scholarly journals CUBES: A practical toolkit to measure enablers and barriers to behavior for effective intervention design

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 886
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Engl ◽  
Sema K. Sgaier

A pressing goal in global development and other sectors is often to understand what drives people’s behaviors, and how to influence them. Yet designing behavior change interventions is often an unsystematic process, hobbled by insufficient understanding of contextual and perceptual behavioral drivers and a narrow focus on limited research methods to assess them. We propose a toolkit (CUBES) of two solutions to help programs arrive at more effective interventions. First, we introduce a novel framework of behavior, which is a practical tool for programs to structure potential drivers and match corresponding interventions. This evidence-based framework was developed through extensive cross-sectoral literature research and refined through application in large-scale global development programs. Second, we propose a set of descriptive, experimental, and simulation approaches that can enhance and expand the methods commonly used in global development. Since not all methods are equally suited to capture the different types of drivers of behavior, we present a decision aid for method selection. We recommend that existing commonly used methods, such as observations and surveys, use CUBES as a scaffold and incorporate validated measures of specific types of drivers in order to comprehensively test all the potential components of a target behavior. We also recommend under-used methods from sectors such as market research, experimental psychology, and decision science, which programs can use to extend their toolkit and test the importance and impact of key enablers and barriers. The CUBES toolkit enables programs across sectors to streamline the process of conceptualizing, designing, and optimizing interventions, and ultimately to change behaviors and achieve targeted outcomes.

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Engl ◽  
Sema K. Sgaier

A pressing goal in global development and other sectors is often to understand what drives people’s behaviors, and how to influence them. Yet designing behavior change interventions is often an unsystematic process, hobbled by insufficient understanding of contextual and perceptual behavioral drivers and a narrow focus on limited research methods to assess them. We propose a toolkit (CUBES) of two solutions to help programs arrive at more effective interventions. First, we introduce a novel framework of behavior, which is a practical tool for programs to structure potential drivers and match corresponding interventions. This evidence-based framework was developed through extensive cross-sectoral literature research and refined through application in large-scale global development programs. Second, we propose a set of descriptive, experimental, and simulation approaches that can enhance and expand the methods commonly used in global development. Since not all methods are equally suited to capture the different types of drivers of behavior, we present a decision aid for method selection. We recommend that existing commonly used methods, such as observations and surveys, use CUBES as a scaffold and incorporate validated measures of specific types of drivers in order to comprehensively test all the potential components of a target behavior. We also recommend under-used methods from sectors such as market research, experimental psychology, and decision science, which programs can use to extend their toolkit and test the importance and impact of key enablers and barriers. The CUBES toolkit enables programs across sectors to streamline the process of conceptualizing, designing, and optimizing interventions, and ultimately to change behaviors and achieve targeted outcomes.


Lichen planus (LP) is an inflammatory muco-cutaneous disease characterised by shiny, flat-topped papules and plaques. It affects around 1% of the population. The disease is usually self-limiting and benign in nature. However, some varieties of LP may cause considerable discomfort and recalcitrant in nature. So, treatment depends on appreciating the type, severity and nature of the disease. There are a good numbers of options for treating different types of LP. Few types of LP are difficult to treat and needs aggressive treatment to prevent complications like hair or nail loss. Author examined and summarized the published literature involving the treatment or management of LP. It is found that the large scale, evidence based trials are only few in number. At present, it is quite difficult to standardisation of treatment. This review outlines the ongoing trial and current treatment options. It is needed to assimilation and summarization of the recent findings to treat the critical cases in a more effective way


2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Sachs

When unemployment is high and education budgets are shrinking, people flock to community colleges and other providers to learn new job skills. Asynchronous and blended education provide solutions for meeting large scale demand, thus this issue features four cases about innovative workforce development programs. Each one of them advances the possibilities and provides replicable practices for expanding access.


Author(s):  
Xu Pei-Zhen ◽  
Lu Yong-Geng ◽  
Cao Xi-Min

Background: Over the past few years, the subsynchronous oscillation (SSO) caused by the grid-connected wind farm had a bad influence on the stable operation of the system and has now become a bottleneck factor restricting the efficient utilization of wind power. How to mitigate and suppress the phenomenon of SSO of wind farms has become the focus of power system research. Methods: This paper first analyzes the SSO of different types of wind turbines, including squirrelcage induction generator based wind turbine (SCIG-WT), permanent magnet synchronous generator- based wind turbine (PMSG-WT), and doubly-fed induction generator based wind turbine (DFIG-WT). Then, the mechanisms of different types of SSO are proposed with the aim to better understand SSO in large-scale wind integrated power systems, and the main analytical methods suitable for studying the SSO of wind farms are summarized. Results: On the basis of results, using additional damping control suppression methods to solve SSO caused by the flexible power transmission devices and the wind turbine converter is recommended. Conclusion: The current development direction of the SSO of large-scale wind farm grid-connected systems is summarized and the current challenges and recommendations for future research and development are discussed.


Fifteen to twenty years is how long it takes for the billions of dollars of health-related research to translate into evidence-based policies and programs suitable for public use. Over the past 15 years, an exciting science has emerged that seeks to narrow the gap between the discovery of new knowledge and its application in public health, mental health, and health care settings. Dissemination and implementation (D&I) research seeks to understand how to best apply scientific advances in the real world, by focusing on pushing the evidence-based knowledge base out into routine use. To help propel this crucial field forward, leading D&I scholars and researchers have collaborated to put together this volume to address a number of key issues, including: how to evaluate the evidence base on effective interventions; which strategies will produce the greatest impact; how to design an appropriate study; and how to track a set of essential outcomes. D&I studies must also take into account the barriers to uptake of evidence-based interventions in the communities where people live their lives and the social service agencies, hospitals, and clinics where they receive care. The challenges of moving research to practice and policy are universal, and future progress calls for collaborative partnerships and cross-country research. The fundamental tenet of D&I research—taking what we know about improving health and putting it into practice—must be the highest priority. This book is nothing less than a roadmap that will have broad appeal to researchers and practitioners across many disciplines.


Author(s):  
Anne Nassauer

This book provides an account of how and why routine interactions break down and how such situational breakdowns lead to protest violence and other types of surprising social outcomes. It takes a close-up look at the dynamic processes of how situations unfold and compares their role to that of motivations, strategies, and other contextual factors. The book discusses factors that can draw us into violent situations and describes how and why we make uncommon individual and collective decisions. Covering different types of surprise outcomes from protest marches and uprisings turning violent to robbers failing to rob a store at gunpoint, it shows how unfolding situations can override our motivations and strategies and how emotions and culture, as well as rational thinking, still play a part in these events. The first chapters study protest violence in Germany and the United States from 1960 until 2010, taking a detailed look at what happens between the start of a protest and the eruption of violence or its peaceful conclusion. They compare the impact of such dynamics to the role of police strategies and culture, protesters’ claims and violent motivations, the black bloc and agents provocateurs. The analysis shows how violence is triggered, what determines its intensity, and which measures can avoid its outbreak. The book explores whether we find similar situational patterns leading to surprising outcomes in other types of small- and large-scale events: uprisings turning violent, such as Ferguson in 2014 and Baltimore in 2015, and failed armed store robberies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Que ◽  
David Lukacsovich ◽  
Wenshu Luo ◽  
Csaba Földy

AbstractThe diversity reflected by >100 different neural cell types fundamentally contributes to brain function and a central idea is that neuronal identity can be inferred from genetic information. Recent large-scale transcriptomic assays seem to confirm this hypothesis, but a lack of morphological information has limited the identification of several known cell types. In this study, we used single-cell RNA-seq in morphologically identified parvalbumin interneurons (PV-INs), and studied their transcriptomic states in the morphological, physiological, and developmental domains. Overall, we find high transcriptomic similarity among PV-INs, with few genes showing divergent expression between morphologically different types. Furthermore, PV-INs show a uniform synaptic cell adhesion molecule (CAM) profile, suggesting that CAM expression in mature PV cells does not reflect wiring specificity after development. Together, our results suggest that while PV-INs differ in anatomy and in vivo activity, their continuous transcriptomic and homogenous biophysical landscapes are not predictive of these distinct identities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanping Long ◽  
Zhijian Liu ◽  
Jinbu Jia ◽  
Weipeng Mo ◽  
Liang Fang ◽  
...  

AbstractThe broad application of single-cell RNA profiling in plants has been hindered by the prerequisite of protoplasting that requires digesting the cell walls from different types of plant tissues. Here, we present a protoplasting-free approach, flsnRNA-seq, for large-scale full-length RNA profiling at a single-nucleus level in plants using isolated nuclei. Combined with 10x Genomics and Nanopore long-read sequencing, we validate the robustness of this approach in Arabidopsis root cells and the developing endosperm. Sequencing results demonstrate that it allows for uncovering alternative splicing and polyadenylation-related RNA isoform information at the single-cell level, which facilitates characterizing cell identities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Miguel R. Luaces ◽  
Jesús A. Fisteus ◽  
Luis Sánchez-Fernández ◽  
Mario Munoz-Organero ◽  
Jesús Balado ◽  
...  

Providing citizens with the ability to move around in an accessible way is a requirement for all cities today. However, modeling city infrastructures so that accessible routes can be computed is a challenge because it involves collecting information from multiple, large-scale and heterogeneous data sources. In this paper, we propose and validate the architecture of an information system that creates an accessibility data model for cities by ingesting data from different types of sources and provides an application that can be used by people with different abilities to compute accessible routes. The article describes the processes that allow building a network of pedestrian infrastructures from the OpenStreetMap information (i.e., sidewalks and pedestrian crossings), improving the network with information extracted obtained from mobile-sensed LiDAR data (i.e., ramps, steps, and pedestrian crossings), detecting obstacles using volunteered information collected from the hardware sensors of the mobile devices of the citizens (i.e., ramps and steps), and detecting accessibility problems with software sensors in social networks (i.e., Twitter). The information system is validated through its application in a case study in the city of Vigo (Spain).


2021 ◽  
pp. 000494412110034
Author(s):  
Lucy Corbett ◽  
Philayrath Phongsavan ◽  
Louisa R Peralta ◽  
Adrian Bauman

Professional development (PD) provides an opportunity to promote the psychological, social, and physical health tools teachers require to maintain teacher wellbeing. Despite their potential, little is known about PD programs targeting the health and wellbeing of Australian teachers. This study aimed to summarize the characteristics of Australian PD programs targeted at teacher wellbeing, identify gaps in existing PD and make recommendations for future research and practice. Three search strategies, (1) search engine results, (2) a manual search of known Australian education websites, and (3) requests for information from Australian education organizations, were combined to ensure a comprehensive inventory of PD programs was compiled. This study found 63 PD programs promoting health and wellbeing that currently exist for Australian teachers. Of these, only three provided evidence of their evaluation indicating programs are advertised and implemented without evidence of their effectiveness. Future PD should be evaluated with findings of the evaluations reported publicly so evidence-based programs promoting teacher’s health and wellbeing can be recommended and implemented.


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