Qualitative Overview Research Articles

Waist circumference as a parameter in school-based interventions to prevent overweight and obesity - a systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundPreventing childhood obesity remains an important public health issue worldwide. Since visceral fat in particular is understood as an important risk factor for many chronic diseases, waist circumference is recommended as a measurement parameter for global obesity surveillance. This systematic review and meta-analysis focused on waist circumference as an outcome parameter for studies of school-based interventions to prevent overweight and obesity.MethodsA systematic literature search was conducted at the end of 2019 in nine data bases, including Medline and Embase, in order to identify relevant studies evaluating interventions in schools aimed at preventing obesity. Eligibility criteria admitted randomised and non-randomised controlled trials. After screening titles, abstracts and full texts, the data of the identified studies were systematically extracted. Risk of bias was assessed according to study type with the appropriate Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. The review gives a qualitative overview over all included studies structured by extracted data. Separate meta-analyses were done for the outcome mean difference in change in waist circumference, measured in cm or reported as z-score value, using an inverse variance random-effects model due to study design.ResultsA total of 2421 publications were screened based on titles, abstracts and full texts. Complemented by results of a former systematic literature search 44 studies were identified for inclusion, comprising a total of 39.837 participants (age range: 6 to 18 years). Nearly half of the studies were conducted in Europe, two-thirds combined diet and exercise-based interventions. Likewise two thirds of the studies were conducted as cluster-randomised trials. Most of the reported effects favoured the experimental groups, indicating the basic effectiveness of school-based measures. Based on reported data, only one third of the studies could be included in the meta-analyses. For the difference in mean change of the outcome parameter waist circumference measured in cm (95% CI), we found a pooled effect estimate of -0.95 (-1.87; -0.46). For the difference in mean change of the outcome parameter waist circumference reported as z-score value (95% CI), the pooled effect estimate was -0.10 (-0.15; -0.05). Both effect estimates were in favour of the experimental group. The overall effect sizes were small with a p-value < 0.05.ConclusionsPooled effect estimates were small but in favour of the experimental groups. The same applies to the majority of the effects reported in the included studies. The included cluster of randomised controlled trials demonstrated an especially sound methodological standard. The possibility of achieving larger effects in studies of preventive interventions and health promotion is limited. Schools can only realise their full potential in preventing overweight and obesity in children and adolescents if they are accompanied by measures in other areas of the obesogenic environment.

Comparing the success and failure of the Murray–Darling Basin Plan's water recovery programs

AbstractThe Murray–Darling Basin (MDB) Plan is held up by some as an exemplar for world‐leading water policy, whilst others have called it a failure. Total proposed recovery was to return 3200 GL of consumptive (e.g. namely irrigation) water use to non‐consumptive (e.g. environmental) use in the MDB, making it one of the largest planned reallocations of water resources in the world. As of June 2023, over AUD$13 billion was committed financially from the Australian government to Basin water reform, with AUD$7.7 billion spent to date on water recovery programs. The implementation of the Plan has been mired in controversy, and it missed its first water recovery targets that had been set for 2024, requiring substantial legislation amendments. This study provides a qualitative policy overview comparison of the success and failure of the two main water recovery programs implemented—buyback of water entitlements from willing sellers and subsidising irrigation infrastructure (on and off‐farm) projects. It concludes that contrary to the popular view held by many, the buyback water recovery program has been a success—achieving the majority of the water recovered to date, at the least cost, with the least negative externalities—in comparison to infrastructure programs.Points for practitioners Assessing success and failure of MDB water recovery programs requires establishing effectiveness, efficiency and equity criteria. Greater work on the benefits of water reallocation downstream and cultural water is needed. A comparison of MDB buyback water recovery programs with irrigation infrastructure programs found higher net benefits for buyback programs. Use first‐best policy to address each water policy objective, not one policy aimed at addressing multi‐objectives. Overall, the Plan.s overall success is still to be determined, given the difficulty in judging environmental outcome success that is intrinsically linked with other external factors.

Enhancing the Diversity of Student Nursing Practitioners: A Formative Participatory Program Evaluation of a Northeastern Licensed Practical Nursing Program

Objective: This study aimed to provide a program evaluation of a longstanding Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) program within an urban U.S. context. This study aimed to identify strengths and weaknesses in the current LPN program, gather participant feedback, and make recommendations for future improvements emphasizing culturally and contextually appropriate programming in the health sector. In this manuscript, researchers detail a final evaluation report of an external evaluation of an established LPN program. This study was guided by three key evaluation questions, an examination of multiple documents, including grant proposals, student evaluation survey data, attendance records, and interviews with student alumni and administrative staff. Methods: Using purposeful sampling, semi-structured interviews were collected to understand the experiences of participants and staff. Next, document analysis was utilized to examine the discourse and portrayal of the program. We provide a qualitative overview, and recommendations based on the experiences of students and staff involved in the LPN program. Four types of documents were examined in this Institutional Review Board (IRB) -approved study, including one grant proposal, 67 student evaluation surveys (n=67), two years of attendance records, two semi-structured interviews with student alumni, and three administrative staff to identify the goals of the evaluation and develop key evaluation questions to be answered by the data collection and analysis about the nursing program. Results: Findings yield an emphasis on supporting the social conditions of students and staff. Researchers suggest using a participatory framework which entails working closely with key stakeholders to advance social outcomes that might be appropriate for the altruistic norms embedded in the larger healthcare and social work arena. Conclusion: Findings highlight effective measures to refine and maintain a high-quality student-centered nursing program for working adults through contextually and culturally appropriate programming.

Diisopropylammonium hydrogen squarate: Synthesis and comprehensive analysis of non-linear optical co-crystal using X-ray, Hirshfeld, mechanical, optical and DFT methods

This research successfully synthesized a single co-crystal of diisopropylammonium hydrogen squarate using prolonged vaporization for crystal growth. Single-crystal X-ray spectrometry confirmed its monoclinic structure, and morphological predictions were made. UV–visible spectroscopy revealed its optical transmittance with a direct optical energy band gap of 3.45 eV. Photoluminescence studies showed a strong violet emission at 402 nm when excited by a 260 nm source. Microhardness study examined the crystal's mechanical attributes portraying the normal indentation size effect followed by a qualitative overview of half-penny crack dynamics. FTIR study aided in the discernment of varied vibrational modes with NH stretching being observed at 3078 cm−1. Thermal examination further revealed the crystal's stability up till 244 °C. Proton and carbon-13 NMR spectra were analyzed to verify the presence of functional groups and the overall molecular integrity. Intermolecular interactions were analyzed using Hirshfeld surface and fingerprint mapping. The Z-scan technique demonstrated the crystal's applicative potential in its third harmonic generation capability. Theoretical calculations with Density Functional Theory (DFT) supported the experimental findings, offering insights into optimized geometries, frontier molecular orbitals, natural population and bond orbital distributions, hyperpolarizability, molecular electrostatic potentials, IR vibrational modes, and UV absorbance profiles.

Sustainable architectural practices: Integrating green design, smart technologies, and ultra-low energy concepts

This comprehensive study delves into the integration of green building practices, smart technologies, and ultra-low energy consumption strategies in modern architecture. Through a meticulous examination of existing green buildings, the implementation of smart technology, and the achievements of ultra-low energy structures, this paper highlights the pivotal role these practices play in promoting environmental sustainability and operational efficiency. By analyzing life cycle assessments, energy efficiency models, and the application of renewable energy sources, we provide a quantitative and qualitative overview of the benefits and challenges associated with sustainable architectural practices. The analysis reveals significant environmental impacts, including reduced carbon emissions and lower water usage, alongside notable economic benefits such as decreased operational costs and enhanced property values. Furthermore, the paper explores the technological integration of smart systems, emphasizing the importance of innovative solutions for optimizing building performance. Through detailed case studies and real-world applications, we demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of these integrated approaches in achieving sustainable, efficient, and comfortable living and working environments. This study not only underscores the necessity of adopting sustainable practices in architecture but also provides a roadmap for future developments in the field.

Metabolic syndrome is associated with an increased risk of falls in the elderly.

Numerous studies have investigated the causes of falls in the elderly. However, there is little information about metabolic syndrome (MS) as a risk factor for falls in older adults. No evaluations have given a qualitative overview of studies examining the relationship between MS and falls in the elderly. We did a literature search in electronic databases to look for studies that assessed a link between MS and falls among people over the age of 55 years. We found three studies of high quality. These included 2774 people with an average age of 72 years. Even after controlling for other risk factors, two studies found that MS was significantly associated with an older adult's 1.3-2.5-fold increased risk of falling. We found that MS and its independent components were strongly linked with falls among the elderly, even after correcting for numerous variables.

The Representations of Generalist TV: The Role of Talk Shows in Polarisation. Dynamics of the Mediatisation of Political Communication During the COVID-19 Emergency in Gender Issues. The Italian Case

The present proposal aims to analyse the dynamics of mediatisation of the political discourse that was inflamed around the COVID-19 emergency within the main talk shows transmitted by Italian generalist TV networks in the period from 24 February 2020 to 24 March 2020 which corresponds to the COVID-19 pandemic’s first wave, offering a first quantitative and, subsequently, a qualitative overview of the Italian case concerning the narration of the pandemic in the phases just before and after the first total lockdown, following a mixed methods approach. The final aim of the proposal is to bring out the dynamics of mediatisation of the political discourse around the pandemic alongside the role played by the media in proposing/imposing possible aspects of polarisation of the discourse, e.g. the role of experts and the role of politics, or gender issues, starting from the assumption that, in addition to their function of reporting facts, the media perform another one, that of “polltakers”, i.e. they provide indirect representations of the public’s response to the issues they themselves tend to provide.

Pension system design: roles and interdependencies of tax-financed and funded pensions

The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the roles, objectives, and trade-offs in a two-pillar pension system consisting of tax-financed, public pensions and defined contribution, individual pensions. A pension system has many moving parts and our aim is to provide the reader with an understanding of how the parts interact and work together, a theme rarely addressed in the literature. In the first part of this paper, we give a qualitative overview of market failures, behavioural aspects, and distributional issues that form the background for a multi-pillar pension system design with mandatory components. In the second part of this paper, we present three thematic, quantitative analyses that illustrate fundamental relationship concerning wealth, inequality, insurance, and demographic changes. This paper also contains a detailed description of the agent-based model used for the analyses. The model is calibrated to Danish data, but the insights drawn from the model are of general validity.

Fibroblast Activation Protein Inhibitor Tracers and Their Preclinical, Translational, and Clinical Status in China.

Quinoline-based fibroblast activation protein (FAP) inhibitors (FAPIs) have recently emerged as a focal point in global nuclear medicine, underscored by their promising applications in cancer theranostics and the diagnosis of various nononcological conditions. This review offers an in-depth summary of the existing literature on the evolution and use of FAPI tracers in China, tracing their journey from preclinical to clinical research. Moreover, this review also assesses the diagnostic accuracy of FAPI PET for the most common cancers in China, analyzes its impact on oncologic management paradigms, and investigates the potential of FAP-targeted radionuclide therapy in patients with advanced or metastatic cancer. This review also summarizes studies using FAPI PET for nononcologic disorders in China. Thus, this qualitative overview presents a snapshot of China's engagement with FAPI tracers, aiming to guide future research endeavors.

Formulating a quality model for cloud-native software architectures: conceptual and methodological considerations

Interest in cloud computing is steadily increasing and the range of offerings is evolving due to continuous technological innovation. Hence, cloud-native has been established as a term for building applications in a way that maximally exploits benefits of modern cloud computing concepts. However, cloud-native as a topic is broad and the variety in cloud computing technologies is large. Thus, we identify a need in supporting developers and software architects who want to benefit from cloud-native concepts. We provide this support in the form of a quality model for cloud-native software architectures that explains how architectural characteristics impact different quality aspects. Our focus is on the design time and the aim is that architectural models of applications can be evaluated according to cloud-native characteristics and corresponding quality aspects. In this work we present our approach for formulating and validating the quality model for cloud-native software architectures as well as its current state. This presentation is based on previous work, especially a recently conducted validation survey that focused on the impacts of architectural characteristics on quality aspects. The new contribution of this work is the integrated presentation of our approach in a larger context of conceptual and methodological considerations. Further, revision of the quality model based on a repeated literature search for architectural measures is presented. We provide a more detailed look on the quality model, explaining exemplary product factors and their relevance within the topic of cloud-native. Our results provide a qualitative overview of characteristics associated with cloud native software architectures and lay the foundation for quantitative quality evaluations based on architectural models of applications.

Fire Resilience in Buildings - A Qualitative Overview

Abstract: Fire resilience in buildings is a necessity of the current decade. The fire safety for the buildings in India has to be assessed in qualitative as well as quantitative approaches. The on-site inspection may not be fruitful as the inspection might not be able to depict the exact picture of the Fire Safety Situation of the building. The integration of the Multi Criteria Decision Making system in compliance with Technical, Organizational, Social, and Economic as well as with the correlation of Redundancy, Robustness, and Resourcefulness the accuracy of assessment and prevention of causality at the time of incident gets reduced

Historical Qualitative and Quantitative Overview of Classic Literature Embraced by Rock n’ Roll, 1960-2000

Rock music lyrics are often denied their status as influential pieces of literature in much the same way, it seems, as graphic novels, but both are no less effective in conveying a message or eliciting a powerful feeling. Not until October 2016, when Bob Dylan became the first songwriter to win the Nobel Prize in literature since 1913, did lyrics truly get a step closer to being recognized as literature within the boundaries of rock music (Chaudhuri, 2016)? This study was designed to help inspire others to take up the torch to further research: the influence and the power that literature had on the lyricists in the development of rock music, the concept of rock music as a proponent to spread the word of literature through its own influence, and the concept that rock lyrics should be considered literature in their own right and given consideration in collection development. The purpose of this study is to provide a quantitative analysis of record sales charts along with content analysis of literature in rock lyrics to provide a historic overview of the influence that classic literature had on “rock’ n’ roll “/” rock” music, a genre often considered to have been derived from an uneducated subculture by the same name, from the mid-1960s through the turn of the century in 2000.

Arterial Spin Labeling: Key Concepts and Progress Towards Use as a Clinical Tool.

Arterial spin labeling (ASL), a non-invasive MRI technique, has emerged as a valuable tool for researchers that can measure blood flow and related parameters. This review aims to provide a qualitative overview of the technical principles and recent developments in ASL and to highlight its potential clinical applications. A growing literature demonstrates impressive ASL sensitivity to a range of neuropathologies and treatment responses. Despite its potential, challenges persist in the translation of ASL to widespread clinical use, including the lack of standardization and the limited availability of comprehensive training. As experience with ASL continues to grow, the final stage of translation will require moving beyond single site observational studies to multi-site experience and measurement of the added contribution of ASL to patient care and outcomes.

Integrated business model of sustainable development for agricultural sector

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to improve the methodology of the integration process of business model to ensure environmental, social and financial results of entrepreneurial activity taking into account the interests and needs of stakeholders and to study the possibilities of implementing sustainable practices in different segments of the business model and the sustainable value created by these transformations. Results. The study highlights a number of approaches to the methodology of creating sustainable business models, which are the Business Model Canvas, the Teece Business Model, the Ecosystem Pie Model, and the Sustainable Value Creation Model. Each of the methodologies has its advantages and disadvantages, but they all have common elements that can be combined and integrated when considering industry specifics. The author used the methodology of creating sustainable value, which is formed through the implementation of new approaches to the implementation of sustainability, in particular, the methods of ecodesign, climate-smart agriculture, organic farming, biodynamic agriculture, sustainable intensification and renewable agriculture. Sustainable value is created through activities in different segments of the business model, at the same time the Business Model Canvas (BMC) is a template for mapping the transformations in each segment. The integrative business modeling approach is able to provide a detailed qualitative overview of a specific business by combining social, environmental and economic components with stakeholder theory. Therefore, taking into account the needs of a wider range of stakeholders than is provided for in the "key partners" field of the Canvas model took place through the implementation of sustainable value in the complex Ecosystem Pie Model. Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty consists in the adaptation of the methodology of transformation of traditional business models into sustainable ones for the agricultural sector, which, unlike the existing ones, allows taking into account sustainable value through new sustainable approaches that cause changes in the fields of Business Model Canvas with the subsequent transfer of their individual elements to the Ecosystem Pie Model for a systematic visual perception of both the current situation and prospects for further development for the enterprise. Practical value. The results of the research can be used by scientists, representatives of business and state institutions dealing with the issue of introducing sustainability principles into existing traditional business models, based on the needs and interests of stakeholders.

Field observations of Hurricane Ian’s wave and surge impact in the areas of Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island, USA

On September 18, Category 4 Hurricane Ian made landfall near Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island, two barrier islands on the northern Gulf of Mexico. In this paper, we present a novel set of observations from a post-event High Water Mark field survey as well as wavelet analysis of in-situ wave data. We also present a qualitative overview of some erosive effects and infrastructure damage. Measured peak surge elevations exceed 5 m, and wave plus surge elevations exceed 6.0 m (NAVD88). High Water Mark observations are consistent within the expected range produced by numerical hindcast models. A wavelet analysis, from one of the few wave records available during the storm, demonstrates the presence of long-period basin mode waves at a 40-min period. The 40-min wave appeared on the wave record before the storm surge, and the peak of this motion also occurred before the peak of the surge. In addition, the wavelet analysis reveals the presence of infragravity wave energy (periods between 30 s and 20 min). Together, these intermediate and long-period waves add over 40 cm to the total water level at peak energy. The measured field data shows a rapidly decreasing surge elevation within the first 300 m from the pre-storm shoreline, and we observe no statistically meaningful attenuation difference between the highly developed shoreline of Fort Myers and the more vegetated shoreline of Sanibel Island. However, the structural survey team observed more infrastructure damage in Fort Myers than Sanibel Island.

Discourse developments within the public agenda on Danish nature management 2016–2021: Animal welfare ethics as a barrier to rewilding projects

Prompted by the increasing public focus on environmental policy and the continuous inability of States to reach environmental targets agreed upon in the context of the United Nations and the European Union, we explore the development of discourses within the Danish public agenda regarding nature management 2016–2021. This is done through a mixed-methods framework of discourse analysis and structural topic modeling based on documents from the Danish Parliament’s Environmental committee 2016–2021, estimating topic prevalence, and analyzing the discourses within each topic, resulting in a qualitative overview of 21 identified topics and their associated discourses and an overview of how the different topic proportions changed over time. A shift in the public agenda was found: a change from discussions about untouched forest focused on trade-offs between timber extraction and biodiversity, to a discussion about different understandings of animal welfare in the context of large grazers in nature national parks in Denmark.

Diabetes and co-occurring osteoarthritis, and yoga 2023

Persons diagnosed as having Type 2 diabetes, one of the common chronic diseases affecting older adults, may also suffer from multiple adverse health conditions such as disabling osteoarthritis. In a search for low cost approaches to mitigate these health conditions, this mini review updates selected facts concerning the association between Type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis and their possible mitigation using yoga to control excess glucose levels. Drawn from data posted between January 2020-mid October 2023 using PUBMED and PubMed Central data bases, a qualitative overview shows adults living in the community with Type 2 diabetes may be at high risk for disabling osteoarthritis, and those who are obese alongside osteoarthritis may incur Type 2 diabetic manifestations. Yoga, an ancient from of therapeutic exercise, and its applications appears to have the ability to help control or normalize blood glucose levels in older adults with Type 2 diabetes and may thus have some degree of benefit for reducing prevailing osteoarthritis pathological and pain processes, as well as for enhancing overall life quality. Fostering the ability to reduce stress levels and to move more ably appears to underpin the heightened ability of yoga practices to control blood sugar and obesity levels. Understanding the possible utility of one or more forms of yoga for decreasing excess diabetes and osteoarthritis morbidity has considerable potential and should be explored more intently.

Virtual training, real effects: a narrative review on sports performance enhancement through interventions in virtual reality.

The present article reports a narrative review of intervention (i.e., training) studies using Virtual Reality (VR) in sports contexts. It provides a qualitative overview and narrative summary of such studies to clarify the potential benefits of VR technology for sports performance enhancement, to extract the main characteristics of the existing studies, and to inform and guide future research. Our literature search and review eventually resulted in 12 intervention studies with a pre vs. post design focused on different sports, including target and precision sports (archery, bowling, curling, darts, golf), bat/racquet and ball sports (baseball, table tennis), goal sports (football/soccer, basketball), martial arts (karate), and sport-unspecific processes such as bodily sensations and balancing. The samples investigated in the primary studies included novice, amateur, and expert athletes (total aggregated sample size N = 493). Many studies found statistically significant effects in relevant target skills following interventions in VR, often outperforming training effects in passive or active control conditions (e.g., using conventional training protocols). Therefore, interventions in VR (or extended reality) have the potential to elicit real effects in sports performance enhancement through training of motor and psychological skills and capabilities in athletes, including perception-action skills, strategic, tactical and decision-making, responding to unexpected events, and enhancing psychological resilience and mental performance under pressure. The neurocognitive mechanisms (e.g., visual search behavior, imagery), methodological aspects (e.g., adaptive training difficulty), and the issues of real-world transfer and generalizability via which these potential sports-performance-related improvements may occur are discussed. Finally, limitations of the present review, the included studies, the current state of the field in general as well as an outlook and future perspectives for research designs and directions are taken into consideration.

Effectiveness of exercise on pain intensity and physical function in patients with knee and hip osteoarthritis: an umbrella and mapping review with meta-meta-analysis

Purpose The aim of this review was to provide a qualitative and quantitative overview of the effects of exercise on pain, physical function, and quality of life for patients with knee and hip osteoarthritis. Materials and methods This study was an umbrella and mapping review with meta-meta-analysis. Meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials were included. The methodological quality and risk of bias were evaluated using the Modified Quality Assessment Scale for Systematic Reviews and the Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews tool. The quality of evidence was evaluated using the Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Grading Criteria. Results 41 meta-analyses were included, 43.9% of the studies had adequate methodological quality, and 56.1% of the studies had a low risk of bias. Moderate evidence was found that exercise decreases pain intensity (33 meta-analyses; SMD = −0.49; 95% CI −0.56 to −0.42), improves function (19 meta-analyses; SMD = −0.50; 95% CI −0.58 to −0.41), strength (6 meta-analyses; SMD = −0.57; 95% CI −0.70 to −0.44) and quality of life (SMD = −0.36; 95% CI −0.46 to −0.27) for patients with hip and knee osteoarthritis. Conclusion Exercise is an effective intervention to decrease pain intensity and improve function in patients with hip and knee osteoarthritis. (PROSPERO, CRD42020221987)

Misunderstanding Flight Part 1: A Century of Flight and Lift Education Literature

The science education literature is littered with “new”, “correct”, “novel”, “explanations”, “theories”, and “approaches” to aerodynamic lift. One might infer from reading the growing number of these articles that there is a fundamental gap in classical physics, where our scientific prowess has failed us. In fact, if you read popular sources, you would believe “no one can explain why planes stay in the air”. This is a disconcerting thought to have while sitting inside a modern engineering marvel provided by Boeing or Airbus. However, rationally, since you are sat in that fuel-efficient and safe aeronautical wonder, the logical conclusion is that some are obviously aware of why planes stay in the air. In this paper, a century of educational literature on the topic of aerodynamic lift and flight is presented. The body of literature encompasses 140 articles, commencing in 1920. It is obvious from the content contained within them that there is more of a misunderstanding rather than an understanding of flight in the education context. There are two paradigms treated as mutually exclusive: those using Bernoulli and those using Newton. Throughout the literature, there are gems lost in the rubble; if the reader does not have an understanding, how will they know what is worth reading? This review attempts to clarify what is worth reading, by presenting a qualitative overview of aerodynamics education in undergraduate engineering, to understand why these opposing camps exist in the literature.