Challenges in Preparing Veterinarians for Global Animal Health: Understanding the Public Sector.

PubMed

Hollier, Paul J; Quinn, Kaylee A; Brown, Corrie C

Understanding of global systems is essential for veterinarians seeking to work in realms outside of their national domain. In the global system, emphasis remains on the public sector, and the current curricular emphasis in developed countries is on private clinical practice for the domestic employment market. There is a resulting lack of competency at graduation for effective engagement internationally. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has created standards for public sector operations in animal health, which must be functional to allow for sustainable development. This public sector, known as the Veterinary Services, or VS, serves to control public good diseases, and once effectively built and fully operational, allows for the evolution of a functional private sector, focused on private good diseases. Until the VS is fully functional, support of private good services is non-sustainable and any efforts delivered are not long lasting. As new graduates opt for careers working in the international development sector, it is essential that they understand the OIE guidelines to help support continuing improvement. Developing global veterinarians by inserting content into the veterinary curriculum on how public systems can operate effectively could markedly increase the potential of our professional contributions globally, and particularly in the areas most in need.

Leveraging Statistical Physics to Improve Understanding of Cooperation in Multiplex Networks.

PubMed

Fu, Feng; Chen, Xingru

2017-07-01

Understanding how public cooperation emerges and is maintained is a topic of broad interest, with increasing contributions coming from a synergistic combination of evolutionary game theory and statistical physics. The comprehensive study by Battiston et al (2017 New J. Phys. , in press) improves our understanding of the role of multiplexity in cooperation, revealing that a significant edge overlap across network layers along with benign conditions for cooperation in at least one of the layers is needed to facilitate the emergence of cooperation in the multiplex.

The current state of public understanding of nanotechnology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waldron, Anna M.; Spencer, Douglas; Batt, Carl A.

2006-10-01

The growing importance of nanotechnology in industry and society has not been accompanied by a widespread understanding of the subject among the general public. Simple questions to initially probe the smallest thing that people can see and can think of reveals a divide in the understanding of the general public. A survey of 1500 individuals ranging in age from 6 to 74 has revealed a lack of knowledge of nanotechnology and especially a lack of understanding of the context of nanotechnology in the world that is too small to see. Survey findings are corroborated by in-depth interviews with 400 adults in studies of nanoscience literacy commisioned by University of California, Berkeley and Cornell in 2002 and 2004, respectively. In general, with the exception of 14-28 year olds, over 60% of respondents say they have never heard of nano or nanotechnology. The results suggest that the general public, especially middle-school children, has no firm foundation to understand nanotechnology and likely will continue to be equally impressed by credible scientific information as well as pure fictional accounts of nanotechnology.

Understanding and managing organizational change: implications for public health management.

PubMed

Thompson, Jon M

2010-01-01

Managing organizational change has become a significant responsibility of managers. Managing the change process within public health organizations is important because appropriately and systematically managing change is linked to improved organizational performance. However, change is difficult and the change process poses formidable challenges for managers. Managers themselves face increased pressure to respond to environmental influences and provide the necessary leadership to their organizations in the change process. In fact, managing organizational change has become a key competency for healthcare managers. This article addresses the important topic of organizational change in public health organizations. It provides a conceptual foundation for understanding organizational change and its relationship to healthcare organizational performance, and then discusses the types and nature of change, using some examples and evidence from those organizations that have successfully managed change. A framework for guiding public health managers in the change management process is provided. The article concludes with suggested management competencies to establish a change-oriented organization with the culture and capacity for change.

A Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allison, L.; Hehn, J.; Kass, J.; O'Grady, R.; Scotchmoor, J.; Stucky, R.

2006-12-01

For many of the problems facing contemporary societies, such as potential impacts of climate change, coastal degradation, reductions of fisheries stocks, volcanic and earthquake hazards in densely populated areas, quality and availability of water, and exploitation of hydrocarbon resources and development of alternative energy sources, formulation of wise public policy depends on evaluation of the state of geoscientific research in the relevant areas. In a democratic society, public discourse about and input to policy decisions on key issues affecting the public welfare requires a public that understands the scientific research process, values the contribution of science to society, and has a working knowledge of what science can and cannot yet say about specific issues. Arguably, that ideal falls short in contemporary American society. Disturbing trends in science education, low public scientific literacy, and increasing alarms about U.S. competitiveness have all been prominent national news topics in recent years. (1) A recent National Science Board report indicated that two-thirds of Americans do not understand what science is, how it is conducted, and what one can expect from it. (2) A recent Gallup poll reports widespread and increasingly prevalent belief in pseudoscience. (3) There is a growing public complacency about and disengagement from science at the very moment when the impact of science on public life is greater than ever. (4) The Business Roundtable of major U.S. companies notes that the scientific and technical building blocks of our economic leadership are eroding at a time when many other nations are gathering strength. In response, a Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science COPUS has been initiated. Essential to COPUS is the premise that public understanding of science and the scientific process and an awareness of the impacts of scientific advancements on our quality of life are necessary to increase student interest in science as a

Understanding public opinion regarding transit in southeast Michigan.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-04-01

This report presents findings from a study on public opinion regarding transit in Southeast Michigan. The overall goals of this : study were to assess the nature of public opinion regarding regional transit and to understand its relation to socio-dem...

Using Immersive Visualizations to Improve Decision Making and Enhancing Public Understanding of Earth Resource and Climate Issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, K. C.; Raynolds, R. G.; Dechesne, M.

2008-12-01

New visualization technologies, from ArcGIS to Google Earth, have allowed for the integration of complex, disparate data sets to produce visually rich and compelling three-dimensional models of sub-surface and surface resource distribution patterns. The rendering of these models allows the public to quickly understand complicated geospatial relationships that would otherwise take much longer to explain using traditional media. We have impacted the community through topical policy presentations at both state and city levels, adult education classes at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS), and public lectures at DMNS. We have constructed three-dimensional models from well data and surface observations which allow policy makers to better understand the distribution of groundwater in sandstone aquifers of the Denver Basin. Our presentations to local governments in the Denver metro area have allowed resource managers to better project future ground water depletion patterns, and to encourage development of alternative sources. DMNS adult education classes on water resources, geography, and regional geology, as well as public lectures on global issues such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and resource depletion, have utilized the visualizations developed from these research models. In addition to presenting GIS models in traditional lectures, we have also made use of the immersive display capabilities of the digital "fulldome" Gates Planetarium at DMNS. The real-time Uniview visualization application installed at Gates was designed for teaching astronomy, but it can be re-purposed for displaying our model datasets in the context of the Earth's surface. The 17-meter diameter dome of the Gates Planetarium allows an audience to have an immersive experience---similar to virtual reality CAVEs employed by the oil exploration industry---that would otherwise not be available to the general public. Public lectures in the dome allow audiences of over 100 people to comprehend

Developing Public Health Initiatives through Understanding Motivations of the Audience at Mass-Gathering Events.

PubMed

Hutton, Alison; Ranse, Jamie; Munn, Matthew Brendan

2018-04-01

This report identifies what is known about audience motivations at three different mass-gathering events: outdoor music festivals, religious events, and sporting events. In light of these motivations, the paper discusses how these can be harnessed by the event organizer and Emergency Medical Services. Lastly, motivations tell what kinds of interventions can be used to achieve an understanding of audience characteristics and the opportunity to develop tailor-made programs to maximize safety and make long-lasting public health interventions to a particular "cohort" or event population. A lot of these will depend on what the risks/hazards are with the particular populations in order to "target" them with public health interventions. Audience motivations tell the event organizer and Emergency Medical Services about the types of behaviors they should expect from the audience and how this may affect their health while at the event. Through these understandings, health promotion and event safety messages can be developed for a particular type of mass-gathering event based on the likely composition of the audience in attendance. Health promotion and providing public information should be at the core of any mass-gathering event to minimize public health risk and to provide opportunities for the promotion of healthy behaviors in the local population. Audience motivations are a key element to identify and agree on what public health information is needed for the event audience. A more developed understanding of audience behavior provides critical information for event planners, event risk managers, and Emergency Medical Services personnel to better predict and plan to minimize risk and reduce patient presentations at events. Mass-gathering event organizers and designers intend their events to be positive experiences and to have meaning for those who attend. Therefore, continual vigilance to improve public health effectiveness and efficiency can become best practice at events

Public understanding of geoscientific topics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Münch, Ute; Lauterjung, Jörn

2014-05-01

Geoscientific topics and their consequences for the society are becoming more and more important for our daily life. Natural hazards such as flood and storm or the consequences of the climate change are urgent tasks and great challenges we have to tackle. Cascading natural hazards or environmental risks, can't be evaluated as single events by one scientific discipline, they rather need the expertise of different experts. The same applies for slowly progressive processes such as the climate change and its different aftereffects. More than ever politicians, decision makers, but also the public are asking for comprehensive background information and data to discuss activity options and to develop sustainable solutions. The improvement of public knowledge about science, their assets and drawbacks, chances and risks is getting crucial. To paint a comprehensive picture of different factors, correlations and dependencies the pooling of expertise is required. Thus eight research centres of the research field "Earth and Environment" of the Helmholtz-Association, Germany's largest scientific research organisation are currently building up a knowledge platform. Scientists of different disciplines will provide background information and explain their latest findings in an understandable way. Infographics, maps and animations will be applied to simplify and interpret complicated facts and findings. In addition to the web presence target group-specific products and activities will be organized. To meet the expectations of the different stakeholders an intensive dialog is aspired: round table discussions, exhibitions in museums and public places, tweeds are envisaged. In the beginning the partners will concentrate on the topics "consequences of the climate change", "pollutant dispersion" and "natural hazards/meteorological extreme events". The project is called Earth System Knowledge Platform (ESKP) coordinated by the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) and the Helmholtz

Bring Hidden Hazards to the Publics Attention, Understanding, and Informed Decision by Coordinating Federal Education Initiatives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niepold, F.; Karsten, J. L.; Wei, M.; Jadin, J.

2010-12-01

In the 2010 National Research Council’s America’s Climate Choices’ report on Informing Effective Decisions and Actions Related to Climate Change concluded; “Education and communication are among the most powerful tools the nation has to bring hidden hazards to public attention, understanding, and action.” They conclude that the “current and future students, the broader public, and policymakers need to understand the causes, consequences, and potential solutions to climate change, develop scientific thinking and problem-solving skills, and improve their ability to make informed decisions.” The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) works to integrate the climate related activities of these different agencies, with oversight from the Office of Science and Technology Policy and other White House offices. USGCRP’s focus is now on evaluating optimal strategies for addressing climate change risks, improving coordination among the Federal agencies, engaging stakeholders (including national policy leaders and local resource managers) on the research results to all and improving public understanding and decision-making related to global change. Implicit to these activities is the need to educate the public about the science of climate change and its consequences, as well as coordinate Federal investments related to climate change education. In a broader sense, the implementation of the proposed Interagency Taskforce on Climate Change Communication and Education will serve the evolving USGCRP mandates around cross-cutting, thematic elements, as recommended by the National Research Council (NRC, 2009) and the U.S. Climate Change Science Program Revised Research Plan: An update to the 2003 Strategic Plan (USGCRP, 2008), to help the Federal government “capitalize on its investments and aid in the development of increased climate literacy for the Nation.” This session will update the participants on the work to date and the near term coordinated plans

Increasing Understanding of Public Problems and Policies--1990.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farm Foundation, Chicago, IL.

This collection of papers aims to improve the policy education efforts of extension workers responsible for public affairs programs. The first section, "An Evolving Public Policy Education" examines the history of public education; address current issues such as leadership models, ethics in policy formation and policy education; and…

Can citizen science enhance public understanding of science?

PubMed

Bonney, Rick; Phillips, Tina B; Ballard, Heidi L; Enck, Jody W

2016-01-01

Over the past 20 years, thousands of citizen science projects engaging millions of participants in collecting and/or processing data have sprung up around the world. Here we review documented outcomes from four categories of citizen science projects which are defined by the nature of the activities in which their participants engage - Data Collection, Data Processing, Curriculum-based, and Community Science. We find strong evidence that scientific outcomes of citizen science are well documented, particularly for Data Collection and Data Processing projects. We find limited but growing evidence that citizen science projects achieve participant gains in knowledge about science knowledge and process, increase public awareness of the diversity of scientific research, and provide deeper meaning to participants' hobbies. We also find some evidence that citizen science can contribute positively to social well-being by influencing the questions that are being addressed and by giving people a voice in local environmental decision making. While not all citizen science projects are intended to achieve a greater degree of public understanding of science, social change, or improved science -society relationships, those projects that do require effort and resources in four main categories: (1) project design, (2) outcomes measurement, (3) engagement of new audiences, and (4) new directions for research. © The Author(s) 2015.

Increasing Understanding of Public Problems and Policies--1992.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halbrook, Steve A., Ed.; Grace, Teddee E., Ed.

This publication reports the major discussions at a conference that was held to improve the policy education efforts of extension workers responsible for public affairs programs. It begins with abstracts of the 22 presentations. Four papers deal with public policy education in the 1990s: "To Inform Their Discretion: Policy Education and…

Understanding the public's health problems: applications of symbolic interaction to public health.

PubMed

Maycock, Bruce

2015-01-01

Public health has typically investigated health issues using methods from the positivistic paradigm. Yet these approaches, although they are able to quantify the problem, may not be able to explain the social reasons of why the problem exists or the impact on those affected. This article will provide a brief overview of a sociological theory that provides methods and a theoretical framework that has proven useful in understanding public health problems and developing interventions. © 2014 APJPH.

Improving Access to, Use of, and Outcomes from Public Health Programs: The Importance of Building and Maintaining Trust with Patients/Clients.

PubMed

Ward, Paul Russell

2017-01-01

The central argument in this paper is that "public trust" is critical for developing and maintaining the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities, and societies. I argue that public health practitioners and policy makers need to take "public trust" seriously if they intend to improve both the public's health and the engagement between members of the public and public health systems. Public health practitioners implement a range of services and interventions aimed at improving health but implicit a requirement for individuals to trust the practitioners and the services/interventions, before they engage with them. I then go on to provide an overview of the theory of trust within sociology and show why it is important to understand this theory in order to promote trust in public health services. I then draw on literature in three classic areas of public health-hospitals, cancer screening, and childhood immunization-to show why trust is vital in terms of understanding and potentially improving uptake of services. The case studies in this paper reveal that public health practitioners need to understand the centrality of building and maintaining trusting relationships with patients/clients because people who distrust public health services are less likely to use them, less likely to follow advice or recommendations, and more likely to have poorer health outcomes.

Improving Nutritional Health of the Public through Social Change: Finding Our Roles in Collective Action.

PubMed

Raine, Kim D

2014-09-01

Improving the nutritional health of the public continues to be a major challenge. Our mission of advancing health through food and nutrition has become increasingly complex, particularly as food environments shape the availability, affordability, and social acceptability of food and nutrition "choices". Promoting nutritional health requires that dietitians expand our knowledge in understanding the determinants of healthy eating and of social change strategies that advocates for and acts on improving food environments. While no single strategy can solve the challenges of public health nutrition, we can each identify unique strengths and opportunities. If we practice in complementary ways, using those strengths for collective action will make us stronger together toward social change supporting improved nutritional health of the public.

Public Understanding of Climate Change in the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weber, Elke U.; Stern, Paul C.

2011-01-01

This article considers scientific and public understandings of climate change and addresses the following question: Why is it that while scientific evidence has accumulated to document global climate change and scientific opinion has solidified about its existence and causes, U.S. public opinion has not and has instead become more polarized? Our…

Understanding An Informed Public's Views On The Role Of Evidence In Making Health Care Decisions.

PubMed

Carman, Kristin L; Maurer, Maureen; Mangrum, Rikki; Yang, Manshu; Ginsburg, Marjorie; Sofaer, Shoshanna; Gold, Marthe R; Pathak-Sen, Ela; Gilmore, Dierdre; Richmond, Jennifer; Siegel, Joanna

2016-04-01

Policy makers and practitioners increasingly believe that medical evidence plays a critical role in improving care and health outcomes and lowering costs. However, public understanding of the role of evidence-based care may be different. Public deliberation is a process that convenes diverse citizens and has them learn about and consider ethical or values-based dilemmas and weigh alternative views. The Community Forum Deliberative Methods Demonstration project, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, obtained informed public views on the role of evidence in health care decisions through seventy-six deliberative groups involving 907 people overall, in the period August-November 2012. Although participants perceived evidence as being essential to high-quality care, they also believed that personal choice or clinical judgment could trump evidence. They viewed doctors as central figures in discussing evidence with patients and key arbiters of whether to follow evidence in individual cases. They found evidence of harm to individuals or the community to be more compelling than evidence of effectiveness. These findings indicate that increased public understanding of evidence can play an important role in advancing evidence-based care by helping create policies that better reflect the needs and values of the public. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Improving Access to, Use of, and Outcomes from Public Health Programs: The Importance of Building and Maintaining Trust with Patients/Clients

PubMed Central

Ward, Paul Russell

2017-01-01

The central argument in this paper is that “public trust” is critical for developing and maintaining the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities, and societies. I argue that public health practitioners and policy makers need to take “public trust” seriously if they intend to improve both the public’s health and the engagement between members of the public and public health systems. Public health practitioners implement a range of services and interventions aimed at improving health but implicit a requirement for individuals to trust the practitioners and the services/interventions, before they engage with them. I then go on to provide an overview of the theory of trust within sociology and show why it is important to understand this theory in order to promote trust in public health services. I then draw on literature in three classic areas of public health—hospitals, cancer screening, and childhood immunization—to show why trust is vital in terms of understanding and potentially improving uptake of services. The case studies in this paper reveal that public health practitioners need to understand the centrality of building and maintaining trusting relationships with patients/clients because people who distrust public health services are less likely to use them, less likely to follow advice or recommendations, and more likely to have poorer health outcomes. PMID:28337430

Understanding the Experience of Women in Undergraduate Engineering Programs at Public Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perez, Jessica Ohanian

2017-01-01

Women earn bachelor's degrees in engineering at a rate of less than 17% at public universities in California. The purpose of this study was to understand how women experience undergraduate engineering programs at public universities. To understand this lack of attainment, a qualitative methodology and Feminist Poststructuralist perspective were…

User requirements and understanding of public health networks in England.

PubMed

Fahey, D K; Carson, E R; Cramp, D G; Muir Gray, J A

2003-12-01

The movement of public health professionals from health authorities to primary care trusts has increased their isolation and dependence on public health networks for communication. A cross sectional survey of 60 public health professionals working in England was performed to determine their understanding of the term "public health network" and to explore the functions that they would like these networks to perform. It also assessed their attitudes towards a national network and towards individual, local, and national web sites to support these networks. The most popular functions were the support of CPD/education, the identification of expertise and maximisation of scarce resources, information sharing, and efficient information/knowledge management. The local and national networks and their web sites should provide information on current projects of the network and searches to identify people, expertise, and reports. Public health professionals have a similar but broader understanding of the term "public health network" than that of the government with greater emphasis on sharing of information. The network is more likely to be successful if its priorities are maximising scarce resources, identification of expertise, CPD/education, and knowledge management.

Improving understanding, promoting social inclusion, and fostering empowerment related to epilepsy: Epilepsy Foundation public awareness campaigns--2001 through 2013.

PubMed

Price, P; Kobau, R; Buelow, J; Austin, J; Lowenberg, K

2015-03-01

It is a significant public health concern that epilepsy, the fourth most common neurological disorder in the United States, is generally poorly understood by both the public and those living with the condition. Lack of understanding may magnify the challenges faced by those with epilepsy, including limiting treatment opportunities, effective management of symptoms, and full participation in daily life activities. Insufficient awareness of epilepsy and appropriate seizure first aid among the public and professionals can result in insufficient treatment, inappropriate seizure response, physical restraint, social exclusion, or other negative consequences. To address the need for increased public education and awareness about epilepsy, the national Epilepsy Foundation, supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has conducted yearly multifaceted public education and awareness campaigns designed to reach the broad population and targeted segments of the population including youth, young adults, racial/ethnic groups (i.e., African-, Hispanic-, and Asian-Americans), and people with epilepsy and their caregivers. Campaign channels have included traditional media, social media, and community opinion leaders and celebrity spokespersons. The key activities of these campaigns, conducted from 2001 to 2013, are summarized in this report. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Engaging the Public to Identify Opportunities to Improve Critical Care: A Qualitative Analysis of an Open Community Forum.

PubMed

Potestio, Melissa L; Boyd, Jamie M; Bagshaw, Sean M; Heyland, Daren; Oxland, Peter; Doig, Christopher J; Zygun, Dave; Stelfox, Henry T

2015-01-01

To engage the public to understand how to improve the care of critically ill patients. A qualitative content analysis of an open community forum (Café Scientifique). Public venue in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Members of the general public including patients, families of patients, health care providers, and members of the community at large. A panel of researchers, decision-makers, and a family member led a Café Scientifique, an informal dialogue between the populace and experts, over three-hours to engage the public to understand how to improve the care of critically ill patients. Conventional qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data. The inductive analysis occurred in three phases: coding, categorizing, and developing themes. Thirty-eight members of the public (former ICU patients, family members of patients, providers, community members) attended. Participants focused the discussion and provided concrete suggestions for improvement around communication (family as surrogate voice, timing of conversations, decision tools) and provider well-being and engagement, as opposed to medical interventions in critical care. Café participants believe patient and family centered care is important to ensure high-quality care in the ICU. A Café Scientifique is a valuable forum to engage the public to contribute to priority setting areas for research in critical care, as well as a platform to share lived experience. Research stakeholders including health care organizations, governments, and funding organizations should provide more opportunities for the public to engage in meaningful conversations about how to best improve healthcare.

Advances in public health accreditation readiness and quality improvement: evaluation findings from the National Public Health Improvement Initiative.

PubMed

McLees, Anita W; Thomas, Craig W; Nawaz, Saira; Young, Andrea C; Rider, Nikki; Davis, Mary

2014-01-01

Continuous quality improvement is a central tenet of the Public Health Accreditation Board's (PHAB) national voluntary public health accreditation program. Similarly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the National Public Health Improvement Initiative (NPHII) in 2010 with the goal of advancing accreditation readiness, performance management, and quality improvement (QI). Evaluate the extent to which NPHII awardees have achieved program goals. NPHII awardees responded to an annual assessment and program monitoring data requests. Analysis included simple descriptive statistics. Seventy-four state, tribal, local, and territorial public health agencies receiving NPHII funds. NPHII performance improvement managers or principal investigators. Development of accreditation prerequisites, completion of an organizational self-assessment against the PHAB Standards and Measures, Version 1.0, establishment of a performance management system, and implementation of QI initiatives to increase efficiency and effectiveness. Of the 73 responding NPHII awardees, 42.5% had a current health assessment, 26% had a current health improvement plan, and 48% had a current strategic plan in place at the end of the second program year. Approximately 26% of awardees had completed an organizational PHAB self-assessment, 72% had established at least 1 of the 4 components of a performance management system, and 90% had conducted QI activities focused on increasing efficiencies and/or effectiveness. NPHII appears to be supporting awardees' initial achievement of program outcomes. As NPHII enters its third year, there will be additional opportunities to advance the work of NPHII, compile and disseminate results, and inform a vision of high-quality public health necessary to improve the health of the population.

Measuring public understanding on Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) electricity bills using ordered probit model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zainudin, WNRA; Ramli, NA

2017-09-01

In 2016, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) had introduced an upgrade in its Billing and Customer Relationship Management (BCRM) as part of its long-term initiative to provide its customers with greater access to billing information. This includes information on real and suggested power consumption by the customers and further details in their billing charges. This information is useful to help TNB customers to gain better understanding on their electricity usage patterns and items involved in their billing charges. Up to date, there are not many studies done to measure public understanding on current electricity bills and whether this understanding could contribute towards positive impacts. The purpose of this paper is to measure public understanding on current TNB electricity bills and whether their satisfaction towards energy-related services, electricity utility services, and their awareness on the amount of electricity consumed by various appliances and equipment in their home could improve this understanding on the electricity bills. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods are used to achieve these objectives. A total of 160 respondents from local universities in Malaysia participated in a survey used to collect relevant information. Using Ordered Probit model, this paper finds respondents that are highly satisfied with the electricity utility services tend to understand their electricity bills better. The electric utility services include management of electricity bills and the information obtained from utility or non-utility supplier to help consumers manage their energy usage or bills. Based on the results, this paper concludes that the probability to understand the components in the monthly electricity bill increases as respondents are more satisfied with their electric utility services and are more capable to value the energy-related services.

[Notes for understanding the problem of "public" health in the health sector].

PubMed

Guimarães, Cristian Fabiano; da Silva, Rosane Azevedo Neves

2015-03-01

This paper presents a theoretical review of how the public health concept has been perceived in health practices, based on the problematic field introduced in Italian and Brazilian health reforms, in order to understand the construction of public health and the meanings that this term acquires in the health arena. The main goal is to understand how public health appears in the context of health movements in Italy and Brazil, as well as its movement of variation. In this sense, an attempt is made to identify elements that contribute to the composition of a genealogy of public health. From the investigation of public health practices, the tensions produced by this concept are analyzed, giving visibility to those practices that demonstrate the public health experience as a force in the world of health.

Public understanding of chemistry research in print news

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hands, Michael D., Jr.

Despite numerous calls for improving scientific literacy, many American adults show a lack of understanding of experiments, scientific study, and scientific inquiry. News media is one important avenue for science learning, but previous research investigating health and/or environmental science news has shown that it is inconsistent in the presentation of scientific research limitations, potentially impacting reader understanding. In the first phase of this dissertation, seventeen news articles reporting on a single chemistry research article, along with associated press releases and research articles, were analyzed using move analysis to determine the structure of each type of text. It was found that the overall structure of each text genre was similar, with the main difference being that research articles start by presenting background information, while the others lead with highlighting overall research outcomes. Analysis of the steps revealed that, as seen for health and environmental science news articles, descriptions of the study limitations and methods were generally omitted in the news articles. Using these findings, a pilot study was conducted where study limitations were added to a chemistry research news article and the effect of its presence on staff members employed at a large Midwestern university (n=12) and science faculty employed at the same institution (n=6) was explored. Interviews with the participants revealed that including limitations enhanced readers' ability to identify conclusions and evaluate claims, but decreased their trust in the information. In the final part of this study, the trends seen in the previous phase were explored to determine their generalizability. Members of the public (n=232) and science faculty (n=191) read a randomly assigned news article either presenting or omitting the study limitations and research methods. Participants reading articles presenting limitations were able to evaluate the reasonableness of claims

Understanding Evaluation Training in Schools and Programs of Public Health

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fierro, Leslie A.; Christie, Christina A.

2011-01-01

This study provides an understanding of how the coursework required for attaining a Masters of Public Health (MPH) degree in epidemiology or health education from accredited schools or programs of public health prepares students to evaluate programs or interventions. Study data were generated using a content analysis of required coursework…

Numbers, scale and symbols: the public understanding of nanotechnology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Batt, Carl A.; Waldron, Anna M.; Broadwater, Natalie

2008-10-01

Nanotechnology will be an increasing part of the everyday lives of most people in the world. There is a general recognition that few people understand the implications of the technology, the technology itself or even the definition of the word. This lack of understanding stems from a lack of knowledge about science in general but more specifically difficulty in grasping the size scale and symbolism of nanotechnology. A potential key to informing the general public is establishing the ability to comprehend the scale of nanotechnology. Transitioning from the macro to the nanoscale seems to require an ability to comprehend scales of one-billion. Scaling is a skill not common in most individuals and tests of their ability to extrapolate size based upon scaling a common object demonstrates that most individuals cannot scale to the extent needed to make the transition to nanoscale. Symbolism is another important vehicle to providing the general public with a basis to understand the concepts of nanotechnology. With increasing age, individuals are able to draw representations of atomic scale objects, but these tend to be iconic and the different representations not easily translated. Ball and stick models are most recognized by the public, which provides an opportunity to present not only useful symbolism but also a reference point for the atomic scale.

EMB history to increase health technology literacy in the general public for improved health worldwide.

PubMed

Leder, Ron S

2009-01-01

History provides common access to technology for both technical and non technical persons and for youngsters. Placed in an historical context complex health technology and health care can be more understandable and therefore more accessible to the general public; technical persons can understand past health technology advances to help propel the field. History is a reference for experts disguised as a story that anyone can understand and enjoy. This can be useful and effective at improving self advocate based health care.

Engaging the Public to Identify Opportunities to Improve Critical Care: A Qualitative Analysis of an Open Community Forum

PubMed Central

Potestio, Melissa L.; Boyd, Jamie M.; Bagshaw, Sean M.; Heyland, Daren; Oxland, Peter; Doig, Christopher J.; Zygun, Dave; Stelfox, Henry T.

2015-01-01

Objective To engage the public to understand how to improve the care of critically ill patients. Design A qualitative content analysis of an open community forum (Café Scientifique). Setting Public venue in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Participants Members of the general public including patients, families of patients, health care providers, and members of the community at large. Methods A panel of researchers, decision-makers, and a family member led a Café Scientifique, an informal dialogue between the populace and experts, over three-hours to engage the public to understand how to improve the care of critically ill patients. Conventional qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data. The inductive analysis occurred in three phases: coding, categorizing, and developing themes. Results Thirty-eight members of the public (former ICU patients, family members of patients, providers, community members) attended. Participants focused the discussion and provided concrete suggestions for improvement around communication (family as surrogate voice, timing of conversations, decision tools) and provider well-being and engagement, as opposed to medical interventions in critical care. Conclusions Café participants believe patient and family centered care is important to ensure high-quality care in the ICU. A Café Scientifique is a valuable forum to engage the public to contribute to priority setting areas for research in critical care, as well as a platform to share lived experience. Research stakeholders including health care organizations, governments, and funding organizations should provide more opportunities for the public to engage in meaningful conversations about how to best improve healthcare. PMID:26580406

Public responses to water reuse - Understanding the evidence.

PubMed

Smith, H M; Brouwer, S; Jeffrey, P; Frijns, J

2018-02-01

Over the years, much research has attempted to unpack what drives public responses to water reuse, using a variety of approaches. A large amount of this work was captured by an initial review that covered research undertaken up to the early 2000s (Hartley, 2006). This paper showcases post-millennium evidence and thinking around public responses to water reuse, and highlights the novel insights and shifts in emphasis that have occurred in the field. Our analysis is structured around four broad, and highly interrelated, strands of thinking: 1) work focused on identifying the range of factors that influence public reactions to the concept of water reuse, and broadly looking for associations between different factors; 2) more specific approaches rooted in the socio-psychological modelling techniques; 3) work with a particular focus on understanding the influences of trust, risk perceptions and affective (emotional) reactions; and 4) work utilising social constructivist perspectives and socio-technical systems theory to frame responses to water reuse. Some of the most significant advancements in thinking in this field stem from the increasingly sophisticated understanding of the 'yuck factor' and the role of such pre-cognitive affective reactions. These are deeply entrenched within individuals, but are also linked with wider societal processes and social representations. Work in this area suggests that responses to reuse are situated within an overall process of technological 'legitimation'. These emerging insights should help stimulate some novel thinking around approaches to public engagement for water reuse. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Understanding the Socioeconomic Effects of Wildfires on Western U.S. Public Lands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanchez, J. J.; Srivastava, L.; Marcos-Martinez, R.

2017-12-01

Climate change has resulted in the increased severity and frequency of forest disturbances due to wildfires, droughts, pests and diseases that compromise the sustainable provision of forest ecosystem services (e.g., water quantity and quality, carbon sequestration, recreation). A better understanding of the environmental and socioeconomic consequences of forest disturbances (i.e., wildfires) could improve the management and protection of public lands. We used a single-site benefit transfer function and spatially explicit information for demographic, socioeconomic, and site-specific characteristics to estimate the monetized value of market and non-market ecosystem services provided by forests on Western US public lands. These estimates are then used to approximate the costs of forest disturbances caused by wildfires of varying frequency and intensity, and across sites with heterogeneous characteristics and protection and management strategies. Our analysis provides credible estimates of the benefits of the forest for land management by the United States Forest Service, thereby assisting forest managers in planning resourcing and budgeting priorities.

The Lay Public's Understanding and Perception of Dementia in a Developed Asian Nation

PubMed Central

Tan, Wai Jia; Hong, Song-Iee; Luo, Nan; Lo, Tong Jen; Yap, Philip

2012-01-01

Background Early detection of dementia aims to improve treatment outcomes. However, poor perception and understanding of dementia are significant barriers. We aim to investigate the public's perception of dementia and identify variables associated with the different profiles of public perception. Methods A custom-designed questionnaire was used to assess laypersons’ knowledge and perception of dementia during a health fair at a public hospital in Singapore, a developed Asian nation. Out of a sample of 370 subjects, 32 declined to participate (response rate = 91.4%). Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify meaningful subgroups of subjects from significant associations with multiple indicators of dementia awareness. Multinomial logistic regression was performed exploring variables associated with each of the subgroups derived from LCA. Results The majority of the study participants were female (66.9%), 65 years or older (71.1%), and ethnic Chinese (88.1%). LCA classified the study participants into 3 subgroups: Class 1 (good knowledge, good attitude), Class 2 (good knowledge, poor attitude), and Class 3 (poor knowledge, poor attitude), in proportions of 14.28, 63.83, and 21.88%, respectively. Compared to other classes, participants with good knowledge and good attitude towards dementia (Class 1) were more likely to know someone with dementia and understand the effects of the disease, be married, live in private housing, receive higher monthly income, and not profess belief in Buddhism, Taoism, or Hinduism. Conclusion Our results show that the public in Singapore may not be ready for screening initiatives and early dementia diagnosis. Education efforts should be targeted at lower socioeconomic groups, singles, and those of certain oriental religions. PMID:23139688

Public health law and disaster medicine: understanding the legal environment.

PubMed

Gionis, Thomas A; Wecht, Cyril; Marshall, Lewis W

2007-01-01

Disaster medicine specialists, policy makers, and the public often feel frustrated when they encounter the complex legal framework that surrounds public health emergencies and disasters. Such a framework is particularly difficult to understand when one considers that the federal government has no express powers over public health or disaster management. In fact, under the US Constitution, the states, rather than the federal government, possess public health governance. Although public health sovereignty formally resides within the states, and notwithstanding the federal government's lack of express constitutional powers over public health crises and disaster management, the federal government has gradually taken on a greater leadership role in managing public health emergencies. In order to clarify the state and federal responsibilities surrounding public health emergencies and disasters, this article explores necessary and pertinent legal topics. These topics include public health duties, public health disasters, state sovereignty, governmental coercion, de facto constitutional empowerment, separation of powers, limited powers, federalism, state police powers, general and federal declarations of emergencies, the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (MSEHPA), and public health and national security.

Improving students’ understanding of mathematical concept using maple

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ningsih, Y. L.; Paradesa, R.

2018-01-01

This study aimed to improve students’ understanding of mathematical concept ability through implementation of using Maple in learning and expository learning. This study used a quasi-experimental research with pretest-posttest control group design. The sample on this study was 61 students in the second semester of Mathematics Education of Universitas PGRI Palembang, South Sumatera in academic year 2016/2017. The sample was divided into two classes, one class as the experiment class who using Maple in learning and the other class as a control class who received expository learning. Data were collective through the test of mathematical initial ability and mathematical concept understanding ability. Data were analyzed by t-test and two ways ANOVA. The results of this study showed (1) the improvement of students’ mathematical concept understanding ability who using Maple in learning is better than those who using expository learning; (2) there is no interaction between learning model and students’ mathematical initial ability toward the improvement of students’ understanding of mathematical concept ability.

Understanding the Role of Public Administration in Implementing Action on the Social Determinants of Health and Health Inequities

PubMed Central

Carey, Gemma; Friel, Sharon

2015-01-01

Many of the societal level factors that affect health – the ‘social determinants of health (SDH)’ – exist outside the health sector, across diverse portfolios of government, and other major institutions including non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the private sector. This has created growing interest in how to create and implement public policies which will drive better and fairer health outcomes. While designing policies that can improve the SDH is critical, so too is ensuring they are appropriately administered and implemented. In this paper, we draw attention to an important area for future public health consideration – how policies are managed and implemented through complex administrative layers of ‘the state.’ Implementation gaps have long been a concern of public administration scholarship. To precipitate further work in this area, in this paper, we provide an overview of the scholarly field of public administration and highlight its role in helping to understand better the challenges and opportunities for implementing policies and programs to improve health equity. PMID:26673462

Understanding the Role of Public Administration in Implementing Action on the Social Determinants of Health and Health Inequities.

PubMed

Carey, Gemma; Friel, Sharon

2015-10-11

Many of the societal level factors that affect health - the 'social determinants of health (SDH)' - exist outside the health sector, across diverse portfolios of government, and other major institutions including non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the private sector. This has created growing interest in how to create and implement public policies which will drive better and fairer health outcomes. While designing policies that can improve the SDH is critical, so too is ensuring they are appropriately administered and implemented. In this paper, we draw attention to an important area for future public health consideration - how policies are managed and implemented through complex administrative layers of 'the state.' Implementation gaps have long been a concern of public administration scholarship. To precipitate further work in this area, in this paper, we provide an overview of the scholarly field of public administration and highlight its role in helping to understand better the challenges and opportunities for implementing policies and programs to improve health equity. © 2015 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

Applying Constructivism to Improve Public Relations for Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marek, Michael

2005-01-01

Educators are often hesitant to use techniques of public relations and marketing communication to attempt to alter undesirable understandings of the rationale and processes of education held by external constituencies. This paper shows that contemporary practice in public relations and marketing communication can be conceptualized as an…

Understanding public reactions to commercialization of biobanks and use of biobank resources.

PubMed

Nicol, Dianne; Critchley, Christine; McWhirter, Rebekah; Whitton, Tess

2016-08-01

Biobanks will be essential to facilitate the translation of genomic research into real improvements to healthcare. Biobanking is a long-term commitment, requiring public support as well as appropriate regulatory, social and ethical guidelines to realize this promise. There is a growing body of research that explores the necessary conditions to ensure public trust in biomedical research, particularly in the context of biobanking. Trust is, however, a complex relationship. More analysis of public perceptions, attitudes and reactions is required to understand the primary triggers that influence gain and loss of trust. Further, the outcomes of these analyses require detailed consideration to determine how to promote trustworthy institutions and practices. This article uses national survey data, combined with the results of a community consultation that took place in Tasmania, Australia in 2013, to analyze the specific issue of public reactions to commercialization of biobanks and their outputs. This research will enhance the ability of biobanks to respond preemptively to public concerns about commercialization by establishing and maintaining governance frameworks that are responsive to those concerns. The results reveal that it is possible to counter the 'natural prejudice' that many people have against commercialization through independent governance of biobank resources and transparency with regard to commercial involvement. Indeed, most participants agreed that they would rather have a biobank with commercial involvement than none at all. This analysis provides nuanced conclusions about public reactions towards commercialization and equips researchers and biobank operators with data on which to base policies and make governance decisions in order to tackle participant concerns respectfully and responsively. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using exercises to improve public health preparedness in Asia, the Middle East and Africa

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Exercises are increasingly common tools used by the health sector and other sectors to evaluate their preparedness to respond to public health threats. Exercises provide an opportunity for multiple sectors to practice, test and evaluate their response to all types of public health emergencies. The information from these exercises can be used to refine and improve preparedness plans. There is a growing body of literature about the use of exercises among local, state and federal public health agencies in the United States. There is much less information about the use of exercises among public health agencies in other countries and the use of exercises that involve multiple countries. Results We developed and conducted 12 exercises (four sub-national, five national, three sub-regional) from August 2006 through December 2008. These 12 exercises included 558 participants (average 47) and 137 observers (average 11) from 14 countries. Participants consistently rated the overall quality of the exercises as very good or excellent. They rated the exercises lowest on their ability to identifying key gaps in performance. The vast majority of participants noted that they would use the information they gained at the exercise to improve their organization’s preparedness to respond to an influenza pandemic. Participants felt the exercises were particularly good at raising awareness and understanding about public health threats, assisting in evaluating plans and identifying priorities for improvement, and building relationships that strengthen preparedness and response across sectors and across countries. Participants left the exercises with specific ideas about the most important actions that they should engage in after the exercise such as improved planning coordination across sectors and countries and better training of health workers and response personnel. Conclusions These experiences suggest that exercises can be a valuable, low-burden tool to improve emergency

A summary to communicate evidence from systematic reviews to the public improved understanding and accessibility of information: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Santesso, Nancy; Rader, Tamara; Nilsen, Elin Strømme; Glenton, Claire; Rosenbaum, Sarah; Ciapponi, Agustín; Moja, Lorenzo; Pardo, Jordi Pardo; Zhou, Qi; Schünemann, Holger J

2015-02-01

To evaluate a new format of a summary, which presents research from synthesized evidence to patients and the public. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in 143 members of the public from five countries (Canada, Norway, Spain, Argentina, and Italy). Participants received either a new summary format (a plain language summary [PLS]) or the current format used in Cochrane systematic reviews. The new PLS presents information about the condition and intervention, a narrative summary of results, and a table of results with absolute numbers for effects of the intervention and quality of the evidence using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation. With the new PLS, more participants understood the benefits and harms and quality of evidence (53% vs. 18%, P < 0.001); more answered each of the five questions correctly (P ≤ 0.001 for four questions); and they answered more questions correctly, median 3 (interquartile range [IQR]: 1-4) vs. 1 (IQR: 0-1), P < 0.001). Better understanding was independent of education level. More participants found information in the new PLS reliable, easy to find, easy to understand, and presented in a way that helped make decisions. Overall, participants preferred the new PLS. This new PLS format for patients and the public is a promising tool to translate evidence from synthesized research. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Modelling Associations between Public Understanding, Engagement and Forest Conditions in the Inland Northwest, USA

PubMed Central

Hartter, Joel; Stevens, Forrest R.; Hamilton, Lawrence C.; Congalton, Russell G.; Ducey, Mark J.; Oester, Paul T.

2015-01-01

Opinions about public lands and the actions of private non-industrial forest owners in the western United States play important roles in forested landscape management as both public and private forests face increasing risks from large wildfires, pests and disease. This work presents the responses from two surveys, a random-sample telephone survey of more than 1500 residents and a mail survey targeting owners of parcels with 10 or more acres of forest. These surveys were conducted in three counties (Wallowa, Union, and Baker) in northeast Oregon, USA. We analyze these survey data using structural equation models in order to assess how individual characteristics and understanding of forest management issues affect perceptions about forest conditions and risks associated with declining forest health on public lands. We test whether forest understanding is informed by background, beliefs, and experiences, and whether as an intervening variable it is associated with views about forest conditions on publicly managed forests. Individual background characteristics such as age, gender and county of residence have significant direct or indirect effects on our measurement of understanding. Controlling for background factors, we found that forest owners with higher self-assessed understanding, and more education about forest management, tend to hold more pessimistic views about forest conditions. Based on our results we argue that self-assessed understanding, interest in learning, and willingness to engage in extension activities together have leverage to affect perceptions about the risks posed by declining forest conditions on public lands, influence land owner actions, and affect support for public policies. These results also have broader implications for management of forested landscapes on public and private lands amidst changing demographics in rural communities across the Inland Northwest where migration may significantly alter the composition of forest owner goals

The Public Understanding of Science: 30 Years of the Bodmer Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Short, Daniel B.

2013-01-01

As research probes deeper into all aspects of science, greater specialisation is required. This natural progression takes knowledge and understanding further away from the general public. Hence part of the responsibility of scientists is to communicate that knowledge at an appropriate level of understanding. As most people do not actively follow…

LEGAL BASES FOR DISCLOSING CONFIDENTIAL PATIENT INFORMATION FOR PUBLIC HEALTH: DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN HEALTH PROTECTION AND HEALTH IMPROVEMENT

PubMed Central

Taylor, Mark J.

2015-01-01

The disclosure of confidential patient data without an individual's explicit consent should be for purposes that persons have reason to both expect and accept. We do not currently have the required level of clarity or consistency in understanding regarding the disclosure of confidential patient information for public health purposes to support effective public dialogue. The Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 establish a legal basis in England and Wales for data to be disclosed for public health purposes without patient consent. Under the Regulations, there is more than one potential route towards lawful processing: Data may be processed for public health purposes under both Regulations 3 and 5. The alternatives have different safeguards and conditions attached, and their respective applicability to processing for purposes of public health improvement is currently unclear and subject to review. Beyond the need for clarity regarding the safeguards applicable to processing for particular public health purposes, there are reasons to prefer recognition that Regulation 5 is the most appropriate legal basis for disclosure when the purpose is public health improvement rather than public health protection. Where health improvement, rather than protection, is the aim, there is no justification for discarding the additional safeguards associated with processing under Regulation 5. PMID:25995294

Improving understanding, promoting social inclusion, and fostering empowerment related to epilepsy: Epilepsy Foundation public awareness campaigns — 2001 through 2013☆

PubMed Central

Price, P.; Kobau, R.; Buelow, J.; Austin, J.; Lowenberg, K.

2015-01-01

It is a significant public health concern that epilepsy, the fourth most common neurological disorder in the United States, is generally poorly understood by both the public and those living with the condition. Lack of understanding may magnify the challenges faced by those with epilepsy, including limiting treatment opportunities, effective management of symptoms, and full participation in daily life activities. Insufficient awareness of epilepsy and appropriate seizure first aid among the public and professionals can result in insufficient treatment, inappropriate seizure response, physical restraint, social exclusion, or other negative consequences. To address the need for increased public education and awareness about epilepsy, the national Epilepsy Foundation, supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has conducted yearly multifaceted public education and awareness campaigns designed to reach the broad population and targeted segments of the population including youth, young adults, racial/ethnic groups (i.e., African-, Hispanic-, and Asian-Americans), and people with epilepsy and their caregivers. Campaign channels have included traditional media, social media, and community opinion leaders and celebrity spokespersons. The key activities of these campaigns, conducted from 2001 to 2013, are summarized in this report. PMID:25726152

Understanding Public School Residency Requirements: A Guide for Advocates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Education Law Center, 2005

2005-01-01

Parents, guardians, caregivers and school administrators will sometimes disagree over whether a student resides in a school district and can be enrolled in a district public school. The information in this manual is designed to help parents, guardians and caregivers understand the legal concepts involved in residency disputes, and to inform…

Science for Alaska: Public Understanding of University Research Priorities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campbell, D.

2015-12-01

Science for Alaska: Public Understanding of Science D. L. Campbell11University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA Around 200 people brave 40-below-zero temperatures to listen to university researchers and scientists give lectures about their work at an event called the Science for Alaska Lecture Series, hosted by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. It is held once a week, for six weeks during the coldest part of a Fairbanks, Alaska, winter. The topics range from space physics to remote sensing. The lectures last for 45 minutes with 15 minutes for audience questions and answers. It has been popular for about 20 years and is one of many public outreach efforts of the institute. The scientists are careful in their preparations for presentations and GI's Public Relations staff chooses the speakers based on topic, diversity and public interest. The staff also considers the speaker's ability to speak to a general audience, based on style, clarity and experience. I conducted a qualitative research project to find out about the people who attended the event, why they attend and what they do with the information they hear about. The participants were volunteers who attended the event and either stayed after the lectures for an interview or signed up to be contacted later. I used used an interview technique with open-ended questions, recorded and transcribed the interview. I identified themes in the interviews, using narrative analysis. Preliminary data show that the lecture series is a form of entertainment for people who are highly educated and work in demanding and stressful jobs. They come with family and friends. Sometimes it's a date with a significant other. Others want to expose their children to science. The findings are in keeping with the current literature that suggests that public events meant to increase public understanding of science instead draws like-minded people. The findings are different from Campbell's hypothesis that attendance was based

The ethics of 'public understanding of ethics'--why and how bioethics expertise should include public and patients' voices.

PubMed

Schicktanz, Silke; Schweda, Mark; Wynne, Brian

2012-05-01

"Ethics" is used as a label for a new kind of expertise in the field of science and technology. At the same time, it is not clear what ethical expertise consists in and what its political status in modern democracies can be. Starting from the "participatory turn" in recent social research and policy, we will argue that bioethical reasoning has to include public views of and attitudes towards biomedicine. We will sketch the outlines of a bioethical conception of "public understanding of ethics," addressing three different issues: (a) the methodological relevance of moral questions and problems raised by lay persons in everyday life regarding biomedicine and technology, (b) the normative relevance of such lay moralities for the justification of ethical decisions, and (c) the necessity of public deliberation in this context. Finally, we draw conclusions in view of the concepts and methods such a conception of "public understanding of ethics" should employ.

Measuring and Understanding Public Opinion on Human Evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gwon, Misook

The theory of evolution has long generated controversy in American society, but Americans' attitudes about human evolution are often neglected in studies of "culture wars" and the nature of mass belief systems more generally (Berkman and Plutzer 2010; Freeland and Houston 2009). Gallup and other survey organizations have polled about evolution, but offered limited response categories that mask complexity in public opinion (Bishop 2006; Moore 2008). The main problems concerning the leading survey questions about evolution are: first, questions measure only a single dimension, thus they ignore the potential for multidimensionality in people's attitudes. Second, depending on question wording and response options, the results of public opinion surveys vary by polling groups. This is an example of measurement error which misleads the interpretation and impression of American public opinion on the origin of humankind. A number of studies have analyzed Americans' beliefs about evolution and hypothesized about the influential effects of several factors (Deckman 2002; Mazur 2005; Mooney 2005; Miller et al. 2006; Newport 2006; Forrest 2007;Nisbet and Goidel 2007;Scott 2009). However, there remains a lack of complete understanding of what Americans know and believe about human evolution. Given the salience of this issue and the significant influence of public opinion on policy-making in America (Page and Shapiro 1992; Stimson 2004; Newport 2004), the measurement error and explanation of polling results on controversial issues related to this topic are in need of clarification. In this study, I address these deficiencies with analyses of data from a 2008 national survey by Harris Interactive (n= 4,626) that included numerous measures of factual knowledge and beliefs about evolution. The items offer more nuanced response options than the standard three-category question asked for decades by the Gallup poll. The Harris survey also had multiple measures of religiosity and the

Understanding multinational companies in public health systems, using a competitive advantage framework.

PubMed

Lethbridge, Jane

2011-07-01

This paper discusses the findings of a study which developed five case studies of five multinational health care companies involved in public health care systems. Strategies were analysed in terms of attitude to marketing, pricing and regulation. The company strategies have been subjected to an analysis using Porter's Five Forces, a business strategy framework, which is unusual in health policy studies. This paper shows how analysing company strategy using a business tool can contribute to understanding the strategies of global capital in national health systems. It shows how social science methodologies can draw from business methods to explain company strategies. The five companies considered in this paper demonstrate that their strategies have many dimensions, which fit into Porter's Five Forces of comparative advantage. More importantly the Five Forces can be used to identify factors that influence company entry into public health care systems. The process of examining the strategic objectives of five health care companies shows that a business tool can help to explain the actions and motives of health care companies towards public health care systems, and so contribute to a better understanding of the strategies of global capital in national health systems. Health service commissioners need to understand this dynamic process, which will evolve as the nature of public health care systems change.

Understanding the nature of health: New perspectives for medicine and public health. Improved wellbeing at lower costs

PubMed Central

Bircher, Johannes; Hahn, Eckhart G.

2016-01-01

Background: Current dilemmas of health care systems call for a new look at the nature of health. This is offered by the Meikirch model. We explore its hypothetical benefit for the future of medicine and public health. Meikirch model: It states: “Health is a dynamic state of wellbeing emergent from conducive interactions between individuals’ potentials, life’s demands, and social and environmental determinants.” “Throughout the life course health results when an individuals’ biologically given potential (BGP) and his or her personally acquired potential (PAP), interacting with social and environmental determinants, satisfactorily respond to the demands of life.” Methods: We explored the Meikirch model’s possible applications for personal and public health care. Results: The PAP of each individual is the most modifiable component of the model. It responds to constructive social interactions and to personal growth. If an individual’s PAP is nurtured to develop further, it likely will contribute much more to health than without fostering. It may also compensate for losses of the BGP. An ensuing new culture of health may markedly improve health in the society. The rising costs of health care presumably are due in part to the tragedy of the commons and to moral hazard. Health as a complex adaptive system offers new possibilities for patient care, particularly for general practitioners. Discussion: Analysis of health systems by the Meikirch model reveals that in many areas more can be done to improve people’s health and to reduce health care costs than is done today. The Meikirch model appears promising for individual and public health in low and high income countries. Emphasizing health instead of disease the Meikirch model reinforces article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the United Nations – that abandons the WHO definition - and thereby may contribute to its reinterpretation. PMID:27134730

75 FR 61706 - Request for Public Comments Regarding Small and Medium Enterprises' Understanding of and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-06

... Public Comments Regarding Small and Medium Enterprises' Understanding of and Compliance With the Export Administration Regulations AGENCY: Bureau of Industry and Security, Commerce. ACTION: Notice of Inquiry. SUMMARY... the public regarding small and medium enterprises' (SMEs) understanding of and compliance with export...

Understanding Evidence-Based Public Health Policy

PubMed Central

Chriqui, Jamie F.; Stamatakis, Katherine A.

2009-01-01

Public health policy has a profound impact on health status. Missing from the literature is a clear articulation of the definition of evidence-based policy and approaches to move the field forward. Policy-relevant evidence includes both quantitative (e.g., epidemiological) and qualitative information (e.g., narrative accounts). We describe 3 key domains of evidence-based policy: (1) process, to understand approaches to enhance the likelihood of policy adoption; (2) content, to identify specific policy elements that are likely to be effective; and (3) outcomes, to document the potential impact of policy. Actions to further evidence-based policy include preparing and communicating data more effectively, using existing analytic tools more effectively, conducting policy surveillance, and tracking outcomes with different types of evidence. PMID:19608941

Understanding the diversity of public interests in wildlife conservation.

PubMed

Teel, Tara L; Manfredo, Michael J

2010-02-01

North American state wildlife agencies are increasingly faced with the challenge of effectively representing a diverse public. With increasing social conflict over wildlife issues, the future of wildlife conservation hinges on preparedness of the profession to respond to this challenge. In the interest of finding ways to improve response, 19 agencies in the western U.S. joined forces to initiate an investigation that would provide a better understanding of the diversity of wildlife-related interests in the region. Specific objectives, accomplished through use of a mail survey administered in 2004, were to categorize people on the basis of their value orientations toward wildlife and explore how different groups were distributed across states and to examine differences on sociodemographic characteristics and attitudes toward wildlife-related topics among groups. The focus was on two orientations: domination (view of wildlife that prioritizes human well-being over wildlife and treats wildlife in utilitarian terms); and mutualism (view of wildlife as capable of relationships of trust with humans and defined by a desire for companionship with wildlife). Four types of people were identified on the basis of these orientations. Types differed in their geographic distribution and wildlife-related attitudes and behaviors, revealing how value orientations can form the foundation for conflict on wildlife issues. Our characterizations of stakeholder groups offer a framework that can be applied over time and across geographic scales to improve conservation planning efforts and inform broader thinking about the social aspects of wildlife conservation.

Lost in translation: Discourses, boundaries and legitimacy in the public understanding of science in the UK

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lock, Simon Jay

2008-07-01

This thesis documents the historical development of debates around the public understanding of science in the UK from 1985 until 2005. Testimonies from key actors involved in the evolution of the recent public understanding of science arena, and an examination of documentary evidence, have been used to map out how this issue was problematised by scientists in the mid-1980s, and how it has developed into a contested field of activity, political interest and academic research. I propose that this historical period can be broadly understood in four phases each characterised by a dominant discourse of the public understanding of science. I examine how, within each phase, the various groups involved have engaged in boundary work: rhetorically constructing, and mobilising, ideas of 'science', 'the public', and the perceived 'problem' in the relationship between the two, in the pursuit of defining and legitimating themselves and these definitions of the relationship between science and public. Phase I is characterised as a rhetorical re-framing of earlier 'problems' of the public understanding of science by scientists and scientific institutions in the context of the 1980s. Phase II is dominated by the boundary work between scientists and social scientists as they contended for legitimacy and authority over competing discourses of public understanding of science and the institutionalisation of PUS activity and research. Phase III is characterised by a variety of discursive formulations of the 'problem' of PUS following the House of Lords report (2000) and a subsequent change in the rhetoric of public understanding of science to one of public engagement. Phase IV is dominated by the language of 'upstream engagement' and identifies the political interest in managing science's relationship with the public and the social scientific responses to this.

Improving Students' Understanding of Electricity and Magnetism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Jing

2012-01-01

Electricity and magnetism are important topics in physics. Research shows that students have many common difficulties in understanding concepts related to electricity and magnetism. However, research to improve students' understanding of electricity and magnetism is limited compared to introductory mechanics. This thesis explores issues…

Transfer Entails Communication: The Public Understanding of (Social) Science as a Stage and a Play for Implementing Evidence-Based Prevention Knowledge and Programs.

PubMed

Bromme, Rainer; Beelmann, Andreas

2018-04-01

Many social science-based interventions entail the transfer of evidence-based knowledge to the "target population," because the acquisition and the acceptance of that knowledge are necessary for the intended improvement of behavior or development. Furthermore, the application of a certain prevention program is often legitimated by a reference to science-based reasons such as an evaluation according to scientific standards. Hence, any implementation of evidence-based knowledge and programs is embedded in the public understanding of (social) science. Based on recent research on such public understanding of science, we shall discuss transfer as a process of science communication.

Public service quality improvements: a case for exemption from IRB review of public administration research.

PubMed

Jordan, Sara R

2014-01-01

Should the exemption from Institutional Review Board (IRB) evaluations currently in place for quality improvements research be extended to public administration research that addresses questions of improving the quality of public service delivery? As a means to both reduce the level of disdain held by a group of social science researchers for IRBs and to reduce the cost of review for minimal risk studies, I argue here that much of the current public administration research should also be exempted from normal processes of review by IRBs on the basis of their similarity to Quality Improvements (QI) research, a category of studies already granted exemption. This argument dovetails provisions currently in place for studies of public service and public benefit, but reframes these exemptions in the language of "quality improvements," which may be a more comfortable language for IRBs concerned to demonstrate compliance for review of all fields. To expedite this argument into the practices of IRBs, I included a checklist that researchers could use to self-identify their studies as QI, not research as such.

Using interactive family science shows to improve public knowledge on antibiotic resistance: does it work?

PubMed

Lecky, Donna M; Hawking, Meredith K D; Verlander, Neville Q; McNulty, Cliodna A M

2014-01-01

The public plays an important role in controlling the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance. A large British survey showed that there is still public misunderstanding about microbes and antibiotics. e-Bug, a European DG Sanco sponsored project, aims to disseminate a school antibiotic and hygiene educational pack and website across Europe. Interactive science shows based on the e-Bug educational packs were developed to take the key health and hygiene messages from the e-Bug school resources to families. The science show was evaluated to assess public knowledge and understanding of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance pre and post intervention. An interactive stall comprised of a 3×2 m backing stand with background information, an interactive activity and discussions with a trained demonstrator was on display at a family holiday resort. Pre-piloted knowledge questionnaires were completed by parents and children pre and post intervention. Adult (≥19 years) baseline knowledge regarding antibiotics and antibiotic resistance was high although significant knowledge improvement was observed where baseline knowledge was low. Children's (5-11 years) knowledge around antibiotics and antibiotic resistance was significantly improved for all questions. The science show can be viewed as a success in improving parents' and children's knowledge of antibiotic use thereby highlighting the importance of educating the public through interaction.

Increasing Understanding of Public Problems and Policies, 1995.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halbrook, Steve A., Ed.; Merry, Carroll E., Ed.

This document contains abstracts and the complete texts of 19 papers that were presented at a conference held to improve the policy education efforts of extension workers responsible for public affairs programs. The following papers are included: "Microwave Society and Crock-Pot Government" (Bill Graves); "Citizen Participation,…

Improving Lecture Quality through Training in Public Speaking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mowbray, Robert; Perry, Laura B.

2015-01-01

Lecturing is a common instructional format but poor lecturing skills can detract from students' learning experiences and outcomes. As lecturing is essentially a form of public communication, training in public speaking may improve lecture quality. Twelve university lecturers in Malaysia participated in a six-week public speaking skills training…

Understanding multinational companies in public health systems, using a competitive advantage framework

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background This paper discusses the findings of a study which developed five case studies of five multinational health care companies involved in public health care systems. Strategies were analysed in terms of attitude to marketing, pricing and regulation. The company strategies have been subjected to an analysis using Porter's Five Forces, a business strategy framework, which is unusual in health policy studies. Methods This paper shows how analysing company strategy using a business tool can contribute to understanding the strategies of global capital in national health systems. It shows how social science methodologies can draw from business methods to explain company strategies. Results The five companies considered in this paper demonstrate that their strategies have many dimensions, which fit into Porter's Five Forces of comparative advantage. More importantly the Five Forces can be used to identify factors that influence company entry into public health care systems. Conclusions The process of examining the strategic objectives of five health care companies shows that a business tool can help to explain the actions and motives of health care companies towards public health care systems, and so contribute to a better understanding of the strategies of global capital in national health systems. Health service commissioners need to understand this dynamic process, which will evolve as the nature of public health care systems change. PMID:21722372

Evaluating and Improving Metadata for Data Use and Understanding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Habermann, T.

2013-12-01

The last several decades have seen an extraordinary increase in the number and breadth of environmental data available to the scientific community and the general public. These increases have focused the environmental data community on creating metadata for discovering data and on the creation and population of catalogs and portals for facilitating discovery. This focus is reflected in the fields required by commonly used metadata standards and has resulted in collections populated with metadata that meet, but don't go far beyond, minimal discovery requirements. Discovery is the first step towards addressing scientific questions using data. As more data are discovered and accessed, users need metadata that 1) automates use and integration of these data in tools and 2) facilitates understanding the data when it is compared to similar datasets or as internal variations are observed. When data discovery is the primary goal, it is important to create records for as many datasets as possible. The content of these records is controlled by minimum requirements, and evaluation is generally limited to testing for required fields and counting records. As the use and understanding needs become more important, more comprehensive evaluation tools are needed. An approach is described for evaluating existing metadata in the light of these new requirements and for improving the metadata to meet them.

The general public's understanding and perception of direct-to-consumer genetic test results.

PubMed

Leighton, J W; Valverde, K; Bernhardt, B A

2012-01-01

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing allows consumers to discover their risk for common complex disorders. The extent to which consumers understand typical results provided by DTC genetic testing is currently unknown. Misunderstanding of the results could lead to negative consequences including unnecessary concern, false reassurance or unwarranted changes in screening behaviors. We conducted a study to investigate consumers' perceptions and understanding of DTC test results. An online survey was posted on Facebook that included questions relating to 4 sample test results for risk of developing colorectal cancer, heart disease and skin cancer. Genetic counselors were used as a comparison group. 145 individuals from the general public and 171 genetic counselors completed the survey. A significant difference was found between the way the general public and genetic counselors interpreted the meaning of the DTC results. The general public respondents also believed that results in all 4 scenarios would be significantly more helpful than the genetic counselors did. Although the majority of general public respondents rated the results as easy to understand, they often misinterpreted them. These findings imply that the general public has the potential to misinterpret DTC results without appropriate assistance. Further research is needed to explore optimal methods of providing DTC test results and ways to minimize the risk of negative consequences for consumers. Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Balancing regulatory control, scientific knowledge, and public understanding.

PubMed

Kingsbury, D T

1988-01-01

In summary, I would like to emphasize the continued need for broad and vigorous basic research, with a balance between the fundamental work that may eventually lead to commercial products and the fundamental work that is necessary for an understanding of the interaction of many types of organisms within the environment. I would like also to reiterate the need for balance in the regulatory approach so that we do not repress innovation in research and development. Over-regulation has many side effects. In addition to repressing innovation and not taking advantage of our research base, over-regulation leads to reluctance by the capital markets to invest in the future of our new industries, thereby halting their development at an early stage. At the same time, under-regulation leads to lack of confidence by the public and paralysis of the industry based on public outcry and legal proceedings. It is my personal belief that the combination of a sound approach to regulatory practice, based on current scientific knowledge, combined with appropriate communication with the public regarding the new products, will lead to an exciting future for all sectors of industry that use the new biotechnology.

Are hospital quality improvement and public accountability compatible?

PubMed

Panzer, R J

1994-07-01

The goals of public accountability and quality improvement are compatible in theory but not necessarily in practice. Both concepts emphasize the customer. However, those working toward these two goals design systems with quite different roles and relationships between the providers and consumers of health care. Superficial interactions obstruct meaningful dialogue about how to build a better system meeting both sets of goals. Current practices of public accountability and quality improvement have fundamentally different paradigms concerning the roles and responsibilities of those who provide and those who consume health care. There are at least three ways to improve the current relationship between public accountability and quality improvement. First, optimizing the design and performance of each effort would be an improvement since the goals are highly compatible. Neither ideal currently meets its own expectations, creating distrust among the proponents of each when reality falls short. Second, the two efforts could be coordinated through joint community-level planning and sharing. Finally and optimally, the two concepts could be made part of the same community-level cooperative system, an approach that offers the greatest opportunity for achieving shared goals.

Improving organizational capacity to address health literacy in public health: a rapid realist review.

PubMed

Willis, C D; Saul, J E; Bitz, J; Pompu, K; Best, A; Jackson, B

2014-06-01

Despite the growing significance of health literacy to public health, relatively little is known about how organizational capacity may be improved for planning, implementing and sustaining health literacy interventions. This study aimed to connect decision makers in a public health agency with evidence of how organizational capacity may be improved for delivering health literacy services. A rapid realist review of published and grey literature was conducted by a partnership between the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and the InSource Research Group. Realist review methodology attempts to understand what works for whom under what circumstances, and is characterized by its focus on strategies/interventions, contexts, mechanisms and their relationship to outcome. This review was completed in collaboration with a reference panel (comprised of a broad range of PHAC representatives) and an expert panel. Literature searching was conducted using three databases supplemented with bibliographic hand searches and articles recommended by panels. Data were extracted on key variables related to definitions, strategies/interventions associated with increased organizational capacity, contextual factors associated with success (and failure), mechanisms activated as a result of different strategies and contexts, key outcomes, and evidence cited. Strategies found to be associated with improved organizational capacity for delivering health literacy services may be classified into three domains: (1) government action; (2) organizational/practitioner action; and (3) partnership action. Government action includes developing policies to reinforce social norms; setting standards for education; conducting research; and measuring health literacy levels. Organizational/practitioner action relates to appropriate models of leadership (both high-level government engagement and distributed leadership). Innovative partnership action includes collaborations with media outlets, those producing

The Reproduction of Scientific Understanding about Pendulum Motion in the Public

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manabu, Sumida

This paper describes life-span development of understanding about pendulum motion and effects of school science. The subjects were 2,766 people ranging from kindergartners up to 88 years senior citizens. The conflict and consensus between children and their parent's understanding of pendulum motion were also analyzed. The kindergartner's understanding, mostly non-scientific, made a marked developmental change to another type of non-scientific understanding by the time they reach G 4. Parents with scientific understanding do not presumably nurture scientifically minded children,even though about half of them can apply scientific conceptions that shorter pendulums swing faster, and the amplitude and speed of pendulum motion do not depend on its weight. There seems to be another type of developmental change from scientific understanding to non-scientific understanding around their fifties. Itis suggested that the scientific understanding in the public about pendulum motion become predominant due to the educational intervention through school science.

Methodology to improve process understanding of surface runoff causing damages to buildings by analyzing insurance data records

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernet, Daniel; Prasuhn, Volker; Weingartner, Rolf

2015-04-01

Several case studies in Switzerland highlight that many buildings which are damaged by floods are not located within the inundation zones of rivers, but outside the river network. In urban areas, such flooding can be caused by drainage system surcharge, low infiltration capacity of the urbanized landscape etc. However, in rural and peri-urban areas inundations are more likely caused by surface runoff formed on natural and arable land. Such flash floods have very short response time, occur rather diffusely and, thus, are very difficult to observe directly. In our approach, we use data records from private, but mostly from public insurance companies. The latter, present in 19 out of the total 26 Cantons of Switzerland, insure (almost) every building within the respective administrative zones and, in addition, hold a monopoly position. Damage claims, including flood damages, are usually recorded and, thus, data records from such public insurance companies are a very profitable data source to better understand surface runoff leading to damages. Although practitioners agree that this process is relevant, there seems to be a knowledge gap concerning spatial and temporal distributions as well as triggers and influencing factors of such damage events. Within the framework of a research project, we want to address this research gap and improve the understanding of the process chain from surface runoff formation up to possible damages to buildings. This poster introduces the methodology, which will be applied to a dataset including data from the majority of all 19 public insurance companies for buildings in Switzerland, counting over 50'000 damage claims, in order to better understand surface runoff. The goal is to infer spatial and temporal patterns as well as drivers and influencing factors of surface runoff possibly causing damages. In particular, the workflow of data acquisition, harmonization and treatment is outlined. Furthermore associated problems and challenges are

Using Interactive Family Science Shows to Improve Public Knowledge on Antibiotic Resistance: Does It Work?

PubMed Central

Lecky, Donna M.; Hawking, Meredith K. D.; Verlander, Neville Q.; McNulty, Cliodna A. M.

2014-01-01

The public plays an important role in controlling the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance. A large British survey showed that there is still public misunderstanding about microbes and antibiotics. e-Bug, a European DG Sanco sponsored project, aims to disseminate a school antibiotic and hygiene educational pack and website across Europe. Interactive science shows based on the e-Bug educational packs were developed to take the key health and hygiene messages from the e-Bug school resources to families. The science show was evaluated to assess public knowledge and understanding of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance pre and post intervention. An interactive stall comprised of a 3×2 m backing stand with background information, an interactive activity and discussions with a trained demonstrator was on display at a family holiday resort. Pre-piloted knowledge questionnaires were completed by parents and children pre and post intervention. Adult (≥19 years) baseline knowledge regarding antibiotics and antibiotic resistance was high although significant knowledge improvement was observed where baseline knowledge was low. Children's (5–11 years) knowledge around antibiotics and antibiotic resistance was significantly improved for all questions. The science show can be viewed as a success in improving parents' and children's knowledge of antibiotic use thereby highlighting the importance of educating the public through interaction. PMID:25162505

Improving TSA’s Public Image: Customer-Focused Initiatives to Encourage Public Trust and Confidence

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-12-01

INITIATIVES TO ENCOURAGE PUBLIC TRUST AND CONFIDENCE Patricia S. Bierle Customer Support and Quality Improvement Manager, Transportation Security...PUBLIC IMAGE: CUSTOMER-FOCUSED INITIATIVES TO ENCOURAGE PUBLIC TRUST AND CONFIDENCE by Patricia S. Bierle December 2013 Thesis Co-Advisors...33 e . Government Leaders Impact Public Opinion ........................35 f. Aviation Stakeholders Also Impact

Evaluation of a Quality Improvement Resource for Public Health Practitioners

PubMed Central

Marcial, Laura H.; Brown, Stephen; Throop, Cynthia; Pina, Jamie

2017-01-01

Objectives: Quality improvement is a critical mechanism to manage public health agency performance and to strengthen accountability for public funds. The objective of this study was to evaluate a relatively new quality improvement resource, the Public Health Quality Improvement Exchange (PHQIX), a free online communication platform dedicated to making public health quality improvement information accessible to practitioners. Methods: We conducted an internet-based survey of registered PHQIX users (n = 536 respondents) in 2013 and key informant interviews with PHQIX frequent users (n = 21) in 2014, in the United States. We assessed use of the PHQIX website, user engagement and satisfaction, communication and knowledge exchange, use of information, and impact on quality improvement capacity and accreditation readiness. Results: Of 462 respondents, 369 (79.9%) browsed quality improvement initiatives, making it the most commonly used site feature, and respondents described PHQIX as a near-unique source for real-world quality improvement examples. Respondents were satisfied with the quality and breadth of topics and relevance to their settings (average satisfaction scores, 3.9-4.1 [where 5 was the most satisfied]). Of 407 respondents, 237 (58.2%) said that they had put into practice information learned on PHQIX, and 209 of 405 (51.6%) said that PHQIX had helped to improve quality improvement capacity. Fewer than half of respondents used the commenting function, the Community Forum, and the Ask an Expert feature. Conclusions: Findings suggest that PHQIX, particularly descriptions of the quality improvement initiatives, is a valued resource for public health practitioners. Users reported sharing information with colleagues and applying what they learned to their own work. These findings may relate to other efforts to disseminate quality improvement knowledge. PMID:28135430

Evaluation of a Quality Improvement Resource for Public Health Practitioners.

PubMed

Porterfield, Deborah S; Marcial, Laura H; Brown, Stephen; Throop, Cynthia; Pina, Jamie

Quality improvement is a critical mechanism to manage public health agency performance and to strengthen accountability for public funds. The objective of this study was to evaluate a relatively new quality improvement resource, the Public Health Quality Improvement Exchange (PHQIX), a free online communication platform dedicated to making public health quality improvement information accessible to practitioners. We conducted an internet-based survey of registered PHQIX users (n = 536 respondents) in 2013 and key informant interviews with PHQIX frequent users (n = 21) in 2014, in the United States. We assessed use of the PHQIX website, user engagement and satisfaction, communication and knowledge exchange, use of information, and impact on quality improvement capacity and accreditation readiness. Of 462 respondents, 369 (79.9%) browsed quality improvement initiatives, making it the most commonly used site feature, and respondents described PHQIX as a near-unique source for real-world quality improvement examples. Respondents were satisfied with the quality and breadth of topics and relevance to their settings (average satisfaction scores, 3.9-4.1 [where 5 was the most satisfied]). Of 407 respondents, 237 (58.2%) said that they had put into practice information learned on PHQIX, and 209 of 405 (51.6%) said that PHQIX had helped to improve quality improvement capacity. Fewer than half of respondents used the commenting function, the Community Forum, and the Ask an Expert feature. Findings suggest that PHQIX, particularly descriptions of the quality improvement initiatives, is a valued resource for public health practitioners. Users reported sharing information with colleagues and applying what they learned to their own work. These findings may relate to other efforts to disseminate quality improvement knowledge.

Toward improved understanding and control in analytical atomic spectrometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hieftje, Gary M.

1989-01-01

As with most papers which attempt to predict the future, this treatment will begin with a coverage of past events. It will be shown that progress in the field of analytical atomic spectrometry has occurred through a series of steps which involve the addition of new techniques and the occasional displacement of established ones. Because it is difficult or impossible to presage true breakthroughs, this manuscript will focus on how such existing methods can be modified or improved to greatest advantage. The thesis will be that rational improvement can be accomplished most effectively by understanding fundamentally the nature of an instrumental system, a measurement process, and a spectrometric technique. In turn, this enhanced understanding can lead to closer control, from which can spring improved performance. Areas where understanding is now lacking and where control is most greatly needed will be identified and a possible scheme for implementing control procedures will be outlined. As we draw toward the new millennium, these novel procedures seem particularly appealing; new high-speed computers, the availability of expert systems, and our enhanced understanding of atomic spectrometric events combine to make future prospects extremely bright.

The Public Understanding of Science. Report of a Royal Society ad hoc Group Endorsed by the Council of the Royal Society.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Royal Society, London (England).

Based on the premise that science and technology directly affect a wide range of personal activities and impact policy issues of national and international importance, this report aims to show why it matters that all sections of the public should have some understanding of science and to stimulate action by scientists and others to improve this…

Public health triangulation: approach and application to synthesizing data to understand national and local HIV epidemics.

PubMed

Rutherford, George W; McFarland, William; Spindler, Hilary; White, Karen; Patel, Sadhna V; Aberle-Grasse, John; Sabin, Keith; Smith, Nathan; Taché, Stephanie; Calleja-Garcia, Jesus M; Stoneburner, Rand L

2010-07-29

Public health triangulation is a process for reviewing, synthesising and interpreting secondary data from multiple sources that bear on the same question to make public health decisions. It can be used to understand the dynamics of HIV transmission and to measure the impact of public health programs. While traditional intervention research and meta-analysis would be ideal sources of information for public health decision making, they are infrequently available, and often decisions can be based only on surveillance and survey data. The process involves examination of a wide variety of data sources and both biological, behavioral and program data and seeks input from stakeholders to formulate meaningful public health questions. Finally and most importantly, it uses the results to inform public health decision-making. There are 12 discrete steps in the triangulation process, which included identification and assessment of key questions, identification of data sources, refining questions, gathering data and reports, assessing the quality of those data and reports, formulating hypotheses to explain trends in the data, corroborating or refining working hypotheses, drawing conclusions, communicating results and recommendations and taking public health action. Triangulation can be limited by the quality of the original data, the potentials for ecological fallacy and "data dredging" and reproducibility of results. Nonetheless, we believe that public health triangulation allows for the interpretation of data sets that cannot be analyzed using meta-analysis and can be a helpful adjunct to surveillance, to formal public health intervention research and to monitoring and evaluation, which in turn lead to improved national strategic planning and resource allocation.

Engaging Students Through Classroom Connection Webinars to Improve Their Understanding of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Graff, Paige V.; Achilles, Cherie

2013-01-01

Planetary exploration missions to other worlds, like Mars, can generate a lot of excitement and wonder for the public. The Mars Science Laboratory Mission is one of the latest planetary missions that has intrigued the public perhaps more than most. How can scientists and educational specialists capitalize on the allure of this mission and involve students and teachers in a way that not only shares the story of the mission, but actively engages classrooms with scientists and improves their understanding of the science? The Expedition Earth and Beyond (EEAB) Program [1], facilitated by the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Directorate Education Program at the NASA Johnson Space Center achieves this by facilitating MSL mission focused classroom connection webinars. Five MSL-focused webinars facilitated through EEAB during the 2012 fall semester engaged almost 3000 students and teachers. Involved STEM experts/role models helped translate the science behind the Mars Science Laboratory mission in a comprehensive, exciting, and engaging manner. These virtual events captured participants attention while increasing their science awareness and understanding of the MSL mission.

Using the CAUSE Model to Understand Public Communication about Water Risks: Perspectives from Texas Groundwater District Officials on Drought and Availability.

PubMed

VanDyke, Matthew S; King, Andy J

2017-12-05

Public communication about drought and water availability risks poses challenges to a potentially disinterested public. Water management professionals, though, have a responsibility to work with the public to engage in communication about water and environmental risks. Because limited research in water management examines organizational communication practices and perceptions, insights into research and practice can be gained through investigation of current applications of these risk communication efforts. Guided by the CAUSE model, which explains common goals in communicating risk information to the public (e.g., creating Confidence, generating Awareness, enhancing Understanding, gaining Satisfaction, and motivating Enactment), semistructured interviews of professionals (N = 25) employed by Texas groundwater conservation districts were conducted. The interviews examined how CAUSE model considerations factor in to communication about drought and water availability risks. These data suggest that many work to build constituents' confidence in their districts. Although audiences and constituents living in drought-prone areas were reported as being engaged with water availability risks and solutions, many district officials noted constituents' lack of perceived risk and engagement. Some managers also indicated that public understanding was a secondary concern of their primary responsibilities and that the public often seemed apathetic about technical details related to water conservation risks. Overall, results suggest complicated dynamics between officials and the public regarding information access and motivation. The article also outlines extensions of the CAUSE model and implications for improving public communication about drought and water availability risks. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

"Know What to Do If You Encounter a Flash Flood": Mental Models Analysis for Improving Flash Flood Risk Communication and Public Decision Making.

PubMed

Lazrus, Heather; Morss, Rebecca E; Demuth, Julie L; Lazo, Jeffrey K; Bostrom, Ann

2016-02-01

Understanding how people view flash flood risks can help improve risk communication, ultimately improving outcomes. This article analyzes data from 26 mental models interviews about flash floods with members of the public in Boulder, Colorado, to understand their perspectives on flash flood risks and mitigation. The analysis includes a comparison between public and professional perspectives by referencing a companion mental models study of Boulder-area professionals. A mental models approach can help to diagnose what people already know about flash flood risks and responses, as well as any critical gaps in their knowledge that might be addressed through improved risk communication. A few public interviewees mentioned most of the key concepts discussed by professionals as important for flash flood warning decision making. However, most interviewees exhibited some incomplete understandings and misconceptions about aspects of flash flood development and exposure, effects, or mitigation that may lead to ineffective warning decisions when a flash flood threatens. These include important misunderstandings about the rapid evolution of flash floods, the speed of water in flash floods, the locations and times that pose the greatest flash flood risk in Boulder, the value of situational awareness and environmental cues, and the most appropriate responses when a flash flood threatens. The findings point to recommendations for ways to improve risk communication, over the long term and when an event threatens, to help people quickly recognize and understand threats, obtain needed information, and make informed decisions in complex, rapidly evolving extreme weather events such as flash floods. © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis.

The Ambiguity of Improvement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramsay, John G.

1984-01-01

Holds that "improvement" is an important theme for understanding the early history of public schooling in Buffalo. Describes Oliver Steele's strategy for linking public schooling with the concept of "public improvement" and argues that an unfortunate part of Steele's legacy was the idea that a suitable building guaranteed a…

Climate services to improve public health.

PubMed

Jancloes, Michel; Thomson, Madeleine; Costa, María Mánez; Hewitt, Chris; Corvalan, Carlos; Dinku, Tufa; Lowe, Rachel; Hayden, Mary

2014-04-25

A high level expert panel discussed how climate and health services could best collaborate to improve public health. This was on the agenda of the recent Third International Climate Services Conference, held in Montego Bay, Jamaica, 4-6 December 2013. Issues and challenges concerning a demand led approach to serve the health sector needs, were identified and analysed. Important recommendations emerged to ensure that innovative collaboration between climate and health services assist decision-making processes and the management of climate-sensitive health risk. Key recommendations included: a move from risk assessment towards risk management; the engagement of the public health community with both the climate sector and development sectors, whose decisions impact on health, particularly the most vulnerable; to increase operational research on the use of policy-relevant climate information to manage climate- sensitive health risks; and to develop in-country capacities to improve local knowledge (including collection of epidemiological, climate and socio-economic data), along with institutional interaction with policy makers.

Overcoming barriers to public understanding of climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayhoe, K.

2012-12-01

Humans are interfering with global climate, increasing the risk of serious consequences for human society and the natural environment. As the scientific evidence builds, however, so does the public controversy surrounding this issue. Why is climate change so contentious? What makes it so hard to comprehend? I argue that there is no single reason for this, but rather a perfect storm of multiple confounding factors; scientific, historical, ideological, psychological and even physiological in nature. Education—of both the messengers and the audience—can play a critical role in surmounting many of the common barriers to understanding, accepting, and acting this important issue.

From Headline to Hard Grind: The Importance of Understanding Public Administration in Achieving Health Outcomes

PubMed Central

O’Flynn, Janine

2016-01-01

Many public policy programs fail to translate ambitious headlines to on-the-ground action. The reasons for this are many and varied, but for public administration and management scholars a large part of the gap between ambition and achievement is the challenge associated with the operation of the machinery of government itself, and how it relates to the other parties that it relies on to fulfill these outcomes. In their article, Carey and Friel set out key reasons why public health scholars should seek to better understand important ideas in public administration. In commenting on their contribution, I draw out two critical questions that are raised by this discussion: (i) what are boundaries and what forms do they take? and (ii) why work across boundaries? Expanding on these key questions extends the points made by Carey and Friel on the importance of understanding public administration and will better place public health scholars and practitioners to realise health outcomes. PMID:27694672

Improving Student Understanding of Spatial Ecology Statistics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hopkins, Robert, II; Alberts, Halley

2015-01-01

This activity is designed as a primer to teaching population dispersion analysis. The aim is to help improve students' spatial thinking and their understanding of how spatial statistic equations work. Students use simulated data to develop their own statistic and apply that equation to experimental behavioral data for Gambusia affinis (western…

From Headline to Hard Grind: The Importance of Understanding Public Administration in Achieving Health OutcomesComment on "Understanding the Role of Public Administration in Implementing Action on the Social Determinants of Health and Health Inequities".

PubMed

O'Flynn, Janine

2016-04-30

Many public policy programs fail to translate ambitious headlines to on-the-ground action. The reasons for this are many and varied, but for public administration and management scholars a large part of the gap between ambition and achievement is the challenge associated with the operation of the machinery of government itself, and how it relates to the other parties that it relies on to fulfill these outcomes. In their article, Carey and Friel set out key reasons why public health scholars should seek to better understand important ideas in public administration. In commenting on their contribution, I draw out two critical questions that are raised by this discussion: (i) what are boundaries and what forms do they take? and (ii) why work across boundaries? Expanding on these key questions extends the points made by Carey and Friel on the importance of understanding public administration and will better place public health scholars and practitioners to realise health outcomes. © 2016 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

Active drug safety surveillance: a tool to improve public health.

PubMed

Platt, Richard; Madre, Leanne; Reynolds, Robert; Tilson, Hugh

2008-12-01

Ensuring that drugs have an acceptable safety profile and are used safely is a major public health priority. The Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs) convened experts from academia, government, and industry to assess strategies to increase the speed and predictive value of generating and evaluating safety signals, and to identify next steps to improve the US system for identifying and evaluating potential safety signals. The CERTs convened a think tank comprising representatives of the groups noted above to address these goals. Participants observed that, with the increasing availability of electronic health data, opportunities have emerged to more accurately characterize and confirm potential safety issues. The gain for public health from a highly coordinated network of population-based databases for active surveillance is great and within reach, although operational questions remain. A collaborative network must create a working definition of a safety signal, screening algorithms, and criteria and strategies to confirm or refute a signal once identified through screening. Guidelines are needed for when and how to communicate a signal exists and is being evaluated, as well as the outcome of that evaluation. A public-private partnership to create a network of government and private databases to routinely evaluate and prioritize safety questions is in the public interest. Better methods are needed, and a knowledgeable workforce is required to conduct the surveillance and understand how to interpret the results. The international community will benefit from the availability of better methods and more experts. Copyright (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Improved methods for operating public transportation services.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-03-01

In this joint project, West Virginia University and the University of Maryland collaborated in developing improved methods for analyzing and managing public transportation services. Transit travel time data were collected using GPS tracking services ...

Understanding public confidence in government to prevent terrorist attacks.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baldwin, T. E.; Ramaprasad, A,; Samsa, M. E.

A primary goal of terrorism is to instill a sense of fear and vulnerability in a population and to erode its confidence in government and law enforcement agencies to protect citizens against future attacks. In recognition of its importance, the Department of Homeland Security includes public confidence as one of the principal metrics used to assess the consequences of terrorist attacks. Hence, a detailed understanding of the variations in public confidence among individuals, terrorist event types, and as a function of time is critical to developing this metric. In this exploratory study, a questionnaire was designed, tested, and administered tomore » small groups of individuals to measure public confidence in the ability of federal, state, and local governments and their public safety agencies to prevent acts of terrorism. Data was collected from three groups before and after they watched mock television news broadcasts portraying a smallpox attack, a series of suicide bomber attacks, a refinery explosion attack, and cyber intrusions on financial institutions, resulting in identity theft. Our findings are: (a) although the aggregate confidence level is low, there are optimists and pessimists; (b) the subjects are discriminating in interpreting the nature of a terrorist attack, the time horizon, and its impact; (c) confidence recovery after a terrorist event has an incubation period; and (d) the patterns of recovery of confidence of the optimists and the pessimists are different. These findings can affect the strategy and policies to manage public confidence after a terrorist event.« less

Understanding Price Elasticities to Inform Public Health Research and Intervention Studies: Key Issues

PubMed Central

Nghiem, Nhung; Genç, Murat; Blakely, Tony

2013-01-01

Pricing policies such as taxes and subsidies are important tools in preventing and controlling a range of threats to public health. This is particularly so in tobacco and alcohol control efforts and efforts to change dietary patterns and physical activity levels as a means of addressing increases in noncommunicable diseases. To understand the potential impact of pricing policies, it is critical to understand the nature of price elasticities for consumer products. For example, price elasticities are key parameters in models of any food tax or subsidy that aims to quantify health impacts and cost-effectiveness. We detail relevant terms and discuss key issues surrounding price elasticities to inform public health research and intervention studies. PMID:24028228

Phytotechnologies – Preventing Exposures, Improving Public Health

PubMed Central

Henry, Heather F.; Burken, Joel G.; Maier, Raina M.; Newman, Lee A.; Rock, Steven; Schnoor, Jerald L.; Suk, William A.

2014-01-01

Phytotechnologies have the potential to reduce the amount and/or toxicity of deleterious chemicals/agents, and thereby, prevent human exposures to hazardous substances. As such, phytotechnologies are a tool for primary prevention within the context of public health. Research advances demonstrate that phytotechnologies can be uniquely tailored for effective exposure prevention for a variety of applications. In addition to exposure prevention, phytotechnologists have advanced the use of plants as sensors to delineate environmental contaminants and potential exposures. The applications presented in this paper are at various stages of development and are presented in a framework to reflect how phytotechnologies can help meet basic public health needs for access to clean water, air, and food resources. As plant-based technologies can often be integrated into communities at minimal cost and with low infrastructure needs, their use in improving environmental quality can be applied broadly to minimize potential contaminant exposure. These natural treatment systems concurrently provide ecosystem services of notable value to communities and society. In the future, integration and coordination of phytotechnology activities with public health research will allow technology development that focuses on prevention of environmental exposures. Such an approach will lead to an important role of phytotechnologies in providing sustainable solutions to environmental exposure challenges that improve public health and potentially reduce the burden of disease. PMID:23819283

Improving Urban Corridor that Respect to Public Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zahrah, W.; Rahmadhani, N.; Nasution, A. D.; Pane, I. F.

2017-03-01

The urban corridor is more than just a linear space to circulation. It is a place for community activities. Since the urban area in Indonesia functionates without guidelines, it is necessary to analyze how this space being used by the community. The objective of the research is to explore the problems in utilization of public space in Dr. Mansur corridor in Medan and to propose some recommendation to improve it. The survey was started by mapping the physical situation that based on urban design aspects and the activities occur. Based on the data, the study identified the problems of the public space utilization. Next, study selected several buildings that significant in generating public life. The study interviewed the building’s owners and users/customers to get their opinion and perception about the using of urban public space utilization in the corridor in relation to their private function. The study analyzed the problems and opportunity to redesign the buildings that respect to public space. Then, the design ideas were presented to the buildings owners to get their response. The result of the observation shows that the fundamental problem in the corridor is the intervention of the private interest to the street as public space. The study indicates that the majority of the buildings owner was not aware that their buildings had distracted the urban public space. However, they gave a positive respond to the design recommendation. The design offered the solution that provided individual needs without intervention to the public realm. The study can contribute to improving urban corridor by educating the community with architecture and urban design.

The Decline and Rise of Coronary Heart Disease: Understanding Public Health Catastrophism

PubMed Central

Greene, Jeremy A.

2013-01-01

The decline of coronary heart disease mortality in the United States and Western Europe is one of the great accomplishments of modern public health and medicine. Cardiologists and cardiovascular epidemiologists have devoted significant effort to disease surveillance and epidemiological modeling to understand its causes. One unanticipated outcome of these efforts has been the detection of early warnings that the decline had slowed, plateaued, or even reversed. These subtle signs have been interpreted as evidence of an impending public health catastrophe. This article traces the history of research on coronary heart disease decline and resurgence and situates it in broader narratives of public health catastrophism. Juxtaposing the coronary heart disease literature alongside the narratives of emerging and reemerging infectious disease helps to identify patterns in how public health researchers create data and craft them into powerful narratives of progress or pessimism. These narratives, in turn, shape public health policy. PMID:23678895

Publics and vaccinomics: beyond public understanding of science.

PubMed

Einsiedel, Edna F

2011-09-01

Vaccines have been among the most effective tools for addressing global public health challenges. With the advent of genomics, novel approaches for vaccine discovery are opening up new opportunities for vaccine development and applications, particularly with the expectation of personalized vaccines and the possibility of addressing a broader range of infectious diseases. In this context, it is useful to reflect on the social contexts of vaccine development as these have been influenced by social, ethical, political challenges. This article discusses the historical context of vaccine controversies and factors that help explain public acceptance and resistance, illustrating that these challenges go well beyond simple public misunderstandings. The broader vaccine challenges evident along the innovation trajectory, from development to commercialization and implementation include problems in research and development, organizational issues, and legal and regulatory challenges that may collectively contribute to public resistance or confidence. The recent history of genomics provides further lessons that the developing field of vaccinomics can learn from.

Improved Diagnosis and Care for Rare Diseases through Implementation of Precision Public Health Framework.

PubMed

Baynam, Gareth; Bowman, Faye; Lister, Karla; Walker, Caroline E; Pachter, Nicholas; Goldblatt, Jack; Boycott, Kym M; Gahl, William A; Kosaki, Kenjiro; Adachi, Takeya; Ishii, Ken; Mahede, Trinity; McKenzie, Fiona; Townshend, Sharron; Slee, Jennie; Kiraly-Borri, Cathy; Vasudevan, Anand; Hawkins, Anne; Broley, Stephanie; Schofield, Lyn; Verhoef, Hedwig; Groza, Tudor; Zankl, Andreas; Robinson, Peter N; Haendel, Melissa; Brudno, Michael; Mattick, John S; Dinger, Marcel E; Roscioli, Tony; Cowley, Mark J; Olry, Annie; Hanauer, Marc; Alkuraya, Fowzan S; Taruscio, Domenica; Posada de la Paz, Manuel; Lochmüller, Hanns; Bushby, Kate; Thompson, Rachel; Hedley, Victoria; Lasko, Paul; Mina, Kym; Beilby, John; Tifft, Cynthia; Davis, Mark; Laing, Nigel G; Julkowska, Daria; Le Cam, Yann; Terry, Sharon F; Kaufmann, Petra; Eerola, Iiro; Norstedt, Irene; Rath, Ana; Suematsu, Makoto; Groft, Stephen C; Austin, Christopher P; Draghia-Akli, Ruxandra; Weeramanthri, Tarun S; Molster, Caron; Dawkins, Hugh J S

2017-01-01

Public health relies on technologies to produce and analyse data, as well as effectively develop and implement policies and practices. An example is the public health practice of epidemiology, which relies on computational technology to monitor the health status of populations, identify disadvantaged or at risk population groups and thereby inform health policy and priority setting. Critical to achieving health improvements for the underserved population of people living with rare diseases is early diagnosis and best care. In the rare diseases field, the vast majority of diseases are caused by destructive but previously difficult to identify protein-coding gene mutations. The reduction in cost of genetic testing and advances in the clinical use of genome sequencing, data science and imaging are converging to provide more precise understandings of the 'person-time-place' triad. That is: who is affected (people); when the disease is occurring (time); and where the disease is occurring (place). Consequently we are witnessing a paradigm shift in public health policy and practice towards 'precision public health'.Patient and stakeholder engagement has informed the need for a national public health policy framework for rare diseases. The engagement approach in different countries has produced highly comparable outcomes and objectives. Knowledge and experience sharing across the international rare diseases networks and partnerships has informed the development of the Western Australian Rare Diseases Strategic Framework 2015-2018 (RD Framework) and Australian government health briefings on the need for a National plan.The RD Framework is guiding the translation of genomic and other technologies into the Western Australian health system, leading to greater precision in diagnostic pathways and care, and is an example of how a precision public health framework can improve health outcomes for the rare diseases population.Five vignettes are used to illustrate how policy

"It just goes against the grain." Public understandings of genetically modified (GM) food in the UK.

PubMed

Shaw, Alison

2002-07-01

This paper reports on one aspect of qualitative research on public understandings of food risks, focusing on lay understandings of genetically modified (GM) food in the UK context. A range of theoretical, conceptual, and empirical literature on food, risk, and the public understanding of science are reviewed. The fieldwork methods are outlined and empirical data from a range of lay groups are presented. Major themes include: varying "technical" knowledge of science, the relationship between knowledge and acceptance of genetic modification, the uncertainty of scientific knowledge, genetic modification as inappropriate scientific intervention in "nature", the acceptability of animal and human applications of genetic modification, the appropriate boundaries of scientific innovation, the necessity for GM foods, the uncertainty of risks in GM food, fatalism about avoiding risks, and trust in "experts" to manage potential risks in GM food. Key discussion points relating to a sociological understanding of public attitudes to GM food are raised and some policy implications are highlighted.

Public Attitudes Toward Expanded Newborn Screening.

PubMed

DeLuca, Jane M

There is limited research available on public knowledge and understanding of expanded newborn screening (NBS). The aims of this study were to assess current public knowledge and understanding of newborn screening disorders and procedures, perceived education needs, and preferences for the delivery of NBS information and education. An additional aim was to develop a beginning understanding of public attitudes toward screening for complex, severe, and in some cases untreatable disorders. In this preliminary descriptive study, eighty-eight participants completed surveys querying their general knowledge of NBS, preferred means of receiving NBS information and education, and their opinions about screening for severe disorders such as lysosomal storage diseases (LSD). Most study participants lacked general knowledge about current NBS practices, however, they supported expanding screening for severe and in some cases untreatable conditions. Most participants were enthusiastic about expanding NBS; however, those with more years of education were cautious regarding extensive costs of diagnosing and treating rare disorders. Newborn screening continues to evolve through new technological developments and the addition of more disorders to screening panels. More research of into public acceptance of newborn screening is needed. Addressing the educational needs of the public is important for improving their understanding of NBS and promoting patient-centered care in the era of genomic screening. Enhanced educational efforts are necessary for improving public understanding of newborn screening. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Driving forces behind the Chinese public's demand for improved environmental safety.

PubMed

Wen, Ting; Wang, Jigan; Ma, Zongwei; Bi, Jun

2017-12-15

Over the past decades, the public demand for improved environmental safety keeps increasing in China. This study aims to assess the driving forces behind the increasing public demand for improved environmental safety using a provincial and multi-year (1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2014) panel data and the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model. The potential driving forces investigated included population size, income levels, degrees of urbanization, and educational levels. Results show that population size and educational level are positively (P<0.01) associated with public demand for improved environmental safety. No significant impact on demand was found due to the degree of urbanization. For the impact due to income level, an inverted U-shaped curve effect with the turning point of ~140,000 CNY GDP per capita is indicated. Since per capita GDP of 2015 in China was approximately 50,000 CNY and far from the turning point, the public demand for improved environmental safety will continue rising in the near future. To meet the increasing public demand for improved environmental safety, proactive and risk prevention based environmental management systems coupled with effective environmental risk communication should be established. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Science and Public Understanding: The Role of the Historian of Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watts, Ruth

2017-01-01

In this article, questions of public education in both environmental issues and science, more broadly, are examined in an effort to respond to Richard Aldrich's call for historians of education to use their skills and understanding both to inform the present and to shape a more enlightened future. In particular, the lives and work of three women…

Improving spatio-temporal model estimation of satellite-derived PM2.5 concentrations: Implications for public health

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barik, M. G.; Al-Hamdan, M. Z.; Crosson, W. L.; Yang, C. A.; Coffield, S. R.

2017-12-01

Satellite-derived environmental data, available in a range of spatio-temporal scales, are contributing to the growing use of health impact assessments of air pollution in the public health sector. Models developed using correlation of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) with ground measurements of fine particulate matter less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) are widely applied to measure PM2.5 spatial and temporal variability. In the public health sector, associations of PM2.5 with respiratory and cardiovascular diseases are often investigated to quantify air quality impacts on these health concerns. In order to improve predictability of PM2.5 estimation using correlation models, we have included meteorological variables, higher-resolution AOD products and instantaneous PM2.5 observations into statistical estimation models. Our results showed that incorporation of high-resolution (1-km) Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC)-generated MODIS AOD, meteorological variables and instantaneous PM2.5 observations improved model performance in various parts of California (CA), USA, where single variable AOD-based models showed relatively weak performance. In this study, we further asked whether these improved models actually would be more successful for exploring associations of public health outcomes with estimated PM2.5. To answer this question, we geospatially investigated model-estimated PM2.5's relationship with respiratory and cardiovascular diseases such as asthma, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke in CA using health data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). PM2.5 estimation from these improved models have the potential to improve our understanding of associations between public health concerns and air quality.

Public Understanding of Science through Evaluations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dusenbery, P.; Koke, J.

Evaluation is an integral part of exhibition development. It is usually a 3-phase process: front end, formative and summative. This report will compare science misconception studies of students with a number of front-end museum studies in order to elucidate the similarities and differences between student and general public understanding of science. The Space Science Institute (SSI) has recently conducted a major front-end evaluation of its Alien Earths exhibition. Alien Earths has four interrelated exhibit areas: Our Place in Space, Star Birth, PlanetQuest, and Search for Life. Exhibit visitors will explore the awesome events surrounding the birth of stars and planets; they will join scientists in the hunt for planets outside our solar system including those that may be in ``habitable zones'' around other stars; and finally they will be able to learn about the wide range of conditions for life on Earth and how scientists are looking for signs of life beyond Earth. The front-end evaluation elicited visitors' beliefs about the origins of life, what life is dominant on Earth, and the role indirect evidence plays in science. The front-end evaluation also examined visitors' understanding of the tools used in origins research from grand telescopes to microscopes, their ability to decipher and interpret images of star forming regions, and their fluency with the specific terminology likely to be used in the Alien Earths scripts. Front-end evaluation worked to support concept design and development by developing the visitors' entrance narrative -- their pre-existing knowledge, commonly held misconceptions, and their attitudes and interests towards the topic. This served to identify potential points of access and barriers to efficient communication.

The Cost of War on Public Health: An Exploratory Method for Understanding the Impact of Conflict on Public Health in Sri Lanka.

PubMed

Johnson, Sandy A

2017-01-01

The direct impact of protracted conflict on population health and development is well understood. However, the extent of a war's impact on long-term health, and the opportunity costs, are less well understood. This research sought to overcome this gap by asking whether or not health outcomes in Sri Lanka would have been better in the absence of a 26-year war than they were in the presence of war. A counterfactual model of national and district-level health outcomes was created for Sri Lanka for the period 1982 to 2002. At the national level, the model examined life expectancy, infant mortality rate (IMR), and maternal mortality ratios (MMR). At the district level, it looked at IMR and MMR. The model compared outcomes generated by the counterfactual model to actual obtained health outcomes. It looked at the rate of change and absolute values. The analysis demonstrated that war altered both rate of change and absolute health outcomes for the worse. The impact was most clearly evident at the district level. IMR was poorer than predicted in 10 districts; of these 8 were outside of the conflict zone. The MMR was worse than expected in 11 districts of which 9 were not in the conflict zone. Additionally, the rate of improvement in IMR slowed as a result of war in 16 districts whereas the rate of improvement in MMR slowed in 9. This project showed that protracted conflict degraded the trajectory of public health in Sri Lanka and hurt population health outside of the conflict zone. It further provided a novel methodology with which to better understand the indirect impact of conflict on population health by comparing what is to what could have been achieved in the absence of war. In so doing, this research responded to two public health challenges by providing a tool through which to better understand the human and opportunity costs of war and by answering a call for new methodologies.

The Cost of War on Public Health: An Exploratory Method for Understanding the Impact of Conflict on Public Health in Sri Lanka

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Purpose The direct impact of protracted conflict on population health and development is well understood. However, the extent of a war's impact on long-term health, and the opportunity costs, are less well understood. This research sought to overcome this gap by asking whether or not health outcomes in Sri Lanka would have been better in the absence of a 26-year war than they were in the presence of war. Methods A counterfactual model of national and district-level health outcomes was created for Sri Lanka for the period 1982 to 2002. At the national level, the model examined life expectancy, infant mortality rate (IMR), and maternal mortality ratios (MMR). At the district level, it looked at IMR and MMR. The model compared outcomes generated by the counterfactual model to actual obtained health outcomes. It looked at the rate of change and absolute values. Results The analysis demonstrated that war altered both rate of change and absolute health outcomes for the worse. The impact was most clearly evident at the district level. IMR was poorer than predicted in 10 districts; of these 8 were outside of the conflict zone. The MMR was worse than expected in 11 districts of which 9 were not in the conflict zone. Additionally, the rate of improvement in IMR slowed as a result of war in 16 districts whereas the rate of improvement in MMR slowed in 9. Conclusion This project showed that protracted conflict degraded the trajectory of public health in Sri Lanka and hurt population health outside of the conflict zone. It further provided a novel methodology with which to better understand the indirect impact of conflict on population health by comparing what is to what could have been achieved in the absence of war. In so doing, this research responded to two public health challenges by providing a tool through which to better understand the human and opportunity costs of war and by answering a call for new methodologies. PMID:28081118

Gynecologic oncology group strategies to improve timeliness of publication.

PubMed

Bialy, Sally; Blessing, John A; Stehman, Frederick B; Reardon, Anne M; Blaser, Kim M

2013-08-01

The Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) is a multi-institution cooperative group funded by the National Cancer Institute to conduct clinical trials encompassing clinical and basic scientific research in gynecologic malignancies. These results are disseminated via publication in peer-reviewed journals. This process requires collaboration of numerous investigators located in diverse cancer research centers. Coordination of manuscript development is positioned within the Statistical and Data Center (SDC), thus allowing the SDC personnel to manage the process and refine strategies to promote earlier dissemination of results. A major initiative to improve timeliness utilizing the assignment, monitoring, and enforcement of deadlines for each phase of manuscript development is the focus of this investigation. Document improvement in timeliness via comparison of deadline compliance and time to journal submission due to expanded administrative and technologic initiatives implemented in 2006. Major steps in the publication process include generation of first draft by the First Author and submission to SDC, Co-author review, editorial review by Publications Subcommittee, response to journal critique, and revision. Associated with each step are responsibilities of First Author to write or revise, collaborating Biostatistician to perform analysis and interpretation, and assigned SDC Clinical Trials Editorial Associate to format/revise according to journal requirements. Upon the initiation of each step, a deadline for completion is assigned. In order to improve efficiency, a publications database was developed to track potential steps in manuscript development that enables the SDC Director of Administration and the Publications Subcommittee Chair to assign, monitor, and enforce deadlines. They, in turn, report progress to Group Leadership through the Operations Committee. The success of the strategies utilized to improve the GOG publication process was assessed by comparing the

Beyond Theory: Improving Public Relations Writing through Computer Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neff, Bonita Dostal

Computer technology (primarily word processing) enables the student of public relations writing to improve the writing process through increased flexibility in writing, enhanced creativity, increased support of management skills and team work. A new instructional model for computer use in public relations courses at Purdue University Calumet…

Improving public health evaluation: a qualitative investigation of practitioners' needs.

PubMed

Denford, Sarah; Lakshman, Rajalakshmi; Callaghan, Margaret; Abraham, Charles

2018-01-30

In 2011, the House of Lords published a report on Behaviour Change, in which they report that "a lot more could, and should, be done to improve the evaluation of interventions." This study aimed to undertake a needs assessment of what kind of evaluation training and materials would be of most use to UK public health practitioners by conducting interviews with practitioners about everyday evaluation practice and needed guidance and materials. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 public health practitioners in two UK regions, Cambridgeshire and the South West. Participants included directors of public health, consultants in public health, health improvement advisors, public health intelligence, and public health research officers. A topic guide included questions designed to explore participants existing evaluation practice and their needs for further training and guidance. Data were analysed using thematic analyses. Practitioners highlighted the need for evaluation to defend the effectiveness of existing programs and protect funding provisions. However, practitioners often lacked training in evaluation, and felt unqualified to perform such a task. The majority of practitioners did not use, or were not aware of many existing evaluation guidance documents. They wanted quality-assured, practical guidance that relate to the real world settings in which they operate. Practitioners also mentioned the need for better links and support from academics in public health. Whilst numerous guidance documents supporting public health evaluation exist, these documents are currently underused by practitioners - either because they are not considered useful, or because practitioners are not aware of them. Integrating existing guides into a catalogue of guidance documents, and developing a new-quality assured, practical and useful document may support the evaluation of public health programs. This in turn has the potential to identify those programs that are effective

Increasing Understanding of Public Problems and Policies, 1994. [National Public Policy Education Conference (44th, Boise, Idaho, September 18-21, 1994).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halbrook, Steve A., Ed.; Grace, Teddee E., Ed.

The National Public Policy Education Conference is held annually to improve the policy education efforts of extension workers responsible for public affairs programs. The 1994 conference addressed the following topics: (1) ethical perspectives in public policy education; (2) transition of food and agricultural policy; (3) building human…

The Significance of Blackstone's Understanding of Sovereign Immunity for America's Public Institutions of Higher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snow, Brian A.; Thro, William E.

2001-01-01

Asserts that from the perspective of America's public institutions of higher education, Blackstone's greatest legacy is his understanding of sovereign immunity. Explores the similarities between Blackstone's understanding of sovereign immunity and the current jurisprudence of the U.S. Supreme Court. (EV)

Beyond attributions: Understanding public stigma of mental illness with the common sense model.

PubMed

Mak, Winnie W S; Chong, Eddie S K; Wong, Celia C Y

2014-03-01

The present study applied the common sense model (i.e., cause, controllability, timeline, consequences, and illness coherence) to understand public attitudes toward mental illness and help-seeking intention and to examine the mediating role of perceived controllability between causal attributions with public attitudes and help seeking. Based on a randomized household sample of 941 Chinese community adults in Hong Kong, results of the structural equation modeling demonstrated that people who endorsed cultural lay beliefs tended to perceive the course of mental illness as less controllable, whereas those with psychosocial attributions see its course as more controllable. The more people perceived the course of mental illness as less controllable, more chronic, and incomprehensible, the lower was their acceptance and the greater was mental illness stigma. Furthermore, those who perceived mental illness with dire consequences were more likely to feel greater stigma and social distance. Conversely, when people were more accepting, they were more likely to seek help for psychological services and felt a shorter social distance. The common sense model provides a multidimensional framework in understanding public's mental illness perceptions and stigma. Not only should biopsychosocial determinants of mental illness be advocated to the public, cultural myths toward mental illness must be debunked.

An integrated conceptual framework for evaluating and improving 'understanding' in informed consent.

PubMed

Bossert, Sabine; Strech, Daniel

2017-10-17

The development of understandable informed consent (IC) documents has proven to be one of the most important challenges in research with humans as well as in healthcare settings. Therefore, evaluating and improving understanding has been of increasing interest for empirical research on IC. However, several conceptual and practical challenges for the development of understandable IC documents remain unresolved. In this paper, we will outline and systematize some of these challenges. On the basis of our own experiences in empirical user testing of IC documents as well as the relevant literature on understanding in IC, we propose an integrated conceptual model for the development of understandable IC documents. The proposed conceptual model integrates different methods for the participatory improvement of written information, including IC, as well as quantitative methods for measuring understanding in IC. In most IC processes, understandable written information is an important prerequisite for valid IC. To improve the quality of IC documents, a conceptual model for participatory procedures of testing, revising, and retesting can be applied. However, the model presented in this paper needs further theoretical and empirical elaboration and clarification of several conceptual and practical challenges.

Understanding public (mis)understanding of tDCS for enhancement

PubMed Central

Cabrera, Laura Y.; Reiner, Peter B.

2015-01-01

In order to gain insight into the public’s perspective on using the minimally invasive technique transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) as an enhancement tool, we analyzed and compared online comments in key popular press articles from two different periods (pre-commercialization and post-commercialization). The main conclusion drawn from this exploratory investigation is that public perception regarding tDCS has shifted from misunderstanding to cautionary realism. This change in attitude can be explained as moving from a focus on an emergent technology to a focus on its applications, benefits, and risks as the technology becomes more grounded within the public domain. Future governance of tDCS should include the concerns and enthusiasms of the public. PMID:25964748

Interweaving climate research and public understanding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Betts, A. K.

2016-12-01

For the past 10 years I have been using research into land-atmosphere-cloud coupling to address Vermont's need to understand climate change, and develop plans for greater resilience in the face of increasing severe weather. The research side has shown that the fraction of days with snow cover determines the cold season climate, because snow acts as a fast climate switch between non-overlapping climates with and without snow cover. Clouds play opposite roles in warm and cold seasons: surface cooling in summer and warming in winter. The later fall freeze-up and earlier spring ice-out on lakes, coupled to the earlier spring phenology, are clear markers both of a warming climate, as well as the large interannual variability. Severe flooding events have come with large-scale quasi-stationary weather patterns. This past decade I have given 230 talks to schools, business and professional groups, as well as legislative committees and state government. I have written 80 environmental columns for two Vermont newspapers, as part of a weekly series I helped start in 2008. Commentaries and interviews on radio and TV enable me to explain directly the issues we face, as the burning of fossil fuels destabilizes the climate system. The public in Vermont is eager to learn and understand these issues since many have roots in the land; while professional groups need all the information and guidance possible to prepare for the future. My task as a scientist is to map out what we know in ways that can readily be grasped in terms of past experience, even though the climate system is already moving outside this range - and at the same time outline general principles and hopeful strategies for dealing with global and local climate change.

Mundane science use in a practice theoretical perspective: Different understandings of the relations between citizen-consumers and public communication initiatives build on scientific claims.

PubMed

Halkier, Bente

2015-08-13

Public communication initiatives play a part in placing complicated scientific claims in citizen-consumers' everyday contexts. Lay reactions to scientific claims framed in public communication, and attempts to engage citizens, have been important subjects of discussion in the literatures of public understanding and public engagement with science. Many of the public communication initiatives, however, address lay people as consumers rather than citizens. This creates specific challenges for understanding public engagement with science and scientific citizenship. The article compares five different understandings of the relations between citizen-consumers and public issue communication involving science, where the first four types are widely represented in the Public Understanding of Science discussions. The fifth understanding is a practice theoretical perspective. The article suggests how the public understanding of and engagement in science literature can benefit from including a practice theoretical approach to research about mundane science use and public engagement. © The Author(s) 2015.

The Public Understanding of Assessment in Educational Reform in the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brookhart, Susan M.

2013-01-01

The United States education system depends on legislation and funding at the federal, state and local levels. Public understanding of assessment therefore is important to educational reform in the USA. Educational reformers often invoke assessment information as a reason for reform, typically by citing unacceptable achievement on some measure or…

Understanding Health Risks: Improve Your Chances for Good Health

MedlinePlus

... Issues Subscribe October 2016 Print this issue Understanding Health Risks Improve Your Chances for Good Health En ... Risky Business Wise Choices Asking Your Doctor About Health Risks What are my personal health risks? Are ...

“Social” Neuroscience: Leveraging Social Media to Increase Student Engagement and Public Understanding of Neuroscience

PubMed Central

Valentine, Alissa; Kurczek, Jake

2016-01-01

Neuroscience is young and still developing. It is quickly adapting to a number of emerging changes in science and education. Not only have neuroscientists been at the forefront of the open access publishing movement, but many prominent neuroscientists continue to push towards making science more accessible and understandable to the broader public. Social media is a global phenomenon that is changing the way that we talk about research and education. Researchers, students, and the public alike can leverage social media to find updates in research and higher education. Social media also provides pathways to connect with experts and non-experts in a way never been seen before. Two major trends are appearing in education and social media: 1) providing more engaging teaching activities, and 2) providing opportunities for community engagement using teaching activities that leverage social media. In this article, we describe a semester long teaching activity that challenged students to use social media in their learning process. We provide initial evaluation and feedback from the students on their social media experience in class, and suggestions for how to improve the project in future implementations. PMID:27980477

Public-private partnerships to improve primary healthcare surgeries: clarifying assumptions about the role of private provider activities.

PubMed

Mudyarabikwa, Oliver; Tobi, Patrick; Regmi, Krishna

2017-07-01

Aim To examine assumptions about public-private partnership (PPP) activities and their role in improving public procurement of primary healthcare surgeries. PPPs were developed to improve the quality of care and patient satisfaction. However, evidence of their effectiveness in delivering health benefits is limited. A qualitative study design was employed. A total of 25 interviews with public sector staff (n=23) and private sector managers (n=2) were conducted to understand their interpretations of assumptions in the activities of private investors and service contractors participating in Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) partnerships. Realist evaluation principles were applied in the data analysis to interpret the findings. Six thematic areas of assumed health benefits were identified: (i) quality improvement; (ii) improved risk management; (iii) reduced procurement costs; (iv) increased efficiency; (v) community involvement; and (vi) sustainable investment. Primary Care Trusts that chose to procure their surgeries through LIFT were expected to support its implementation by providing an environment conducive for the private participants to achieve these benefits. Private participant activities were found to be based on a range of explicit and tacit assumptions perceived helpful in achieving government objectives for LIFT. The success of PPPs depended upon private participants' (i) capacity to assess how PPP assumptions added value to their activities, (ii) effectiveness in interpreting assumptions in their expected activities, and (iii) preparedness to align their business principles to government objectives for PPPs. They risked missing some of the expected benefits because of some factors constraining realization of the assumptions. The ways in which private participants preferred to carry out their activities also influenced the extent to which expected benefits were achieved. Giving more discretion to public than private participants over critical

Experimental public speaking: contributions to the understanding of the serotonergic modulation of fear.

PubMed

Garcia-Leal, Cybele; Graeff, Frederico Guilherme; Del-Ben, Cristina Marta

2014-10-01

Public speaking is widely used as a model of experimental fear and anxiety. This review aimed to evaluate the effects of pharmacological challenges on public speaking responses and their implications for the understanding of the neurobiology of normal and pathological anxiety, specifically panic disorder. We also describe methodological features of experimental paradigms using public speaking as an inducer of fear and stress. Public speaking is a potent stressor that can provoke significant subjective and physiological responses. However, variations in the manners in which public speaking is modelled can lead to different responses that need to be considered when interpreting the results. Results from pharmacological studies with healthy volunteers submitted to simulated public speaking tests have similarities with the pharmacological responses of panic patients observed in clinical practice and panic patients differ from controls in the response to the public speaking test. These data are compatible with the Deakin and Graeff hypothesis that serotonin inhibits fear, as accessed by public speaking tasks, and that this inhibition is likely related to the actions of serotonin in the dorsal periaqueductal grey matter. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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EPA Pesticide Factsheets

DSSTox Website Launch: Improving Public Access to Databases for Building Structure-Toxicity Prediction ModelsAnn M. RichardUS Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USADistributed: Decentralized set of standardized, field-delimited databases, each separatelyauthored and maintained, that are able to accommodate diverse toxicity data content;Structure-Searchable: Standard format (SDF) structure-data files that can be readily imported into available chemical relational databases and structure-searched;Tox: Toxicity data as it exists in widely disparate forms in current public databases, spanning diverse toxicity endpoints, test systems, levels of biological content, degrees of summarization, and information content.INTRODUCTIONThe economic and social pressures to reduce the need for animal testing and to better anticipate the potential for human and eco-toxicity of environmental, industrial, or pharmaceutical chemicals are as pressing today as at any time prior. However, the goal of predicting chemical toxicity in its many manifestations, the `T' in 'ADMET' (adsorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, toxicity), remains one of the most difficult and largely unmet challenges in a chemical screening paradigm [1]. It is widely acknowledged that the single greatest hurdle to improving structure-activity relationship (SAR) toxicity prediction capabilities, in both the pharmaceutical and environmental regulation arenas, is the lack of suffici

Public understanding of cigarette smoke constituents: three US surveys

PubMed Central

Brewer, Noel T; Morgan, Jennifer C; Baig, Sabeeh A; Mendel, Jennifer R; Boynton, Marcella H; Pepper, Jessica K; Byron, M Justin; Noar, Seth M; Agans, Robert P; Ribisl, Kurt M

2017-01-01

Introduction The Tobacco Control Act requires public disclosure of information about toxic constituents in cigarette smoke. To inform these efforts, we studied public understanding of cigarette smoke constituents. Methods We conducted phone surveys with national probability samples of adolescents (n=1125) and adults (n=5014) and an internet survey with a convenience sample of adults (n=4137), all in the USA. We assessed understanding of cigarette smoke constituents in general and of 24 specific constituents. Results Respondents commonly and incorrectly believed that harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke mostly originate in additives introduced by cigarette manufacturers (43–72%). Almost all participants had heard that nicotine is in cigarette smoke, and many had also heard about carbon monoxide, ammonia, arsenic and formaldehyde. Less than one-quarter had heard of most other listed constituents being in cigarette smoke. Constituents most likely to discourage respondents from wanting to smoke were ammonia, arsenic, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, lead and uranium. Respondents more often reported being discouraged by constituents that they had heard are in cigarette smoke (all p<0.05). Constituents with names that started with a number or ended in ‘ene’ or ‘ine’ were less likely to discourage people from wanting to smoke (all p<0.05). Discussion Many people were unaware that burning the cigarette is the primary source of toxic constituents in cigarette smoke. Constituents that may most discourage cigarette smoking have familiar names, like arsenic and formaldehyde and do not start with a number or end in ene/ine. Our findings may help campaign designers develop constituent messages that discourage smoking. PMID:27924009

An ecological public health approach to understanding the relationships between sustainable urban environments, public health and social equity.

PubMed

Bentley, Michael

2014-09-01

The environmental determinants of public health and social equity present many challenges to a sustainable urbanism-climate change, water shortages and oil dependency to name a few. There are many pathways from urban environments to human health. Numerous links have been described but some underlying mechanisms behind these relationships are less understood. Combining theory and methods is a way of understanding and explaining how the underlying structures of urban environments relate to public health and social equity. This paper proposes a model for an ecological public health, which can be used to explore these relationships. Four principles of an ecological public health-conviviality, equity, sustainability and global responsibility-are used to derive theoretical concepts that can inform ecological public health thinking, which, among other things, provides a way of exploring the underlying mechanisms that link urban environments to public health and social equity. Theories of more-than-human agency inform ways of living together (conviviality) in urban areas. Political ecology links the equity concerns about environmental and social justice. Resilience thinking offers a better way of coming to grips with sustainability. Integrating ecological ethics into public health considers the global consequences of local urban living and thus attends to global responsibility. This way of looking at the relationships between urban environments, public health and social equity answers the call to craft an ecological public health for the twenty-first century by re-imagining public health in a way that acknowledges humans as part of the ecosystem, not separate from it, though not central to it. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Teaching genetics prior to teaching evolution improves evolution understanding but not acceptance

PubMed Central

Mead, Rebecca; Hejmadi, Momna

2017-01-01

What is the best way to teach evolution? As microevolution may be configured as a branch of genetics, it being a short conceptual leap from understanding the concepts of mutation and alleles (i.e., genetics) to allele frequency change (i.e., evolution), we hypothesised that learning genetics prior to evolution might improve student understanding of evolution. In the UK, genetics and evolution are typically taught to 14- to 16-y-old secondary school students as separate topics with few links, in no particular order and sometimes with a large time span between. Here, then, we report the results of a large trial into teaching order of evolution and genetics. We modified extant questionnaires to ascertain students’ understanding of evolution and genetics along with acceptance of evolution. Students were assessed prior to teaching, immediately post teaching and again after several months. Teachers were not instructed what to teach, just to teach in a given order. Regardless of order, teaching increased understanding and acceptance, with robust signs of longer-term retention. Importantly, teaching genetics before teaching evolution has a significant (p < 0.001) impact on improving evolution understanding by 7% in questionnaire scores beyond the increase seen for those taught in the inverse order. For lower ability students, an improvement in evolution understanding was seen only if genetics was taught first. Teaching genetics first additionally had positive effects on genetics understanding, by increasing knowledge. These results suggest a simple, minimally disruptive, zero-cost intervention to improve evolution understanding: teach genetics first. This same alteration does not, however, result in a significantly increased acceptance of evolution, which reflects a weak correlation between knowledge and acceptance of evolution. Qualitative focus group data highlights the role of authority figures in determination of acceptance. PMID:28542179

Teaching genetics prior to teaching evolution improves evolution understanding but not acceptance.

PubMed

Mead, Rebecca; Hejmadi, Momna; Hurst, Laurence D

2017-05-01

What is the best way to teach evolution? As microevolution may be configured as a branch of genetics, it being a short conceptual leap from understanding the concepts of mutation and alleles (i.e., genetics) to allele frequency change (i.e., evolution), we hypothesised that learning genetics prior to evolution might improve student understanding of evolution. In the UK, genetics and evolution are typically taught to 14- to 16-y-old secondary school students as separate topics with few links, in no particular order and sometimes with a large time span between. Here, then, we report the results of a large trial into teaching order of evolution and genetics. We modified extant questionnaires to ascertain students' understanding of evolution and genetics along with acceptance of evolution. Students were assessed prior to teaching, immediately post teaching and again after several months. Teachers were not instructed what to teach, just to teach in a given order. Regardless of order, teaching increased understanding and acceptance, with robust signs of longer-term retention. Importantly, teaching genetics before teaching evolution has a significant (p < 0.001) impact on improving evolution understanding by 7% in questionnaire scores beyond the increase seen for those taught in the inverse order. For lower ability students, an improvement in evolution understanding was seen only if genetics was taught first. Teaching genetics first additionally had positive effects on genetics understanding, by increasing knowledge. These results suggest a simple, minimally disruptive, zero-cost intervention to improve evolution understanding: teach genetics first. This same alteration does not, however, result in a significantly increased acceptance of evolution, which reflects a weak correlation between knowledge and acceptance of evolution. Qualitative focus group data highlights the role of authority figures in determination of acceptance.

Understanding public responses to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents--driving factors, emerging themes and research gaps.

PubMed

Krieger, Kristian; Amlôt, Richard; Rogers, M Brooke

2014-11-01

This paper discusses the management of public responses to incidents involving chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials (CBRN). Given the extraordinary technical and operational challenges of a response to a CBRN release including, but not limited to, hazard detection and identification, casualty decontamination and multi-agency co-ordination, it is not surprising that public psychological and behavioural responses to such incidents have received limited attention by scholars and practitioners alike. As a result, a lack of understanding about the role of the public in effective emergency response constitutes a major gap in research and practice. This limitation must be addressed as a CBRN release has the potential to have wide-reaching psychological and behavioural impacts which, in turn, impact upon public morbidity and mortality rates. This paper addresses a number of key issues: why public responses matter; how responses have been conceptualised by practitioners; what factors have been identified as influencing public responses to a CBRN release and similar extreme events, and what further analysis is needed in order to generate a better understanding of public responses to inform the management of public responses to a CBRN release. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Local action on outdoor air pollution to improve public health.

PubMed

Vardoulakis, Sotiris; Kettle, Rachel; Cosford, Paul; Lincoln, Paul; Holgate, Stephen; Grigg, Jonathan; Kelly, Frank; Pencheon, David

2018-06-01

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, jointly with Public Health England, have developed a guideline on outdoor air pollution and its links to health. The guideline makes recommendations on local interventions that can help improve air quality and prevent a range of adverse health outcomes associated with road-traffic-related air pollution. The guideline was based on a rigorous assessment of the scientific evidence by an independent advisory committee, with input from public health professionals and other professional groups. The process included systematics reviews of the literature, expert testimonies and stakeholder consultation. The guideline includes recommendations for local planning, clean air zones, measures to reduce emissions from public sector transport services, smooth driving and speed reduction, active travel, and awareness raising. The guideline recommends taking a number of actions in combination, because multiple interventions, each producing a small benefit, are likely to act cumulatively to produce significant change. These actions are likely to bring multiple public health benefits, in addition to air quality improvements.

Understanding public perception of hydraulic fracturing: a case study in Spain.

PubMed

Costa, D; Pereira, V; Góis, J; Danko, A; Fiúza, A

2017-12-15

Public acceptance is crucial for the implementation of energy technologies. Hydraulic fracturing is a technology widely used in the USA for natural gas production from shale formations, but currently finds strong public opposition worldwide, especially in Europe. Shale gas exploitation and exploration have the potential to significantly reduce import dependency in several countries, including Spain. To better understand public opinion on this issue, this article reports a survey targeting both the entire Spanish population and the inhabitants of the province of Burgos, the location where shale gas exploration permits have already been issued. Results demonstrate that half of the Spanish population opposes shale gas, and this opposition increases in autonomous communities that are closer to possible exploration sites. The results also show that socio-demographic aspects are not strong predictors of opposition. In addition, Burgos' population show different behaviours toward shale gas that demonstrates that proximity and prospect of shale gas development affects opinion. Finally, there is still a great level of unfamiliarity with high volume hydraulic fracturing and shale gas in both populations sampled. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Public understanding of cigarette smoke constituents: three US surveys.

PubMed

Brewer, Noel T; Morgan, Jennifer C; Baig, Sabeeh A; Mendel, Jennifer R; Boynton, Marcella H; Pepper, Jessica K; Byron, M Justin; Noar, Seth M; Agans, Robert P; Ribisl, Kurt M

2016-09-01

The Tobacco Control Act requires public disclosure of information about toxic constituents in cigarette smoke. To inform these efforts, we studied public understanding of cigarette smoke constituents. We conducted phone surveys with national probability samples of adolescents (n=1125) and adults (n=5014) and an internet survey with a convenience sample of adults (n=4137), all in the USA. We assessed understanding of cigarette smoke constituents in general and of 24 specific constituents. Respondents commonly and incorrectly believed that harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke mostly originate in additives introduced by cigarette manufacturers (43-72%). Almost all participants had heard that nicotine is in cigarette smoke, and many had also heard about carbon monoxide, ammonia, arsenic and formaldehyde. Less than one-quarter had heard of most other listed constituents being in cigarette smoke. Constituents most likely to discourage respondents from wanting to smoke were ammonia, arsenic, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, lead and uranium. Respondents more often reported being discouraged by constituents that they had heard are in cigarette smoke (all p<0.05). Constituents with names that started with a number or ended in 'ene' or 'ine' were less likely to discourage people from wanting to smoke (all p<0.05). Many people were unaware that burning the cigarette is the primary source of toxic constituents in cigarette smoke. Constituents that may most discourage cigarette smoking have familiar names, like arsenic and formaldehyde and do not start with a number or end in ene/ine. Our findings may help campaign designers develop constituent messages that discourage smoking. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Social enterprises and public health improvement in England: a qualitative case study.

PubMed

Garnett, Emma; Baeza, Juan; Trenholm, Susan; Gulliford, Martin; Green, Judith

2018-06-22

To explore the contribution of social enterprises to publicly commissioned public health improvement and assess the risks and benefits of their role. Qualitative case study of four south London boroughs. Documentary research; in-depth interviews with 19 key informants. This study identified 24 social enterprises that were currently commissioned to contribute to public health improvement. These organisations ranged in size, longevity, and structure. They were widely reported as flexible and able to rapidly develop services responsive to local community needs. Their work often addressed upstream health determinants. However, to capitalise on securing contracts, they had to bureaucratise and establish provider alliances, which risked losing the very characteristics that make them unique. Social enterprises bore the financial risk of innovative service developments. Emerging mixed economies of public health were fragmented, limiting commissioners' abilities to plan strategically and evaluate the impact. Social enterprises have an increasing role in providing potential solutions to intractable health improvement challenges, contributing to a broader vision around upstream action for health. However, the fragmentation and growing outsourcing of public health has risks for coherent and equitable service planning. Copyright © 2018 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Understanding public perceptions of biotechnology through the "Integrative Worldview Framework".

PubMed

De Witt, Annick; Osseweijer, Patricia; Pierce, Robin

2015-07-03

Biotechnological innovations prompt a range of societal responses that demand understanding. Research has shown such responses are shaped by individuals' cultural worldviews. We aim to demonstrate how the Integrative Worldview Framework (IWF) can be used for analyzing perceptions of biotechnology, by reviewing (1) research on public perceptions of biotechnology and (2) analyses of the stakeholder-debate on the bio-based economy, using the Integrative Worldview Framework (IWF) as analytical lens. This framework operationalizes the concept of worldview and distinguishes between traditional, modern, and postmodern worldviews, among others. Applied to these literatures, this framework illuminates how these worldviews underlie major societal responses, thereby providing a unifying understanding of the literature on perceptions of biotechnology. We conclude the IWF has relevance for informing research on perceptions of socio-technical changes, generating insight into the paradigmatic gaps in social science, and facilitating reflexive and inclusive policy-making and debates on these timely issues. © The Author(s) 2015.

The Component Model of Infrastructure: A Practical Approach to Understanding Public Health Program Infrastructure

PubMed Central

Snyder, Kimberly; Rieker, Patricia P.

2014-01-01

Functioning program infrastructure is necessary for achieving public health outcomes. It is what supports program capacity, implementation, and sustainability. The public health program infrastructure model presented in this article is grounded in data from a broader evaluation of 18 state tobacco control programs and previous work. The newly developed Component Model of Infrastructure (CMI) addresses the limitations of a previous model and contains 5 core components (multilevel leadership, managed resources, engaged data, responsive plans and planning, networked partnerships) and 3 supporting components (strategic understanding, operations, contextual influences). The CMI is a practical, implementation-focused model applicable across public health programs, enabling linkages to capacity, sustainability, and outcome measurement. PMID:24922125

Safe and Sound? Scientists’ Understandings of Public Engagement in Emerging Biotechnologies

PubMed Central

Braun, Matthias; Starkbaum, Johannes; Dabrock, Peter

2015-01-01

Science communication is a widely debated issue, particularly in the field of biotechnology. However, the views on the interface between science and society held by scientists who work in the field of emerging biotechnologies are currently insufficiently explored. Therefore filling this gap is one of the urgent desiderata in the further development of a dialogue-oriented model of science-public interaction. Against this background, this article addresses two main questions: (1) How do the persons who work in the field of science perceive the public and its involvement in science? (2) What preferred modes of communication are stressed by those scientists? This research is based on a set of interviews with full professors from the field of biotechnology with a special focus on synthetic biology. The results show that scientists perceive the public as holding a primarily risk-focused view of science. On the one hand, different forms of science communication are thereby either seen as a chance to improve the public acceptance of science in general and one field of research in particular. On the other hand, the exchange with the public is seen as a duty because the whole of society is affected by scientific innovation. Yet, some of the stakeholders’ views discussed here conflict with debates on public engagement in technological innovation. PMID:26660160

Responsible Public Address. Third Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vander Kooi, Daryl; Veenstra, Charles

This textbook aims to help the beginning speaker understand what is necessary for a person to give a competent speech. Although only actual practice can give the necessary confidence, use of the advice given in this textbook, and its application in public speaking situations, will significantly improve an individual's competence in public speaking…

Improvements to Elementary Children's Epistemic Understanding from Sustained Argumentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryu, Suna; Sandoval, William A.

2012-01-01

The aim of this study was to assess whether and how a sustained instructional focus on argumentation might improve children's understanding and application of key epistemic criteria for scientific arguments. These criteria include the articulation of clear, coherent causal claims, and the explicit justification of such claims with appropriate…

Memorandum of Understanding for Improving Environmental Management of Electronic Assets

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This is a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. Postal Service, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Interior and EPA to improve the environmental management of the government's electronic assets.

Models of Understanding: Historical Constructions of Breast Cancer in Medicine and Public Health

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petersen, Jennifer

2004-01-01

The era of technical and scientific progress ushered in with the twentieth century brought new medical knowledge such as the Halstead 'radical' mastectomy, which promised a cure for breast cancer. These advances in medical knowledge were premised on an epidemiological model of disease, which shaped the treatment and public understanding of breast…

Improving students' understanding of quantum mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Guangtian

2011-12-01

Learning physics is challenging at all levels. Students' difficulties in the introductory level physics courses have been widely studied and many instructional strategies have been developed to help students learn introductory physics. However, research shows that there is a large diversity in students' preparation and skills in the upper-level physics courses and it is necessary to provide scaffolding support to help students learn advanced physics. This thesis explores issues related to students' common difficulties in learning upper-level undergraduate quantum mechanics and how these difficulties can be reduced by research-based learning tutorials and peer instruction tools. We investigated students' difficulties in learning quantum mechanics by administering written tests and surveys to many classes and conducting individual interviews with a subset of students. Based on these investigations, we developed Quantum Interactive Learning Tutorials (QuILTs) and peer instruction tools to help students build a hierarchical knowledge structure of quantum mechanics through a guided approach. Preliminary assessments indicate that students' understanding of quantum mechanics is improved after using the research-based learning tools in the junior-senior level quantum mechanics courses. We also designed a standardized conceptual survey that can help instructors better probe students' understanding of quantum mechanics concepts in one spatial dimension. The validity and reliability of this quantum mechanics survey is discussed.

Improving the Quality of Early Childhood Education in Chile: Tensions between Public Policy and Teacher Discourses over the Schoolarisation of Early Childhood Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pardo, Marcela; Woodrow, Christine

2014-01-01

This article problematises emerging tensions in Chile, in relation to the discourses of early childhood teachers and public policies aimed at improving the quality of early childhood education. The aim of the analysis is to contribute to developing more nuanced understandings of these tensions, through the analytical lenses provided by the…

Introduction: From "The Popularization of Science through Film" to "The Public Understanding of Science".

PubMed

Vidal, Fernando

2018-03-01

Science in film, and usual equivalents such as science on film or science on screen, refer to the cinematographic representation, staging, and enactment of actors, information, and processes involved in any aspect or dimension of science and its history. Of course, boundaries are blurry, and films shot as research tools or documentation also display science on screen. Nonetheless, they generally count as scientific film, and science in and on film or screen tend to designate productions whose purpose is entertainment and education. Moreover, these two purposes are often combined, and inherently concern empirical, methodological, and conceptual challenges associated with popularization, science communication, and the public understanding of science. It is in these areas that the notion of the deficit model emerged to designate a point of view and a mode of understanding, as well as a set of practical and theoretical problems about the relationship between science and the public.

Using digital multimedia to improve parents' and children's understanding of clinical trials.

PubMed

Tait, Alan R; Voepel-Lewis, Terri; Levine, Robert

2015-06-01

Data show that many research subjects have difficulty understanding study information using traditional paper consent documents. This study, therefore, was designed to evaluate the effect of an interactive multimedia program on improving parents' and children's understanding of clinical trial concepts and participation. Parents (n=148) and children (n=135) were each randomised to receive information regarding clinical trials using either a traditional paper format (TF) or an interactive iPad program (IP) with inline exercises. Participants' understanding of the information was assessed using semistructured interviews prior to (pretest) and after (post-test) receiving the information. Participants also completed a short survey to assess their perceptions of information delivery and satisfaction with the process. Regardless of the mode of information delivery, all participants demonstrated improved pretest to post-test understanding. While there were no statistical differences in parents' post-test understanding between the TF and IP groups, children in the IP group had significantly greater post-test understanding compared with children in the TF group (11.65 (4.1) vs 8.85 (4.1) (2.8, 1.4, 4.2) 0-18 scale where 18=complete understanding). Furthermore, the IP was found to be significantly 'easier to follow' and 'more effective' in presenting information compared with the TF. Results demonstrated the importance of providing information regarding clinical trial concepts to parents and children. Importantly, the ability of interactive multimedia to improve understanding of clinical trial concepts and satisfaction with information delivery, particularly among children, supports this approach as a novel and effective vehicle for enhancing the informed consent process. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

The Role of Science and Discovery Centres in the Public Understanding of Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Short, Daniel B.; Weis, Nicole

2013-01-01

The number of science and discovery centres has grown exponentially over the last two centuries. Science and discovery centres are one of the top five stimuli that influence a career choice in science. Their history, growth, impact and role in the public understanding of science are discussed. (Contains 2 tables, 7 figures, and 21 online…

Improving Public Debate with Television and Social Organization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magnuson, Osgood T.

1970-01-01

"Town Meeting, an unusual experiment in using television for improving citizen participation in the American democratic process, has given viewers in Minnesota and South Dakota an opportunity to hear about issues and to join in the decision-making." Based on remarks made to the Kettering Conference on Public Television Programming.…

Interventions to improve patient understanding of cancer clinical trial participation: a systematic review.

PubMed

Kao, C Y; Aranda, S; Krishnasamy, M; Hamilton, B

2017-03-01

Patient misunderstanding of cancer clinical trial participation is identified as a critical issue and researchers have developed and tested a variety of interventions to improve patient understanding. This systematic review identified nine papers published between 2000 and 2013, to evaluate the effects of interventions to improve patient understanding of cancer clinical trial participation. Types of interventions included audio-visual information, revised written information and a communication training workshop. Interventions were conducted alone or in combination with other forms of information provision. The nine papers, all with methodological limitations, reported mixed effects on a small range of outcomes regarding improved patient understanding of cancer clinical trial participation. The methodological limitations included: (1) the intervention development process was poorly described; (2) only a small element of the communication process was addressed; (3) studies lacked evidence regarding what information is essential and critical to enable informed consent; (4) studies lacked reliable and valid outcome measures to show that patients are sufficiently informed to provide consent; and (5) the intervention development process lacked a theoretical framework. Future research needs to consider these factors when developing interventions to improve communication and patient understanding during the informed consent process. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Problems of Understanding between Immigrants and Officials at Public Authorities in Argentina and Germany

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenberg, Katharina

2012-01-01

In conversations between immigrants and officials, problems of understanding are often noticeable. About 280 recordings realised at the Argentine Aliens' Department and at several public authorities in Germany show that knowledge divergences regarding linguistic, cultural and institutional knowledge result in (sometimes grave) difficulties of…

A glossary of theories for understanding policymaking.

PubMed

Smith, Katherine Elizabeth; Katikireddi, Srinivasa Vittal

2013-02-01

Public health practitioners and researchers often seek to influence public policies in order to improve population health and/or reduce health inequalities. However, these efforts frequently appear to be uninformed by the many empirically-based theories about policymaking that have been developed within political science. This glossary provides a brief overview of some of the most popular of these theories, describing how each: frames the policymaking process; portrays the relationships and influence of specific policy actors; and depicts the potential for policy change (or inertia). Examples of their application to public health are provided to help improve understanding of the material presented. Throughout the article, the implications of the different theories for public health researchers and advocates seeking to inform policy decisions are emphasised. The glossary aims to provide an accessible overview to key theories about policy and decision-making, with a view to supporting public health efforts to achieve healthier public policies.

Public Understanding of Cognitive Neuroscience Research Findings: Trying to Peer beyond Enchanted Glass

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grotzer, Tina A.

2011-01-01

This article considers the appeal of cognitive neuroscience research to the general public within the context of the deep puzzles involved in using our minds to understand how our minds work. It offers a few promising examples of findings that illuminate the ways of the mind and reveal these workings to be counter-intuitive with our subjective…

Public reporting needed to improve the health of Tennesseans.

PubMed

Bailey, James E; Gibson, Deborah

2005-11-01

Tennessee providers are recognizing an urgent need for a new and improved model of healthcare, characterized by transparent accountability to consumers. Meaningful health system improvements will require broad public disclosure of healthcare performance data at the hospital, clinic and community levels using nationally recognized standards. All Tennessee communities need a routine community health report card, to help their citizens to work together toward their most important health goals.

Community Resilience: Increasing Public Understanding of Risk and Vulnerability to Natural Hazards through Informal Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salna, E.

2017-12-01

The Extreme Events Institute's (EEI) International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC) at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida, as a NOAA Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador, is dedicated to make South Florida, Ready, Responsive and Resilient. IHRC with funding from the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) has developed several museum exhibits and events. This includes the hands-on FIU Wall of Wind exhibit for the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, the Frost Science Museum in Miami, Florida, and the Museum of Discovery and Science (MODS) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The exhibit teaches the public about hurricane wind engineering research, enhanced building codes, and the importance of protecting your home's windows and doors with code-approved shutters. In addition, IHRC and MODS facilitate Eye of the Storm, a free-of-charge, community event with interactive hurricane science, and preparedness activities, including the entertaining Owlie Skywarn live theater show and live air cannon missile impact demonstrations. This annual event includes many local, state and federal partners, including NOAA and NWS. The IHRC also developed the FIU Wall of Wind Mitigation Challenge. As the next generation of engineers to address natural hazards and extreme weather, this STEM education event features a competition between high school teams to develop innovative wind mitigation concepts and real-life human safety and property protection solutions. IHRC and MODS are also developing a new exhibit of a Hazard/Risk Equation that will "come to life," through virtual reality (VR) technology in a state-of-the art 7D theater. The exhibit will provide a better public understanding of how changes in exposures and vulnerabilities will determine whether a community experiences an emergency, disaster or catastrophe. It will raise public consciousness and drive home the point that communities need not passively accept natural hazard risks. Ultimately, if we raise

Creating Quality Improvement Culture in Public Health Agencies

PubMed Central

Mahanna, Elizabeth; Joly, Brenda; Zelek, Michael; Riley, William; Verma, Pooja; Fisher, Jessica Solomon

2014-01-01

Objectives. We conducted case studies of 10 agencies that participated in early quality improvement efforts. Methods. The agencies participated in a project conducted by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (2007–2008). Case study participants included health directors and quality improvement team leaders and members. We implemented multiple qualitative analysis processes, including cross-case analysis and logic modeling. We categorized agencies according to the extent to which they had developed a quality improvement culture. Results. Agencies were conducting informal quality improvement projects (n = 4), conducting formal quality improvement projects (n = 3), or creating a quality improvement culture (n = 4). Agencies conducting formal quality improvement and creating a quality improvement culture had leadership support for quality improvement, participated in national quality improvement initiatives, had a greater number of staff trained in quality improvement and quality improvement teams that met regularly with decision-making authority. Agencies conducting informal quality improvement were likely to report that accreditation is the major driver for quality improvement work. Agencies creating a quality improvement culture were more likely to have a history of evidence-based decision-making and use quality improvement to address emerging issues. Conclusions. Our findings support previous research and add the roles of national public health accreditation and emerging issues as factors in agencies’ ability to create and sustain a quality improvement culture. PMID:24228680

Creating quality improvement culture in public health agencies.

PubMed

Davis, Mary V; Mahanna, Elizabeth; Joly, Brenda; Zelek, Michael; Riley, William; Verma, Pooja; Fisher, Jessica Solomon

2014-01-01

We conducted case studies of 10 agencies that participated in early quality improvement efforts. The agencies participated in a project conducted by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (2007-2008). Case study participants included health directors and quality improvement team leaders and members. We implemented multiple qualitative analysis processes, including cross-case analysis and logic modeling. We categorized agencies according to the extent to which they had developed a quality improvement culture. Agencies were conducting informal quality improvement projects (n = 4), conducting formal quality improvement projects (n = 3), or creating a quality improvement culture (n = 4). Agencies conducting formal quality improvement and creating a quality improvement culture had leadership support for quality improvement, participated in national quality improvement initiatives, had a greater number of staff trained in quality improvement and quality improvement teams that met regularly with decision-making authority. Agencies conducting informal quality improvement were likely to report that accreditation is the major driver for quality improvement work. Agencies creating a quality improvement culture were more likely to have a history of evidence-based decision-making and use quality improvement to address emerging issues. Our findings support previous research and add the roles of national public health accreditation and emerging issues as factors in agencies' ability to create and sustain a quality improvement culture.

Understanding Plain English summaries. A comparison of two approaches to improve the quality of Plain English summaries in research reports.

PubMed

Kirkpatrick, Emma; Gaisford, Wendy; Williams, Elaine; Brindley, Elizabeth; Tembo, Doreen; Wright, David

2017-01-01

There is a need for the authors of research reports to be able to communicate their work clearly and effectively to readers who are not familiar with the research area. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), along with a number of other funding bodies and journals, require researchers to write short lay summaries, often termed plain English summaries (PESs), to make research accessible to the general public. Because many researchers write using technical, specialised language, particularly in scientific reports, writing PESs can be challenging. In this study we looked at how to improve the quality of PESs. We took PESs which had been submitted to the NIHR Journals Library and asked authors to rewrite them using new guidance. We also asked an independent medical writer to edit the summaries. We measured the quality of these three versions (original summary, rewritten summary and edited summary) in two ways. First, we asked a group of people who were not specialists in the subject area to read and rate how easy the summaries were to understand. Secondly, we used a well-known measure called the Flesch reading ease score to assess how easy the PESs were to read. We found that there was no difference in how easy people found the summaries to understand across the three versions. However, the PESs that were rewritten by the authors and that were edited by the independent medical writer were both easier to read than the originals. This shows that PESs can be improved and for organisations who feel that employing an independent writer to edit summaries, providing clear, practical guidance to authors may be a cost-effective alternative. Plain English summaries (PES) or lay summaries are often included as part of research reports and journal articles. These summaries are vital to ensure that research findings are accessible and available to non-specialist audiences, for example patients and members of the public. Writing a PES requires the adoption of a different

Pilot study demonstrating effectiveness of targeted education to improve informed consent understanding in AIDS clinical trials.

PubMed

Sengupta, Sohini; Lo, Bernard; Strauss, Ronald P; Eron, Joseph; Gifford, Allen L

2011-11-01

Assessing and improving informed consent understanding is equally important as obtaining consent from participants in clinical trial research, but developing interventions to target gaps in participants' informed consent understanding remains a challenge. We used a randomized controlled study design to pilot test an educational intervention to improve actual informed consent understanding of new enrollees in the Adult AIDS Clinical Trial Group (AACTG). Questionnaires were administered to 24 enrollees to assess their baseline understanding on eight elements of informed consent associated with AIDS clinical trials. Enrollees who scored 18/21(85%) or less were randomly assigned to in-person, targeted education (intervention), or delayed education (control). Two follow-up assessments were administered. Repeated measures ANOVA was performed to determine intervention effectiveness in improving actual informed consent understanding over time. Actual understanding improved at the immediate post-intervention time point with a significant score difference of 2.5 when comparing the intervention and delayed groups. In addition, there was a significant score difference of 3.2 when comparing baseline to three-month follow-up for the two groups, suggesting a statistically significant intervention effect to improve actual understanding of the basic elements of informed consent. The findings demonstrated that one-time targeted education can improve actual informed consent understanding one week after the intervention, but retention of these concepts may require periodic monitoring to ensure comprehension throughout the course of a clinical trial.

Improving Education and Public Outreach Through Astronomy Education Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slater, Timothy F.

2005-04-01

Following in the footsteps of physics education research, the relatively new field of astronomy education research is already making dramatic improvements to the teaching and learning of astronomy. Whereas physics education research has focused predominantly on the introductory physics course, astronomy education is working on developing instruments and models to understand widely ranging domains that span K-12, undergraduate majors and non-majors, and even into the realms of public outreach. As one example, the repeated call for a more student-centered approach to teaching due to the ineffectiveness of lecture has been gaining prominence in the astronomy teaching community. At the beginning of a large-enrollment introductory astronomy survey course, we administered 68-multiple choice items as a pretest to 81 students. At the end of each lecture we administered the specific items related to that particular day's lecture a second time as a posttest. The pretest was 30% correct and the test, when given after lecture alone showed 52% correct. These results illustrate that instructor-centered strategies are largely ineffective at promoting meaningful conceptual gains. Alternatively, when using curriculum materials created from a basis of astronomy education research, we find that the posttest average score grows beyond 70%. Each 15-minute Lecture-Tutorial poses a carefully crafted sequence of conceptually challenging, Socratic-dialogue driven questions, along with graphs and data tables, all designed to encourage students to reason critically about difficult concepts in astronomy. A significant effort was focused on carefully evaluating changes in students' conceptual understanding and attitudes toward learning astronomy. The quantitative and qualitative results strongly suggest that the Lecture-Tutorials help students make significant conceptual gains.

Applications for improved inventory management for public transit systems

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-01-01

This report documents and presents the results of a Testing and Demonstration (T&D) Project on applications for improved inventory management for public transit systems. This project is a follow-up to an earlier study on inventory management for bus ...

Improving public health policy through infection transmission modelling: Guidelines for creating a Community of Practice

PubMed Central

Moghadas, Seyed M; Haworth-Brockman, Margaret; Isfeld-Kiely, Harpa; Kettner, Joel

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Despite significant research efforts in Canada, real application of modelling in public health decision making and practice has not yet met its full potential. There is still room to better address the diversity of the Canadian population and ensure that research outcomes are translated for use within their relevant contexts. OBJECTIVES: To strengthen connections to public health practice and to broaden its scope, the Pandemic Influenza Outbreak Research Modelling team partnered with the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases to hold a national workshop. Its objectives were to: understand areas where modelling terms, methods and results are unclear; share information on how modelling can best be used in informing policy and improving practice, particularly regarding the ways to integrate a focus on health equity considerations; and sustain and advance collaborative work in the development and application of modelling in public health. METHOD: The Use of Mathematical Modelling in Public Health Decision Making for Infectious Diseases workshop brought together research modellers, public health professionals, policymakers and other experts from across the country. Invited presentations set the context for topical discussions in three sessions. A final session generated reflections and recommendations for new opportunities and tasks. CONCLUSIONS: Gaps in content and research include the lack of standard frameworks and a glossary for infectious disease modelling. Consistency in terminology, clear articulation of model parameters and assumptions, and sustained collaboration will help to bridge the divide between research and practice. PMID:26361486

The Public Understanding of Scientific Information: Communicating, Interpreting, and Applying the Science of Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norris, Stephen P.; Phillips, Linda M.

2003-01-01

Research is conducted in abstract contexts that inhibit practical application. In addition, research results are often uncertain and always circumscribed. Lay people have difficulty interpreting results for use in particular situations. The media could play a significant role in the public understanding of scientific information if it would report…

Trust: Need for an Improved Communication between the Public World and the Pharmaceutical Companies

PubMed Central

Heinemann, Lutz

2009-01-01

In the industrialized world, the negative image that many people (including politicians) have of pharmaceutical companies not only makes the life for those working in this field more difficult, in a sense it is a road block. Without an improvement in communication between the public world and the pharmaceutical industry, one can foresee this industry steadily becoming a more difficult environment to work in. There is a clear need for knowing more about all the work done inside these companies before a new drug is approved (it is not all about marketing…). That society has no understanding of the ever-increasing costs of new drugs is also related to this lack of understanding of how tricky and cumbersome the process is to take a new idea for treating a certain disease to production of a marketed drug. With a relatively small investment of money, but with an investment of much good will, brain power, and trust, it should be possible to bring all relevant parties together and make a change. PMID:20046667

Consulting the community: public expectations and attitudes about genetics research

PubMed Central

Etchegary, Holly; Green, Jane; Dicks, Elizabeth; Pullman, Daryl; Street, Catherine; Parfrey, Patrick

2013-01-01

Genomic discoveries and technologies promise numerous opportunities for improving health. Key to these potential health improvements, however, are health-care consumers' understanding and acceptance of these new developments. We identified community groups and invited them to a public information-consultation session in order to explore public awareness, perception and expectations about genetics and genomics research. One hundred and four members of seven community groups in Newfoundland, Canada took part in the community sessions. Content analysis of participant comments revealed they were largely hopeful about genetics research in its capacity to improve health; however, they did not accept such research uncritically. Complex issues arose during the community consultations, including the place of genetics in primary care, the value of genetics for personal health, and concerns about access to and uses of genetic information. Participants unequivocally endorsed the value of public engagement with these issues. The rapid pace of discoveries in genomics research offers exciting opportunities to improve population health. However, public support will be crucial to realize health improvements. Our findings suggest that regular, transparent dialog between researchers and the public could allow a greater understanding of the research process, as well as assist in the design of efficient and effective genetic health services, informed by the public that will use them. PMID:23591403

Building Public-Private Partnerships To Improve Vocational Education in Illinois.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheets, Robert G.; And Others

The Illinois Council on Vocational Education (ICoVE) launched a statewide study in 1990 to understand the perspectives of business and labor on what vocational education can do to prepare the work force with the skills necessary for the future. The study was designed to build new public-private partnerships. It included a survey of businesses and…

Assessing Public Metabolomics Metadata, Towards Improving Quality.

PubMed

Ferreira, João D; Inácio, Bruno; Salek, Reza M; Couto, Francisco M

2017-12-13

Public resources need to be appropriately annotated with metadata in order to make them discoverable, reproducible and traceable, further enabling them to be interoperable or integrated with other datasets. While data-sharing policies exist to promote the annotation process by data owners, these guidelines are still largely ignored. In this manuscript, we analyse automatic measures of metadata quality, and suggest their application as a mean to encourage data owners to increase the metadata quality of their resources and submissions, thereby contributing to higher quality data, improved data sharing, and the overall accountability of scientific publications. We analyse these metadata quality measures in the context of a real-world repository of metabolomics data (i.e. MetaboLights), including a manual validation of the measures, and an analysis of their evolution over time. Our findings suggest that the proposed measures can be used to mimic a manual assessment of metadata quality.

Energy, understanding, and the public agenda

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bisconti, A.S.

1995-12-31

Energy is fundamental to all areas of human endeavor, but it is a subject about which few Americans feel well informed, according to extensive survey research over the past decade. How well informed Americans really are has not been accurately assessed because consensus about what the public should know has been lacking. Fifteen energy organizations were surveyed about what the public should know. They gave high ratings to concepts that enable citizens to make sound judgments and gave lower ratings to specific facts. An examination of survey research suggests that Americans are most familiar with concepts that relate to currentmore » social issues or to areas of personal responsibility/control, and that, as energy issues have faded from the public agenda since the early 1980s, the percentage feeling well informed has declined.« less

Research on hotspot discovery in internet public opinions based on improved K-means.

PubMed

Wang, Gensheng

2013-01-01

How to discover hotspot in the Internet public opinions effectively is a hot research field for the researchers related which plays a key role for governments and corporations to find useful information from mass data in the Internet. An improved K-means algorithm for hotspot discovery in internet public opinions is presented based on the analysis of existing defects and calculation principle of original K-means algorithm. First, some new methods are designed to preprocess website texts, select and express the characteristics of website texts, and define the similarity between two website texts, respectively. Second, clustering principle and the method of initial classification centers selection are analyzed and improved in order to overcome the limitations of original K-means algorithm. Finally, the experimental results verify that the improved algorithm can improve the clustering stability and classification accuracy of hotspot discovery in internet public opinions when used in practice.

Research on Hotspot Discovery in Internet Public Opinions Based on Improved K-Means

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

How to discover hotspot in the Internet public opinions effectively is a hot research field for the researchers related which plays a key role for governments and corporations to find useful information from mass data in the Internet. An improved K-means algorithm for hotspot discovery in internet public opinions is presented based on the analysis of existing defects and calculation principle of original K-means algorithm. First, some new methods are designed to preprocess website texts, select and express the characteristics of website texts, and define the similarity between two website texts, respectively. Second, clustering principle and the method of initial classification centers selection are analyzed and improved in order to overcome the limitations of original K-means algorithm. Finally, the experimental results verify that the improved algorithm can improve the clustering stability and classification accuracy of hotspot discovery in internet public opinions when used in practice. PMID:24106496

Limited public ability to recognise and understand the universal sign for automated external defibrillators.

PubMed

Aagaard, Rasmus; Grove, Erik Lerkevang; Mikkelsen, Ronni; Wolff, Anne; Iversen, Kirstine Würtz; Løfgren, Bo

2016-05-15

To study if the public is able to recognise and understand the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) sign for automated external defibrillators (AEDs), and to explore how national resuscitation councils have adopted the sign. A survey was conducted among travellers in an international airport serving 21 million passengers annually. Participants were asked to state the meaning of six international safety signs, one of which was the ILCOR AED sign. Also, all national resuscitation councils forming ILCOR were contacted to determine whether they recommend the ILCOR AED sign and the existence of national legislation regarding AED signage. In total, 493 travellers (42 nationalities) were included. Correct identification of the ILCOR AED sign was achieved by 39% (95% CI 35% to 43%). Information on AED signage was obtained from 41 of 44 (93%) national resuscitation councils; 26 councils (63%) recommended the use of the ILCOR AED sign. In two countries, the ILCOR AED sign was mandatory by law. There is limited public recognition and understanding of the ILCOR AED sign. The ILCOR AED sign is not unanimously recommended by national resuscitation councils worldwide. Initiatives promoting public awareness of AEDs are warranted. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Understanding Higher Education Institutions' Publicness: Do Public Universities Produce More Public Outcomes than Private Universities?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Young-Joo

2017-01-01

Higher education institutions produce a broad array of public outcomes. However, little is known about the varying levels of their contribution to the public good and what explains the variation among institutions. This study uses the theory of organisational publicness and examines how these institutions' ownership status and resource publicness…

Public reporting helped drive quality improvement in outpatient diabetes care among Wisconsin physician groups

PubMed Central

Smith, Maureen A.; Wright, Alexandra; Queram, Christopher; Lamb, Geoffrey C.

2012-01-01

Public reporting on the quality of ambulatory health care is growing, but knowledge of how physician groups respond to such reporting has not kept pace. We examined responses to public reporting on the quality of diabetes care in 409 primary care clinics within seventeen large, multispecialty physician groups. We determined that a focus on publicly reported metrics, along with participation in large or externally sponsored projects, increased a clinic’s implementation of diabetes improvement interventions. Clinics were also more likely to implement interventions in more recent years. Public reporting helped drive both early implementation of a single intervention and ongoing implementation of multiple simultaneous interventions. To fully engage physician groups, accountability metrics should be structured to capture incremental improvements in quality, thereby rewarding both early and ongoing improvement activities. PMID:22392668

Right care, right place, right time: improving the timeliness of health care in New South Wales through a public-private hospital partnership.

PubMed

Saunders, Carla; Carter, David J

2017-10-01

Objective The overall aim of the study was to investigate and assess the feasibility of improving the timeliness of public hospital care through a New South Wales (NSW)-wide public-private hospital partnership. Methods The study reviewed the academic and professional grey literature, and undertook exploratory analyses of secondary data acquired from two national health data repositories informing in-patient access and utilisation across NSW public and private hospitals. Results In 2014-15, the NSW public hospital system was unable to deliver care within the medically recommended time frame for over 27400 people who were awaiting elective surgery. Available information indicates that the annual commissioning of 15% of public in-patient rehabilitation bed days to the private hospital system would potentially free up enough capacity in the NSW public hospital system to enable elective surgery for all public patients within recommended time frames. Conclusions The findings of the study justify a strategic whole-of-health system approach to reducing public patient wait times in NSW and highlight the need for research efforts aimed at securing a better understanding of available hospital capacity across the public and private hospital systems, and identifying and testing workable models that improve the timeliness of public hospital care. What is known about the topic? There are very few studies available to inform public-private hospital service partnerships and the opportunities available to improve timely health care access through such partnerships. What does this paper add? This paper has the potential to open and prompt timely discussion and debate, and generate further fundamental investigation, on public-private hospital service partnerships in Australia where opportunity is available to address elective surgery wait times in a reliable and effective manner. What are the implications for practitioners? The NSW Ministry of Health and its Local Health Districts

Using public policy to improve outcomes for asthmatic children in schools.

PubMed

Lynn, Jewlya; Oppenheimer, Sophie; Zimmer, Lorena

2014-12-01

School-based services to improve asthma management need to be accompanied by public policies that can help sustain services, scale effective interventions, create greater equity across schools, and improve outcomes for children. Several national organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have recommended specific public policies the adoption of which in school settings can improve asthma outcomes for children. Although many states and school districts have adopted some of these policies, adoption is not universal, and implementation is not always successful, leaving inequities in children's access to asthma services and supports. These issues can be addressed by changing public policy. Policy change is a complex process, but it is one that will benefit from greater involvement by asthma experts, including the researchers who generate the knowledge base on what services, supports, and policies have the best outcomes for children. Asthma experts can participate in the policy process by helping to build awareness of the need for school-based asthma policy, estimating the costs associated with policy options and with inaction, advocating for the selection of specific policies, assisting in implementation (including providing feedback), conducting the research that can evaluate the effectiveness of implementation, and ultimately providing information back into the policy process to allow for improvements to the policies. Copyright © 2014 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Public-Private Venture’s Contribution to Improved Quality of Life

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-02-08

management priority and is recognized as a key item on the administration’s agenda to improve the quality of life for our service members. These public...private ventures (PPVs) will significantly improve the quality of life for Marine families residing in base housing because they offer an increased

The role of public insurance and the public delivery system in improving birth outcomes for low-income pregnant women.

PubMed

Susan Marquis, M; Long, Stephen H

2002-11-01

Insurance expansions and service delivery system expansions are alternative policy instruments used to try to improve birth outcomes for low-income women. The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of expansions of public insurance on access and birth outcomes for pregnant women and the role of different delivery systems in these outcomes. The experience in Florida during the years 1989-1994 is studied. Data are from linked birth certificates, hospital discharge data, Medicaid eligibility and claims files, and county health department records. Use of prenatal care and birthweight for low-income women is compared under different financing for prenatal care and for those using different delivery systems. Several approaches to control for self-selection are adopted, and similar results are obtained with each. Women enrolled in Medicaid have more prenatal care visits than the uninsured. Outcomes for those on Medicaid and the uninsured are significantly better if they receive care in the public health system than if they receive care in the private system-including private offices, clinics, and HMOs. Over time, the gap in outcomes between those in the public system and those receiving prenatal care from private physicians has diminished. Public insurance improves access to services, but the delivery system is a key factor in improving outcomes.

Does Competition Improve Public School Efficiency? A Spatial Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Misra, Kaustav

2010-01-01

Proponents of educational reform often call for policies to increase competition between schools. It is argued that market forces naturally lead to greater efficiencies, including improved student learning, when schools face competition. In many parts of the country, public schools experience significant competition from private schools; however,…

Improving the public health sector in South Africa: eliciting public preferences using a discrete choice experiment.

PubMed

Honda, Ayako; Ryan, Mandy; van Niekerk, Robert; McIntyre, Diane

2015-06-01

The introduction of national health insurance (NHI), aimed at achieving universal coverage, is the most important issue currently on the South African health policy agenda. Improvement in public sector health-care provision is crucial for the successful implementation of NHI as, regardless of whether health-care services become more affordable and available, if the quality of the services provided is not acceptable, people will not use the services. Although there has been criticism of the quality of public sector health services, limited research is available to identify what communities regard as the greatest problems with the services. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was undertaken to elicit public preferences on key dimensions of quality of care when selecting public health facilities in South Africa. Qualitative methods were applied to establish attributes and levels for the DCE. To elicit preferences, interviews with community members were held in two South African provinces: 491 in Western Cape and 499 in Eastern Cape. The availability of necessary medicine at health facilities has the greatest impact on the probability of attending public health facilities. Other clinical quality attributes (i.e. provision of expert advice and provision of a thorough examination) are more valued than non-clinical quality of care attributes (i.e. staff attitude, treatment by doctors or nurses, and waiting time). Treatment by a doctor was less valued than all other attributes. Communities are prepared to tolerate public sector health service characteristics such as a long waiting time, poor staff attitudes and lack of direct access to doctors if they receive the medicine they need, a thorough examination and a clear explanation of the diagnosis and prescribed treatment from health professionals. These findings prioritize issues that the South African government must address in order to meet their commitment to improve public sector health-care service provision. Published

Assessing and Improving Student Understanding of Tree-Thinking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kummer, Tyler A.

Evolution is the unifying theory of biology. The importance of understanding evolution by those who study the origins, diversification and diversity life cannot be overstated. Because of its importance, in addition to a scientific study of evolution, many researchers have spent time studying the acceptance and the teaching of evolution. Phylogenetic Systematics is the field of study developed to understand the evolutionary history of organisms, traits, and genes. Tree-thinking is the term by which we identify concepts related to the evolutionary history of organisms. It is vital that those who undertake a study of biology be able to understand and interpret what information these phylogenies are meant to convey. In this project, we evaluated the current impact a traditional study of biology has on the misconceptions students hold by assessing tree-thinking in freshman biology students to those nearing the end of their studies. We found that the impact of studying biology was varied with some misconceptions changing significantly while others persisted. Despite the importance of tree-thinking no appropriately developed concept inventory exists to measure student understanding of these important concepts. We developed a concept inventory capable of filling this important need and provide evidence to support its use among undergraduate students. Finally, we developed and modified activities as well as courses based on best practices to improve teaching and learning of tree-thinking and organismal diversity. We accomplished this by focusing on two key questions. First, how do we best introduce students to tree-thinking and second does tree-thinking as a course theme enhance student understanding of not only tree-thinking but also organismal diversity. We found important evidence suggesting that introducing students to tree-thinking via building evolutionary trees was less successful than introducing the concept via tree interpretation and may have in fact introduced or

A Manual for Understanding and Improving Counselor/Client Interview Behavior.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Santoro, David A.

This manual was devised to help supervisors, counselors, trainees, and other educators to better understand and improve counselor/client interview behavior through utilization of the Counselor Client Behavior Analysis System (CCBA). The CCBA is an interaction training and/or research schema designed to provide a formalized feedback system on the…

Public understandings of nature: a case study of local knowledge about "natural" forest conditions

Treesearch

R. Bruce Hull; David P. Robertson; Angelina Kendra

2001-01-01

This study is intended to serve as an explicit and specific example of the social construction of nature. It is motivated by the need to develop a more sophisticated language for a critical public dialogue about society's relationship with nature. We conducted a case study of environmental discourse in one local population in hopes of better understanding how a...

Addressing Challenges to Public Understanding of Science: Epistemic Cognition, Motivated Reasoning, and Conceptual Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sinatra, Gale M.; Kienhues, Dorothe; Hofer, Barbara K.

2014-01-01

Science is of critical importance to daily life in a knowledge society and has a significant influence on many everyday decisions. As scientific problems increase in their number and complexity, so do the challenges facing the public in understanding these issues. Our objective is to focus on 3 of those challenges: the challenge of reasoning about…

Increasing our understanding of how science really works

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scotchmoor, Judith

2010-03-01

``Most Americans do not understand the scientific process," nor can they distinguish between science and non-science (National Science Board, 2006). Given the impact of science on society, the lack of public understanding of science should be a concern to us all. In large part, the current confusions about evolution, global warming, and other aspects of science are symptomatic of a general misunderstanding of what science is and what it is not. Too few of our citizens view science as a dynamic process through which we gain a reliable understanding of the natural world. As a result, the public becomes vulnerable to misinformation and the very real benefits of science become obscured. In response, an NSF- funded initiative has emerged to improve public understanding about how science really works, why it matters, and who scientists are. Understanding Science, a collaborative project developed by the UC Museum of Paleontology, serves to both inspire and engage students in the dynamic nature of science. The ``scientific method'' within our textbooks is an impoverished depiction that does little to promote scientific literacy. If we are aiming for a public capable of assessing conflicting representations of scientific evidence in the media, they must understand the strengths, limitations, and basic methods of the enterprise that has produced those claims. While many teachers recognize the weakness of the standard pedagogical approach to these fundamentals of science literacy, until now they lacked any comprehensive resource to help them strengthen their own knowledge and teaching.

Improving Collaboration between Public Health and Family Health Teams in Ontario

PubMed Central

Green, Michael E.; Weir, Erica; Hogg, William; Etches, Vera; Moore, Kieran; Hunter, Duncan; Birtwhistle, Richard

2013-01-01

Objectives: To identify and explore areas where responsibilities may overlap between family health teams (FHTs) and public health units (PHUs); to identify facilitators or barriers to collaboration; and to identify priority areas for increased collaboration. Design and context: Cross-sectional mixed-methods study of FHTs and PHUs in Ontario, Canada, consisting of a postal survey, key informant interviews and a roundtable meeting. Results: The survey response rate was 46%. Direct client-based services such as giving immunizations, promoting prenatal health and nutrition, and counselling related to smoking cessation were identified as the top three areas of perceived overlap. The greatest interest in collaboration was expressed in the areas of emergency planning and preparedness, immunization, and prenatal health and nutrition. Good communication with a clear understanding of roles and functions was the most important facilitator, and lack of resources and absence of a clear provincial mandate and direction to collaborate were identified as significant barriers. Conclusions: Small, simple client-based projects of interest to both kinds of organization would be the best way to move forward in the short term. Improving communication between FHTs and PHUs, understanding of roles and functions, the use of shared or interoperable information systems and greater clarity from government on the ways in which these two key sectors of the healthcare system are intended to work together were identified as important for the success of increased collaboration. PMID:23968630

Quality improvement and accreditation readiness in state public health agencies.

PubMed

Madamala, Kusuma; Sellers, Katie; Beitsch, Leslie M; Pearsol, Jim; Jarris, Paul

2012-01-01

There were 3 specific objectives of this study. The first objective was to examine the progress of state/territorial health assessment, health improvement planning, performance management, and quality improvement (QI) activities at state/territorial health agencies and compare findings to the 2007 findings when available. A second objective was to examine respondent interest and readiness for national voluntary accreditation. A final objective was to explore organizational factors (eg, leadership and capacity) that may influence QI or accreditation readiness. Cross-sectional study. State and Territorial Public Health Agencies. Survey respondents were organizational leaders at State and Territorial Public Health Agencies. Sixty-seven percent of respondents reported having a formal performance management process in place. Approximately 77% of respondents reported a QI process in place. Seventy-three percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they would seek accreditation and 36% agreed or strongly agreed that they would seek accreditation in the first 2 years of the program. In terms of accreditation prerequisites, a strategic plan was most frequently developed, followed by a state/territorial health assessment and health improvement plan, respectively. Advancements in the practice and applied research of QI in state public health agencies are necessary steps for improving performance. In particular, strengthening the measurement of the QI construct is essential for meaningfully assessing current practice patterns and informing future programming and policy decisions. Continued QI training and technical assistance to agency staff and leadership is also critical. Accreditation may be the pivotal factor to strengthen both QI practice and research. Respondent interest in seeking accreditation may indicate the perceived value of accreditation to the agency.

PPACA and public health: creating a framework to focus on prevention and wellness and improve the public's health.

PubMed

Majette, Gwendolyn Roberts

2011-01-01

PPACA epitomizes comprehensive health care reform legislation. Public health, disease prevention, and wellness were integral considerations in its development. This article reveals the author's personal experiences while working on the framework for health care reform in the United States Senate and reviews activity in the United States House of Representatives. This insider's perspective delineates PPACA's positive effect on public health by examining the infrastructure Congress designed to focus on prevention, wellness, and public health, with a particular focus on the National Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health Council; the National Prevention, Health Promotion, Public Health, and Integrative Health Care Strategy; and the Prevention and Public Health Fund. The Council, strategy, and fund are especially important because they reflect compliance with some of the Institute of Medicine's recommendations to improve public health in the United States, as well as international health and human rights norms that protect the right to health. © 2011 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

Recognising and understanding Lyme disease.

PubMed

Pearson, Sandra

2014-09-09

Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the northern hemisphere and its incidence is rising, leading to increased public health concerns. It is important to understand the nature of the disease because this defines the limitations of current understanding and knowledge. Significant uncertainties in diagnostics and treatment remain. There is an important role for the nurse in raising awareness, giving advice on prevention and correct tick removal, and in recognising signs of Lyme disease to assist access to prompt medical attention. Increased awareness, further research, improved diagnostics and advances in therapeutics are urgently required.

Investigators share improved understanding of the North American carbon cycle

Treesearch

Richard A. Birdsey; Robert Cook; Scott Denning; Peter Griffith; Beverly Law; Jeffrey Masek; Anna Michalak; Stephen Ogle; Dennis Ojima; Yude Pan; Christopher Sabine; Edwin Sheffner; Eric Sundquist

2007-01-01

The U.S. North American Carbon Program (NACP) sponsored an "all-scientist" meeting to review progress in understanding the dynamics of the carbon cycle of North American and adjacent oceans, and to chart a course for improved integration across scientifi c disciplines, scales, and Earth system boundaries. The meeting participants also addressed the need for...

Improving the Quality and Scientific Understanding of Trophic Magnification Factors (TMFs)

EPA Science Inventory

This short 1000 word report presents a series of research needs for improving the measurement and understanding of trophic magnification factors (TMFs). TMFs are useful measures of trophic magnification and represent the diet-weighted average biomagnification factor (BMF) of che...

Improved understanding of moisture effects on outdoor wood–adhesive bondlines

Treesearch

Joseph E. Jakes; Nayomi Plaza-Rodriguez; Xavier Arzola Villegas; Charles R. Frihart

2017-01-01

The development of improved moisture-durable wood adhesives for outdoor applications, such as repairing historic covered bridges, is hindered by an incomplete mechanistic understanding of what makes a wood–adhesive bond moisture-durable. The wood–adhesive bondline is extraordinarily difficult to study because of the chemical, structural, and mechanical complexities and...

Improved Time to Publication in Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

de Gouw, Joost A.; Ghan, Steven J.; Pryor, Sara

Timely publication of manuscripts is important to authors and readers. AGU has significantly accelerated both the review and production processes for the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres (JGR-Atmospheres). Via a number of mechanisms (e.g., shortening the time allotted for reviewer selection, manuscript reviews, and revisions), the mean time to first decision has been decreased from 98 days in 2007 to 50 days in 2011, and the mean time to final decision has been decreased from 132 days in 2007 to 71 days in 2011. By implementing a new content management system, adjusting the workflow for improved efficiency, requesting authors to proofreadmore » their manuscripts quicker, and improving monitoring and follow-up to author and vendor queries, the mean production time from manuscript acceptance to publication has been decreased from 128 days in 2010 to only 56 days in 2012. Thus, in the past few years the mean time to publication of JGRAtmospheres has been cut in half. These milestones have been achieved with no loss of quality of presentation or content. In addition, online posting of "papers in press" on JGR-Atmosphere’s home page typically occurs within a few days after acceptance. JGR-Atmospheres editors thank manuscript reviewers, authors, and AGU staff who have greatly contributed to the more timely review and publication processes. This information will be updated periodically on the JGR-Atmospheres home page. A chart showing the average time from acceptance to publication for all of AGU’s journals is available at http://www.agu.org/pubs/pdf/31May2012_Timeliness_Chart.pdf.« less

Assessing Continuous Quality Improvement in Public Health: Adapting Lessons from Healthcare.

PubMed

Price, Alex; Schwartz, Robert; Cohen, Joanna; Manson, Heather; Scott, Fran

2017-02-01

Evidence of the effect of continuous quality improvement (CQI) in public health and valid tools to judge that such effects are not fully formed. The objective was to adapt and apply Shortell et al.'s (1998) four dimensions of CQI in an examination of a public health accountability and performance management initiative in Ontario, Canada. In total, 24 semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with informants from public health units and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. A web survey of public health managers in the province was also carried out. A mix of facilitators and barriers was identified. Leadership and organizational cultures, conducive to CQI success were evident. However, limitations in performance measurement and managerial discretion were key barriers. The four dimensions of CQI provided insight into both facilitators and barriers of CQI adoption in public health. Future research should compare the outcomes of public health CQI initiatives to the framework's stated facilitators and barriers. Copyright © 2017 Longwoods Publishing.

Assessing Continuous Quality Improvement in Public Health: Adapting Lessons from Healthcare

PubMed Central

Schwartz, Robert; Cohen, Joanna; Manson, Heather; Scott, Fran

2017-01-01

Context: Evidence of the effect of continuous quality improvement (CQI) in public health and valid tools to judge that such effects are not fully formed. Objective: The objective was to adapt and apply Shortell et al.'s (1998) four dimensions of CQI in an examination of a public health accountability and performance management initiative in Ontario, Canada. Methods: In total, 24 semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with informants from public health units and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. A web survey of public health managers in the province was also carried out. Results: A mix of facilitators and barriers was identified. Leadership and organizational cultures, conducive to CQI success were evident. However, limitations in performance measurement and managerial discretion were key barriers. Conclusion: The four dimensions of CQI provided insight into both facilitators and barriers of CQI adoption in public health. Future research should compare the outcomes of public health CQI initiatives to the framework's stated facilitators and barriers. PMID:28277203

A need for better understanding is the major determinant for public perceptions of human gene editing.

PubMed

McCaughey, Tristan; Budden, David Mark; Sanfilippo, Paul G; Gooden, George E C; Fan, Li; Fenwick, Eva; Rees, Gwyneth; MacGregor, Casimir; Si, Lei; Chen, Christine; Liang, Helena Hai; Pebay, Alice; Baldwin, Timothy; Hewitt, Alex W

2018-06-21

The CRISPR/Cas system could provide an efficient and reliable means of editing the human genome and has the potential to revolutionise modern medicine; however, rapid developments are raising complex ethical issues. There has been significant scientific debate regarding the acceptability of some applications of CRISPR/Cas, with leaders in the field highlighting the need for the lay public's views to shape expert discussion. As such, we sought to determine the factors that influence public opinion on gene editing. We created a 17-item online survey translated into 11 languages and advertised worldwide. Topic modelling was used to analyse textual responses to determine what factors influenced respondents' opinions towards human somatic or embryonic gene editing, and how this varied between respondents with differing attitudes and demographic backgrounds. A total of 3,988 free text responses were analysed. Respondents had a mean age of 32 (11-90) and 37% were female. The most prevalent topics cited were 'Future Generations', 'Research', 'Human Editing', 'Children', and 'Health'. Respondents who disagreed with gene editing for health-related purposes were more likely to cite the topic 'Better Understanding' than those who agreed to both somatic and embryonic gene editing. Respondents from 'Western' backgrounds more frequently discussed 'Future Generations', compared to participants from 'Eastern' countries. Religious respondents did not cite the topic 'Religious Beliefs' more frequently than non-religious respondents, while Christian respondents were more likely to cite the topic 'Future Generations'. Our results suggest that public resistance to human somatic or embryonic gene editing does not stem from an inherent mistrust of genome modification, but rather a desire for greater understanding. Furthermore, we demonstrate that factors influencing public opinion vary greatly amongst demographic groups. It is crucial that the determinants of public attitudes towards

Public understanding of solar radiation management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mercer, A. M.; Keith, D. W.; Sharp, J. D.

2011-10-01

We report the results of the first large-scale international survey of public perception of geoengineering and solar radiation management (SRM). Our sample of 3105 individuals in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom was recruited by survey firms that administer internet surveys to nationally representative population samples. Measured familiarity was higher than expected, with 8% and 45% of the population correctly defining the terms geoengineering and climate engineering respectively. There was strong support for allowing the study of SRM. Support decreased and uncertainty rose as subjects were asked about their support for using SRM immediately, or to stop a climate emergency. Support for SRM is associated with optimism about scientific research, a valuing of SRM's benefits and a stronger belief that SRM is natural, while opposition is associated with an attitude that nature should not be manipulated in this way. The potential risks of SRM are important drivers of public perception with the most salient being damage to the ozone layer and unknown risks. SRM is a new technology and public opinions are just forming; thus all reported results are sensitive to changes in framing, future information on risks and benefits, and changes to context.

Increasing Understanding of Public Problems and Policies. A Group Study of Four Topics in the Field of Extension Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farm Foundation, Chicago, IL.

The publication contains thirteen reports from the Twentieth National Agricultural Policy Conference held September 22-25, 1970, at Pokagon State Park, Angola, Indiana. The conference was designed to assist extension workers by broadening their perspective, understanding, and handling of the methodology of public affairs education. Four topics in…

Improving Public Health through Innovations in Exposure ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In the traditional risk assessment paradigm, exposure science is relegated to a supporting role, providing an exposure estimate for comparison with hazard-based guidance values to determine whether there may be an unacceptable risk to public health. More recently, exposure science has transformed into a distinct discipline that complements toxicology as a means to understand the relationship between exposures to chemical mixtures and multiple health effects. This transformation is driven by advances in, for example, analytical methods, biomarker discovery, computational capabilities and algorithms, remote and on-person sensors, and geographic information systems. These major innovations in exposure science provide novel data streams that can revolutionize toxicity testing strategies and conventional risk assessment. For example, large numbers of chemicals are being detected at ever-lower concentrations in environmental and biological samples, providing relevant exposure information to be integrated into toxicity testing strategies. Novel biomarkers are being developed to expand our understanding of exposures, early biological effects, and susceptibility, and to allow for the exploration of contributions from both chemical and non-chemical stressors to adverse health outcomes. This workshop will introduce numerous innovative tools to enable better characterization of human exposures to mixtures of chemicals, including 1) a non-targeted approach to identify

Improving student understanding in web programming material through multimedia adventure games

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitriasari, N. S.; Ashiddiqi, M. F.; Nurdin, E. A.

2018-05-01

This study aims to make multimedia adventure games and find out the improvement of learners’ understanding after being given treatment of using multimedia adventure game in learning Web Programming. Participants of this study are students of class X (ten) in one of the Vocational Schools (SMK) in Indonesia. The material of web programming is a material that difficult enough to be understood by the participant therefore needed tools to facilitate the participants to understand the material. Solutions offered in this study is by using multimedia adventures game. Multimedia has been created using Construct2 and measured understood with method Non-equivalent Control Group Design. Pre-test and post-test has given to learners who received treatment using the multimedia adventure showed increase in understanding web programming material.

Scaffolded Instruction Improves Student Understanding of the Scientific Method & Experimental Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

D'Costa, Allison R.; Schlueter, Mark A.

2013-01-01

Implementation of a guided-inquiry lab in introductory biology classes, along with scaffolded instruction, improved students' understanding of the scientific method, their ability to design an experiment, and their identification of experimental variables. Pre- and postassessments from experimental versus control sections over three semesters…

Measuring the level of public understanding of total solar eclipse from the mass media: Palembang as sample

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Purwati, F. G.; Ekawanti, N.; Luthfiandari; Premadi, P. W.

2016-11-01

The Total Solar Eclipse (TSE) on the 9th March 2016 received a huge attention from the mass media. Some of them intensively write articles about it even months before the TSE day. As we know media plays strategic role not only in raising public awareness but also interest. The aim of this project is to study the relation between the number of accesses to the media information and how well public learned the information delivered by the media. We prepared questionnaire consisting of seven semi-multiple choices on how public got information about TSE. We gave them choices of what they had heard to measure their basic understanding of TSE. Furthermore we add two “wrong” choices in the last questions to identify less serious respondents. We analyze 60 respondents of Palembang who visited Ampera bridge area. Our result shows no correlation between the number of information access and the level of understanding about TSE. We also found that local media did not provide the scientific content of TSE as well as the national media.

Understanding the gut microbiome of dairy calves: Opportunities to improve early-life gut health.

PubMed

Malmuthuge, Nilusha; Guan, Le Luo

2017-07-01

Early gut microbiota plays a vital role in the long-term health of the host. However, understanding of these microbiota is very limited in livestock species, especially in dairy calves. Neonatal calves are highly susceptible to enteric infections, one of the major causes of calf death, so approaches to improving gut health and overall calf health are needed. An increasing number of studies are exploring the microbial composition of the gut, the mucosal immune system, and early dietary interventions to improve the health of dairy calves, revealing possibilities for effectively reducing the susceptibility of calves to enteric infections while promoting growth. Still, comprehensive understanding of the effect of dietary interventions on gut microbiota-one of the key aspects of gut health-is lacking. Such knowledge may provide in-depth understanding of the mechanisms behind functional changes in response to dietary interventions. Understanding of host-microbial interactions with dietary interventions and the role of the gut microbiota during pathogenesis at the site of infection in early life is vital for designing effective tools and techniques to improve calf gut health. Copyright © 2017 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Using Patient Case Video Vignettes to Improve Students' Understanding of Cross-cultural Communication.

PubMed

Arif, Sally; Cryder, Brian; Mazan, Jennifer; Quiñones-Boex, Ana; Cyganska, Angelika

2017-04-01

Objective. To develop, implement, and assess whether simulated patient case videos improve students' understanding of and attitudes toward cross-cultural communication in health care. Design. Third-year pharmacy students (N=159) in a health care communications course participated in a one-hour lecture and two-hour workshop on the topic of cross-cultural communication. Three simulated pharmacist-patient case vignettes highlighting cross-cultural communication barriers, the role of active listening, appropriate use of medical interpreters, and useful models to overcome communication barriers were viewed and discussed in groups of 20 students during the workshop. Assessment. A pre-lecture and post-workshop assessed the effect on students' understanding of and attitudes toward cross-cultural communication. Understanding of cross-cultural communication concepts increased significantly, as did comfort level with providing cross-cultural care. Conclusion. Use of simulated patient case videos in conjunction with an interactive workshop improved pharmacy students' understanding of and comfort level with cross-cultural communication skills and can be useful tools for cultural competency training in the curriculum.

Using Patient Case Video Vignettes to Improve Students’ Understanding of Cross-cultural Communication

PubMed Central

Cryder, Brian; Mazan, Jennifer; Quiñones-Boex, Ana; Cyganska, Angelika

2017-01-01

Objective. To develop, implement, and assess whether simulated patient case videos improve students’ understanding of and attitudes toward cross-cultural communication in health care. Design. Third-year pharmacy students (N=159) in a health care communications course participated in a one-hour lecture and two-hour workshop on the topic of cross-cultural communication. Three simulated pharmacist-patient case vignettes highlighting cross-cultural communication barriers, the role of active listening, appropriate use of medical interpreters, and useful models to overcome communication barriers were viewed and discussed in groups of 20 students during the workshop. Assessment. A pre-lecture and post-workshop assessed the effect on students’ understanding of and attitudes toward cross-cultural communication. Understanding of cross-cultural communication concepts increased significantly, as did comfort level with providing cross-cultural care. Conclusion. Use of simulated patient case videos in conjunction with an interactive workshop improved pharmacy students' understanding of and comfort level with cross-cultural communication skills and can be useful tools for cultural competency training in the curriculum. PMID:28496276

Publicly reported quality-of-care measures influenced Wisconsin physician groups to improve performance

PubMed Central

Lamb, Geoffrey C.; Smith, Maureen; Weeks, William B.; Queram, Christopher

2014-01-01

Public reporting of performance on quality measures is increasingly common but little is known about the impact, especially among physician groups. The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (Collaborative) is a voluntary consortium of physician groups which has publicly reported quality measures since 2004, providing an opportunity to study the effect of this effort on participating groups. Analyses included member performance on 14 ambulatory measures from 2004–2009, a survey regarding reporting and its relationship to improvement efforts, and use of Medicare billing data to independently compare Collaborative members to the rest of Wisconsin, neighboring states and the rest of the United States. Faced with limited resources, groups prioritized their efforts based on the nature of the measure and their performance compared to others. The outcomes demonstrated that public reporting was associated with improvement in health quality and that large physician group practices will engage in improvement efforts in response. PMID:23459733

A 24/7 Public Possession: Understanding the Dissonance and Grace of Being a Post-Secondary Leader

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davison, Phil L.

2012-01-01

This study explores the perspectives and understandings of post-secondary leaders and their contexts as described through the qualitative experiences of 12 Maritime Canadian leaders (presidents and vice-presidents) who work in contemporary, publicly funded, post-secondary institutions. Four themes emerge: balancing daily dissonance, learning…

Adapting public policy theory for public health research: A framework to understand the development of national policies on global health.

PubMed

Jones, Catherine M; Clavier, Carole; Potvin, Louise

2017-03-01

National policies on global health appear as one way that actors from health, development and foreign affairs sectors in a country coordinate state action on global health. Next to a burgeoning literature in which international relations and global governance theories are employed to understand global health policy and global health diplomacy at the international level, little is known about policy processes for global health at the national scale. We propose a framework of the policy process to understand how such policies are developed, and we identify challenges for public health researchers integrating conceptual tools from political science. We developed the framework using a two-step process: 1) reviewing literature to establish criteria for selecting a theoretical framework fit for this purpose, and 2) adapting Real-Dato's synthesis framework to integrate a cognitive approach to public policy within a constructivist perspective. Our framework identifies multiple contexts as part of the policy process, focuses on situations where actors work together to make national policy on global health, considers these interactive situations as spaces for observing external influences on policy change and proposes policy design as the output of the process. We suggest that this framework makes three contributions to the conceptualisation of national policy on global health as a research object. First, it emphasizes collective action over decisions of individual policy actors. Second, it conceptualises the policy process as organised interactive spaces for collaboration rather than as stages of a policy cycle. Third, national decision-making spaces are opportunities for transferring ideas and knowledge from different sectors and settings, and represent opportunities to identify international influences on a country's global health policy. We discuss two sets of challenges for public health researchers using interdisciplinary approaches in policy research. Copyright �

Improving the public house in Britain, 1920-40: Sir Sydney Nevile and "social work".

PubMed

Mutch, Alistair

2010-01-01

The "improved public house" movement in the inter-war years was a central part of the shift towards retailing by the brewing industry. An important part of the reform movement was the alliance between certain brewers, notably Whitbread, and "social workers", particularly those associated with the University Settlement movement in London. Using the papers of Sydney Nevile, the importance of a particular social milieu is outlined, calling into question attempts to align the movement to improve public houses with transatlantic Progressivism. Rather, this alliance drew upon longstanding English traditions of public service and religious affiliation amongst a fraction of the gentry.

Communicating more effectively with public audiences (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewandowsky, S.; Cook, J.

2013-12-01

Although nearly all domain experts agree that human greenhouse gas emissions are altering the world's climate, a segment of the public rejects the scientific evidence. How can this gap between scientific knowledge and public understanding be bridged? Improved communication requires a better understanding of the cultural factors (e.g., political worldviews) and cognitive factors (e.g., inability to appreciate the concept of accumulation) that contribute to the public's rejection of the science. We review those factors and then provide practical guidance on more effective ways of communicating to the public. We focus on (a) framing of climate change in ways that are less challenging to people's worldview; (b) the role of the perceived scientific consensus in communication; and (c) ways in which uncertainty can be communicated without creating further barriers to acceptance of the science.

Partnership work between Public Health and Health Psychology: introduction to a novel training programme

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Public health services implement individual, community and population level interventions to change health behaviours, improve healthy life expectancy and reduce health inequalities. Understanding and changing health behaviour is complex. Integrating behaviour change theory and evidence into interventions has the potential to improve services. Methods Health Psychologists apply evidence and theories aimed at understanding and changing health behaviour. A Scottish programme is piloting the training of Health Psychologists within NHS contexts to address prominent public health challenges. Results This article outlines the details of this novel programme. Two projects are examined to illustrate the potential of partnership working between public health and health psychology. Conclusion In order to develop and improve behaviour change interventions and services, public health planners may want to consider developing and using the knowledge and skills of Health Psychologists. Supporting such training within public health contexts is a promising avenue to build critical NHS internal mass to tackle the major public health challenges ahead. PMID:21070643

USGS Science Serves Public Health

USGS Publications Warehouse

Buxton, Herbert T.

2010-01-01

Human health so often depends on the health of the environment and wildlife around us. The presence of naturally occurring or human environmental contaminants and the emergence of diseases transferred between animals and humans are growing concerns worldwide. The USGS is a source of natural science information vital for understanding the quantity and quality of our earth and living resources. This information improves our understanding not only of how human activities affect environmental and ecological health, but also of how the quality of our environment and wildlife in turn affects human health. USGS is taking a leadership role in providing the natural science information needed by health researchers, policy makers, and the public to safeguard public health

Evaluation of the understanding of antibiotic resistance among Malaysian pharmacy students at public universities: an exploratory study.

PubMed

Rajiah, Kingston; Ren, Wong S; Jamshed, Shazia Q

2015-01-01

Infectious diseases are a great threat to humankind, and antibiotics are a viable proposition to numerous pathologies. However, antibiotic resistance is a global concern. Therefore, the aims of this survey were to explore the understanding and attitudes of pharmacy students regarding antibiotic use and resistance. This is a cross-sectional study conducted on final-year undergraduate pharmacy students from 5 public universities. A validated, self-administered questionnaire written in English was used to collect data. It was made up of six domains and forty-five questions. Raosoft software was used to determine the minimum required sample size. Descriptive and inferential data analyses were carried out using SPSS version 20 software. Out of 346 students, only 59.5% showed a strong understanding of antibiotic usage, while 84.4% of students demonstrated a good level of understanding regarding the issue of antibiotic resistance. However, only 34.1% of students demonstrated a positive attitude toward this issue. This survey reveals that final-year pharmacy students at Malaysian public universities have a relatively good understanding of antibiotic resistance. However, their attitudes did not strongly correlate to their knowledge. Copyright © 2014 King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Understanding deficiencies of leadership in advancing health equity: a case of pit bulls, public health, and pimps.

PubMed

Clancy, Gerard P

2015-04-01

Market- and legislation-driven health reforms are being implemented across the United States. Within this time of great change for health care delivery systems and medical schools lie opportunities to address the country's long-standing health inequities by using community needs assessments, health information technologies, and new models for care and payment. In this Commentary, the author, a university regional campus leader, shares several difficult personal experiences to demonstrate that health equity work undertaken by academic institutions also requires institutional leaders to pay attention to and gain an understanding of issues that go beyond public health data. The author reflects on lessons learned and offers recommendations that may help academic health center and university leaders be more effective as they take on the complex tasks involved in improving health inequities. These include reflection on personal strengths and deficiencies, engagement with the community, recognition of the historical roots of health disparities, and the development of trusting relationships between the institution and the community.

Harnessing and blending the power of two research networks to improve prevention science and public health practice

PubMed Central

Vanderpool, Robin C.; Brownson, Ross C.; Mays, Glen P.; Crosby, Richard A.; Wyatt, Stephen W.

2015-01-01

Strategic collaborations are essential in moving public health research and practice forward1, particularly in light of escalating fiscal and environmental challenges facing the public health community. This commentary provides background and context for an emerging partnership between two national networks, Prevention Research Centers (PRCs) and Public Health Practice-Based Research Networks (PBRNs), to impact public health practice. Supported by CDC, PRCs are celebrating over 25 years of transdisciplinary applied prevention research grounded in community and stakeholder engagement. Public Health PBRNs, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, conduct innovative public health services and systems research with public health agencies and community partners to improve public health decision-making. By utilizing each of the networks’ respective strengths and resources, collaborative ventures between PRCs and Public Health PBRNs can enhance the translation of applied prevention research to evidence-based practice and empirically investigate novel public health practices developed in the field. Three current PRC-Public Health PBRNs projects are highlighted and future research directions are discussed. Improving the interconnectedness of prevention research and public health practice is essential to improve the health of the Nation. PMID:24237918

Improving Design Understandings and Skills through Enhanced Metacognition: Reflective Design Journals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kurt, Mustafa; Kurt, Sevinc

2017-01-01

The main aim of this study was to investigate and discover whether going through the process of reflection by keeping reflective design journals (RDJ) enhances architecture students' metacognition and whether this enhanced metacognition improves their design understandings and skills. The study was a mixed-methods design and utilised content…

Pins and posters: Paradigms for content publication on situated displays.

PubMed

José, Rui; Pinto, Hélder; Silva, Bruno; Melro, Ana

2013-01-01

Public-display systems are still far from being a medium for meeting people's diverse communication goals. Moving toward open displays will require publication paradigms that can overcome the challenges of meaningful engagement and enable users to fully understand and control the publication process. The metaphors of pins and posters have inspired two complementary paradigms for public displays. Researchers implemented these paradigms in the Instant Places system, which they deployed on 10 displays in diverse urban locations for six months. They collected user and system data regarding the users' practices. The findings improve the understanding of what might drive user-generated content in networks of urban displays. Such knowledge can inform the design of tools and procedures for situated publication in public displays.

Cultural Immersion Experience: Promoting an Understanding of Mexican American Nutrition and Food Traditions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilboy, Mary Beth; Bill, Debra E.

2011-01-01

A week long immersion experience in Guanajuato, Mexico provided an opportunity for public health and nutrition students to improve their understanding of Mexican culture, nutrition, and food traditions. The experience positively impacted the students' understanding of the importance of cultural sensitivity in working with the local Mexican…

A systematic review of the public's knowledge and understanding of Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

PubMed

Cahill, Suzanne; Pierce, Maria; Werner, Perla; Darley, Andrew; Bobersky, Andrea

2015-01-01

This paper reports findings from a systematic review of the literature on the general public's knowledge and understanding of dementia/Alzheimer's disease. The key purpose of the review was to evaluate existing literature with specific attention paid to conceptual and methodological issues and to key findings. Over a 20-year period, 40 published articles satisfied the inclusion criteria. Only 4 of these were qualitative and 5 were cross-national. The review revealed a lack of consistency across studies regarding how knowledge was operationalized, approaches to sampling, response rates, and data collection instruments used including validated scales. A consistent finding across the vast majority of studies was the only fair to moderate knowledge and understanding the general public had. The most common misconception was that dementia was a normal part of aging and there was a lack of clarity about at which point normal age-related memory loss problems become severe enough to indicate dementia. Knowledge of dementia was found to be particularly poor among racial and ethnic minority groups where several myths about causes of dementia were found. Findings point to the need for more educational and advocacy programmes on dementia to be developed particularly in low-income to middle-income countries.

What do we do with all this video? Better understanding public engagement for image and video annotation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiener, C.; Miller, A.; Zykov, V.

2016-12-01

Advanced robotic vehicles are increasingly being used by oceanographic research vessels to enable more efficient and widespread exploration of the ocean, particularly the deep ocean. With cutting-edge capabilities mounted onto robotic vehicles, data at high resolutions is being generated more than ever before, enabling enhanced data collection and the potential for broader participation. For example, high resolution camera technology not only improves visualization of the ocean environment, but also expands the capacity to engage participants remotely through increased use of telepresence and virtual reality techniques. Schmidt Ocean Institute is a private, non-profit operating foundation established to advance the understanding of the world's oceans through technological advancement, intelligent observation and analysis, and open sharing of information. Telepresence-enabled research is an important component of Schmidt Ocean Institute's science research cruises, which this presentation will highlight. Schmidt Ocean Institute is one of the only research programs that make their entire underwater vehicle dive series available online, creating a collection of video that enables anyone to follow deep sea research in real time. We encourage students, educators and the general public to take advantage of freely available dive videos. Additionally, other SOI-supported internet platforms, have engaged the public in image and video annotation activities. Examples of these new online platforms, which utilize citizen scientists to annotate scientific image and video data will be provided. This presentation will include an introduction to SOI-supported video and image tagging citizen science projects, real-time robot tracking, live ship-to-shore communications, and an array of outreach activities that enable scientists to interact with the public and explore the ocean in fascinating detail.

Trusted Sources: The Role Scientific Societies Can Play in Improving Public Opinions on Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McEntee, C.; Cairns, A.; Buhrman, J.

2012-12-01

Public acceptance of the scientific consensus regarding climate change has eroded and misinformation designed to confuse the public is rapidly proliferating. Those issues, combined with an increase of politically motivated attacks on climate scientists and their research, have led to a place where ideology can trump scientific consensus as the foundation for developing policy solutions. The scientific community has been, thus far, unprepared to respond effectively to these developments. However, as a scientific society whose members engage in climate science research, and one whose organizational mission and vision are centered on the concepts of science for the benefit of humanity and ensuring a sustainable future, the American Geophysical Union can, and should, play an important role in reversing this trend. To that end, in 2011, AGU convened a Leadership Summit on Climate Science Communication, in which presidents, executive directors, and senior public policy staff from 17 scientific organizations engaged with experts in the social sciences regarding effective communication of climate science and with practitioners from agriculture, energy, and the military. The discussions focused on three key issues: the environment of climate science communication; public understanding of climate change; and the perspectives of consumers of climate science-based information who work with specific audiences. Participants diagnosed previous challenges and failings, enumerated the key constituencies that need to be effectively engaged, and identified the critical role played by cultural cognition—the influence of group values, particularly around equality and authority, individualism, and community; and the perceptions of risk. Since that meeting, AGU has consistently worked to identify and explore ways that it, and its members, and improve the effectiveness of their communication with the public about climate change. This presentation will focus on the insights AGU has

On-Ramp: Improving students' understanding of lock-in amplifiers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeVore, Seth; Singh, Chandralekha; Levy, Jeremy

2013-03-01

A lock-in amplifier is a powerful and versatile instrument which is used frequently in condensed matter physics research. However, many students struggle with the basics of a lock-in amplifier and they have difficulty in interpreting the data obtained with this device in diverse applications. To improve students' understanding, we are developing an ``On-Ramp'' tutorial based on physics education research which makes use of a computer simulation of a lock-in amplifier. During the development of the tutorial we interviewed several faculty members and graduate students. The tutorial is based on a field-tested approach in which students realize their difficulties after predicting the outcome of experiments that use a lock-in amplifier; students can check their predictions using simulations. The tutorial then guides students toward a coherent understanding of the basics of a lock-in amplifier. This poster will discuss the development and assessment process. This work is supported by NSF NEB (DMR-1124131) and NSF (PHY-1202909).

Leveraging finances for public health system improvement: results from the Turning Point initiative.

PubMed

Bekemeier, Betty; Riley, Catharine M; Berkowitz, Bobbie

2007-01-01

Reforming the public health infrastructure requires substantial system changes at the state level; state health agencies, however, often lack the resources and support for strategic planning and systemwide improvement. The Turning Point Initiative provided support for states to focus on large-scale system changes that resulted in increased funding for public health capacity and infrastructure development. Turning Point provides a test case for obtaining financial and institutional resources focused on systems change and infrastructure development-areas for which it has been historically difficult to obtain long-term support. The purpose of this exploratory, descriptive survey research was to enumerate the actual resources leveraged toward public health system improvement through the partnerships, planning, and implementation activities funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as a part of the Turning Point Initiative.

Improving Elementary School Students' Understanding of Historical Time: Effects of Teaching with "Timewise"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Groot-Reuvekamp, Marjan; Ros, Anje; van Boxtel, Carla

2018-01-01

The teaching of historical time is an important aspect in elementary school curricula. This study focuses on the effects of a curriculum intervention with "Timewise," a teaching approach developed to improve students' understanding of historical time using timelines as a basis with which students can develop their understanding of…

Critical Interactives: Improving Public Understanding of Institutional Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buell, Duncan A.; Cooley, Heidi Rae

2012-01-01

Over the past 3 years, the authors have pursued unique cross-college collaboration. They have hosted a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)-funded Humanities Gaming Institute and team-taught a cross-listed course that brought together students from the humanities and computer science. Currently, they are overseeing the development of an…

The Promise and Limitations of Using Analogies to Improve Decision-Relevant Understanding of Climate Change.

PubMed

Raimi, Kaitlin T; Stern, Paul C; Maki, Alexander

2017-01-01

To make informed choices about how to address climate change, members of the public must develop ways to consider established facts of climate science and the uncertainties about its future trajectories, in addition to the risks attendant to various responses, including non-response, to climate change. One method suggested for educating the public about these issues is the use of simple mental models, or analogies comparing climate change to familiar domains such as medical decision making, disaster preparedness, or courtroom trials. Two studies were conducted using online participants in the U.S.A. to test the use of analogies to highlight seven key decision-relevant elements of climate change, including uncertainties about when and where serious damage may occur, its unprecedented and progressive nature, and tradeoffs in limiting climate change. An internal meta-analysis was then conducted to estimate overall effect sizes across the two studies. Analogies were not found to inform knowledge about climate literacy facts. However, results suggested that people found the medical analogy helpful and that it led people-especially political conservatives-to better recognize several decision-relevant attributes of climate change. These effects were weak, perhaps reflecting a well-documented and overwhelming effect of political ideology on climate change communication and education efforts in the U.S.A. The potential of analogies and similar education tools to improve understanding and communication in a polarized political environment are discussed.

The Promise and Limitations of Using Analogies to Improve Decision-Relevant Understanding of Climate Change

PubMed Central

Stern, Paul C.; Maki, Alexander

2017-01-01

To make informed choices about how to address climate change, members of the public must develop ways to consider established facts of climate science and the uncertainties about its future trajectories, in addition to the risks attendant to various responses, including non-response, to climate change. One method suggested for educating the public about these issues is the use of simple mental models, or analogies comparing climate change to familiar domains such as medical decision making, disaster preparedness, or courtroom trials. Two studies were conducted using online participants in the U.S.A. to test the use of analogies to highlight seven key decision-relevant elements of climate change, including uncertainties about when and where serious damage may occur, its unprecedented and progressive nature, and tradeoffs in limiting climate change. An internal meta-analysis was then conducted to estimate overall effect sizes across the two studies. Analogies were not found to inform knowledge about climate literacy facts. However, results suggested that people found the medical analogy helpful and that it led people—especially political conservatives—to better recognize several decision-relevant attributes of climate change. These effects were weak, perhaps reflecting a well-documented and overwhelming effect of political ideology on climate change communication and education efforts in the U.S.A. The potential of analogies and similar education tools to improve understanding and communication in a polarized political environment are discussed. PMID:28135337

Understanding and improving access to prompt and effective malaria treatment and care in rural Tanzania: the ACCESS Programme.

PubMed

Hetzel, Manuel W; Iteba, Nelly; Makemba, Ahmed; Mshana, Christopher; Lengeler, Christian; Obrist, Brigit; Schulze, Alexander; Nathan, Rose; Dillip, Angel; Alba, Sandra; Mayumana, Iddy; Khatib, Rashid A; Njau, Joseph D; Mshinda, Hassan

2007-06-29

Prompt access to effective treatment is central in the fight against malaria. However, a variety of interlinked factors at household and health system level influence access to timely and appropriate treatment and care. Furthermore, access may be influenced by global and national health policies. As a consequence, many malaria episodes in highly endemic countries are not treated appropriately. The ACCESS Programme aims at understanding and improving access to prompt and effective malaria treatment and care in a rural Tanzanian setting. The programme's strategy is based on a set of integrated interventions, including social marketing for improved care seeking at community level as well as strengthening of quality of care at health facilities. This is complemented by a project that aims to improve the performance of drug stores. The interventions are accompanied by a comprehensive set of monitoring and evaluation activities measuring the programme's performance and (health) impact. Baseline data demonstrated heterogeneity in the availability of malaria treatment, unavailability of medicines and treatment providers in certain areas as well as quality problems with regard to drugs and services. The ACCESS Programme is a combination of multiple complementary interventions with a strong evaluation component. With this approach, ACCESS aims to contribute to the development of a more comprehensive access framework and to inform and support public health professionals and policy-makers in the delivery of improved health services.

Understanding and improving access to prompt and effective malaria treatment and care in rural Tanzania: the ACCESS Programme

PubMed Central

Hetzel, Manuel W; Iteba, Nelly; Makemba, Ahmed; Mshana, Christopher; Lengeler, Christian; Obrist, Brigit; Schulze, Alexander; Nathan, Rose; Dillip, Angel; Alba, Sandra; Mayumana, Iddy; Khatib, Rashid A; Njau, Joseph D; Mshinda, Hassan

2007-01-01

Background Prompt access to effective treatment is central in the fight against malaria. However, a variety of interlinked factors at household and health system level influence access to timely and appropriate treatment and care. Furthermore, access may be influenced by global and national health policies. As a consequence, many malaria episodes in highly endemic countries are not treated appropriately. Project The ACCESS Programme aims at understanding and improving access to prompt and effective malaria treatment and care in a rural Tanzanian setting. The programme's strategy is based on a set of integrated interventions, including social marketing for improved care seeking at community level as well as strengthening of quality of care at health facilities. This is complemented by a project that aims to improve the performance of drug stores. The interventions are accompanied by a comprehensive set of monitoring and evaluation activities measuring the programme's performance and (health) impact. Baseline data demonstrated heterogeneity in the availability of malaria treatment, unavailability of medicines and treatment providers in certain areas as well as quality problems with regard to drugs and services. Conclusion The ACCESS Programme is a combination of multiple complementary interventions with a strong evaluation component. With this approach, ACCESS aims to contribute to the development of a more comprehensive access framework and to inform and support public health professionals and policy-makers in the delivery of improved health services. PMID:17603898

Approaches to organizing public relations functions in healthcare.

PubMed

Guy, Bonnie; Williams, David R; Aldridge, Alicia; Roggenkamp, Susan D

2007-01-01

This article provides health care audiences with a framework for understanding different perspectives of the role and functions of public relations in healthcare organizations and the resultant alternatives for organizing and enacting public relations functions. Using an example of a current issue receiving much attention in US healthcare (improving rates of organ donation), the article provides examples of how these different perspectives influence public relations goals and objectives, definitions of 'public', activities undertaken, who undertakes them and where they fit into the organizational hierarchy.

Improving Food Safety by Understanding the Evolution of Egg-contaminating Salmonella Enteritidis

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Improving Food Safety by Understanding the Evolution of Egg-contaminating Salmonella Enteritidis Jean Guard, Veterinary Medical Officer U. S. Department of Agriculture, Athens, GA USA (jean.guard@ars.usda.gov) The curious case of egg contamination by Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis S. ...

Improving high school physical science students' understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum: A modified diagram approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quebedeaux, James Edward

The focus of this study was to identify major conceptual difficulties that selected public high school physical science students encounter in understanding a standard electromagnetic spectrum diagram. A research-driven, modified version of that standard diagram was used in this study to determine the value added to student understanding of electromagnetic waves. A content analysis was performed on electromagnetic spectrum diagrams found in US textbooks from the 1950s through the present. A class of public high school physical science students participated in a study consisting of four activities conducted during a three-week unit. Students were given a pre- and post-achievement test and a pre- and post-survey on the regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. At the conclusion of each activity, selected students were interviewed and each co-constructed a concept map with the researcher. The Electromagnetic Spectrum Literacy Rubric (ESLR) was designed and used to assess students' conceptual understanding periodically as they proceeded through the unit study. A mixed methods analysis was performed, employing both qualitative and quantitative data. A paired t-test determined that there was a statistically significant difference (p = 0.014) between the pre- and post-achievement test scores for the class of students participating in the unit study. Effect sizes also determined that students have difficulties with mathematical calculations and wave properties. These topics present conceptual challenges which must be overcome to understand and use an electromagnetic spectrum diagram effectively.

Celebrity Climate Contrarians: Understanding a keystone species in contemporary climate science-policy-public interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boykoff, M. T.

2012-12-01

Since the 1980s, a keystone species called 'climate contrarians' has emerged and thrived. Through resistance to dominant interpretations of scientific evidence, and often outlier views on optimal responses to climate threats, contrarians have raised many meta-level questions: for instance, questions involve to what extent have their varied interventions been effective in terms of sparking a new and wise Copernican revolution; or do their amplified voices instead service entrenched carbon-based industry interests while they blend debates over 'climate change' with other culture wars? While the value of their influence has generated numerous debates, there is no doubt that climate contrarians have had significant influence on climate science, policy and public communities in ways that are larger than would be expected from their relative abundance in society. As such, a number of these actors have achieved 'celebrity status' in science-policy circles, and, at times, larger public spaces. This presentation focuses on how - particularly through amplified mass media attention to their movements - various outlier interventions have demonstrated themselves to be (often deliberately) detrimental to efforts that seek to enlarge rather than constrict the spectrum of possibility for mobilizing appropriate responses to ongoing climate challenges. Also, this work analyses the growth pathways of these charismatic megafauna through interview data and participant observations completed by the author at the 2011 Heartland Institute's Sixth International Conference on Climate Change. This provides detail on how outlier perspectives characterized as climate contrarians do work in these spaces under the guise of public intellectualism to achieve intended goals and objectives. The research undertaken and related in the presentation here seeks to better understand motivations that prop up these contrarian stances, such as possible ideological or evidentiary disagreement to the orthodox

Public Understanding and Attitudes towards Meat Chicken Production and Relations to Consumption

PubMed Central

Erian, Ihab; Phillips, Clive J. C.

2017-01-01

Simple Summary Public knowledge of meat chicken production and how it influences attitudes to birds’ welfare and consumer behaviour is poorly understood. We therefore conducted a survey of the public in SE Queensland, Australia, from which we determined that industry knowledge was limited. Where it existed, it related to an empathetic attitude towards chicken welfare and an increase in chicken consumption. This suggests that consumers who eat more chicken believe that they should understand the systems of production of the animals that they are consuming. Abstract Little is known about public knowledge of meat chicken production and how it influences attitudes to birds’ welfare and consumer behaviour. We interviewed 506 members of the public in SE Queensland; Australia; to determine how knowledge of meat chicken production and slaughter links to attitudes and consumption. Knowledge was assessed from 15 questions and low scores were supported by respondents’ self-assessed report of low knowledge levels and agreement that their knowledge was insufficient to form an opinion about which chicken products to purchase. Older respondents and single people without children were most knowledgeable. There was uncertainty about whether chicken welfare was adequate, particularly in those with little knowledge. There was also evidence that a lack of empathy towards chickens related to lack of knowledge, since those that thought it acceptable that some birds are inadequately stunned at slaughter had low knowledge scores. More knowledgeable respondents ate chicken more frequently and were less likely to buy products with accredited labelling. Approximately half of the respondents thought the welfare of the chicken was more important than the cost. It is concluded that the public’s knowledge has an important connection to their attitudes and consumption of chicken. PMID:28282911

Increasing Understanding of Public Problems and Policies: 1993. [Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the National Public Policy Education Committee (43rd, Clearwater Beach, Florida, September 12-15, 1993).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halbrook, Steve A., Ed.; Grace, Teddee E., Ed.

The annual conference of the National Public Policy Education Committee (NPPEC) is held to improve the policy education efforts of extension workers responsible for public affairs programs. This publication contains 26 conference papers: "Rural America and the Information Revolution: An Exploration of Possibilities and Potentialities"…

Understanding plant response to nitrogen limitation for the improvement of crop nitrogen use efficiency.

PubMed

Kant, Surya; Bi, Yong-Mei; Rothstein, Steven J

2011-02-01

Development of genetic varieties with improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is essential for sustainable agriculture. Generally, NUE can be divided into two parts. First, assimilation efficiency involves nitrogen (N) uptake and assimilation and second utilization efficiency involves N remobilization. Understanding the mechanisms regulating these processes is crucial for the improvement of NUE in crop plants. One important approach is to develop an understanding of the plant response to different N regimes, especially to N limitation, using various methods including transcription profiling, analysing mutants defective in their normal response to N limitation, and studying plants that show better growth under N-limiting conditions. One can then attempt to improve NUE in crop plants using the knowledge gained from these studies. There are several potential genetic and molecular approaches for the improvement of crop NUE discussed in this review. Increased knowledge of how plants respond to different N levels as well as to other environmental conditions is required to achieve this.

Wider horizons, wiser choices: horizon scanning for public health protection and improvement.

PubMed

Urquhart, Graham J; Saunders, Patrick

2017-06-01

Systematic continuous thinking about the future helps organizations, professions and communities to both prepare for, and shape, the future. This becomes ever more critical given the accelerating rate at which new data emerge, and in some cases uncertainties around their reliability and interpretation. Businesses with the capability to filter and analyse vast volumes of data to create knowledge and insights requiring action have a competitive advantage. Similarly Government and the public sector, including public health can be more effective and efficient through the early identification of emerging issues (both threats and opportunities). Horizon scanning approaches, and the use of resulting intelligence related to health protection and improvement were reviewed. Public health horizon scanning systems have to date focussed on health technologies and infectious diseases. While these have been successful there is a major gap in terms of non-infectious hazards and health improvement. Any system to meet this need must recognize the changed environment for delivering front line public health services and the critical role of local authorities and the local democratic process. This presents opportunities and challenges and this paper explores those dynamics describing an existing environment and health horizon scanning system which could readily and rapidly be re-engineered to provide a national service. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Publication Ethics and the Emerging Scientific Workforce: Understanding ‘Plagiarism’ in a Global Context

PubMed Central

Cameron, Carrie; Zhao, Hui; McHugh, Michelle K.

2013-01-01

Scientific publication has long been dominated by the English language and is rapidly moving towards near complete hegemony of English, while the majority of the world’s publishing scientists are not native English speakers. This imbalance has important implications for training in and enforcement of publication ethics, particularly with respect to plagiarism. A lack of understanding of what constitutes plagiarism and the use of a linguistic support strategy known as patchwriting can lead to inadvertent misuse of source material by non-native speakers writing in English as well as to unfounded accusations of intentional scientific misconduct on the part of these authors. A rational and well-informed dialogue about this issue is needed among both native English speaking and non-native English speaking writers, editors, educators, and administrators. Recommendations for educating and training are provided. PMID:22104051

Three-dimensional visualisation improves understanding of surgical liver anatomy.

PubMed

Beermann, Judith; Tetzlaff, Ralf; Bruckner, Thomas; Schöebinger, Max; Müller-Stich, Beat P; Gutt, Carsten N; Meinzer, Hans-Peter; Kadmon, Martina; Fischer, Lars

2010-09-01

Three-dimensional (3-D) representation is thought to improve understanding of complex spatial interactions and is being used more frequently in diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. It has been suggested that males benefit more than females from 3-D presentations. There have been few randomised trials to confirm these issues. We carried out a randomised trial, based on the identification of complex surgical liver anatomy, to evaluate whether 3-D presentation has a beneficial impact and if gender differences were evident. A computer-based teaching module (TM) was developed to test whether two-dimensional (2-D) computed tomography (CT) images or 3-D presentations result in better understanding of liver anatomy. Following a PowerPoint lecture, students were randomly selected to participate in computer-based testing which used either 2-D images presented as consecutive transversal slices, or one of two 3-D variations. In one of these the vessel tree of portal and hepatic veins was shown in one colour (3-D) and in the other the two vessel systems were coloured differently (3-Dc). Participants were asked to answer 11 medical questions concerning surgical anatomy and four questions on their subjective assessment of the TM. Of the 160 Year 4 and 5 medical students (56.8% female) who participated in this prospective randomised trial, students exposed to 3-D presentation performed significantly better than those exposed to 2-D images (p < 0.001). Comparison of the number of correct answers revealed no significant differences between the 3-D and 3-Dc modalities p > 0.1). Male students gave significantly more correct answers in the 3-D and 3-Dc modalities than female students (p < 0.03). The gender difference observed in both 3-D modalities was not evident in the 2-D group (p = 0.21). This study showed that 3-D imaging significantly improved the identification of complex surgical liver anatomy. Male students benefited significantly more than female students from 3-D

Green areas and public health: improving wellbeing and physical activity in the urban context.

PubMed

D'Alessandro, Daniela; Buffoli, Maddalena; Capasso, Lorenzo; Fara, Gaetano Maria; Rebecchi, Andrea; Capolongo, Stefano

2015-01-01

The green areas play an important role in improving the environmental quality and climate of the city. However, despite the undoubted importance of these areas, the benefits to public health are still under investigation. The Authors perform a review of studies on the relationship between health and green areas and describe the main areas for which evidence on this relationship is currently available. They include: effects on air quality, on social cohesion, on mental health, with particular reference to the stress, and on physical activity. Most of the evidence comes from cross-sectional and descriptive studies and the approaches used to measure the association show themselves to be often unsatisfactory. The Authors conclude the review stressing the need for greater integration between the different professionals involved in urban planning and in health care analysis in order to identify research approaches more appropriate to understand such complex issues, striving toward a planning design of green areas that will satisfy both environmental sustainability and health requirements.

Theory-based approaches to understanding public emergency preparedness: implications for effective health and risk communication.

PubMed

Paek, Hye-Jin; Hilyard, Karen; Freimuth, Vicki; Barge, J Kevin; Mindlin, Michele

2010-06-01

Recent natural and human-caused disasters have awakened public health officials to the importance of emergency preparedness. Guided by health behavior and media effects theories, the analysis of a statewide survey in Georgia reveals that self-efficacy, subjective norm, and emergency news exposure are positively associated with the respondents' possession of emergency items and their stages of emergency preparedness. Practical implications suggest less focus on demographics as the sole predictor of emergency preparedness and more comprehensive measures of preparedness, including both a person's cognitive stage of preparedness and checklists of emergency items on hand. We highlight the utility of theory-based approaches for understanding and predicting public emergency preparedness as a way to enable more effective health and risk communication.

Improvement of Emergency Management Mechanism of Public Health Crisis in Rural China: A Review Article.

PubMed

Hu, Jiaxiang; Chen, Chao; Kuai, Tingting

2018-02-01

With the rapid development of social economy in China, various public health emergencies frequently occur. Such emergencies cause a serious threat to human health and public safety, especially in rural China. Owing to flaws in emergency management mechanism and policy, the government is not capable to effectively deal with public health emergencies. Therefore, this study aimed to discuss the path to improve the emergency management mechanism for public health emergency in rural China. This study was conducted in 2017 to detect the emergency management mechanism of public health crisis (EMMPHC) in Rural China. Data were collected using the following keywords: Rural China, public health emergency, emergency management mechanism, organization mechanism, operation mechanism in the databases of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and CNKI. EMMPHC in rural China can be enhanced from the following three aspects. First, a permanent institution for rural emergency management with public health management function is established. Second, the entire process of emergency management mechanism, including the stages of pre-disaster, disaster, and post-disaster, is improved. Finally, investment in rural public health is increased, and an adequate reserve system for emergency resources is formed. The new path of EMMPHC in rural China can effectively help the local government accomplish the dispatch capability in public health emergency, and it has important research significance for the protection of public health and social stability of residents in rural China.

Lay public's understanding of equipoise and randomisation in randomised controlled trials.

PubMed

Robinson, E J; Kerr, C E P; Stevens, A J; Lilford, R J; Braunholtz, D A; Edwards, S J; Beck, S R; Rowley, M G

2005-03-01

To research the lay public's understanding of equipoise and randomisation in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and to look at why information on this may not be not taken in or remembered, as well as the effects of providing information designed to overcome barriers. Investigations were informed by an update of systematic review on patients' understanding of consent information in clinical trials, and by relevant theory and evidence from experimental psychology. Nine investigations were conducted with nine participants. Access (return to education), leisure and vocational courses at Further Education Colleges in the Midlands, UK. Healthy adults with a wide range of educational backgrounds and ages. Participants read hypothetical scenarios and wrote brief answers to subsequent questions. Sub-samples of participants were interviewed individually to elaborate on their written answers. Participants' background assumptions concerning equipoise and randomisation were examined and ways of helping participants recognise the scientific benefits of randomisation were explored. Judgments on allocation methods; treatment preferences; the acceptability of random allocation; whether or not individual doctors could be completely unsure about the best treatment; whether or not doctors should reveal treatment preferences under conditions of collective equipoise; and how sure experts would be about the best treatment following random allocation vs doctor/patient choice. Assessments of understanding hypothetical trial information. Recent literature continues to report trial participants' failure to understand or remember information about randomisation and equipoise, despite the provision of clear and readable trial information leaflets. In current best practice, written trial information describes what will happen without offering accessible explanations. As a consequence, patients may create their own incorrect interpretations and consent or refusal may be inadequately informed

Proceedings of the human factors workshop : improving railroad safety through understanding close calls.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-05-01

On April 23 and 24, 2003, the Federal Railroad Administrations Office of Research and Development held a Human Factors Workshop: Improving Railroad Safety Through Understanding Close Calls in Baltimore, Maryland. The purpose of the workshop ...

Hype and public trust in science.

PubMed

Master, Zubin; Resnik, David B

2013-06-01

Social scientists have begun elucidating the variables that influence public trust in science, yet little is known about hype in biotechnology and its effects on public trust. Many scholars claim that hyping biotechnology results in a loss of public trust, and possibly public enthusiasm or support for science, because public expectations of the biotechnological promises will be unmet. We argue for the need for empirical research that examines the relationships between hype, public trust, and public enthusiasm/support. We discuss the complexities in designing empirical studies that provide evidence for a causal link between hype, public trust, and public enthusiasm/support, but also illustrate how this may be remedied. Further empirical research on hype and public trust is needed in order to improve public communication of science and to design evidence-based education on the responsible conduct of research for scientists. We conclude that conceptual arguments made on hype and public trust must be nuanced to reflect our current understanding of this relationship.

Hype and Public Trust in Science

PubMed Central

Resnik, David B.

2014-01-01

Social scientists have begun elucidating the variables that influence public trust in science, yet little is known about hype in biotechnology and its effects on public trust. Many scholars claim that hyping biotechnology results in a loss of public trust, and possibly public enthusiasm or support for science, because public expectations of the biotechnological promises will be unmet. We argue for the need for empirical research that examines the relationships between hype, public trust, and public enthusiasm/support. We discuss the complexities in designing empirical studies that provide evidence for a causal link between hype, public trust, and public enthusiasm/support, but also illustrate how this may be remedied. Further empirical research on hype and public trust is needed in order to improve public communication of science and to design evidence-based education on the responsible conduct of research for scientists. We conclude that conceptual arguments made on hype and public trust must be nuanced to reflect our current understanding of this relationship. PMID:22045550

Understanding human resource management practices in Botswana's public health sector.

PubMed

Seitio-Kgokgwe, Onalenna Stannie; Gauld, Robin; Hill, Philip C; Barnett, Pauline

2016-11-21

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the management of the public sector health workforce in Botswana. Using institutional frameworks it aims to document and analyse human resource management (HRM) practices, and make recommendations to improve employee and health system outcomes. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws from a large study that used a mixed methods approach to assess performance of Botswana's Ministry of Health (MOH). It uses data collected through document analysis and in-depth interviews of 54 key informants comprising policy makers, senior staff of the MOH and its stakeholder organizations. Findings Public health sector HRM in Botswana has experienced inadequate planning, poor deployment and underutilization of staff. Lack of comprehensive retention strategies and poor working conditions contributed to the failure to attract and retain skilled personnel. Relationships with both formal and informal environments affected HRM performance. Research limitations/implications While document review was a major source of data for this paper, the weaknesses in the human resource information system limited availability of data. Practical implications This paper presents an argument for the need for consideration of formal and informal environments in developing effective HRM strategies. Originality/value This research provides a rare system-wide approach to health HRM in a Sub-Saharan African country. It contributes to the literature and evidence needed to guide HRM policy decisions and practices.

A Cognitive Framework for Understanding and Improving Interference Resolution in the Brain

PubMed Central

Mishra, Jyoti; Anguera, Joaquin A.; Ziegler, David A.; Gazzaley, Adam

2014-01-01

All of us are familiar with the negative impact of interference on achieving our task goals. We are referring to interference by information, which either impinges on our senses from an external environmental source or is internally generated by our thoughts. Informed by more than a decade of research on the cognitive and neural processing of interference, we have developed a framework for understanding how interference impacts our neural systems and especially how it is regulated and suppressed during efficient on-task performance. Importantly, externally and internally generated interferences have distinct neural signatures, and further, distinct neural processing emerges depending on whether individuals must ignore and suppress the interference, as for distractions, or engage with them in a secondary task, as during multitasking. Here, we elaborate on this cognitive framework and how it changes throughout the human lifespan, focusing mostly on research evidence from younger adults and comparing these findings to data from older adults, children, and cognitively impaired populations. With insights gleaned from our growing understanding, we then describe three novel translational efforts in our lab directed at improving distinct aspects of interference resolution using cognitive training. Critically, these training approaches were specifically developed to target improved interference resolution based on neuroplasticity principles and have shown much success in randomized controlled first version evaluations in healthy aging. Our results show not only on-task training improvements but also robust generalization of benefit to other cognitive control abilities. This research showcases how an in-depth understanding of neural mechanisms can then inform the development of effective deficit-targeted interventions, which can in turn benefit both healthy and cognitively impaired populations. PMID:24309262

Perspective: publication ethics and the emerging scientific workforce: understanding "plagiarism" in a global context.

PubMed

Cameron, Carrie; Zhao, Hui; McHugh, Michelle K

2012-01-01

English has long been the dominant language of scientific publication, and it is rapidly approaching near-complete hegemony. The majority of the scientists publishing in English-language journals are not native English speakers, however. This imbalance has important implications for training concerning ethics and enforcement of publication standards, particularly with respect to plagiarism. The authors suggest that lack of understanding of what constitutes plagiarism and the use of a linguistic support strategy known as "patchwriting" can lead to inadvertent misuse of source material by nonnative speakers writing in English as well as to unfounded accusations of intentional scientific misconduct on the part of these authors. They propose that a rational and well-informed dialogue about this issue is needed among editors, educators, administrators, and both native-English-speaking and nonnative-English-speaking writers. They offer recommendations for creating environments in which such dialogue and training can occur.

Accuracy, Authenticity, Fidelity: Aesthetic Realism, the "Deficit Model," and the Public Understanding of Science.

PubMed

Vidal, Fernando

2018-03-01

Argument "Deficit model" designates an outlook on the public understanding and communication of science that emphasizes scientific illiteracy and the need to educate the public. Though criticized, it is still widespread, especially among scientists. Its persistence is due not only to factors ranging from scientists' training to policy design, but also to the continuance of realism as an aesthetic criterion. This article examines the link between realism and the deficit model through discussions of neurology and psychiatry in fiction film, as well as through debates about historical movies and the cinematic adaptation of literature. It shows that different values and criteria tend to dominate the realist stance in different domains: accuracy for movies concerning neurology and psychiatry, authenticity for the historical film, and fidelity for adaptations of literature. Finally, contrary to the deficit model, it argues that the cinema is better characterized by a surplus of meaning than by informational shortcomings.

Machine learning-based augmented reality for improved surgical scene understanding.

PubMed

Pauly, Olivier; Diotte, Benoit; Fallavollita, Pascal; Weidert, Simon; Euler, Ekkehard; Navab, Nassir

2015-04-01

In orthopedic and trauma surgery, AR technology can support surgeons in the challenging task of understanding the spatial relationships between the anatomy, the implants and their tools. In this context, we propose a novel augmented visualization of the surgical scene that mixes intelligently the different sources of information provided by a mobile C-arm combined with a Kinect RGB-Depth sensor. Therefore, we introduce a learning-based paradigm that aims at (1) identifying the relevant objects or anatomy in both Kinect and X-ray data, and (2) creating an object-specific pixel-wise alpha map that permits relevance-based fusion of the video and the X-ray images within one single view. In 12 simulated surgeries, we show very promising results aiming at providing for surgeons a better surgical scene understanding as well as an improved depth perception. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Peer pressure and public reporting within healthcare setting: improving accountability and health care quality in hospitals.

PubMed

Specchia, Maria Lucia; Veneziano, Maria Assunta; Cadeddu, Chiara; Ferriero, Anna Maria; Capizzi, Silvio; Ricciardi, Walter

2012-01-01

In the last few years, the need of public reporting of health outcomes has acquired a great importance. The public release of performance results could be a tool for improving health care quality and many attempts have been made in order to introduce public reporting programs within the health care context at different levels. It would be necessary to promote the introduction of a standardized set of outcome and performance measures in order to improve quality of health care services and to make health care providers aware of the importance of transparency and accountability.

Using Public Reports of Patient Satisfaction for Hospital Quality Improvement

PubMed Central

Barr, Judith K; Giannotti, Tierney E; Sofaer, Shoshanna; Duquette, Cathy E; Waters, William J; Petrillo, Marcia K

2006-01-01

Objective To explore the impact of statewide public reporting of hospital patient satisfaction on hospital quality improvement (QI), using Rhode Island (RI) as a case example. Data Source Primary data collected through semi-structured interviews between September 2002 and January 2003. Study Design The design is a retrospective study of hospital executives at all 11 general and two specialty hospitals in RI. Respondents were asked about hospital QI activities at several points throughout the public reporting process, as well as about hospital structure and processes to accomplish QI. Qualitative analysis of the interview data proceeded through an iterative process to identify themes and categories in the data. Principal Findings Data from the standardized statewide patient satisfaction survey process were used by hospitals to identify and target new QI initiatives, evaluate performance, and monitor progress. While all hospitals fully participated in the public reporting process, they varied in the stage of development of their QI activities and adoption of the statewide standardized survey for ongoing monitoring of their QI programs. Most hospitals placed responsibility for QI within each department, with results reported to top management, who were perceived as giving strong support for QI. The external environment facilitated QI efforts. Conclusion Public reporting of comparative data on patient views can enhance and reinforce QI efforts in hospitals. The participation of key stakeholders facilitated successful implementation of statewide public reporting. This experience in RI offers lessons for other states or regions as they move to public reporting of hospital quality data. PMID:16704506

[Will publication of quality indicators in the health service improve the quality? International experiences and Danish perspectives].

PubMed

Endahl, Lars A; Utzon, Jan

2002-09-16

It is well known that publication of hospital quality indicators may lead to improving of treatments. But the publication can also have some negative side effects: Focus may shift to the evaluated areas at the expense of non-evaluated areas. The most ill patients may be sorted out and high risk patients may be transferred to other hospitals or discharged in order to avoid their dying during hospitalisation and improve statistics. Overestimation of patient risk in order to improve relative treatment outcome. Increasing flow of patients to hospitals with high scores on quality indicators may cause imbalance between activities and budgets and hence longer waiting times and reduced quality of treatment. Negative publicity due to low scores on quality indicators may lead to under-utilisation of hospital capacity, patient and staff insecurity and staff wastage. Thus, publication of quality indicators may improve quality within the health sector, but it is very important to recognise potential pitfalls and negative side effects.

Sagan Medal Paper: Improving Impact in Public Outreach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morrison, D.

2004-11-01

Carl Sagan was masterful at reaching a wide public. He had great native talent as an educator, and he worked hard to hone his ability to promote his image as a television personality. Through TV as well as writing, he reached a far wider audience than would have been possible by classroom teaching or other direct personal contact. While none of us is "another Sagan", we can draw lessons from his use of media to leverage his message. One way to multiply our impact is through contributing to textbooks. I jumped at the opportunity to take on the popular George Abell college astronomy texts when the author unexpectedly died. I hoped that as a planetary scientist involved in NASA missions, I could do a better job than most astronomers to convey the excitement of planetary exploration. One edition of a text can reach tens of thousands of students and may represent the only college science course they will take. In the 1980s it was difficult for educators and writers to obtain high quality NASA images. Voyager and other missions issued press releases of first products, but the later, more carefully processed images were unavailable. By selecting the best planetary images and making them available with captions as slide sets, I could reach another large audience. Later I helped establish the NASA-USGS Planetary Photojournal for web-based images and captions. Developing websites for the public is today one of the best ways to broaden the impact of our work. My impact hazard website is now a decade old and exceeds a million hits a month. I also distribute "NEO News" via e-mail to more than 800 readers. I believe that the public is hungry for reliable, understandable information. We can all look at ways to use modern technology to help provide it.

Quality Improvement and Performance Management Benefits of Public Health Accreditation: National Evaluation Findings.

PubMed

Siegfried, Alexa; Heffernan, Megan; Kennedy, Mallory; Meit, Michael

To identify the quality improvement (QI) and performance management benefits reported by public health departments as a result of participating in the national, voluntary program for public health accreditation implemented by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). We gathered quantitative data via Web-based surveys of all applicant and accredited public health departments when they completed 3 different milestones in the PHAB accreditation process. Leadership from 324 unique state, local, and tribal public health departments in the United States. Public health departments that have achieved PHAB accreditation reported the following QI and performance management benefits: improved awareness and focus on QI efforts; increased QI training among staff; perceived increases in QI knowledge among staff; implemented new QI strategies; implemented strategies to evaluate effectiveness and quality; used information from QI processes to inform decision making; and perceived achievement of a QI culture. The reported implementation of QI strategies and use of information from QI processes to inform decision making was greater among recently accredited health departments than among health departments that had registered their intent to apply but not yet undergone the PHAB accreditation process. Respondents from health departments that had been accredited for 1 year reported higher levels of staff QI training and perceived increases in QI knowledge than those that were recently accredited. PHAB accreditation has stimulated QI and performance management activities within public health departments. Health departments that pursue PHAB accreditation are likely to report immediate increases in QI and performance management activities as a result of undergoing the PHAB accreditation process, and these benefits are likely to be reported at a higher level, even 1 year after the accreditation decision.

Understanding and using quality information for quality improvement: The effect of information presentation.

PubMed

Zwijnenberg, Nicolien C; Hendriks, Michelle; Delnoij, Diana M J; de Veer, Anke J E; Spreeuwenberg, Peter; Wagner, Cordula

2016-12-01

To examine how information presentation affects the understanding and use of information for quality improvement. An experimental design, testing 22 formats, and showing information on patient safety culture. Formats differed in visualization, outcomes and benchmark information. Respondents viewed three randomly selected presentation formats in an online survey, completing several tasks per format. The hospital sector in the Netherlands. A volunteer sample of healthcare professionals, mainly nurses, working in hospitals. Main Outcome Measure(s): The degree to which information is understandable and usable (accurate choice for quality improvement, sense of urgency to change and appraisal of one's own performance). About 115 healthcare professionals participated (response rate 25%), resulting in 345 reviews. Information in tables (P = 0.007) and bar charts (P < 0.0001) was better understood than radars. Presenting outcomes on a 5-point scale (P < 0.001) or as '% positive responders' (P < 0.001) was better understood than '% negative responders'. Formats without benchmarks were better understood than formats with benchmarks. Use: Bar charts resulted in more accurate choices than tables (P = 0.003) and radars (P < 0.001). Outcomes on a 5-point scale resulted in more accurate choices than '% negative responders' (P = 0.007). Presenting '% positive responders' resulted in a higher sense of urgency to change than outcomes on a 5-point scale (P = 0.002). Benchmark information had inconsistent effects on the appraisal of one's own performances. Information presentation affects healthcare professionals' understanding and use of quality information. Our findings supplement the further understanding on how quality information can be best communicated to healthcare professionals for realizing quality improvements. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care. All rights reserved

Improvement of Emergency Management Mechanism of Public Health Crisis in Rural China: A Review Article

PubMed Central

HU, Jiaxiang; CHEN, Chao; KUAI, Tingting

2018-01-01

Background: With the rapid development of social economy in China, various public health emergencies frequently occur. Such emergencies cause a serious threat to human health and public safety, especially in rural China. Owing to flaws in emergency management mechanism and policy, the government is not capable to effectively deal with public health emergencies. Therefore, this study aimed to discuss the path to improve the emergency management mechanism for public health emergency in rural China. Methods: This study was conducted in 2017 to detect the emergency management mechanism of public health crisis (EMMPHC) in Rural China. Data were collected using the following keywords: Rural China, public health emergency, emergency management mechanism, organization mechanism, operation mechanism in the databases of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and CNKI. Results: EMMPHC in rural China can be enhanced from the following three aspects. First, a permanent institution for rural emergency management with public health management function is established. Second, the entire process of emergency management mechanism, including the stages of pre-disaster, disaster, and post-disaster, is improved. Finally, investment in rural public health is increased, and an adequate reserve system for emergency resources is formed. Conclusion: The new path of EMMPHC in rural China can effectively help the local government accomplish the dispatch capability in public health emergency, and it has important research significance for the protection of public health and social stability of residents in rural China. PMID:29445625

Financing strategies to improve essential public health equalization and its effects in China.

PubMed

Yang, Li; Sun, Li; Wen, Liankui; Zhang, Huyang; Li, Chenyang; Hanson, Kara; Fang, Hai

2016-12-01

In 2009, China launched a health reform to promote the equalization of national essential public health services package (NEPHSP). The present study aimed to describe the financing strategies and mechanisms to improve access to public health for all, identify the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches, and showed evidence on equity improvement among different regions. We reviewed the relevant literatures and identified 208 articles after screening and quality assessment and conducted six key informants' interviews. Secondary data on national and local government health expenditures, NEPHSP coverage and health indicators in 2003-2014 were collected, descriptive and equity analyses were used. Before 2009, the government subsidy to primary care institutions (PCIs) were mainly used for basic construction and a small part of personnel expenses. Since 2009, the new funds for NEPHSP have significantly expanded service coverage and population coverage. These funds have been allocated by central, provincial, municipal and county governments at different proportions in China's tax distribution system. Due to the fiscal transfer payment, the Central Government allocated more subsides to less-developed western regions and all the funds were managed in a specific account. Several types of payment methods have been adopted including capitation, pay for performance (P4P), pay for service items, global budget and public health voucher, to address issues from both the supply and demand sides. The equalization of NEPHSP did well through the establishment of health records, systematic care of children and maternal women, etc. Our data showed that the gap between the eastern, central and western regions narrowed. However the coverage for migrants was still low and performance was needed improving in effectiveness of managing patients with chronic diseases. The delivery of essential public health services was highly influenced by public fiscal policy, and the

IMPROVING ENGLISH INSTRUCTION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL THROUGH TITLE III, NDEA.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

HOUPT, GARY L.

THE MAJOR PROGRAMS AUTHORIZED BY TITLE III, NATIONAL DEFENSE EDUCATION ACT (NDEA), TO STRENGTHEN INSTRUCTION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE (1) THE ACQUISITION OF LABORATORY AND OTHER SPECIAL MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT, AND (2) THE PROVISION OF STATE SUPERVISORY AND RELATED SERVICES TO IMPROVE THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH, READING, HISTORY, CIVICS, GEOGRAPHY,…

Improving tuberculosis control through public-private collaboration in India: literature review.

PubMed

Dewan, Puneet K; Lal, S S; Lonnroth, Knut; Wares, Fraser; Uplekar, Mukund; Sahu, Suvanand; Granich, Reuben; Chauhan, Lakhbir Singh

2006-03-11

To review the characteristics of public-private mix projects in India and their effect on case notification and treatment outcomes for tuberculosis. Literature review. Review of surveillance records from Indian tuberculosis programme project, evaluation reports, and medical literature for public-private mix projects in India. Project characteristics, tuberculosis case notification of new patients with sputum smear results positive for acid fast bacilli, and treatment outcome. Of 24 identified public-private mix projects, data were available from 14 (58%), involving private practitioners, corporations, and non-governmental organisations. In all reviewed projects, the public sector tuberculosis programme provided training and supervision of private providers. Among the five projects with available data on historical controls, case notification rates were higher after implementation of a public-private mix project. Among seven projects involving private practitioners, 2796 of 12 147 (23%) new patients positive for acid fast bacilli were attributed to private providers. Corporate based and non-governmental organisations served as the main source for tuberculosis programme services in seven project areas, detecting 9967 new patients positive for acid fast bacilli. In nine of 12 projects with data on treatment outcomes, private providers exceeded the programme target of 85% treatment success for new patients positive for acid fast bacilli. Public-private mix activities were associated with increased case notification, while maintaining acceptable treatment outcomes. Collaborations between public and private providers of health care hold considerable potential to improve tuberculosis control in India.

Water Literacy in College Freshmen: Could a Cognitive Imagery Strategy Improve Understanding?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ewing, Margaret S.; Mills, Terence J.

1994-01-01

Presents a study designed to determine whether levels of water literacy differed between (n=83) college freshman nonscience majors having one versus two years of high school science coursework, visual imagery exercises could improve understanding of the water cycle, and patterns exist in the concept of the water cycle. (Contains 23 references.)…

Using iterative learning to improve understanding during the informed consent process in a South African psychiatric genomics study.

PubMed

Campbell, Megan M; Susser, Ezra; Mall, Sumaya; Mqulwana, Sibonile G; Mndini, Michael M; Ntola, Odwa A; Nagdee, Mohamed; Zingela, Zukiswa; Van Wyk, Stephanus; Stein, Dan J

2017-01-01

Obtaining informed consent is a great challenge in global health research. There is a need for tools that can screen for and improve potential research participants' understanding of the research study at the time of recruitment. Limited empirical research has been conducted in low and middle income countries, evaluating informed consent processes in genomics research. We sought to investigate the quality of informed consent obtained in a South African psychiatric genomics study. A Xhosa language version of the University of California, San Diego Brief Assessment of Capacity to Consent Questionnaire (UBACC) was used to screen for capacity to consent and improve understanding through iterative learning in a sample of 528 Xhosa people with schizophrenia and 528 controls. We address two questions: firstly, whether research participants' understanding of the research study improved through iterative learning; and secondly, what were predictors for better understanding of the research study at the initial screening? During screening 290 (55%) cases and 172 (33%) controls scored below the 14.5 cut-off for acceptable understanding of the research study elements, however after iterative learning only 38 (7%) cases and 13 (2.5%) controls continued to score below this cut-off. Significant variables associated with increased understanding of the consent included the psychiatric nurse recruiter conducting the consent screening, higher participant level of education, and being a control. The UBACC proved an effective tool to improve understanding of research study elements during consent, for both cases and controls. The tool holds utility for complex studies such as those involving genomics, where iterative learning can be used to make significant improvements in understanding of research study elements. The UBACC may be particularly important in groups with severe mental illness and lower education levels. Study recruiters play a significant role in managing the quality of

State landscape in public health planning and quality improvement: results of the ASTHO survey.

PubMed

Madamala, Kusuma; Sellers, Katie; Pearsol, Jim; Dickey, Michael; Jarris, Paul E

2010-01-01

Limited data exist on state public health agencies and their use of planning and quality improvement (QI) initiatives. Using the 2007 Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) State Public Health Survey, this article describes how state public health agencies perform tasks related to planning, performance management (PM), and QI. While 82 percent of respondents report having a QI process in place, only 9.8 percent have it fully implemented departmentwide. Seventy-six percent reported having a PM process in place, with 16 percent (n = 8) having it fully implemented departmentwide. A state health improvement plan was used by 80.4 percent of respondents, with 56.9 percent of respondents completing the plan more than 3 years ago. More than two-thirds (68.2%) of the respondents developed the plan by using results of their state health assessment. Analysis of state health department level planning, PM, and QI initiatives can inform states' efforts to ready themselves to meet the proposed national voluntary accreditation standards of the Public Health Accreditation Board.

38 CFR 3.714 - Improved pension elections-public assistance beneficiaries.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... was entitled to section 306 or old-law pension, or a dependent of such a person for the purposes of... Old Age Assistance and Medical Assistance to the Aged). (ii) Title X (Grants to States for Aid to the... improved pension. The notice shall be in clear and understandable language. It shall include the following...

Understanding Vaccines: A Public Imperative

PubMed Central

Federman, Ross S.

2014-01-01

Though once a discovery greatly celebrated by the nation, the vaccine has come under fire in recent decades from skeptics, critics, and a movement set into motion by fraudulent scientists and fueled by frustrated parents looking for answers to the autism conundrum. There is enough denialist resistance to vaccination to bring upon renewed fear of young children and infants becoming infected with diseases, the threats of which had been functionally eradicated from the United States. In more recent years, the surge in independent online journalism and blogging has invited many to rapidly share their opinions with millions of readers and, importantly, has appeared to open the door for opinion to be portrayed as fact. As a result, many parents are inundated with horror stories of vaccine dangers, all designed to eat away at them emotionally while the medical and scientific communities have mounted their characteristic response by sharing the facts, the data, and all of the reliable peer-reviewed and well-cited research to show that vaccines are safe and effective. It has become clear to me that facts are no match for emotion, but perhaps an understanding behind vaccine methodology will help parents overcome these fears of vaccinating. By helping those who doubt vaccines better understand what vaccines really are and how they work in such an incredibly engineered fashion, we may have a stronger weapon than we realize in battling the emotional arsenal that comes from the fear and skepticism of vaccinating. PMID:25506276

Understanding vaccines: a public imperative.

PubMed

Federman, Ross S

2014-12-01

Though once a discovery greatly celebrated by the nation, the vaccine has come under fire in recent decades from skeptics, critics, and a movement set into motion by fraudulent scientists and fueled by frustrated parents looking for answers to the autism conundrum. There is enough denialist resistance to vaccination to bring upon renewed fear of young children and infants becoming infected with diseases, the threats of which had been functionally eradicated from the United States. In more recent years, the surge in independent online journalism and blogging has invited many to rapidly share their opinions with millions of readers and, importantly, has appeared to open the door for opinion to be portrayed as fact. As a result, many parents are inundated with horror stories of vaccine dangers, all designed to eat away at them emotionally while the medical and scientific communities have mounted their characteristic response by sharing the facts, the data, and all of the reliable peer-reviewed and well-cited research to show that vaccines are safe and effective. It has become clear to me that facts are no match for emotion, but perhaps an understanding behind vaccine methodology will help parents overcome these fears of vaccinating. By helping those who doubt vaccines better understand what vaccines really are and how they work in such an incredibly engineered fashion, we may have a stronger weapon than we realize in battling the emotional arsenal that comes from the fear and skepticism of vaccinating.

Systems Thinking to Improve the Public’s Health

PubMed Central

Leischow, Scott J.; Best, Allan; Trochim, William M.; Clark, Pamela I.; Gallagher, Richard S.; Marcus, Stephen E.; Matthews, Eva

2014-01-01

Improving population health requires understanding and changing societal structures and functions, but countervailing forces sometimes undermine those changes, thus reflecting the adaptive complexity inherent in public health systems. The purpose of this paper is to propose systems thinking as a conceptual rubric for the practice of team science in public health, and transdisciplinary, translational research as a catalyst for promoting the functional efficiency of science. The paper lays a foundation for the conceptual understanding of systems thinking and transdisciplinary research, and will provide illustrative examples within and beyond public health. A set of recommendations for a systems-centric approach to translational science will be presented. PMID:18619400

Improving students' understanding by using on-going education research to refine active learning activities in a first-year electronics course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peter Mazzolini, Alexander; Arthur Daniel, Scott

2016-05-01

Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs) have been used across introductory university physics as a successful active learning (AL) strategy to improve students' conceptual understanding. We have developed ILDs for more complex topics in our first-year electronics course. In 2006 we began developing ILDs to improve students' conceptual understanding of Operational Amplifiers (OAs) and negative feedback in amplification circuits. The ILDs were used after traditional lecture instruction to help students consolidate their understanding. We developed a diagnostic test, to be administered to students both before and after the ILDs, as a measure of how effective the ILDs were in improving students' understanding.

What research tells us about knowledge transfer strategies to improve public health in low-income countries: a scoping review.

PubMed

Siron, Stéphanie; Dagenais, Christian; Ridde, Valéry

2015-11-01

This study describes the current state of research on knowledge transfer strategies to improve public health in low-income countries, to identify the knowledge gaps on this topic. In this scoping review, a descriptive and systematic process was used to analyse, for each article retained, descriptions of research context and methods, types of knowledge transfer activities and results reported. 28 articles were analysed. They dealt with the evaluation of transfer strategies that employed multiple activities, mostly targeting health professionals and women with very young children. Most often these studies used quantitative designs and measurements of instrumental use with some methodological shortcomings. Results were positive and suggested recommendations for improving professional practices, knowledge and health-related behaviours. The review highlights the great diversity of transfer strategies used, strategies and many conditions for knowledge use. The review provides specific elements for understanding the transfer processes in low-income countries and highlights the need for systematic evaluation of the conditions for research results utilization.

Improving Marking Reliability of Scientific Writing with the Developing Understanding of Assessment for Learning Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bird, Fiona L.; Yucel, Robyn

2013-01-01

The Developing Understanding of Assessment for Learning (DUAL) programme was developed with the dual aims of improving both the quality and consistency of feedback students receive and the students' ability to use that feedback to improve. DUAL comprises a range of processes (including marking rubrics, sample reports, moderation discussions and…

Contaminated salmon and the public's trust

USGS Publications Warehouse

Luoma, Samuel N.; Löfstedt, Ragnar E.

2007-01-01

Scientific uncertainties often make it difficult for environmental policy makers to determine how to communicate risks to the public. A constructive, holistic, multisectoral dialogue about an issue can improve understanding of uncertainties from different perspectives and clarify options for risk communication. Many environmental issues could benefit from explicit promotion of such a dialogue. When issues are complex, unconstructive advocacy, narrow focus, and exclusion of selected parties from decision making can erode public trust in science and lead to cynicism about the policies of government and the private sector.

Understanding nitrate uptake, signaling and remobilisation for improving plant nitrogen use efficiency.

PubMed

Kant, Surya

2018-02-01

The majority of terrestrial plants use nitrate as their main source of nitrogen. Nitrate also acts as an important signalling molecule in vital physiological processes required for optimum plant growth and development. Improving nitrate uptake and transport, through activation by nitrate sensing, signalling and regulatory processes, would enhance plant growth, resulting in improved crop yields. The increased remobilisation of nitrate, and assimilated nitrogenous compounds, from source to sink tissues further ensures higher yields and quality. An updated knowledge of various transporters, genes, activators, and microRNAs, involved in nitrate uptake, transport, remobilisation, and nitrate-mediated root growth, is presented. An enhanced understanding of these components will allow for their orchestrated fine tuning in efforts to improving nitrogen use efficiency in plants. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Location-Allocation and Accessibility Models for Improving the Spatial Planning of Public Health Services

PubMed Central

Polo, Gina; Acosta, C. Mera; Ferreira, Fernando; Dias, Ricardo Augusto

2015-01-01

This study integrated accessibility and location-allocation models in geographic information systems as a proposed strategy to improve the spatial planning of public health services. To estimate the spatial accessibility, we modified the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) model with a different impedance function, a Gaussian weight for competition among service sites, a friction coefficient, distances along a street network based on the Dijkstra’s algorithm and by performing a vectorial analysis. To check the accuracy of the strategy, we used the data from the public sterilization program for the dogs and cats of Bogot´a, Colombia. Since the proposed strategy is independent of the service, it could also be applied to any other public intervention when the capacity of the service is known. The results of the accessibility model were consistent with the sterilization program data, revealing that the western, central and northern zones are the most isolated areas under the sterilization program. Spatial accessibility improvement was sought by relocating the sterilization sites using the maximum coverage with finite demand and the p-median models. The relocation proposed by the maximum coverage model more effectively maximized the spatial accessibility to the sterilization service given the non-uniform distribution of the populations of dogs and cats throughout the city. The implementation of the proposed strategy would provide direct benefits by improving the effectiveness of different public health interventions and the use of financial and human resources. PMID:25775411

Understanding Climate Adaptation on Public Lands in the Upper Midwest: Implications for Monitoring and Tracking Progress

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anhalt-Depies, Christine M.; Knoot, Tricia Gorby; Rissman, Adena R.; Sharp, Anthony K.; Martin, Karl J.

2016-05-01

There are limited examples of efforts to systematically monitor and track climate change adaptation progress in the context of natural resource management, despite substantial investments in adaptation initiatives. To better understand the status of adaptation within state natural resource agencies, we utilized and problematized a rational decision-making framework to characterize adaptation at the level of public land managers in the Upper Midwest. We conducted in-depth interviews with 29 biologists and foresters to provide an understanding of managers' experiences with, and perceptions of, climate change impacts, efforts towards planning for climate change, and a full range of actions implemented to address climate change. While the majority of managers identified climate change impacts affecting their region, they expressed significant uncertainty in interpreting those signals. Just under half of managers indicated planning efforts are underway, although most planning is remote from local management. Actions already implemented include both forward-looking measures and those aimed at coping with current impacts. In addition, cross-scale dynamics emerged as an important theme related to the overall adaptation process. The results hold implications for tracking future progress on climate change adaptation. Common definitions or measures of adaptation (e.g., presence of planning documents) may need to be reassessed for applicability at the level of public land managers.

Understanding Climate Adaptation on Public Lands in the Upper Midwest: Implications for Monitoring and Tracking Progress.

PubMed

Anhalt-Depies, Christine M; Knoot, Tricia Gorby; Rissman, Adena R; Sharp, Anthony K; Martin, Karl J

2016-05-01

There are limited examples of efforts to systematically monitor and track climate change adaptation progress in the context of natural resource management, despite substantial investments in adaptation initiatives. To better understand the status of adaptation within state natural resource agencies, we utilized and problematized a rational decision-making framework to characterize adaptation at the level of public land managers in the Upper Midwest. We conducted in-depth interviews with 29 biologists and foresters to provide an understanding of managers' experiences with, and perceptions of, climate change impacts, efforts towards planning for climate change, and a full range of actions implemented to address climate change. While the majority of managers identified climate change impacts affecting their region, they expressed significant uncertainty in interpreting those signals. Just under half of managers indicated planning efforts are underway, although most planning is remote from local management. Actions already implemented include both forward-looking measures and those aimed at coping with current impacts. In addition, cross-scale dynamics emerged as an important theme related to the overall adaptation process. The results hold implications for tracking future progress on climate change adaptation. Common definitions or measures of adaptation (e.g., presence of planning documents) may need to be reassessed for applicability at the level of public land managers.

Crowdsourcing applications for public health.

PubMed

Brabham, Daren C; Ribisl, Kurt M; Kirchner, Thomas R; Bernhardt, Jay M

2014-02-01

Crowdsourcing is an online, distributed, problem-solving, and production model that uses the collective intelligence of networked communities for specific purposes. Although its use has benefited many sectors of society, it has yet to be fully realized as a method for improving public health. This paper defines the core components of crowdsourcing and proposes a framework for understanding the potential utility of crowdsourcing in the domain of public health. Four discrete crowdsourcing approaches are described (knowledge discovery and management; distributed human intelligence tasking; broadcast search; and peer-vetted creative production types) and a number of potential applications for crowdsourcing for public health science and practice are enumerated. © 2013 American Journal of Preventive Medicine Published by American Journal of Preventive Medicine All rights reserved.

Engineers and Their Role in Public Policy: An Active Learning Experience for Enhancing the Understanding of the State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Acevedo, Jorge; Barros, Ricardo; Ramirez, Catalina; Realpe, Natalia

2009-01-01

To achieve effective intervention of engineers in the public sector, engineers should develop skills to comprehend their ethical and professional responsibility, and they should gain the necessary education to understand the possible impact of engineering solutions in a global and social context. An active learning process has been conceived,…

Understanding Aging and Disability Perspectives on Home Care: Uncovering Facts and Values in Public-Policy Narratives and Discourse

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Phillip G.

2007-01-01

Every public-policy problem can be defined in terms of its empirical ("facts") and normative ("values") dimensions and the interrelationship between them. An understanding of the connection between facts and values at the foundation of the home care policy debate in the Canadian health-care system is developed through the…

Improving Travel Projections for Public Transportation

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-08-01

Public transportation use saves energy and reduces emissions by taking people : out of single passenger automobiles and putting them into high occupancy, energy : efficient transit vehicles. Furthermore, public transit ridership and vehicular : trip ...

Improving the quality and impact of public health social media activity in Scotland during 2016: #ScotPublicHealth.

PubMed

Mackenzie, Douglas Graham

2017-06-07

Social media, including Twitter, potentially provides a route to communicate public health messages to a large audience. Simple measures can boost onward broadcast to other users ('retweeting'). This study compares the impact of a structured programme of social media activity in Scotland during 2016 (using #ScotPublicHealth hashtag) with previous years. The Twitter search function was used to identify tweets between 2014 and 2016 inclusive. The first three tweets from each Twitter user were selected for each period. The number of retweets was used as a measure of impact. The quality of tweets was assessed by recording use of image, weblink (uniform resource locator or URL), mention of another Twitter user and/or hashtag, each of which have been shown to boost number of retweets. The percentage of tweets with an image, URL and/or mention of another Twitter user increased during the period of study. The percentage of tweets retweeted during Scottish Public Health conferences increased from 43% in 2014 to 70% in 2016. The volume of tweeting also increased. The quality and impact of tweets sent by the Scottish Public Health community was higher during 2016 than previous years. Conference tweeting remains an area for improvement. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

How the “Understanding Research Evidence” Web-Based Video Series From the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools Contributes to Public Health Capacity to Practice Evidence-Informed Decision Making: Mixed-Methods Evaluation

PubMed Central

Chan, Linda; Mackintosh, Jeannie

2017-01-01

not the forest plot (P=.12) video, as compared with participants who had not watched the videos. The pretest and posttest (n=124) demonstrated that participants had a better understanding of forest plots (P<.001) and CIs (P<.001) after watching the videos. Due to small sample size numbers, there were insufficient pretest and posttest data to conduct meaningful analyses on the clinical significance and OR videos. Telephone interview participants (n=18) thought the videos’ use of animation, narration, and plain language was appropriate for people with different levels of understanding and learning styles. Participants felt that by increasing their understanding of research evidence, they could develop better interventions and design evaluations to measure the impact of public health initiatives. Conclusions Overall, the results of the evaluation showed that watching the videos resulted in an increase in knowledge, and participants had an overall positive experience with the URE videos. With increased competence in using the best available evidence, professionals are empowered to contribute to decisions that can improve health outcomes of communities. PMID:28958986

78 FR 42701 - Improving Public Safety Communications in the 800 MHz Band

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-17

...] Improving Public Safety Communications in the 800 MHz Band AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission. ACTION...-901 MHz/935- 940 MHz band (900 MHz B/ILT Band) to allow a qualified entity to file an application for..., manufacturing, energy) to non-commercial (e.g., clerical, educational, philanthropic, medical). In 2004, the...

75 FR 8375 - Device Improvements to Reduce Unnecessary Radiation Exposure From Medical Imaging; Public Meeting...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-24

... radiologic technologists or technologists in other specialties as well as physicians in all medical...] Device Improvements to Reduce Unnecessary Radiation Exposure From Medical Imaging; Public Meeting... Improvements to Reduce Unnecessary Radiation Exposure From Medical Imaging.'' The purpose of this meeting is to...

Improved communication, understanding of risk perception and ethics related to ionising radiation.

PubMed

Perko, Tanja; Raskob, Wolfgang; Jourdain, Jean-Rene

2016-06-06

In Europe today, institutions, media and the general public exchange information about ionizing radiation and associated risks. However, communication about ionising radiation with the general public has to be further improved, as has been previously highlighted by international responses to the 2011 accident in Japan. This article reports the main activities and findings in this field from the following three FP7 projects: EAGLE, PREPARE and OPERRA and discussed by a broad spectrum of stakeholders at the conference RICOMET 2015. These projects, among other aims, also investigate how communication about ionising radiation in different fields could be improved and harmonised, how radiological risks are perceived, how to encourage ethical considerations in all fields of nuclear applications and what kind of transdisciplinary research is needed. The projects relate to several domains; the first relates to education, training and communication, the second to nuclear emergency preparedness and response, and the third to research and development in the radiation protection field. Incorporation of stakeholder engagement activities such as the RICOMET conference broadens social and ethical aspects and takes them into account during coordination activities as well as during core scientific and nuclear research and development performed in the projects. These activities offered opportunities for moving closer to a citizen-centred ideal of risk communication in particular and nuclear research and development in general.

Making the case: leveraging resources toward public health system improvement in Turning Point states.

PubMed

Bekemeier, Betty; Riley, Catharine M; Padgett, Stephen M; Berkowitz, Bobbie

2007-01-01

Leveraging funds to sustain the efforts of a grant-funded initiative is often an explicit, or implicit, expectation in philanthropy. However, the magnitude of funds leveraged and the factors that facilitate success in leveraging are rarely researched. An example of one of these grant-funded initiatives is the National Turning Point Initiative. Twenty-one states received funding from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of this initiative to establish and implement strategic goals for achieving significant statewide public health system improvement through diverse, cross-sector partnerships. Leaders from 17 of these 21 states participated in a two-phased study regarding the leveraging of additional funds for their public health infrastructure improvement activities. This article reports on the second phase of the study. In this phase, key informant interviews were conducted to examine how leveraging of resources occurred as part of this large national initiative. Findings indicate that the combination of a comprehensive planning process and a broad-based partnership was crucial in securing resources to expand their efforts. The ability to strategically respond to unexpected events and opportunities also helped states use their plans and partnerships to "make the case" for additional resources to improve their public health infrastructure.

Social Media: Gateway to Public Preparedness and Understanding of GeoHazards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ballmann, J. E.; Bohon, W.; Bartel, B. A.

2016-12-01

The clear, timely communication of natural hazards information is critical to providing the public with the tools and information they need to make informed decisions before, during, and after events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. For the geohazards community, this is a multi-sector collaboration involving partners from national, state, and local governments, businesses, educational organizations, non-profit groups, and scientific institutions, for the benefit and participation of the whole community. Communications channels must be clear, consistent, and unified for the sake of maximum reach. One method of public communication that has proven to be particularly effective in disseminating hazards-related information is social media. The broad social and geographic reach of social media coupled with its ubiquitous use in all age groups makes it a powerful way to reach large segments of the population. Social media is already widely used by mass media and scientific organizations to communicate science and hazards. However, it is important that science organizations present a united and clear message, particularly about hazards preparation and response. The Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC), UNAVCO, and the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) have created a Joint Social Media Task Force. The objective of this collaboration is 1) to build social media communities and improve the reach of science messaging, 2) to create and present consistent and clear messaging across social media platforms and regional facilities, 3) to promote outstanding products and educational information , 4) to assist and collaborate in regional, national and international efforts (TweetChats, Reddit fora, ShakeOut, etc.) and 5) to assist and support the efforts of FEMA, the USGS and other partner organizations during crisis situations. Here, we outline the difficulties and successes of creating such an alliance and provide a road map

Understanding public perspectives of wildfire risk

Treesearch

Sarah McCaffrey

2008-01-01

In recent years, heightened attention to the social dimensions of wildfire has led to increased discussion of wildfire risk. One focus has been on the need to enhance the wildfire risk perception among homeowners living in high fire hazard areas. The underlying supposition is that once they understand risk, homeowners will then take action to reduce their exposure....

Transforming Public Health Systems: Using Data to Drive Organizational Capacity for Quality Improvement and Efficiency

PubMed Central

Steinwachs, Donald M.

2014-01-01

Introduction: This paper examines the organization, services, and priorities of public health agencies and their capacity to be learning public health systems (LPHS). An LPHS uses data to measure population health and health risks and to evaluate its services and programs, and then integrates its own research with advances in scientific knowledge to innovate and improve its efficiency and effectiveness. Public Health Agencies and Impact for LPHS: Public health agencies’ (PHA) organizational characteristics vary across states, as does their funding per capita. Variations in organization, services provided, and expenditures per capita may reflect variations in community needs or may be associated with unmet needs. The status of legal statutes defining responsibilities and authorities and their relationships to other public and private agencies also vary. Little information is available on the efficiency and effectiveness of state and local PHAs, in part due to a lack of information infrastructure to capture uniform data on services provided. There are almost no data on the relationship of quality of services, staff performance, and resources to population health outcomes. By building a capacity to collect and analyze data on population health within and across communities, and by becoming a continuous learning PHA, the allocation of resources can more closely match population health needs and improve health outcomes. Accreditation of every PHA is an important first step toward becoming a learning PHA. Conclusions: Public Health Services and Systems Research (PHSSR) is beginning to shed light on some of these issues, particularly by investigating variation across PHAs. As this emerging discipline grows, there is a need to enhance the collection and use of data in support of building organized, effective, and efficient LPHSs with the PHA capacity to continually improve the public’s health. PMID:25995990

Book review: Darwinian agriculture: How understanding evolution can improve agriculture by R. Ford Dennison

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Agricultural research continually seeks to increase productivity while protecting soil, water and genetic resources. The book Darwinian Agriculture: How Understanding Evolution Can Improve Agriculture, by R. Ford Dennison, delivers a thought-provoking view of how principles of ecology and evolution ...

How the "Understanding Research Evidence" Web-Based Video Series From the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools Contributes to Public Health Capacity to Practice Evidence-Informed Decision Making: Mixed-Methods Evaluation.

PubMed

Chan, Linda; Mackintosh, Jeannie; Dobbins, Maureen

2017-09-28

compared with participants who had not watched the videos. The pretest and posttest (n=124) demonstrated that participants had a better understanding of forest plots (P<.001) and CIs (P<.001) after watching the videos. Due to small sample size numbers, there were insufficient pretest and posttest data to conduct meaningful analyses on the clinical significance and OR videos. Telephone interview participants (n=18) thought the videos' use of animation, narration, and plain language was appropriate for people with different levels of understanding and learning styles. Participants felt that by increasing their understanding of research evidence, they could develop better interventions and design evaluations to measure the impact of public health initiatives. Overall, the results of the evaluation showed that watching the videos resulted in an increase in knowledge, and participants had an overall positive experience with the URE videos. With increased competence in using the best available evidence, professionals are empowered to contribute to decisions that can improve health outcomes of communities. ©Linda Chan, Jeannie Mackintosh, Maureen Dobbins. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 28.09.2017.

Enhancing Public Participation to Improve Natural Resources Science and its Use in Decision Making

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glynn, P. D.; Shapiro, C. D.; Liu, S. B.

2015-12-01

The need for broader understanding and involvement in science coupled with social technology advances enabling crowdsourcing and citizen science have created greater opportunities for public participation in the gathering, interpretation, and use of geospatial information. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is developing guidance for USGS scientists, partners, and interested members of the public on when and how public participation can most effectively be used in the conduct of scientific activities. Public participation can provide important perspectives and knowledge that cannot be obtained through traditional scientific methods alone. Citizen engagement can also provide increased efficiencies to USGS science and additional benefits to society including enhanced understanding, appreciation, and interest in geospatial information and its use in decision making.The USGS guidance addresses several fundamental issues by:1. Developing an operational definition of citizen or participatory science.2. Identifying the circumstances under which citizen science is appropriate for use and when its use is not recommended. 3. Describing structured processes for effective use of citizen science. 4. Defining the successful application of citizen science and identifying useful success metrics.The guidance is coordinated by the USGS Science and Decisions Center and developed by a multidisciplinary team of USGS scientists and managers. External perspectives will also be incorporated, as appropriate to align with other efforts such as the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing Toolkit for the Federal government. The guidance will include the development of an economic framework to assess the benefits and costs of geospatial information developed through participatory processes. This economic framework considers tradeoffs between obtaining additional perspectives through enhanced participation with costs associated from obtaining

Recent publications from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative: Reviewing progress toward improved AD clinical trials.

PubMed

Weiner, Michael W; Veitch, Dallas P; Aisen, Paul S; Beckett, Laurel A; Cairns, Nigel J; Green, Robert C; Harvey, Danielle; Jack, Clifford R; Jagust, William; Morris, John C; Petersen, Ronald C; Saykin, Andrew J; Shaw, Leslie M; Toga, Arthur W; Trojanowski, John Q

2017-04-01

The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) has continued development and standardization of methodologies for biomarkers and has provided an increased depth and breadth of data available to qualified researchers. This review summarizes the over 400 publications using ADNI data during 2014 and 2015. We used standard searches to find publications using ADNI data. (1) Structural and functional changes, including subtle changes to hippocampal shape and texture, atrophy in areas outside of hippocampus, and disruption to functional networks, are detectable in presymptomatic subjects before hippocampal atrophy; (2) In subjects with abnormal β-amyloid deposition (Aβ+), biomarkers become abnormal in the order predicted by the amyloid cascade hypothesis; (3) Cognitive decline is more closely linked to tau than Aβ deposition; (4) Cerebrovascular risk factors may interact with Aβ to increase white-matter (WM) abnormalities which may accelerate Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression in conjunction with tau abnormalities; (5) Different patterns of atrophy are associated with impairment of memory and executive function and may underlie psychiatric symptoms; (6) Structural, functional, and metabolic network connectivities are disrupted as AD progresses. Models of prion-like spreading of Aβ pathology along WM tracts predict known patterns of cortical Aβ deposition and declines in glucose metabolism; (7) New AD risk and protective gene loci have been identified using biologically informed approaches; (8) Cognitively normal and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects are heterogeneous and include groups typified not only by "classic" AD pathology but also by normal biomarkers, accelerated decline, and suspected non-Alzheimer's pathology; (9) Selection of subjects at risk of imminent decline on the basis of one or more pathologies improves the power of clinical trials; (10) Sensitivity of cognitive outcome measures to early changes in cognition has been improved and

The Public Discourse about Land Use and Water Quality: Themes in Newspapers in the Upper Mississippi River Basin

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmid, Andrea N.; Thompson, Jan R.; Bengston, David N.

2007-01-01

Effective educational and management programs to improve water quality will require an improved understanding of public perceptions of the relationship between land use and water quality. We analyzed a large database of newspaper articles in the Upper Mississippi River Basin to assess the public discourse about water quality and land use, and…

Closing the quality gap: revisiting the state of the science (vol. 5: public reporting as a quality improvement strategy).

PubMed

Totten, Annette M; Wagner, Jesse; Tiwari, Arpita; O'Haire, Christen; Griffin, Jessica; Walker, Miranda

2012-07-01

The goal of this review was to evaluate the effectiveness of public reporting of health care quality information as a quality improvement strategy. We sought to determine if public reporting results in improvements in health care delivery and patient outcomes. We also considered whether public reporting affects the behavior of patients or of health care providers. Finally we assessed whether the characteristics of the public reports and the context affect the impact of public reports. Articles available between 1980 and 2011 were identified through searches of the following bibliographical databases: MEDLINE®, Embase, EconLit, PsychINFO, Business Source Premier, CINAHL, PAIS, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, EPOC Register of Studies, DARE, NHS EED, HEED, NYAM Grey Literature Report database, and other sources (experts, reference lists, and gray literature). We screened citations based on inclusion and exclusion criteria developed based on our definition of public reporting. We initially did not exclude any studies based on study design. Of the 11,809 citations identified through title and abstract triage, we screened and reviewed 1,632 articles. A total of 97 quantitative and 101 qualitative studies were included, abstracted, entered into tables, and evaluated. The heterogeneity of outcomes as well as methods prohibited formal quantitative synthesis. Systematic reviews were used to identify studies, but their conclusions were not incorporated into this review. For most of the outcomes, the strength of the evidence available to assess the impact of public reporting was moderate. This was due in part to the methodological challenges researchers face in designing and conducting research on the impact of population-level interventions. Public reporting is associated with improvement in health care performance measures such as those included in Nursing Home Compare. Almost all identified studies found no evidence or only weak evidence that public reporting

Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Centers: Using a Public Health Systems Approach to Improve All-Hazards Preparedness and Response

PubMed Central

Leinhos, Mary; Williams-Johnson, Mildred

2014-01-01

In 2008, at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Institute of Medicine (IOM) prepared a report identifying knowledge gaps in public health systems preparedness and emergency response and recommending near-term priority research areas. In accordance with the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act mandating new public health systems research for preparedness and emergency response, CDC provided competitive awards establishing nine Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Centers (PERRCs) in accredited U.S. schools of public health. The PERRCs conducted research in four IOM-recommended priority areas: (1) enhancing the usefulness of public health preparedness and response (PHPR) training, (2) creating and maintaining sustainable preparedness and response systems, (3) improving PHPR communications, and (4) identifying evaluation criteria and metrics to improve PHPR for all hazards. The PERRCs worked closely with state and local public health, community partners, and advisory committees to produce practice-relevant research findings. PERRC research has generated more than 130 peer-reviewed publications and nearly 80 practice and policy tools and recommendations with the potential to significantly enhance our nation's PHPR to all hazards and that highlight the need for further improvements in public health systems. PMID:25355970

Action Learning for Organizational and Systemic Development: Towards a "Both-and" Understanding of "I" and "We"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rigg, Clare

2008-01-01

In public services delivery, action learning is increasingly employed in the hope of improving capacity to address complex, multi-casual and "wicked" social issues to improve the lives of citizens. Yet the understanding of how and why action learning might have potential for enhancing organizational or systemic capability rarely goes…

Using Twitter to Understand Public Perceptions Regarding the #HPV Vaccine: Opportunities for Public Health Nurses to Engage in Social Marketing.

PubMed

Keim-Malpass, Jessica; Mitchell, Emma M; Sun, Emily; Kennedy, Christine

2017-07-01

Given the degree of public mistrust and provider hesitation regarding the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, it is important to explore how information regarding the vaccine is shared online via social media outlets. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the content of messaging regarding the HPV vaccine on the social media and microblogging site Twitter, and describe the sentiment of those messages. This study utilized a cross-sectional descriptive approach. Over a 2-week period, Twitter content was searched hourly using key terms "#HPV and #Gardasil," which yielded 1,794 Twitter posts for analysis. Each post was then analyzed individually using an a priori coding strategy and directed content analysis. The majority of Twitter posts were written by lay consumers and were sharing commentary about a media source. However, when actual URLs were shared, the most common form of share was linking back to a blog post written by lay users. The vast majority of content was presented as polarizing (either as a positive or negative tweet), with 51% of the Tweets representing a positive viewpoint. Using Twitter to understand public sentiment offers a novel perspective to explore the context of health communication surrounding certain controversial issues. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Managing Resources and Relations in Higher Education Institutions: A Framework for Understanding Performance Improvement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ho, Sophia Shi-Huei; Peng, Michael Yao-Ping

2016-01-01

Changes in social systems demonstrate that various structural disadvantages have jointly led to increasing competition among higher education institutions (HEIs) in many countries, especially Taiwan. Institutional administrators must recognize the need to understand how to improve performance and consistently outperform other institutions.…

Public Understanding of Sustainable Development: Some Implications for Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, William

2015-01-01

A number of recent surveys of public opinion claim that there is now widespread acceptance of the need for sustainable development, and that the general public, through its social and consumer activity is already successfully engaged. However, in all this, the focus has primarily been on individual and family behaviours such as recycling and…

The Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce: a collaboration to improve and protect the public's health, 1995-2006.

PubMed

Cahn, Marjorie A; Auston, Ione; Selden, Catherine R; Cogdill, Keith; Baker, Stacy; Cavanaugh, Debra; Elliott, Sterling; Foster, Allison J; Leep, Carolyn J; Perez, Debra Joy; Pomietto, Blakely R

2007-07-01

The paper provides a complete accounting of the Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce (Partners) initiative since its inception in 1997, including antecedent activities since 1995. A descriptive overview is provided that is based on a review of meeting summaries, published reports, Websites, project reports, databases, usage statistics, and personal experiences from offices in the National Library of Medicine (NLM), six organizations that collaborate formally with NLM on the Partners initiative, and one outside funding partner. With ten years of experience, the initiative is an effective and unique public-private collaboration that builds on the strengths and needs of the organizations that are involved and the constituencies that they serve. Partners-supported and sponsored projects include satellite broadcasts or Webcasts, training initiatives, Web resource development, a collection of historical literature, and strategies for workforce enumeration and expansion of public health systems research, which provide excellent examples of the benefits realized from collaboration between the public health community and health sciences libraries. With continued funding, existing and new Partners-sponsored projects will be able to fulfill many public health information needs. This collaboration provides excellent opportunities to strengthen the partnership between library science and public health in the use of health information and tools for purposes of improving and protecting the public's health.

Public Participation Guide: Tools to Inform the Public

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Tools to inform the public include techniques that you can use to provide members of the public with the information they need to understand the project, the decision process, and also to provide feedback on how public input influenced the decision.

Learning from Consistently High Performing and Improving Schools for English Language Learners in Boston Public Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tung, Rosann; Diez, Virginia; Gagnon, Laurie; Uriarte, Miren; Stazesky, Pamela

2011-01-01

This study is part of a collaborative project entitled "Identifying Success in Schools and Programs for English Language Learners in Boston Public Schools". The companion to this report, entitled "Improving Educational Outcomes of English Language Learners in Schools and Programs in Boston Public Schools", provides a…

Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-377)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

US Congress, 2011

2011-01-01

The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-377) was put in place to amend title 38, United States Code, to improve educational assistance for veterans who served in the Armed Forces after September 11, 2001, and for other purposes. The table of contents for this Act is as follows: (1) Sec. 1. Short…

Understanding needs and barriers to using geospatial tools for public health policymaking in China.

PubMed

Kim, Dohyeong; Zhang, Yingyuan; Lee, Chang Kil

2018-05-07

Despite growing popularity of using geographical information systems and geospatial tools in public health fields, these tools are only rarely implemented in health policy management in China. This study examines the barriers that could prevent policy-makers from applying such tools to actual managerial processes related to public health problems that could be assisted by such approaches, e.g. evidence-based policy-making. A questionnaire-based survey of 127 health-related experts and other stakeholders in China revealed that there is a consensus on the needs and demands for the use of geospatial tools, which shows that there is a more unified opinion on the matter than so far reported. Respondents pointed to lack of communication and collaboration among stakeholders as the most significant barrier to the implementation of geospatial tools. Comparison of survey results to those emanating from a similar study in Bangladesh revealed different priorities concerning the use of geospatial tools between the two countries. In addition, the follow-up in-depth interviews highlighted the political culture specific to China as a critical barrier to adopting new tools in policy development. Other barriers included concerns over the limited awareness of the availability of advanced geospatial tools. Taken together, these findings can facilitate a better understanding among policy-makers and practitioners of the challenges and opportunities for widespread adoption and implementation of a geospatial approach to public health policy-making in China.

Five-step authorship framework to improve transparency in disclosing contributors to industry-sponsored clinical trial publications.

PubMed

Marušić, Ana; Hren, Darko; Mansi, Bernadette; Lineberry, Neil; Bhattacharya, Ananya; Garrity, Maureen; Clark, Juli; Gesell, Thomas; Glasser, Susan; Gonzalez, John; Hustad, Carolyn; Lannon, Mary-Margaret; Mooney, LaVerne A; Peña, Teresa

2014-10-24

Authorship guidelines have established criteria to guide author selection based on significance of contribution and helped to define associated responsibilities and accountabilities for the published findings. However, low awareness, variable interpretation, and inconsistent application of these guidelines can lead to confusion and a lack of transparency when recognizing those who merit authorship. This article describes a research project led by the Medical Publishing Insights and Practices (MPIP) Initiative to identify current challenges when determining authorship for industry-sponsored clinical trials and develop an improved approach to facilitate decision-making when recognizing authors from related publications. A total of 498 clinical investigators, journal editors, publication professionals and medical writers were surveyed to understand better how they would adjudicate challenging, real-world authorship case scenarios, determine the perceived frequency of each scenario and rate their confidence in the responses provided. Multiple rounds of discussions about these results with journal editors, clinical investigators and industry representatives led to the development of key recommendations intended to enhance transparency when determining authorship. These included forming a representative group to establish authorship criteria early in a trial, having all trial contributors agree to these criteria and documenting trial contributions to objectively determine who warrants an invitation to participate in the manuscript development process. The resulting Five-step Authorship Framework is designed to create a more standardized approach when determining authorship for clinical trial publications. Overall, these recommendations aim to facilitate more transparent authorship decisions and help readers better assess the credibility of results and perspectives of the authors for medical research more broadly. Please see related article: http

Have CONSORT guidelines improved the quality of reporting of randomised controlled trials published in public health dentistry journals?

PubMed

Savithra, Prakash; Nagesh, Lakshminarayan Shetty

2013-01-01

To assess a) whether the quality of reporting of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) has improved since the formulation of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement and b) whether there is any difference in reporting of RCTs between the selected public health dentistry journals. A hand search of the journals of public health dentistry was performed and four journals were identified for the study. They were Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology (CDOE), Community Dental Health (CDH), Journal of Public Health Dentistry (JPHD) and Oral Health and Preventive Dentistry (OHPD). A total of 114 RCTs published between 1990 and 2009 were selected. CONSORT guidelines were applied to each selected article in order to assess and determine any improvement since the publication of CONSORT guidelines. The chi-square test was employed to determine any statistical significant difference in quality of reporting of RCTs before and after the publication of the CONSORT guidelines. A comparison was also done to determine any statistically significant difference in quality of reporting of RCTs between the selected journals. Title, abstract, discussion and conclusion sections of the selected articles showed adherence to the CONSORT guidelines, whereas the compliance was poor with respect to the methodology section. The quality of reporting of RCTs is generally poor in public health dentistry journals. Overall, the quality of reporting has not substantially improved since the publication of CONSORT guidelines.

The Turning Point Social Marketing National Excellence Collaborative: integrating social marketing into routine public health practice.

PubMed

Pirani, Sylvia; Reizes, Tom

2005-01-01

Social marketing can be an effective tool for achieving public health goals. Social marketing uses concepts from commercial marketing to plan and implement programs designed to bring about behavior change that will benefit individuals and society. Although social marketing principles have been used to address public health problems, efforts have been dominated by message-based, promotion-only strategies, and effective implementation has been hampered by both lack of understanding of and use of all of the components of a social marketing approach and lack of training. The Turning Point initiative's Social Marketing National Excellence Collaborative (SMNEC) was established to promote social marketing principles and practices to improve public health across the nation. After 4 years, the Collaborative's work has resulted in improved understanding of social marketing among participating members and the development of new tools to strengthen the social marketing skills among public health practitioners. The Collaborative has also made advances in incorporating and institutionalizing the practice of social marketing within public health in participating states.

A Hands-On Exercise Improves Understanding of the Standard Error of the Mean

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryan, Robert S.

2006-01-01

One of the most difficult concepts for statistics students is the standard error of the mean. To improve understanding of this concept, 1 group of students used a hands-on procedure to sample from small populations representing either a true or false null hypothesis. The distribution of 120 sample means (n = 3) from each population had standard…

Improving the readability and processability of a pediatric informed consent document: effects on parents' understanding.

PubMed

Tait, Alan R; Voepel-Lewis, Terri; Malviya, Shobha; Philipson, Sandra J

2005-04-01

To examine whether a consent document modified to conform with the federal guidelines for readability and processability would result in greater parental understanding compared with a standard form. Randomized clinical study. The preoperative waiting area of a larger tertiary care children's hospital. A total of 305 parents of children scheduled for minor elective surgical procedures. Parents were randomized to receive information about a clinical study in 1 of 4 ways: (1) standard consent form alone, (2) standard consent form with verbal disclosure, (3) modified form alone (standard form modified to meet the federal guidelines for readability and processability), and (4) modified form with verbal disclosure. Parents were interviewed to determine their understanding of 11 elements of consent, including study purpose, protocol, risks, benefits to child (direct), benefit to others (indirect), freedom to withdraw, alternatives, duration of study, voluntariness, confidentiality, and whom to contact. Their responses were scored by 2 independent assessors. Understanding of the protocol, study duration, risks, and direct benefits, together with overall understanding, was greater among parents who received the modified form (P<.001). Additionally, parents reported that the modified form had greater clarity (P = .009) and improved layout compared with the standard form (P<.001). When parents were shown both forms, 81.2% preferred the modified version. Results suggest that a consent form written according to federal guidelines for readability and processability can improve parent understanding and thus will be important in enhancing the informed consent process.

Deficiencies in public understanding about tobacco harm reduction: results from a United States national survey.

PubMed

Kiviniemi, Marc T; Kozlowski, Lynn T

2015-07-02

Tobacco products differ in their relative health harms. The need for educating consumers about such harms is growing as different tobacco products enter the marketplace and as the FDA moves to regulate and educate the public about different products. However, little is known about the patterns of the public's knowledge of relative harms. Data were analyzed from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) 4 Cycle 2, a population-representative survey of US adults conducted between October 2012 and January 2013 (N = 3630). Participants reported their perceptions of the relative risks of e-cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and different types of cigarettes compared to "traditional" cigarettes. Relative risk perceptions for each product type, as well as the consistency and accuracy of harm reduction beliefs, were analyzed. About 65% of the respondents accurately reported that no cigarettes were less harmful than any others. Slightly more than half of U.S. adults perceived e-cigarettes to be safer than regular cigarettes, a belief in line with current scientific evidence. By contrast, only 9% of respondents perceived some smokeless tobacco products to be safer, a belief strongly supported by the evidence. Only 3.5% of respondents had patterns of relative risk perceptions in line with current scientific evidence for all three modalities. The discrepancy between current evidence and public perceptions of relative risk of various tobacco/nicotine products was marked; for most tobacco types, a large proportion of the population held inaccurate harm reduction beliefs. Although there was substantial awareness that no cigarettes were safer than any other cigarettes, there could be benefits from increasing the percentage of the public that appreciates this fact, especially among current smokers. Given the potential benefits of tobacco risk reduction strategies, public health education efforts to increase understanding of basic harm reduction principles are needed to

Understanding evidence: a statewide survey to explore evidence-informed public health decision-making in a local government setting.

PubMed

Armstrong, Rebecca; Waters, Elizabeth; Moore, Laurence; Dobbins, Maureen; Pettman, Tahna; Burns, Cate; Swinburn, Boyd; Anderson, Laurie; Petticrew, Mark

2014-12-14

The value placed on types of evidence within decision-making contexts is highly dependent on individuals, the organizations in which the work and the systems and sectors they operate in. Decision-making processes too are highly contextual. Understanding the values placed on evidence and processes guiding decision-making is crucial to designing strategies to support evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM). This paper describes how evidence is used to inform local government (LG) public health decisions. The study used mixed methods including a cross-sectional survey and interviews. The Evidence-Informed Decision-Making Tool (EvIDenT) survey was designed to assess three key domains likely to impact on EIDM: access, confidence, and organizational culture. Other elements included the usefulness and influence of sources of evidence (people/groups and resources), skills and barriers, and facilitators to EIDM. Forty-five LGs from Victoria, Australia agreed to participate in the survey and up to four people from each organization were invited to complete the survey (n = 175). To further explore definitions of evidence and generate experiential data on EIDM practice, key informant interviews were conducted with a range of LG employees working in areas relevant to public health. In total, 135 responses were received (75% response rate) and 13 interviews were conducted. Analysis revealed varying levels of access, confidence and organizational culture to support EIDM. Significant relationships were found between domains: confidence, culture and access to research evidence. Some forms of evidence (e.g. community views) appeared to be used more commonly and at the expense of others (e.g. research evidence). Overall, a mixture of evidence (but more internal than external evidence) was influential in public health decision-making in councils. By comparison, a mixture of evidence (but more external than internal evidence) was deemed to be useful in public health decision

Understanding the complex relationships among actors involved in the implementation of public-private mix (PPM) for TB control in India, using social theory.

PubMed

Salve, Solomon; Harris, Kristine; Sheikh, Kabir; Porter, John D H

2018-06-07

Public Private Partnerships (PPP) are increasingly utilized as a public health strategy for strengthening health systems and have become a core component for the delivery of TB control services in India, as promoted through national policy. However, partnerships are complex systems that rely on relationships between a myriad of different actors with divergent agendas and backgrounds. Relationship is a crucial element of governance, and relationship building an important aspect of partnerships. To understand PPPs a multi-disciplinary perspective that draws on insights from social theory is needed. This paper demonstrates how social theory can aid the understanding of the complex relationships of actors involved in implementation of Public-Private Mix (PPM)-TB policy in India. Ethnographic research was conducted within a district in a Southern state of India over a 14 month period, combining participant observations, informal interactions and in-depth interviews with a wide range of respondents across public, private and non-government organisation (NGO) sectors. Drawing on the theoretical insights from Bourdieu's "theory of practice" this study explores the relationships between the different actors. The study found that programme managers, frontline TB workers, NGOs, and private practitioners all had a crucial role to play in TB partnerships. They were widely regarded as valued contributors with distinct social skills and capabilities within their organizations and professions. However, their potential contributions towards programme implementation tended to be unrecognized both at the top and bottom of the policy implementation chain. These actors constantly struggled for recognition and used different mechanisms to position themselves alongside other actors within the programme that further complicated the relationships between different actors. This paper demonstrates that applying social theory can enable a better understanding of the complex relationship

Investigating and improving introductory physics students’ understanding of electric flux

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jing; Singh, Chandralekha

2018-07-01

A solid grasp of the concept of electric flux is an important pre-requisite for appropriate use of Gauss’s law in solving electrostatics problems. As part of a broader investigation focusing on improving understanding of electrostatics concepts, we investigated the conceptual difficulties of college students in a traditionally taught calculus-based introductory physics course with the concept of electric flux and then the research on student difficulties was used as a guide in the development and evaluation of a research-validated tutorial which strives to help students learn this concept better. During the investigation of difficulties and the design and validation of the guided inquiry-based tutorial, college students in a calculus-based introductory physics course were given written questions to probe the common conceptual difficulties with the electric flux related concepts, and we also interviewed a subset of those students to get an in-depth account of the reasons behind the conceptual difficulties. The guided inquiry-based learning sequences in the tutorial were also iterated several times with instructors who regularly teach these courses. Here we discuss the common student difficulties with the electric flux found in our investigations, and the development and validation of a tutorial that strives to improve student understanding. We analyse how students performed on the pre-test (administered before the electric flux tutorial but after traditional instruction in the electric flux concepts) and on the post-test (administered after students in the tutorial group had engaged with the electric flux related tutorial). The performance of students in all sections of the course was comparable on the pre-test regardless of who taught that section. However, on the post-test, the performance of those in the sections of the course in which students engaged with the tutorial is significantly better that the section in which the tutorial was not used.

Making the Case for Laws That Improve Health: A Framework for Public Health Law Research

PubMed Central

Burris, Scott; Wagenaar, Alexander C; Swanson, Jeffrey; Ibrahim, Jennifer K; Wood, Jennifer; Mello, Michelle M

2010-01-01

Context: Public health law has received considerable attention in recent years and has become an essential field in public health. Public health law research, however, has received less attention. Methods: Expert commentary. Findings: This article explores public health law research, defined as the scientific study of the relation of law and legal practices to population health. The article offers a logic model of public health law research and a typology of approaches to studying the effects of law on public health. Research on the content and prevalence of public health laws, processes of adopting and implementing laws, and the extent to which and mechanisms through which law affects health outcomes can use methods drawn from epidemiology, economics, sociology, and other disciplines. The maturation of public health law research as a field depends on methodological rigor, adequate research funding, access to appropriate data sources, and policymakers’ use of research findings. Conclusions: Public health law research is a young field but holds great promise for supporting evidence-based policymaking that will improve population health. PMID:20579282

Socioscientific Issues: A Path Towards Advanced Scientific Literacy and Improved Conceptual Understanding of Socially Controversial Scientific Theories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinzino, Dean William

This thesis investigates the use of socioscientific issues (SSI) in the high school science classroom as an introduction to argumentation and socioscientific reasoning, with the goal of improving students' scientific literacy (SL). Current research is reviewed that supports the likelihood of students developing a greater conceptual understanding of scientific theories as well as a deeper understanding of the nature of science (NOS), through participation in informal and formal forms of argumentation in the context of SSI. Significant gains in such understanding may improve a student's ability to recognize the rigor, legitimacy, and veracity of scientific claims and better discern science from pseudoscience. Furthermore, students that participate in significant SSI instruction by negotiating a range of science-related social issues can make significant gains in content knowledge and develop the life-long skills of argumentation and evidence-based reasoning, goals not possible in traditional lecture-based science instruction. SSI-based instruction may therefore help students become responsible citizens. This synthesis also suggests that that the improvements in science literacy and NOS understanding that develop from sustained engagement in SSI-based instruction will better prepare students to examine and scrutinize socially controversial scientific theories (i.e., evolution, global warming, and the Big Bang).

Understanding and Improving Recruitment to Randomised Controlled Trials: Qualitative Research Approaches.

PubMed

Elliott, Daisy; Husbands, Samantha; Hamdy, Freddie C; Holmberg, Lars; Donovan, Jenny L

2017-11-01

The importance of evidence from randomised trials is now widely recognised, although recruitment is often difficult. Qualitative research has shown promise in identifying the key barriers to recruitment, and interventions have been developed to reduce organisational difficulties and support clinicians undertaking recruitment. This article provides an introduction to qualitative research techniques and explains how this approach can be used to understand-and subsequently improve-recruitment and informed consent within a range of clinical trials. A literature search was performed using Medline, Embase, and CINAHL. All studies with qualitative research methods that focused on the recruitment activity of clinicians were included in the review. The majority of studies reported that organisational difficulties and lack of time for clinical staff were key barriers to recruitment. However, a synthesis of qualitative studies highlighted the intellectual and emotional challenges that arise when combining research with clinical roles, particularly in relation to equipoise and patient eligibility. To support recruiters to become more comfortable with the design and principles of randomised controlled trials, interventions have been developed, including the QuinteT Recruitment Intervention, which comprises in-depth investigation of recruitment obstacles in real time, followed by implementation of tailored strategies to address these challenges as the trial proceeds. Qualitative research can provide important insights into the complexities of recruitment to trials and inform the development of interventions, and provide support and training initiatives as required. Investigators should consider implementing such methods in trials expected to be challenging or recruiting below target. Qualitative research is a term used to describe a range of methods that can be implemented to understand participants' perspectives and behaviours. Data are gathered from interviews, focus groups

Children's emotion understanding: A meta-analysis of training studies.

PubMed

Sprung, Manuel; Münch, Hannah M; Harris, Paul L; Ebesutani, Chad; Hofmann, Stefan G

2015-09-01

In the course of development, children show increased insight and understanding of emotions-both of their own emotions and those of others. However, little is known about the efficacy of training programs aimed at improving children's understanding of emotion. To conduct an effect size analysis of trainings aimed at three aspects of emotion understanding: external aspects (i.e., the recognition of emotional expressions, understanding external causes of emotion, understanding the influence of reminders on present emotions); mental aspects (i.e., understanding desire-based emotions, understanding belief-based emotions, understanding hidden emotions); and reflective aspects (i.e., understanding the regulation of an emotion, understanding mixed emotions, understanding moral emotions). A literature search was conducted using PubMed, PsycInfo, the Cochrane Library, and manual searches. The search identified 19 studies or experiments including a total of 749 children with an average age of 86 months ( S.D .=30.71) from seven different countries. Emotion understanding training procedures are effective for improving external (Hedge's g = 0.62), mental (Hedge's g = 0.31), and reflective (Hedge's g = 0.64) aspects of emotion understanding. These effect sizes were robust and generally unrelated to the number and lengths of training sessions, length of the training period, year of publication, and sample type. However, training setting and social setting moderated the effect of emotion understanding training on the understanding of external aspects of emotion. For the length of training session and social setting, we observed significant moderator effects of training on reflective aspects of emotion. Emotion understanding training may be a promising tool for both preventive intervention and the psychotherapeutic process. However, more well-controlled studies are needed.

Using the Theory of Normative Social Behavior to Understand Compliance with a Smoke-Free Law in a Middle-Income Country

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byron, M. J.; Cohen, J. E.; Frattaroli, S.; Gittelsohn, J.; Jernigan, D. H.

2016-01-01

Smoke-free laws, which ban smoking in public venues, can be effective in protecting public health, but it has been difficult to achieve compliance with these laws in low- and middle-income countries. This study was conducted to understand the social norms around public smoking and learn how to improve compliance in Bogor, the first Indonesian city…

Commentary: Understanding the origins of anger, contempt, and disgust in public health policy disputes: applying moral psychology to harm reduction debates.

PubMed

Alderman, Jess; Dollar, Katherine M; Kozlowski, Lynn T

2010-04-01

Scientific disputes about public health issues can become emotional battlefields marked by strong emotions like anger, contempt, and disgust. Contemporary work in moral psychology demonstrates that each of these emotions is a reaction to a specific type of moral violation. Applying this work to harm reduction debates, specifically the use of smokeless tobacco to reduce harm from tobacco use, we attempt to explain why some public health disputes have been so heated. Public health ethics tend to emphasize social justice concerns to the exclusion of other moral perspectives that value scientific authority, professional loyalty, and bodily purity. An awareness of their different emotional reactions and underlying moral motivations might help public health professionals better understand each others' viewpoints, ultimately leading to more productive dialogue.

Induced Seismicity and Public Communication: Lessons Learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buchanan, R.

2017-12-01

Beginning in 2009, induced seismicity became a major public policy issue in the midcontinent. Based on my experience with induced seismicity in south-central Kansas, conversations about man-made earthquakes, and their connection to hydraulic fracturing, are challenging, yet they provide an opening for geoscientists to engage the public in conversations about energy regulation, environmental issues, and basic geology. In many respects, hydraulic fracturing and induced seismicity became the lenses through which the public saw the geoscience community. Interaction with the media, regulators, decision-makers, and the general public, through interviews, presentations, panels, and public meetings, provided opportunities to describe current knowledge of the subsurface and to advocate for improved seismic monitoring and subsurface data-collection. Equally important, it provided geoscientists the opportunity to learn about public understanding and concerns about these issues. Successful communication required multiple, in-depth conversations and willingness to listen carefully. Results included support for additional monitoring from both public and private sources.

Criteria-Based Resource Allocation: A Tool to Improve Public Health Impact.

PubMed

Graham, J Ross; Mackie, Christopher

2016-01-01

Resource allocation in local public health (LPH) has been reported as a significant challenge for practitioners and a Public Health Services and Systems Research priority. Ensuring available resources have maximum impact on community health and maintaining public confidence in the resource allocation process are key challenges. A popular strategy in health care settings to address these challenges is Program Budgeting and Marginal Analysis (PBMA). This case study used PBMA in an LPH setting to examine its appropriateness and utility. The criteria-based resource allocation process PBMA was implemented to guide the development of annual organizational budget in an attempt to maximize the impact of agency resources. Senior leaders and managers were surveyed postimplementation regarding process facilitators, challenges, and successes. Canada's largest autonomous LPH agency. PBMA was used to shift 3.4% of the agency budget from lower-impact areas (through 34 specific disinvestments) to higher-impact areas (26 specific reinvestments). Senior leaders and managers validated the process as a useful approach for improving the public health impact of agency resources. However, they also reported the process may have decreased frontline staff confidence in senior leadership. In this case study, PBMA was used successfully to reallocate a sizable portion of an LPH agency's budget toward higher-impact activities. PBMA warrants further study as a tool to support optimal resource allocation in LPH settings.

Current Priorities for Public Health Practice in Addressing the Role of Human Genomics in Improving Population Health

PubMed Central

Khoury, Muin J.; Bowen, Michael S.; Burke, Wylie; Coates, Ralph J.; Dowling, Nicole F.; Evans, James P.; Reyes, Michele; St. Pierre, Jeannette

2017-01-01

In spite of accelerating human genome discoveries in a wide variety of diseases of public health significance, the promise of personalized health care and disease prevention based on genomics has lagged behind. In a time of limited resources, public health agencies must continue to focus on implementing programs that can improve health and prevent disease now. Nevertheless, public health has an important and assertive leadership role in addressing the promise and pitfalls of human genomics for population health. Such efforts are needed not only to implement what is known in genomics to improve health but also to reduce potential harm and create the infrastructure needed to derive health benefits in the future. PMID:21406285

Investigating and Improving Student Understanding of Key Ideas in Quantum Mechanics throughout Instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Emigh, Paul Jeffrey

This dissertation describes research on student understanding of quantum mechanics across multiple levels of instruction. The primary focus has been to identify patterns in student reasoning related to key concepts in quantum mechanics. The specific topics include quantum measurements, time dependence, vector spaces, and angular momentum. The research has spanned a variety of different quantum courses intended for introductory physics students, upper-division physics majors, and graduate students in physics. The results of this research have been used to develop a set of curriculum, Tutorials in Physics: Quantum Mechanics, for addressing the most persistent student difficulties. We document both the development of this curriculum and how it has impacted and improved student understanding of quantum mechanics.

The public health nutrition intervention management bi-cycle: a model for training and practice improvement.

PubMed

Hughes, Roger; Margetts, Barrie

2012-11-01

The present paper describes a model for public health nutrition practice designed to facilitate practice improvement and provide a step-wise approach to assist with workforce development. The bi-cycle model for public health nutrition practice has been developed based on existing cyclical models for intervention management but modified to integrate discrete capacity-building practices. Education and practice settings. This model will have applications for educators and practitioners. Modifications to existing models have been informed by the authors' observations and experiences as practitioners and educators, and reflect a conceptual framework with applications in workforce development and practice improvement. From a workforce development and educational perspective, the model is designed to reflect adult learning principles, exposing students to experiential, problem-solving and practical learning experiences that reflect the realities of work as a public health nutritionist. In doing so, it assists the development of competency beyond knowing to knowing how, showing how and doing. This progression of learning from knowledge to performance is critical to effective competency development for effective practice. Public health nutrition practice is dynamic and varied, and models need to be adaptable and applicable to practice context to have utility. The paper serves to stimulate debate in the public health nutrition community, to encourage critical feedback about the validity, applicability and utility of this model in different practice contexts.

A Public-Private Partnership Improves Clinical Performance In A Hospital Network In Lesotho.

PubMed

McIntosh, Nathalie; Grabowski, Aria; Jack, Brian; Nkabane-Nkholongo, Elizabeth Limakatso; Vian, Taryn

2015-06-01

Health care public-private partnerships (PPPs) between a government and the private sector are based on a business model that aims to leverage private-sector expertise to improve clinical performance in hospitals and other health facilities. Although the financial implications of such partnerships have been analyzed, few studies have examined the partnerships' impact on clinical performance outcomes. Using quantitative measures that reflected capacity, utilization, clinical quality, and patient outcomes, we compared a government-managed hospital network in Lesotho, Africa, and the new PPP-managed hospital network that replaced it. In addition, we used key informant interviews to help explain differences in performance. We found that the PPP-managed network delivered more and higher-quality services and achieved significant gains in clinical outcomes, compared to the government-managed network. We conclude that health care public-private partnerships may improve hospital performance in developing countries and that changes in management and leadership practices might account for differences in clinical outcomes. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Predictors of public climate change awareness and risk perception around the world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Tien Ming; Markowitz, Ezra M.; Howe, Peter D.; Ko, Chia-Ying; Leiserowitz, Anthony A.

2015-11-01

Climate change is a threat to human societies and natural ecosystems, yet public opinion research finds that public awareness and concern vary greatly. Here, using an unprecedented survey of 119 countries, we determine the relative influence of socio-demographic characteristics, geography, perceived well-being, and beliefs on public climate change awareness and risk perceptions at national scales. Worldwide, educational attainment is the single strongest predictor of climate change awareness. Understanding the anthropogenic cause of climate change is the strongest predictor of climate change risk perceptions, particularly in Latin America and Europe, whereas perception of local temperature change is the strongest predictor in many African and Asian countries. However, other key factors associated with public awareness and risk perceptions highlight the need to develop tailored climate communication strategies for individual nations. The results suggest that improving basic education, climate literacy, and public understanding of the local dimensions of climate change are vital to public engagement and support for climate action.

Public health dental hygiene: an option for improved quality of care and quality of life.

PubMed

Olmsted, Jodi L; Rublee, Nancy; Zurkawski, Emily; Kleber, Laura

2013-10-01

The purpose of this research was to document quality of life (QoL) and quality of care (QoC) measures for families receiving care from dental hygienists within public health departments, and to consider if oral health for families with economic disparities and cultural differences was improved. A descriptive research study using a retrospective record review was conducted considering QoC. A review of state epid "Do preventive oral health programs based in local health departments provide quality care services, thus impacting QoL for underserved populations?" A dental hygienist working in public health made significant contributions to improving access to care and QoL in a rural, socioeconomically disadvantaged community. A total of 2,364 children received education, 1,745 received oral screenings and 1,511 received dental sealants. Of these, 804 children with caries were referred, with 463 receiving restorations and follow-up care. QoL metrics basis assessed Health Outcomes & Health Determinants. Initial QoL data was ranked in the bottom half of the state, while 70% of original determinant data was also ranked in the bottom half of reported metrics. Dental hygienists in public health settings can positively affect patients offering preventive care outreach services. Education and sealant placement were considered effective as measured by access, delivery and, when required, referral for restorative care. Improvement in QoL for individuals was noted through improved health outcomes and determinant metrics.

Public health services and systems research: current state of finance research.

PubMed

Ingram, Richard C; Bernet, Patrick M; Costich, Julia F

2012-11-01

There is a growing recognition that the US public health system should strive for efficiency-that it should determine the optimal ways to utilize limited resources to improve and protect public health. The field of public health finance research is a critical part of efforts to understand the most efficient ways to use resources. This article discusses the current state of public health finance research through a review of public health finance literature, chronicles important lessons learned from public health finance research to date, discusses the challenges faced by those seeking to conduct financial research on the public health system, and discusses the role of public health finance research in relation to the broader endeavor of Public Health Services and Systems Research.

Logistics modelling: improving resource management and public information strategies in Florida.

PubMed

Walsh, Daniel M; Van Groningen, Chuck; Craig, Brian

2011-10-01

One of the most time-sensitive and logistically-challenging emergency response operations today is to provide mass prophylaxis to every man, woman and child in a community within 48 hours of a bioterrorism attack. To meet this challenge, federal, state and local public health departments in the USA have joined forces to develop, test and execute large-scale bioterrorism response plans. This preparedness and response effort is funded through the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Cities Readiness Initiative, a programme dedicated to providing oral antibiotics to an entire population within 48 hours of a weaponised inhalation anthrax attack. This paper will demonstrate how the State of Florida used a logistics modelling tool to improve its CRI mass prophylaxis plans. Special focus will be on how logistics modelling strengthened Florida's resource management policies and validated its public information strategies.

The Space Situational Assessment Report to Improve Public Awareness in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Hongbo; Zhang, Qi; Xie, Zebing; Wei, Xiangwang; Wang, Tao

For improvement of public awareness of the impact of space activities in China, a Space Situational Assessment Report 2013 will be issued in March 2014. More than ten Chinese main medium are invited for a special press conference. The Space Situational Assessment Report aims to introduce international space activities to Chinese public, and provide a common, comprehensive knowledge base to support the development of national policies and international security cooperation of outer space. The full report organizes international space activities until 2013 according to three parts those are Foundations, Strategies and Environment, including nine chapters, such as Space laws and policies; Space facility and equipment; Institutions and Human Resource; Military space, Civil space and Commercial space; Natural space environment; Space situational awareness, etc. A kind of Space Situational Assessment Index System is presented as a globally-focused analytic framework that defines, measures, and ranks national space activity. To use for a variety of public themes, different assessment indexes are constituted by scores of individual qualitative and quantitative metrics based on the Index System. Three research organizaitons of space sciences and technologies collaborated on the Space Situational Assessment Report. It is a scholarly and ungovernmental work.

Effective Collaboration Between Scientists and Local Governments to Improve Scientific Communication for Public Safety in Dallas and Irving, Texas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blanpied, M. L.; Perry, S. C.; Carriere, J.; DeShon, H. R.; Oden, K.; Vaz, R.; Williams, R. A.; Stump, B. W.; Hayward, C.; Choy, G. L.; Hoover, S. M.; Mueller, C. S.; LaGrassa, N.; Miller, G.; Osburn, M.

2016-12-01

Felt earthquakes have occurred in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Irving area since 2008, raising concern about seismic risks and potential links to petroleum industry activities - and leading to a productive, long-standing interaction between earthquake scientists and local government officials. City staff, including emergency managers, formed the Dallas Irving Earthquake Working Group (DIEWG) in early 2015 to share information, learn about their new hazard, and coordinate public messages and response planning. The DIEWG has held regular meetings that included academic and government experts including scientists from Southern Methodist University (SMU) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). SMU apprised DIEWG of monitoring and research results, and responded to media inquiries. USGS provided information about seismic hazard and the likelihood of damaging earthquakes, and worked with FEMA Regions VI & VIII to provide impact planning scenarios for plausible earthquakes of M4.8 and M5.6. USGS briefed DIEWG before the release of an assessment of the likelihood of damage from natural and induced earthquakes, as local officials needed to understand the information and its implications in order to translate for their constituents. DIEWG has now asked USGS to help to develop tabletop response exercises. Through these interactions, local officials and scientists increased understanding of each other's roles, capabilities and limitations. The interactions have also improved DIEWG members' understanding of earthquake risk and impact, supported hazard mitigation planning, influenced infrastructure and building code decisions, and informed conversations with residents and media. Input from DIEWG has improved scientists' translation of complex information for use in planning, and identified persistent misunderstandings about concepts and terminology that are relevant to many earthquake information products. A key aspect of this success has been the repeated personal interaction over time.

DSSTOX WEBSITE LAUNCH: IMPROVING PUBLIC ACCESS TO DATABASES FOR BUILDING STRUCTURE-TOXICITY PREDICTION MODELS

EPA Science Inventory

DSSTox Website Launch: Improving Public Access to Databases for Building Structure-Toxicity Prediction Models
Ann M. Richard
US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

Distributed: Decentralized set of standardized, field-delimited databases,...

Improving the effectiveness of service delivery in the public healthcare sector: the case of ophthalmology services in Malaysia.

PubMed

Foo, Chee Yoong; Lim, Ka Keat; Sivasampu, Sheamini; Dahian, Kamilah Binti; Goh, Pik Pin

2015-08-28

Rising demand of ophthalmology care is increasingly straining Malaysia's public healthcare sector due to its limited human and financial resources. Improving the effectiveness of ophthalmology service delivery can promote national policy goals of population health improvement and system sustainability. This study examined the performance variation of public ophthalmology service in Malaysia, estimated the potential output gain and investigated several factors that might explain the differential performance. Data for 2011 and 2012 on 36 ophthalmology centres operating in the Ministry of Health hospitals were used in this analysis. We first consulted a panel of ophthalmology service managers to understand the production of ophthalmology services and to verify the production model. We then assessed the relative performance of these centres using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Efficiency scores (ES) were decomposed into technical, scale, and congestion component. Potential increase in service output was estimated. Sensitivity analysis of model changes was performed and stability of the result was assessed using bootstrap approach. Second stage Tobit regression was conducted to determine if hospital type, availability of day services and population characteristics were related to the DEA scores. In 2011, 33% of the ophthalmology centres were found to have ES > 1 (mean ES = 1.10). Potential output gains were 10% (SE ± 2.92), 7.4% (SE ± 2.06), 6.9% (SE ± 1.97) if the centres could overcome their technical, scale and congestion inefficiencies. More centres moved to the performance frontier in 2012 (mean ES = 1.07), with lower potential output gain. The model used has good stability. Robustness checks show that the DEA correctly identified low performing centres. Being in state hospital was significantly associated with better performance. Using DEA to benchmarking service performance of ophthalmology care could provide insights for policy

Autonomy, Paternalism, and Justice: Ethical Priorities in Public Health

PubMed Central

Buchanan, David R.

2008-01-01

With attention to the field of public health ethics growing, significant time has been devoted to identifying a sound ethical justification for paternalistic interventions that override individual autonomy to prevent people from adopting unhealthy behaviors. Efforts focused on specifying the conditions that warrant paternalism, however, are largely misplaced. On empirical and ethical grounds, public health should seek instead to expand individual autonomy to improve population health. To promote autonomy, the field should redirect current efforts toward clarifying principles of justice. Although public health’s most highly visible stance is associated with an egalitarian conception of “social justice,” it is imperative that public health professionals address gaping divisions in public understandings of justice. I present recommendations for initiating this process. PMID:18048780

Assessment of trauma quality improvement activities at public hospitals in Thailand.

PubMed

Fuangworawong, Phuphit; LaGrone, Lacey N; Chadbunchachai, Witaya; Sornsrivichai, Vorasith; Mock, Charles N; Vavilala, Monica S

2016-09-01

Given the current exceptional burden of injury in Thailand, the proven efficacy of quality improvement programs, and the current scarcity of national-level information on trauma quality improvement program (TQIP) implementation in Thailand, we aimed to examine the use of TQIPs and barriers to TQIP adoption in Thai public trauma centers. We distributed a survey to 110 public hospitals which are designated to provide trauma care in Thailand. The survey assessed the presence or absence of the four core elements of the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended TQIPs (morbidity and mortality (M&M) conferences, preventable death panels, trauma registries, and audit filters), and provider perception of barriers and priorities in TQIP implementation. Responses were received from 80 (72%) respondents. Seventy-two (90%) reported having a trauma registry and seventy (88%) respondents reported use of audit filters. Seventy (88%) respondents reported conducting regular M&M conferences, and 45 (56%) respondents reported the presence of preventable death panels. Thirty-eight (48%) respondents reported presence of all four elements of WHO TQIPs. The most commonly reported barriers to implementing TQIPs were lack of interest (55; 68%) and lack of time (39; 48%)to implement TQIPs. Audit filters were reported by only 25 (31%) of respondents and optimization of audit filters was the most frequently identified next-step in further development of TQIP. Just under half of responding Thai public trauma centers reported implementation of all four elements of the WHO recommended TQIPs. Priority strategies to facilitate TQIP maturation in Thailand should address staff motivation, provision of staff time for TQIP development, and optimization of audit filter use to monitor quality of care. Copyright © 2016 IJS Publishing Group Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Understanding the Drivers of Chinese Public Diplomacy in the Information Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-12-01

connected the world, making it easier for governments to communicate and influence foreign audiences. As a rising state, China has embraced, adapted...agree that public diplomacy is when a government deliberately communicates with foreign mass public audiences to influence their “attitudes or...Diplomacy,” Washington Quarterly 8(1985): 199–213; Benno Signitzer and Timothy Coombs , “Public Relations and Public Diplomacy: Conceptual Divergence

An Improved Publication Process for the UMVF.

PubMed

Renard, Jean-Marie; Brunetaud, Jean-Marc; Cuggia, Marc; Darmoni, Stephan; Lebeux, Pierre; Beuscart, Régis

2005-01-01

The "Université Médicale Virtuelle Francophone" (UMVF) is a federation of French medical schools. Its main goal is to share the production and use of pedagogic medical resources generated by academic medical teachers. We developed an Open-Source application based upon a workflow system which provides an improved publication process for the UMVF. For teachers, the tool permits easy and efficient upload of new educational resources. For web masters it provides a mechanism to easily locate and validate the resources. For both the teachers and the web masters, the utility provides the control and communication functions that define a workflow system.For all users, students in particular, the application improves the value of the UMVF repository by providing an easy way to find a detailed description of a resource and to check any resource from the UMVF to ascertain its quality and integrity, even if the resource is an old deprecated version. The server tier of the application is used to implement the main workflow functionalities and is deployed on certified UMVF servers using the PHP language, an LDAP directory and an SQL database. The client tier of the application provides both the workflow and the search and check functionalities and is implemented using a Java applet through a W3C compliant web browser. A unique signature for each resource, was needed to provide security functionality and is implemented using the MD5 Digest algorithm. The testing performed by Rennes and Lille verified the functionality and conformity with our specifications.

Aligning Food Systems Policies to Advance Public Health

PubMed Central

Muller, Mark; Tagtow, Angie; Roberts, Susan L.; MacDougall, Erin

2009-01-01

The involvement of public health professionals in food and agricultural policy provides tremendous opportunities for advancing the public's health. It is particularly challenging, however, for professionals to understand and consider the numerous policy drivers that impact the food system, which range from agricultural commodity policies to local food safety ordinances. Confronted with this complexity in the food system, policy advocates often focus on narrow objectives with disregard for the larger system. This commentary contends that, in order to be most effective, public health professionals need to consider the full range of interdependent policies that affect the system. Food policy councils have proven to be an effective tool, particularly at the local and state level, for developing comprehensive food systems policies that can improve public health. PMID:23144671

Synonym-Based Word Frequency Analysis to Support the Development and Presentation of a Public Health Quality Improvement Taxonomy.

PubMed

Pina, Jamie; Massoudi, Barbara L; Chester, Kelley; Koyanagi, Mark

2018-06-07

Researchers and analysts have not completely examined word frequency analysis as an approach to creating a public health quality improvement taxonomy. To develop a taxonomy of public health quality improvement concepts for an online exchange of quality improvement work. We analyzed documents, conducted an expert review, and employed a user-centered design along with a faceted search approach to make online entries searchable for users. To provide the most targeted facets to users, we used word frequency to analyze 334 published public health quality improvement documents to find the most common clusters of word meanings. We then reviewed the highest-weighted concepts and categorized their relationships to quality improvement details in our taxonomy. Next, we mapped meanings to items in our taxonomy and presented them in order of their weighted percentages in the data. Using these methods, we developed and sorted concepts in the faceted search presentation so that online exchange users could access relevant search criteria. We reviewed 50 of the top synonym clusters and identified 12 categories for our taxonomy data. The final categories were as follows: Summary; Planning and Execution Details; Health Impact; Training and Preparation; Information About the Community; Information About the Health Department; Results; Quality Improvement (QI) Staff; Information; Accreditation Details; Collaborations; and Contact Information of the Submitter. Feedback about the elements in the taxonomy and presentation of elements in our search environment from users has been positive. When relevant data are available, the word frequency analysis method may be useful in other taxonomy development efforts for public health.

Assessing Community Leadership: Understanding Community Capacity for Health Improvement.

PubMed

Castle, Billie; Wendel, Monica; Kelly Pryor, Brandy N; Ingram, Monique

The purpose of this study was to pilot a quantitative instrument to measure aspects of community leadership within an assessment framework. The instrument includes 14 Likert-type questions asking residents how they perceive leaders within 5 sectors: Louisville Metro Council/Mayor's Office, the faith community, education, business, and the civic sector. Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky, has a population of about 743 000 residents. Respondents were asked to examine leadership within West Louisville, an economically deprived area of the city made up of 9 contiguous neighborhoods. This area is predominantly African American (78% compared with 22% in Louisville Metro), with an overall poverty rate of 43% (compared with 18% in Louisville Metro), and unemployment rate of 23% (compared with 8% in Louisville Metro). Residents of West Louisville are looking to leadership to address many of the inequities. Twenty-seven participants representing 7 community sectors completed the survey, of whom 90% work in West Louisville. The instrument measured local perceptions of leadership strength, effectiveness, trust, communication, community building, and leadership development. The majority of respondents agree that strong leadership exists across the 5 sectors, with variation regarding perceptions of the quality of that leadership. City leadership within the Mayor's Office and Metro Council is largely viewed positively, while the growing tensions within the education sector were reflected in the survey results. The perception of community leadership is important to understanding local community capacity to improve health and also inclusivity of community voice in the assessment and community improvement processes. Results from such assessments can offer useful information for strengthening community capacity and sustaining relationships needed to enact progressive and equitable solutions to address local issues. Leaders in a variety of settings can utilize this instrument to

Guidebook : managing operating costs for rural and small urban public transit systems.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-05-01

This guidebook is a resource for rural and small urban transit agency managers to use in better understanding, predicting, and managing operational costs. Doing so can improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability of public transit in the...

The role of public relations activities in hospital choice.

PubMed

Tengilimoglu, Dilaver; Yesiltas, Mehmet; Kisa, Adnan; Dziegielewski, Sophia F

2007-01-01

Public relations activities for all organizations can have an important effect on consumer decision-making when buying goods or services. This study examines the effect that public relations activities can have regarding consumer decisions and choice. To explore exemplify this relationship a questionnaire was given to 971 patients within public, university and private hospitals in Ankara, Turkey. Study results show that public relations activities were a crucial factor in determining consumer hospital choice. The majority of respondents reported that the behaviors and attitude of personnel as public relations activities that support the hospital's reputation within the public were the primary variables in hospital choice. Health care managers can use these findings to further understand how patients make informed choices related to usage of a health care facility and to develop and/or improve public relations activities.

Finding order in heterogeneity: types of quality-improvement intervention publications.

PubMed

Rubenstein, L V; Hempel, S; Farmer, M M; Asch, S M; Yano, E M; Dougherty, D; Shekelle, P W

2008-12-01

Stakeholders in quality improvement agree on the need for augmenting and synthesising the scientific literature supporting it. The diversity of perspectives, approaches, and contexts critical to advancing quality improvement science, however, creates challenges. The paper explores the heterogeneity in clinical quality improvement intervention (QII) publications. A preliminary classification framework was developed for QII articles, aiming for categories homogeneous enough to support coherent scientific discussion on QII reporting standards and facilitate systematic review. QII experts were asked to identify articles important to QII science. The framework was tested and revised by applying it to the article set. The final framework screened articles into (1) empirical literature on development and testing of QIIs; (2) QII stories, theories, and frameworks; (3) QII literature syntheses and meta-analyses; or (4) development and testing of QII-related tools. To achieve homogeneity, category (1) required division into (1a) development of QIIs; 1(b) history, documentation, or description of QIIs; or (1c) success, effectiveness or impact of QIIs. By discussing unique issues and established standards relevant to each category, QII stakeholders can advance QII practice and science, including the scope and conduct of systematic literature reviews.

Quality improvement training for core medical and general practice trainees: a pilot study of project participation, completion and journal publication.

PubMed

McNab, Duncan; McKay, John; Bowie, Paul

2015-11-01

Small-scale quality improvement projects are expected to make a significant contribution towards improving the quality of healthcare. Enabling doctors-in-training to design and lead quality improvement projects is important preparation for independent practice. Participation is mandatory in speciality training curricula. However, provision of training and ongoing support in quality improvement methods and practice is variable. We aimed to design and deliver a quality improvement training package to core medical and general practice specialty trainees and evaluate impact in terms of project participation, completion and publication in a healthcare journal. A quality improvement training package was developed and delivered to core medical trainees and general practice specialty trainees in the west of Scotland encompassing a 1-day workshop and mentoring during completion of a quality improvement project over 3 months. A mixed methods evaluation was undertaken and data collected via questionnaire surveys, knowledge assessment, and formative assessment of project proposals, completed quality improvement projects and publication success. Twenty-three participants attended the training day with 20 submitting a project proposal (87%). Ten completed quality improvement projects (43%), eight were judged as satisfactory (35%), and four were submitted and accepted for journal publication (17%). Knowledge and confidence in aspects of quality improvement improved during the pilot, while early feedback on project proposals was valued (85.7%). This small study reports modest success in training core medical trainees and general practice specialty trainees in quality improvement. Many gained knowledge of, confidence in and experience of quality improvement, while journal publication was shown to be possible. The development of educational resources to aid quality improvement project completion and mentoring support is necessary if expectations for quality improvement are to be

Negative public perceptions of juvenile diabetics: applying attribution theory to understand the public's stigmatizing views.

PubMed

Vishwanath, Arun

2014-01-01

Despite a rise in the incidence of juvenile diabetes globally, little research has focused on public perceptions regarding its patients. The need to evaluate whether the public holds stigmatizing views is pressing when one considers the relatively young age of the patients of the disease. The current study extends the attribution theoretic framework to evaluate public stigma regarding juvenile diabetes. The findings suggest that a large percentage of individuals misattribute the causes of the disease and believe it is relatively rare and that its patients are personally responsible for contracting it. Individuals often utilize pejorative terms describing juvenile diabetes as a disease afflicting children who are lazy, unhealthy, fat, obese, lacking exercise, and having eating disorders.

How the World Gains Understanding of a Planet: Analysis of Scientific Understanding in Earth Sciences and of the Communication of Earth-Scientific Explanation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voute, S.; Kleinhans, M. G.; de Regt, H.

2010-12-01

or falsification and conclusions that must be well grounded and argued. The intelligibility of theories is improved by the combination of these two types of understanding. This is also attested by the fact that both theoretical and embodied skills are considered essential for the training of university students at all levels. However, from surprised and confounded reactions of the public to natural disasters it appears that just showing scientific results is not enough to convey the scientific understanding to the public. By using the tools used by earth scientists to develop explanations and achieve understanding, laymen could achieve understanding as well without rigorous theoretical training. We are presently investigating in science musea whether engaging the public in scientific activities based on embodied skills leads to understanding of earth-scientific phenomena by laymen.

A means of improving public health in low- and middle-income countries? Benefits and challenges of international public-private partnerships.

PubMed

Kostyak, L; Shaw, D M; Elger, B; Annaheim, B

2017-08-01

In the last two decades international public-private partnerships have become increasingly important to improving public health in low- and middle-income countries. Governments realize that involving the private sector in projects for financing, innovation, development, and distribution can make a valuable contribution to overcoming major health challenges. Private-public partnerships for health can generate numerous benefits but may also raise some concerns. To guide best practice for public-private partnerships for health to maximize benefits and minimize risks, the first step is to identify potential benefits, challenges, and motives. We define motives as the reasons why private partners enter partnerships with a public partner. We conducted a systematic review of the literature using the PRISMA guidelines. We reviewed the literature on the benefits and challenges of public-private partnerships for health in low- and middle-income countries provided by international pharmaceutical companies and other health-related companies. We provide a description of these benefits, challenges, as well as of motives of private partners to join partnerships. An approach of systematic categorization was used to conduct this research. We identified six potential benefits, seven challenges, and three motives. Our main finding was a significant gap in the available academic literature on this subject. Further empirical research using both qualitative and quantitative approaches is required. From the limited information that is readily available, we conclude that public-private partnerships for health imply several benefits but with some noticeable and crucial limitations. In this article, we provide a description of these benefits and challenges, discuss key themes, and conclude that empirical research is required to determine the full extent of the challenges addressed in the literature. Copyright © 2017 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights

Understanding and improving lithium ion batteries through mathematical modeling and experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deshpande, Rutooj D.

There is an intense, worldwide effort to develop durable lithium ion batteries with high energy and power densities for a wide range of applications, including electric and hybrid electric vehicles. For improvement of battery technology understanding the capacity fading mechanism in batteries is of utmost importance. Novel electrode material and improved electrode designs are needed for high energy- high power batteries with less capacity fading. Furthermore, for applications such as automotive applications, precise cycle-life prediction of batteries is necessary. One of the critical challenges in advancing lithium ion battery technologies is fracture and decrepitation of the electrodes as a result of lithium diffusion during charging and discharging operations. When lithium is inserted in either the positive or negative electrode, there is a volume change associated with insertion or de-insertion. Diffusion-induced stresses (DISs) can therefore cause the nucleation and growth of cracks, leading to mechanical degradation of the batteries. With different mathematical models we studied the behavior of diffusion induces stresses and effects of electrode shape, size, concentration dependent material properties, pre-existing cracks, phase transformations, operating conditions etc. on the diffusion induced stresses. Thus we develop tools to guide the design of the electrode material with better mechanical stability for durable batteries. Along with mechanical degradation, chemical degradation of batteries also plays an important role in deciding battery cycle life. The instability of commonly employed electrolytes results in solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation. Although SEI formation contributes to irreversible capacity loss, the SEI layer is necessary, as it passivates the electrode-electrolyte interface from further solvent decomposition. SEI layer and diffusion induced stresses are inter-dependent and affect each-other. We study coupled chemical

Corporate Philanthropy Toward Community Health Improvement in Manufacturing Communities.

PubMed

McHugh, Megan; Farley, Diane; Maechling, Claude R; Dunlop, Dorothy D; French, Dustin D; Holl, Jane L

2018-06-01

Virtually all large employers engage in corporate philanthropy, but little is known about the extent to which it is directed toward improving community health. We conducted in-depth interviews with leaders of corporate philanthropy from 13 of the largest manufacturing companies in the US to understand how giving decisions were made, the extent to which funding was directed towards improving community health, and whether companies coordinate with local public health agencies. We found that corporate giving was sizable and directed towards communities in which the manufacturers have a large presence. Giving was aligned with the social determinants of health (i.e., aimed at improving economic stability, the neighborhood and physical environment, education, food security and nutrition, the community and social context, and the health care system). However, improving public health was not often cited as a goal of corporate giving, and coordination with public health agencies was limited. Our results suggest that there may be opportunities for public health agencies to help guide corporate philanthropy, particularly by sharing community-level data and offering their measurement and evaluation expertise.

Longitudinal Evaluation of Quality Improvement and Public Health Accreditation Readiness in Nebraska Local Health Departments, 2011-2016.

PubMed

Chen, Li-Wu; Gregg, Abbey; Palm, David

Public health accreditation is intended to improve the performance of public health departments, and quality improvement (QI) is an important component of the Public Health Accreditation Board process. The objective of this study was to evaluate the QI maturity and accreditation readiness of local health departments (LHDs) in Nebraska during a 6-year period that included several statewide initiatives to progress readiness, including funding and technical assistance. We used a mixed-methods approach that consisted of both online surveys and key informant interviews to assess QI maturity and accreditation readiness. Nineteen of Nebraska's 21 LHDs completed the survey in 2011 and 2013, 20 of 20 LHDs completed the survey in 2015, and 19 of 20 LHDs completed the survey in 2016. We facilitated a large group discussion with staff members from 16 LHDs in 2011, and we conducted key informant interviews with staff members from 4 LHDs in 2015. Both QI maturity and accreditation readiness improved from 2011 to 2016. In 2011, of 19 LHDs, only 6 LHD directors agreed that their LHD had a culture that focused on QI, but this number increased every year up to 12 in 2016. The number of LHDs that had a high capacity to engage in QI efforts improved from 3 in 2011 to 8 in 2016. The number of LHDs with a QI plan increased from 3 in 2011 to 10 in 2016. The number of LHDs that were confident in their ability to obtain Public Health Accreditation Board accreditation improved from 6 in 2011 to 13 in 2016. Although their QI maturity generally increased over time, LHDs interviewed in 2015 still faced challenges adopting a formal QI system. External financial and technical support helped LHDs build their QI maturity and accreditation readiness. Funding and technical assistance can improve LHDs' QI maturity and accreditation readiness. Improvement takes time and sustained efforts by LHDs, and support from external partners (eg, state health departments) helps build LHDs' QI maturity and

Using wilderness character to improve wilderness stewardship

Treesearch

Peter Landres; Wade M. Vagias; Suzy Stutzman

2012-01-01

This article describes how understanding wilderness character leads to improved communication among staff and with the public, helping park staff make more informed decisions about park planning, management, and monitoring in wilderness. Wilderness character is defined in terms of five qualities: natural, solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation, undeveloped,...

Target for improvement: a cluster randomised trial of public involvement in quality-indicator prioritisation (intervention development and study protocol)

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Public priorities for improvement often differ from those of clinicians and managers. Public involvement has been proposed as a way to bridge the gap between professional and public clinical care priorities but has not been studied in the context of quality-indicator choice. Our objective is to assess the feasibility and impact of public involvement on quality-indicator choice and agreement with public priorities. Methods We will conduct a cluster randomised controlled trial comparing quality-indicator prioritisation with and without public involvement. In preparation for the trial, we developed a 'menu' of quality indicators, based on a systematic review of existing validated indicator sets. Participants (public representatives, clinicians, and managers) will be recruited from six participating sites. In intervention sites, public representatives will be involved through direct participation (public representatives, clinicians, and managers will deliberate together to agree on quality-indicator choice and use) and consultation (individual public recommendations for improvement will be collected and presented to decision makers). In control sites, only clinicians and managers will take part in the prioritisation process. Data on quality-indicator choice and intended use will be collected. Our primary outcome will compare quality-indicator choice and agreement with public priorities between intervention and control groups. A process evaluation based on direct observation, videorecording, and participants' assessment will be conducted to help explain the study's results. The marginal cost of public involvement will also be assessed. Discussion We identified 801 quality indicators that met our inclusion criteria. An expert panel agreed on a final set of 37 items containing validated quality indicators relevant for chronic disease prevention and management in primary care. We pilot tested our public-involvement intervention with 27 participants (11 public

Understanding and Improving the Activity of Flavin Dependent Halogenases via Random and Targeted Mutagenesis

PubMed Central

Andorfer, Mary C.

2018-01-01

Flavin dependent halogenases (FDHs) catalyze the halogenation of organic substrates by coordinating reactions of reduced flavin, molecular oxygen, and chloride. Targeted and random mutagenesis of these enzymes has been used to both understand and alter their reactivity. These studies have led to insights into residues essential for catalysis and FDH variants with improved stability, expanded substrate scope, and altered site selectivity. Mutations throughout FDH structures have contributed to all of these advances. More recent studies have sought to rationalize the impact of these mutations on FDH function and to identify new FDHs to deepen our understanding of this enzyme class and to expand their utility for biocatalytic applications. PMID:29589959

The Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce: a collaboration to improve and protect the public's health, 1995–2006

PubMed Central

Cahn, Marjorie A.; Auston, Ione; Selden, Catherine R.; Cogdill, Keith; Baker, Stacy; Cavanaugh, Debra; Elliott, Sterling; Foster, Allison J.; Leep, Carolyn J.; Perez, Debra Joy; Pomietto, Blakely R.

2007-01-01

Objective: The paper provides a complete accounting of the Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce (Partners) initiative since its inception in 1997, including antecedent activities since 1995. Methods: A descriptive overview is provided that is based on a review of meeting summaries, published reports, Websites, project reports, databases, usage statistics, and personal experiences from offices in the National Library of Medicine (NLM), six organizations that collaborate formally with NLM on the Partners initiative, and one outside funding partner. Results: With ten years of experience, the initiative is an effective and unique public-private collaboration that builds on the strengths and needs of the organizations that are involved and the constituencies that they serve. Partners-supported and sponsored projects include satellite broadcasts or Webcasts, training initiatives, Web resource development, a collection of historical literature, and strategies for workforce enumeration and expansion of public health systems research, which provide excellent examples of the benefits realized from collaboration between the public health community and health sciences libraries. Conclusions: With continued funding, existing and new Partners-sponsored projects will be able to fulfill many public health information needs. This collaboration provides excellent opportunities to strengthen the partnership between library science and public health in the use of health information and tools for purposes of improving and protecting the public's health. PMID:17641765

Ethics in public health research: a research protocol to evaluate the effectiveness of public-private partnerships as a means to improve health and welfare systems worldwide.

PubMed

Barr, Donald A

2007-01-01

Public-private partnerships have become a common approach to health care problems worldwide. Many public-private partnerships were created during the late 1990s, but most were focused on specific diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Recently there has been enthusiasm for using public-private partnerships to improve the delivery of health and welfare services for a wider range of health problems, especially in developing countries. The success of public-private partnerships in this context appears to be mixed, and few data are available to evaluate their effectiveness. This analysis provides an overview of the history of health-related public-private partnerships during the past 20 years and describes a research protocol commissioned by the World Health Organization to evaluate the effectiveness of public-private partnerships in a research context.

Using Twitter to Better Understand the Spatiotemporal Patterns of Public Sentiment: A Case Study in Massachusetts, USA.

PubMed

Cao, Xiaodong; MacNaughton, Piers; Deng, Zhengyi; Yin, Jie; Zhang, Xi; Allen, Joseph G

2018-02-02

Twitter provides a rich database of spatiotemporal information about users who broadcast their real-time opinions, sentiment, and activities. In this paper, we sought to investigate the holistic influence of land use and time period on public sentiment. A total of 880,937 tweets posted by 26,060 active users were collected across Massachusetts (MA), USA, through 31 November 2012 to 3 June 2013. The IBM Watson Alchemy API (application program interface) was employed to quantify the sentiment scores conveyed by tweets on a large scale. Then we statistically analyzed the sentiment scores across different spaces and times. A multivariate linear mixed-effects model was used to quantify the fixed effects of land use and the time period on the variations in sentiment scores, considering the clustering effect of users. The results exposed clear spatiotemporal patterns of users' sentiment. Higher sentiment scores were mainly observed in the commercial and public areas, during the noon/evening and on weekends. Our findings suggest that social media outputs can be used to better understand the spatial and temporal patterns of public happiness and well-being in cities and regions.

Using Twitter to Better Understand the Spatiotemporal Patterns of Public Sentiment: A Case Study in Massachusetts, USA

PubMed Central

MacNaughton, Piers; Deng, Zhengyi; Yin, Jie; Zhang, Xi; Allen, Joseph G.

2018-01-01

Twitter provides a rich database of spatiotemporal information about users who broadcast their real-time opinions, sentiment, and activities. In this paper, we sought to investigate the holistic influence of land use and time period on public sentiment. A total of 880,937 tweets posted by 26,060 active users were collected across Massachusetts (MA), USA, through 31 November 2012 to 3 June 2013. The IBM Watson Alchemy API (application program interface) was employed to quantify the sentiment scores conveyed by tweets on a large scale. Then we statistically analyzed the sentiment scores across different spaces and times. A multivariate linear mixed-effects model was used to quantify the fixed effects of land use and the time period on the variations in sentiment scores, considering the clustering effect of users. The results exposed clear spatiotemporal patterns of users’ sentiment. Higher sentiment scores were mainly observed in the commercial and public areas, during the noon/evening and on weekends. Our findings suggest that social media outputs can be used to better understand the spatial and temporal patterns of public happiness and well-being in cities and regions. PMID:29393869

Improving Science Communication and Engaging the Public in Astronomy and Nature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arion, Douglas N.

2016-01-01

A partnershipship between Carthage College and the Appalachian Mountain Club has delivered a successful public education and outreach program that merges natural environment topics and astronomy. Over the four years of activity, over 25,000 people have received programming. The effort has trained nature educators, permanent and seasonal AMC staff, and undergraduate physics and astronomy students to integrate diverse topical material and deliver high quality programming to the lay public. Unique to the program is the holistic nature of the material delivered - an 'atypical' astronomy program. Linking observable characteristics of the natural world with astronomical history and phenomena, and emphasizing the unique sequence of events that have led to human life on Earth, the program has changed attitudes and behaviors among the public participants. Successful interventions have included hands-on observing programs (day and night) that link nature content to the observed objects; table-talk presentations on nature/astronomy topics; dark skies preservation workshops; and hands-on activities developed for younger audiences, including schools, camps, and family groups. An extensive evaluation and assessment effort managed by a leading sociologist has demonstrated the effectiveness of the approach, and contributed to continuous improvement in the program content and methods. This work was supported in part by NSF Grant 1432662.

GRIPP2 reporting checklists: tools to improve reporting of patient and public involvement in research.

PubMed

Staniszewska, S; Brett, J; Simera, I; Seers, K; Mockford, C; Goodlad, S; Altman, D G; Moher, D; Barber, R; Denegri, S; Entwistle, A; Littlejohns, P; Morris, C; Suleman, R; Thomas, V; Tysall, C

2017-01-01

While the patient and public involvement (PPI) evidence base has expanded over the past decade, the quality of reporting within papers is often inconsistent, limiting our understanding of how it works, in what context, for whom, and why. To develop international consensus on the key items to report to enhance the quality, transparency, and consistency of the PPI evidence base. To collaboratively involve patients as research partners at all stages in the development of GRIPP2. The EQUATOR method for developing reporting guidelines was used. The original GRIPP (Guidance for Reporting Involvement of Patients and the Public) checklist was revised, based on updated systematic review evidence. A three round Delphi survey was used to develop consensus on items to be included in the guideline. A subsequent face-to-face meeting produced agreement on items not reaching consensus during the Delphi process. One hundred forty-three participants agreed to participate in round one, with an 86% (123/143) response for round two and a 78% (112/143) response for round three. The Delphi survey identified the need for long form (LF) and short form (SF) versions. GRIPP2-LF includes 34 items on aims, definitions, concepts and theory, methods, stages and nature of involvement, context, capture or measurement of impact, outcomes, economic assessment, and reflections and is suitable for studies where the main focus is PPI. GRIPP2-SF includes five items on aims, methods, results, outcomes, and critical perspective and is suitable for studies where PPI is a secondary focus. GRIPP2-LF and GRIPP2-SF represent the first international evidence based, consensus informed guidance for reporting patient and public involvement in research. Both versions of GRIPP2 aim to improve the quality, transparency, and consistency of the international PPI evidence base, to ensure PPI practice is based on the best evidence. In order to encourage its wide dissemination this article is freely accessible on The BMJ

GRIPP2 reporting checklists: tools to improve reporting of patient and public involvement in research

PubMed Central

Brett, J; Simera, I; Seers, K; Mockford, C; Goodlad, S; Altman, D G; Moher, D; Barber, R; Denegri, S; Entwistle, A; Littlejohns, P; Morris, C; Suleman, R; Thomas, V; Tysall, C

2017-01-01

Background While the patient and public involvement (PPI) evidence base has expanded over the past decade, the quality of reporting within papers is often inconsistent, limiting our understanding of how it works, in what context, for whom, and why. Objective To develop international consensus on the key items to report to enhance the quality, transparency, and consistency of the PPI evidence base. To collaboratively involve patients as research partners at all stages in the development of GRIPP2. Methods The EQUATOR method for developing reporting guidelines was used. The original GRIPP (Guidance for Reporting Involvement of Patients and the Public) checklist was revised, based on updated systematic review evidence. A three round Delphi survey was used to develop consensus on items to be included in the guideline. A subsequent face-to-face meeting produced agreement on items not reaching consensus during the Delphi process. Results 143 participants agreed to participate in round one, with an 86% (123/143) response for round two and a 78% (112/143) response for round three. The Delphi survey identified the need for long form (LF) and short form (SF) versions. GRIPP2-LF includes 34 items on aims, definitions, concepts and theory, methods, stages and nature of involvement, context, capture or measurement of impact, outcomes, economic assessment, and reflections and is suitable for studies where the main focus is PPI. GRIPP2-SF includes five items on aims, methods, results, outcomes, and critical perspective and is suitable for studies where PPI is a secondary focus. Conclusions GRIPP2-LF and GRIPP2-SF represent the first international evidence based, consensus informed guidance for reporting patient and public involvement in research. Both versions of GRIPP2 aim to improve the quality, transparency, and consistency of the international PPI evidence base, to ensure PPI practice is based on the best evidence. In order to encourage its wide dissemination this

Systematic review of public-targeted communication interventions to improve antibiotic use.

PubMed

Cross, Elizabeth Louise Anne; Tolfree, Robert; Kipping, Ruth

2017-04-01

Excessive use of antibiotics accelerates the acquisition/spread of antimicrobial resistance. A systematic review was conducted to identify the components of successful communication interventions targeted at the general public to improve antibiotic use. The databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science and Cochrane Library were searched. Search terms were related to the population (public, community), intervention (campaign, mass media) and outcomes (antibiotic, antimicrobial resistance). References were screened for inclusion by one author with a random subset of 10% screened by a second author. No date restrictions were applied and only articles in the English language were considered. Studies had to have a control group or be an interrupted time-series. Outcomes had to measure change in antibiotic-related prescribing/consumption and/or the public's knowledge, attitudes or behaviour. Two reviewers assessed the quality of studies. Narrative synthesis was performed. Fourteen studies were included with an estimated 74-75 million participants. Most studies were conducted in the United States or Europe and targeted both the general public and clinicians. Twelve of the studies measured changes in antibiotic prescribing. There was quite strong ( P  < 0·05 to ≥ 0·01) to very strong ( P  < 0·001) evidence that interventions that targeted prescribing for RTIs were associated with decreases in antibiotic prescribing; the majority of these studies reported reductions of greater than -14% with the largest effect size reaching -30%. Multi-faceted communication interventions that target both the general public and clinicians can reduce antibiotic prescribing in high-income countries but the sustainability of reductions in antibiotic prescribing is unclear. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Computer Experience Microvan Program: A Cooperative Endeavor to Improve University-Public School Relations through Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amodeo, Luiza B.; Martin, Jeanette

To a large extent the Southwest can be described as a rural area. Under these circumstances, programs for public understanding of technology become, first of all, exercises in logistics. In 1982, New Mexico State University introduced a program to inform teachers about computer technology. This program takes microcomputers into rural classrooms…

Why public dissemination of science matters: a manifesto.

PubMed

Eagleman, David M

2013-07-24

Communicating science to the public takes time away from busy research careers. So why would you do it? I here offer six reasons. First, we owe that understanding to the people who fund our experiments, the taxpaying public. Second, we can leverage our skills as scientists to inspire critical thinking in public and political dialog. Third, researchers are optimally positioned to stem the flow of scientific misinformation in the media. Fourth, we can explain the ways and the means by which science can (and cannot) improve law and social policy. Fifth, it is incumbent upon us to explain what science is and is not: while it is a way of thinking that upgrades our intuitions, it also comes with a deep understanding of (and tolerance for) uncertainty. Finally, we find ourselves in the pleasurable position of being able to share the raw beauty of the world around us-and in the case of neuroscience, the world inside us. I suggest that scientists are optimally stationed to increase their presence in the public sphere: our training positions us to synthesize large bodies of data, weigh the evidence, and communicate with nuance, sincerity and exactitude.

Nutrigenetics: bridging two worlds to understand type 2 diabetes.

PubMed

Harrington, Janas M; Phillips, Catherine M

2014-04-01

The increasing global prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a major public health concern. Accumulating data provides strong evidence of the shared contribution of genetic and environmental factors to T2DM risk. Genome-wide association studies have hugely improved our understanding of the genetic basis of T2DM. However, it is obvious that genetics only partly account for an individuals' predisposition to T2DM. The dietary environment has changed remarkably over the last century. Examination of individual macronutrients and more recently of foods and dietary patterns is becoming increasingly important in terms of developing public health strategies. Nutrigenetics offers the potential to improve diet-related disease prevention and therapy, but is not without its own challenges. In this review we present evidence on the dietary environment and genetics as risk factors for T2DM and bridging the 2 disciplines we highlight some key gene-nutrient interactions.

Policy, politics and public health.

PubMed

Greer, Scott L; Bekker, Marleen; de Leeuw, Evelyne; Wismar, Matthias; Helderman, Jan-Kees; Ribeiro, Sofia; Stuckler, David

2017-10-01

If public health is the field that diagnoses and strives to cure social ills, then understanding political causes and cures for health problems should be an intrinsic part of the field. In this article, we argue that there is no support for the simple and common, implicit model of politics in which scientific evidence plus political will produces healthy policies. Efforts to improve the translation of evidence into policy such as knowledge transfer work only under certain circumstances. These circumstances are frequently political, and to be understood through systematic inquiry into basic features of the political economy such as institutions, partisanship and the organization of labour markets. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Are the Public Health Responsibility Deal alcohol pledges likely to improve public health? An evidence synthesis.

PubMed

Knai, Cécile; Petticrew, Mark; Durand, Mary Alison; Eastmure, Elizabeth; Mays, Nicholas

2015-08-01

The English Public Health Responsibility Deal (RD) is a public-private partnership involving voluntary pledges between industry, government and other actors in various areas including alcohol, and designed to improve public health. This paper reviews systematically the evidence underpinning four RD alcohol pledges. We conducted a systematic review of reviews of the evidence underpinning interventions proposed in four RD alcohol pledges, namely alcohol labelling, tackling underage alcohol sales, advertising and marketing alcohol, and alcohol unit reduction. In addition, we included relevant studies of interventions where these had not been covered by a recent review. We synthesized the evidence from 14 reviews published between 2002 and 2013. Overall, alcohol labelling is likely to be of limited effect on consumption: alcohol unit content labels can help consumers assess the alcohol content of drinks; however, labels promoting drinking guidelines and pregnancy warning labels are unlikely to influence drinking behaviour. Responsible drinking messages are found to be ambiguous, and industry-funded alcohol prevention campaigns can promote drinking instead of dissuading consumption. Removing advertising near schools can contribute to reducing underage drinking; however, community mobilization and law enforcement are most effective. Finally, reducing alcohol consumption is more likely to occur if there are incentives such as making lower-strength alcohol products cheaper. The most effective evidence-based strategies to reduce alcohol-related harm are not reflected consistently in the RD alcohol pledges. The evidence is clear that an alcohol control strategy should support effective interventions to make alcohol less available and more expensive. © 2015 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Understanding Tonal Languages

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-04-01

UNDERSTANDING TONAL LANGUAGES BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY APRIL 2013 FINAL TECHNICAL REPORT APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE...corporation; or convey any rights or permission to manufacture, use, or sell any patented invention that may relate to them. This report is the...08 and AFRL/CA policy clarification memorandum dated 16 Jan 09. This report is available to the general public, including foreign nationals

Drivers Motivating Community Health Improvement Plan Completion by Local Public Health Agencies and Community Partners in the Rocky Mountain Region and Western Plains.

PubMed

Hill, Anne; Wolf, Holly J; Scallan, Elaine; Case, Jenny; Kellar-Guenther, Yvonne

There are numerous drivers that motivate completion of community health improvement plans (CHIPs). Some are more obvious and include voluntary public health accreditation, state requirements, federal and state funding, and nonprofit hospital requirements through IRS regulations. Less is known about other drivers, including involvement of diverse partners and belief in best practices, that may motivate CHIP completion. This research investigated the drivers that motivated CHIP completion based on experiences of 51 local public health agencies (LPHAs). An explanatory mixed-methods design, including closed- and open-ended survey questions and key informant interviews, was used to understand the drivers that motivated CHIP completion. Analysis of survey data involved descriptive statistics. Classical content analysis was used for qualitative data to clarify survey findings. The surveys and key informant interviews were conducted in the Rocky Mountain Region and Western Plains among 51 medium and large LPHAs in Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. More than 50% of respondents were public health directors; the balance of the respondents were division/program directors, accreditation coordinators, and public health planners. CHIP completion. Most LPHAs in the Rocky Mountains and Western Plains have embraced developing and publishing a CHIP, with 80% having completed their plan and another 13% working on it. CHIP completion is motivated by a belief in best practices, with LPHAs and partners seeing the benefit of quality improvement activities linked to the CHIP and the investment of nonprofit hospitals in the process. Completing a CHIP is strengthened through engagement of diverse partners and a well-functioning partnership. The future of CHIP creation depends on LPHAs and partners investing in the CHIP as a best practice, dedicating personnel to CHIP activities, and enhancing leadership skills to contribute to a synergistic

Understanding how and why audits work: protocol for a realist review of audit programmes to improve hospital care.

PubMed

Hut-Mossel, Lisanne; Welker, Gera; Ahaus, Kees; Gans, Rijk

2017-06-14

Many types of audits are commonly used in hospital care to promote quality improvements. However, the evidence on the effectiveness of audits is mixed. The objectives of this proposed realist review are (1) to understand how and why audits might, or might not, work in terms of delivering the intended outcome of improved quality of hospital care and (2) to examine under what circumstances audits could potentially be effective. This protocol will provide the rationale for using a realist review approach and outline the method. This review will be conducted using an iterative four-stage approach. The first and second steps have already been executed. The first step was to develop an initial programme theory based on the literature that explains how audits are supposed to work. Second, a systematic literature search was conducted using relevant databases. Third, data will be extracted and coded for concepts relating to context, outcomes and their interrelatedness. Finally, the data will be synthesised in a five-step process: (1) organising the extracted data into evidence tables, (2) theming, (3) formulating chains of inference from the identified themes, (4) linking the chains of inference and formulating CMO configurations and (5) refining the initial programme theory. The reporting of the review will follow the 'Realist and Meta-Review Evidence Synthesis: Evolving Standards' (RAMESES) publication standards. This review does not require formal ethical approval. A better understanding of how and why these audits work, and how context impacts their effectiveness, will inform stakeholders in deciding how to tailor and implement audits within their local context. We will use a range of dissemination strategies to ensure that findings from this realist review are broadly disseminated to academic and non-academic audiences. CRD42016039882. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial

Understanding the Role of Medical Experts during a Public Health Crisis Digital Tools and Library Resources for Research on the 1918 Spanish Influenza.

PubMed

Ewing, E Thomas; Gad, Samah; Ramakrishnan, Naren; Reznick, Jeffrey S

2014-10-01

Humanities scholars, particularly historians of health and disease, can benefit from digitized library collections and tools such as topic modeling. Using a case study from the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic, this paper explores the application of a big humanities approach to understanding the impact of a public health official on the course of the disease and the response of the public, as documented through digitized newspapers and medical periodicals.

Introducing quality improvement methods into local public health departments: structured evaluation of a statewide pilot project.

PubMed

Riley, William; Parsons, Helen; McCoy, Kim; Burns, Debra; Anderson, Donna; Lee, Suhna; Sainfort, François

2009-10-01

To test the feasibility and assess the preliminary impact of a unique statewide quality improvement (QI) training program designed for public health departments. One hundred and ninety-five public health employees/managers from 38 local health departments throughout Minnesota were selected to participate in a newly developed QI training program and 65 of those engaged in and completed eight expert-supported QI projects over a period of 10 months from June 2007 through March 2008. As part of the Minnesota Quality Improvement Initiative, a structured distance education QI training program was designed and deployed in a first large-scale pilot. To evaluate the preliminary impact of the program, a mixed-method evaluation design was used based on four dimensions: learner reaction, knowledge, intention to apply, and preliminary outcomes. Subjective ratings of three dimensions of training quality were collected from participants after each of the scheduled learning sessions. Pre- and post-QI project surveys were administered to collect participant reactions, knowledge, future intention to apply learning, and perceived outcomes. Monthly and final QI project reports were collected to further inform success and preliminary outcomes of the projects. The participants reported (1) high levels of satisfaction with the training sessions, (2) increased perception of the relevance of the QI techniques, (3) increased perceived knowledge of all specific QI methods and techniques, (4) increased confidence in applying QI techniques on future projects, (5) increased intention to apply techniques on future QI projects, and (6) high perceived success of, and satisfaction with, the projects. Finally, preliminary outcomes data show moderate to large improvements in quality and/or efficiency for six out of eight projects. QI methods and techniques can be successfully implemented in local public health agencies on a statewide basis using the collaborative model through distance training and

NOAA's Science On a Sphere Education Program: Application of a Scientific Visualization System to Teach Earth System Science and Improve our Understanding About Creating Effective Visualizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McDougall, C.; McLaughlin, J.

2008-12-01

NOAA has developed several programs aimed at facilitating the use of earth system science data and data visualizations by formal and informal educators. One of them, Science On a Sphere, a visualization display tool and system that uses networked LCD projectors to display animated global datasets onto the outside of a suspended, 1.7-meter diameter opaque sphere, enables science centers, museums, and universities to display real-time and current earth system science data. NOAA's Office of Education has provided grants to such education institutions to develop exhibits featuring Science On a Sphere (SOS) and create content for and evaluate audience impact. Currently, 20 public education institutions have permanent Science On a Sphere exhibits and 6 more will be installed soon. These institutions and others that are working to create and evaluate content for this system work collaboratively as a network to improve our collective knowledge about how to create educationally effective visualizations. Network members include other federal agencies, such as, NASA and the Dept. of Energy, and major museums such as Smithsonian and American Museum of Natural History, as well as a variety of mid-sized and small museums and universities. Although the audiences in these institutions vary widely in their scientific awareness and understanding, we find there are misconceptions and lack of familiarity with viewing visualizations that are common among the audiences. Through evaluations performed in these institutions we continue to evolve our understanding of how to create content that is understandable by those with minimal scientific literacy. The findings from our network will be presented including the importance of providing context, real-world connections and imagery to accompany the visualizations and the need for audience orientation before the visualizations are viewed. Additionally, we will review the publicly accessible virtual library housing over 200 datasets for SOS

Understanding modern-day vaccines: what you need to know.

PubMed

Vetter, Volker; Denizer, Gülhan; Friedland, Leonard R; Krishnan, Jyothsna; Shapiro, Marla

2018-03-01

Vaccines are considered to be one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century. Depending on the biology of the infection, the disease to be prevented, and the targeted population, a vaccine may require the induction of different adaptive immune mechanisms to be effective. Understanding the basic concepts of different vaccines is therefore crucial to understand their mode of action, benefits, risks, and their potential real-life impact on protection. This review aims to provide healthcare professionals with background information about the main vaccine designs and concepts of protection in a simplified way to improve their knowledge and understanding, and increase their confidence in the science of vaccination ( Supplementary Material ). KEY MESSAGE Different vaccine designs, each with different advantages and limitations, can be applied for protection against a particular disease. Vaccines may contain live-attenuated pathogens, inactivated pathogens, or only parts of pathogens and may also contain adjuvants to stimulate the immune responses. This review explains the mode of action, benefits, risks and real-life impact of vaccines by highlighting key vaccine concepts. An improved knowledge and understanding of the main vaccine designs and concepts of protection will help support the appropriate use and expectations of vaccines, increase confidence in the science of vaccination, and help reduce vaccine hesitancy.

Improving Team Performance for Public Health Preparedness.

PubMed

Peck, Megan; Scullard, Mickey; Hedberg, Craig; Moilanen, Emily; Radi, Deborah; Riley, William; Bowen, Paige Anderson; Petersen-Kroeber, Cheryl; Stenberg, Louise; Olson, Debra K

2017-02-01

Between May 2010 and September 2011, the University of Minnesota School of Public Health partnered with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to assess the effect of exercises on team performance during public health emergency response. Participants were divided into 3 research teams exposed to various levels of intervention. Groups consisted of a control group that was given standard MDH training exercises, a didactic group exposed to team dynamics and communication training, and a treatment group that received the didactic training in addition to a post-exercise facilitated debriefing. To assess differences in team performance, teams engaged in 15 functional exercises. Differences in team performance across the 3 groups were identified, although there was no trend in team performance over time for any of the groups. Groups demonstrated fluctuation in team performance during the study period. Attitudinal surveys demonstrated an increase in workplace satisfaction and confidence in training among all groups throughout the study period. Findings from this research support that a critical link exists between training type and team performance during public health emergency response. This research supports that intentional teamwork training for emergency response workers is essential for effective public health emergency response. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:7-10).

Microbial water quality communication: public and practitioner insights from British Columbia, Canada.

PubMed

Dunn, G; Henrich, N; Holmes, B; Harris, L; Prystajecky, N

2014-09-01

This work examines the communication interactions of water suppliers and health authorities with the general public regarding microbial source water quality for recreational and drinking water. We compare current approaches to risk communication observable in British Columbia (BC), Canada, with best practices derived from the communications literature, finding significant gaps between theory and practice. By considering public views and government practices together, we identify key disconnects, leading to the conclusion that at present, neither the public's needs nor public health officials' goals are being met. We find: (1) there is a general lack of awareness and poor understanding by the public of microbial threats to water and the associated health implications; (2) the public often does not know where to find water quality information; (3) public information needs are not identified or met; (4) information sharing by authorities is predominantly one-way and reactive (crisis-oriented); and (5) the effectiveness of communications is not evaluated. There is a need for both improved public understanding of water quality-related risks, and new approaches to ensure information related to water quality reaches audiences. Overall, greater attention should be given to planning and goal setting related to microbial water risk communication.

Use of Lean response to improve pandemic influenza surge in public health laboratories.

PubMed

Isaac-Renton, Judith L; Chang, Yin; Prystajecky, Natalie; Petric, Martin; Mak, Annie; Abbott, Brendan; Paris, Benjamin; Decker, K C; Pittenger, Lauren; Guercio, Steven; Stott, Jeff; Miller, Joseph D

2012-01-01

A novel influenza A (H1N1) virus detected in April 2009 rapidly spread around the world. North American provincial and state laboratories have well-defined roles and responsibilities, including providing accurate, timely test results for patients and information for regional public health and other decision makers. We used the multidisciplinary response and rapid implementation of process changes based on Lean methods at the provincial public health laboratory in British Columbia, Canada, to improve laboratory surge capacity in the 2009 influenza pandemic. Observed and computer simulating evaluation results from rapid processes changes showed that use of Lean tools successfully expanded surge capacity, which enabled response to the 10-fold increase in testing demands.

Use of Lean Response to Improve Pandemic Influenza Surge in Public Health Laboratories

PubMed Central

Chang, Yin; Prystajecky, Natalie; Petric, Martin; Mak, Annie; Abbott, Brendan; Paris, Benjamin; Decker, K.C.; Pittenger, Lauren; Guercio, Steven; Stott, Jeff; Miller, Joseph D.

2012-01-01

A novel influenza A (H1N1) virus detected in April 2009 rapidly spread around the world. North American provincial and state laboratories have well-defined roles and responsibilities, including providing accurate, timely test results for patients and information for regional public health and other decision makers. We used the multidisciplinary response and rapid implementation of process changes based on Lean methods at the provincial public health laboratory in British Columbia, Canada, to improve laboratory surge capacity in the 2009 influenza pandemic. Observed and computer simulating evaluation results from rapid processes changes showed that use of Lean tools successfully expanded surge capacity, which enabled response to the 10-fold increase in testing demands. PMID:22257385

Understanding pharmaceutical research manipulation in the context of accounting manipulation.

PubMed

Brown, Abigail

2013-01-01

The problem of the manipulation of data that arises when there is both opportunity and incentive to mislead is better accepted and studied - though by no means solved - in financial accounting than in medicine. This article analyzes pharmaceutical company manipulation of medical research as part of a broader problem of corporate manipulation of data in the creation of accounting profits. The article explores how our understanding of accounting fraud and misinformation helps us understand the risk of similar information manipulation in the medical sciences. This understanding provides a framework for considering how best to improve the quality of medical research and analysis in light of the current system of medical information production. I offer three possible responses: (1) use of the Dodd-Frank whistleblower provisions to encourage reporting of medical research fraud; (2) a two-step academic journal review process for clinical trials; and (3) publicly subsidized trial-failure insurance. These would improve the release of negative information about drugs, thereby increasing the reliability of positive information. © 2013 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

Extending knowledge of the public awareness of aphasia in the Balkans: Serbia and Montenegro.

PubMed

Vuković, Mile; Matić, Dušanka; Kovač, Ana; Vuković, Irena; Code, Chris

2017-11-01

Public awareness of aphasia has been surveyed in a number of countries revealing that it is universally low. We report results of surveys in the Balkan countries Serbia and Montenegro and compare results with data from Croatia and Slovenia. Convenience surveys of the general public were conducted in public places like shopping centers/malls and parks in Serbia (N = 400) and Montenegro (N = 500) using an adapted version of the public awareness of aphasia survey questionnaire. Respondents were asked whether they have heard of aphasia and tested with questions about aphasia. Information on gender, age, occupation and education was recorded. Twelve percent (Serbia) and 11% (Montenegro) had heard of aphasia, but just 4% (Serbia) and 3.2% (Montenegro) had a basic knowledge of aphasia. Age, gender and occupation interacted variably with awareness. Between 16% (Slovenia) and 60% (Croatia) said they had heard of aphasia (10.5% overall mean for the four countries) and basic knowledge of aphasia across the four countries ranged between 3.2 and 7%. Levels of awareness of aphasia in the Balkans are low and variably associated with age, gender, socio-economic and educational levels. Respondents with some knowledge of aphasia gained it through personal or professional interaction with aphasia or the media. The data provide a basis for awareness raising in Balkan countries to reduce stigmatization, improve community access and understanding. Implications for rehabilitation Awareness of aphasia is low universally, even among healthcare workers. Low public awareness of a condition, like aphasia, results in under-funded research and service provision. In order to raise public awareness of aphasia we need to know how many members of the general public know about it. Improvements in public awareness could positively affect funding, the quality of services, and the public understanding and acceptance of individuals with aphasia in the community. Improving awareness of aphasia in

Understanding and influencing behaviour change by farmers to improve water quality.

PubMed

Blackstock, K L; Ingram, J; Burton, R; Brown, K M; Slee, B

2010-11-01

Diffuse pollution from agriculture remains a significant challenge to many countries seeking to improve and protect their water environments. This paper reviews literature relating to the provision of information and advice as a mechanism to encourage farmers to mitigate diffuse pollution. The paper presents findings from a literature review on influencing farmer behaviour and synthesizes three main areas of literature: psychological and institutional theories of behaviour; shifts in the approach to delivery of advice (from knowledge transfer to knowledge exchange); and the increased interest in heterogeneous farming cultures. These three areas interconnect in helping to understand how best to influence farmer behaviour in order to mitigate diffuse pollution. They are, however, literatures that are rarely cited in the water management arena. The paper highlights the contribution of the 'cultural turn' taken by rural social scientists in helping to understand collective and individual voluntary behaviour. The paper explores how these literatures can contribute to the existing understanding of water management in the agricultural context, particularly: when farmers question the scientific evidence; when there are increased calls for collaborative planning and management; and when there is increased value placed on information as a business commodity. The paper also highlights where there are still gaps in knowledge that need to be filled by future research - possibly in partnership with farmers themselves. Whilst information and advice has long been seen as an important part of diffuse pollution control, increasing climate variability that will require farmers to practice adaptive management is likely to make these mechanisms even more important. Copyright © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Understanding How the "Open" of Open Source Software (OSS) Will Improve Global Health Security.

PubMed

Hahn, Erin; Blazes, David; Lewis, Sheri

2016-01-01

Improving global health security will require bold action in all corners of the world, particularly in developing settings, where poverty often contributes to an increase in emerging infectious diseases. In order to mitigate the impact of emerging pandemic threats, enhanced disease surveillance is needed to improve early detection and rapid response to outbreaks. However, the technology to facilitate this surveillance is often unattainable because of high costs, software and hardware maintenance needs, limited technical competence among public health officials, and internet connectivity challenges experienced in the field. One potential solution is to leverage open source software, a concept that is unfortunately often misunderstood. This article describes the principles and characteristics of open source software and how it may be applied to solve global health security challenges.

Understanding Side Reactions in K–O 2 Batteries for Improved Cycle Life

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ren, Xiaodi; Lau, Kah Chun; Yu, Mingzhe

2014-10-20

Superoxide based metal-air (or metal-oxygen) batteries, including potassium and sodium-oxygen batteries, have emerged as promising alternative chemistries in the metal-air battery family because of much improved round-trip efficiencies (>90%). In order to improve the cycle life of these batteries, it is crucial to understand and control the side reactions between the electrodes and the electrolyte. For potassium-oxygen batteries using ether-based electrolytes, the side reactions on the potassium anode have been identified as the main cause of battery failure. The composition of the side products formed on the anode, including some reaction intermediates, have been identified and quantified. Combined experimental studiesmore » and density functional theory (DFT) calculations show the side reactions are likely driven by the interaction of potassium with ether molecules and the crossover of oxygen from the cathode. To inhibit these side reactions, the incorporation of a polymeric potassium ion selective membrane (Nafion-K+) as a battery separator is demonstrated that significantly improves the battery cycle life. The K-O-2 battery with the Nafion-K+ separator can be discharged and charged for more than 40 cycles without increases in charging overpotential.« less

The Crucible simulation: Behavioral simulation improves clinical leadership skills and understanding of complex health policy change.

PubMed

Cohen, Daniel; Vlaev, Ivo; McMahon, Laurie; Harvey, Sarah; Mitchell, Andy; Borovoi, Leah; Darzi, Ara

2017-05-11

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 represents the most complex National Health Service reforms in history. High-quality clinical leadership is important for successful implementation of health service reform. However, little is known about the effectiveness of current leadership training. This study describes the use of a behavioral simulation to improve the knowledge and leadership of a cohort of medical doctors expected to take leadership roles in the National Health Service. A day-long behavioral simulation (The Crucible) was developed and run based on a fictitious but realistic health economy. Participants completed pre- and postsimulation questionnaires generating qualitative and quantitative data. Leadership skills, knowledge, and behavior change processes described by the "theory of planned behavior" were self-assessed pre- and postsimulation. Sixty-nine medical doctors attended. Participants deemed the simulation immersive and relevant. Significant improvements were shown in perceived knowledge, capability, attitudes, subjective norms, intentions, and leadership competency following the program. Nearly one third of participants reported that they had implemented knowledge and skills from the simulation into practice within 4 weeks. This study systematically demonstrates the effectiveness of behavioral simulation for clinical management training and understanding of health policy reform. Potential future uses and strategies for analysis are discussed. High-quality care requires understanding of health systems and strong leadership. Policymakers should consider the use of behavioral simulation to improve understanding of health service reform and development of leadership skills in clinicians, who readily adopt skills from simulation into everyday practice.

Children’s emotion understanding: A meta-analysis of training studies

PubMed Central

Sprung, Manuel; Münch, Hannah M.; Harris, Paul L.; Ebesutani, Chad; Hofmann, Stefan G.

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND In the course of development, children show increased insight and understanding of emotions—both of their own emotions and those of others. However, little is known about the efficacy of training programs aimed at improving children’s understanding of emotion. OBJECTIVES To conduct an effect size analysis of trainings aimed at three aspects of emotion understanding: external aspects (i.e., the recognition of emotional expressions, understanding external causes of emotion, understanding the influence of reminders on present emotions); mental aspects (i.e., understanding desire-based emotions, understanding belief-based emotions, understanding hidden emotions); and reflective aspects (i.e., understanding the regulation of an emotion, understanding mixed emotions, understanding moral emotions). DATA SOURCES A literature search was conducted using PubMed, PsycInfo, the Cochrane Library, and manual searches. REVIEW METHODS The search identified 19 studies or experiments including a total of 749 children with an average age of 86 months (S.D.=30.71) from seven different countries. RESULTS Emotion understanding training procedures are effective for improving external (Hedge’s g = 0.62), mental (Hedge’s g = 0.31), and reflective (Hedge’s g = 0.64) aspects of emotion understanding. These effect sizes were robust and generally unrelated to the number and lengths of training sessions, length of the training period, year of publication, and sample type. However, training setting and social setting moderated the effect of emotion understanding training on the understanding of external aspects of emotion. For the length of training session and social setting, we observed significant moderator effects of training on reflective aspects of emotion. CONCLUSION Emotion understanding training may be a promising tool for both preventive intervention and the psychotherapeutic process. However, more well-controlled studies are needed. PMID:26405369

The Public Understanding of Error in Educational Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gardner, John

2013-01-01

Evidence from recent research suggests that in the UK the public perception of errors in national examinations is that they are simply mistakes; events that are preventable. This perception predominates over the more sophisticated technical view that errors arise from many sources and create an inevitable variability in assessment outcomes. The…

Theory that explains an Aboriginal perspective of learning to understand and manage diabetes.

PubMed

Webster, Emma; Johnson, Craig; Kemp, Bernie; Smith, Valerie; Johnson, Monica; Townsend, Billie

2017-02-01

To use grounded theory and participatory research methodology to explain how Aboriginal people learn to understand and manage type 2 diabetes. Aboriginal people with diabetes were invited to participate in one of five focus groups (n=25, male=12, female=13). Focus groups and education sessions were conducted by Aboriginal members of the research team. Focus groups were audio recorded and transcribed, with coding and first level analysis undertaken by all members of the research team. Participants described colonisation and dislocation from Country and family members' experiences with diabetes as significant historical influences which, in conjunction with the model of care experienced and the type of interaction with health services, shaped how they came to understand and manage their diabetes. Patient experience of a model of care alone is not what influences understanding and management of diabetes in Aboriginal people. Implications for Public Health: Health service improvements should focus on understanding past experiences of Aboriginal patients, improving interactions with health services and supporting holistic family centred models of care. Focusing on just the model of care in absence of other improvements is unlikely to deliver health benefits to Aboriginal people. © 2016 The Authors.

Use of a public film event to promote understanding and help seeking for social withdrawal.

PubMed

Teo, Alan Robert; Stufflebam, Kyle Whitaker; Lu, Francis; Fetters, Michael Derwin

2015-06-01

This study aimed to implement a public film event about mental health aspects of social withdrawal. Secondary aims were to assess participants' knowledge, attitudes, and intended behaviors related to social withdrawal. The event, held at three U.S. sites, consisted of a film screening, question-and-answer session, and lecture. Participants completed a post-event survey. Of the 163 participants, 115 (70.6%) completed surveys. Most of the sample deemed social withdrawal a significant mental health issue. Regarding post-event intended behaviors, 90.2% reported intent to get more information, 48.0% to being vigilant for social withdrawal in others, and 19.6% to talking with a health care professional about concerns for social withdrawal in themselves or someone they knew. Asian participants were significantly more likely than non-Asians to intend to encourage help-seeking for social withdrawal (p = .001). A public film event may be a creative way to improve mental health awareness and treatment-seeking. © 2014 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Cross-country discrepancies on public understanding of stress concepts: evidence for stress-management psychoeducational programs.

PubMed

Souza-Talarico, Juliana Nery; Wan, Nathalie; Santos, Sheila; Fialho, Patrícia Paes Araujo; Chaves, Eliane Corrêa; Caramelli, Paulo; Bianchi, Estela Ferraz; Santos, Aline Talita; Lupien, Sonia J

2016-06-03

Negative effects of stress have pose one of the major threats to the health and economic well being of individuals independently of age and cultural background. Nevertheless, the term "stress" has been globally used unlinked from scientificevidence-based meaning. The discrepancies between scientific and public stress knowledge are focus of concern and little is know about it. This is relevant since misconceptions about stress may influence the effects of stress-management psychoeducational programs and the development of best practices for interventions. The study aimed to analyze stress knowledge among the Canadian and Brazilian general public and to determine the extent to which scientific and popular views of stress differ between those countries. We evaluated 1156 healthy participants between 18 and 88 years of age recruited from Canada (n = 502) and Brazil (n = 654). To assess stress knowledge, a questionnaire composed of questions regarding stress concepts ("stress is bad" versus "stress-free life is good") and factors capable of triggering the stress response ("novelty, unpredictability, low sense of control and social evaluative threat versus "time pressure,work overload, conflict, unbalance and children") was used. Both Canadian and Brazilian participants showed misconceptions about stress and the factors capable of triggering a stress response. However, the rate of misconceptions was higher in Brazil than in Canada (p < 0.05). These findings suggest a lack of public understanding of stress science and its variance according to a country's society. Psychoeducational programs and vulnerability of stress-related disorder are discussed.

Towards Improved Understanding of the Applicability of Uncertainty Forecasts in the Electric Power Industry

DOE PAGES

Bessa, Ricardo; Möhrlen, Corinna; Fundel, Vanessa; ...

2017-09-14

Around the world wind energy is starting to become a major energy provider in electricity markets, as well as participating in ancillary services markets to help maintain grid stability. The reliability of system operations and smooth integration of wind energy into electricity markets has been strongly supported by years of improvement in weather and wind power forecasting systems. Deterministic forecasts are still predominant in utility practice although truly optimal decisions and risk hedging are only possible with the adoption of uncertainty forecasts. One of the main barriers for the industrial adoption of uncertainty forecasts is the lack of understanding ofmore » its information content (e.g., its physical and statistical modeling) and standardization of uncertainty forecast products, which frequently leads to mistrust towards uncertainty forecasts and their applicability in practice. Our paper aims at improving this understanding by establishing a common terminology and reviewing the methods to determine, estimate, and communicate the uncertainty in weather and wind power forecasts. This conceptual analysis of the state of the art highlights that: (i) end-users should start to look at the forecast's properties in order to map different uncertainty representations to specific wind energy-related user requirements; (ii) a multidisciplinary team is required to foster the integration of stochastic methods in the industry sector. Furthermore, a set of recommendations for standardization and improved training of operators are provided along with examples of best practices.« less

Towards Improved Understanding of the Applicability of Uncertainty Forecasts in the Electric Power Industry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bessa, Ricardo; Möhrlen, Corinna; Fundel, Vanessa

Around the world wind energy is starting to become a major energy provider in electricity markets, as well as participating in ancillary services markets to help maintain grid stability. The reliability of system operations and smooth integration of wind energy into electricity markets has been strongly supported by years of improvement in weather and wind power forecasting systems. Deterministic forecasts are still predominant in utility practice although truly optimal decisions and risk hedging are only possible with the adoption of uncertainty forecasts. One of the main barriers for the industrial adoption of uncertainty forecasts is the lack of understanding ofmore » its information content (e.g., its physical and statistical modeling) and standardization of uncertainty forecast products, which frequently leads to mistrust towards uncertainty forecasts and their applicability in practice. Our paper aims at improving this understanding by establishing a common terminology and reviewing the methods to determine, estimate, and communicate the uncertainty in weather and wind power forecasts. This conceptual analysis of the state of the art highlights that: (i) end-users should start to look at the forecast's properties in order to map different uncertainty representations to specific wind energy-related user requirements; (ii) a multidisciplinary team is required to foster the integration of stochastic methods in the industry sector. Furthermore, a set of recommendations for standardization and improved training of operators are provided along with examples of best practices.« less

Teaching Chinese Students: Understanding Their Public Sector Paradigm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conrad, Cynthia; Coleman, Charles

2011-01-01

Teaching Chinese students in an American university can be both challenging and rewarding. Cultural and language differences can lead to some superficial confusion and interpretational problems. However, the vast differences in the ways Chinese students view the role of the public sector, as compared to the US, can mean that the instructors and…

Increasing Understanding of Public Problems and Policies, 1997.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ernstes, David P., Ed.; Hicks, Dawne M., Ed.

This document contains 21 papers: "Land Grant University and Extension in the 21st Century" (Jon Wefald); "A Reality Check" (Bud Webb); "Land Grant Colleges and Universities of the Future" (Michael J. Phillips); "Vulnerability of the Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture: A Public Affairs Perspective" (Allen Rosenfeld); "The Future of Land Grant…

Evaluating E-Training for Public Library Staff: A Quasi-Experimental Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dalston, Teresa

2009-01-01

A comparative evaluation framework of instructional interventions for implementation of online training for public library staff would enable a better understanding of how to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and efficacy of training in certain training environments. This dissertation describes a quasi-experimental study of a two-week,…

Understanding Student Mobility in the B.C. Public Post-Secondary System. Highlights from the Student Transitions Project: Post-Secondary Student Mobility

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

British Columbia Council on Admissions and Transfer, 2013

2013-01-01

This annual newsletter summarizes the work of the Post-secondary Student Mobility (PSM) Subcommittee of the Student Transitions Project (STP) . In an effort to better understand student mobility in the B.C. public post-secondary system, the Student Transitions Project continues to describe and quantify the numerous education pathways of students…

A surfeit of science: The "CSI effect" and the media appropriation of the public understanding of science.

PubMed

Cole, Simon A

2015-02-01

Over the past decade, popular media has promulgated claims that the television program CSI and its spinoffs and imitators have had a pernicious effect on the public understanding of forensic science, the so-called "CSI effect." This paper analyzes those media claims by documenting the ways in which the media claims that CSI "distorts" an imagined "reality." It shows that the media appropriated the analytic stance usually adopted by science advocates, portraying the CSI effect as a social problem in science communication. This appropriation was idiosyncratic in that it posited, as a social problem, a "surfeit" of knowledge and positive imagery about science, rather than the more familiar "deficits." In addition, the media simultaneously appropriated both "traditional" and "critical" PUS discourses. Despite this apparent contradiction, the paper concludes that, in both discourses, the media and its expert informants insist upon their hegemony over "the public" to articulate the "reality" of forensic science. © The Author(s) 2013.

Does social trust increase willingness to pay taxes to improve public healthcare? Cross-sectional cross-country instrumental variable analysis.

PubMed

Habibov, Nazim; Cheung, Alex; Auchynnikava, Alena

2017-09-01

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of social trust on the willingness to pay more taxes to improve public healthcare in post-communist countries. The well-documented association between higher levels of social trust and better health has traditionally been assumed to reflect the notion that social trust is positively associated with support for public healthcare system through its encouragement of cooperative behaviour, social cohesion, social solidarity, and collective action. Hence, in this paper, we have explicitly tested the notion that social trust contributes to an increase in willingness to financially support public healthcare. We use micro data from the 2010 Life-in-Transition survey (N = 29,526). Classic binomial probit and instrumental variables ivprobit regressions are estimated to model the relationship between social trust and paying more taxes to improve public healthcare. We found that an increase in social trust is associated with a greater willingness to pay more taxes to improve public healthcare. From the perspective of policy-making, healthcare administrators, policy-makers, and international donors should be aware that social trust is an important factor in determining the willingness of the population to provide much-needed financial resources to supporting public healthcare. From a theoretical perspective, we found that estimating the effect of trust on support for healthcare without taking confounding and measurement error problems into consideration will likely lead to an underestimation of the true effect of trust. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Public engagement workshop: how to improve medicines for older people?

PubMed

Orlu-Gul, Mine; Raimi-Abraham, Bahijja; Jamieson, Elizabeth; Wei, Li; Murray, Macey; Stawarz, Katarzyna; Stegemann, Sven; Tuleu, Catherine; Smith, Felicity J

2014-01-01

Public engagement in medication management has become more and more important in promoting population health. A public engagement workshop attended by 78 members of the geriatric community, family carers as well as professionals from academic research, industry and regulatory agencies entitled 'How to improve medicines for older people?' took place on the 2nd July 2013 at the University College London (UCL) School of Pharmacy. The main aim of the event was to provide a dynamic environment for information exchange and to identify ways of improving current and future geriatric drug therapy. The day opened with presentations from UCL School of Pharmacy researchers on the use of medicines at home, formulations, administration devices and multi-component compliance aids (MCAs) whilst a representative from UCL Interaction Centre gave an insightful presentation on human errors and resilience strategies regarding medication use. These opening presentations encouraged participants to share their own experiences as well as initiating a lively debate. Following the plenary presentations, the workshop was divided into 8 groups for parallel discussion session. These opinion sharing sessions witnessed fruitful discussions between patients, carers and researchers. The day closed with a panel session of representatives from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the Geriatric Medicines Society and Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT). Participants were encouraged to voice their questions, concerns and recommendations about medications. The main concern expressed by both patients and carers from the workshop were (but are not limited to) formulation changes, MCA accessibility difficulties, interactions of different medicines, carers' concerns with the administration of medicines and not having enough knowledge of services provided by community pharmacists i.e. medicines use reviews (MURs) or new medicine

Achieving Healthy School Siting and Planning Policies: Understanding Shared Concerns of Environmental Planners, Public Health Professionals, and Educators

PubMed Central

Cohen, Alison

2013-01-01

Policy decisions regarding the quality of the physical school environment—both, school siting and school facility planning policies—are often considered through the lens of environmental planning, public health, or education policy, but rarely through all three. Environmental planners consider environmental justice issues on a local level and/or consider the regional impact of a school. Public health professionals focus on toxic exposures and populations particularly vulnerable to negative health outcomes. Educators and education policymakers emphasize investing in human capital of both students and staff. By understanding these respective angles and combining these efforts around the common goals of achieving adequacy and excellence, we can work towards a regulatory system for school facilities that recognizes children as a uniquely vulnerable population and seeks to create healthier school environments in which children can learn and adults can work. PMID:20359991

Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC.

This publication presents 10-year health objectives for the nation, reflecting the scientific advances that have occurred in the past 20 years in preventive medicine, disease surveillance, vaccine and therapeutic development, and information technology. It incorporates information from a broad cross-section of scientific experts. The publication…

Understanding public preferences for prioritizing health care interventions in England: does the type of health gain matter?

PubMed

Mason, Helen; Baker, Rachel; Donaldson, Cam

2011-04-01

Health care budgets are finite and decisions must be made about which interventions to provide and, by implication, which will not be provided. The aim of this study was to investigate what features of health care interventions, including the type of health gain, are important to members of the public in England in making priority-setting decisions and to understand why. Q methodology was used with 52 members of the public in north east England. Respondents rank ordered 36 health care interventions from those they would give highest priority to through to those they would give lowest priority to. A form of factor analysis was used to reveal a small number of shared viewpoints. Five factors emerged: 'life saving to maximize the size of the health gain', 'everyone deserves a chance at life', '(potential for) own benefit', 'maximum benefit for (perceived) lowest cost' and 'quality of life and social responsibility'. There were different views about which interventions should be given priority. Respondents considered not only the type of health gain received from an intervention as important, but also the size of the health gain, who received the health gain and an individual's personal responsibility. Aspects other than health gain need to be considered when soliciting the public's views of priorities for health care interventions.

Enhancing understanding and improving prediction of severe weather through spatiotemporal relational learning.

PubMed

McGovern, Amy; Gagne, David J; Williams, John K; Brown, Rodger A; Basara, Jeffrey B

Severe weather, including tornadoes, thunderstorms, wind, and hail annually cause significant loss of life and property. We are developing spatiotemporal machine learning techniques that will enable meteorologists to improve the prediction of these events by improving their understanding of the fundamental causes of the phenomena and by building skillful empirical predictive models. In this paper, we present significant enhancements of our Spatiotemporal Relational Probability Trees that enable autonomous discovery of spatiotemporal relationships as well as learning with arbitrary shapes. We focus our evaluation on two real-world case studies using our technique: predicting tornadoes in Oklahoma and predicting aircraft turbulence in the United States. We also discuss how to evaluate success for a machine learning algorithm in the severe weather domain, which will enable new methods such as ours to transfer from research to operations, provide a set of lessons learned for embedded machine learning applications, and discuss how to field our technique.

Improving the Conceptual Understanding in Kinematics Subject Matter with Hypertext Media Learning and Formal Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manurung, Sondang R.; Mihardi, Satria

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of hypertext media based kinematic learning and formal thinking ability to improve the conceptual understanding of physic prospective students. The research design used is the one-group pretest-posttest experimental design is carried out in the research by taking 36 students on from…

Design e-learning with flipped learning model to improve layout understanding the concepts basic of the loop control structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Handayani, D. P.; Sutarno, H.; Wihardi, Y.

2018-05-01

This study aimed in design and build e-learning with classroom flipped model to improve the concept of understanding of SMK students on the basic programming subject. Research and development obtained research data from survey questionnaire given to students of SMK class X RPL in SMK Negeri 2 Bandung and interviews to RPL productive teacher. Data also obtained from questionnaire of expert validation and students' assessment from e-learning with flipped classroom models. Data also obtained from multiple-choice test to measure improvements in conceptual understanding. The results of this research are: 1) Developed e- learning with flipped classroom model considered good and worthy of use by the average value of the percentage of 86,3% by media experts, and 85,5% by subjects matter experts, then students gave judgment is very good on e-learning either flipped classroom model with a percentage of 79,15% votes. 2) e-learning with classroom flipped models show an increase in the average value of pre-test before using e-learning 26.67 compared to the average value post-test after using e- learning at 63.37 and strengthened by the calculation of the index gains seen Increased understanding of students 'concepts by 50% with moderate criteria indicating that students' understanding is improving.

Teacher Quality Roadmap: Improving Policies and Practices in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Council on Teacher Quality, 2012

2012-01-01

In partnership with the Urban League of Greater Miami, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) released "Teacher Quality Roadmap: Improving Policies and Practices in Miami," an in-depth study of the work rules Miami-Dade teachers. This look at the state of teacher policies in Miami-Dade County Public Schools explores the…

Active Learning to Understand Infectious Disease Models and Improve Policy Making

PubMed Central

Vladislavleva, Ekaterina; Broeckhove, Jan; Beutels, Philippe; Hens, Niel

2014-01-01

Modeling plays a major role in policy making, especially for infectious disease interventions but such models can be complex and computationally intensive. A more systematic exploration is needed to gain a thorough systems understanding. We present an active learning approach based on machine learning techniques as iterative surrogate modeling and model-guided experimentation to systematically analyze both common and edge manifestations of complex model runs. Symbolic regression is used for nonlinear response surface modeling with automatic feature selection. First, we illustrate our approach using an individual-based model for influenza vaccination. After optimizing the parameter space, we observe an inverse relationship between vaccination coverage and cumulative attack rate reinforced by herd immunity. Second, we demonstrate the use of surrogate modeling techniques on input-response data from a deterministic dynamic model, which was designed to explore the cost-effectiveness of varicella-zoster virus vaccination. We use symbolic regression to handle high dimensionality and correlated inputs and to identify the most influential variables. Provided insight is used to focus research, reduce dimensionality and decrease decision uncertainty. We conclude that active learning is needed to fully understand complex systems behavior. Surrogate models can be readily explored at no computational expense, and can also be used as emulator to improve rapid policy making in various settings. PMID:24743387

Active learning to understand infectious disease models and improve policy making.

PubMed

Willem, Lander; Stijven, Sean; Vladislavleva, Ekaterina; Broeckhove, Jan; Beutels, Philippe; Hens, Niel

2014-04-01

Modeling plays a major role in policy making, especially for infectious disease interventions but such models can be complex and computationally intensive. A more systematic exploration is needed to gain a thorough systems understanding. We present an active learning approach based on machine learning techniques as iterative surrogate modeling and model-guided experimentation to systematically analyze both common and edge manifestations of complex model runs. Symbolic regression is used for nonlinear response surface modeling with automatic feature selection. First, we illustrate our approach using an individual-based model for influenza vaccination. After optimizing the parameter space, we observe an inverse relationship between vaccination coverage and cumulative attack rate reinforced by herd immunity. Second, we demonstrate the use of surrogate modeling techniques on input-response data from a deterministic dynamic model, which was designed to explore the cost-effectiveness of varicella-zoster virus vaccination. We use symbolic regression to handle high dimensionality and correlated inputs and to identify the most influential variables. Provided insight is used to focus research, reduce dimensionality and decrease decision uncertainty. We conclude that active learning is needed to fully understand complex systems behavior. Surrogate models can be readily explored at no computational expense, and can also be used as emulator to improve rapid policy making in various settings.

Designing Cancer-Killing Artificial Viruses to Improve Student Understanding of Microbiology

PubMed Central

Kuniyuki, Andy; Sharp, Gwen

2011-01-01

Our objective was to assess the effectiveness of a “learning by designing” group project used in a lower-division Microbiology course. Students used knowledge gained from the course to design an artificial virus that would kill cancer cells. The assignment required groups to integrate the individual course topics into a unified, complex understanding of the field of microbiology. Throughout the course, students and the instructor collaborated in creating a rubric to evaluate the groups’ final presentations. This paper reports the results of an assessment of the project by comparing the instructor’s and the students’ scores for the presentations. Students’ and the instructor’s scores were correlated; the Pearson coefficient of 0.52 was statistically significant. The results indicate that students gained sufficient knowledge to accurately evaluate proposed designs. Additionally, the overall course grade distribution improved compared to the semester before the project was introduced. Finally, in order to engage students in thinking about their own learning process, they completed a reflection assignment that required them to discuss the changes in their understanding of microbiology over the course of the semester. Our assessment indicates that a design project can serve as an effective and useful learning technique in undergraduate Microbiology courses, though modifications are suggested. PMID:23653757

Food, health, and complexity: towards a conceptual understanding to guide collaborative public health action.

PubMed

Majowicz, Shannon E; Meyer, Samantha B; Kirkpatrick, Sharon I; Graham, Julianne L; Shaikh, Arshi; Elliott, Susan J; Minaker, Leia M; Scott, Steffanie; Laird, Brian

2016-06-08

What we eat simultaneously impacts our exposure to pathogens, allergens, and contaminants, our nutritional status and body composition, our risks for and the progression of chronic diseases, and other outcomes. Furthermore, what we eat is influenced by a complex web of drivers, including culture, politics, economics, and our built and natural environments. To date, public health initiatives aimed at improving food-related population health outcomes have primarily been developed within 'practice silos', and the potential for complex interactions among such initiatives is not well understood. Therefore, our objective was to develop a conceptual model depicting how infectious foodborne illness, food insecurity, dietary contaminants, obesity, and food allergy can be linked via shared drivers, to illustrate potential complex interactions and support future collaboration across public health practice silos. We developed the conceptual model by first conducting a systematic literature search to identify review articles containing schematics that depicted relationships between drivers and the issues of interest. Next, we synthesized drivers into a common model using a modified thematic synthesis approach that combined an inductive thematic analysis and mapping to synthesize findings. The literature search yielded 83 relevant references containing 101 schematics. The conceptual model contained 49 shared drivers and 227 interconnections. Each of the five issues was connected to all others. Obesity and food insecurity shared the most drivers (n = 28). Obesity shared several drivers with food allergy (n = 11), infectious foodborne illness (n = 7), and dietary contamination (n = 6). Food insecurity shared several drivers with infectious foodborne illness (n = 9) and dietary contamination (n = 9). Infectious foodborne illness shared drivers with dietary contamination (n = 8). Fewer drivers were shared between food allergy and: food insecurity (n�

Development and Evaluation of a Tutorial to Improve Students' Understanding of a Lock-in Amplifier

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeVore, Seth; Gauthier, Alexandre; Levy, Jeremy; Singh, Chandralekha

2016-01-01

A lock-in amplifier is a versatile instrument frequently used in physics research. However, many students struggle with the basic operating principles of a lock-in amplifier which can lead to a variety of difficulties. To improve students' understanding, we have been developing and evaluating a research-based tutorial which makes use of a computer…

Standards for QUality Improvement Reporting Excellence 2.0: revised publication guidelines from a detailed consensus process.

PubMed

Ogrinc, Greg; Davies, Louise; Goodman, Daisy; Batalden, Paul; Davidoff, Frank; Stevens, David

2016-02-01

Since the publication of Standards for QUality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE 1.0) guidelines in 2008, the science of the field has advanced considerably. In this article, we describe the development of SQUIRE 2.0 and its key components. We undertook the revision between 2012 and 2015 using (1) semistructured interviews and focus groups to evaluate SQUIRE 1.0 plus feedback from an international steering group, (2) two face-to-face consensus meetings to develop interim drafts, and (3) pilot testing with authors and a public comment period. SQUIRE 2.0 emphasizes the reporting of three key components of systematic efforts to improve the quality, value, and safety of health care: the use of formal and informal theory in planning, implementing, and evaluating improvement work; the context in which the work is done; and the study of the intervention(s). SQUIRE 2.0 is intended for reporting the range of methods used to improve health care, recognizing that they can be complex and multidimensional. It provides common ground to share these discoveries in the scholarly literature (www.squire-statement.org). Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Improving semantic scene understanding using prior information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laddha, Ankit; Hebert, Martial

2016-05-01

Perception for ground robot mobility requires automatic generation of descriptions of the robot's surroundings from sensor input (cameras, LADARs, etc.). Effective techniques for scene understanding have been developed, but they are generally purely bottom-up in that they rely entirely on classifying features from the input data based on learned models. In fact, perception systems for ground robots have a lot of information at their disposal from knowledge about the domain and the task. For example, a robot in urban environments might have access to approximate maps that can guide the scene interpretation process. In this paper, we explore practical ways to combine such prior information with state of the art scene understanding approaches.

Improving risk communication through interactive training in communication skills