146267 research outputs found
Sort by
Reflections on monitoring parenting programmes during dissemination and scale-up
Get PDFAs the research evidence base on parenting programmes that aim to prevent violence against children grows, less is known about how such programmes are applied in practice and at scale. This understanding is needed to make sure programmes are implemented as intended and are as effective as possible in improving child and family outcomes. Programme monitoring at scale can help provide relevant insights.
We formed a working group of ten researchers and practitioners and conducted a series of reflection discussions and a review of project notes to identify practical examples and consensus lessons from four collaborative projects that monitored parenting programmes implemented in practice-driven contexts in 11 low- and middle-income countries, with the earliest starting in 2017. We highlight the benefits of practitioner-researcher partnerships in programme monitoring that have a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities, mutual trust, and ongoing communication. Such partnerships can build on existing data collection systems and jointly improve programme monitoring and evaluation procedures. We discuss the selection of monitoring indicators and the benefits of combining qualitative and quantitative data. Our reflections explore the ethical considerations, potential risks, and necessary resources required in collecting parenting programme monitoring data in low-resource settings.
In conclusion, programme funders can support learning from parenting and other programmes delivered in routine services by providing flexible, longer-term funding that explicitly prioritises safe and informative programme monitoring. Together, organisations involved in developing, implementing, funding, and evaluating parenting and other child protection programmes can use programme monitoring strategically to address challenges of scale-up
On the dynamics of pure remanufacturing systems
Get PDFPure remanufacturing systems and their respective supply chains are increasingly common in many industries. However, the scientific community has paid little attention to such systems, and thus their dynamics are still not well understood. To address this gap, we build an archetype by generalising the real-world closed-loop supply chain of pure remanufacturers across different industries. Through control engineering, we study its mathematical properties and their impact on performance. We benchmark it against two extensively studied models: traditional manufacturing systems and hybrid manufacturing-remanufacturing systems. We show the proportional order-up-to policy to be a promising approach to streamline the operations of pure remanufacturers, and we highlight critical trade-offs that need to be recognised by decision-makers to improve their control. Through simulation, we identify effective management strategies for these closed-loop supply chains, enabling remanufacturers to improve customer satisfaction while reducing inventory and capacity requirements. Key drivers for enhancing closed-loop supply chain dynamics include increasing pre-evaluation accuracy, reducing remanufacturing lead times, and improving the quality of reverse logistics operations. Additionally, synchronised tuning of the different inventory controllers becomes imperative for optimising overall performance
The interplay between lexicography and modern natural language processing: a tale of two marrying worlds
No full textLexicography and textual representations (typically in the form of dense vectors also known as embeddings) have had a strong relationship in computational linguistics and natural language processing. There is a significant body of work that has shown how to leverage lexical resources like WordNet for developing word sense disambiguation or ontology learning systems. In fact, in modern works, lexical resources have not been used to directly solve a specific automatic text processing task, but rather, as a source for language models to “pre-train” on, the result of which is often more accurate language models, better at understanding the meaning of linguistic units at various levels, from words to sentences, and in particular, dictionary-relevant items such as definitions, examples of usage or semantic relationships
Perceptions from a single virtual near-peer mock SBA examination: a retrospective pre–post study among undergraduate medical students
Get PDFBackground: Formative mock examinations are increasingly used to help medical students transition from theoretical learning to clinical application. Delivering such assessments through virtual near-peer formats may enhance accessibility and engagement, yet evidence remains limited regarding student perceptions and confidence outcomes.
Methods: A single live virtual near-peer mock single-best-answer (SBA) examination was conducted in March 2023 using an interactive polling platform. Senior medical students developed 30 SBA questions aligned with the UK Medical Licensing Assessment content map. Participants completed a post-session questionnaire containing retrospective pre- and post-ratings of confidence and anxiety, and items assessing perceived preparedness, question difficulty, time allocation, and platform usability. Data were analysed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Pearson’s chi-squared test.
Results: A total of 198 students participated, with 82.8% from Cardiff University. Median self-reported confidence for sitting final examinations increased from 5 (IQR 4– 6) to 6 (IQR 4– 7) (p < 0.001), while anxiety remained unchanged at 8 (IQR 6– 9) (p = 0.054). Participants rated the mock as moderately beneficial for exam preparation (median 5 [IQR 4– 6]) and judged the 90-second question limit appropriate (median 8 [IQR 7– 10]). Most respondents (65.7%) preferred the live-polling platform for future mock assessments.
Conclusion: A single virtual near-peer mock SBA examination was feasible and well received, and was associated with a small but measurable gain in students’ self-reported confidence without a change in anxiety. These findings highlight the value of virtual near-peer formats as accessible formative tools within undergraduate medical education. However, the generalisability of results should be interpreted cautiously given the retrospective pre–post design and sampling concentration
Suicide prevention in Latin American prisons: a multiple case study with meta-matrix of policies, programmes and protocols in 17 countries
Get PDFBackground Suicide is one of the most common causes of death in correctional settings. This study aimed to analyse prison suicide prevention policies and procedures across Latin America.
Methods For this multiple case study, we collected data on prison suicide prevention in policies (laws), programmes (institutional framework) and protocols (procedures) from 17 Latin American countries, from (1) the public domain and (2) archival records held by prison administrations. The search was conducted using Google, through hand search on prison administration websites and requests to public information departments and prison administrations. Theory-driven thematic analysis was conducted based on 11 key components of suicide prevention in prison. Presence and quality of policies, programmes and protocols were assessed using tailored instruments. Between-country comparisons were made by cross-case analysis.
Results Data were retrieved from 17 Latin American jurisdictions. Nine cases had a policy or law, 6 had an institutional plan or programme and 13 had suicide prevention protocols. In 6 of the 17 cases (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Panama), the three elements were present. Among the 13 cases with protocols, 7 (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay) had high, 2 had medium and 4 cases had low quantity and quality of key components. In the composite quality assessment of policies, programmes and protocols, three cases (Argentina, Colombia and Mexico) had high quality, four cases had medium quality and the other seven cases had low quality of suicide prevention in place.
Conclusion Many Latin American countries still need to draft policies and develop institutional frameworks for suicide prevention in prison. Most countries may review their suicide prevention protocols in prisons to cover all key components with clear procedures. Prison administrations in Latin America should publish internal plans and protocols for prison suicide prevention to facilitate cross-country policy evaluations and research
Rigorous theory of coupled resonators
Get PDFWe demonstrate the general failure of the famous concept of tight binding and mode hybridization underlying modern theories of coupled open resonators. Despite sophisticated examples in the literature illustrating these theories, they fail to describe planar systems. This includes even the simplest case of two dielectric slabs placed next to each other or separated by a distance, which is straightforward to verify analytically. We present a rigorous theory capable of calculating correctly the eigenmodes of arbitrary three-dimensional dispersive coupled resonators in terms of their individual modes, revealing proper mode hybridization and formation of bonding and antibonding supermodes. Planar optical resonators, such as coupled slabs and Bragg-mirror microcavities, are used for illustration since they allow reliable verification of the theory
Mobility of interred individuals at Neolithic tombs in Wales using sulfur (δ34S) bone collagen isotope values and a predictive archaeological sulfur isoscape for the UK
Get PDFWe measured human bone collagen sulfur isotope values of 27 Neolithic humans from five early Neolithic (fourth millennium cal BC) tombs in south Wales, UK (Heston Brake, Parc le Breos Cwm, Penywyrlod, Tinkinswood and Ty Isaf). To determine whether individuals interred within these tombs were ‘local’ to the area or ‘non-local’, their values were compared to a random forest collagen δ34S isoscape map that was developed from archaeological fauna from across the UK using the R package ‘AssignR’. All individuals within the sample are probably local to Wales, but four of five sites had individuals that may be considered ‘non-local’ to the region where the tomb was located. We then compared the δ34S collagen isoscape to a δ34S modern plant isoscape. In some regions, there are large differences between the collagen isoscape and modern plant isoscape that may be due to modern pollution or anthropogenic changes to the landscape that may impact bacteria in soil or the local sulfur cycle
Chemo-enzymatic one-pot depolymerization of β-chitin
Get PDFDecreasing our reliance on fossil carbon requires economically viable and scalable pathways to utilize sustainable sources, such as chitin. Current methods for converting chitin to high-value chemicals require treatment with strong acids and/or bases at high temperature, thereby giving complicated product mixtures with substantial, negative environmental impact. Here we present a chemo-enzymatic cascade in which H2O2, generated in situ over Pd-based nanoalloys, is used by a lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase (LPMO) to convert chitin into soluble oligosaccharide fragments. Our approach, which minimizes oxidative damage to the enzyme, eliminates the need for atom-inefficient and energy intensive approaches to chitin depolymerization, potentially achieving substantial environmental and economic savings. The simplicity of this chemo-catalyst/enzyme cascade has significant advantages for accessing chitin as a bio-carbon resource
Adalimumab 80mg weekly dose escalation for hidradenitis suppurativa: A multi-centre retrospective cohort study incorporating therapeutic drug monitoring [Letter]
No full textReal-world treatment patterns and visual outcomes of faricimab in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration in the UK at 12 months: the FARWIDE-nAMD study
Get PDFBackground
The Faricimab Real-World Evidence (FARWIDE) studies are evaluating real-world outcomes of eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) or diabetic macular oedema (DMO) treated with faricimab in the UK. Here, we present results from FARWIDE–nAMD for eyes with 12 months of follow-up after faricimab initiation.
Methods
nAMD patient-eyes that received ≥1 faricimab injection after May 2022 at one of 35 participating UK National Health Service retinal clinics with ≥12 months of follow-up after faricimab initiation as of July 2024 were included. Treatment-naïve (TN) eyes had no prior anti-VEGF treatment. Previously treated (PT) eyes switched from an anti-VEGF to faricimab. Baseline characteristics, VA, and injection frequency were assessed. Intraocular inflammation (IOI) and presumed infectious endophthalmitis (PIE) rates were pooled for nAMD and DMO eyes with any follow-up duration on faricimab. Analyses are descriptive.
Results
5854 nAMD patients (6991 eyes; 26.5% TN, 73.5% PT) were included. 83.3% of PT eyes switched from aflibercept 2.0 mg. TN eyes received a mean (SD) of 4.7 (0.7) faricimab injections in months 1–6 and 2.2 (1.1) injections in months 7–12. PT eyes received 4.5 (1.0) injections in months 1–6 and 3.0 (1.2) in months 7–12. In TN eyes, mean (SD) VA increased from 56.4 (16.3) Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study letters at baseline to 60.1 (19.4) at 12 months (mean [SD] change 3.6 [14.7] letters). PT eyes had stable VA. IOI and PIE rates were consistent with faricimab phase 3 trials.
Conclusions
These 1-year data support real-world faricimab effectiveness, durability, and safety in nAMD