A red herring CVA with unexpected outcome: illustrative case

BACKGROUND Disruptions to the integrity of the inner table and trabeculae of the calvaria are rare phenomena. Increasingly rare is the phenomenon of herniation of brain parenchyma through the defects in the skull causing neurological deficit. Surgical intervention is commonly performed but is fraught with risk of brain tissue loss. OBSERVATIONS The authors present a case of a 78-year-old White male presenting with strokelike symptoms who was found to have an intradiploic encephalocele that was successfully treated with surgical intervention and neuroplastic reconstruction of the anatomical deficit. The patient had a marked recovery and had near-complete resolution of symptoms. LESSONS This notably rare phenomenon resolved with neurosurgical intervention, sparing the parenchyma, and provided the patient with perceivably normal contour of the head using a collaborative approach with neuroplastic intervention.

How organisations can remove barriers to increase workforce collaboration

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how organisations can remove the barriers that they are currently coming up against to increase their workforce collaboration. Playing a key role in workforce transformation, HR faces pressures to remove the barriers that stand in the way of effective collaboration and decision-making; and Andrew Watson explores in this piece the ways in which organisations can empower employees to take a more collaborative approach to work. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on Andrew’s extensive experience in HR, this is a thought led opinion piece. Findings The findings of the paper show that to empower employees to foster greater collaboration, organisations require a broader cultural shift in organisation. Although there are new challenges such as hybrid working models and siloed departments, Andrew’s paper reveals that to become a more collaborative workplace, employees need a platform that will allow them to come together and cultivate openness and transparency. Technology has the power to break down the communication barriers that stand in the way of effective ideas and knowledge sharing strategies. It can also help teams make incremental improvements quickly without having to wait for multiple approvals. Originality/value Drawing on Andrew’s extensive experience in HR to share insights.

The health impact of an innovative summer camp for older adults: a pilot study using an interdisciplinary collaborative approach

Background Healthy aging with dignity and aging in place are important for Taiwanese individuals. Although Taiwan did not experience COVID-19 outbreaks prior to May 2021, many older adults have been encouraged to stay at home since the beginning of the global pandemic in January 2020. Such shelter-in-place recommendations have resulted in significant lifestyle changes, limiting activities associated with aging with dignity such as exercise and community engagement. Few studies have explored how to promote or maintain holistic health practices and physical fitness in older adults residing in rural communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. This pilot study aimed to establish an interdisciplinary collaboration with community care workers (CCWs) and evaluate the impact of an innovative summer camp (ISC) program for older adults residing in rural areas. Methods A quasi-experimental pre-post-test design with an interdisciplinary collaborative approach was implemented. The ISC program was based on a standardized protocol of modified Baduanjin exercise combined with three recreational breathing games. Participants were recruited from three community centers around the western coastal region of Yunlin County between June and August 2020. The ISC program was designed and executed by a nurse-led health promotion research team that collaborated with trained CCWs for 90 min per day, five days per week, for 12 weeks. Participants and CCWs wore facemasks during all activities. Paired t-test was used to measure changes in physical biomarkers, pulmonary lung function, and health-related fitness changes. Results Sixty-eight participants completed the ISC program. The ISC program significantly improved the participants’ physiological biomarkers and health-related fitness, including reduced body weight, waistline, and systolic blood pressure, and increased forced vital capacity, biceps arm flexion, and ability to sit and stand from a chair, step with a knee up in situ, and stand on one foot with eyes open. Most participants reported that they felt happy, satisfied, and hoped that this program would be continued in their community center. Conclusions This interdisciplinary, collaborative ISC program improved physical biomarkers and health-related fitness in older adults. Despite limitations, results strongly suggested that primary healthcare providers and CCWs can employ the described ISC program to promote wellness in older adults.

Collaborative Partnerships in Teacher Preparation

This chapter presents a description of a collaborative approach to clinical induction for pre-service teachers, the benefits of a collaborative clinical approach, and the voiced experiences of public school teachers, teacher candidates, and university faculty/supervisors reflecting on the impact of professional involvement in the collaborative process. Arguments for disrupting traditional models for clinical practice are presented. Tips for other educators and education preparation programs for developing collaboration and co-teaching induction models are included.

Collaborative Learning Environments for Autistic Children in the Inclusive School

One of the major challenges facing inclusive education for children with ASD is the identification and the removal of barriers of learning, ranging from attitudinal barriers to those related to how we organize workspaces and the conception of educational resources. The collaborative approach is one of the most effective ways of learning, and it has the benefit to develop the culture of inclusion in schools. In fact, the major challenge of the system is to personalize the educational therapeutic approach, respectively to create learning environments that generate meaningful learning experiences for each beneficiary. When the authors refer to the personalization of inclusive learning environments during pandemic period, they think both of indoor environments, but also of outdoor environments, as well as virtual environments, models of innovative practices regarding the preparation and organization of personalized collaborative spaces both in classrooms and also in learning spaces from the community, having a multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary approach in order to develop life skills.

Designing a Pathway to Digital Fluency

This chapter addresses the need for developing digital fluency skills in higher-education students in order to best prepare them for real-world success. The pathway to digital fluency is complex and requires a reimagined, collaborative approach to learning design. This chapter considers the elements of authentic learning as a means of developing students' digital fluency and proposes learning design as a pathway to action for teacher-developed authentic learning activities. The chapter begins by exploring the concept of digital fluency in order to develop a definition that informs pedagogical approach. Approaches to digital fluency development are examined through digital literacy and authentic learning frameworks. The pedagogical approach is further examined and conceptualized through the process of learning design. Considerations are presented at the end of each section to illustrate relationships between digital fluency, authentic learning, and learning design, and to allow for further exploration of concepts within unique contexts.

Wedeven Associates: Finding New Ways to Develop Novel Solutions to Persistent, Intractable Problems

Wedeven Associates is a small tribology research and engineering consulting firm located near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company faced a variety of challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic as did most small businesses in 2020. As the company became fully operational again, Wedeven Associates was approached by a longtime client to solve a tribological problem the client’s engineers had been trying to address for many years. The catch: Wedeven Associates only had a little over 2 months to do the work while complying with pandemic-related travel and meeting restrictions. This case tells the story of how the Wedeven Associates team met the challenge using virtual tools and a collaborative approach built on first principles. Readers are introduced to “tribology” as an engineering discipline and “first principles” as a problem-solving approach.

The INTERREG Italy-Croatia Joint_SECAP Project: A Collaborative Approach for Adaptation Planning

With regard to the scientific debate which highlights the potential of joint climate planning, there are few concrete experiences in Europe where this approach has been applied. This contribution focuses on critical methodological and application aspects of the processes underlying the development of Joint Plans for Sustainable Energy and Climate in the supra-municipal area as emerged from the direct participation of the authors in the Joint_SECAP project funded by the Interreg Italia-Croatia programme. This paper presents a comparative analysis of nine case studies in Italy and Croatia with a focus on fundamental aspects of the planning process: the governance model, shared knowledge framework, risk and vulnerability assessment, and participatory process. The analysis and comparison of the Joint_SECAP experiences confirm that joint climate planning, developed in the framework of the European Covenant of Mayors (CoM) initiative, is effective for creating synergy between local authorities and for defining and implementing strategies and actions for adaptation to the territorial scale. Finally, the research indicates some recommendations to overcome the barriers that impede the spread and effectiveness of this approach to climate planning. In particular, it highlights the need to enhance collaboration between local authorities, regions, and CoM coordinators.

How Are You Feeling Today?

This piece of creative writing explores the possible impact of emotional artificial intelligence (EAI), a variety of technologies which have the common aim of inferring human emotion from outward expressions such as facial expressions, vocal patterns, text, and physiological data. It is difficult to determine exactly how EAI might affect people when thinking in the abstract. We therefore took a collaborative approach, combining the imagination and writing skills of a Sci-Fi writer, with the knowledge base of an academic studying EAI, in order to create a story which makes the potential consequences of EAI real in a tangible way. Some readers may have prior knowledge of EAI, and for you we hope this piece can offer new insights or different perspectives to consider. However, we suspect many readers will not have heard of EAI and be considering it here for the first time. For you, we hope to provide a story which you can truly immerse yourself in, which can act as a prompt for you to begin to consider your views on this technology. EAI may be at a relatively early stage of development, but we do not anticipate it being long before it is a widespread technology. Our prompt as writers was to create an imagined surveillance future. Our invitation to you as readers is to not only imagine it, but ponder it, live in it, question it, and, ultimately, shape it.