout and enhancers of engagement for male military veterans in therapy: practitioner perspectives

ABSTRACT Male veterans are vastly over-represented in suicide rates relative to non-veterans. A critical avenue for improving male veterans’ mental health outcomes is improving their engagement with mental health services. This study presents a qualitative investigation of mental health practitioners’ perspectives on enhancers of engagement in, and drivers of dropout from therapy among male veterans. Participants were 138 mental health practitioners across Australia, the USA, Canada, New Zealand and the UK (44.9% male; age M = 47.5 years, SD = 12 years). Participants responded to qualitative survey items inquiring about their perspectives on what works to engage male veterans in therapy, alongside common drivers of therapy dropout. Under an overarching theme contextualising the therapeutic alliance between veterans and mental health practitioners, interpretive description analyses led to eight distinct subthemes. Results highlight the range of areas in which mental health practitioners can thoughtfully adapt their practice to engage male veterans and align with military masculinities. In addition, findings underscore the range of barriers facing veterans when they seek help, which can precipitate dropout if not overcome by the right balance between practitioner engagement and veteran persistence.

Cyclists’ perception of streetscape and its influence on route choice: A pilot study with a mixed-methods approach

To encourage behavioural changes that reduce car use, understanding travel behaviour and interventions in infrastructure are necessary. Understanding the route choices of cyclists and their motivation based on their preferences regarding their trip attributes is essential to improve cycling infrastructure and encourage active travel modes such as cycling. This research aims to explore the influence of streetscape design features (SDFs) on cyclists' route choices by developing a mixed-method approach to collect objective and subjective data from 22 volunteers. We used a survey (Maptionnaire) with a virtual reality (VR) and eye-tracking experiment to simulate a bicycle trip in Enschede, The Netherlands. Results showed that despite differences between usual and ideal routes regarding SDFs (such as the presence of vegetation, water bodies, and road intersections), factors such as infrastructure provision and quality have a more significant impact when choosing a route. The novelty of the proposed methodology lies in combining data from the different methods to improve understanding regarding the influence of SDFs in cyclists' route choices and raise awareness among the participants about the influence of SDFs on their route choices. These results may encourage future studies to develop and implement alternative mixed-methods approaches to increase understanding of cyclists' travel behaviour. From a practitioner's perspective, implementing such mixed-method for data collection may increase the efficiency of the process to aid in the development of contextual data-driven interventions that encourage the use of bicycles.

An eXplainable AI (XAI) model for text-based patent novelty analysis

The technology development cycle continues to accelerate, and novelty analysis is becoming increasingly important for R&D planning as well as in the patent application process. Recently, thanks to significant advances in both text mining and natural language processing, researchers started to look into AI-assisted novelty analysis of technical content including patents. However, existing language models do not take into account the unique characteristics of technical elements in patent documents nor do they provide any explanation of their decisions including which technical elements represent a novelty. Therefore, we developed an eXplainable AI (XAI) model that evaluates novelty, takes into account the claim structure of a patent, and provides an explanation. The proposed framework of an XAI model for patent novelty consists of the following three parts: (1) dataset construction, (2) model architecture, and (3) inference process. The training dataset for patent novelty is constructed using a full-text dataset provided by the European Patent Office (EPO). A self-explainable novelty classification model is proposed and investigated. Using the fitted model, the inference results are then analyzed by extracting patents in the field of vehicle communication networks. The inference process is done by applying the fitted model to patents in the vehicle communication network field and can be expanded to address potential applications. The performance of the proposed model is then verified by comparing it with the results of similar studies. We also discuss practical applications from the perspective of patent examiners and technical planning practitioners. This study involves both an academic contribution that uses a novel approach to technology management via an XAI model and a practical contribution that can be used for patent analysis.

Online Survey to Investigate Asthma Medication Prescription and Adherence from the Perspective of Patients and Healthcare Practitioners in England [Letter

Online Survey to Investigate Asthma Medication Prescription and Adherence from the Perspective of Patients and Healthcare Practitioners in England [Letter

Multi-sports training in English soccer academies: A survey exploring practices, practitioner perspectives, and barriers to use

Despite interest in multi-sports training as a strategy to enhance long-term player development in soccer, current practice within English professional soccer academies is not well understood. This study explored the use of multi-sports training by English professional soccer academies (i.e., if multi-sports training was used, how often, session duration, activity type and age-group variations), and practitioners’ perspectives with respect to player development (i.e., perceived physical/sociological benefits of; and barriers to use) using an online survey. One practitioner per club, per age category (i.e., Foundation (<9 to <12 years), Youth (<13 to <16 years) and Professional (<18 to <23 years)) was permitted to respond. Sixty practitioners responded, of which, 48% worked with U18-U23 players; 42% with U13–14 and U15–16 players, respectively; 20% with U9–10 players and 33% with U11–12 players. Half ( n = 30) of the respondents used multi-sports training for a total of 1 (IQR 1–2) session and 30 (13 to 60) minutes per week. Respondents ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that multi-sports training improved physical outcomes, reduced injury risk, helped to avoid early professionalism, and improved communication and problem-solving. Several barriers to inclusion were identified, such as limited training time, lack of equipment and attrition from other staff and players. In summary, although multi-sports training was used by only ∼50% of practitioners, indicating that many clubs specialise in deliberate soccer practice, most practitioners perceived multi-sports training to be beneficial to player development.

Care transition processes in the Singapore healthcare system: process mapping and perspectives of private primary care practitioners.

Care transition processes in the Singapore healthcare system: process mapping and perspectives of private primary care practitioners.

Streamlining social impact assessment and disaster risk assessment for the 21st century – Perspectives from South Africa

Despite considerable improvements in social impact assessment practice, the shortfalls and neglected status of social impact assessment persist. Integrated impact assessments have been suggested to address some of these shortcomings. Due to its transdisciplinary nature, disaster risk assessment has been identified as an emerging area that could assist social impact assessment in managing social changes and risks and improving community resilience. Emerging research from South Africa and abroad have shown that social impact assessment–disaster risk assessment integration offers opportunities for streamlining and improved practice across four areas, that is, theoretical discourses, legislative and statutory provisions, practitioner perspectives and combined methodologies. The resulting streamlined social impact assessment and disaster risk assessment will be more suitable for 21st-century challenges, allowing for enriched social impact assessment practice, contributions to social sustainability and strengthening of the social resilience of at-risk communities. From observations of the South African context, we suggest that streamlined social impact assessment and disaster risk assessment will optimally address the challenges of developing sustainably and enhancing the resilience of at-risk societies in the 21st century in South Africa, the global south and also the rest of the world.

Assessing oncology providers attitudes and practices toward nonformulary drugs and mapping current obstacles in Saudi Arabia

IntroductionFormulary drug list is a continually updated list of medications routinely stocked by hospitals and other healthcare facilities and deemed effective, safe, and cost saving. Non-formulary drug (NFD) refers to medications not on the formulary, due to cost or lack of clinical data. This study aimed to examine the processing of NFD requests by oncology providers (OPs) in Saudi Arabia. MethodA cross-sectional survey in Saudi oncology centers gathered perspectives of healthcare practitioners, mainly oncology pharmacists and physicians, on NFDs and request processes, aiming to understand variations, reasons for NFDs, and suggestions for an improved, unified NFDs request algorithm. ResultA total of 93 physicians and pharmacists responded, 57 % were pharmacists, 43 % were physicians, and 94.6 % worked in the governmental sector. Around 31.2 % reported that it takes one week to receive a decision on their NFD request, while 28 % reported it takes two weeks to one month. Furthermore, 35.5 % of participants reported that the complete NFD process, from the initial order placement to the receipt of medications, spans a duration of 2–4 months, while 8.6 % noted a longer duration exceeding six months. The participants reported that the most common obstacles while requesting NFD were procurement delays and lengthy processing times. Additionally, 26.9 % agreed that formulary restrictions hindered medical care and 40.3 % reported delays in patient care. While 33.8 % were forced to use fewer effective options, and 22.1 % referred patients to palliative care. ConclusionThe current practice of NFDs has negative consequences on cancer patient outcomes due to delays in patient care or the use of less effective drugs. Thus, we recommend having a national NFD access program.

The impact of technology development upon art essence intricacy on arts: The perspective of art practitioners in Malaysia

This paper presents and discusses the relative issues of the development of modern technology that directly impact the creation of artwork. The artistic value has always been argued and discussed as the era changes occasionally. The artistic world has again learned the value of integrating and applying technology to artists' artworks. The technology enforcement, in alignment with the demands of the new generations, kept contextual and conceptual artworks secondary. This paper will elaborate on the relationship between technological applications and artworks' impact. As the digital era shifted rapidly, more advanced technological applications were valued more than conceptual value. Art appreciation has become more tangible rather than elaborate. Thus, it is important to simulate a conceptual framework to understand the phenomenon properly. Multiple understandings of the theory of the development of technological implications support the conceptual framework. This study conducted exploratory research by collecting primary data through a focus group interview with Fine Artists, Graphic Artists, and Hybrid Artists in an open session and discussing by elaborating on the topics mentioned. An underlying understanding of the conceptual framework has been achieved, and a new conceptual framework has been developed. This paper is limited to the technological implications of the value of artworks and the artist's experience. The advanced conceptual framework of the Art Intricacy Performance Model will define artwork to recognise the proper understanding of its value and direction.

Optimizing Subnational Warning Mechanisms: Community and Practitioner Perspectives on the 2018 Anak Krakatau-Induced Tsunami in Pandeglang, Indonesia

Optimizing Subnational Warning Mechanisms: Community and Practitioner Perspectives on the 2018 Anak Krakatau-Induced Tsunami in Pandeglang, Indonesia

Case Study: A Practitioner Perspective on Implementation of Sustainability Initiatives at the University of California, Davis

For over a century, the University of California (UC), Davis campus has been a living laboratory to innovate and implement scalable solutions to sustainability challenges. Four recent sustainability efforts reviewed in this case study include the first Fossil Fuel Free Pathway Plan in the UC, a Voluntary University Review of UC Davis’ contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals, the Big Shift project to lower the district heating carbon footprint, and the climate change-driven Living Landscape Adaptation Plan. Sustained engagement of all sectors of the campus community is critical to successful adoption of these initiatives. Key success drivers include: a) use of data-driven decision making; b) intensivecollaboration among many stakeholders, c) inclusion of faculty and students as active participants, and d) an emphasis on sharing best practices and findings

Barcoding and traditional health practitioner perspectives are informative to monitor and conserve frogs and reptiles traded for traditional medicine in urban South Africa.

Previous literature suggests that Indigenous cultural practices, specifically traditional medicine, are commonplace among urban communities contrary to the general conception that such practices are restricted to rural societies. We reviewed previous literature for records of herptiles (frog and reptile species) sold by traditional health practitioners in urban South Africa, then used visual confirmation surveys, DNA barcoding and folk taxonomy to identify the herptile species that were on sale. Additionally, we interviewed 11 IsiZulu and SePedi speaking traditional health practitioners to document details of the collection and pricing of herptile specimens along with the practitioners' views of current conservation measures for traditional medicine markets. The 34 herptile species recorded in previous literature on traditional medicine markets included endangered and non-native species. Spectrophotometry measurements of the DNA we extracted from the tissue of herptiles used in traditional medicine were an unreliable predictor of whether those extractions would be suitable for further experimental work. From our initial set of 111 tissue samples, 81 sequencing reactions were successful and 55 of those sequences had species-level matches to COI reference sequences on the NCBI GenBank and/or BOLD databases. Molecular identification revealed that traditional health practitioners correctly labelled 77% of the samples that we successfully identified with DNA barcoding in this study. Our mixed methodology approach is useful for conservation planning as it updates knowledge of animal use in Indigenous remedies and can accurately identify species of high conservation priority. Furthermore, this study highlights the possibility of collaborative conservation planning with traditional health practitioners.

Factors influencing the duration of untreated illness among patients with anorexia nervosa: A multicenter and multi-informant study.

The duration of untreated illness (DUI), that is, the interval between the onset of anorexia nervosa (AN) symptoms and start of specialized treatments, has a strong influence on the prognosis. To quantify modifiable predictors of the DUI and to derive recommendations for secondary prevention strategies. Within a multicenter, multi-informant study, DUI was assessed in interviews with patients undergoing first specialized AN treatment. Modifiable factors were assessed perspectives of AN-patients, their relatives, and primary care practitioners [PCPs]) with the FABIANA-checklist (Facilitators and barriers in anorexia nervosa treatment initiation). The effect of FABIANA-items on the DUI for each perspective was calculated using Cox Regression (control variables: age, eating disorder pathology, health care status, migration background, body mass index [BMI]). We included data from N = 125 female patients with AN (72 adults, 53 adolescents, Mage = 19.2 years, SD = 4.2, MBMI = 15.7 kg/m2 , SD = 1.9), N = 89 relatives (81.8% female, 18.2% male, Mage = 46.0 years, SD = 11.0) and N = 40 PCPs (Mage = 49.7 years, SD = 9.0). Average DUI was 12.0 months. Watching or reading articles about the successful treatment of other individuals with AN (patients' perspective) and regular appointments with a PCP (PCPs' perspective) were related to a shorter DUI (HR = 0.145, p = .046/ HR = 0.395, p = .018). Patients whose relatives rated that PCPs trivialized patients' difficulties had a longer DUI (HR = -0.147, p = .037). PCPs and relatives rated PCPs' competence higher than patients did. It is recommended (a) to incorporate treatment success stories in prevention strategies, (b) to inform PCPs about potential benefits of regular appointments during the transition to specialized care, and (c) to train PCPs in dealing with patients' complaints. Many individuals with AN seek treatment very late. Our study shows that a promising approach to facilitate earlier AN treatment is to inform patients about successful treatments of affected peers, to foster regular appointments with a PCP and, to motivate these PCPs to take individuals' with AN difficulties seriously. Thus, our study provides important suggestions for interventions that aim to improve early treatment in AN.