Resource Practices Research Articles

Care for children and youth with cerebral palsy (GMFCS levels III to V).

Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common physical disability in Canadian children. The comprehensive care of ambulatory children with CP functioning at Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level I and II was covered in a previous practice point. This companion document focuses on the care of children with CP functioning at GMFCS levels III to V. Children functioning at GMFCS level III and IV mobilize using devices such as a walker, canes, or powered mobility, while those functioning at GMFCS level V require assisted mobility, such as a manual wheelchair. An overview of key concepts in early detection, rehabilitation services, and therapeutic options for children with CP at these levels is provided, along with practical resources to assist health surveillance for paediatricians caring for this population.

The implications of using maternity care deserts to measure progress in access to obstetric care: a mixed-integer optimization analysis

BackgroundLack of access to risk-appropriate maternity services, particularly for rural residents, is thought to be a leading contributor to disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality. There are several existing measures of access to obstetric care in the literature and popular media. In this study, we explored how current measures of obstetric access inform the number and location of additional obstetric care facilities required to improve access.MethodsWe formulated two facility location optimization models to determine the number of new facilities required to minimize the number of reproductive-aged women who lack access to obstetric care. We define regions with a lack of access as either maternity care deserts, designated by the March of Dimes to be counties with no obstetric care facility or obstetric providers, or regions further than 50 miles from critical care obstetric (CCO) services. We gathered information on hospitals with obstetric services from Georgia Department of Public Health public reports and estimated the female reproductive-age population by census block group using the American Community Survey.ResultsOut of the 1,910,308 reproductive-aged women who live in Georgia, 104,158 (5.5%) live in maternity care deserts, 150,563 (7.9%) reproductive-aged women live further than 50 miles from CCO services, and 38,202 (2.0%) live in both maternity care desert and further than 50 miles from CCO services. Our optimization analysis suggests that at least 56 new obstetric care facilities (a 67% increase) would be required to eliminate maternity care deserts in Georgia. However, the expansion of 8 facilities would ensure all women in Georgia live within 50 miles of CCO services.ConclusionsCurrent measures of access to obstetric care may not be sufficient for evaluating access and planning action toward improvements. In a state like Georgia with a large number of small counties, eliminating maternity care deserts would require a prohibitively large number of new obstetric care facilities. This work suggests that additional measures and tools are needed to estimate the number and type of obstetric care facilities that best match practical resources to meet obstetric care needs.

Exploring Factors Affecting the Rollout of a Policy on Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioners in Ireland

Aim. To identify the barriers and enablers to the implementation of a national policy to increase and develop the advanced nurse practitioner (ANP) workforce in Ireland. Background. The Department of Health (Ireland) introduced a policy to increase the number of ANPs to 2% of the nursing workforce. Evaluation provides information to inform successful policy implementation and development of ANP roles in healthcare services. Methods. Qualitative descriptive design. Twenty candidate ANPs participated in four focus groups. Nine key stakeholders were also interviewed. Results. Analysis identified four barriers: lack of infrastructural resources; delay in releasing and arranging replacements for candidate ANPs; role resistance from administration, allied healthcare professionals and other nurses; and lack of organisational readiness. The five enablers were: supportive physicians; Nursing and Midwifery Practice Development Units; supportive directors of nursing; role awareness and clarity; and educational preparation. Conclusions. This evaluation identifies barriers and enablers to the implementation of a national policy to increase the critical mass of advanced practitioners within the healthcare services. Evaluation at the implementation phase informed the roll-out of future advanced practice initiatives. Implications for Nursing Management. To support advanced practice development, leadership, infrastructure, and resource planning are needed to harness known enablers and address identified barriers to the implementation and sustainability of these posts.

Click Chemistry: Reaction Rates and Their Suitability for Biomedical Applications.

Click chemistry has become a commonly used synthetic method due to the simplicity, efficiency, and high selectivity of this class of chemical reactions. Since their initial discovery, further click chemistry methods have been identified and added to the toolbox of click chemistry reactions for biomedical applications. However, selecting the most suitable reaction for a specific application is often challenging, as multiple factors must be considered, including selectivity, reactivity, biocompatibility, and stability. Thus, this review provides an overview of the benefits and limitations of well-established click chemistry reactions with a particular focus on the importance of considering reaction rates, an often overlooked criterion with little available guidance. The importance of understanding each click chemistry reaction beyond simply the reaction speed is discussed comprehensively with reference to recent biomedical research which utilized click chemistry. This review aims to provide a practical resource for researchers to guide the selection of click chemistry classes for different biomedical applications.

Determining the future role of clinical practice guidelines: The experience of Australia and New Zealand.

There has been recent discussion in Australia and New Zealand concerning the utility of Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) and the role of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) in their development. The College Board therefore established a Steering Group (SG) to oversee an exploration of options and produce recommendations about contemporary approaches to the development of high-quality evidence-based clinical practice guidance for psychiatry. This paper outlines the SG's conclusions and recommendations, as well as the underlying methods and reasoning. In particular, we discuss best practice and recent developments in the synthesis of research evidence. Account has been taken of the opportunities offered by digital technologies, the proliferation of clinical evidence and awareness of the gains to be made by increased inclusion of lived-experience perspectives. It is recommended that the broader concept of best practice resources (BPRs) as now emphasised in so many fields of service is the most appropriate starting point for the College's role in this area especially as the expertise of the College and its fellows lends itself to the development of a range of BPRs. In conclusion, contemporary guidance needs to be tailored to the requirements of the practitioners seeking it, to articulate the real-world needs and experiences of patients, and to be delivered in a contemporary format that is responsive to rapidly emerging evidence. The experience in Australia and New Zealand may have implications elsewhere for the development of CPGs and BPRs more broadly.

Ethnobotanical evaluation and Traditional uses of medicinal flora used to treat various ailments by local inhabitants

BackgroundThe utilization of medicinal plants and their recipes is widespread across global healthcare systems, particularly prevalent in developing nations. This study focused on ethnomedicinal practices concerning wild flora in the Vehari district of Punjab, Pakistan. MethodsEmploying a semi-structured questionnaire and the Rapid Appraisal Approach (RAA) through in-person interviews, data were collected from a diverse sample of 348 informants, including 115 women and 233 men. ResultsThe study documented twenty-three wild medicinal plant species spanning seventeen plant families, with Fabaceae representing a significant portion of the collected specimens. Notably, whole plants, predominantly leaves, emerged as the primary ingredients in medicinal recipes, emphasizing the importance of these botanical resources in traditional healing practices. The highest Informant consensus factor (ICF) was 0.985, recorded for dandruff, anti-allergic, and fever. Parthenium hysterophorus, Eclipta prostrata, and Citrullus colocynthsis had the highest Use value (UV) i.e., 0.733. The highest Fidelity level (FL) was calculated for Peganum harmala (100%), Parthenium hysterophorus, Eclipta prostrata, and Citrullus colocynthsis (73.33), against joint pain and liver disease, which corresponds to the abundance of these ailments. The highest Jaccard index (JI) was calculated for district Bahawalnagar (17.8), District Vehari (16.27), District Layyah (16.09), and India (10.6), which corresponds to the similarity index with said areas. The following fifteen species were identified with new traditional recipes: Calotropis procera, Chenopodium murale, Citrullus colcynthesis, Ficus benghalensis, Ficus relegiosa, Fagonia indica, Azadirachta indica, Melia azedarach, Acacia nilotica, Cuscuta reflexa, Eclipta prostrata, Corchorus depressus, Fumaria indica, Parthenium hysterophorus, and Peganum harmala. ConclusionThe findings reveal a rich diversity of plant species utilized for various ailments, with a notable emphasis on the utilization of whole plants, particularly leaves, in medicinal recipes. Moreover, the identification of new traditional recipes for several plant species suggests potential avenues for the discovery of innovative phytotherapeutic compounds, highlighting the importance of continued research in this field.

Advancing the science and practice of rare plant conservation with the Center for Plant Conservation Reintroduction Database.

Reintroductions or translocations are an increasingly important activity to recover and conserve at-risk plant species. Yet because many are not published in the scientific literature, learning from previous attempts may often require considerable time and effort. The Center for Plant Conservation Reintroduction Database (CPCRD; https://saveplants.org/reintroduction-database/), a new centralized and standardized repository of U.S.-based plant reintroductions, aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of accessing data on rare plant reintroductions. The CPCRD is the product of multiple efforts to assemble information on rare plant reintroductions in the United States. The database comprises a wealth of standardized data on the key stages of a reintroduction, from the planning and implementation phases, to monitoring and management techniques. The CPCRD is a dynamic resource, allowing data contributors to continually update their entries as projects progress. While contributions are ongoing, the CPCRD currently includes 460 projects involving 201 plant taxa, spanning diverse growth forms, ecosystems, and regions. The CPCRD and its well-documented and monitored projects provide a valuable practical resource for conservation practitioners, and have supported multiple scientific studies and contributed to the internationally recognized Center for Plant Conservation Best Practices Guidelines.

Artificial intelligence, human cognition, and conscious supremacy.

The computational significance of consciousness is an important and potentially more tractable research theme than the hard problem of consciousness, as one could look at the correlation of consciousness and computational capacities through, e.g., algorithmic or complexity analyses. In the literature, consciousness is defined as what it is like to be an agent (i.e., a human or a bat), with phenomenal properties, such as qualia, intentionality, and self-awareness. The absence of these properties would be termed "unconscious." The recent success of large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, has raised new questions about the computational significance of human conscious processing. Although instances from biological systems would typically suggest a robust correlation between intelligence and consciousness, certain states of consciousness seem to exist without manifest existence of intelligence. On the other hand, AI systems seem to exhibit intelligence without consciousness. These instances seem to suggest possible dissociations between consciousness and intelligence in natural and artificial systems. Here, I review some salient ideas about the computational significance of human conscious processes and identify several cognitive domains potentially unique to consciousness, such as flexible attention modulation, robust handling of new contexts, choice and decision making, cognition reflecting a wide spectrum of sensory information in an integrated manner, and finally embodied cognition, which might involve unconscious processes as well. Compared to such cognitive tasks, characterized by flexible and ad hoc judgments and choices, adequately acquired knowledge and skills are typically processed unconsciously in humans, consistent with the view that computation exhibited by LLMs, which are pretrained on a large dataset, could in principle be processed without consciousness, although conversations in humans are typically done consciously, with awareness of auditory qualia as well as the semantics of what are being said. I discuss the theoretically and practically important issue of separating computations, which need to be conducted consciously from those which could be done unconsciously, in areas, such as perception, language, and driving. I propose conscious supremacy as a concept analogous to quantum supremacy, which would help identify computations possibly unique to consciousness in biologically practical time and resource limits. I explore possible mechanisms supporting the hypothetical conscious supremacy. Finally, I discuss the relevance of issues covered here for AI alignment, where computations of AI and humans need to be aligned.

Frugal Education: What, why, and how?

AbstractThis paper explores how frugal innovation practices can challenge resource constraints by leveraging available resources in creative and innovative ways towards more affordable, practical, sustainable and resilient education practice. The education sector has faced many challenges when adapting practice to deliver quality education in the wake of a world‐changing pandemic. There is a great deal we can learn from each other with regards to the frugal application of resources, such as time, money, people and space. However, forms of frugality in education design are driven by necessity and are reactive as opposed to proactive measures. We can, however, learn from educators and institutions that have been able to achieve significant educational impact at low cost with far fewer resources, adopting frugal approaches to education design and delivery. This paper proposes a set of frugal education aspects that demonstrate how frugal design practices can be organised and applied within an educational context. The aspects are outlined, and examples are presented to illustrate their effectiveness within existing education practice. This paper seeks to contribute to the existing knowledge base and research into frugal innovation practice as it applies within an education context, reframing the use of the term ‘frugal’ away from affordability and poor quality, towards a more expansive understanding that establishes a foundation on which to build, define, and contextualise frugality within an education context. The paper concludes with recommendations for the development of practical resources, informed by the research, to support educators in the design of frugal education practice.

Airport practical tools for supporting passengers with hidden disability: a perspective of major Australian airports

This study investigates six major Australian airports. Semi-structured interviews were determined to be a suitable approach in the present study to explore available practical resources for supporting passengers with a Hidden disability (HD). An interview process was conducted with six major Australian airport managers and customer experience managers coordinating the HD programme at their respective airports. The findings shows that the implementations of the HD programme suffered from a lack of appropriate resources to support passengers with HDs at airports, participants commented on an urgent need for providing appropriate tools to support their passengers thought their journey. Finally, it is hoped that the present study may contribute to theory and practice in meaningful ways. It might provide a more theoretical, sound, and detailed model for understanding facilities to cater the need of passengers with HD at airports.

A IMPORTÂNCIA DO ENSINO DE SEQUÊNCIAS NUMÉRICAS MATEMÁTICAS: ESTRATÉGIAS E ABORDAGENS

This article explores the importance of teaching mathematical number sequences in the context of mathematics education. It highlights the relevance of number sequences as a fundamental tool for developing logical thinking, pattern identification skills and an understanding of the fundamentals of mathematics. It then discusses effective strategies for teaching number sequences, including practical approaches, visual and technological resources. Finally, the importance of an interactive and contextualized approach that promotes student engagement and facilitates the transfer of knowledge to real-world situations is emphasized.

Strategic Approaches to Online MBA Instruction: A Roadmap for Delivering Marketing Strategy in the Online MBA Curriculum

The online MBA enrollment trend has been on the rise even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. The pandemic further accelerated this shift, with more prospective students considering remote study options. This poses a challenge for universities in preparing faculty for online instruction, given that instructors often lack prior exposure to online learning. The emergence of generative AI, such as ChatGPT, introduces a new technological dimension, prompting concerns about academic integrity. The paper provides strategic and practical approaches and resources for teaching an asynchronous online MBA marketing strategy course, addressing common challenges faced by instructors. It offers valuable insights into course content, assignments, time management, and integrating generative AI in the course. It aims to help marketing and management educators proficiently develop and implement comparable courses, especially those transitioning from traditional to online instruction.

Making connections with vulnerable children and families: Creative tools and resources for practice By JanHorwarth, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. 2024. £29.99. ISBN: 9781787757950. Illustrated by Stevie Wilkinson. Graphic designs by Andy Wilkinson

Making connections with vulnerable children and families: Creative tools and resources for practice By JanHorwarth, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. 2024. £29.99. ISBN: 9781787757950. Illustrated by Stevie Wilkinson. Graphic designs by Andy Wilkinson

Become a Health Literacy Champion: Strategies to Promote Health Literacy in Athletic Training.

Health literacy is defined as "the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others."1 Individuals with health disparities are more likely to have poor health outcomes and misuse health care services due to low health literacy. This connection between health literacy and health disparities demonstrates the need for clinicians to provide health literate care. Athletic trainers serve as essential points of contact for diverse patient populations in a variety of health care settings. The 2023 Practice Analysis 8 recognizes health literacy as an essential responsibility; however, few practical resources exist, and research specific to athletic training is lacking. In this manuscript, we aim to provide a primer on health literacy definitions, concepts, and best practices adapted from public health to support implementation into athletic training clinical practice.

Genetic counseling for the dystrophinopathies-Practice resource of the National Society of Genetic Counselors.

The dystrophinopathies encompass the phenotypically variable forms of muscular dystrophy caused by pathogenic variants in the DMD gene. The dystrophinopathies include the most common inherited muscular dystrophy among 46,XY individuals, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, as well as Becker muscular dystrophy and other less common phenotypic variants. With increased access to and utilization of genetic testing in the diagnostic and carrier setting, genetic counselors and clinicians in diverse specialty areas may care for individuals with and carriers of dystrophinopathy. This practice resource was developed as a tool for genetic counselors and other health care professionals to support counseling regarding dystrophinopathies, including diagnosis, health risks and management, psychosocial needs, reproductive options, clinical trials, and treatment. Genetic testing efforts have enabled genotype/phenotype correlation in the dystrophinopathies, but have also revealed unexpected findings, further complicating genetic counseling for this group of conditions. Additionally, the therapeutic landscape for dystrophinopathies has dramatically changed with several FDA-approved therapeutics, an expansive research pathway, and numerous clinical trials. Genotype-phenotype correlations are especially complex and genetic counselors' unique skill sets are useful in exploring and explaining this to families. Given the recent advances in diagnostic testing and therapeutics related to dystrophinopathies, this practice resource is a timely update for genetic counselors and other healthcare professionals involved in the diagnosis and care of individuals with dystrophinopathies.

Environmental and Educational Systems for Gifted Students: Rural and Central Contexts

Drawing on the bioecological theory developed by Bronfenbrenner, the researchers of this study examined four environmental systems—microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem—for gifted children in Israel as perceived by their parents, focusing on a comparison between rural and central contexts. The rural context comprises peripheral areas that are located in distant areas and characterized by small settlements. The central context refers to settlements that are located in the center of the country, characterized by large urban municipalities. The researchers developed a questionnaire that was taken by 284 Israeli parents of gifted students. Results indicated that parents perceived the macrosystem as less contributory to the development of gifted students in rural areas. Parents in rural areas also believed the governance system was less supportive of the needs of gifted students and offered fewer practical and educational and learning resources. The microsystem, in contrast, was seen as contributory in rural areas: Community, friends, and home/family were significantly stronger in the rural context. Thus, the contribution of the microsystem seems to balance the weaknesses or shortcomings of the macrosystem. This study identifies the best systems for gifted students in rural areas by highlighting the importance of the community while also pointing out the lack of support from government.

Measurement of Adverse Events in Studies of Digital Health Interventions for Psychosis: Guidance and Recommendations Based on a Literature Search and Framework Analysis of Standard Operating Procedures.

Given the rapid expansion of research into digital health interventions (DHIs) for severe mental illness (SMI; eg, schizophrenia and other psychosis diagnoses), there is an emergent need for clear safety measures. Currently, measurement and reporting of adverse events (AEs) are inconsistent across studies. Therefore, an international network, iCharts, was assembled to systematically identify and refine a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for AE reporting in DHI studies for SMI. The iCharts network comprised experts on DHIs for SMI from seven countries (United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Pakistan, Australia, United States, and China) and various professional backgrounds. Following a literature search, SOPs of AEs were obtained from authors of relevant studies, and from grey literature. A thorough framework analysis of SOPs (n = 32) identified commonalities for best practice for certain domains, along with significant gaps in others; particularly around the classification of AEs during trials, and the provision of training/supervision for research staff in measuring and reporting AEs. Several areas which could lead to the observed inconsistencies in AE reporting and handling were also identified. The iCharts network developed best-practice guidelines and a practical resource for AE monitoring in DHI studies for psychosis, based on a systematic process which identified common features and evidence gaps. This work contributes to international efforts to standardize AE measurement and reporting in this emerging field, ensuring that safety aspects of DHIs for SMI are well-studied across the translational pathway, with monitoring systems set-up from the outset to support safe implementation in healthcare systems.

Unravelling the potential of Big Data-driven decision-making in sustainable water irrigation: An AI perspective

Big Data-driven initiatives have transformed several industries by using large databases to extract vital information and enhance operations. In the field of sustainable water irrigation, Big Data enables intelligent water management, allowing for exact resource allocation, monitoring and analysis. This combination enables smart decision-making, increasing productivity in agriculture while reducing water consumption and environmental impacts. The revolutionary influence of data-driven approaches on managing water resources for sustainable and efficient irrigation practices has significant potential. The research highlights the importance of Big Data-driven approaches in water management by examining their applicability. It explores the artificial intelligence (AI) techniques for water irrigation that is sustainable and determines significant affecting factors efficient water management. The study encourages AI in intelligent water management systems and explains the application of big data in irrigation. It illustrates how smart water management which includes hydrated irrigation and predictive water infrastructure can contribute to AI-driven water management. To handle complicated water supply problems, the research presents an estimated water level model, highlighting the integration of AI and indicating the revolutionary potential of these techniques in attaining sustainable water irrigation. We highlight the novel possibilities of big data-driven methods for sustainable water irrigation, illustrating the essential part of AI techniques in effective water resource allocation.

Teaching practice and the use of open educational resources to hope for a transformative education

In the teaching routine, technologies are increasingly observed as an instrument of pedagogical mediation, which can favor new educational. The general objective of the research was to analyze together with doctoral professors, who attend the stricto sensu, the pertinence of using technologies and open educational resources as a learning object for the construction of knowledge based on a new educational conception. And as a problem: What is the importance of using technologies and open educational resources for a transformative pedagogical practice? The research used a qualitative action-research approach, with doctoral students in education at a large private institution in Curitiba, in which we sought to investigate the pertinence of building a pedagogical practice using technologies and open educational resources for a transformative education. As a result, it was possible to observe in the set of participants' reports that innovative pedagogical practices involve the student's protagonism and a teaching action based on dialogue through methodologies with the use of open educational resources that accompany and are part of this evolution. Keywords: Pedagogical practices; Digital Technologies; Open educational resource; Transformative education

Current issues of training specialists in the field of physical culture and sports in European countries

The issue of training specialists in the field of physical culture and sports in European countries is becoming increasingly important due to various geopolitical, cultural, and political challenges of our time. The aim of this study was to examine contemporary trends in the training of specialists within the field of physical culture and sports, to identify both pedagogical and global challenges that these specialists face, and to explore potential solutions to address these challenges effectively. The study employed a combination of analytical, descriptive, and theoretical methods, analyzing reports and documents on the quality and challenges faced by European educational institutions and sports organizations. The findings highlighted the need to improve the overall state of development of physical culture and sports in European countries based on the principles of innovative pedagogical activity, effective management, and international cooperation. Additionally, these results can serve as theoretical, methodological, and practical resources for further research on the policies and training of specialists in physical culture and sports both in Europe and globally.