Strong Focus Research Articles

Quasi-experimental evaluations of health-related policies in Europe: a scoping review

Abstract Background Quasi-experimental methods (QEM) are study designs increasingly used in public health to evaluate the impact of health-focused policies. We sought to examine the scope, methodological characteristics as well as health equity considerations of policy evaluations using QEM that assess health and social outcomes in Europe. Methods We conducted a scoping review as outlined in our pre-registered protocol (https://osf.io/n5rvg). We searched Medline, EMBASE, and EconLit databases in December 2022 and included studies labelled as interrupted time series, difference-in-difference (DID), controlled before and after, regression discontinuity, and synthetic control studies; that focused on policies implemented at regional, national, and supranational level in the WHO European region. Among all identified records, we drew a random sample of 350 records for title and abstract screening and subsequent full-text screening, data extraction and analysis. Results Database searches rendered 2102 records. Of the random sample of 350 records, we identified 59 records as eligible for inclusion. Most studies evaluated health and social policies implemented on a national level in EU member states and the UK. Common policy topics were related to tobacco control, healthcare co-payments, and employment. DID was the most common study design label. Few studies were based on pre-registered protocols. There was substantial variability in the number and types of additional analyses conducted to assess the appropriateness of assumptions and the robustness of results. With respect to health equity (HE), 16 included studies had a strong HE focus by examining disadvantaged populations, and in 23 and 18 studies, respectively, HE was discussed and HE-related recommendations were made. Discussion QEM were frequently used to undertake policy evaluations and studies showed great diversity in scope and methodology. Health equity was considered in a surprisingly low number of studies. Key messages • We identified a large number of policy evaluations employing quasi-experimental methods. • Studies were heterogeneous in scope and methodological rigour and few considered health equity.

Coordination Challenges in Wind Energy Development: Lessons from Cross-Case Positive Planning Approaches to Avoid Multi-Level Governance ‘Free-Riding’

Achieving national targets on renewable energy poses several challenges, especially in multi-level governance environments. Incentives and specifications on wind energy development might cause uneven progress or even discrepancies. Therefore, governments have commenced adopting ‘positive planning’ to combine energy targets with spatial and land-use planning. Yet detailed discussions regarding wind energy development remain scarce. In this paper, I explore three explanatory case studies in Germany and Sweden, aiming to provide policymakers and planners with essential knowledge while presenting significant challenges and key lessons learned. Positive planning appears to center on a strong energy target focus, limited space, and a balanced approach, shaped by the sociopolitical context. While Germany has recently embraced positive planning, Sweden started ambitiously but is encountering planning and policy challenges. Planning agencies play a vital role in promoting wind energy targets at mid-scale levels, yet legally binding targets matter. Striking a balance between energy targets and addressing land-use concerns without disregarding them requires managing a delicate trade-off. Early communication and inter-agency collaboration, as seen in Sweden, might facilitate identifying compromises, navigating trade-offs between species protection and renewable energy and offering municipal incentives. Nonetheless, negotiating satisfactory spatial trade-offs for a long-term proof of concept remains a challenge.

Optimum pressure control with three controllable ejectors of a CO2 multi-ejector refrigeration system

The strict regulations on traditional synthetic refrigerants prompted a strong focus on eco-friendly working fluids including carbon dioxide. Nevertheless, a large throttling loss in CO2 refrigeration leads to an inefficient operation. The introduce of ejector allows for recovering part of expansion work and has positive effect on system efficiency, whereas performance deterioration may be found at off-design conditions. In this study, the design of multi-ejector with three controllable ejectors was proposed to improve the system off-design performance. A detailed experimental analysis on the CO2 multi-ejector refrigeration system was investigated. The impact of various operating conditions on multi-ejector performances including pressure lift, entrainment ratio and multi-ejector efficiency was evaluated. In addition, a comparative study was carried out taking the single-stage compression system with an expansion valve as the baseline. A maximum pressure lift of 656 kPa could be provided. An optimum pressure control (OPC) strategy was proposed and could be used to instruct the practical application in order to maximize the cooling coefficient of performance (COP) at different operating conditions. The cooling COP of multi-ejector system could be improved by 30.69 % by adopting the OPC strategy compared with the baseline.

Computational Literacy as an Important Element of a Digitized Science Teacher Education—A Systematic Review of Curriculum Patterns in Physics Teacher Education Degrees in Germany

Computational literacy (CL) has become indispensable for teachers and learners as part of 21st-century skills. Therefore, corresponding models for teacher education are being further developed internationally from a scientific perspective. In parallel, content and competencies are being enhanced in the respective subjects at the curricular level of teacher training. In this context, we consider it important to examine the current status of this development. Since, to our knowledge, there are no comparable scientific studies, we have taken Germany as a representative example of the international education system and systematically analyzed the module handbooks of the physics teacher training courses at methodically selected universities. For this analysis, we used three research questions focusing on CL: In which physics content does CL play a role? Which computer science competencies or knowledge can be identified or derived? Are they described implicitly or explicitly? Our results suggest that CL is integrated very differently in terms of quantity and depth of content among the universities we examined. For example, there is often a very strong focus on computer-based data acquisition, but few programs also have specialized courses addressing CL more explicitly or integrate additional computer science competencies. CL is primarily taught in laboratory courses and frequently in subject-didactic courses. Nevertheless, the depictions presented in the purely subject-oriented and basic lectures lack specific computational literacy skills or knowledge. Furthermore, the fact that many programs only offer implicit descriptions of CL skills indicates that the integration of these skills has not progressed very far in practice.

Women's Work and the Occupational Structure in Late Nineteenth-Century Sweden

Abstract It has long been recognized that, in order to understand economies in the past, we need better information about women's work and tertiary sector work. It is also well known that, while valuable in many ways, nineteenth-century censuses give incomplete information about women's contributions to the economy. Consequently, censuses are a poor basis for estimating the occupational structure. This article offers a solution to these problems by triangulating census data with qualitative information extracted from court records. The result is a more reasonable estimate of the first-level occupational structure in a Swedish local society (Västerås and its surroundings) around 1880. This estimate suggests that just before the onset of industrialization, around eighty per cent of the adult population, women and men, were active in primary and tertiary sector work. Compared to the census, the analysis sets women's share in the primary and the tertiary sectors at higher levels. The article has a strong methodological focus and describes in detail how the court records were analysed and adjusted to be comparable with the census.

Facing the human capital crisis: A systematic review and research agenda on recruitment and selection in the public sector

AbstractAs a human capital crisis poses urgent challenges across multiple countries, public administration scholars and practitioners are concerned with recruitment and selection questions. Literature evolves with an increasing pace whereby clarity over the state‐of‐the‐art and gaps in recruitment and selection research in the public sector is needed to direct future research and practice. We conducted a review of 59 studies to systematize and reorient research on recruitment and selection. Summarizing the state‐of‐the‐art, we identify a strong focus on individual‐level research of attraction, revealing several blind spots of research on other levels and process stages of hiring. Based on the synthesis of existing knowledge, we provide a research agenda that extends the predominant focus on attraction. By bridging public administration concepts with generic recruitment and selection research, the agenda aims at advancing the research on hiring in the public sector, offering a framework for levels, concepts/theories, processes, and key variables.

International student mobility options following Brexit: An analysis of the genesis of Britain's Turing Scheme

AbstractThis paper examines the interplay between geopolitical goals, governance and International Student Mobility (henceforth ISM). It explores how the United Kingdom's newly envisaged domestic credit‐mobility programme (the Turing Scheme) is reshaping the spatiality of their outward student mobility flows to bolster a global sense of internationalisation through ISM. During its emergence, the Turing Scheme was often positioned as an antithesis to the pre‐established Erasmus+ Scheme which had a strong focus on European integration, instead it focused on promoting a ‘Global Britain’ narrative. This paper conducts a content analysis of Hansard (transcripts of debates in the U.K.'s Houses of Parliament), to reflect on ISM decision‐making, debating the choices made and unmade regarding the development of the Turing Scheme. This research illuminated multiple issues, adding to the debate about the importance of ISM for geopolitical purposes, and how these can underpin credit‐mobility schemes, and shape these during periods of large‐scale geopolitical change.

Multi-generational effects of school access in a developing country: Evidence from a mass education program in Vietnam

We study the long-run and multi-generational effects of a mass education program in Vietnam during the First Indochina War (1946–1954). Difference-in-difference estimations indicate that the girls exposed to the program had an average of 1.5 years of education, while their children had an average of 0.9 more years of education. Better household lifestyles and a stronger focus on education are possible transmission pathways between mothers and children.

Australia’s New National Anti-Corruption Commission: Background and Critique

Australia has been the site of major advances in the creation of public sector anticorruption commissions since 1989. However, commissions with broad jurisdiction have been limited to the six states until 2023. The federal jurisdiction lagged behind, with a series of scandals driving intensified debates from 2013. Performance issues associated with state agencies formed part of the debate. The present paper reviews this history, focusing on the intensification of research and lobbying efforts leading to the establishment of a National Anti-Corruption Commission in 2023. The paper also critiques the legislation behind the new agency, arguing it entails considerable limitations and that agency legitimacy and effectiveness will only be achieved through the inclusion of integrity issues of concern to citizens, a strong focus on prevention, and significant independence in investigations and adjudication. These lessons are of relevance to other jurisdictions facing the issue of effective institutional responses to public sector misconduct risks.

Our Ways, Your Ways, Both Ways - a multi-disciplinary collaboration to develop, embed and evaluate a model of social and emotional wellbeing care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people who experience detention - Phase 1.

The National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples' Mental Health and Social and Emotional Wellbeing identifies building a strong Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander led evidence-base to inform care as a key priority. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander adolescents in contact with the criminal justice system are a highly vulnerable group of Australians, with substantial unmet needs. There is limited evidence to inform culturally appropriate models of care that meet the social and emotional wellbeing needs of justice-involved Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander adolescents. This project aims to develop, implement and evaluate an in-reach and community transitional model of social and emotional wellbeing care for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander adolescents (10-17 years old) who experience detention through close engagement with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander youth, Elders, researchers, practitioners and community members, and by drawing on culturally informed practice and knowledge systems. The project is based on a multi-level mixed methods design, with a strong focus on ongoing project evaluation (based on the Ngaa-bi-nya framework) and co-design. Co-design is facilitated through culturally safe and trauma informed participatory processes based on development of strong partnerships from project initiative, design, implementation and evaluation. Application of the landscape domain of the Ngaa-bi-nya framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program evaluation will be explored in Phase one. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescents with experience in detention will be engaged through one-on-one interviews with data collection through the Growth and Empowerment Measure (GEM) Youth (which will be adapted from the adult version and validated as part of this study), the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10), questions around alcohol and drug use, and narrative interviews exploring experience. Qualitative data will be analyzed using an inductive thematic approach, structured within the framework of the Ngaa-bi-nya landscape prompts. Quantitative data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics to provide a profile of the cohort. Findings from Phase one will be used to inform the development of a model of social and emotional wellbeing care that will be implemented and evaluated in Phase two.

International collaborative tasks in language courses for engineers integrated in a multidimensional teaching format

Abstract The field of language learning has undergone considerable changes with the emergence of new technologies. This digitalization process has led us to reconsider the format of our language courses and has subsequently had an impact on course design, the teacher’s role as well as the student’s role. Language courses at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (KTH) aim to prepare students for their future professional lives and have a strong focus on language for specific purposes (LSP). Our experience has shown that a blended learning course design as well as student-owned learning are especially well suited for these language courses. In this report, we wish to present a multi-dimensional course-design which provides several pedagogical added values by combining three dimensions of teaching and learning; online/face-to-face, synchronous/asynchronous and teacher-led/student-owned. We will illustrate the combination of the three dimensions by presenting how we have integrated international collaborative activities in French and German courses for engineers. Collaborative online international learning projects (COIL) are well suited for our teaching model as they combine online meetings with asynchronous work and are typically a student-owned activity. As a virtual mobility experience, this activity assists students in creating a global engineer profile by emphasizing collaboration and developing intercultural and multilingual competence.

The Importance of Merdeka Curriculum in Sociology and Anthropology Learning

The Merdeka Curriculum is of utmost importance in revolutionizing the study of sociology and anthropology in Indonesia. This research addresses key concerns in the 21st century, specifically emphasizing the critical need for the Merdeka Curriculum in the fields of sociology and anthropology. The urgency of the Merdeka Curriculum was explored using a qualitative research method that employed a descriptive approach. Data for the study was collected through an extensive literature examination. The research findings suggest that the Merdeka Curriculum is crucial in incorporating sociology and anthropology education to address social and cultural transformations, while also fostering creativity, innovation, and inclusiveness. Students are given the authority and ability to become engaged and discerning participants in the learning process, as they investigate their individual capabilities. This curriculum further enriches the significance of educational resources by integrating both local and global perspectives, while also molding students' character with a strong focus on professional ethics and moral principles. To summarize, the Merdeka Curriculum serves as both an educational framework and a tool for developing individuals who are equipped to navigate the complexities of contemporary society. Applying this approach in the field of sociology and anthropology education yields a notably beneficial outcome, fostering a learning environment that is flexible, all-encompassing, and pertinent to contemporary demands

The Growth in Demand for Craft Beer and the Proliferation of Microbreweries in Slovenia

The craft brewing industry is in a constant state of evolution. Over recent years, the craft beer sector has experienced rapid growth, and this trajectory is expected to persist. Microbreweries, in contrast to traditional industrial beer production, actively encourage the exploration of diverse beer styles, embrace the trend of championing local and regional ingredients, and maintain a strong focus on quality while resurrecting historic beer varieties. An analysis of interviews conducted with microbrewers in Slovenia featured in Slovenian daily newspapers revealed recurring categories that shed light on the drivers behind this flourishing artisanry. These findings are further discussed in the context of the existing scientific literature. Notably, a range of factors were identified as contributing to the growth of this sector. Among these factors, the desire for distinctive, authentic, locally rooted, and non-standardized flavours, styles, and ingredients, often accompanied by an inspiring and compelling brewer’s or creator’s narrative, played a pivotal role in attracting consumers. These results can inform microbrewers production, distribution, marketing, and pricing strategies. They are also relevant to the country policymakers supporting local hops production and local brewing.

The role of nativeness in early modern foreign language learning: evidence from teaching materials

Abstract In this article, we explore how the “ideal student” and “the ideal teacher” of a modern foreign language were depicted in 16th and 17th-century textbooks of the genre of so-called “dialogue books”. More specifically we assess in which areas language expertise was expected from students and teachers and how nativeness, i.e., being a native speaker, was construed as an element of this general expertise. Our insights are based on the structure and content of the textbooks. Moreover, we analyse introductory texts, written by textbook authors or printers. The teaching material reveals a strong focus on spoken language as it consists of dialogues inspired by daily life and pronunciation guides that use a contrastive approach. Overall, our analysis suggests that the “ideal student” has to learn to speak a foreign language, thereby striving for a correct pronunciation and to communicate in a polite and pragmatically adequate way. The “ideal teacher” is a native speaker who has the authority to teach his mother tongue and to judge the teaching of others. However, the superiority of nativeness pales beside other required qualifications, i.e., learnedness, didactic skills and expertise in the language one teaches.

The Contribution of Parents Involvement towards Students’ Academic Performance at Ugandan Certificate of Education in Public Secondary

The research aimed to evaluate parental influence on students' academic achievement in high school. It investigated academic performance, parental involvement, and their impact on secondary school students. Using a cross-sectional survey with 357 participants including head teachers, teachers, students, and BOG members, a self-administered questionnaire was utilized. Results indicated 80-89% score improvements in reading and writing skills, though fluency requires over 90%. Homework had 80-98% accuracy, but stronger focus was needed. Poor concentration and attendance highlighted the necessity for more support. Students struggled with question comprehension and irregular achievement. Parental engagement in health programs scored neutrally, signaling a need for increased involvement. Involvement in learning-related responsibilities was hindered by behavioral issues. Positive correlations existed between parental engagement and academic success, including safety, diversity, and regulatory aspects. Writing materials positively impacted, while reading materials showed a decline. Counseling services exhibited a weak correlation. Overall, parental involvement significantly predicted UCE students' academic improvement (B = 0.502; p = .000 < 0.05), contributing to 50.2% positive changes.

Family quality of life application among older caregivers of adults with intellectual/ developmental disabilities

AbstractFamily quality of life (FQOL) is a multidimensional social construct that can be used to enhance a family's well‐being by providing a framework to plan interventions and evaluate outcomes. Although researchers and policymakers see value in the FQOL domains and dimensions, families and practitioners are often skeptical of lengthy evaluations and aggregate scores. Furthermore, many practitioners find that family caregivers who require support and services overwhelmingly focus on the family member needing the most care. In doing so, they perceive their situations in a “spaghetti‐like” way. This strong focus on one aspect of the situation, or one “spaghetti” strand, can result in conversations about planning and implementing interventions becoming cyclical, like a messy tangle of strands. The FQOL lens can be used in intervention planning to transform overlapping spaghetti‐like thoughts into a waffle‐like system of interconnected and compartmentalized thoughts. The purpose of this paper was to describe the individual‐level application of the FQOL theory to plan and evaluate the benefits of a peer‐mediated family empowerment project for aging caregivers of adults with intellectual/ developmental disabilities in Michigan, USA. The study provides examples of how individual‐level FQOL evaluation at pretest informed the development of individualized action plans that focused on the strengths, desires, and challenges of 100 aging families in this statewide project.

Noise insensitive volumetric fusion method for enhanced photoacoustic microscopy.

Photoacoustic imaging is an emerging imaging modality that combines the high contrast of optical imaging and the high penetration of acoustic imaging. However, the strong focusing of the laser beam in optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) leads to a limited depth-of-field (DoF). Here, a volumetric photoacoustic information fusion method was proposed to achieve large volumetric photoacoustic imaging at low cost. First, the initial decision map was built through the focus detection based on the proposed three-dimensional Laplacian operator. Majority filter-based consistency verification and Gaussian filter-based map smoothing were then utilized to generate the final decision map for the construction of photoacoustic imaging with extended DoF. The performance of the proposed method was tested to show that our method can expand the limited DoF by a factor of 1.7 without the sacrifice of lateral resolution. Four sets of multi-focus vessel data at different noise levels were fused to verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method. The proposed method can efficiently extend the DoF of OR-PAM under different noise levels.

Leaf shredding as an alternative strategy for managing apple scab resistance to demethylation inhibitor fungicides

Within integrated apple scab control there is a strong focus on reduction of Venturia inaequalis primary inoculum. The hypothesis that leaf shredding as an orchard sanitation practice would reduce the effective population size of the fungus (resulting in lower genetic variation due to reduction in sexual offspring) was tested. Assuming the allele causing fungicide resistance is already present in the population, it will be widely distributed at the end of the season, since selection occurs when the demethylation inhibitor (DMI) fungicide was applied. For short-term disease management a reduction of inoculum size, (i.e. potential ascospore dose) is most important. In the long-term resistant isolates/genotypes would be less likely to survive the winter and/or to infect in the spring, if that inoculum (i.e. in fallen leaves) has been removed. To sustain the use of highly effective synthetic fungicides, such as the DMIs, fungicide resistance management practices have to be evaluated. Fungicide resistance, which negatively affects pathogen fitness, is hypothetically reversible, if the selection pressure by the fungicide is removed. This study quantified the effect of leaf shredding on changes in the pathogen’s flusilazole sensitivity and population genetic structure using SSR markers. Venturia inaequalis populations in orchard trials, where sanitation practices had been applied, were tested for flusilazole sensitivity in planta and in vitro. Significant shifts towards flusilazole resistance were identified in orchards with a history of DMI application without sanitation treatment, with a mean sensitivity of EC50= 0.208 ug/ml (n=49) compared to an unexposed V. inaequalis population (EC50= 0.104 ug/ml, n=55). However, the isolates from the same sanitation trial orchards, from leaf shredding treatment in combination with a fungicide spray programme, had a mean EC50 of 0.110 ug/ml (n=41), similar to an unexposed V. inaequalis population. Furthermore, V. inaequalis offspring after sanitation treatment, showed shifts in microsatellite allele frequency distribution patterns used as an indicator of sexual reproduction. This study concludes that sanitation treatments, i.e. leaf shredding, impact on fungicide sensitivity and therefore effectively contributes to fungicide resistance management.

From parts to whole: Embracing systems science in community psychology.

With our field's strong focus on context for understanding and acting on social problems, community psychologists have frequently elevated the importance of employing systems thinking and methods that help us to understand systems more effectively. As a result, community psychologists have adopted some methods from the interdisciplinary field of systems science. In this virtual special issue, we will compare how several of these approaches have been used in publications in the AJCP in the last 50 years. We identify differences in their popularity, implementation with communities, and how they create generative discussion in the field. We conclude by looking to the future to explore ways community psychology can deepen engagement with methods from systems science.

Gateway Visuals: Strategies of Climate Photographers in the Digital Age

Visual climate change communication has seen increased scholarly attention in recent years, with a strong focus on science communication. However, less is known about the producers of climate imagery. The current article presents results from interviews with 20 photographers engaged in climate change on the challenges they see for climate photography today and the key strategies they use to achieve reach and impact in the digital media environment. Results indicate that practitioners gravitate toward variations of a “gateway strategy,” in which motives and forms of visual presentation are chosen as gateways to bypass the potential resistance or indifference to climate change messages. The article proposes a typology of such visual gateway strategies.