Telehealth as a Resource for Continuity of Care in the Face of Disaster

This symposium co-sponsored by the Disasters and Older Adults and the Technology and Aging special interest groups of GSA aims to highlight the promise of, and barriers to, the use of telehealth to support continuity of care in the face of disasters and crises, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. M. Mattos will showcase a home-based medical care (HBPC) program to address chronically ill and homebound persons living with dementia and caregivers’ needs during the pandemic. T. Wyte-Lake will present the results of a national survey on how changes were made to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) HBPC programs in response to the pandemic. G. Demiris describes a large caregiver study in which problem solving therapy and positive appraisal theory interventions designed specifically to support family caregivers of hospice patients during the COVID-19 pandemic were implemented via telehealth. D. Lindeman will specifically discuss challenges and implementation strategies for telehealth solutions applied to low-income older adults living in affordable housing communities. Finally, H. Xu will present the results of an analysis examining the effectiveness of telehealth in reducing readmissions among heart failure patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the COVID-19 pandemic has especially impacted older adults and those who care for them, these talks highlight the potential of telehealth services and interventions to provide support and facilitate the continuity of care during times of crisis.

The updated national research agenda 2021–2026 for prehospital emergency medical services in the Netherlands: a Delphi study

Background In 2015, a national research agenda was established for Dutch prehospital EMS to underpin the evidence base of care delivery and inform policymakers and funders. The continuously increasing demand for ambulance care and the reorientation towards the role of EMS in recent years may have changed research priorities. Therefore, this study aimed to update the Dutch national EMS research agenda. Methods A three-round online Delphi survey was used to explore and discuss different viewpoints and to reach consensus on research priorities (i.e., themes and special interest groups, e.g. patient types who require specific research attention). A multidisciplinary expert panel (n = 62) was recruited in the field of prehospital EMS and delegates of relevant professional organizations and stakeholders participated. In round one, fifty-nine research themes and six special interest groups (derived from several resources) were rated on importance on a 5-point scale by the panel members. In round two, the panel selected their priority themes and special interest groups (yes/no), and those with a positive difference score were further assessed in round three. In this final round, appropriateness of the remaining themes and agreement within the panel was taken into account, following the RAND/UCLA appropriateness method, which resulted in the final list of research priorities. Results The survey response per round varied between 94 and 100 percent. In round one, a reduction from 59 to 25 themes and the selection of three special interest groups was realized. Round two resulted in the prioritization of six themes and one special interest group ('Vulnerable elderly'). Round three showed an adequate level of agreement regarding all six themes: 'Registration and (digital) exchange of patient data in the chain of emergency care'; 'Mobile care consultation/Non conveyance'; 'Care coordination'; 'Cooperation with professional partners within the care domain'; 'Care differentiation' and 'Triage and urgency classification'. Conclusions The updated Dutch national EMS research agenda builds further on the previous version and introduces new EMS research priorities that correspond with the future challenges prehospital EMS care is faced with. This agenda will guide researchers, policymakers and funding bodies in prioritizing future research projects.

Spatiotemporal Variation in Bicycle Road Crashes and Traffic Volume in Berlin: Implications for Future Research, Planning, and Network Design

Urban bicycling has been largely marginalized for decades in the global north and south. Despite a renaissance over the last two decades in academic research, political discourse, sustainability activism, and planning, cities often struggle with data quality and quantity. Digitalization has led to more and better data sources, but they still must be validated and compared with findings from conventional travel surveys. With the COVID-19 pandemic, bicycling and associated road facilities expanded, as did road crashes involving bicycles. This study utilized tens of thousands of datapoints sourced by public institutions and digital devices belonging to private companies that have spread across Berlin over the last ten years and are currently ubiquitous. What does an integrated analysis of data from these novel sources reveal for urban bicycling research, planning, and network design? We explored and visualized the relationships and spatiotemporal variations in (i) bicycling volumes and (ii) crashes, unveiling the (iii) distribution of and correlation between datasets and the city’s bikeway network at an unprecedented threshold. The findings can be useful for special interest groups and to guide future urban bicycling research, planning, and network design.

Reframing a debate in chiropractic

The chiropractic profession is 125 years old and has evolved a culture beset with internal conflict. The internal ructions have been particularly noticeable during the last 20 years. The recent resignation of the entire World Federation of Chiropractic Research Committee has again focussed the conflicting views and goals of the “wellness” and “evidence” factions within the profession. These polarising viewpoints are worsening to the degree that there are calls for the profession to break into two separate entities. Key to the recognition of the differences within the profession is the recognition of title for particular sub populations of patients presenting to chiropractors. For many of the sub populations such as sport or paediatrics there has grown appropriate post professional specialist educational training sometimes leading to a protected title. However, this is not occurring in that group of practitioners that choose to focus on wellness care. A recommendation is made that wellness chiropractic be viewed as a post professional specialty program within chiropractic, as it is in medicine and elsewhere, and that recognition follow after appropriate post professional educational programs have been completed, as is customary in the other special interest groups. In order to do so, consensus will be required from all stakeholders within the profession on the level, scope and depth of such programs. Furthermore, it is possible that different jurisdictions around the world may require different post graduate educational levels based on local competitive, legal and professional circumstances. In such cases, transitioning to the higher level over a period of time may be undertaken. Recognition of the wellness specialty by the profession would allow for vertical integration with other healthcare providers as well as help bridge a gap between the entrepreneur and academic groups that would be responsible for creating these programs at tertiary education institutions. Finally, should these programs acquire evidence to underpin them, a process that would be taught within the programs, it is likely that recognition of an extended scope of practice would occur increasing the appeal of chiropractic to the public.

Institution of Higher Education and Science as a Factor of Economic Development

The modern economy is undergoing a structural transformation that enhances the role of knowledge and technology for economic development. Knowledge and technologies are created by researchers who received professional training in universities. The higher education system in Russia is changing similar to those in Western countries earlier. Institutional design should analyse knowledge about management routines, values, working rules, and the functioning of the institutional environment. The institutions operating in society can be identified by studying the narratives of the actors and the explanations for their actions. In the article, the in-depth interview is used for studying institutional changes in education and science. Data collected in projects «Identification of institutions and organizational mechanisms for the merger of universities in the context of the socio-economic development of the region» (10 interviews) and «Institutional traps of optimization of the sphere of education and science» (20 interviews, 3 expert focus group interviews). The narrative analysis identified interest groups in education and science that are involved in the functioning of institutional traps. The presence of special interest groups is an integral attribute of institutional traps that arise in conditions of quasi-optimal equilibrium. Combining research data shows the importance of the institution of higher education and science for economic development.

ACM SIGEVO best dissertation award 2021

The SIGEVO Best Dissertation Award was created in 2019 to recognize excellent thesis research by doctoral candidates in the field of evolutionary computing. Doctoral dissertation awards are also given by other Special Interest Groups of ACM, such as SIGCOMM, SIGKDD, SIGARCH and others. The SIGEVO Best Dissertation Award is given annually to a maximum of 1 winner and a maximum of 2 honorable mentions. The award presentation takes place at the awards ceremony of GECCO. The award carries a monetary value of $1,000 contributed by SIGEVO to be awarded to the winner. The award winner and honorable mentions each receive a plaque.

Community cityscape: modes of engagement and co-construction of the streetscape

This contribution explores the bottom-up processes via which a community – or indeed special interest groups within a community – can influence the semiotic choices in the street-scape around them. I start by discussing the question to which extent the decision-making processes about street naming in different locales are transparent and open to public involvement. I also explore the instruments used by city councils and other administrative agencies to invite or indeed stifle public debate about street names, such as citizens surveys, op-eds in local newspapers and discussion fora as opposed to closed-off systems and exclusionary strategies. The paper moves on to consider grassroots movements opposing top-down decisions, including the mobilization of guerilla activity resulting in semi-spontaneous re-naming of street names and polls/lists of names and letters sent to the city council by concerned citizens. Finally, I consider politically motivated acts of vandalism resulting in semiotic erasure as well as resistance to official naming via inertia. The article closes with a brief discussion of the increasing commercialization of the linguistic streetscape, exploring the impact of market forces which claim authorship of the city text.