The Mechanisms of Implementation Support - Findings from a Systematic Integrative Review

Purpose: Mechanisms of Change (MoC) explain how strategies used to enhance the uptake of evidence in social and human services enable change in the behaviors of individual practitioners, organizational leaders or entire organizations, and systems. One such strategy is the use of implementation support practitioner (ISPs). This study examines the mechanisms through which ISPs facilitate behavior supportive of the implementation of research-supported interventions. Methods: A systematic, integrative review was conducted. The conceptualization of MoCs built on a model by Dalkin and colleagues. Results: Based on a unique combination of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, ISPs install trust in and among their stakeholders and utilize this trust to promote meaningful and relevant learning; provide ongoing opportunities for learning, reflection, and support; help to span boundaries; and positively motivate stakeholders. Discussion: ISPs do not represent a short cut to better implementation. They represent an additional implementation challenge that requires dedicated attention and resources.

Payments and freedoms: Effects of monetary and legal incentives on COVID-19 vaccination intentions in Germany

Monetary and legal incentives have been proposed to promote COVID-19 vaccination uptake. To evaluate the suitability of incentives, an experiment with German participants examined the effects of payments (varied within subjects: 0 to 10,000 EUR) and freedoms (varied between subjects: vaccination leading vs. not leading to the same benefits as a negative test result) on the vaccination intentions of previously unvaccinated individuals (n = 782). While no effect could be found for freedoms, the share of participants willing to be vaccinated increased with the payment amount. However, a significant change required large rewards of 3,250 EUR or more. While monetary incentives could increase vaccination uptake by a few percentage points, the high costs of implementation challenge the efficiency of the measure and call for alternatives. As experimental data suggest that considering vaccination as safe, necessary, and prosocial increases an individual’s likelihood of wanting to get vaccinated without payment, educational campaigns should emphasize these features when promoting vaccination against COVID-19.

The New Tax Legislative and Regulatory Process

This paper compares the enactment and implementation process for the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) to prior tax reform acts, as well as situates it within other developments in the legislative process more generally. It details how the 2017 enactment process solidifies reconciliation as the primary vehicle for the enactment of major tax measures, a trend nearly two decades in the making. The ambitious scope of the TCJA, as well as the rushed and partisan reconciliation process by which it was enacted, has led to ambiguities and instability in the legislation. These features have, in turn, posed an enormous implementation challenge for Treasury, which has led to some troubling results. Finally, reconciliation has set up the opportunity for Congress to engage in budget gimmicks in the future. This paper discusses these trends and proposes solutions to them.

Infochain: A Decentralized, Trustless and Transparent Oracle on Blockchain

Blockchain based systems allow various kinds of financial transactions to be executed in a decentralized manner. However, these systems often rely on a trusted third party (oracle) to get correct information about the real-world events, which trigger the financial transactions. In this paper, we identify two biggest challenges in building decentralized, trustless and transparent oracles. The first challenge is acquiring correct information about the real-world events without relying on a trusted information provider. We show how a peer-consistency incentive mechanism can be used to acquire truthful information from an untrusted and self-interested crowd, even when the crowd has outside incentives to provide wrong informations. The second is a system design and implementation challenge. For the first time, we show how to implement a trustless and transparent oracle in Ethereum. We discuss various non-trivial issues that arise in implementing peer-consistency mechanisms in Ethereum, suggest several optimizations to reduce gas cost and provide empirical analysis.

Menyantuni Orang Kurang Upaya (OKU) di Masjid: Keperluan dan Cabaran Perlaksanaannya

Places of worship are generally regarded as a safe place and are available to accept anyone who comes to worship or conduct activities there, including those who are less fortunate or having disability (OKU). Unfortunately, not all places of worship especially mosques or prayer rooms for Muslims in this country provide OKU-friendly infrastructure, as well as the facility or equipment that these people need in order to participate in the activities conducted at the premises concerned. Enlivening the mosque would pose positive effect on the development of the community in order to improve the quality of life of the society and the nation. This is a qualitative study which involves analytical analysis on several documents and library researches. The findings indicated different needs for OKU who are having impairment of sight, hearing, and physical disabilities. As an example, OKU with sight impair requires infrastructural facilities such as the tactile footpath while OKU with physical impair requires ramp, toilets and reserved wudhu’ places especially physical OKU using wheelchairs. The implementation challenge covers some aspects including the community’s awareness, cooperation from government, financial resources, parental support and cost-maintenance needs. It is the responsibility of all parties in cooperation with the masjid’s committee to ensure OKU-friendly equipment are always well-maintained and preserved. Abstrak Tempat ibadah secara umumnya dianggap sebagai tempat yang selamat dan sedia menerima sesiapa sahaja datang untuk beribadah atau melakukan urusan di sana, termasuk golongan kurang upaya atau mengalami kecacatan. Malangnya, tidak semua tempat ibadah khususnya masjid atau surau untuk umat Islam di negara ini menyediakan prasarana mesra OKU, serta kemudahan peralatan yang diperlukan mereka untuk bersama mengikuti aktiviti di premis berkenaan.Memakmurkan masjid mempunyai kesan positif bagi pembinaan masyarakat dalam rangka peningkatan kualiti hidup masyarakat dan negara. Kajian ini dilaksanakan secara kualitatif yang melibatkan analisis secara analitikal terhadap beberapa dokumen dan kajian kepustakaan. Dapatan menyatakan keperluan berbeza untuk OKU Penglihatan, OKU Pendengaran, OKU fizikal adalah berbeza sebagai contoh OKU Penglihatan lebih memerlukan kemudahan prasarana seperti laluan penjalan kaki bertekstur manakala OKU Fizikal memerlukan ramp, tandas dan tempat wudhu’ khas terutama OKU fizikal yang menggunakan kerusi roda. Cabaran perlaksanaanya merangkumi beberapa aspek antaranya perlu kepada kesedaran masyarakat, kerjasama dari kerajaan, sumber kewangan, sokongan ibu bapa serta keperluan kos penyelengaraan. Adalah menjadi tanggungjawab setiap jemaah bekerjasamadengan pihak ahli jawatankuasa masjid untuk memastikan peralatan mesra OKU sentiasa terpelihara dan berfungsi dengan baik.

STRATEGI UMPAN BALIK SEBAGAI ALTERNATIF STRATEGI PEMBELAJARAN: PENERAPAN DAN TANTANGAN

AbstrakDewasa ini perkembangan dunia pendidikan sangatlah pesat. Masuknya teknologi dan modernisasi semakin menambah dinamika perkembangan strategipembelajaran dan pengajaran. Terdapat beragam cara dan strategi pembelajaran yang diterapkan oleh para tenaga pengajar. Salah satunya adalah strategi umpan balik. Oleh karena itu, tulisan ini dibuat bertujuan agar menjadi salah satu referensi dalam mengembangkan strategi belajar pengajar demi mencapai pendidikan yang berkualitas. Adapun metode yang digunakan adalah deskriptif kualitatif analisis. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukan bahwa strategi umpan balik memberikan hasil yang positif dalam mencapai tujuan pembelajaran yang telah ditetapkan.Kata kunci: Strategi Umpan Balik, Penerapan, TantanganAbstractToday the development of the world of education is very rapid. The entry oftechnology and modernization increasingly adds to the dynamics of thedevelopment of learning and teaching strategies. There are various ways andlearning strategies applied by the teaching staff. One of them is a feedbackstrategy. Therefore, this paper is intended to be one of the references indeveloping instructional learning strategies in order to achieve quality education.The method used is descriptive qualitative analysis. The results of this studyindicate that the feedback strategy provides positive results in achieving the stated learning goals.Keywords: Feedback Strategy, Implementation, Challenge