Frameworks for developing an Agro-Prosumer Community Group platform

Background The involvement of prosumers in the form of agricultural community groups has been acknowledged, and interest in it is increasing due to local food demand and quality of food. How to create a prosumer group? The definition of agro-prosumers and analysis of their behaviour, engaging new members to the existing groups, managing members and their goals are important factors to consider. Hence, to overcome this barrier and to improve the participation of prosumers, in this paper three key frameworks are presented to develop an Agro-Prosumer Community Group (APCGs) platform. Methods A conceptual process that consist of strict multiple stages i.e., requirement analysis, design logic, theoretical fundamentals, implementation of prototype and verification, is used to build the frameworks for APCG. Different methods and approaches are used to design and develop framework’s prototype. For instance, clustering algorithms are used to define and group agro-prosumer concept, an approach is developed that evaluates real-time production behaviour of new prosumers while engaging them to APCG. Finally, the goal-ranking techniques i.e., MCGP are used to build a goal management framework that effectively reaches a compromise between diverse goals of APCGs. Results Results for each framework is shown while verifying the prototype using prosumers data. Conclusion An Agro-Prosumer Community Group addresses three key issues relevant to the development of an agro-prosumer community-based approach to manage the prosumers in local food- and carbon-sharing networks. The key contributions are (1) APCG concept, (2) Prosumer engagement framework, and (3) Goal management framework. Thus APCG platform provides a seamless structure for carbon and produce sharing network.

Efficacy of Online Goal Management Training for Age-Associated Executive Impairment

Goal Management Training® (GMT) is a standardized cognitive rehabilitation program that enhances individuals’ awareness of executive function impairments and trains them to regularly monitor and manage their goals. In-person GMT is well-validated among numerous subpopulations, including people experiencing age-related cognitive impairment or acquired brain injury, and people with psychiatric disorders. The goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and usability of online GMT relative to computerized “brain training” in a registered randomized controlled trial (protocol NCT03602768 at Trials.gov). Both interventions were administered in a self-paced format, with background therapist support provided for GMT. Primary outcomes were measured as self-reported executive impairment on standardized measures (the Dysexecutive Questionnaire and the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire) at pre-, immediate post-, and 6 weeks post-intervention. 62 older adults without psychiatric or neurological diagnoses completed the trial (online GMT: n = 37, age[mean] = 69 years; computerized brain training: n = 25, age[mean] = 64 years; both groups: 76% female). Improvements on the primary outcomes were observed post-intervention and were maintained at follow-up. GMT and computerized brain training groups could not be differentiated statistically, possibly due to restriction of range in the outcome measures at baseline. Additionally, the self-paced format prolonged the intervention beyond the recommended duration, which may have diluted efficacy. GMT was well-received, with participants reporting frequent use of the trained metacognitive strategies. Future studies will examine online GMT’s effectiveness in samples with documented executive impairment and with additional supports to promote engagement for this virtual program.

Goal Management Training and Computerized Cognitive Training in Depression—a 2-Year Follow-Up of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: Information on the long-term effects of cognitive remediation (CR) in major depressive disorder (MDD) is lacking. The present study reports 2-year follow-up data from a previously published randomized controlled trial (RCT) from our research group, comparing Goal Management Training (GMT), a strategy-based CR intervention, to drill-and-practice computerized cognitive training (CCT). In previous work, we found comparable improvements in executive function (EF), in addition to reductions in depressive symptoms, following both GMT and CCT at 6-month follow-up.Methods: Forty-two participants of the RCT, all diagnosed with MDD, were invited to complete rating-scales pertaining daily-life EF, rumination, and depressive symptoms. Explorative analyses compared the 2-year follow-up with previously published baseline and 6-month follow-up data, using non-parametric statistics. Similarly, GMT and CCT were compared at the 2-year follow-up, and completers were compared with non-completers.Results: Twenty participants completed the study. Overall, completers (n = 20) and non-completers (n = 22) were similar. There were no significant differences between GMT (n = 11) and CCT (n = 9) for any outcome 2 years post-treatment. Reduction compared to baseline in depressive symptoms and rumination, but not in daily-life EFs, emerged for GMT only.Conclusions: Findings suggest long-term improvements in mental health following GMT, while improvements in everyday EFs might require additional treatment or maintenance to sustain. Caution is warranted in the interpretation due to the small sample size and high attrition rates.

An Exploratory Investigation of Goal Management Training in Adults With ADHD: Improvements in Inhibition and Everyday Functioning

Background: Adults with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are predominantly treated with medication. However, there is also a need for effective, psychologically based interventions. As ADHD is strongly associated with reduced inhibitory control, cognitive remediation approaches should be efficient. Goal management training (GMT) aims at enhancing inhibitory control and has shown positive effects on inhibitory control in non-ADHD patient groups. The aim of the current study was to explore whether GMT would specifically enhance inhibitory control in adults with ADHD, and if such an enhancement would lead to secondary improvements in self-reported everyday functioning.Methods: Twenty-one participants with ADHD (mean age: 39.05 years [SD 11.93]) completed the intervention and assessments pre-, post- and 6 months after the intervention. Measures included neuropsychological tests and self-report questionnaires pertaining to cognitive- and executive functioning, emotion regulation, quality of life, and ADHD symptoms.Results: Compared to baseline, the participants showed enhanced inhibitory control on performance-based measures at post-assessment and 6-month follow-up. The participants also reported increased productivity and reduced cognitive difficulties in everyday life at both assessments post-treatment, as well as improvements in aspects of emotion regulation and a reduction in the severity of core ADHD-symptoms at 6-month follow-up.Conclusion: Our exploratory study showed that GMT seems to specifically improve one of the core executive dysfunctions in ADHD, namely inhibitory control, with a positive effect lasting at least 6 months post-treatment. The adults with ADHD also reported improved self-regulation in their everyday life after completing GMT, providing strong arguments for further investigations of GMT as a treatment option for this group of adults.Clinical Trial Registration: The study is registered under ISRCTN.com (ISRCTN91988877; https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN91988877).

Action for better brain health among people living with HIV: protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background Lifestyle changes can protect or improve brain health in older adults. However, sustained lifestyle change is difficult for everyone and may be more difficult for those with executive dysfunction, including some people living with HIV. Thus, the key question is how we can improve adherence to the most promising interventions among people living with HIV experiencing cognitive difficulties. Goal management training is a cognitive rehabilitation program that targets executive dysfunction by teaching goal-directed behaviour and self-management. It is a promising means to improve adherence to lifestyle interventions. Objective To estimate the extent to which goal management training before a healthy lifestyle program is associated with greater adherence to health recommendations, achievement of health-related goals, and better brain health and health outcomes compared to the healthy lifestyle program alone among people living with HIV. Methods Brain Health Now cohort participants with cognitive difficulties or are not aging successfully are eligible. All participants will be given health resources, a health coach, a goal-setting digital application, and access to an online goal-setting workshop. The intervention group will participate in nine 2-h goal management training sessions and then will enter the healthy lifestyle program. Control participants will enter the healthy lifestyle program directly. A total sample of 100 participants will participate for 12 months. The main outcome is adherence to the healthy lifestyle program, defined as the number of weeks where physical activity adherence targets were met (150 min per week, measured with an activity monitor). Weekly social activities will be captured via self-report with confidential photo validation. We will send weekly health state reports to the participants. Downstream outcomes include cognitive ability, health-related quality of life, mobility, vascular risk profile, and social network size. We will analyze the data using a linear regression model. Discussion This project is the first to test whether goal management training can augment adherence to health recommendations among individuals with cognitive difficulties. If successful, behavioural interventions such as goal management training could be implemented as an adjunct to lifestyle interventions in other clinical populations. Trial registration: This trial was registered on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04345484) on April 14, 2020, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04345484?term=NCT04345484&draw=2&rank=1.

Implementation of Extracurricular Management

Management is essential for any activity or group in an effort to achieve the desired goal. Management activities consist of planning, organizing, placement, briefing, cultivation, communication, and decision making conducted by each organization with the aim to coordinate various resources owned by the company so that an efficient product or service is produced. Extracurricular activities are activities that are commonly done outside the classroom and outside the lesson hours to develop the potential of human resources owned by students, both related to the application of science obtained and in a special sense to guide learners in developing the potential and talents that exist in him develop the potential and talents that exist in him through mandatory activities and choices. Marching Band is a group of people who play one or more songs using a number of combinations of musical instruments (inflatable, percussion, and a number of instruments) together. The marching band's performance is a combination of the music (inflatable and punching) as well as the line-up action of the players.

Lighting a Fire: Toward a “TORCHeS” Approach to Reducing Academic Procrastination with Classroom Interventions

Academic procrastination is prevalent and a promising target for intervention in educational contexts. Nevertheless, few interventions for procrastination have been rigorously tested. We propose a novel TORCHeS (Theory-driven, Open, Rigorous, Collaborative, Holistic, Small-changes) approach to developing easily implementable and potentially effective classroom interventions for academic procrastination. TORCHeS is motivated by a belief that complex behaviors like academic procrastination require a holistic, multipronged intervention approach, and that intervention research must embrace collaborative, open-science practices and objective measures of procrastination behavior. We illustrate what TORCHeS-inspired intervention efforts may look like by deriving some “small-teaching” intervention techniques from a simple process model of self-control, which characterizes procrastination as a goal-management failure resulting from a need to repair negative emotion triggered by impending academic tasks.

Brain correlates of impaired goal management in bipolar mania

Background Although executive impairment has been reported in mania, its brain functional correlates have been relatively little studied. This study examined goal management, believed to be more closely related to executive impairment in daily life than other executive tasks, using a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm in patients in this illness phase. Methods Twenty-one currently manic patients with bipolar disorder and 30 matched healthy controls were scanned while performing the Computerized Multiple Elements Test (CMET). This requires participants to sequentially play four simple games, with transition between games being made either voluntarily (executive condition) or automatically (control condition). Results CMET performance was impaired in the manic patients compared to the healthy controls. Manic patients failed to increase activation in the lateral frontal, cingulate and inferior parietal cortex when the executive demands of the task increased, while this increase was observed in the healthy controls. Activity in these regions was associated with task performance. Conclusions Manic patients show evidence of impaired goal management, which is associated with a pattern of reduced medial and lateral frontal and parietal activity.