scholarly journals Promoting EF With Preschool Interventions: Lessons Learned From 15 Years of Conducting Large-Scale Studies

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shira Mattera ◽  
Natalia M. Rojas ◽  
Pamela A. Morris ◽  
Karen Bierman
Keyword(s):  
School Readiness ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Family Income ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Classroom Behaviors ◽  
Direct Training ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
The Impact

In the past two decades, a growing number of early childhood interventions that aim to improve school readiness have also targeted children's executive function (EF), building on the theory that promoting EF skills in preschool may play a key role in reducing the substantial gaps in school readiness and later achievement associated with family income. Despite the expansion of school readiness interventions across preschool, research evidence is mixed regarding what works to promote EF development and the impact of these interventions on children's EF skills, and subsequently, their academic and behavioral outcomes. This paper reviews four intervention approaches designed to support school readiness that may also improve children's EF skills by: (a) encouraging adaptive classroom behaviors, (b) improving social-emotional learning, (c) promoting play and direct training of EF skills, and (d) improving cognitive skills related to EF. We describe program effects from rigorous trials testing these approaches, including summarizing the takeaways from four large-scale intervention research studies conducted by the authors, involving over 5,000 children. We conclude by exploring open questions for the field and future directions for research and intervention program development and refinement.

Disaster impacts in a port-city; learning from Beirut's  Port explosion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steluta topalov
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Transportation System ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Port Cities ◽  
Residential Units ◽  
The Impact

<p>On 4 august 2020, one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions the world has seen in recent times took place in the Port of Beirut. Caused by the detonation of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, inadequate stored in a warehouse in the port, the blast destroyed much of the city’s port and the surrounding infrastructure and severly  damaged the dense residential and commercial areas within 5 km of the explosion site. The impact of the explosion, which registered as a 3.3 magnitude earthquake according to the U.S. Geological Survey, was felt as far away as the island of Cyprus.</p><p>Athough the event was an technological hazard, the impact of the explosion is similar to a standardised natural disaster.</p><p>According to UNDP, a total of 200 000 residential units were affected with an estimated of 40 000 buildings damaged; 200 people lost their lives, around 6 000 individuals were injuried and around 300 000 people were displaced.</p><p>Such figure are comparable to other large-scale disasters such as Cyclone Vayu in India, which occured in June 2019 or the displacement caused by the Typhoon Vongfong, in the Philippines.</p><p>The frequent increase of the natural disasters  puts pressure on the critical infrastructure of the cities. The disruption of the transportation system,  which is vital for the sustainable daily operations, are having a big impact on the economical, enviromental and social dimension of a city system. Among the various types of transportation system, ports are a focal point because of its strategic role for the economic growth of cities,regions and  global network. In addition, they are nodal points for the social and economical activity of the inhabitants.</p><p>Although the ports have played a key role in the development of their host cities, they are also vulnerable to a broad range of risks and threats because of a particular spatial character: the location at the intersection of land and sea.  </p><p>The study of the Beirut’s Port explosion examines the impact of port failures on the host urban enviroment and the relationship between hazards, vulnerability and the impact. The vulnerability of the port to disasters results  to the vulnerability of its host city. A context –based understanding  of the impact of the disaster and the elements at risk is essential to identify appropriate risk management strategies. The location of the port within the urban environment, in densely populated area, as in case of Beirut are some of the characteristics of the port cities that can magnify the impact of disasters to which they are prone.  The study will focus on a collection of data that records the impact and allows visualisation of the complex patterns of the disaster risk reduction.</p><p>The impact caused by the Beirut’s port explosion reminds us about the important role of the ports in their host cities and how fundamental is to identify the port’s infrastructure  exposure to hazards and risks.  Lessons learned from such event may be useful to reduce disaster risks in the port cities.</p>

scholarly journals Simulation-Based Evaluation of the Performance of Broadband over Power Lines with Multiple Repeaters in Linear Topology of Distribution Substations

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (19) ◽  
pp. 6879
Author(s):  
Petr Musil ◽  
Petr Mlynek ◽  
Jan Slacik ◽  
Jiri Pokorny
Keyword(s):  
Smart Grids ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Power Lines ◽  
Multiple Streams ◽  
Linear Topology ◽  
Performance Improvements ◽  
Multiple Data ◽  
The Impact

Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) is considered a promising communication technology in the concept of Smart Grids. This paper evaluates networks based on BPL, with a focus on the impact of repeaters in the linear topology of distribution substations. In large-scale Smart Grids network planning, positions of repeaters have to be carefully chosen. This article should help to determine such positions and limitations of BPL linear topology networks. Laboratory and on-field measurements and their results are presented in this article. Results show the impact of repeater’s deployment for different testing methodologies also with regard to other already presented studies. Measured values and the determined impacts of repeaters are later used as input data for simulation of the linear BPL topology in terms of network throughput with multiple streams and bottlenecks. These occur especially on lines shared by multiple communicating nodes. Furthermore, the simulation investigates the balancing time of multiple data streams throughput. The simulation shows that the throughput balancing can occupy a significant time slot, up to tens of seconds before the throughput of different streams balances. Also, the more data is generated, the more time the balancing time takes. Additionally, the throughput drop caused by a repeater is determined into the range of 35–60%. Based on the measurement and simulation results, lessons learned are presented, and possible performance improvements are discussed.

Impact of quality and pre-primary education on school readiness and numeracy in Lao People’s Democratic Republic

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-99
Author(s):  
Colleen Loomis ◽  
Kathrine Maleq ◽  
Ilenia Pellandini ◽  
Abedeljalil Akkari
Keyword(s):  
School Readiness ◽  
Primary Education ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
School Quality ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Lao Pdr ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Childhood Environment ◽  
Early Childhood Environment ◽  
The Impact

The article examined the impact of pre-primary education in Lao PDR on children’s school readiness and numeracy. Using a quasi-experimental research design, we compared children (ages 4 and 5, N = 445) in five districts across three groups: (1) attending a school with an NGO-government collaboration, (2) attending a school without an NGO-collaboration, and (3) not attending school. Quality was assessed using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale. Results show that pre-primary schools with an NGO-collaboration were higher in quality than other schools. Children in a school with an NGO-collaboration scored higher on school readiness than both other groups of children; the impact on numeracy differs by age. Five lessons learned are discussed.

Lessons Learned From the Operation of Large-Scale Reprocessing-Recycling Facilities in France: What Is in It for China?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Pierre Gros
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Fuel Cycle ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
The Impact

AREVA has been running since decades nuclear reprocessing and recycling installations in France. Several industrial facilities have been built and used to this aim across the time. Following those decades and with the more and more precise monitoring of the impact of those installations, precise data and lessons-learned have been collected that can be used for the stakeholders of potential new facilities. China has expressed strong interest in building such facilities. As a matter of fact, the issue of accumulation of spent fuel is becoming serious in China and jeopardizes the operation of several nuclear power plants, through the running out of space of storage pools. Tomorrow, with the extremely high pace of nuclear development of China, accumulation of spent fuel will be unbearable. Building reprocessing and recycling installations takes time. A decision has to be taken so as to enable the responsible development of nuclear in China. Without a solution for the back end of its nuclear fuel cycle, the development of nuclear energy will face a wall. This is what the Chinese central government, through the action of its industrial CNNC, has well understood. Several years of negotiations have been held with AREVA. Everybody in the sector seems now convinced. However, now that the negotiation is coming to an end, an effort should be done towards all the stakeholders, sharing actual information from France’s reference facilities on: safety, security, mitigation measures for health protection (of the workers, of the public), mitigation measures for the protection of the environment. Most of this information is public, as France has since years promulgated a law on Nuclear transparency. China is also in need for more transparency, yet lacks means to access this public information, often in French language, so let’s open our books!

scholarly journals Defensible inferences from a nested sequence of logistic regressions: a guide for the perplexed

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gulsah Gurkan ◽  
Yoav Benjamini ◽  
Henry Braun
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Family Background ◽  
National Income ◽  
Logistic Models ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Logistic Regressions ◽  
The Impact

AbstractEmploying nested sequences of models is a common practice when exploring the extent to which one set of variables mediates the impact of another set. Such an analysis in the context of logistic regression models confronts two challenges: (i) direct comparisons of coefficients across models are generally biased due to the changes in scale that accompany the changes in the set of explanatory variables, (ii) conducting a large number of tests induces a problem of multiplicity that can lead to spurious findings of significance if not heeded. This article aims to illustrate a practical strategy for conducting analyses in the face of these challenges. The challenges—and how to address them—are illustrated using a subset of the findings reported by Braun (Large-scale Assess Educ 6(4):1–52, 2018. 10.1186/s40536-018-0058-x), drawn from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), an international, large-scale assessment of adults. For each country in the dataset, a nested pair of logistic regression models was fit in order to investigate the role of Educational Attainment and Cognitive Skills in mediating the impact of family background and demographic characteristics on the location of an individual’s annual income in the national income distribution. A modified version of the Karlson–Holm–Breen (KHB) method was employed to obtain an unbiased estimate of the true differences in the coefficients between nested logistic models. In order to address the issue of multiplicity, a recent generalization of the Benjamini–Hochberg (BH) False Discovery Rate (FDR)-controlling procedure to hierarchically structured hypotheses was employed and compared to two conventional methods. The differences between the changes in coefficients calculated conventionally and with the KHB adjustment varied from negligible to very substantial. When combined with the actual magnitudes of the coefficients, we concluded that the more proximal factors indeed act as strong mediators for the background factors, but less so for Age, and hardly at all for Gender. With respect to multiplicity, applying the FDR-controlling procedure yielded results very similar to those obtained by applying a standard per-comparison procedure, but quite a few more discoveries in comparison to the Bonferroni procedure. The KHB methodology illustrated here can be applied wherever there is interest in comparing nested logistic regressions. Modifications to account for probability sampling are practicable. The categorization of variables and the order of entry should be determined by substantive considerations. On the other hand, the BH procedure is perfectly general and can be implemented to address multiplicity issues in a broad range of settings.

scholarly journals Does the Implementation of Regulation Affect COVID-19 Transmissibility and Mortality? Lessons Learned from Nganjuk Regency

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Danik Iga Prasiska ◽  
Sangchul Yoon
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
Interrupted Time Series ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Preventive Strategy ◽  
Interrupted Time Series Analysis ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Social Restriction ◽  
The Impact

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a global pandemic is ineluctable, transmission that originated from a foreign country became the local transmission in Indonesia. As several regional authorities implemented a large-scale social restriction policy to reduce the transmission of COVID-19, the Nganjuk Regency government chose to implement a different strategy with the implementation of Regent Regulation number 28 of 2020 about novel practice in the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Objective: This study aimed to analyze the impact of the implementation of the regulation on COVID-19 transmissibility and mortality at the Nganjuk Regency. Methods: Data were collected from the daily confirmed cases and death of COVID-19 made accessible for the public by the Nganjuk Regency Task Force for COVID-19 and Nganjuk Regency Health Office starting from March 30th to September 20th. Interrupted time series analysis was performed to estimate the impact of the implementation of regent regulation on COVID-19 transmission and mortality parameters. Result: The trend of new confirmed cases and deaths of COVID-19 in the Nganjuk Regency continued to fluctuate before and even after the implementation of regent regulation. It was found that there were reductions in case of fatality rates by -0.002 ± 0.003 (ρ 0.002) on CFR and -0.008 ± 0.008 (ρ 0.007) on eCFR after the regent regulation was implemented but there was no significant reduction on COVID-19 transmissibility parameter. Conclusion: Implementation of regent regulation in Nganjuk Regency significantly affected the reduction of case fatality rate but failed to slow down the COVID-19 transmissibility. Intensive community engagement to comply with the health preventive measures should be considered as an effective preventive strategy to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. 

scholarly journals The Elusive Path Toward Measuring Health Outcomes: Lessons Learned From a Pseudo-Randomized Controlled Trial of a Large-Scale Mobile Health Initiative

10.2196/14668 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. e14668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Mechael ◽  
Nadi Nina Kaonga ◽  
Subhashini Chandrasekharan ◽  
Muthu Perumal Prakash ◽  
Joanne Peter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Randomized Controlled Trial ◽  
Child Health ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
The Impact ◽  
And Child Health

Mobile health (mHealth) offers new opportunities to improve access to health services and health information. It also presents new challenges in evaluating its impact, particularly in linking the use of a technology intervention that aims to improve health behaviors with the health outcomes that are impacted by changed behaviors. The availability of data from a multitude of sources (paper-based and electronic) provides the conditions to facilitate making stronger connections between self-reported data and clinical outcomes. This commentary shares lessons and important considerations based on the experience of applying new research frameworks and incorporating maternal and child health records data into a pseudo-randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of mMitra, a stage-based voice messaging program to improve maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes in urban slums in India.

scholarly journals Lessons from applied large-scale pooling of 133,816 SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (589) ◽  
pp. eabf2823 ◽  
Author(s):  
Netta Barak ◽  
Roni Ben-Ami ◽  
Tal Sido ◽  
Amir Perri ◽  
Aviad Shtoyer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Rna Extraction ◽  
Group Testing ◽  
Pcr Analysis ◽  
Rt Pcr ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Assay Performance ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
Polymerase Chain ◽  
The Impact

Pooling multiple swab samples before RNA extraction and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis has been proposed as a strategy to reduce costs and increase throughput of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) tests. However, reports on practical large-scale group testing for SARS-CoV-2 have been scant. Key open questions concern reduced sensitivity due to sample dilution, the rate of false positives, the actual efficiency (number of tests saved by pooling), and the impact of infection rate in the population on assay performance. Here, we report an analysis of 133,816 samples collected between April and September 2020 and tested by Dorfman pooling for the presence of SARS-CoV-2. We spared 76% of RNA extraction and RT-PCR tests, despite the frequently changing prevalence (0.5 to 6%). We observed pooling efficiency and sensitivity that exceeded theoretical predictions, which resulted from the nonrandom distribution of positive samples in pools. Overall, our findings support the use of pooling for efficient large-scale SARS-CoV-2 testing.

scholarly journals Wales Inverse Care Law Programme - Design and Implementation of Routine Data Evaluation and Lessons Learned

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Akbari ◽  
Rowena Griffiths ◽  
Alice Puchades ◽  
Sara Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Routine Data ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Health Check ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Targeted Interventions ◽  
Inverse Care Law ◽  
The Impact

IntroductionThe Inverse Care Law (ICL) programme in Wales was setup to tackle health inequalities. Eligible populations from deprived communities, at higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) were invited to a health-check and offered appropriate lifestyle and clinical interventions. Objectives and ApproachEvaluation of this programme is vital to ensure that targeted interventions have been received by those most in need, including referrals to lifestyle services and support. The use of longitudinal population-scale routine-data required the development of an approach which was both efficient and cost effective. To achieve this, the Welsh Longitudinal General Practice (WLGP) data held in SAIL Databank was utilised. A programme-specific methodology was agreed by the programme-board and developed so that data collected from GP records prior, during and post health-check accurately identified the eligible population and allowed the effective assessment of lifestyle and clinical risk factors for CVD; poor diet, physical inactivity, smoking and high alcohol intake, so appropriate interventions could be offered. ResultsWe evaluated the programme from 2015 to 2019 in 70 GP’s across the participating Health-Boards, and identified 175,671 individuals eligible by the programme criteria. Substantial preliminary work has been carried out to ensure the specification of outcome measures are both clinically and epidemiologically accurate and relevant. The final report scheduled for release in August-2020, which will evaluate the impact of the programme. Conclusion / ImplicationsThis ambitious evaluation of a large-scale programme set in the community involving disparate systems and a range of stakeholders, has been both complex and challenging, requiring substantial effort to design and implement. We hope the outcomes and lessons learned from our experience will improve the design, implementation and evaluation of the programme and lead to improvements in services and the quality of life for people in Wales, and provide an exemplar for health care providers worldwide wishing to conduct similar programmes in the future.

Rapid Project Management in a Time of COVID-19 Crisis: Lessons learned from a Global VIRUS: COVID-19 Registry (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janice R. Turek ◽  
Vikas Bansal ◽  
Aysun Tekin ◽  
Mayank Sharma ◽  
Marija Bogojevic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Critical Care ◽  
Project Management ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Collect Patient Data ◽  
The Impact

UNSTRUCTURED The COVID-19 pandemic emerged globally in a rapid and precipitous manner devastating healthcare organizations worldwide. The progression of the illness, the impact to the vulnerable and best care for the hospitalized patient, is undefined. Incomplete knowledge of best practices by frontline health care providers may result in error-prone care. Data on symptoms and advancement of the SARS-CoV-2 virus leading to critical care admission has not been captured or communicated well between international organizations experiencing the same impact from the virus. As the SARS-CoV-2 virus quickly reached every country, it was recognized that global communication and data collection on the critical care patients admitted with COVID-19 needed to be rapidly put in place. Developing a global registry to collect patient data and treatment in the critical care setting was of utmost priority with the goal to minimize preventable death, disability, and costly complications for patients with COVID-19. Project management around the prompt implementation of the registry is crucial. Valuable information could be lost daily without a format to record data and the opportunity to share significant findings. Putting the VIRUS: COVID-19 Registry in place could change patient outcomes by gaining insight to progression of symptoms and treatments worldwide. This article addresses project management lessons in a time of crises outlining the methodology used and is meant to be a useful tool for other organizations for rapid project management for a large-scale health care data registry.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document