Identifying best modelling practices for tobacco control policy simulations: a systematic review and a novel quality assessment framework

BackgroundPolicy simulation models (PSMs) have been used extensively to shape health policies before real-world implementation and evaluate post-implementation impact. This systematic review aimed to examine best practices, identify common pitfalls in tobacco control PSMs and propose a modelling quality assessment framework.MethodsWe searched five databases to identify eligible publications from July 2013 to August 2019. We additionally included papers from Feirman et al for studies before July 2013. Tobacco control PSMs that project tobacco use and tobacco-related outcomes from smoking policies were included. We extracted model inputs, structure and outputs data for models used in two or more included papers. Using our proposed quality assessment framework, we scored these models on population representativeness, policy effectiveness evidence, simulated smoking histories, included smoking-related diseases, exposure-outcome lag time, transparency, sensitivity analysis, validation and equity.FindingsWe found 146 eligible papers and 25 distinct models. Most models used population data from public or administrative registries, and all performed sensitivity analysis. However, smoking behaviour was commonly modelled into crude categories of smoking status. Eight models only presented overall changes in mortality rather than explicitly considering smoking-related diseases. Only four models reported impacts on health inequalities, and none offered the source code. Overall, the higher scored models achieved higher citation rates.ConclusionsWhile fragments of good practices were widespread across the reviewed PSMs, only a few included a ‘critical mass’ of the good practices specified in our quality assessment framework. This framework might, therefore, potentially serve as a benchmark and support sharing of good modelling practices.

Social Media and Press Freedom

As internet penetration rapidly expanded throughout the world, press freedom and government accountability improved in some countries but backslid in others. We propose a formal model that provides a mechanism that explains the observed divergent paths of countries. We argue that increased access to social media makes partial capture, where governments allow limited freedom of the press, an untenable strategy. By amplifying the influence of small traditional media outlets, higher internet access increases both the costs of capture and the risk that a critical mass of citizens will become informed and overturn the incumbent. Depending on the incentives to retain office, greater internet access thus either forces an incumbent to extend capture to small outlets, further undermining press freedom; or relieve pressure from others. We relate our findings to the cases of Turkey and Tunisia.

Socio-Economic Challenges Affecting Construction Women Labourers (WCLs) in The Nigerian Construction Sector (NCS)

Women constitute about half of the population of Nigeria and thus a critical mass in the human capital of the country. They make significant contributions to social and economic development of the society, yet they are never appreciated nor supported by public or private institutions. Recently there have been a growing number of women in construction labour work in the Nigerian Construction Sector (NCS) - an area hitherto exclusively preserved of the male folks. This study investigates aspects of social and economic conditions of women construction labourers (WCLs) in Ondo State Southwest Nigeria. Convenience and Snowball sampling were used to sample 101 WCLs. Simple descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. The result indicates that most WCLs are low in education and skills hence they mostly participate in supportive roles that are energetic. The WCLs are exposed to multiple risks due to poor Health, Safety and Environment (HSE), welfare and social protection of Nigerian Construction Contractors (NCCs) in the informal construction sub sector of the NCS. The study recommends for the improvement and enforcement of HSE standards, welfare package and training in the NCS.

Investigating the work–life experiences of nursing faculty in Canadian academic settings and the factors that influence their retention: protocol for a mixed-method study

IntroductionWhile all research-oriented faculty face the pressures of academia, female faculty in fields including science, engineering, medicine and nursing, are especially susceptible to burnout. Nursing is unique in that it remains a predominantly female-dominated profession, which implies that there is a critical mass of females who are disproportionately affected and/or at higher risk of burnout. To date, little is known about the experiences of nursing faculty especially, new and early career researchers and the factors that influence their retention. This study aims to understand the work–life (the intersection of work with personal life) experiences of nursing faculty in Canadian academic settings and the factors that influence their retention.Methods and analysisA mixed-method design will be used in this study. For the quantitative study, a sample of approximately 1500 new and early career nursing faculty across Canadian academic institutions will be surveyed. Eligible participants will be invited to complete a web-based structured questionnaire in both French and English language. Data will be evaluated using generalised linear regression model and structural equation modelling. Given the complexities of work–life issues in Canada, qualitative focus group interviews with about 20–25 participants will also be conducted. Emerging themes will be integrated with the survey findings and used to enrich the interpretation of the quantitative data.Ethics and disseminationThis study has received ethical approval from the Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board (#1477). Prior to obtaining informed consent, participants will be provided with information about study risks and benefits and strategies undertaken to ensure confidentiality and anonymity. The study findings will be disseminated to academics and non-academic stakeholders through national and international conference presentations and peer-reviewed open-access journals. A user-friendly report will be shared with professional nursing associations such as the Canadian Associations of Schools of Nursing, and through public electronic forums (e.g., Twitter). Evidence from this study will also be shared with stakeholders including senior academic leaders and health practitioners, government, and health service policy-makers, to raise the profile of discourses on the nursing workforce shortages; and women’s work–life balance, a public policy issue often overlooked at the national level. Such discussion is especially pertinent in light of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on women, and female academics. The findings will be used to inform policy options for improving nursing faculty retention in Canada and globally.

Advanced training and international educational exchange: learning, overcoming and experiences

ABSTRACT Objectives: to report my experiences as a researcher during the course of advanced post-doctoral training abroad. Methods: theoretical and methodological option for Max van Manen’s phenomenology of practice. The activities were developed in the Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing, in Portugal, Université Catholique de Louvain, in Belgium, and in Escuela de Enfermería y Fisioterapia de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, in Spain. Results: participating in a multicenter international research project enabled the acquisition of new scientific knowledge, personal and cultural gains. From a broader perspective, the international graduate and undergraduate nursing networks were strengthened through the mobility of researchers, and overcoming of the “status quo” by the formation of a critical mass environment indispensable for scientific advancement. Final Considerations: sharing the experience that you appropriate is about the power of grasping possibilities of a practical experience, in the context of the world, and going through it, motivated by the desire to make internationalization feasible.

Framing the concept design literacy for a general public

Educating the general public to be design literate can be a catalyst for both environmental protection and degradation, human aid and human-made disasters depending on how the scope of design is framed – and how ‘design literacy’ is defined. This paper explores how to cultivate design literacy that supports critical innovation and a transition towards more sustainable societies. The research approach is a literature review of key texts that promote and conceptualize design literacy as part of general edu­cation. Four narratives are identified as vital: a) ‘Awareness through making’, b) ‘Empower for change and citizen participation’, c) ‘Address complexity of real-world problems’, and d) ‘Participate in design processes’. Moving towards more sustainable modes of consumption and production, a design literate general public provides a critical mass of users empowered to question how a new innovation sup­ports the well-being of people and the planet and to voice their own ideas.

Politicised opinion leaders in the younger generation: to meat or not to meat?

PurposeThe consumption of animal-based food products faces several sustainability challenges. To date, however, meat intake plays an important role in everyday food choices. With their ability to change the opinions of a critical mass, opinion leaders in food choices are assumed to play a predominant role in influencing future dietary styles. Thus, the objective of this study was to identify opinion leaders in food choices and their personal meat consumption behaviour as well as their attitude towards policy interventions aiming to meat reduction.Design/methodology/approachThe sample consisted of 1,479 German participants aged between 15 and 29 years who were online surveyed in autumn 2020. A latent profile analysis (LPA) identified three distinct groups of opinion leader in the younger generation labelled “non-opinion leaders”, “weak opinion leaders” and “opinion leaders”. The identified profiles were used to understand opinion leaders and their food choices by using chi-square tests as well as univariate ANOVA with Tukey or Games-Howell post hoc tests.FindingsOpinion leadership in food choices was associated with a higher interest in meat-reduced dietary styles and with more positive attitudes towards innovative food ideas. Moreover, opinion leaders were associated with politicised food decisions, indicating that their food choices align with their political and social interests.Originality/valueThe results contribute to a better understanding of the development of future dietary styles, provide evidence for a shift towards more sustainable dietary patterns in the near future and highlight that food decisions are no longer solely decisions on an individual basis but rather becoming of political relevance.

Australian Biotechnology: A 10-Year Study of Investor Performance

A recent study assessed the investor performance of the Australian drug development biotech (DDB) sector over a 15-year period from 2003 to 2018. The current study builds on that research and extends the analysis to 2020, using a 10-year period starting 2010, to exclude the impact of the global financial crisis in 2008/09. Based on a value-weighted portfolio of all 41 DDB firms, the overall sector delivered a negative annualized return of -4.1%. Individual firm performance was also assessed using the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in share price over the period as a measure of investor outcomes. On this basis 68% of firms produced negative CAGRs over the period, and of the 32% of firms that produced positive CAGRs, six firms produced CAGRs greater than 20% per annum and in three cases of recently-listed firms, the CAGR’s were greater than 50%. Overall however, the sector overall delivered very poor investor returns and despite a relatively large number of listed biotech firms, Australian biotechnology continues to be small and weak in terms of its contribution to global biotechnology industrialization. As such it lacks the critical mass to grow a robust bioeconomy based on drug development, which remains the standard-bearer of biotechnology industrialization.

Good winds are expected!

Probably by cultural and historical reasons, Western Europe occupied the center of homeopathy research stage. It was in Western Europe that Hahnemann initially established the grounds of homeopathy, and also were Western European the researchers who have been trying to characterize the scientific bases behind high dilutions biological action ever since. Europe witnessed all phases of homeopathy development, its growth and also its decline, its time of glory as well as its many crises. Ideological divergences – sometimes grounded on irresponsible attitudes by homeopaths themselves, sometimes arising from skeptics pride and prejudice – gave rise to political and social movements against homeopathy. In spite of this, clinical and experimental evidences kept homeopathy alive as an important therapeutic option able to reunite low cost and efficacy provided its conceptual basis and limitations are observed. ... More than ever, HD research appears as an emergent and highly active field! And much work still needs to be done. The academic geography of HD research is changing. It is not a matter of replacing old by new research centers. As a fact, HD research is expanding its boundaries, its scientific community has started sharing responsibility and joining efforts. As any other scientific field, also HD research is building a critical mass, which is a sine qua non requirement for research to attain the quality demanded by contemporary science. New winds are blowing and they will surprise those little prepared or unexpecting.

Democratic Assessment Colored by Understandings of Democracy

This chapter examines the attitudinal consequences of popular understandings of democracy. In particular, we focus on the influence of this critical mass opinion on how citizens assess democratic practices in both foreign countries and their own societies. Mixed-effect regressions confirm that, ceteris paribus, people who have embraced the procedural understanding of democracy by prioritizing its institutions and procedures in protecting basic rights and liberty are more critical of China’s democratic practice but more favorable to that in the United States. Similar mixed-effect regressions reveal that, again, people’s different understandings of democracy significantly shape how they assess their own societies’ democratic practices. On average, people who prioritize the intrinsic values of democracy are less satisfied with their regime’s democratic practices and more critical in assessing their regimes’ democratic nature. Furthermore, even a full democracy still needs to deliver to win over people’s hearts and minds, thereby fostering its popular support.