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Feasibility of conducting a cohort randomised controlled trial assessing the effectiveness of a nurse-led package of care for knee pain
Full text linkObjective: To evaluate the feasibility of conducting a cohort randomised-controlled trial
(RCT) of a nurse-led package of care for knee pain and determine treatment sequence
for use in a future trial.
Methods: Open label, three-arm, single-centre, mixed-methods, feasibility cohort RCT.
Adults aged ≥40 years with moderate-to-severe knee pain for ≥3 months were eligible.
Participants were randomised into groups A (non-pharmacological treatment first), B
(pharmacological treatment first), or group C (usual care). The intervention was
delivered over 26-weeks. Outcomes were dropout rate, recruitment rate, intervention
fidelity, ability to collect outcome data and treatment acceptability.
Results: Seventeen participants were randomised and enrolled into each of groups A
and B (5.2% recruitment rate), and 174 randomised to group C. Participant
characteristics at randomisation were comparable across the three arms. COVID-19
paused the study from March–November-2020. Participants enrolled in groups A and
B before March-2020 were withdrawn at restart. Of the 20 participants enrolled after
restart, 18 completed the study (10% dropout). The nurse reported delivering most
aspects of the intervention with high fidelity. Participants viewed the package of care
as structured, supportive and holistic, they learnt about self-managing knee pain, and
could engage with and follow the non-pharmacological treatment. Most found the non--pharmacological treatment more useful than the pharmacological treatment, preferring
to receive it before or alongside analgesia. Many self-reported questionnaires were
not fully completed.
Conclusions: The nurse-led package of care for knee pain was acceptable with low
dropout, although the cohort RCT design may not be feasible for a definitive trial
Sickness and agricultural productivity: evidence from arable-crop farmers in Southwest, Nigeria
Full text linkLiterature argued that investments in the health programs for labour to prevent sickness in
farming operations enhances agricultural productivity. This paper estimates a stochastic production function
using 240 primary data to analyze the relationship between farmers’ dietary-pattern, health-status and
agricultural production efficiency. Study indicated that workdays lost to sickness influenced poor farm-income and productivity and the effect is considerable. Sound dietary-patterns and health status enhances
human productivity and farm-profit levels. Moreover, the incapacitating effects of sickness on farm-labour
leads to diminishing effects on farmer’s efficiency level. Average value of technical efficiency per-unit of
input tends to be higher for healthy farmers than for those affected by sickness. About 79.1% of the
respondents spent 85.6% of their farm-proceeds on medical expenses, while 66.8% of the respondents were
unable to meet medical expenses from farm-proceeds. Hence, expenditures on health upsets affect the
availability of disposable cash income as household financial resources are diverted to pay for medical
treatment. Thus, deny farmers inability to procure agricultural inputs that can improve agricultural
productivity. Regression results confirm the negative effect of health barriers on farmers’ agricultural
production-efficiency. Results suggest that one workday lost to sickness increase farmers’ inefficiency by
0.4%
Exploring the determinants of occupational stress in variable hour teaching staff in the UK Higher Education institution
No full textIn the world of work where demands and pressure are prevalent, personal stress is inevitable. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has noted work-related stress as a medical condition that requires attention. Professionals have coined the term occupation stress to denote to what employees experience in the workplace. Such stress at work can have a toll on the employees' productivity and well-being. In the academic work, there have been high levels of stress caused by the job demands, and this has caused an adverse effect on the individuals. A semi-structured interview of 30 variable hour teaching staff was utilised in the UK Higher Education. The findings indicated that most variable staff experienced job stressful elements. Overall, this chapter provides insights into the determinants of occupation stress among variable hours teaching staff
Predicting fish habitat in the Persian Gulf using artificial intelligence
No full textThe Persian Gulf is one of the most important habitats in the Middle
East. It can be extremely beneficial to aquatic species' survival and
environmental preservation to continuous monitoring and collect data about
aquatic animals, their habitats, and behaviours. Finding a novel and suitable
method to carry out accurate and automatic monitoring with low timing and low
cost for monitoring aquatic species’ behaviour in this high potential area is
helpful. To predict fish habitat in Persian Gulf Convolutional Neural Network
method and Naïve Bayes algorithm are used. Deep learning convolutional
neural network technology is mostly used for data science classification and
recognition because of its exceptional accuracy and to solve search and
optimization issues, the Naïve Bayes algorithm is employed. Results indicate for
predicting fish habitat in the Persian Gulf, the accuracy of the Convolutional
Neural Network algorithm and the Naïve Bayes algorithms is 97.32% and
95.47%, respectively. With p=0.025 (p0.05), there is a substantial difference
between the Naïve Bayes method and the Convolutional Neural Network
algorithm. Therefore, The Convolutional Neural Network method seems to be
more accurate than the Naïve Bayes method at predicting fish habitat in the
Persian Gul
A novel feature elimination approach in ensemble learning on NSL-KDD dataset in comparison with Variable Elimination Algorithm to improve accuracy
No full textAim: Purpose of the research is comparison of
Variable Elimination Algorithm with an accurate feature elimination strategy for Ensemble Learning using NSL-KDD dataset.
Materials and Methods: Accuracy is analyzed for feature elimination. Classification of feature elimination is done using ensemble learning whose size of sample (N=34) as well as Variable Elimination Algorithm of (N=34) whose size of sample produced with G-power value 80%.
Results: Ensemble Learning accuracy becomes 82.74%
and is more than Variable Elimination Algorithm with accuracy 76.62%. Significance value becomes 0.033 (p<0.05) indicating the performance of proposed work has significance.
Conclusion: Ensemble Learning performs whose accuracy is 82.74% when compared to Variable Elimination Algorithm of accuracy 76.62% along with the subset of variables in marginal distribution
Group-based mindfulness interventions in prisons: a selective critical review”
Full text linkThe use of mindfulness interventions (MIs) as means to manage unwanted or undesirable affect and behaviour has increased in popularity recently. This has resulted in the trial of MIs as a means to benefit wellbeing within prisons, with some intention of reducing recidivism. This selective literature review aims to examine current research regarding the use of MIs within prisons.
Fourteen studies were manually selected for review inclusion according to their determined eligibility. All studies were required to have taken place in a prison and to include an explicit mindfulness intervention, including mindfulness theory and practice.
Most interventions reviewed demonstrated success, particularly when tailored to the unique needs of a prison environment. Positive changes reported included improvements in participant mental health symptoms, as well as reduced stress and increased mindfulness skills. Some preliminary evidence was provided to indicate the potential longevity of some of these benefits.
This review further highlighted some significant questions regarding the generalisability of the proposed suitability of MIs within prison environments including practical delivery constraints and the lack of acknowledgment of the unique challenges and circumstances faced by prisoners.
The findings of this review show positive potential for the use of Mindfulness Interventions (MIs) within prison populations, where these are well-linked to mindfulness theory and to the needs of inmates. The review also suggest that MIs should be investigated thoroughly, examining potential negative implications alongside positive changes. There needs to be further review of the role of MIs within prison populations to ensure their suitability in the custodial environment.
MIs are somewhat inflated in terms of predicted outcomes and sometimes applied to potentially unsuitable groups. A significant gap within the literature also persists regarding potentially negative implications associated with MIs, particularly within unique prison populations. Prison treatment programmes should be developed with careful consideration of unique prisoner needs in comparison to a general population
A critical analysis of Islamic financial literacy and Islamic financial inclusion of Thai Muslims in the five southernmost provinces of Thailand
Full text linkFinancial literacy is widely recognised as a way to improve quality access to financial services.
Nonetheless, the study of Islamic financial literacy can be viewed as a novel concept, particularly
in a Muslim minority country. Moreover, research that examines financial literacy and inclusion
from an Islamic perspective is still limited. Considering these factors, this study aims to critically
assess Islamic financial literacy and inclusion in Thailand's five southernmost provinces as well
as identify the means to enhance them. After reviewing the relevant literature, a conceptual
framework for Islamic financial literacy, indicators of Islamic financial inclusion, and an extended
theory of planned behaviour model were developed to address the research questions. Based on
mixed methods research design, a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were employed
to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Then, the obtained data were analysed using
descriptive statistics, structural equation modelling, and thematic analysis.
The questionnaire and interview results indicate that most Muslims in the area were unaware of
Islamic financial products and excluded from Islamic financial services. Then, the analysis of
structural equation modelling demonstrates that the integration of Islamic financial literacy as the
salient behavioural belief had a significant impact on the attitude to adopt Islamic finance, except
for the influence of Islamic money management. The analysis also shows that the predictors of
the theory of planned behaviour model were significant determinants of the intention to adopt
Islamic finance, despite the fact that attitude and intention had a significant negative relationship.
In this regard, the interview data plays a crucial role in supporting the analysis by providing
explanations for the influential factors. Drawing upon empirical evidence, the study has proposed
proactive policy recommendations to enhance Islamic financial literacy and inclusion among the
Muslim population, with the aim to promote a more inclusive and sustainable financial system to
benefit the overall economy. Overall, the findings of this study make a valuable contribution to the
body of knowledge in terms of contextual, theoretical, and methodological perspectives
Contextualising entrepreneurship: a call for more African research
Full text linkEntrepreneurship is a prominent area of inquiry which is enriched by an ample literature base
and challenged by definitional deficiencies. Over the years, multiple perspectives of
entrepreneurship have emerged and a holistic approach to entrepreneurship has been proposed.
This can facilitate the continued enlargement of the entrepreneurship field and allow for
interdisciplinary research within the African region.
This chapter contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship in developing economies by
providing an extensive review of the various approaches that entrepreneurship has been
conceptualised. Nine themes are explored: the great person, economic perspective,
psychological perspective, sociological perspective, behavioural perspective, management,
intrapreneurship, cognitive perspective, and leadership perspective. This is followed by an
examination of entrepreneurship as a process, as a new venture creation, and as an art of
opportunity recognition and exploitation. In the last section of this chapter, a clarion call is
made for more African scholarship and research in the field of entrepreneurshi
How can UK public health initiatives support each other to improve the maintenance of physical activity? Evidence from a cross-sectional survey of runners who move from Couch-to-5k to parkrun
Full text linkPhysical activity improves physical and mental well-being and reduces mortality risk. However, only a quarter of adults
globally meet recommended physical activity levels for health. Two common initiatives in the UK are Couch-to-5k (an app-assisted 9-week walk/run programme) and parkrun (a free, weekly, timed 5-km walk/run). It is not known how these initiatives
are linked, how Couch-to-5k parkrunners compare to parkrunners, and the extent to which this influences their parkrun
performance. The aims were to compare the characteristics and motives and to compare physical activity levels, parkrun
performance and the impact of parkrun between Couch-to-5k parkrunners and parkrunners. Three thousand two hundred and
ninety six Couch-to-5k parkrunners were compared to 55,923 parkrunners to explore age, sex, ethnicity, employment status,
neighbourhood deprivation, motives, physical activity levels, parkrun performance and the impact of parkrun. Couch-to-5k
parkrunners were slightly older, more likely to be female and work part-time, but similar in ethnicity, and neighbourhood deprivation compared with other parkrunners. Couch-to-5k parkrunners had different motives for participation and reported high
levels of physical activity at registration, which remained to the point of survey completion. This group had slower parkrun
times but, when registered for a year, completed a similar number of runs (11) per year. Larger proportions of Couch-to-5k
parkrunners perceived positive impacts compared with other parkrunners and 65% of Couch-to-5k parkrunners reported
improvements to their lifestyle. parkrun appears to be an effective pathway for those on the Couch-to-5k programme, and
the promising positive association between the two initiatives may be effective in assisting previously inactive participants
to take part in weekly physical activit
Geographies of exclusion: rebuilding collective responsibility in a fragmented school system
Full text linkThe goal of equity in education in England is damaged by regional disparities in outcomes and a marked social gradient in school exclusion. The most vulnerable groups are disproportionately represented in in-year transfers. Drawing on 24 interviews with school leaders and education decision-makers in a socioeconomically deprived area, this study examined institutional strategies to promote inclusion by reducing pupil mobility in an area-based initiative. The analysis highlights the interaction of administrative, professional and market logics, and the significance of the ‘middle tier’ in mediating inter-local tensions. Further research is needed on ‘hidden’ pupil moves and diverse forms of within-school segregation-reintegration