Value Chain Analysis of Namgang Chilli: The Produce of Pakshikha, Chukha, Bhutan

Chilli is the most ubiquitous spice used in Bhutanese cuisine. Almost all dishes in Bhutan contain chillies in various forms. Bhutan produces many variants of chilli, one of which is Namgang chilli. Commonly known for being one of the hottest and tastiest variants in Bhutan, it is cultivated in Pakshikha, Bongo Gewog, Chukha. This study is aimed at identifying value chain actors of Namgang chilli, their roles, margins, and mapping out its overall value chain. The quantitative and qualitative data for this study were obtained from 29 of the 49 Namgang chilli-cultivating households in Pakshikha. Other published sources were also referred for gathering secondary data required for this study. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, and chain mapping was performed to identify actors and their supply linkages. Margin analysis was conducted to assess the value gained by each player in the value chain. The identified actors of the value chain were input suppliers, farmers, transporters, retailers, and consumers. Farmers, retailers, and transporters share 53.6, 28.7, and 5 percentage of the margin respectively. Some of the critical constraints and challenges faced by farmers are rising pest infestation; lack of awareness about modern tools and techniques; lack of agency support; lack of motivation and encouragement for mass commercial farming; no initiative for organizing farmers’ cooperative/group; and ack of crop protection mechanism. The findings suggest that the overall value chain of Namgang chilli is underdeveloped. Therefore, relevant agencies should intervene and encourage farmers to form groups/cooperatives for Namgang chilli cultivation. The chilli farmers could be provided with technical supports in the form of knowledge and training to improve efficiency in the production and marketing of the commodity.

Personal Interpretation Starts with the Interpreter: How Do Outcome Priorities Change Over Time among Interpretive Staff?

Personal interpretation is a key management tool to help visitors discover, value, and enjoy parks. Goals and objectives for personal interpretation should be consistent among staff to ensure that planning and delivery are effective in achieving targeted outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess how the outcome priorities for, and resources used by, front-line interpreters (employees who deliver personal interpretation programs) changed over the course of one season. Staff goals are also influenced by agency goals and agency support. We were interested in how park agency legislation and management goals were aligned with front-line staff goals and how the agency supported (or did not support) staff in achieving those outcomes. Front-line interpreters from Alberta Parks completed in-person questionnaires during May 2018 (time 1), describing their priorities for interpretive outcomes, perceived trends, resources used, opportunities, barriers, and demographics. Following the delivery of personal interpretation in 11 provincial parks across Alberta during the May to September 2018 park visitation season, the same interpreters completed a follow-up survey between October 2018 and January 2019 (time 2) to understand if and why those responses changed. Respondents were asked to rate their priorities for six main outcomes of personal interpretation. The top outcomes at time 1 were visitor enjoyment, connections to place, and learning. At time 2, learning and enjoyment priorities declined; attitudes, behavioral change, connections to place, and positive memories did not change as desired outcomes. When asked which of the six outcomes were most important, respondents indicated connections to place, positive memories, and enjoyment most often (but there were no changes from time 1 to time 2). As for resources used in guiding content and strategic decisions in delivering personal interpretation programs, the importance of park legislation and park finances declined; the importance of the other resources did not change. When asked what organizational factors helped them be successful (or unsuccessful), staff relied overwhelmingly on their immediate team, including their supervisors and fellow interpreters. However, responses from time 2 suggested that respondents felt in need of more training, more time to prepare new and innovative programs, and more support from upper-level managers and their agency. This research can help inform park practitioner efforts to understand how interpretive priorities change over time and what resources are important for interpreters. Park agency managers can use these results to hire, train, and nurture front-line interpreters, with a goal of improving the impact of personal interpretation programs.

A mixed methods exploration of community providers’ perceived barriers and facilitators to the use of parent training with Medicaid-enrolled clients with autism

This mixed methods analysis examined provider perspectives on barriers and facilitators to parent training use with Medicaid-enrolled clients. Provider survey data were analyzed using hierarchical linear regression models and thematic analysis was used to analyze follow-up interviews with providers. Qualitative themes were developed inductively from interview transcripts without preconceived hypotheses. Barriers and facilitators were identified at the family-, provider-, and organization-level. Family-level barriers were the only barriers to uniquely predict parent training extensiveness ( β = −0.27, p = 0.007), which is a composite measure of parent training frequency and quality. No facilitators uniquely predicted extensiveness, but provider skills and professional training experiences marginally predicted extensiveness ( ps < 0.06). Five themes regarding barriers to parent training emerged as follows: logistical barriers, limited family engagement/interest, limited agency support/norms, limited professional training, and family stressors/family structures. Four themes about facilitators emerged as follows: logistical facilitators, agency support/norms, high family engagement/interest, and professional training. Recommendations are provided to increase the use of parent training in low-resourced community settings. Lay abstract Using quantitative data from an online survey and qualitative data from follow-up interviews with applied behavior analysis providers, researchers examined barriers and facilitators to providing parent training to Medicaid-enrolled youth with autism spectrum disorder. Barriers and facilitators were identified at the family-, provider-, and organization-levels. Family-level barriers were significantly related to less frequent parent training use and poorer quality of use. Two recommendations are provided to increase the use of parent training in low-resourced community settings: (1) provide professional training opportunities to providers about best practices in parent training and (2) increase agency support for parent training, particularly in reducing logistical barriers.

Reforming public education in Chile: The creation of local education services

The government of Chile mandated a system-wide reform in public school education in 2017. The reform calls for de-municipalization of the public school sector (345 municipal education departments under mayoral control) and the creation of 70 Servicios Locales de Educación Pública (SLEPs) between 2018 and 2025. The reform represents a largescale attempt to improve and save public education in Chile. This analysis is based on case studies of implementation of the first four SLEPs in the first year of the reform. Using Stake’s method for multiple case study analysis, the analysis explores how context influences the professional capacity of the SLEPs to provide professional assistance to schools. The study relates to research on the effectiveness of intermediate level agencies in school systems and on contextual influences on organizational innovation and capacity building. The analysis reveals that contextual factors shaping initial professional capacity of the SLEPs reinforced traditional practices of local education agency support to schools in three of the four cases. The differentiating factor centered on the actions of local agency leaders who responded to capacity gaps and lack of direction from government authorities as either constraints on change or as an opportunity for innovation.

Methods of Synthesis of Remdesivir, Favipiravir, Hydroxychloroquine, and Chloroquine: Four Small Molecules Repurposed for Clinical Trials during the Covid-19 Pandemic

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease has rapidly evolved into a sweeping pandemic despite public health measures. Screening and development of new vaccines and antivirals are expensive and time consuming. However, the repositioning of available drugs is an essential and universal strategy in the development of new drugs and therefore should receive priority attention as well as international government and agency support. Significant drugs such as chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, favipiravir and remdesivir, are currently undergoing clinical studies to test their efficacy and safety. Some promising results have been achieved thus far in the treatment of COVID-19. In this article we summarize and discuss the most common synthetic strategies to apply in the preparation of these drug molecules. It is hoped that this compendium will provide an accessible useful guide and reference source for scientists, researchers and academia in their battle against COVD-19.1 Introduction2 Synthesis of Chloroquine (CQ) and Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ)2.1 Synthesis of 4,7-Dichloroquinoline 1 2.2 Synthesis of 2-Amino-5-(diethylamino)pentane (Novoldiamine) 2 2.3 Synthesis of 5-(N-Ethyl-N-2-hydroxyethylamino)-2-pentylamine 4 2.4 Developed Methods for Synthesis of Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine2.5 Synthesis of (R)-Chloroquine, (S)-Chloroquine, (R)-Hydroxychloroquine and (S)-Hydroxychloroquine3 Synthesis of Favipiravir (Avigan)4 Synthesis of Remdesivir5 Conclusion

Perceptions and experiences of live-in carers: why acknowledging versus neglecting personal identity matters for job satisfaction and wellbeing

For some older people and their families, live-in care offers a way of continuing to live independently at home in their local community. While research in the care industry has consistently highlighted the effects of caring on workers, little research has specifically explored the experiences of live-in carers. The current study examines the ways in which live-in carers construct their role, the different challenges they face and the strategies they use to mitigate them. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 21 live-in carers in the United Kingdom and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings suggest that carers perceive their role as complex and characterised by a heavy workload and tiredness. Participants emphasised the variability which was introduced to the role as a function of the quality of agency support, the character and condition of the client, and the carer's relationships with the client's family. Participants’ accounts reflected an acknowledgement of the need to orient and respond constantly to the needs and routine of the client. While this orientation was recognised as necessary for effectively fulfilling the demands of the role, it was also linked to feelings of dislocation and loss of identity. Drawing on understandings of personal and social identity, the implications of these findings for the psychological wellbeing of live-in carers and organisational support are discussed.

“They Will Keep Seeing Young Women Murdered by Men. Enough Is Enough-We Have Seen too Many Women Lose Their Lives”. Lessons for Professionals Working with Victims of ‘Honour’ Abuse and Violence

The brutal ‘honour’ killing of Banaz Mahmod, aged 20, is still one of the most prominent murder cases of this kind in Britain. This was due partly to its complexity as well as the poor police response to Banaz’s pleas for help before her death—most notably, she reported her abuse on multiple occasions, forewarned them of her murder, and named her killers. This tragic case was a painful example of how professional agencies in the UK fail victims of so called ‘honour’ abuse and violence. Fifteen years on, support services are still naive about the people and communities most vulnerable to ‘honour’ abuse in Britain. More recently, campaigns to include Black, Asian, and other ethnic minority victims in the mainstream domestic abuse agenda have encouraged agencies to be culturally-competent in their support of ‘honour’ abuse victims, to redress previous failings. To facilitate this, this study conducted a focus group discussion with fourteen women (12 victim survivors and 2 support workers) recruited from a support organisation for ethnic minority women dealing with ‘honour’ abuse, to gain insight into their lived experiences. Interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Three superordinate themes emerged, each with two sub-themes; vulnerability (sub-themes, fear of external organisations and racism); organisational and agency support (sub-themes, education and support from law enforcement), and rules and restrictions (sub-themes, immigration status and agency funding). These themes should be explored by professionals to better understand how to support female victims of ‘honour’ abuse and violence, without disparaging their culture.

Repositioning Chloroquine as Ideal Antiviral Prophylactic against COVID-19 - Time is Now

The novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is rapidly advancing despite public health measures. Pharmaceutical prophylaxis is an established approach to potentially control infectious diseases and is one solution to the urgent public health challenge posed by COVID-19. Screening and development of new vaccines and antivirals is expensive and time consuming while the repositioning of available drugs should receive priority attention as well as international government and agency support. Here we propose an old drug chloroquine (CQ) to be urgently repositioned as an ideal antiviral prophylactic against COVID-19. CQ has ability to block viral attachment and entry to host cells. Its proven clinical efficacy against a variety of viruses including COVID-19 and its current deployment in COVID-19 therapeutic trials strengthens its potential candidacy as a prophylactic. Furthermore, CQ has a long safety record, is inexpensive and widely available. Here we reviewed CQ's antiviral mechanisms, its laboratory efficacy activity against COVID-19, as well as CQ's pharmacokinetics in its established use against malaria and autoimmune diseases to recommend safe and potentially efficacious dose regimens for protection against COVID-19: a pre-exposure prophylaxis of 250-500mg daily and post-exposure prophylaxis at 8mg/kg/day for 3 days. We recommend further urgent research on CQ for COVID-19 prevention and urge that the above regimens be investigated in parallel with mass deployment by relevant agencies in attempts to contain the pandemic without unnecessary regulatory delays as benefits far outweigh risks or costs.

A Structural Equation Model of Success in Drinking Water Source Protection Programs

The management structures put in place for the protection of drinking water sources are multifaceted and include a range of government agencies, landholders and regulatory agencies. While source protection is widely practiced in the water industry, there is limited research on underlying constructs that support successful outcomes in drinking water source protection (DWSP) programs. This study builds on current research by further investigating the following proposed critical success factors (CSFs) for source protection: CSF1: policy and government agency support of source protection; CSF2: catchment condition information and risk monitoring; CSF3: support of operational field activities; and CSF4: response to water quality threats. This study uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to confirm the associations amongst the four CSFs. The results show that policy and government agency support for DWSP has a significant influence over how water service providers (WSPs) plan operational activities for risk management. This emphasizes the importance of the role policy and government agencies have in supporting DWSP. The relationships between the CSFs, which typically fall under the responsibility of WSPs, show that information on catchment condition influences operational activities for risk management, and these mediate the influence over response to water quality threats. The response to threats also showed a strong relationship with the function of monitoring catchment risk. The resulting SEM framework provides new insights into the underlying structures that influence outcomes in catchment management and source protection.