Project Launch Research Articles

„Phage treatment and wetland technology as intervention strategy to prevent dissemination of antibiotic resistance in surface waters”- a project launch in low-middle in-come countries of Eastern Europe

Introduction. Antimicrobial resistance is a widespread and tough challenge, if not impossible, to limit by biological, physical or geographical barriers. This is the reason behind the "One Health" approach, which guides all rules and research plans on antimicrobial resistance worldwide. The abusive and excessive use of antimicrobials in human medicine, veterinary practices, agriculture and aquaculture has traditionally been considered the main reason for the global spread of antimicrobial resistance. The purpose was to assess the epidemiological risk of wastewater as a source of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria concerning public health, focusing on low- and middle-income Eastern European countries.
 Material and methods. To achieve this goal, the development of a secure, cost-effective and sustainable technology has been planned, which could easily be introduced in low- and middle-income countries. There have been outlined the following steps: mapping the consumption of antimicrobial emulsions at the national level (primary, cross-sectional study, complete sampling, based on imported data and centralized public acquirement of medicines); research regarding the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the population on antimicrobial resistance (primary, cross-sectional, descriptive study); qualitative and descriptive evaluation of barriers to reduce the phenomenon of antimicrobial resistance by the healthcare services; research regarding the knowledge, attitudes and practices in human and veterinary healthcare on antimicrobial resistance (primary, cross-sectional, descriptive study); screening and investigation of the microbial resistance mechanisms to the strains isolated from patients with infectious pathological processes (preclinical study); analysis of the specific features and sampling of the Constructed Wetlands in Orhei (preclinical study). The Ethics Committee of the Ministry of Health of RM positively approved the Research PhageLand.
 Results. The obtained results of this research will contribute to a better understanding of the involved factors that are generating the broadening of antimicrobial resistance and how they influence the transmission among different hosts (bacteria, animals and humans). Moreover, it can also have a major impact to the engineering field and wastewater management companies by expanding the range of tools with sophisticated technologies, designed to reduce the risk of transmitting antimicrobial resistance in wastewater and improve sewerage practices.
 Conclusions. The effective use of knowledge and practices in the worldwide fight against antimicrobial resistance, providing useful data, applicable knowledge, efficient, environmentally friendly and cost-effective protocols and technologies, which can be scaled, implemented and used at the European and international levels with no economic or geographical obstacles.
 Acknowledgment. The research was conducted in the Republic of Moldova within the JPIAMR projects (PhageLand), project number - 22.80013.8007.1.

A new scientific framework of dryland ecological quality assessment based on 1OAO principle

Human disturbance and climate change can easily lead to the shift of dryland ecological quality. However, how to comprehensively assess the shift of dryland ecological quality remains challenging. The ecological quality of specific dryland ecosystem in Northern China is less investigated following the launch of long-term large-scale national ecological restoration projects. This study established a dryland ecological quality assessment framework by the “One-out, all-out (1OAO)” principle. The ecological quality dynamics of Otindag sandy land in Northern China was evaluated by choosing 16 years (2000–2015) ecological quality as a baseline and comparing it to the report period (2005–2020). Three indicators, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), soil organic carbon (SOC) and dust sandstorm (DSS) was used to represent vegetation, soil and atmosphere quality, respectively. Our results showed that the vegetation quality kept stable in most areas, improved area of vegetation quality accounted for 30% of Otindag sandy land. The soil quality improved and degraded area accounted for 10% and 83%, respectively. The atmosphere quality increased in 98% area of Otindag sandy land. Overall, the ecological quality of Otindag sandy land improved in one fifth but degraded in four fifth following the launch of the national ecology restoration projects. Both degradation area is persistent since 2000 and no recent degradation found compared baseline to report period. The improvement was mainly in the southeastern part and the degradation was in western part of Otindag sandy land. This study provides practical basis for the scientific evaluation of dryland ecological quality dynamics and will facilitate the regional ecosystem management.

Assessing the effects of mining projects on child health in sub-Saharan Africa: a multi-country analysis

BackgroundThe African continent hosts many industrial mining projects, and many more are planned due to recent prospecting discoveries and increasing demand for various minerals to promote a low-carbon future. The extraction of natural resources in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) represents an opportunity for economic development but also poses a threat to population health through rapid urbanisation and environmental degradation. Children could benefit from improved economic growth through various channels such as access to high-quality food, better sanitation, and clean water. However, mining can increase food insecurity and trigger local competition over safe drinking water. Child health can be threatened by exposure to mining-related air, noise, and water pollution. To assess the impact of mines on child health, we analyse socio-demographic, health, and mining data before and after several mining projects were commissioned in SSA.ResultsData of 90,951 children living around 81 mining sites in 23 countries in SSA were analysed for child mortality indicators, and 79,962 children from 59 mining areas in 18 SSA countries were analysed for diarrhoea, cough, and anthropometric indicators. No effects of the launch of new mining projects on overall under-five mortality were found (adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR): 0.88; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.68–1.14). However, activation of mining projects reduced the mortality risk among neonates (0–30 days) by 45% (aOR: 0.55; 95% CI: 0.37–0.83) and risk for a child to develop diarrhoeal diseases by 32% (aOR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0,51–0.90). The timing analysis of observed changes showed that there is a significant decline in the risk for childhood diarrhoea (aOR: 0.69; 95% CI: 0.49–0.97), and the mean height-for-age z-scores by 28 percentage points, during the prospection and construction phase; i.e., within four years to the initiation of extraction activity. No effects were found for cough and weight-for-height.ConclusionThe results presented suggest that the impacts of mining on child health vary throughout the mine’s life cycle. Mining development likely contributes positively to the income and livelihoods of the impacted communities in the initial years of mining operations, particularly the prospection and construction phase; these potential benefits are likely to be at least partially offset by food insecurity and environmental pollution during early and later mining stages, respectively. Further research is warranted to better understand these health impacts and to identify policies that can help sustain the positive initial health impacts of mining projects in the long term.

Promising practices for adapting and implementing the WHO Safe Childbirth Checklist: case studies from India and Rwanda

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) Safe Childbirth Checklist (SCC) was published in 2015 as a patient safety tool to improve facility-based childbirth care through boosting adherence with essential practices around the major causes of maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality. We brought together partners who led implementation of the SCC in India and Rwanda to: (i) contextualize the findings from surveys and interviews about SCC adaptation and implementation around the world (data published separately) with our partners’ implementation experiences in India and Rwanda, and (ii) identify promising practices for SCC implementation. Methods We identified two partners–one from Tamil Nadu, India and one from Masaka District, Rwanda–to work together in identifying key promising practices regarding the SCC based on their direct experiences and data we collected from other implementers around the world. From June-September 2020, we held 4 virtual design workshops using brainwriting exercises to explore promising practices for adaptation and implementation of the SCC. We consolidated the implementation experiences in India and Rwanda into the WHO SCC Implementation Guide phases of Engage, Launch, and Support, and included two additional phases: Project Design and Evaluation. Results We present two case studies of SCC implementation that demonstrate improved adherence with essential birth practices after implementation of the SCC. Based on the case studies, we developed promising practices according to five implementation stages: Project Design, Engage, Launch, Support, and Evaluation. Clarifying the purpose and users of the tool, applying human-centered design principles, and developing evaluation plans for the specified purpose were some promising practices that emerged. Conclusions Our partnership with direct implementers of the SCC yielded important insights about how to adapt, implement, evaluate, and sustain use of the Checklist. Such partnerships are critical in building an evidence base for promising practices regarding SCC implementation around the world.

Predictors of Service Utilization of Young Children and Families Enrolled in a Pediatric Primary Care Mental Health Promotion and Prevention Program.

Understanding early childhood mental health service utilization in community-based clinical settings is important. Project Linking Actions for Unmet Needs in Children's Health (Project LAUNCH) provided mental health-related services for young children and families within pediatric medical homes. Using data from the Project LAUNCH evaluation (n = 106), we implemented negative binomial regression models to determine if baseline variables were associated with service utilization, defined as the number of encounters between the family and the team. Past-year homelessness emerged as a significant predictor of service utilization. Encounters for families with children who experienced homelessness within the last 12months occurred at a rate 34.5% lower than those who had not experienced homelessness. Results highlight the importance of addressing homelessness as a barrier to mental health service utilization for families. Screening for recent housing insecurity and developing interventions that integrate housing support services into mental health programs may inform strategies to increase attendance for families with young children.

A robust and scalable graph neural network for accurate single-cell classification.

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) techniques provide high-resolution data on cellular heterogeneity in diverse tissues, and a critical step for the data analysis is cell type identification. Traditional methods usually cluster the cells and manually identify cell clusters through marker genes, which is time-consuming and subjective. With the launch of several large-scale single-cell projects, millions of sequenced cells have been annotated and it is promising to transfer labels from the annotated datasets to newly generated datasets. One powerful way for the transferring is to learn cell relations through the graph neural network (GNN), but traditional GNNs are difficult to process millions of cells due to the expensive costs of the message-passing procedure at each training epoch. Here, we have developed a robust and scalable GNN-based method for accurate single-cell classification (GraphCS), where the graph is constructed to connect similar cells within and between labelled and unlabeled scRNA-seq datasets for propagation of shared information. To overcome the slow information propagation of GNN at each training epoch, the diffused information is pre-calculated via the approximate Generalized PageRank algorithm, enabling sublinear complexity over cell numbers. Compared with existing methods, GraphCS demonstrates better performance on simulated, cross-platform, cross-species and cross-omics scRNA-seq datasets. More importantly, our model provides a high speed and scalability on large datasets, and can achieve superior performance for 1 million cells within 50min.

Formation of an optimal project management program for an aviation enterprise

The work is devoted to the development of a method for minimizing the lost profit arising as a result of the phased financing of the projects of the aviation enterprise development program. It has been established that the minimization of lost profits, if any, can be ensured by the timely launch of individual projects. To solve the problem, its mathematical description was compiled and a solution method was proposed that allows minimizing lost profits due to the timely launch of projects, taking into account penalties for delaying their implementation. The paper gives an example of the formation of an optimal program for the development of an aviation enterprise.

БИЗНЕС-АНАЛИЗ И ТЕОРИЯ ИГР КАК ЭФФЕКТИВНЫЙ ИНСТРУМЕНТ ДЛЯ ПРИВЛЕЧЕНИЯ КАПИТАЛА РОССИЙСКИМИ КОМПАНИЯМИ

The economic sphere of the modern world plays an important role in human life. It is constantly developing and increasing momentum, includes a large number of tools for its use, and enterprises are a long-established, fundamental part of this sphere. There is also a wide range of tools within enterprises that ensure their sustainability. Business analysis is one of the most important in the company’s activities, identifying the needs of the business, as well as ways to overcome emerging difficulties and attract capital. It is important to use it not only for the development and launch of projects, but also in existing ones, which can significantly increase the probability of success. In order to achieve the best understanding of the policy, operations and the structure itself, stakeholders are interconnected by business analysis through a set of techniques that are used in its work. It is thanks to business analysis that the company can achieve the desired results and implement the tasks set.

Ізраїльський досвід післявоєнного відновлення економіки

Objective. The main objective of this article was to study the Israeli experience of post-war economic reconstruction and to define the factors effecting the growth and development of the economy of Israel. Methods. We used such general and specific methods as comparison, analysis, synthesis, graphic method and grouping in order to gain this objective. Results. As a result of this research we defined the main indicators of economic development of Israel and its position in world ratings. We also defined the main indicators of development of Israel as a state, among which are international support, issue of government bonds, reparation from Germany, and development of the New Economic policy, establishment of the Israeli Military Force culture and inflow of human resources. Launching of major infrastructure projects played a significant role in economic recovery, such as water supply system construction, sea ports and processing plants. Moreover, state supported agriculture and light industry. The economy of Israel is highly developed due to support to research and development achievements made by scientists, thus, it is based on gaining new knowledge and its practical implementation. The basis for Israel’s economic miracle is science, the development and implementation of new technologies with their further adaption for real manufacturing. Israel’s experience is a valuable example of post-war reconstruction of a country and the way to bring the country out of ruins. It is worth taking Israeli experience into account while developing Ukraine’s Marshall Plan when it goes about taxation, state production support, human capital accumulation, development of innovations and their implementation into processing industry. Scientific novelty. In the research the authors proved that the phenomenon of Israel’s economic miracle is unique and its experience is a positive example of how to make the economy innovative out of nothing. Practical significance. The research defined the factors effecting the establishment of the economy of Israel. These factors may be used in the Ukrainian reality, while developing the recovery plan. Key words: economy competitiveness, innovative economy, technology and innovation, post-war reconstruction, international experience, global economy, development.

Using an inverted funnel analogy to develop a theory of change supporting resilient ecosystem-based adaptation in the Great Lakes Basin: a case study of Lincoln, Ontario, Canada

Communities in coastal areas of Canada, including the Great Lakes, face a number of challenges, including increased water level variability and extreme weather events, causing flooding and localized erosion. To effectively respond to these coastal risks requires structured, deliberative approaches with the aim of fostering resilience and contributing to sustainability. A collaborative engagement process was used to explore community challenges. This included a project launch, key informant interviews, meetings, focus groups (agriculture, tourism, youth), and on-line methods (shoreline residents). Participatory social network analysis and theory of change were used for overall sense-making. As a result, community members identified six impact pathways moving forward with climate action: partnerships and collaboration; strategic engagement; water and watersheds; ecosystem-based adaptation; shoreline protection; and education. These themes are consistent with current theory on sustainability and theory of change development.

INTEGRATION POLICY OF GEORGIA IN THE EUROPEAN UNION INTO TRANSPORT NETWORK DEVELOPMENT

Due to its advantageous geographic location, Georgia has the potential to become the main logistics center in the Caucasus and Central Asia, which is one of the key factors in increasing the country's competitiveness, which will contribute to export-led economic growth. In globalization, the importance of enhancing logistics and transit capabilities for the region becoming crucial. International economic and trade relations are directly related to the development of transit potential. The article deals with the issues of the transport corridor of Georgia, the expansion of the role of the European Union and the development of the EU-Asia transit potential, the dynamics of international cargo transportation, the reasons and prospects for changes. It is noted that the further development of the Georgian transit corridor mainly depends on one belt - the strategy of movement, the organization of the new Silk Road. The further solution of the problems of the transit corridor will be greatly influenced by the main economic reforms, launching of new large logistics projects, development of the logistics infrastructure, Increasing trade turnover, etc.

A study protocol for the development of a SPIRIT extension for trials conducted using cohorts and routinely collected data (SPIRIT-ROUTINE)

Background: Protocols are an essential document for conducting randomised controlled trials (RCTs). However, the completeness of the information provided is often inadequate. To help improve the content of trial protocols, an international group of stakeholders published the Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials (SPIRIT) Initiative in 2013. Presently, there is increasing use of cohorts and routinely collected data (RCD) for RCTs because these data have the potential to improve efficiencies by facilitating recruitment, simplifying, and reducing the cost of data collection. Reporting guidelines have been shown to improve the quality of reporting, but there is currently no specific SPIRIT guidance on protocols for trials conducted using cohorts and RCD. This protocol outlines steps for developing SPIRIT-ROUTINE, which aims to address this gap by extending the SPIRIT guidance to protocols for trials conducted using cohorts and RCD. Methods: The development of the SPIRIT-ROUTINE extension comprises five stages. Stage 1 consists of a project launch and a meeting to finalise the membership of the steering group and scope of the extension. In Stage 2, a rapid review will be performed to identify possible modifications to the original SPIRIT 2013 checklist. Other key reporting guidelines will be reviewed to identify areas where additional items may be needed, such as the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) extension for trials conducted using cohorts and RCD (CONSORT-ROUTINE). Stage 3 will involve an online Delphi exercise, consisting of two rounds and involving key international stakeholders to gather feedback on the preliminary checklist items. In Stage 4, a consensus meeting of the SPIRIT-ROUTINE steering group will finalise the items to include in the extension. Stage 5 will involve the publication preparation and dissemination of the final checklist. Conclusion: The SPIRIT-ROUTINE extension will contribute to improving design of trials using cohorts and RCD and transparency of reporting.

Review: The (Un)Known Project. Louisville, Kentucky

Review: <i>The (Un)Known Project</i>. Louisville, Kentucky

Constructing a web-based health directory for adolescent men who have sex with men: Strategies for development and resource verification.

Online health directories are increasingly used to locate health services and community resources, providing contact and service information that assists users in identifying resources that may meet their health and wellness needs. However, service locations require additional vetting when directories plan to refer vulnerable populations. As a tool included as part of a trial of a mobile life skills intervention for cisgender adolescent men who have sex with men (AMSM; ages 13-18), we constructed and verified resources for an online resource directory focused on linking young people to LGBTQ+ friendly and affirming local health and community social services resources. We collected information for 2301 individual directory listings through database and internet searches. To ensure the listings aligned with the project's focus of supporting young sexual minority men, we developed multiple data verification assessments to ensure community appropriateness resulting in verification of 1833 resources suitable for inclusion in our locator tool at project launch (March 2018). We offer lessons learned and future directions for researchers and practitioners who may benefit from adapting our processes and strategies for building culturally-tailored resource directories for vulnerable populations.

Восприятие кибербезопасности на российском рынке в B2C-сегменте: проблемы и решения в контексте маркетинговой стратегии

Russian cybersecurity market shows insignificant positive growth rates due to development of the B2B segment: launch of individual projects in the sphere of digitalization at the federal level, as well as adoption of security systems to deflect cyber attacks and proactively identify threats from major market players. At the same time, the B2C segment is really inferior to B2B. This is primarily attributable to the fact that ordinary consumers do not realize the need to protect digital data. The present paper will consider the main parameters of the macroenvironment, competitive saturation and will analyze a modern consumer of cybersecurity services. These factors will help to identify the roots of negative perception of cyber services among Russian consumers. The article authors suggest a marketing communication strategy to improve the current situation on the example of Kaspersky Lab and the target IT Administrators audience.

UNESCO MIL Cities Network As Opportunity for Development in Africa

The main objective of this article is to show the opportunities that can open up for African cities from the UNESCO MIL Cities approach. The methodology used was the theoretical-practical based on the bibliographical review and the narrative of the authors' experiences. MIL Cities is a UNESCO framework that speaks of the need to build or reform urban spaces so that they use new technologies but using them ethically and respectfully for vulnerable groups, transcending cultural barriers to communication and contributing to the objectives of the 2030 agenda. The article has three parts. The first part insists on the definition of the MIL Cities concept, its origin and the preliminary work that has been done to support its implementation. An exhaustive explanation is given of the 13 Indicators and 252 metrics of MIL Cities published by Chibás Ortiz and other authors. The creation of the UNESCO World Network of MIL Cities is discussed. The second part explains the role of metrics in the evaluation of MIL projects in towns and cities. This second part focuses also on the practical implementation strategies and cases deployed to spread the concept and its objectives. A particular emphasis is placed on the various webinars organized and their format though the whole world. This part summarizes actions and events taken to promote the initiative. The third part focuses on the Latin America &amp; Africa MIL Cities initiative. In this last section, the article focuses on the launch of the project and on the objectives to be achieved to develop MIL Cities in Africa. It highlights the countries involved in the project launch activities, the promotional strategies to be deployed to disseminate the concept to all countries on the continent. It is concluded that the MIL Cities framework opens up new possibilities for the growth and development for African cities.

Deployment of combined technologies to smallholder farmers in Kenya: TAAT Clearinghouse technical report series 002

Deployment of combined technologies to smallholder farmers in Kenya: TAAT Clearinghouse technical report series 002

Shared and fragmented understandings in interorganizational IT project teams: An interpretive case study

Shared understanding is essential in interorganizational projects to integrate the divergent knowledge of individual team members and support collaborative knowledge building. This can nevertheless be a challenging undertaking in interorganizational projects as team members must continuously negotiate differences in their organizational and professional backgrounds during project work. In this paper, we explore how interorganizational IT project teams deal with sources of ‘fragmentation’ in their understanding, explicating the theoretical and practical implications that these have for project management. Our study is needed to explore the increasingly complex and emergent nature of interorganizational project management today where neither goals nor the means of attainment are known with precision at a project's launch. We analyze interpretive case study findings from an 8-month IT project involving diverse organizations from industry, academia, and healthcare. Based on our findings, we develop a framework which highlights the relationship between three sources of fragmentation of understanding (interpersonal, technical, and contextual) across key project activities. We contribute towards project management literature by revealing how these sources of fragmentation might be overcome through framing project activities (the problem, method, and solution formulation) differently. While fragmentation may characterize any, or all, of these key activities, it is not without remedy.

Organizational Entrainment of Project Launch: Empirical Evidence from Chinese Real Estate Industry

As entrainment theory often indicates, launching new projects at appropriate timing is critical for organizations to succeed in market competition. Despite this widely recognized concept by case studies in the organizational context, there lacks empirical evidence to support how this entrainment process is formulated by internal or external organizational activities. In the present study, we reveal the entrainment process that how organizational attributes and environmental favorableness influence projects’ launch pace or timing decisions. We empirically examine such propositions through survival analysis with 90,755 observations of residential development projects of 149 real estate firms in China. Specifically, we find that organization inertia and resource munificence will decelerate and accelerate the timing of project launch, while external environmental favorableness can both directly accelerate the timing of project launch and strengthen the main effects of organization inertia and resource munificence on the timing of project launch.

A study protocol for the development of a SPIRIT extension for trials conducted using cohorts and routinely collected data (SPIRIT-ROUTINE).

Background:Protocols are an essential document for conducting randomised controlled trials (RCTs).However, the completeness of the information provided is often inadequate. To help improve the content of trial protocols, an international group of stakeholders published the Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials (SPIRIT) Initiative in 2013. Presently, there is increasing use of cohorts and routinely collected data (RCD) for RCTs because these data have the potential to improve efficiencies by facilitating recruitment, simplifying,and reducing the cost of data collection. Reporting guidelines have been shown to improve the quality of reporting, but there is currently no specific SPIRIT guidance on protocols for trials conducted using cohorts and RCD. This protocol outlines steps fordevelopingSPIRIT-ROUTINE,which aims to address this gap by extending the SPIRIT guidance to protocols for trials conducted using cohorts and RCD. Methods:The development of the SPIRIT-ROUTINE extension comprises five stages. Stage 1 consists of a project launch and a meeting to finalise the membership of the steering group and scope of the extension. In Stage 2, a rapid review will be performed to identify possible modifications to the original SPIRIT 2013 checklist. Other key reporting guidelines will be reviewed to identify areas where additional items may be needed,such as theConsolidated Standards of Reporting Trials(CONSORT)extension fortrialsconductedusingcohorts andRCD(CONSORT-ROUTINE). Stage 3 will involve an online Delphi exercise, consisting of two rounds and involving key international stakeholders to gather feedback on the preliminary checklistitems. In Stage 4, a consensus meeting of the SPIRIT-ROUTINE steering group will finalise the items to include in the extension. Stage 5 will involve the publication preparation and dissemination of the final checklist. Conclusion:The SPIRIT-ROUTINE extension will contribute to improving design of trials using cohorts and RCD and transparency of reporting.