Focusing a Transition: Challenges Facing the New Administration

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

FOCUSING A TRANSITION Challenges Facing the New Administration A Report by the Defense Business Board 2016 This report, DBB Report FY16-5, is a ...Facing the New Administration A Report by the Defense Business Board 5 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION...While reviewing the budget, the team should develop a list of items to propose for immediate termination. The Board offers the following

Challenges Facing Teachers New to Working in Schools Overseas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halicioglu, Margaret L.

2015-01-01

This article considers the potential challenges facing teachers moving abroad for the first time, both professional challenges in their school and personal challenges in their private life. It suggests that such teachers embarking on a professional adventure overseas would benefit from careful consideration of the kind of school they will thrive…

An Exploration of Challenges Facing Division III Athletic Directors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Engbers, Jeffrey L.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to establish a basic understanding of the challenges associated with directing athletic programs at NCAA Division III Institutions. Specifically, this study identified the frequency, intensity, and time allocated to common challenges facing the position of the NCAA Division III AD. The challenges were examined using…

3D Face Recognition Based on Multiple Keypoint Descriptors and Sparse Representation

PubMed Central

Zhang, Lin; Ding, Zhixuan; Li, Hongyu; Shen, Ying; Lu, Jianwei

2014-01-01

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in developing methods for 3D face recognition. However, 3D scans often suffer from the problems of missing parts, large facial expressions, and occlusions. To be useful in real-world applications, a 3D face recognition approach should be able to handle these challenges. In this paper, we propose a novel general approach to deal with the 3D face recognition problem by making use of multiple keypoint descriptors (MKD) and the sparse representation-based classification (SRC). We call the proposed method 3DMKDSRC for short. Specifically, with 3DMKDSRC, each 3D face scan is represented as a set of descriptor vectors extracted from keypoints by meshSIFT. Descriptor vectors of gallery samples form the gallery dictionary. Given a probe 3D face scan, its descriptors are extracted at first and then its identity can be determined by using a multitask SRC. The proposed 3DMKDSRC approach does not require the pre-alignment between two face scans and is quite robust to the problems of missing data, occlusions and expressions. Its superiority over the other leading 3D face recognition schemes has been corroborated by extensive experiments conducted on three benchmark databases, Bosphorus, GavabDB, and FRGC2.0. The Matlab source code for 3DMKDSRC and the related evaluation results are publicly available at http://sse.tongji.edu.cn/linzhang/3dmkdsrcface/3dmkdsrc.htm. PMID:24940876

3D face recognition based on multiple keypoint descriptors and sparse representation.

PubMed

Zhang, Lin; Ding, Zhixuan; Li, Hongyu; Shen, Ying; Lu, Jianwei

2014-01-01

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in developing methods for 3D face recognition. However, 3D scans often suffer from the problems of missing parts, large facial expressions, and occlusions. To be useful in real-world applications, a 3D face recognition approach should be able to handle these challenges. In this paper, we propose a novel general approach to deal with the 3D face recognition problem by making use of multiple keypoint descriptors (MKD) and the sparse representation-based classification (SRC). We call the proposed method 3DMKDSRC for short. Specifically, with 3DMKDSRC, each 3D face scan is represented as a set of descriptor vectors extracted from keypoints by meshSIFT. Descriptor vectors of gallery samples form the gallery dictionary. Given a probe 3D face scan, its descriptors are extracted at first and then its identity can be determined by using a multitask SRC. The proposed 3DMKDSRC approach does not require the pre-alignment between two face scans and is quite robust to the problems of missing data, occlusions and expressions. Its superiority over the other leading 3D face recognition schemes has been corroborated by extensive experiments conducted on three benchmark databases, Bosphorus, GavabDB, and FRGC2.0. The Matlab source code for 3DMKDSRC and the related evaluation results are publicly available at http://sse.tongji.edu.cn/linzhang/3dmkdsrcface/3dmkdsrc.htm.

Children at Risk: Global Views on Challenges Facing Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neugebauer, Roger

2011-01-01

Members of the World Forum community were invited to respond to the question: "What is the most urgent challenge facing young children in your country?" Here are some of their responses. Jamils Richard Achunji Anguaseh mentions that in Cameroon, young children face lots of insecurity, both from health hazards and poor parenting practices. There…

Challenges Faced by Project Competition Participants and Recommended Solutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demirel, Turgay; Baydas, Ozlem; Yilmaz, Rabia M.; Goktas, Yuksel

2013-01-01

The numbers of project competitions and interest in this kind of competition have been steadily increasing in Turkey. Accordingly, it is important to determine what challenges teachers and students may face while preparing themselves for project competitions, so that recommendations may be made to overcome these challenges. This study investigated…

Challenges facing early career academic cardiologists.

PubMed

Tong, Carl W; Ahmad, Tariq; Brittain, Evan L; Bunch, T Jared; Damp, Julie B; Dardas, Todd; Hijar, Amalea; Hill, Joseph A; Hilliard, Anthony A; Houser, Steven R; Jahangir, Eiman; Kates, Andrew M; Kim, Darlene; Lindman, Brian R; Ryan, John J; Rzeszut, Anne K; Sivaram, Chittur A; Valente, Anne Marie; Freeman, Andrew M

2014-06-03

Early career academic cardiologists currently face unprecedented challenges that threaten a highly valued career path. A team consisting of early career professionals and senior leadership members of American College of Cardiology completed this white paper to inform the cardiovascular medicine profession regarding the plight of early career cardiologists and to suggest possible solutions. This paper includes: 1) definition of categories of early career academic cardiologists; 2) general challenges to all categories and specific challenges to each category; 3) obstacles as identified by a survey of current early career members of the American College of Cardiology; 4) major reasons for the failure of physician-scientists to receive funding from National Institute of Health/National Heart Lung and Blood Institute career development grants; 5) potential solutions; and 6) a call to action with specific recommendations. Copyright © 2014 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessment of Institutional and Personnel-Related Challenges Facing Educational Programme for the Mentally Challenged Persons at Kaimosi Special School, Kenya

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mmbwanga, Daniel M.; Matemba, Collins K.; Bota, Kennedy N.

2015-01-01

The mentally challenged child (MC) can achieve a lot if the right environment and curriculum are designed for him/her. However, the realization of the desirable outcomes faces many challenges. The objective of the study was to examine institutional and personnel-related challenges facing education programs for the MC persons at Kaimosi Special…

Challenges Beginning Teachers Face in Hong Kong

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lam, Bick-Har

2014-01-01

By conducting in-depth interviews with new teachers who are about to become full-time teachers and then reinterviewing them two years later, the author of this article presents how beginning teachers think and feel about teaching and describes the challenges they face as beginning teachers in the context of Hong Kong. The stories of the teachers,…

A qualitative exploration of the major challenges facing pharmacovigilance in Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Aljadhey, Hisham; Mahmoud, Mansour A; Alshammari, Thamir M; Al-Dhaeefi, Mohammed; Le Louet, Herve; Perez-Gutthann, Susana; Pitts, Peter J

2015-09-01

To explore the challenges facing pharmacovigilance in Saudi Arabia and formulate recommendations to improve it from the perspective of healthcare professionals in Saudi Arabia. This was a qualitative study of 4 focus group discussions with pharmacists, physicians, and academicians held under the auspices of the King Saud University School of Pharmacy and the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A total of 29 eligible healthcare professionals were invited to participate in the discussion. The predefined themes of the study were the current practice and major challenges facing pharmacovigilance in regulatory bodies, hospitals, the community, and academia, as well as recommendations to improve pharmacovigilance practice.  Of the 29 participants invited, 27 attended the discussion. Challenges facing regulatory bodies included complicated adverse drug reactions (ADR) reporting forms, lack of feedback on ADRs submitted to the Saudi Food and Drug Authority, lack of decisions from the local authority to withdraw medications, and lack of data on pharmacovigilance. The challenges to pharmacovigilance in hospitals included the lack of knowledge of the significance of ADR reporting, workload, blaming culture, and lack of collaboration between regulatory bodies and hospitals. However, challenges facing pharmaceutical industries included the lack of drug manufacturers in Saudi Arabia and lack of interest in pharmacovigilance. Recommendations to improve pharmacovigilance included the need for communication, stronger regulatory requirements, the need for research, the need for unified ADRs reporting, and continuous education and training.  The study has identified the challenges facing pharmacovigilance in Saudi Arabia and made certain recommendations to overcome them. These recommendations might be helpful for regulatory bodies to enhance spontaneous reporting and promote pharmacovigilance.

The Challenges Facing School Governing Bodies in England: A "Perfect Storm"?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

James, Chris; Brammer, Steve; Connolly, Michael; Spicer, David Eddy; James, Jane; Jones, Jeff

2013-01-01

The governing bodies of publicly funded schools in England are currently facing a number of substantive challenges of various kinds. Many of the challenges are long-standing, while others relate to the current context for governing wrought by recent education policy developments initiated by central government. A number of the challenges are…

Leading Schools Facing Challenging Circumstances: Some Insights from Western Australia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gillett, Jonathan; Clarke, Simon; O'Donoghue, Tom

2016-01-01

This paper examines leadership strategies that are most likely to engender success in schools that may be defined as facing challenging circumstances. First, it presents an overview of the relevant literature in order to illustrate distinctive challenges that tend to be encountered in these environments, as well as strategies that are adopted for…

The Challenges Facing Catholic Education in France Today

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moog, François

2016-01-01

The effects of secularisation on society demand a rethinking of the identity and mission of Catholic schools in France. In 2013, the French bishops published a new directory which offers new approaches, described here, based on the three challenges facing Catholic education in France: linking social responsibility and evangelisation, setting up…

A Variety of Diversity: Facing Higher Education's Educational Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dey, Eric L.

2008-10-01

First among the many important challenges facing American higher education is the need to improve the effectiveness of our educational programs. Public concern has heightened the sense of urgency for colleges and universities to make progress on improving and measuring educational outcomes, which is made more challenging by the varieties of diversity facing us. Diversity is not just an issue related to student recruitment or experience, but rather it is one that also relates to institutions and their faculties. New educational methods must address such diversity to be effective, and one possible example can be found in ongoing research at the University of Michigan that explores the educational implications of implementing a web-based lecture capture system in large lecture courses. Student use of and reactions to such systems is important, as is the potential to influence course performance for students in general, but also for underrepresented and at-risk student subpopulations. In addition to helping bring our current landscape into focus, this paper will identify effective practices as well as continuing challenges to improving educational practice for undergraduate students.

Cultural Challenges Faced by American Mission Control Personnel Working with International Partners

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clement, J. L.; Ritsher, J. B.

2006-01-01

Operating the International Space Station (ISS) involves an indefinite, continuous series of long-duration international missions, and this requires an unprecedented degree of cooperation across multiple sites, organizations, and nations. Both junior and senior mission control personnel have had to find ways to address the cultural challenges inherent in such work, but neither have had systematic training in how to do so. The goals of this study were to identify and evaluate the major cultural challenges faced by ISS mission control personnel and to highlight the approaches that they have found most effective to surmount these challenges. We pay particular attention to the approaches successfully employed by the senior personnel and the training needs identified by the junior personnel. We also evaluate the extent to which the identified approaches and needs are consistent across the two samples. METHODS: Participants included a sample of 14 senior ISS flight controllers and a contrasting sample of 12 more junior controllers. All participants were mission operations specialists chosen on the basis of having worked extensively with international partners. Data were collected using a semi-structured qualitative interview and content analyzed using an iterative process with multiple coders and consensus meetings to resolve discrepancies. RESULTS: The senior respondents had substantial consensus on several cultural challenges and on key strategies for dealing with them, and they offered a wide range of specific tactics for implementing these strategies. Data from the junior respondents will be presented for the first time at the meeting. DISCUSSION: Although specific to American ISS personnel, our results are consistent with recent management, cultural, and aerospace research on other populations. We aim to use our results to improve training for current and future mission control personnel working in international or multicultural mission operations teams.

Performance and accountability : challenges facing the Department of Transportation

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-02-14

For surface transportation safety, DOT continues to face challenges in improving the safety of highways and pipelines. While the Department of Transportation appears to be making progress on some initiatives to reduce the number of large truck crashe...

Challenges and Opportunities Facing Technology Education in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Lung-Sheng Steven

2009-01-01

The technology education in Taiwan is prescribed in the national curriculum and provided to all students in grades 1-12. However, it faces the following challenges: (1) Lack of worthy image, (2) Inadequate teachers in elementary schools, (3) Deficient teaching vitality in secondary schools, and (4) Diluted technology teacher education programs. In…

Challenges Faced by Undergraduate Military Students at American Public University System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Machuca, Ana; Torres, Karin; Morris, Pamela; Whitley, William

2014-01-01

This paper will summarize some of challenges faced by military students enrolled in an associate and bachelors online program at American Public University System (APUS). The survey results on which the study is based exposed the following problems faced by military personnel: 48.7% had difficulties working around military obligations, 33.3%…

The utility of multiple synthesized views in the recognition of unfamiliar faces.

PubMed

Jones, Scott P; Dwyer, Dominic M; Lewis, Michael B

2017-05-01

The ability to recognize an unfamiliar individual on the basis of prior exposure to a photograph is notoriously poor and prone to errors, but recognition accuracy is improved when multiple photographs are available. In applied situations, when only limited real images are available (e.g., from a mugshot or CCTV image), the generation of new images might provide a technological prosthesis for otherwise fallible human recognition. We report two experiments examining the effects of providing computer-generated additional views of a target face. In Experiment 1, provision of computer-generated views supported better target face recognition than exposure to the target image alone and equivalent performance to that for exposure of multiple photograph views. Experiment 2 replicated the advantage of providing generated views, but also indicated an advantage for multiple viewings of the single target photograph. These results strengthen the claim that identifying a target face can be improved by providing multiple synthesized views based on a single target image. In addition, our results suggest that the degree of advantage provided by synthesized views may be affected by the quality of synthesized material.

Choriocapillaris Imaging Using Multiple En Face Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Image Averaging.

PubMed

Uji, Akihito; Balasubramanian, Siva; Lei, Jianqin; Baghdasaryan, Elmira; Al-Sheikh, Mayss; Sadda, SriniVas R

2017-11-01

Imaging of the choriocapillaris in vivo is challenging with existing technology. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), if optimized, could make the imaging less challenging. To investigate multiple en face image averaging on OCTA images of the choriocapillaris. Observational, cross-sectional case series at a referral institutional practice in Los Angeles, California. From the original cohort of 21 healthy individuals, 17 normal eyes of 17 participants were included in the study. The study dates were August to September 2016. All participants underwent OCTA imaging of the macula covering a 3 × 3-mm area using OCTA software (Cirrus 5000 with AngioPlex; Carl Zeiss Meditec). One eye per participant was repeatedly imaged to obtain 9 OCTA cube scan sets. Registration was first performed using superficial capillary plexus images, and this transformation was then applied to the choriocapillaris images. The 9 registered choriocapillaris images were then averaged. Quantitative parameters were measured on binarized OCTA images and compared with the unaveraged OCTA images. Vessel caliber measurement. Seventeen eyes of 17 participants (mean [SD] age, 35.1 [6.0] years; 9 [53%] female; and 9 [53%] of white race/ethnicity) with sufficient image quality were included in this analysis. The single unaveraged images demonstrated a granular appearance, and the vascular pattern was difficult to discern. After averaging, en face choriocapillaris images showed a meshwork appearance. The mean (SD) diameter of the vessels was 22.8 (5.8) µm (range, 9.6-40.2 µm). Compared with the single unaveraged images, the averaged images showed more flow voids (1423 flow voids [95% CI, 967-1909] vs 1254 flow voids [95% CI, 825-1683], P < .001), smaller average size of the flow voids (911 [95% CI, 301-1521] µm2 vs 1364 [95% CI, 645-2083] µm2, P < .001), and greater vessel density (70.7% [95% CI, 61.9%-79.5%] vs 61.9% [95% CI, 56.0%-67.8%], P < .001). The distribution of the

Challenges for Novice School Leaders: Facing Today's Issues in School Administration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beam, Andrea P.; Claxton, Russell L.; Smith, Samuel J.

2016-01-01

Challenges for novice school leaders evolve as information is managed differently and as societal and regulatory expectations change. This study addresses unique challenges faced by practicing school administrators (n = 159) during their first three years in a school leadership position. It focuses on their perceptions, how perceptions of present…

Recommendations on Arresting Global Health Challenges Facing Adolescents and Young Adults.

PubMed

Lassi, Zohra S; Salam, Rehana A; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A

The health challenges faced by young people are more complex than adults and can compromise their full growth and development. Attention must be paid to the health of this age group, yet adolescents and youth remain largely invisible and often disappear from the major global datasets. The aim of this paper is to discuss the global health challenges faced by adolescents and youth, global legislations and guidelines pertaining to this particular age group, recommendations to arrest these challenges, and research priorities. Major direct and indirect global health risks faced by adolescents include early pregnancy and childbirth, femicide, honor killing, female genital mutilation, nutritional habits and choices, social media, and peer pressure. There are no standard legal age cut-offs for adulthood; rather, the age varies for different activities, such as age of consent or the minimum age that young people can legally work, leave school, drive, buy alcohol, marry, be held accountable for criminal action, and make medical decisions. This reflects the fact that the existing systems and structures are focused on either children or adults, with very few investments and interventions directed specifically to young people. Existing legislation and guidelines need transformation to bring about a specific focus on adolescents in the domains of substance use and sexual behaviors, and the capacity for adolescent learning should be exploited through graduated legal and policy frameworks. Sustainable development goals provide an opportunity to target this neglected and vulnerable age group. A multisectoral approach is needed to bring about healthy change and address the challenges faced by adolescents and youth, from modifications at a broader legislative and policy level to ground-level (community-level) implementations. Copyright © 2017 Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Challenges Facing Healthwatch, a New Consumer Champion in England.

PubMed

Carter, Pam; Martin, Graham

2016-01-21

This article engages with debates about the conceptualisation and practical challenges of patient and public involvement (PPI) in health and social care services. Policy in this area in England has shifted numerous times but increasingly a consumerist discourse seems to override more democratic ideas concerning the relationship between citizens and public services. Recent policy change in England has seen the creation of new consumer champion bodies in the form of local Healthwatch. The article describes these new organisational structures for PPI and shows how those who seek to influence planning and delivery of services or comment or complain about aspects of their care face considerable complexity. This is due, in part, to the ambiguous remit set out for newly instigated Healthwatch organisations by government. Drawing on governance theory, we show that it can also be understood as a function of an increasingly polycentric governance arena. Challenges that flow from this include problems of specifying jurisdictional responsibility, accountability, and legitimacy. We review Healthwatch progress to date, then we set out four challenges facing local Healthwatch organisations before discussing the implications of these for patients and the public. The first challenge relates to non-coterminous boundaries and jurisdictional integrity. Secondly, establishing the unique features of Healthwatch is problematic in the crowded PPI arena. The third challenge arises from limited resources as well as the fact that resources flow to Healthwatch from the local authorities that Healthwatch are expected to hold to account. The fourth challenge we identify is how local Healthwatch organisations negotiate the complexity of being a partner to statutory and other organisations, while at the same time being expected to champion local people's views. © 2016 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

Facing Challenges in Differential Classical Conditioning Research: Benefits of a Hybrid Design for Simultaneous Electrodermal and Electroencephalographic Recording.

PubMed

Pastor, M Carmen; Rehbein, Maimu Alissa; Junghöfer, Markus; Poy, Rosario; López, Raul; Moltó, Javier

2015-01-01

Several challenges make it difficult to simultaneously investigate central and autonomous nervous system correlates of conditioned stimulus (CS) processing in classical conditioning paradigms. Such challenges include, for example, the discrepant requirements of electroencephalography (EEG) and electrodermal activity (EDA) recordings with regard to multiple repetitions of conditions and sufficient trial duration. Here, we propose a MultiCS conditioning set-up, in which we increased the number of CSs, decreased the number of learning trials, and used trials of short and long durations for meeting requirements of simultaneous EEG-EDA recording in a differential aversive conditioning task. Forty-eight participants underwent MultiCS conditioning, in which four neutral faces (CS+) were paired four times each with aversive electric stimulation (unconditioned stimulus) during acquisition, while four different neutral faces (CS-) remained unpaired. When comparing after relative to before learning measurements, EEG revealed an enhanced centro-posterior positivity to CS+ vs. CS- during 368-600 ms, and subjective ratings indicated CS+ to be less pleasant and more arousing than CS-. Furthermore, changes in CS valence and arousal were strong enough to bias subjective ratings when faces of CS+/CS- identity were displayed with different emotional expression (happy, angry) in a post-experimental behavioral task. In contrast to a persistent neural and evaluative CS+/CS- differentiation that sustained multiple unreinforced CS presentations, electrodermal differentiation was rapidly extinguished. Current results suggest that MultiCS conditioning provides a promising paradigm for investigating pre-post-learning changes under minimal influences of extinction and overlearning of simple stimulus features. Our data also revealed methodological pitfalls, such as the possibility of occurring artifacts when combining different acquisition systems for central and peripheral

Facing Challenges in Differential Classical Conditioning Research: Benefits of a Hybrid Design for Simultaneous Electrodermal and Electroencephalographic Recording

PubMed Central

Pastor, M. Carmen; Rehbein, Maimu Alissa; Junghöfer, Markus; Poy, Rosario; López, Raul; Moltó, Javier

2015-01-01

Several challenges make it difficult to simultaneously investigate central and autonomous nervous system correlates of conditioned stimulus (CS) processing in classical conditioning paradigms. Such challenges include, for example, the discrepant requirements of electroencephalography (EEG) and electrodermal activity (EDA) recordings with regard to multiple repetitions of conditions and sufficient trial duration. Here, we propose a MultiCS conditioning set-up, in which we increased the number of CSs, decreased the number of learning trials, and used trials of short and long durations for meeting requirements of simultaneous EEG–EDA recording in a differential aversive conditioning task. Forty-eight participants underwent MultiCS conditioning, in which four neutral faces (CS+) were paired four times each with aversive electric stimulation (unconditioned stimulus) during acquisition, while four different neutral faces (CS−) remained unpaired. When comparing after relative to before learning measurements, EEG revealed an enhanced centro-posterior positivity to CS+ vs. CS− during 368–600 ms, and subjective ratings indicated CS+ to be less pleasant and more arousing than CS−. Furthermore, changes in CS valence and arousal were strong enough to bias subjective ratings when faces of CS+/CS− identity were displayed with different emotional expression (happy, angry) in a post-experimental behavioral task. In contrast to a persistent neural and evaluative CS+/CS− differentiation that sustained multiple unreinforced CS presentations, electrodermal differentiation was rapidly extinguished. Current results suggest that MultiCS conditioning provides a promising paradigm for investigating pre–post-learning changes under minimal influences of extinction and overlearning of simple stimulus features. Our data also revealed methodological pitfalls, such as the possibility of occurring artifacts when combining different acquisition systems for central and peripheral

FEATURE 3, LARGE GUN POSITION, SHOWING MULTIPLE COMPARTMENTS, VIEW FACING ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

FEATURE 3, LARGE GUN POSITION, SHOWING MULTIPLE COMPARTMENTS, VIEW FACING SOUTH. - Naval Air Station Barbers Point, Anti-Aircraft Battery Complex-Large Gun Position, East of Coral Sea Road, northwest of Hamilton Road, Ewa, Honolulu County, HI

Challenges for health care providers, parents and patients who face a child hood cancer diagnosis in Zambia.

PubMed

Walubita, Mulima; Sikateyo, Bornwell; Zulu, Joseph M

2018-05-02

Zambia is experiencing high prevalence of childhood cancer. However, very few children access and complete treatment for cancer. This study aimed to document the challenges for health care providers, parents and patients who face a child hood cancer diagnosis in Zambia, and their coping strategies. This was an exploratory health facility-based qualitative study that was conducted at a Paediatric oncology ward at referral hospital in Zambia. In-depth individual interviews conducted with fifteen (15) caregivers and seven (7) key informants were analysed using thematic analysis. Several challenges related to managing the childhood cancer diagnosis were recorded. Individual and family challenges were inadequate knowledge on childhood cancer, lack of finances to meet treatment and transport costs as well as long period of hospitalisation that affected women's ability to perform multiple responsibilities. Whereas challenges at community level were inadequate support to address emotional and physical distress and social stigmatisation experienced by caregivers. Health systems issues included inadequate specialised health workers, poor communication among health workers, limited space and beds as well as insufficient supplies such as blood. Cultural related factors were the belief that cancer is a product of witchcraft as well as religious beliefs regarding the role of faith healing in childhood cancer treatment. Coping strategies used by parents/ caregivers included praying to God, material support from organisations and church as well as delaying having another child. Addressing the challenges for health care providers, parents and patients who face a childhood cancer diagnosis may require adopting a systems or an ecological approach that allows developing strategies that simultaneously address challenges related to the individual, family, community, health system and cultural aspects.

Voicing the Challenges Faced by an Innovative Teacher Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moate, Josephine

2011-01-01

This research draws on sociocultural theories of learning and activity theory to explore the challenges faced by an innovative community of teachers in Central Finland. The aim of the teacher community was to develop a stream of foreign-language (FL)-mediated teaching and learning in the locality from kindergarten to upper secondary level. To…

Challenges and Concerns Faced by Doctoral Candidates Seeking Academic Positions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Porter, Dion; Donnell, Chandra; Buck, Tina; Edwards, Yolanda

A panel discussion offered suggestions and recommendations for faculty and institutions of rehabilitation counseling education on more effective recruitment methods. Strategies were also considered for potential faculty members. Candidates seeking academic positions in rehabilitation counseling education face many challenges. Location of program;…

FEATURE 3, LARGE GUN POSITION, SHOWING MULTIPLE COMPARTMENTS, VIEW FACING ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

FEATURE 3, LARGE GUN POSITION, SHOWING MULTIPLE COMPARTMENTS, VIEW FACING SOUTH (with scale stick). - Naval Air Station Barbers Point, Anti-Aircraft Battery Complex-Large Gun Position, East of Coral Sea Road, northwest of Hamilton Road, Ewa, Honolulu County, HI

A survey of real face modeling methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xiaoyue; Dai, Yugang; He, Xiangzhen; Wan, Fucheng

2017-09-01

The face model has always been a research challenge in computer graphics, which involves the coordination of multiple organs in faces. This article explained two kinds of face modeling method which is based on the data driven and based on parameter control, analyzed its content and background, summarized their advantages and disadvantages, and concluded muscle model which is based on the anatomy of the principle has higher veracity and easy to drive.

But I Don't Understand You: One Faculty's Observations of the Challenges Facing International Healthcare Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DuBose, Cheryl O.

2017-01-01

International students face many challenges when pursuing a degree in higher education. Communication and cultural differences are typically cited as the most challenging aspects of any study abroad program. Students attempting to complete a healthcare program face sometimes insurmountable issues, as communication, cultural differences, and…

The Challenges Faced by Chinese Higher Education as It Expands in Scale

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xiaohao, Ding

2004-01-01

This article reports the challenges faced by Chinese higher education as it expands in scale. The scale of China's higher education has seen unprecedented expansion in recent years. This article explores the new opportunities and challenges that such expansion brings to China's higher education. The author states that, aside from the many…

Toward a Social Psychophysics of Face Communication.

PubMed

Jack, Rachael E; Schyns, Philippe G

2017-01-03

As a highly social species, humans are equipped with a powerful tool for social communication-the face. Although seemingly simple, the human face can elicit multiple social perceptions due to the rich variations of its movements, morphology, and complexion. Consequently, identifying precisely what face information elicits different social perceptions is a complex empirical challenge that has largely remained beyond the reach of traditional methods. In the past decade, the emerging field of social psychophysics has developed new methods to address this challenge, with the potential to transfer psychophysical laws of social perception to the digital economy via avatars and social robots. At this exciting juncture, it is timely to review these new methodological developments. In this article, we introduce and review the foundational methodological developments of social psychophysics, present work done in the past decade that has advanced understanding of the face as a tool for social communication, and discuss the major challenges that lie ahead.

Challenges Faced by Maine School Districts in Providing High Quality Public Education. Research Brief

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silvernail, David L.; Linet, Sarah R.

2014-01-01

The goal of this study was to: (1) identify challenges faced by Maine school districts in providing high quality public education; (2) describe the magnitude of the challenges; and (3) identify areas where school districts were experiencing some success in meeting these challenges. The School Districts Challenge Survey was distributed online to…

Challenges Facing Principals in the First Year at Their Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bayar, Adem

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is to identify key challenges of practice that principals face. In line with this purpose, the researcher has employed a qualitative research methodology, interviewing principals working in Amasya district, over and above doing document analysis to collect detailed information concerning leadership and administration…

A Content Analysis Concerning the Studies on Challenges Faced by Novice Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kozikoglu, Ishak

2017-01-01

The purpose of this research is to analyze the studies concerning challenges faced by novice teachers in terms of various aspects and compare challenges according to location of the studies conducted in Turkey and abroad. A total of 30 research studies were included in detailed analysis. This is a descriptive study based on qualitative research…

Becoming a nurse faculty leader: facing challenges through reflecting, persevering and relating in new ways.

PubMed

Horton-Deutsch, Sara; Young, Patricia K; Nelson, Kristine A

2010-05-01

The aim of the present study was to explore the experience of becoming a nurse faculty leader. In a recent interpretation of 23 interviews conducted with nurse faculty leaders from across the United States about their experiences of becoming a leader three themes were identified: being thrust into leadership, taking risks and facing challenges. This interpretive phenomenological study further explicates three aspects of how nurse educators faced challenges in becoming and serving as a leader. Facing challenges meant reflecting, persevering through difficulties and learning to relate to others in new ways. Exemplars of participant experiences are provided for concreteness, to assist readers in determining how findings resonate with their own experience and how they can actualize this resonance in their own leadership practice. In the present study, reflecting, persevering through difficulties and learning to relate with others in a new way was how leaders faced challenges. Leadership development opportunities that facilitate self-exploration, caring and thoughtful interactions with others and values clarification serve as the foundation for becoming a nurse faculty leader who is, in turn, able to build leadership capacity in other individuals and organizations.

Strategies for the Challenges Facing Women in Higher Education Administration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rehnke, Mary Ann

Women administrators in higher education must deal not only with the usual challenges facing administrators (decision-making, resolving conflict, and advancing professionally), but also with the effects of sex stereotyping. Women are not seen as decision-makers, nor as conflict-resolvers, and are often viewed as supporting personnel rather than…

New Challenges Facing Universities in the Internet-Driven Global Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rajasingham, Lalita

2011-01-01

This paper explores some new challenges facing universities in a global multimediated Internet-based environment, as they seek alternative paradigms and options to remain true to their core business. At a time of rapid technological change, and contested, complex concepts associated with globalisation, knowledge is becoming a primary factor of…

Examining the Challenging Hindrances facing in the Construction Projects: South India’s Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Subramanyam, K.; Haridharan, M. K.

2017-07-01

Developing countries like India require a huge infrastructure to facilitate needs of the people. Construction industry provides several opportunities to the individuals. Construction manager work is to supervise and organize the construction activities in construction projects. Now a day construction manager facing challenges. This paper aimed to study the challenges facing by the construction manager in the perception of construction professionals. 39 variables were taken from the literature review which found to be severe impact on construction managers’ performance. Construction manager, project manager and site engineers are the respondents for this survey. Using SPSS, regression analysis was done and recognized significant challenges. These challenges were classified into 5 domains. In management challenges, resource availability and allocation, risks and uncertainties existing in the project onsite, top management support and cost constraints are the most significant variables. In skills requirement of a construction manager challenges, technical skills required to learn and adapt new technology in the project, decision making and planning according to the situation in site are the most significant variables. In performance challenges, implementation of tasks according to the plan is the important variable whereas in onsite challenges, manage project risks, develop project policies and procedures are the most important.

Solutions to Challenges Facing a University Digital Library and Press

PubMed Central

D'Alessandro, Michael P.; Galvin, Jeffrey R.; Colbert, Stephana I.; D'Alessandro, Donna M.; Choi, Teresa A.; Aker, Brian D.; Carlson, William S.; Pelzer, Gay D.

2000-01-01

During the creation of a university digital library and press intended to serve as a medical reference and education tool for health care providers and their patients, six distinct and complex digital publishing challenges were encountered. Over nine years, through a multidisciplinary approach, solutions were devised to the challenges of digital content ownership, management, mirroring, translation, interactions with users, and archiving. The result is a unique, author-owned, internationally mirrored, university digital library and press that serves as an authoritative medical reference and education tool for users around the world. The purpose of this paper is to share the valuable digital publishing lessons learned and outline the challenges facing university digital libraries and presses. PMID:10833161

The challenges facing wearable sensor systems.

PubMed

McAdams, Eric; Gehin, Claudine; Massot, Bertrand; McLaughlin, James

2012-01-01

It has been pointed out that, in spite of significant national and international funding programmes, there is a dearth of successfully commercialised wearable monitoring systems. Although problems such as financial reimbursement, device interoperability and the present lack of the required connected healthcare infrastructure are major hurdles to the provision of remote clinical monitoring of home-based patients, the "Mount Everest" of monitoring applications, why are wearable systems not already commercialised and used in less demanding applications? The numerous wearable systems which appear on the Web and even in the literature are, for the most part, basic prototypes unsuited to the demands of real-life applications. SMEs which do seek to commercialise clinically promising systems are unfortunately faced with many challenges and few as yet have survived long enough to successfully commercialise their innovations.

Exploring strategies to overcome extra-organisational challenges faced by community pharmacies in Sarawak, Malaysia.

PubMed

Kho, Boon Phiaw; Hassali, Mohamed Azmi; Lim, Ching Jou; Saleem, Fahad

2018-03-15

The aims of this research were to determine extra-organisational challenges (e.g. market competition, governing policies) faced by community pharmacies in Sarawak, the coping strategies employed to deal with these challenges and explore potential legislative changes that can attenuate the intensity of these challenges. Survey questionnaires (n = 184) were posted to all eligible community pharmacies in Sarawak, Malaysia. The questionnaire included sections on participants' demographic data, extra-organisational challenges faced, coping strategies employed and proposals to improve community pharmacy legislations. Items were constructed based on the findings of a prior qualitative research supplemented with relevant literature about these issues. High levels of homogeneity in responses were recorded on various extra-organisational challenges faced, particularly those economy-oriented. Strategic changes to counter these challenges were focused on pricing and product stocked, rather than services provision. Highly rated strategies included increasing discounts for customers (n = 54; 68%) and finding cheaper suppliers (n = 70; 88%). Legislative changes proposed that might increase their share of the pharmaceutical market were strongly supported by respondents, particularly about making it compulsory for general practitioners to provide patients the option to have their medicines dispensed in community pharmacies (n = 72; 90%). Current legislative conditions and Malaysian consumer mindset may have constrained the strategic choices of community pharmacies to deal with the strong extra-organisational challenges. A long-term multipronged approach to address these issues and increased involvement of community pharmacists themselves in this agenda are required to influence practice change. © 2018 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Accommodating Extension Clients Who Face Language, Vision, or Hearing Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Angima, Sam; Etuk, Lena; Maddy, Deborah

2016-01-01

A survey-based study explored approaches used by one land-grant university to meet the needs of Extension clients who face language, vision, or hearing challenges. In attempts to serve such clients, the greatest gaps existed for clients whose main language was Spanish, followed by those who had vision impairments and then those who had hearing…

Challenges faced by parents of children with learning disabilities in Opuwo, Namibia.

PubMed

Taderera, Clever; Hall, Herna

2017-01-01

Parenting children with learning disabilities requires a high level of knowledge and access to resources, information and services. In developing countries, however, these resources and services are not always available. Parents in Namibia, a developing country, therefore face challenges addressing children's learning and other developmental disabilities, including challenges related to preventative and supportive interventions. This research focuses on challenges faced by parents as they parent children with learning disabilities in Opuwo, Namibia. In-depth interviews were conducted with eight parents regarding the challenges they face in parenting their children with learning disabilities. Thematic analysis enabled the researchers to identify, analyse and report on themes that emerged from the qualitative interview data. Analysis of the interviews indicated that some participants had only a vague understanding of learning disabilities, as they did not have access to essential knowledge about this phenomenon. They also lacked an awareness of the availability of programmes, services and policies meant to benefit their children with learning disabilities. Participants voiced that they, their children with learning disabilities and community members have stereotypes and prejudices regarding learning disabilities. In this study, most of the children with learning disabilities were raised by single, unemployed parents who seemed to have access to less support from external sources than married couples parenting children with learning disabilities. These single parents are usually not married and because of lack of financial support from the other parent, the majority of them indicated that they struggle to meet the financial and material needs of their children. The researchers concluded that the participants in this study experience a range of challenges in parenting their children with learning disabilities. The main challenges emanate from financial instability, as

Challenges faced by parents of children with learning disabilities in Opuwo, Namibia

PubMed Central

Taderera, Clever

2017-01-01

Background Parenting children with learning disabilities requires a high level of knowledge and access to resources, information and services. In developing countries, however, these resources and services are not always available. Parents in Namibia, a developing country, therefore face challenges addressing children’s learning and other developmental disabilities, including challenges related to preventative and supportive interventions. Objective This research focuses on challenges faced by parents as they parent children with learning disabilities in Opuwo, Namibia. Method In-depth interviews were conducted with eight parents regarding the challenges they face in parenting their children with learning disabilities. Thematic analysis enabled the researchers to identify, analyse and report on themes that emerged from the qualitative interview data. Results Analysis of the interviews indicated that some participants had only a vague understanding of learning disabilities, as they did not have access to essential knowledge about this phenomenon. They also lacked an awareness of the availability of programmes, services and policies meant to benefit their children with learning disabilities. Participants voiced that they, their children with learning disabilities and community members have stereotypes and prejudices regarding learning disabilities. In this study, most of the children with learning disabilities were raised by single, unemployed parents who seemed to have access to less support from external sources than married couples parenting children with learning disabilities. These single parents are usually not married and because of lack of financial support from the other parent, the majority of them indicated that they struggle to meet the financial and material needs of their children. Conclusion The researchers concluded that the participants in this study experience a range of challenges in parenting their children with learning disabilities. The main

Finding a Trans-Affirmative Provider: Challenges Faced by Trans and Gender Diverse Psychologists and Psychology Trainees.

PubMed

Dickey, Lore M; Singh, Anneliese A

2017-08-01

This article explores some of the challenges faced by trans and gender diverse (TGD) individuals who not only are attempting to access trans-affirmative care, but who are also members of the very profession from which they are seeking services. The authors explore challenges related to finding supervision, accessing care for assessment services, and finding a provider for personal counseling. With each example, the authors unpack the challenges and also address the implications for training for all involved. Based on these challenges that TGD psychologists and trainees face in attempting to access care, the authors provide recommendations related to trans-affirmative training for psychologists. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Quality Assurance Challenges and Opportunities Faced by Private Universities in Zimbabwe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garwe, Evelyn Chiyevo

2014-01-01

The study sought to provide an understanding of the quality assurance challenges and opportunities faced by private universities in Zimbabwe. The study analyzed the factors determining provision of quality higher education in private universities and the resultant effects of failing to achieve the minimum acceptable standards. The author employed…

Ethical challenges facing veterinary professionals in Ireland: results from Policy Delphi with vignette methodology

PubMed Central

Magalhães-Sant'Ana, M.; More, S. J.; Morton, D. B.; Hanlon, A.

2016-01-01

Ethics is key to the integrity of the veterinary profession. Despite its importance, there is a lack of applied research on the range of ethical challenges faced by veterinarians. A three round Policy Delphi with vignette methodology was used to record the diversity of views on ethical challenges faced by veterinary professionals in Ireland. Forty experts, comprising veterinary practitioners, inspectors and nurses, accepted to participate. In round 1, twenty vignettes describing a variety of ethically challenging veterinary scenarios were ranked in terms of ethical acceptability, reputational risk and perceived standards of practice. Round 2 aimed at characterising challenges where future policy development or professional guidance was deemed to be needed. In round 3, possible solutions to key challenges were explored. Results suggest that current rules and regulations are insufficient to ensure best veterinary practices and that a collective approach is needed to harness workable solutions for the identified ethical challenges. Challenges pertaining mostly to the food chain seem to require enforcement measures whereas softer measures that promote professional discretion were preferred to address challenges dealing with veterinary clinical services. These findings can support veterinary representative bodies, advisory committees and regulatory authorities in their decision making, policy and regulation. PMID:27613779

Ethical challenges facing veterinary professionals in Ireland: results from Policy Delphi with vignette methodology.

PubMed

Magalhães-Sant'Ana, M; More, S J; Morton, D B; Hanlon, A

2016-10-29

Ethics is key to the integrity of the veterinary profession. Despite its importance, there is a lack of applied research on the range of ethical challenges faced by veterinarians. A three round Policy Delphi with vignette methodology was used to record the diversity of views on ethical challenges faced by veterinary professionals in Ireland. Forty experts, comprising veterinary practitioners, inspectors and nurses, accepted to participate. In round 1, twenty vignettes describing a variety of ethically challenging veterinary scenarios were ranked in terms of ethical acceptability, reputational risk and perceived standards of practice. Round 2 aimed at characterising challenges where future policy development or professional guidance was deemed to be needed. In round 3, possible solutions to key challenges were explored. Results suggest that current rules and regulations are insufficient to ensure best veterinary practices and that a collective approach is needed to harness workable solutions for the identified ethical challenges. Challenges pertaining mostly to the food chain seem to require enforcement measures whereas softer measures that promote professional discretion were preferred to address challenges dealing with veterinary clinical services. These findings can support veterinary representative bodies, advisory committees and regulatory authorities in their decision making, policy and regulation. British Veterinary Association.

Challenges faced by international nurses when migrating: an integrative literature review.

PubMed

Pung, L-X; Goh, Y-S

2017-03-01

Results from this literature review were used to identify the challenges faced by international nurses in their host countries following migration. The increasing strain of nursing shortages in the healthcare system has led to the recruitment of international nurses among many countries. However, following migration, international nurses are faced with challenges that may result in poor integration with their host countries. Using Cooper's five stages for integrative research reviews, a literature search was conducted across seven databases using a PRISMA search strategy. Additional manual searches were also conducted on the end-references of the retrieved articles. The authors then independently reviewed the selected articles using the Joanna Briggs Institute appraisal form to extract and generate the themes for the review. Twenty-four articles were selected for the review. The themes generated included: (i) difficulty orientating; (ii) a longing for what is missing; (iii) professional development and devaluing; (iv) communication barriers; (v) discrimination and marginalization; (vi) personal and professional differences; and (vii) a meaningful support system. By identifying the challenges faced by international nurses, interventions that ensure equal treatment (e.g. multifaceted transition programmes and culturally sensitive 'buddy' systems) can be implemented to help international nurses adapt to their new environments. Adequate communication can be achieved by encouraging international nurses to speak English and learn the colloquial language and non-verbal behaviours used by native nurses. With good integration international nurses may be able to reach their full career potential as professional nurses in their host countries. The adaptation process is a dynamic process that requires effort from both international and native nurses. Thus, any strategies that are developed and implemented must be multifaceted. © 2016 International Council of Nurses.

Challenges facing European agriculture and possible biotechnological solutions.

PubMed

Ricroch, Agnès; Harwood, Wendy; Svobodová, Zdeňka; Sági, László; Hundleby, Penelope; Badea, Elena Marcela; Rosca, Ioan; Cruz, Gabriela; Salema Fevereiro, Manuel Pedro; Marfà Riera, Victoria; Jansson, Stefan; Morandini, Piero; Bojinov, Bojin; Cetiner, Selim; Custers, René; Schrader, Uwe; Jacobsen, Hans-Joerg; Martin-Laffon, Jacqueline; Boisron, Audrey; Kuntz, Marcel

2016-10-01

Agriculture faces many challenges to maximize yields while it is required to operate in an environmentally sustainable manner. In the present study, we analyze the major agricultural challenges identified by European farmers (primarily related to biotic stresses) in 13 countries, namely Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, UK and Turkey, for nine major crops (barley, beet, grapevine, maize, oilseed rape, olive, potato, sunflower and wheat). Most biotic stresses (BSs) are related to fungi or insects, but viral diseases, bacterial diseases and even parasitic plants have an important impact on yield and harvest quality. We examine how these challenges have been addressed by public and private research sectors, using either conventional breeding, marker-assisted selection, transgenesis, cisgenesis, RNAi technology or mutagenesis. Both national surveys and scientific literature analysis followed by text mining were employed to evaluate genetic engineering (GE) and non-GE approaches. This is the first report of text mining of the scientific literature on plant breeding and agricultural biotechnology research. For the nine major crops in Europe, 128 BS challenges were identified with 40% of these addressed neither in the scientific literature nor in recent European public research programs. We found evidence that the private sector was addressing only a few of these "neglected" challenges. Consequently, there are considerable gaps between farmer's needs and current breeding and biotechnology research. We also provide evidence that the current political situation in certain European countries is an impediment to GE research in order to address these agricultural challenges in the future. This study should also contribute to the decision-making process on future pertinent international consortia to fill the identified research gaps.

Challenges Faced and Support Received: Older Adults' Perceptions of Hurricane Sandy.

PubMed

Heid, Allison R; Schug, Seran; Cartwright, Francine P; Pruchno, Rachel

2017-02-01

Individuals exposed to natural disasters are at risk for negative physical and psychological outcomes. Older adults may be particularly vulnerable; however, social support can act as a resource to help individuals respond to severe stressors. This study explored the challenges older people faced before, during, and after Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 and the people they turned to for support. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 older adults in New Jersey drawn from the ORANJ BOWL (Ongoing Research on Aging in New Jersey - Bettering Opportunities for Wellness in Life) research panel, who experienced high levels of primary home damage during Hurricane Sandy. Content analysis of interview transcripts classified older adults' perceptions on how they "made it" through-the challenges they faced and the support they received. The findings suggested that older adults experienced emotional, instrumental, social, and financial challenges before, during, and after the storm. However, by relying on family and friends, as well as neighbors and community networks, older people were able to respond to stressors. Our findings carry implications for ensuring that older adults are connected to social networks before, during, and after disasters. The role of neighbors is particularly important when disasters strike. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:39-47).

Intimate partner violence and challenges facing women living with HIV/AIDS in accessing antiretroviral treatment at Singida Regional Hospital, central Tanzania

PubMed Central

Kosia, Agnes; Kakoko, Deodatus; Semakafu, Ave Maria Emilius; Nyamhanga, Tumaini; Frumence, Gasto

2016-01-01

Background Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a global public health problem. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected by HIV/AIDS in the world. Globally, and in Tanzania in particular, women are more affected by HIV/AIDS than men. Tanzania has been reported to be among the countries with the highest burden of intimate partner violence (IPV). This study explored the challenges facing women living with HIV/AIDS (LWHA) attending the care and treatment clinic (CTC) in Singida Regional Hospital in Tanzania. Design A qualitative study was performed in which data were collected through in-depth interviews with 35 women LWHA who also experienced IPV. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. Results The study findings showed that women LWHA experienced challenges from their male partners in the form of lack of fare to attend CTC, delayed attendance to CTC, verbal threats and intimidation, mistrust partner resulting in changed antiretroviral (ARV) dosing time. Also, systemic challenges such as malfunction of CD4 count testing apparatus contributed to mistrust from their male partners which led to IPV. Conclusion In this study, women LWHA experienced IPV challenges that resulted in poor adherence to ARV medication and CTC attendance, as well as insufficient time to collect ARV medication. It is recommended that the government address systemic challenges faced by women LWHA, introduce multiple approaches to address the needs of women LWHA experiencing IPV, and develop strong policies to prevent IPV against women in Tanzania, regardless of their HIV status. PMID:27987296

Challenges Faced by a Faith-Based School in a Rural, Predominantly Secular Setting: Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evangelinou-Yiannakis, Angela

2016-01-01

A new, independent Catholic school in rural Australia has had to face significant challenges in relation to its distinct Catholic ethos and curriculum. The challenges have included resistance from parents of the School with regard to the weekly time allocation for Religious Education, the nature of the faith-based curriculum, and the way in which…

Compulsive exercise: links, risks and challenges faced

PubMed Central

Lichtenstein, Mia Beck; Hinze, Cecilie Juul; Emborg, Bolette; Thomsen, Freja; Hemmingsen, Simone Daugaard

2017-01-01

Compulsive exercise is a condition described since 1970s. It is characterized by a craving for physical training, resulting in uncontrollable excessive exercise behavior with harmful consequences, such as injuries and impaired social relations. It has not been accepted as a mental disorder in either International Classification of Diseases or Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The aim of this literature review was to critically examine the research on links (comorbidity), risks (negative consequences), and challenges faced (problems in a treatment context). This review found that compulsive exercise is associated with eating disorder pathology, perfectionism, neuroticism, narcissism, and obsessive compulsive traits. The most prominent negative consequences were injuries, social impairment, and depression, but more research is needed to uncover the potential dysfunction resulting from compulsive exercise. As the condition is not recognized as a psychiatric disorder, studies on treatment interventions are sparse. Problems with compliance have been reported; therefore, motivational interviewing has been proposed as a treatment approach, in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy. This review summarizes and discusses findings on links/comorbidity, risks/negative consequences, and treatment challenges. We suggest that future studies should pay attention to both prevention and counseling in sports settings, where compulsive exercise appears, as the condition may be associated with harmful consequences. PMID:28435339

Compulsive exercise: links, risks and challenges faced.

PubMed

Lichtenstein, Mia Beck; Hinze, Cecilie Juul; Emborg, Bolette; Thomsen, Freja; Hemmingsen, Simone Daugaard

2017-01-01

Compulsive exercise is a condition described since 1970s. It is characterized by a craving for physical training, resulting in uncontrollable excessive exercise behavior with harmful consequences, such as injuries and impaired social relations. It has not been accepted as a mental disorder in either International Classification of Diseases or Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders . The aim of this literature review was to critically examine the research on links (comorbidity), risks (negative consequences), and challenges faced (problems in a treatment context). This review found that compulsive exercise is associated with eating disorder pathology, perfectionism, neuroticism, narcissism, and obsessive compulsive traits. The most prominent negative consequences were injuries, social impairment, and depression, but more research is needed to uncover the potential dysfunction resulting from compulsive exercise. As the condition is not recognized as a psychiatric disorder, studies on treatment interventions are sparse. Problems with compliance have been reported; therefore, motivational interviewing has been proposed as a treatment approach, in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy. This review summarizes and discusses findings on links/comorbidity, risks/negative consequences, and treatment challenges. We suggest that future studies should pay attention to both prevention and counseling in sports settings, where compulsive exercise appears, as the condition may be associated with harmful consequences.

Four Challenges That Global Health Networks Face

PubMed Central

Shiffman, Jeremy

2017-01-01

Global health networks, webs of individuals and organizations with a shared concern for a particular condition, have proliferated over the past quarter century. They differ in their effectiveness, a factor that may help explain why resource allocations vary across health conditions and do not correspond closely with disease burden. Drawing on findings from recently concluded studies of eight global health networks—addressing alcohol harm, early childhood development (ECD), maternal mortality, neonatal mortality, pneumonia, surgically-treatable conditions, tobacco use, and tuberculosis—I identify four challenges that networks face in generating attention and resources for the conditions that concern them. The first is problem definition: generating consensus on what the problem is and how it should be addressed. The second is positioning: portraying the issue in ways that inspire external audiences to act. The third is coalition-building: forging alliances with these external actors, particularly ones outside the health sector. The fourth is governance: establishing institutions to facilitate collective action. Research indicates that global health networks that effectively tackle these challenges are more likely to garner support to address the conditions that concern them. In addition to the effectiveness of networks, I also consider their legitimacy, identifying reasons both to affirm and to question their right to exert power. PMID:28812801

Analysis of Multiple-Impact Ballistic Performance of a Tempered Glass Laminate with a Strike Face Film

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-02-01

a 0.18 in thick polymer interlayer between two layers of 0.5 in tempered silica based “ soda lime ” glass . A 0.08 in shatter resistant film was...AFCEC-CX-TY-TR-2014-0005 ANALYSIS OF MULTIPLE-IMPACT BALLISTIC PERFORMANCE OF A TEMPERED GLASS LAMINATE WITH A STRIKE FACE FILM Michael A. Magrini...Interim Technical Report 3 JAN 2012 to 2 JAN 2013 Analysis of Multiple-Impact Ballistic Performance of A Tempered Glass Laminate with a Strike Face Film

Review of multiple-choice-questions and group performance - A comparison of face-to-face and virtual groups with and without facilitation

PubMed Central

Kazubke, Edda; Schüttpelz-Brauns, Katrin

2010-01-01

Background: Multiple choice questions (MCQs) are often used in exams of medical education and need careful quality management for example by the application of review committees. This study investigates whether groups communicating virtually by email are similar to face-to-face groups concerning their review process performance and whether a facilitator has positive effects. Methods: 16 small groups of students were examined, which had to evaluate and correct MCQs under four different conditions. In the second part of the investigation the changed questions were given to a new random sample for the judgement of the item quality. Results: There was no significant influence of the variables “form of review committee” and “facilitation”. However, face-to-face and virtual groups clearly differed in the required treatment times. The test condition “face to face without facilitation” was generally valued most positively concerning taking over responsibility, approach to work, sense of well-being, motivation and concentration on the task. Discussion: Face-to-face and virtual groups are equally effective in the review of MCQs but differ concerning their efficiency. The application of electronic review seems to be possible but is hardly recommendable because of the long process time and technical problems. PMID:21818213

Challenges Faced by Institutions of Higher Education in Migrating to Distance Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Broskoske, Stephen L.; Harvey, Francis A.

This paper presents the results of a research study conducted in fall 1999 to examine the challenges facing higher educational institutions in migrating to distance learning. The study consisted of five case studies conducted at higher educational institutions in Pennsylvania. At each institution the researchers interviewed the president and other…

Challenges Facing Women Academic Leadership in Secondary Schools of Irbid Educational Area

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Jaradat, Mahmoud Khaled Mohammad

2014-01-01

This study aimed at identifying the challenges facing women academic leadership in secondary schools of Irbid Educational Area. A random sample of 187 female leaders were chosen. They responded to a 49-item questionnaire prepared by the researcher. The items were distributed into four domains: organizational, personal, social and physical…

Challenges Facing Families at the End of Life in Three Settings

PubMed Central

Kehl, Karen A.; Kirchhoff, Karin T.; Kramer, Betty J.; Hovland-Scafe, Cyndi

2010-01-01

This study examined the challenges faced by family members at the end of life in different care settings and how those challenges compare across settings. A total of 30 participants, who had a family member die in inpatient hospice, a skilled nursing facility or a community support program were interviewed. Semi-structured interviews were recorded and transcribed. Text was coded using qualitative thematic analysis. Themes were determined by consensus. Twelve challenges were identified across care sites. Two themes emerged in all three settings: bearing witness and the experience of loss. The study findings contribute to our knowledge of family perceptions of care in different settings and raises awareness of the need for further research describing the experiences at the end of life in different settings and the importance of creating and testing interventions for both setting specific needs and universal issues. PMID:20563315

Challenges of International Students in a Japanese University: Ethnographic Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Ju Seong

2017-01-01

The author investigates what challenges four international students (Vietnamese, Filipino, Brazilian, and Chinese) faced and how they coped with these dilemmas in a Japanese language program during the first semester in 2014. Multiple apparatuses (e.g., field notes, face-to-face oral interviews, focal group conversations, and semi-structured…

Sponge systematics facing new challenges.

PubMed

Cárdenas, P; Pérez, T; Boury-Esnault, N

2012-01-01

Systematics is nowadays facing new challenges with the introduction of new concepts and new techniques. Compared to most other phyla, phylogenetic relationships among sponges are still largely unresolved. In the past 10 years, the classical taxonomy has been completely overturned and a review of the state of the art appears necessary. The field of taxonomy remains a prominent discipline of sponge research and studies related to sponge systematics were in greater number in the Eighth World Sponge Conference (Girona, Spain, September 2010) than in any previous world sponge conferences. To understand the state of this rapidly growing field, this chapter proposes to review studies, mainly from the past decade, in sponge taxonomy, nomenclature and phylogeny. In a first part, we analyse the reasons of the current success of this field. In a second part, we establish the current sponge systematics theoretical framework, with the use of (1) cladistics, (2) different codes of nomenclature (PhyloCode vs. Linnaean system) and (3) integrative taxonomy. Sponges are infamous for their lack of characters. However, by listing and discussing in a third part all characters available to taxonomists, we show how diverse characters are and that new ones are being used and tested, while old ones should be revisited. We then review the systematics of the four main classes of sponges (Hexactinellida, Calcispongiae, Homoscleromorpha and Demospongiae), each time focusing on current issues and case studies. We present a review of the taxonomic changes since the publication of the Systema Porifera (2002), and point to problems a sponge taxonomist is still faced with nowadays. To conclude, we make a series of proposals for the future of sponge systematics. In the light of recent studies, we establish a series of taxonomic changes that the sponge community may be ready to accept. We also propose a series of sponge new names and definitions following the PhyloCode. The issue of phantom species

DeitY-TU face database: its design, multiple camera capturing, characteristics, and evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhowmik, Mrinal Kanti; Saha, Kankan; Saha, Priya; Bhattacharjee, Debotosh

2014-10-01

The development of the latest face databases is providing researchers different and realistic problems that play an important role in the development of efficient algorithms for solving the difficulties during automatic recognition of human faces. This paper presents the creation of a new visual face database, named the Department of Electronics and Information Technology-Tripura University (DeitY-TU) face database. It contains face images of 524 persons belonging to different nontribes and Mongolian tribes of north-east India, with their anthropometric measurements for identification. Database images are captured within a room with controlled variations in illumination, expression, and pose along with variability in age, gender, accessories, make-up, and partial occlusion. Each image contains the combined primary challenges of face recognition, i.e., illumination, expression, and pose. This database also represents some new features: soft biometric traits such as mole, freckle, scar, etc., and facial anthropometric variations that may be helpful for researchers for biometric recognition. It also gives an equivalent study of the existing two-dimensional face image databases. The database has been tested using two baseline algorithms: linear discriminant analysis and principal component analysis, which may be used by other researchers as the control algorithm performance score.

Challenges Faced by Pre-Service Chemistry Teachers Teaching in a Laboratory and Their Solution Proposals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yalcin-Celik, Ayse; Kadayifci, Hakki; Uner, Sinem; Turan-Oluk, Nurcan

2017-01-01

This study examines the challenges faced by pre-service chemistry teachers teaching in a laboratory and their proposed solutions to these challenges. The study was conducted in a 13-week-long methodology course. Written statements from participants and observations from researchers were used as data sources. From these data, it was found that the…

Longitudinal Multiple Sclerosis Lesion Segmentation: Resource & Challenge

PubMed Central

Carass, Aaron; Roy, Snehashis; Jog, Amod; Cuzzocreo, Jennifer L.; Magrath, Elizabeth; Gherman, Adrian; Button, Julia; Nguyen, James; Prados, Ferran; Sudre, Carole H.; Cardoso, Manuel Jorge; Cawley, Niamh; Ciccarelli, Olga; Wheeler-Kingshott, Claudia A. M.; Ourselin, Sébastien; Catanese, Laurence; Deshpande, Hrishikesh; Maurel, Pierre; Commowick, Olivier; Barillot, Christian; Tomas-Fernandez, Xavier; Warfield, Simon K.; Vaidya, Suthirth; Chunduru, Abhijith; Muthuganapathy, Ramanathan; Krishnamurthi, Ganapathy; Jesson, Andrew; Arbel, Tal; Maier, Oskar; Handels, Heinz; Iheme, Leonardo O.; Unay, Devrim; Jain, Saurabh; Sima, Diana M.; Smeets, Dirk; Ghafoorian, Mohsen; Platel, Bram; Birenbaum, Ariel; Greenspan, Hayit; Bazin, Pierre-Louis; Calabresi, Peter A.; Crainiceanu, Ciprian M.; Ellingsen, Lotta M.; Reich, Daniel S.; Prince, Jerry L.; Pham, Dzung L.

2017-01-01

In conjunction with the ISBI 2015 conference, we organized a longitudinal lesion segmentation challenge providing training and test data to registered participants. The training data consisted of five subjects with a mean of 4.4 time-points, and test data of fourteen subjects with a mean of 4.4 time-points. All 82 data sets had the white matter lesions associated with multiple sclerosis delineated by two human expert raters. Eleven teams submitted results using state-of-the-art lesion segmentation algorithms to the challenge, with ten teams presenting their results at the conference. We present a quantitative evaluation comparing the consistency of the two raters as well as exploring the performance of the eleven submitted results in addition to three other lesion segmentation algorithms. The challenge presented three unique opportunities: 1) the sharing of a rich data set; 2) collaboration and comparison of the various avenues of research being pursued in the community; and 3) a review and refinement of the evaluation metrics currently in use. We report on the performance of the challenge participants, as well as the construction and evaluation of a consensus delineation. The image data and manual delineations will continue to be available for download, through an evaluation website1 as a resource for future researchers in the area. This data resource provides a platform to compare existing methods in a fair and consistent manner to each other and multiple manual raters. PMID:28087490

Multiple sclerosis therapeutic pipeline: opportunities and challenges.

PubMed

Krieger, Stephen

2011-01-01

The year 2010 marked the beginning of the era of oral medications for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, with the approval of dalfampridine to improve walking and fingolimod as the first oral disease-modifying agent. This review provides an overview of these and other emerging therapies, with an emphasis on the opportunities for new treatment paradigms they have the potential to offer, followed by a discussion of the challenges they will pose in the new era of multiple sclerosis management. Therapeutics in late-stage development for MS include non-selective immunosupressants, targeted immune-modulators, and monoclonal antibodies. Oral agents including cladribine, teriflunomide, laquinimod, and dimethyl fumarate, as well as monoclonal antibodies alemtuzumab, daclizumab, and rituximab are considered. Potential side effects and adverse event monitoring, including opportunistic infections, emergent malignancies, and other systemic consequences of immunosuppression are discussed in a unified section. Challenges of optimally staging, sequencing, and combining treatments in the expanding multiple sclerosis armamentarium are discussed. This review emphasizes the multifactorial decision making that these new therapeutics will warrant in terms of patient selection and personalization/individualization of therapy, and the increasingly interdisciplinary approach that will be necessitated by the new generation of agents. © 2011 Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Challenges Facing 3-D Audio Display Design for Multimedia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Begault, Durand R.; Null, Cynthia H. (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

The challenges facing successful multimedia presentation depend largely on the expectations of the designer and end user for a given application. Perceptual limitations in distance, elevation and azimuth sound source simulation differ significantly between headphone and cross-talk cancellation loudspeaker listening and therefore must be considered. Simulation of an environmental context is desirable but the quality depends on processing resources and lack of interaction with the host acoustical environment. While techniques such as data reduction of head-related transfer functions have been used widely to improve simulation fidelity, another approach involves determining thresholds for environmental acoustic events. Psychoacoustic studies relevant to this approach are reviewed in consideration of multimedia applications

Military Veterans Face Challenges in Accessing Educational Benefits at Florida Community Colleges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spiro, Rivka; Hill, Robert

2010-01-01

Florida's community colleges are seeing an influx of students who face unique challenges. They are the men and women who served in the military after the attacks of September 11, 2001, and who are now attending college on the new Post-9/11 GI Bill, with its greatly enhanced educational benefits, and on the expanded, old Montgomery GI Bill, which…

Applying the Rasch Model to Measure Acculturation Challenges Faced by Saudi Female Students in the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hakami, Samah Mohammed

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the major acculturation challenges faced by Saudi female students who study in the U.S. and to develop a scale to measure potential acculturation challenges. The construction of the scale was based on a table of specification that included nine domains of possible acculturation challenges: (a)…

Challenges Facing Canadian Federal Offenders Newly Released to the Community: A Concept Map

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Jason D.

2004-01-01

The purpose of the study was to describe the needs of newly released Canadian federal offenders as perceived by community parole supervisors. Seventy-four Canadian parole supervisors were asked to answer the following question: "What challenges do parolees face in the first 90 days after release?" The data were analyzed using…

Electronic health systems: challenges faced by hospital-based providers.

PubMed

Agno, Christina Farala; Guo, Kristina L

2013-01-01

The purpose of this article is to discuss specific challenges faced by hospitals adopting the use of electronic medical records and implementing electronic health record (EHR) systems. Challenges include user and information technology support; ease of technical use and software interface capabilities; compliance; and financial, legal, workforce training, and development issues. Electronic health records are essential to preventing medical errors, increasing consumer trust and use of the health system, and improving quality and overall efficiency. Government efforts are focused on ways to accelerate the adoption and use of EHRs as a means of facilitating data sharing, protecting health information privacy and security, quickly identifying emerging public health threats, and reducing medical errors and health care costs and increasing quality of care. This article will discuss physician and nonphysician staff training before, during, and after implementation; the effective use of EHR systems' technical features; the selection of a capable and secure EHR system; and the development of collaborative system implementation. Strategies that are necessary to help health care providers achieve successful implementation of EHR systems will be addressed.

Challenges facing developers of CAD/CAM models that seek to predict human working postures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiker, Steven F.

2005-11-01

This paper outlines the need for development of human posture prediction models for Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) design applications in product, facility and work design. Challenges facing developers of posture prediction algorithms are presented and discussed.

Tenured Women Counselor Educators at Research Universities: Navigating Multiple Roles and Personal Well-Being

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenberg, Melissa A.

2013-01-01

Women in academia navigate multiple professional and personal roles, and may face unique challenges to integrate their intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual selves. The narrative of constraint underscores the disadvantages, challenges, and inequities that women who are mothers and academics face in their lives. This lack of privilege…

Transition Program: The Challenges Faced by Special Needs Students in Gaining Work Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alias, Aliza

2014-01-01

Transition program for special needs students is known to open opportunities for students with learning disabilities to gain work experience in actual work environment. The program provides training activities and also an opportunity to go for internship to gain work experience. Therefore, this study is to identify the challenges faced by special…

Face recognition accuracy of forensic examiners, superrecognizers, and face recognition algorithms.

PubMed

Phillips, P Jonathon; Yates, Amy N; Hu, Ying; Hahn, Carina A; Noyes, Eilidh; Jackson, Kelsey; Cavazos, Jacqueline G; Jeckeln, Géraldine; Ranjan, Rajeev; Sankaranarayanan, Swami; Chen, Jun-Cheng; Castillo, Carlos D; Chellappa, Rama; White, David; O'Toole, Alice J

2018-06-12

Achieving the upper limits of face identification accuracy in forensic applications can minimize errors that have profound social and personal consequences. Although forensic examiners identify faces in these applications, systematic tests of their accuracy are rare. How can we achieve the most accurate face identification: using people and/or machines working alone or in collaboration? In a comprehensive comparison of face identification by humans and computers, we found that forensic facial examiners, facial reviewers, and superrecognizers were more accurate than fingerprint examiners and students on a challenging face identification test. Individual performance on the test varied widely. On the same test, four deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs), developed between 2015 and 2017, identified faces within the range of human accuracy. Accuracy of the algorithms increased steadily over time, with the most recent DCNN scoring above the median of the forensic facial examiners. Using crowd-sourcing methods, we fused the judgments of multiple forensic facial examiners by averaging their rating-based identity judgments. Accuracy was substantially better for fused judgments than for individuals working alone. Fusion also served to stabilize performance, boosting the scores of lower-performing individuals and decreasing variability. Single forensic facial examiners fused with the best algorithm were more accurate than the combination of two examiners. Therefore, collaboration among humans and between humans and machines offers tangible benefits to face identification accuracy in important applications. These results offer an evidence-based roadmap for achieving the most accurate face identification possible. Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Management challenges faced by managers of New Zealand long-term care facilities.

PubMed

Madas, E; North, N

2000-01-01

This article reports on a postal survey of 78 long-term care managers in one region of New Zealand, of whom 45 (58%) responded. Most long-term care managers (73.2%) were middle-aged females holding nursing but not management qualifications. Most long-term care facilities (69%) tended to be stand-alone facilities providing a single type of care (rest home or continuing care hospital). The most prominent issues facing managers were considered to be inadequate funding to match the growing costs of providing long-term care and occupancy levels. Managers believed that political/regulatory, economic and social factors influenced these issues. Despite a turbulent health care environment and the challenges facing managers, long-term care managers reported they were coping well and valued networking.

HIV and tuberculosis coinfection: a qualitative study of treatment challenges faced by care providers.

PubMed

Wannheden, C; Westling, K; Savage, C; Sandahl, C; Ellenius, J

2013-08-01

Infectious Diseases Department, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. To understand the challenges faced by nurses and physicians in the treatment of patients co-infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis (TB), with special focus on opportunities for information and communication technology. Using a qualitative study design, on-site observations and informal discussions were carried out to become acquainted with the clinical context. Seven nurses and six physicians were purposefully selected to participate in one-to-one in-depth interviews inspired by cognitive task analysis. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim, and analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Care providers faced challenges related to 1) the complexities inherent to TB-HIV co-treatment, 2) clinical knowledge and task standardisation, 3) care coordination and collaboration, 4) information management, and 5) engaging patients in their treatment. Support is needed on several levels to address the emerging burden of TB-HIV coinfection in Sweden. Educational material and tools need to be further developed to support care providers in making decisions about adequate care, and to support collaborative activities and communication among patients and care providers. Information and communication technology based solutions may provide an opportunity to address some of these challenges.

The challenges faced by living stock collections in the USA.

PubMed

McCluskey, Kevin; Boundy-Mills, Kyria; Dye, Greg; Ehmke, Erin; Gunnell, Gregg F; Kiaris, Hippokratis; Polihronakis Richmond, Maxi; Yoder, Anne D; Zeigler, Daniel R; Zehr, Sarah; Grotewold, Erich

2017-03-13

Many discoveries in the life sciences have been made using material from living stock collections. These collections provide a uniform and stable supply of living organisms and related materials that enhance the reproducibility of research and minimize the need for repetitive calibration. While collections differ in many ways, they all require expertise in maintaining living organisms and good logistical systems for keeping track of stocks and fulfilling requests for specimens. Here, we review some of the contributions made by living stock collections to research across all branches of the tree of life, and outline the challenges they face.

An exploration of opportunities and challenges facing cervical cancer managers in Kenya

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Kenya like other developing countries is low in resource setting and is facing a number of challenges in the management of cervical cancer. This study documents opportunities and challenges encountered in managing cervical cancer from the health care workers’ perspectives. A qualitative study was conducted among cervical cancer managers who were defined as nurses and doctors involved in operational level management of cervical cancer. The respondents were drawn from four provincial hospitals and the only two main National public referral hospitals in Kenya. Twenty one [21] nurse managers and twelve [12] medical doctors were interviewed using a standardized interview guide. The responses were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and the content analyzed in emerging themes. Findings Four themes were identified. Patient related challenges included a large number of patients, presenting in the late stage of disease, low levels of knowledge on cancer of the cervix, low levels of screening and a poor attitude towards screening procedure. Individual health care providers identified a lack of specialised training, difficulty in disclosure of diagnosis to patients, a poor attitude towards cervical cancer screening procedure and a poor attitude towards cervical cancer patients. Health facilities were lacking in infrastructure and medical supplies. Some managers felt ill-equipped in technological skills while the majority lacked access to the internet. Mobile phones were identified as having great potential for improving the management of cervical cancer in Kenya. Conclusion Kenya faces a myriad of challenges in the management of cervical cancer. The peculiar negative attitude towards screening procedure and the negative attitude of some managers towards cervical cancer patients need urgent attention. The potential use of mobile phones in cervical cancer management should be explored. PMID:23566436

Challenges and motivators to physical activity faced by retired men when ageing: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Bredland, Ebba Langum; Söderström, Sylvia; Vik, Kjersti

2018-05-15

Active ageing reflects the message from World Health Organisation about addressing the challenge faced by the rapidly ageing population. Knowledge about barriers and facilitators to an active lifestyle must be given more attention. In addition, men seem to participate less in cultural activities and less in fall-prevention groups than women do. When mostly women work with the elderly in primary care, one might question whether the activities offered to older men meet their activity preferences. The aim of this study is to provide new knowledge about challenges and motivators encountered by retired men in maintaining physical activity when ageing. Nine retired men, aged between 66 and 83, wrote a Time Geographic Diary for 7 days each. Two focus group discussions with the men were held. A Systemic Text Condensation was used to analyse the data. The analyses identified three categories to describe challenges in being physical active: differences between men and women; meaningful physical activity; and environmental - especially socio-cultural - constraints. Motivating conditions were seen as: new activities to get younger friends, and more information about how to cope. To achieve the aim of active ageing, service providers as well as local authorities need to have a better understanding of the challenges retired men encounter when ageing. This study highlights vital aspects of the challenges faced by retired men in maintaining their physical activity level.

Common Challenges Faced by Women of Color in Physics, and Actions Faculty Can Take to Minimize Those Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Angela; Ong, Maria; Ko, Lily T.; Smith, Janet; Hodari, Apriel

2017-09-01

Women of color are deeply underrepresented in physics. Between 2002 and 2012, only 1% of graduating physics majors were Black women and another 1% were Latinas; only 61 American Indian women total completed degrees in physics in those years (out of 48,000 physics majors). This isolation can lead to additional obstacles that women of color majoring in physics must face above and beyond the challenging material. In this article we draw on qualitative findings to describe common obstacles women of color face. However, departments can take deliberate steps so that underrepresentation need not turn into loneliness and isolation. We describe the characteristics of a department where women of color report that they are thriving. We end with concrete steps physics faculty can take to support women physics majors of color.

Community health workers in rural India: analysing the opportunities and challenges Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) face in realising their multiple roles.

PubMed

Saprii, Lipekho; Richards, Esther; Kokho, Puni; Theobald, Sally

2015-12-09

Globally, there is increasing interest in community health worker's (CHW) performance; however, there are gaps in the evidence with respect to CHWs' role in community participation and empowerment. Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), whose roles include social activism, are the key cadre in India's CHW programme which is designed to improve maternal and child health. In a diverse country like India, there is a need to understand how the ASHA programme operates in different underserved Indian contexts, such as rural Manipur. We undertook qualitative research to explore stakeholders' perceptions and experiences of the ASHA scheme in strengthening maternal health and uncover the opportunities and challenges ASHAs face in realising their multiple roles in rural Manipur, India. Data was collected through in-depth interviews (n = 18) and focus group discussions (n = 3 FGDs, 18 participants). Participants included ASHAs, key stakeholders and community members. They were purposively sampled based on remoteness of villages and primary health centres to capture diverse and relevant constituencies, as we believed experiences of ASHAs can be shaped by remoteness. Data were analysed using the thematic framework approach. Findings suggested that ASHAs are mostly understood as link workers. ASHA's ability to address the immediate needs of rural and marginalised communities meant that they were valued as service providers. The programme is perceived to be beneficial as it improves awareness and behaviour change towards maternal care. However, there are a number of challenges; the selection of ASHAs is influenced by power structures and poor community sensitisation of the ASHA programme presents a major risk to success and sustainability. The primary health centres which ASHAs link to are ill-equipped. Thus, ASHAs experience adverse consequences in their ability to inspire trust and credibility in the community. Small and irregular monetary incentives demotivate

Technology survey on video face tracking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Tong; Gomes, Herman Martins

2014-03-01

With the pervasiveness of monitoring cameras installed in public areas, schools, hospitals, work places and homes, video analytics technologies for interpreting these video contents are becoming increasingly relevant to people's lives. Among such technologies, human face detection and tracking (and face identification in many cases) are particularly useful in various application scenarios. While plenty of research has been conducted on face tracking and many promising approaches have been proposed, there are still significant challenges in recognizing and tracking people in videos with uncontrolled capturing conditions, largely due to pose and illumination variations, as well as occlusions and cluttered background. It is especially complex to track and identify multiple people simultaneously in real time due to the large amount of computation involved. In this paper, we present a survey on literature and software that are published or developed during recent years on the face tracking topic. The survey covers the following topics: 1) mainstream and state-of-the-art face tracking methods, including features used to model the targets and metrics used for tracking; 2) face identification and face clustering from face sequences; and 3) software packages or demonstrations that are available for algorithm development or trial. A number of publically available databases for face tracking are also introduced.

The challenges facing midwifery educators in sustaining a future education workforce.

PubMed

Albarran, John W; Rosser, Elizabeth A

2014-08-01

national and international trends have identified concerns over the ability of health and social care workforces in meeting the needs of service users. Attention has increasingly been drawn to problems of recruiting and retaining professionals within higher education; however data in relation to the midwifery profession is scant. to examine the perceptions and experiences of midwifery educators, in south-west England, about the challenges facing them sustaining the education workforce of the future. a mixed methodology approach was adopted involving heads of midwifery education and midwife educators. midwifery participants were recruited from three higher education institutions in south west England. Data collection comprised of self-administered questionnaires plus individual qualitative interviews with heads of midwifery education (n=3), and tape recorded focus groups with midwife academics (n=19). Numerical data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Textual data were analysed for themes that represented the experiences and perspectives of participants. Ethics approval was granted by one University Ethics committee. demographic data suggests that within south-west England, there is a clear ageing population and few in possession of a doctorate within midwifery. The six identified sub-themes represented in the data describe challenges and tensions that midwifery academics experienced in their efforts to attract new recruits and retain those in post in a highly changing educational environment which demands more from a contracting workforce. there remain some serious challenges facing midwifery educators in sustaining the future education workforce, which if unresolved may jeopardise standards of education and quality of care women receive. Active succession planning and more radical approaches that embrace flexible careers will enable educational workforce to be sustained and by a clinically credible and scholarly orientated midwifery workforce. Copyright �

Fusing face-verification algorithms and humans.

PubMed

O'Toole, Alice J; Abdi, Hervé; Jiang, Fang; Phillips, P Jonathon

2007-10-01

It has been demonstrated recently that state-of-the-art face-recognition algorithms can surpass human accuracy at matching faces over changes in illumination. The ranking of algorithms and humans by accuracy, however, does not provide information about whether algorithms and humans perform the task comparably or whether algorithms and humans can be fused to improve performance. In this paper, we fused humans and algorithms using partial least square regression (PLSR). In the first experiment, we applied PLSR to face-pair similarity scores generated by seven algorithms participating in the Face Recognition Grand Challenge. The PLSR produced an optimal weighting of the similarity scores, which we tested for generality with a jackknife procedure. Fusing the algorithms' similarity scores using the optimal weights produced a twofold reduction of error rate over the most accurate algorithm. Next, human-subject-generated similarity scores were added to the PLSR analysis. Fusing humans and algorithms increased the performance to near-perfect classification accuracy. These results are discussed in terms of maximizing face-verification accuracy with hybrid systems consisting of multiple algorithms and humans.

"Accounting Education at a Crossroad in 2010" and "Challenges Facing Accounting Education in Australia"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Lange, Paul; Watty, Kim

2011-01-01

Of the various reports released in 2010, two purport to examine the state of accounting education in Australia. These are "Accounting Education at a Crossroad in 2010" and "Challenges Facing Accounting Education in Australia". Both were released as collaborations of the leading academic organisation, the Accounting and Finance…

Older Adult Spouses with Multiple Chronic Conditions: Challenges, Rewards, and Coping Strategies.

PubMed

Peacock, Shelley; Sethi, Bharati; Williams, Allison; Duggleby, Wendy; Bayly, Melanie; Swindle, Jenny; Ploeg, Jenny; Markle-Reid, Maureen

2017-06-01

There is a paucity of research exploring how spouses to older adults with multiple chronic conditions make meaning of their caregiving experience. For this study, we asked: What is the experience of spousal caregivers to persons with multiple chronic conditions? We applied Thorne's interpretive description approach, interviewing 18 spouses who provided a rich description of their caregiving experience; interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. Themes were categorized according to challenges encountered, rewards gleaned, and sustaining strategies employed by participants in caregiving to their spouse with multiple chronic conditions. Unique findings relate to the challenges inherent in decision-making within the context of multiple chronic conditions. This article begins to address the gap in the literature regarding the caregiving experience within the context of multiple chronic conditions.

The challenges faced by living stock collections in the USA

PubMed Central

McCluskey, Kevin; Boundy-Mills, Kyria; Dye, Greg; Ehmke, Erin; Gunnell, Gregg F; Kiaris, Hippokratis; Polihronakis Richmond, Maxi; Yoder, Anne D; Zeigler, Daniel R; Zehr, Sarah; Grotewold, Erich

2017-01-01

Many discoveries in the life sciences have been made using material from living stock collections. These collections provide a uniform and stable supply of living organisms and related materials that enhance the reproducibility of research and minimize the need for repetitive calibration. While collections differ in many ways, they all require expertise in maintaining living organisms and good logistical systems for keeping track of stocks and fulfilling requests for specimens. Here, we review some of the contributions made by living stock collections to research across all branches of the tree of life, and outline the challenges they face. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.24611.001 PMID:28266913

'Everyone has a secret they keep close to their hearts': challenges faced by adolescents living with HIV infection at the Kenyan coast.

PubMed

Abubakar, Amina; Van de Vijver, Fons J R; Fischer, Ronald; Hassan, Amin S; K Gona, Joseph; Dzombo, Judith Tumaini; Bomu, Grace; Katana, Khamis; Newton, Charles R

2016-02-29

The upsurge in the uptake of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has led to a significant increase in the survival of vertically acquired HIV infected children, many of whom are currently living into adolescence and early adulthood. However little if anything is known of the lived experiences and the challenges faced by HIV positive adolescents in the African context. We set out to investigate psychosocial challenges faced by HIV infected adolescents on the Kenyan coast. A total of 44 participants (12 HIV-infected adolescents, 7 HIV uninfected adolescents, and 25 key informants) took part in this qualitative study, using individually administered in-depth interviews. A framework approach was used to analyze the data using NVIVO software. We observed that the challenges faced by adolescents in rural Kenya could be placed into six major themes: poverty, poor mental and physical health, the lack of a school system that is responsive to their needs, challenges in how to disclose to peers and family members, high levels of stigma in its various forms, and challenges of medical adherence leading to the need for close monitoring. In this African community, vertically acquired HIV-infected adolescents face a complex set of social, economic and medical challenges. Our study points to the urgent need to develop multisectorial intervention support programmes to fully address these challenges.

Rural Teachers' Views: What Are Gender-Based Challenges Facing Free Primary Education in Lesotho?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morojele, Pholoho

2013-01-01

This paper gives prominence to rural teachers' accounts of gender-based challenges facing Free Primary Education in Lesotho. It draws on feminist interpretations of social constructionism to discuss factors within the Basotho communities that affect gender equality in the schools. The inductive analysis offered makes use of the data generated from…

Children at Risk of Neglect: Challenges Faced by Child Protection Practitioners in Guatemala City

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coope, Caroline M.; Theobald, Sally

2006-01-01

Objectives: The objectives were to (1) delineate the definition, common forms, and perceived risk factors contributing to child neglect in Guatemala from the perspective of different stakeholders and (2) identify the challenges faced by child protection practitioners in identifying children at risk of neglect within the context of Guatemala.…

Facing Our Energy Challenges in a New Era of Science (2011 EFRC Forum)

ScienceCinema

Dehmer, Patricia M.

2018-04-26

Patricia Dehmer, Deputy Director for Science Programs at DOE, opened the May 26, 2011 EFRC Forum session, 'Global Perspectives on Frontiers in Energy Research,' with the talk, 'Facing Our Energy Challenges in a New Era of Science.' In her presentation, Dr. Dehmer gave a tutorial on the energy challenges facing our Nation and showed how the DOE research portfolio addresses those issues. The 2011 EFRC Summit and Forum brought together the EFRC community and science and policy leaders from universities, national laboratories, industry and government to discuss 'Science for our Nation's Energy Future.' In August 2009, the Office of Science established 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers. The EFRCs are collaborative research efforts intended to accelerate high-risk, high-reward fundamental research, the scientific basis for transformative energy technologies of the future. These Centers involve universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit firms, singly or in partnerships, selected by scientific peer review. They are funded at $2 to $5 million per year for a total planned DOE commitment of $777 million over the initial five-year award period, pending Congressional appropriations. These integrated, multi-investigator Centers are conducting fundamental research focusing on one or more of several 'grand challenges' and use-inspired 'basic research needs' recently identified in major strategic planning efforts by the scientific community. The purpose of the EFRCs is to integrate the talents and expertise of leading scientists in a setting designed to accelerate research that transforms the future of energy and the environment.

Challenges facing the distribution of an artificial-intelligence-based system for nursing.

PubMed

Evans, S

1985-04-01

The marketing and successful distribution of artificial-intelligence-based decision-support systems for nursing face special barriers and challenges. Issues that must be confronted arise particularly from the present culture of the nursing profession as well as the typical organizational structures in which nurses predominantly work. Generalizations in the literature based on the limited experience of physician-oriented artificial intelligence applications (predominantly in diagnosis and pharmacologic treatment) must be modified for applicability to other health professions.

Generating virtual training samples for sparse representation of face images and face recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Yong; Wang, Yu

2016-03-01

There are many challenges in face recognition. In real-world scenes, images of the same face vary with changing illuminations, different expressions and poses, multiform ornaments, or even altered mental status. Limited available training samples cannot convey these possible changes in the training phase sufficiently, and this has become one of the restrictions to improve the face recognition accuracy. In this article, we view the multiplication of two images of the face as a virtual face image to expand the training set and devise a representation-based method to perform face recognition. The generated virtual samples really reflect some possible appearance and pose variations of the face. By multiplying a training sample with another sample from the same subject, we can strengthen the facial contour feature and greatly suppress the noise. Thus, more human essential information is retained. Also, uncertainty of the training data is simultaneously reduced with the increase of the training samples, which is beneficial for the training phase. The devised representation-based classifier uses both the original and new generated samples to perform the classification. In the classification phase, we first determine K nearest training samples for the current test sample by calculating the Euclidean distances between the test sample and training samples. Then, a linear combination of these selected training samples is used to represent the test sample, and the representation result is used to classify the test sample. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms some state-of-the-art face recognition methods.

Challenges Facing Global Health Networks: The NCD Alliance Experience Comment on "Four Challenges that Global Health Networks Face".

PubMed

Dain, Katie

2017-08-07

Successful prevention and control of the epidemic of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) cannot be achieved by the health sector alone: a wide range of organisations from multiple sectors and across government must also be involved. This requires a new, inclusive approach to advocacy and to coordinating, convening and catalysing action across civil society, best achieved by a broad-based network. This comment maps the experience of the NCD Alliance (NCDA) on to Shiffman's challenges for global health networks - framing (problem definition and positioning), coalition-building and governance - and highlights some further areas overlooked in his analysis. © 2018 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Oral Academic Discourse Socialisation: Challenges Faced by International Undergraduate Students in a Malaysian Public University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahfoodh, Omer Hassan Ali

2014-01-01

This paper reports a qualitative study which examines the challenges faced by six international undergraduate students in their socialisation of oral academic discourse in a Malaysian public university. Data were collected employing interviews. Students' presentations were also collected. Semi-structured interviews were transcribed verbatim and…

Total Face, Eyelids, Ears, Scalp, and Skeletal Subunit Transplant: A Reconstructive Solution for the Full Face and Total Scalp Burn.

PubMed

Sosin, Michael; Ceradini, Daniel J; Levine, Jamie P; Hazen, Alexes; Staffenberg, David A; Saadeh, Pierre B; Flores, Roberto L; Sweeney, Nicole G; Bernstein, G Leslie; Rodriguez, Eduardo D

2016-07-01

Reconstruction of extensive facial and scalp burns can be increasingly challenging, especially in patients that have undergone multiple procedures with less than ideal outcomes resulting in restricting neck and oral contractures, eyelid dysfunction, and suboptimal aesthetic appearance. To establish a reconstructive solution for this challenging deformity, a multidisciplinary team was assembled to develop the foundation to a facial vascularized composite allotransplantation program. The strategy of developing and executing a clinical transplant was derived on the basis of fostering a cohesive and supportive institutional clinical environment, implementing computer software and advanced technology, establishing a cadaveric transplant model, performing a research facial procurement, and selecting an optimal candidate with the aforementioned burn defect who was well informed and had the desire to undergo face transplantation. Approval from the institutional review board and organ procurement organization enabled our face transplant team to successfully perform a total face, eyelids, ears, scalp, and skeletal subunit transplant in a 41-year-old man with a full face and total scalp burn. The culmination of knowledge attained from previous experiences continues to influence the progression of facial vascularized composite allotransplantation. This surgical endeavor methodically and effectively synchronized the fundamental principles of aesthetic, craniofacial, and microvascular surgery to restore appearance and function to a patient suffering from failed conventional surgery for full face and total scalp burns. This procedure represents the most extensive soft-tissue clinical face transplant performed to date. Therapeutic, V.

Western United States Dams Challenges Faced, Options, and Opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raff, D.

2017-12-01

Water management in the Western United States relies significantly upon a fleet of small to very large engineered dams to store water during times of runoff and distribute that water during times of need. Much of this infrastructure is Federally owned and/or operated, and was designed and funded during the first half of the twentieth century through a complex set of repayment contracts for Federally authorized purposes addressing water supply, recreation, and hydropower, and other water management objectives. With environmental laws, namely the Endangered Species Act, and other environmental concerns taking a more active role in water resources in the mid to latter half of the twentieth century, this infrastructure is being stressed even greater than anticipated to provide authorized purposes. Additionally, weather and climate norms being experienced are certainly near the edges, if not outside, of anticipated variability in the climate and hydrology scenarios for which the infrastructure was designed. And, finally, these dams, economically designed for a lifespan of 50 - 100 years, are experiencing maintenance challenges from routine to significant. This presentation will focus on identifying some of the history and challenges facing the water infrastructure in the Western United States. Additionally, some perspectives on future paths to meet the needs of western irrigation and hydropower production will be provided.

Challenges and issues facing the future of nursing education: implications for ethnic minority faculty and students.

PubMed

Davis, Sheila P; Davis, Danyetta D

2010-01-01

Current trends in higher education in the United States demand that nursing take stock of how it is prepared or being prepared to face challenges and issues impacting on its future. The intense effort made to attract students to pursue advanced training in science and engineering in the United States pales in comparison to the numbers of science and engineering majors produced yearly in international schools. As a result, more and more jobs are being outsourced to international markets. Could international outsourcing become a method of nursing education? Authors submit that to remain competitive, the nursing profession must attract a younger cohort of technologically savvy students and faculty reflective of the growing diverse population in the United States. Additionally, nursing programs in research universities face even more daunting challenges as it relates to mandates for funded research programs of educational units. This article offers suggestions and recommendations for nursing programs in higher education institutions on ways to attract and retain ethnic minorities and of how to harness the power of research to address burgeoning societal health challenges.

Effects of exposure to facial expression variation in face learning and recognition.

PubMed

Liu, Chang Hong; Chen, Wenfeng; Ward, James

2015-11-01

Facial expression is a major source of image variation in face images. Linking numerous expressions to the same face can be a huge challenge for face learning and recognition. It remains largely unknown what level of exposure to this image variation is critical for expression-invariant face recognition. We examined this issue in a recognition memory task, where the number of facial expressions of each face being exposed during a training session was manipulated. Faces were either trained with multiple expressions or a single expression, and they were later tested in either the same or different expressions. We found that recognition performance after learning three emotional expressions had no improvement over learning a single emotional expression (Experiments 1 and 2). However, learning three emotional expressions improved recognition compared to learning a single neutral expression (Experiment 3). These findings reveal both the limitation and the benefit of multiple exposures to variations of emotional expression in achieving expression-invariant face recognition. The transfer of expression training to a new type of expression is likely to depend on a relatively extensive level of training and a certain degree of variation across the types of expressions.

[Brazilian Army nurses and transportation of the wounded: a challenge faced during World War II].

PubMed

Bernardes, Margarida Maria Rocha; Lopes, Gertrudes Teixeira

2007-01-01

This historic-sociologic study aims to analyse the challenges faced by the Brazilian Expeditionary Force's Air Transportation Nurses of the Army with the Theatre of Operations on the course of World War II. The primary source was comprised of a photograph from this time period and oral testimonies of those who participated in the conflict. Ideas by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu support the discussion. Results suggest that Brazilian nurses were challenged to transport the wounded without medical advice. We conclude that the challenge to fulfill the task imposed, which led to independent decision-making, gave confidence and autonomy to the ones already responsible for the transportation of the wounded.

Information Technology Challenges Facing the Strategic Leaders of Homeland Security in the 21st Century

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-05-03

A special thanks to all of these folks (Glenn Starnes, Lee Gutierrez, Bill Rapp, Joel Hillison, Carlos Gomez, Steve Fraunfelter, Janie Hopkins, Dave ...DiClemente, Joe Nunez, John Bonin , and Steve Nerheim). viii INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES FACING THE STRATEGIC LEADERS OF HOMELAND SECURITY IN THE 21ST

Challenges Faced by Teachers Implementing Socio-Scientific Issues as Core Elements in Their Classroom Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bossér, Ulrika; Lundin, Mattias; Lindahl, Mats; Linder, Cedric

2015-01-01

Teachers may face considerable challenges when implementing socio-scientific issues (SSI) in their classroom practices, such as incorporating student-centred teaching practices and exploring knowledge and values in the context of socioscientific issues. This year-long study explores teachers' reflections on the process of developing their…

Challenges Pre-Service Teachers Face When Implementing a 5E Inquiry Model of Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Enugu, Ramya; Hokayem, Hayat

2017-01-01

This study examined the challenges that pre-service teachers faced when implementing inquiry and their perspective on how to overcome them. The data sample was 55 pre-service teachers (PSTs) enrolled into two sections of a science methods course in a private university in North Texas. The data sources consisted of inquiry-based lesson plans, PST…

Improving Response Rates among Students with Orthopedic and Multiple Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilkens, Christian P.; Kuntzler, Patrice M.; Cardenas, Shaun; O'Malley, Eileen; Phillips, Carolyn; Singer, Jacqueline; Stoeger, Alex; Kindler, Keith

2014-01-01

One challenge teachers of students with orthopedic and multiple disabilities face is providing sufficient time and opportunity to communicate. This challenge is universal across countries, schools, and settings: teachers want students to communicate because communication lies at the core of what makes us human. Yet students with orthopedic and…

Low-frequency and multiple-bands sound insulation using hollow boxes with membrane-type faces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Wei-wei; Fan, Li; Ma, Ren-hao; Zhang, Hui; Zhang, Shu-yi

2018-04-01

Hollow boxes with their faces made up of elastic membranes are used to block acoustic waves. It is demonstrated that placing a cuboid membrane-type box inside a pipe can effectively insulate acoustic waves even if the box is smaller than the cross-section of the pipe. The sound insulation is achieved within multiple frequency-bands below 500 Hz based on different mechanisms, which originate from the coaction of the cavity, membrane-type faces, and the intervals between the box and pipe walls. Furthermore, by adjusting the structural parameters and establishing an array of boxes, we can achieve better sound insulation at more frequency-bands.

Challenges Faced by Preceptors Serving in Dual Roles as Health Care Providers and Clinical Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dodge, Thomas; Mazerolle, Stephanie M.; Bowman, Thomas G.

2014-01-01

Context: Preceptors play an integral role in training athletic training students (ATSs). Balancing roles as health care providers and educators can often be challenging. Role strain is a documented concern for the preceptor, yet limited information is available regarding other issues faced while supervising ATSs. Objective: To explore preceptor…

How Can eHealth Technology Address Challenges Related to Multimorbidity? Perspectives from Patients with Multiple Chronic Conditions.

PubMed

Zulman, Donna M; Jenchura, Emily C; Cohen, Danielle M; Lewis, Eleanor T; Houston, Thomas K; Asch, Steven M

2015-08-01

Patient eHealth technology offers potential support for disease self-management, but the value of existing applications for patients with multiple chronic conditions (MCCs) is unclear. To understand self-management and health care navigation challenges that patients face due to MCCs and to identify opportunities to support these patients through new and enhanced eHealth technology. After administering a screening survey, we conducted 10 focus groups of 3-8 patients grouped by age, sex, and common chronic conditions. Patients discussed challenges associated with having MCCs and their use of (and desires from) technology to support self-management. Three investigators used standard content analysis methods to code the focus group transcripts. Emergent themes were reviewed with all collaborators, and final themes and representative quotes were validated with a sample of participants. Fifty-three individuals with ≥3 chronic conditions and experience using technology for health-related purposes. Focus group participants had an average of five chronic conditions. Participants reported using technology most frequently to search for health information (96%), communicate with health care providers (92%), track medical information (83%), track medications (77%), and support decision-making about treatment (55%). Three themes emerged to guide eHealth technology development: (1) Patients with MCCs manage a high volume of information, visits, and self-care tasks; (2) they need to coordinate, synthesize, and reconcile health information from multiple providers and about different conditions; (3) their unique position at the hub of multiple health issues requires self-advocacy and expertise. Focus groups identified desirable eHealth resources and tools that reflect these themes. Although patients with multiple health issues use eHealth technology to support self-care for specific conditions, they also desire tools that transcend disease boundaries. By addressing the holistic

Game Face

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weiner, Jill

2005-01-01

In this article, the author discusses "Game Face: Life Lessons Across the Curriculum", a teaching kit that challenges assumptions and builds confidence. Game Face, which is derived from a book and art exhibition, "Game Face: What Does a Female Athlete Look Like?", uses layered and powerful images of women and girls participating in sports to teach…

Talking about epilepsy: Challenges parents face when communicating with their child about epilepsy and epilepsy-related issues.

PubMed

O'Toole, Stephanie; Lambert, Veronica; Gallagher, Pamela; Shahwan, Amre; Austin, Joan K

2016-04-01

The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the challenges that parents of children with epilepsy experienced when engaging in dialog with their child about epilepsy and epilepsy-related issues. Using a qualitative exploratory approach, interviews were conducted with 34 parents of children with epilepsy (aged 6-16 years), consisting of 27 mothers and 7 fathers. Data were transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed. Findings revealed five main themes: normalizing epilepsy, the invisibility of epilepsy, information concealment, fear of misinforming the child, and difficulty in discussing particular epilepsy-related issues. Many of the communicative challenges experienced by parents impacted on their ability to engage openly in parent-child dialog about epilepsy in the home. Parents face specific challenges when choosing to communicate with their child about epilepsy, relating to creating a sense of normality, reducing fear of causing their child worry, and having a lack of epilepsy-related knowledge. Healthcare professionals who work closely with families living with epilepsy should remain mindful of the importance of discussing family communication surrounding epilepsy and the challenges parents of children with epilepsy face when talking about epilepsy within the home. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Challenges of self-management when living with multiple chronic conditions

PubMed Central

Liddy, Clare; Blazkho, Valerie; Mill, Karina

2014-01-01

Abstract Objective To explore the perspectives of patients who live with multiple chronic conditions as they relate to the challenges of self-management. Data sources On September 30, 2013, we searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL using relevant key words including chronic disease, comorbidity, multimorbidity, multiple chronic conditions, self-care, self-management, perspective, and perception. Study selection Three reviewers assessed and extracted the data from the included studies after study quality was rated. Qualitative thematic synthesis method was then used to identify common themes. Twenty-three articles met the inclusion criteria, with most coming from the United States. Synthesis Important themes raised by people living with multiple chronic conditions related to their ability to self-manage included living with undesirable physical and emotional symptoms, with pain and depression highlighted. Issues with conflicting knowledge, access to care, and communication with health care providers were raised. The use of cognitive strategies, including reframing, prioritizing, and changing beliefs, was reported to improve people’s ability to self-manage their multiple chronic conditions. Conclusion This study provides a unique view into patients’ perspectives of living with multiple chronic conditions, which are clearly linked to common functional challenges as opposed to specific diseases. Future policy and programming in self-management support should be better aligned with patients’ perspectives on living with multiple chronic conditions. This might be achieved by ensuring a more patient-centred approach is adopted by providers and health service organizations. PMID:25642490

Immigrant to Canada, newcomer to childhood cancer: a qualitative study of challenges faced by immigrant parents.

PubMed

Klassen, Anne F; Gulati, Sonia; Watt, Lisa; Banerjee, Ananya T; Sung, Lillian; Klaassen, Robert J; Dix, David; Poureslami, Iraj M; Shaw, Nicola

2012-05-01

Given the increasing numbers of immigrant families in Canada, it is imperative that healthcare providers (HCPs) understand the caregiving experiences of immigrant family caregivers. Our study aimed to explore any special challenges faced by immigrant parents of children with cancer and to identify supportive factors. A constructivist grounded theory approach was used. Participants included 50 first generation Chinese and South Asian parents of children with cancer who were at least six months post-diagnosis. Recruitment took place at six Canadian pediatric oncology centres. Interviews were conducted in English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Urdu, Punjabi or Hindi. Analysis involved coding and the use of the constant comparison method. Interviewing continued until no new themes emerged. While immigrant parents described many challenges faced by any parent of a child with cancer, the context of being an immigrant made certain experiences particularly challenging. Parents described challenges in the following areas: managing caregiving demand and financial strain, accessing support from others, and interfacing with the healthcare system. Parents described receiving a range of practical, emotional, social and informational support from extended family, their workplace, other cancer families, community organizations and HCPs. Our study addresses an important gap in the research literature by providing practical insight into the experiences of immigrant family caregivers. Our findings may help to inform the development of pediatric oncology policies and programs in ways that respond to the unique needs and challenges of culturally and linguistically diverse families. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Challenges Facing Crop Production And (Some) Potential Solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schnable, P. S.

2017-12-01

To overcome some of the myriad challenges facing sustainable crop production we are seeking to develop statistical models that will predict crop performance in diverse agronomic environments. Crop phenotypes such as yield and drought tolerance are controlled by genotype, environment (considered broadly) and their interaction (GxE). As a consequence of the next generation sequencing revolution genotyping data are now available for a wide diversity of accessions in each of the major crops. The necessary volumes of phenotypic data, however, remain limiting and our understanding of molecular basis of GxE is minimal. To address this limitation, we are collaborating with engineers to construct new sensors and robots to automatically collect large volumes of phenotypic data. Two types of high-throughput, high-resolution, field-based phenotyping systems and new sensors will be described. Some of these technologies will be introduced within the context of the Genomes to Fields Initiative. Progress towards developing predictive models will be briefly summarized. An administrative structure that fosters transdisciplinary collaborations will be briefly described.

First liver transplant in Qatar: an evolving program facing many challenges.

PubMed

Khalaf, Hatem; Derballa, Moataz; Elmasry, Mohammed; Khalil, Ahmed; Yakoob, Rafie; Almohannadi, Muneera; Almaslamani, Muna; Fadhil, Riadh; Al-Kaabi, Saad; Al-Ansari, Abdulla; Almaslamani, Yousuf

2013-10-01

Beginning to do liver transplants in a developing country is challenging. We report on the first few liver transplants performed in Qatar and discuss future exceptions and challenges facing our program. The first liver transplant was performed in Qatar on December 6, 2011. Since starting the program, 4 deceased-donor liver transplants have been performed in Qatar. All recipients underwent a standard deceased-donor liver transplant procedure, which included a duct-to-duct biliary anastomosis without a veno-venous bypass. All liver transplants were performed at the Hamad Medical Corporation by a local team of surgeons without external assistance. The 4 patients were all men, with a median age of 56 years (age range, 46-63 y). Indications for liver transplant included hepatitis C cirrhosis in 2 patients, and 1 patient with hepatitis B cirrhosis with hepatocellular carcinoma, and the other patient with cryptogenic liver cirrhosis. Median amount of blood transfused was 6 units (range, 0-10 U); median time spent in the intensive care unit was 2 days (range, 2-5 d); median amount of time spent in the hospital was 10 days (range, 9-16 d). All 4 recipients have survived after a median follow-up of 438 days (range, 33-602 d) and are enjoying a healthy life, with no significant posttransplant complications. A deceased-donor liver transplant can be performed in Qatar with no external assistance. However, a severe organ shortage remains the biggest obstacle facing us. Efforts should be directed toward improving the number and quality of available deceased donors in Qatar. Meanwhile, live-donor liver transplant may be the only way for us, going forward, to prevent deaths on the waiting list.

Challenges Facing Global Health Networks: The NCD Alliance Experience

PubMed Central

Dain, Katie

2018-01-01

Successful prevention and control of the epidemic of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) cannot be achieved by the health sector alone: a wide range of organisations from multiple sectors and across government must also be involved. This requires a new, inclusive approach to advocacy and to coordinating, convening and catalysing action across civil society, best achieved by a broad-based network. This comment maps the experience of the NCD Alliance (NCDA) on to Shiffman’s challenges for global health networks – framing (problem definition and positioning), coalition-building and governance – and highlights some further areas overlooked in his analysis. PMID:29524960

Nasal versus face mask for multiple-breath washout technique in preterm infants.

PubMed

Schulzke, S M; Deeptha, K; Sinhal, S; Baldwin, D N; Pillow, J J

2008-09-01

The large dead space associated with face masks might impede the accuracy and feasibility of multiple-breath washout (MBW) measurements in small infants. We asked if a low dead space nasal mask would provide measurements of resting lung volume and ventilation inhomogeneity comparable to those obtained with a face mask, when using the MBW technique. Unsedated preterm infants breathing without mechanical assistance and weighing between 1.50 and 2.49 kg were studied. Paired MBW tests with nasal and face masks were obtained using sulphur hexafluoride (SF(6)) as the tracer gas. The order of mask application was quasi-randomized. Bland-Altman method and intraclass correlation coefficient were used to analyze outcomes. Measurements were obtained in 20 infants with a mean (SD) postmenstrual age of 36 (1.4) w and a test weight of 2.0 (0.3) kg. The mean difference (95% CI) for nasal vs. face mask was -3.2 breaths/min (-6.2, -0.1 breaths/min) for respiratory rate, -1.0 ml/kg (-2.3, 0.3 ml/kg) for lung volume, 0.6 (0.1, 1.1) for lung clearance index, 0.2 (0.1, 0.3) for first to zeroeth moment ratio and 1.33 (0.6, 2.4) for second to zeroeth moment ratio. Paired measurements of lung volume showed acceptable agreement and good correlation, but there was poor agreement and poor correlation between indices of ventilation inhomogeneity obtained with the two masks. Functional dead space of the nasal mask was similar to that of the face mask despite its smaller water displacement volume. During MBW in infants below 2.5 kg body weight, a nasal mask results in comparable lung volume measurements. Indices of ventilation inhomogeneity may not be directly comparable using masks with different dead space. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Designing multiple ligands - medicinal chemistry strategies and challenges.

PubMed

Morphy, Richard; Rankovic, Zoran

2009-01-01

It has been widely recognised over the recent years that parallel modulation of multiple biological targets can be beneficial for treatment of diseases with complex etiologies such as cancer asthma, and psychiatric disease. In this article, current strategies for the generation of ligands with a specific multi-target profile (designed multiple ligands or DMLs) are described and a number of illustrative example are given. Designing multiple ligands is frequently a challenging endeavour for medicinal chemists, with the need to appropriately balance affinity for 2 or more targets whilst obtaining physicochemical and pharmacokinetic properties that are consistent with the administration of an oral drug. Given that the properties of DMLs are influenced to a large extent by the proteomic superfamily to which the targets belong and the lead generation strategy that is pursued, an early assessment of the feasibility of any given DML project is essential.

Challenges in the management of community pharmacies in Malaysia

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Background: The provision of professional pharmacy services by community pharmacists continues to be limited, particularly in low and middle income countries. It was postulated that multiple management challenges faced by community pharmacists contribute to this situation. Objective: The primary aim of the research was to determine the challenges faced in the management of community pharmacies in Sarawak (the largest state in Malaysia), and practical strategies to cope and overcome the challenges. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with community pharmacists practising in Sarawak. Purposive and snowball sampling were employed to ensure a diverse group of informants. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim, with the resultant data analysed using thematic analysis. Data collection, coding, interpretation were carried out iteratively until theoretical saturation. Results: Twenty respondents from different demographic characteristics were recruited. Six major themes were identified. Management challenges faced by community pharmacists traverse five major domains: market competition, legislative issues, customers’ knowledge and expectations, macroeconomic impacts and operational challenges. Most of these challenges require government intervention to be resolved. In the meantime, improving customer service and expanding the range of professional services were seen as the most viable strategies to cope with existing challenges. The main concern is that current legislative and economic landscape may hinder these strategies. Enactment of dispensing separation and more protective measures against market competition were suggested to alleviate the challenges faced. Conclusion: Numerous management challenges faced by community pharmacists that distract them from delivering professional pharmacy services have been highlighted. Urgent affirmative actions by the government are warranted in supporting community pharmacists to realise and

Mapping face encoding using functional MRI in multiple sclerosis across disease phenotypes.

PubMed

Rocca, Maria A; Vacchi, Laura; Rodegher, Mariaemma; Meani, Alessandro; Martinelli, Vittorio; Possa, Francesca; Comi, Giancarlo; Falini, Andrea; Filippi, Massimo

2017-10-01

Using fMRI during a face encoding (FE) task, we investigated the behavioral and fMRI correlates of FE in patients with relapse-onset multiple sclerosis (MS) at different stages of the disease and their relation with attentive-executive performance and structural MRI measures of disease-related damage. A fMRI FE task was administered to 75 MS patients (11 clinically isolated syndromes - CIS, 40 relapsing-remitting - RRMS - and 24 secondary progressive - SPMS) and 22 healthy controls (HC). fMRI activity during the face encoding condition was correlated with behavioral, clinical, neuropsychological and structural MRI variables. All study subjects activated brain regions belonging to face perception and encoding network, and deactivated areas of the default-mode network. Compared to HC, MS patients had the concomitant presence of areas of increased and decreased activations as well as increased and decreased deactivations. Compared to HC or RRMS, CIS patients experienced an increased recruitment of posterior-visual areas. Thalami, para-hippocampal gyri and right anterior cingulum were more activated in RRMS vs CIS or SPMS patients, while an increased recruitment of frontal areas was observed in SPMS vs RRMS. Areas of abnormal activations were significantly correlated with clinical, cognitive-behavioral and structural MRI measures. Abnormalities of FE network occur in MS and vary across disease clinical phenotypes. Early in the disease, an increased recruitment of areas typically devoted to face perception and encoding occurs. In SPMS patients, abnormal functional recruitment of frontal lobe areas might contribute to the severity of clinical manifestations.

Can we match ultraviolet face images against their visible counterparts?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Narang, Neeru; Bourlai, Thirimachos; Hornak, Lawrence A.

2015-05-01

In law enforcement and security applications, the acquisition of face images is critical in producing key trace evidence for the successful identification of potential threats. However, face recognition (FR) for face images captured using different camera sensors, and under variable illumination conditions, and expressions is very challenging. In this paper, we investigate the advantages and limitations of the heterogeneous problem of matching ultra violet (from 100 nm to 400 nm in wavelength) or UV, face images against their visible (VIS) counterparts, when all face images are captured under controlled conditions. The contributions of our work are three-fold; (i) We used a camera sensor designed with the capability to acquire UV images at short-ranges, and generated a dual-band (VIS and UV) database that is composed of multiple, full frontal, face images of 50 subjects. Two sessions were collected that span over the period of 2 months. (ii) For each dataset, we determined which set of face image pre-processing algorithms are more suitable for face matching, and, finally, (iii) we determined which FR algorithm better matches cross-band face images, resulting in high rank-1 identification rates. Experimental results show that our cross spectral matching (the heterogeneous problem, where gallery and probe sets consist of face images acquired in different spectral bands) algorithms achieve sufficient identification performance. However, we also conclude that the problem under study, is very challenging, and it requires further investigation to address real-world law enforcement or military applications. To the best of our knowledge, this is first time in the open literature the problem of cross-spectral matching of UV against VIS band face images is being investigated.

Challenges Facing Group Work Online

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Bo; Kang, Haijun

2016-01-01

Online group work can be complicated because of its asynchronous characteristics and lack of physical presence, and its requirements for skills in handling technology, human relationships, and content-related tasks. This study focuses on the administrative, logistical and relationship-related challenges in online group work. Challenges in areas…

A Short Twenty Years: Meeting the Challenges Facing Teachers Who Bring Rwanda into the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gudgel, Mark

2013-01-01

As the twentieth anniversary of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda approaches, Mark Gudgel argues that we should face the challenges posed by teaching about Rwanda. Drawing on his experience as a history teacher in the US, his experience researching and supporting others' classrooms in the US and UK, his training in Holocaust education and his knowledge…

Tolerance for distorted faces: challenges to a configural processing account of familiar face recognition.

PubMed

Sandford, Adam; Burton, A Mike

2014-09-01

Face recognition is widely held to rely on 'configural processing', an analysis of spatial relations between facial features. We present three experiments in which viewers were shown distorted faces, and asked to resize these to their correct shape. Based on configural theories appealing to metric distances between features, we reason that this should be an easier task for familiar than unfamiliar faces (whose subtle arrangements of features are unknown). In fact, participants were inaccurate at this task, making between 8% and 13% errors across experiments. Importantly, we observed no advantage for familiar faces: in one experiment participants were more accurate with unfamiliars, and in two experiments there was no difference. These findings were not due to general task difficulty - participants were able to resize blocks of colour to target shapes (squares) more accurately. We also found an advantage of familiarity for resizing other stimuli (brand logos). If configural processing does underlie face recognition, these results place constraints on the definition of 'configural'. Alternatively, familiar face recognition might rely on more complex criteria - based on tolerance to within-person variation rather than highly specific measurement. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Panel workload assessment in US primary care: accounting for non-face-to-face panel management activities.

PubMed

Arndt, Brian; Tuan, Wen-Jan; White, Jennifer; Schumacher, Jessica

2014-01-01

An understanding of primary care provider (PCP) workload is an important consideration in establishing optimal PCP panel size. However, no widely acceptable measure of PCP workload exists that incorporates the effort involved with both non-face-to-face patient care activities and face-to-face encounters. Accounting for this gap is critical given the increase in non-face-to-face PCP activities that has accompanied electronic health records (EHRs) (eg, electronic messaging). Our goal was to provide a comprehensive assessment of perceived PCP workload, accounting for aspects of both face-to-face and non-face-to-face encounters. Internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatric PCPs completed a self-administered survey about the perceived workload involved with face-to-face and non-face-to-face panel management activities as well as the perceived challenge associated with caring for patients with particular biomedical, demographic, and psychosocial characteristics (n = 185). Survey results were combined with EHR data at the individual patient and PCP service levels to assess PCP panel workload, accounting for face-to-face and non-face-to-face utilization. Of the multiple face-to-face and non-face-to-face activities associated with routine primary care, PCPs considered hospital admissions, obstetric care, hospital discharges, and new patient preventive health visits to be greater workload than non-face-to-face activities such as telephone calls, electronic communication, generating letters, and medication refills. Total workload within PCP panels at the individual patient level varied by overall health status, and the total workload of non-face-to-face panel management activities associated with routine primary care was greater than the total workload associated with face-to-face encounters regardless of health status. We used PCP survey results coupled with EHR data to assess PCP workload associated with both face-to-face as well as non-face-to-face panel management

Robust kernel representation with statistical local features for face recognition.

PubMed

Yang, Meng; Zhang, Lei; Shiu, Simon Chi-Keung; Zhang, David

2013-06-01

Factors such as misalignment, pose variation, and occlusion make robust face recognition a difficult problem. It is known that statistical features such as local binary pattern are effective for local feature extraction, whereas the recently proposed sparse or collaborative representation-based classification has shown interesting results in robust face recognition. In this paper, we propose a novel robust kernel representation model with statistical local features (SLF) for robust face recognition. Initially, multipartition max pooling is used to enhance the invariance of SLF to image registration error. Then, a kernel-based representation model is proposed to fully exploit the discrimination information embedded in the SLF, and robust regression is adopted to effectively handle the occlusion in face images. Extensive experiments are conducted on benchmark face databases, including extended Yale B, AR (A. Martinez and R. Benavente), multiple pose, illumination, and expression (multi-PIE), facial recognition technology (FERET), face recognition grand challenge (FRGC), and labeled faces in the wild (LFW), which have different variations of lighting, expression, pose, and occlusions, demonstrating the promising performance of the proposed method.

Challenges faced by women with disabilities in accessing sexual and reproductive health in Zimbabwe: The case of Chitungwiza town

PubMed Central

Maphosa, France

2017-01-01

Background Women with disabilities in Zimbabwe face numerous challenges in accessing sexual and reproductive health. Cultural belief still regards them as not sexually active. The government has also failed to promote policies that facilitate access to sexual and reproductive services by women with disabilities. Objectives The reseach objectives were to explore the challenges faced by women with disabilities in accessing sexual and reproductive health in Zimbabwe. Method The data were gathered using in-depth interviews with 23 purposively selected respondents. Thirteen women had physical disabilities, five were visually impaired, three were deaf and two were stammering. The respondents with physical disabilities were using wheelchairs, walking frames, prosthesis, crutches and caliper shoes. The participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 45 years. All interviews were transcribed and translated verbatim into English, and passages were extracted from the transcripts. Key themes and concepts were identified and coded to offer a rich framework for analysis, comparisons and presentation of the data. Results Negative perceptions of health personnel towards people with disabilities, disability-unfriendly infrastructure at health facilities and absence of trained personnel for people with disabilities (sign language) are some of the challenges involved. Conclusion The government, in partnership with other stakeholders, should address challenges faced by women with disabilities when accessing sexual and reproductive health services. Non-government, private hospitals and profit-making organisations should join hands with government in funding health requirements for women with disabilities. PMID:28730062

Droughts and water scarcity: facing challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pereira, Luis S.

2014-05-01

Water scarcity characterizes large portions of the world, particularly the Mediterranean area. It is due to natural causes - climate aridity, which is permanent, and droughts, that are temporary - and to human causes - long term desertification and short term water shortages. Droughts aggravate water scarcity. Knowledge has well developed relative to all processes but management tools still are insufficient as well as the tools required to support appropriate planning and management. Particularly, new approaches on tools for assessing related impacts in agriculture and other economic and social activities are required. Droughts occur in all climates but their characteristics largely differ among regions both in terms frequency, duration and intensity. Research has already produced a large number of tools that allow appropriate monitoring of droughts occurrence and intensity, including dynamics of drought occurrence and time evolution. Advances in drought prediction already are available but we still are far from knowing when a drought will start, how it will evolve and when it dissipates. New developments using teleconnections and GCM are being considered. Climate change is a fact. Are droughts occurrence and severity changing with global change? Opinions are divided about this subject since driving factors and processes are varied and tools for the corresponding analysis are also various. Particularly, weather data series are often too short for obtaining appropriate answers. In a domain where research is producing improved knowledge and innovative approaches, research faces however a variety of challenges. The main ones, dealt in this keynote, refer to concepts and definitions, use of monitoring indices, prediction of drought initiation and evolution, improved assessment of drought impacts, and possible influence of climate change on drought occurrence and severity.

United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science

USGS Publications Warehouse

Updike, Randall G.; Ellis, Eugene G.; Page, William R.; Parker, Melanie J.; Hestbeck, Jay B.; Horak, William F.

2013-01-01

Along the nearly 3,200 kilometers (almost 2,000 miles) of the United States–Mexican border, in an area known as the Borderlands, we are witnessing the expression of the challenges of the 21st century. This circular identifies several challenge themes and issues associated with life and the environment in the Borderlands, listed below. The challenges are not one-sided; they do not originate in one country only to become problems for the other. The issues and concerns of each challenge theme flow in both directions across the border, and both nations feel their effects throughout the Borderlands and beyond. The clear message is that our two nations, the United States and Mexico, face the issues in these challenge themes together, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) understands it must work with its counterparts, partners, and customers in both countries.Though the mission of the USGS is not to serve as land manager, law enforcer, or code regulator, its innovation and creativity and the scientific and technical depth of its capabilities can be directly applied to monitoring the conditions of the landscape. The ability of USGS scientists to critically analyze the monitored data in search of signals and trends, whether they lead to negative or positive results, allows us to reach significant conclusions—from providing factual conclusions to decisionmakers, to estimating how much of a natural resource exists in a particular locale, to predicting how a natural hazard phenomenon will unfold, to forecasting on a scale from hours to millennia how ecosystems will behave.None of these challenge themes can be addressed strictly by one or two science disciplines; all require well-integrated, cross-discipline thinking, data collection, and analyses. The multidisciplinary science themes that have become the focus of the USGS mission parallel the major challenges in the border region between Mexico and the United States. Because of this multidisciplinary approach, the USGS

Challenges that nurses face in caring for morbidly obese patients in the acute care setting.

PubMed

Drake, Daniel; Dutton, Kathy; Engelke, Martha; McAuliffe, Maura; Rose, Mary Ann

2005-01-01

Despite increasing numbers of morbidly obese patients admitted to acute care facilities for surgery or treatment of nonsurgical conditions, there is little evidence of the problems nurses face in providing care to these patients. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the care of these patients is more demanding than the care of nonobese patients. The objective of this study was to describe nurses' perceptions of the challenges that they face when caring for morbidly obese patients. Focus groups of nurses from a tertiary care facility were convened. A trained facilitator posed questions to the group concerning various aspects of care for morbidly obese patients. Comments of respondents were categorized using NVIVO software. Nurses reported concerns about the increased staffing needs required for care of these patients and the particular challenges of the physical care. Concerns also included the availability, placement, and use of specialized equipment. Room size and the absence of some equipment were also problematic. Finally, nurses perceived safety issues, both for themselves and their patients. Morbidly obese patients in the acute care setting require specialized nursing care in terms of techniques, levels of staffing required, and the use of specialized equipment.

Web-Based vs. Face-to-Face MBA Classes: A Comparative Assessment Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brownstein, Barry; Brownstein, Deborah; Gerlowski, Daniel A.

2008-01-01

The challenges of online learning include ensuring that the learning outcomes are at least as robust as in the face-to-face sections of the same course. At the University of Baltimore, both online sections and face-to-face sections of core MBA courses are offered. Once admitted to the MBA, students are free to enroll in any combination of…

The Challenges Facing the Implementation of Early Childhood Development and Education Policy in Bungoma County, Kenya

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wangila, Violet Muyoka

2017-01-01

This paper scrutinises the challenges facing the implementation of Early Childhood Development and Education policy in Bungoma County, Kenya. The study used a mixed research design and study population comprised of the QASOs, the Head teachers, ECDE teachers and the non-teaching staff in respective ECDCs. The sample size of the study comprised of…

Adjudicating between face-coding models with individual-face fMRI responses

PubMed Central

Kriegeskorte, Nikolaus

2017-01-01

The perceptual representation of individual faces is often explained with reference to a norm-based face space. In such spaces, individuals are encoded as vectors where identity is primarily conveyed by direction and distinctiveness by eccentricity. Here we measured human fMRI responses and psychophysical similarity judgments of individual face exemplars, which were generated as realistic 3D animations using a computer-graphics model. We developed and evaluated multiple neurobiologically plausible computational models, each of which predicts a representational distance matrix and a regional-mean activation profile for 24 face stimuli. In the fusiform face area, a face-space coding model with sigmoidal ramp tuning provided a better account of the data than one based on exemplar tuning. However, an image-processing model with weighted banks of Gabor filters performed similarly. Accounting for the data required the inclusion of a measurement-level population averaging mechanism that approximates how fMRI voxels locally average distinct neuronal tunings. Our study demonstrates the importance of comparing multiple models and of modeling the measurement process in computational neuroimaging. PMID:28746335

Examining the Roles of the Facilitator in Online and Face-to-Face PD Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Gina; Johnson, Heather; Vath, Richard; Kubitskey, Beth; Fishman, Barry

2013-01-01

Online teacher professional development has become an alternative to face-to-face professional development. Such a shift from face-to-face to online professional development, however, brings new challenges for professional development facilitators, whose roles are crucial in orchestrating teacher learning. This paper is motivated by the need to…

Challenges Facing Design and Analysis Tools

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knight, Norman F., Jr.; Broduer, Steve (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The design and analysis of future aerospace systems will strongly rely on advanced engineering analysis tools used in combination with risk mitigation procedures. The implications of such a trend place increased demands on these tools to assess off-nominal conditions, residual strength, damage propagation, and extreme loading conditions in order to understand and quantify these effects as they affect mission success. Advances in computer hardware such as CPU processing speed, memory, secondary storage, and visualization provide significant resources for the engineer to exploit in engineering design. The challenges facing design and analysis tools fall into three primary areas. The first area involves mechanics needs such as constitutive modeling, contact and penetration simulation, crack growth prediction, damage initiation and progression prediction, transient dynamics and deployment simulations, and solution algorithms. The second area involves computational needs such as fast, robust solvers, adaptivity for model and solution strategies, control processes for concurrent, distributed computing for uncertainty assessments, and immersive technology. Traditional finite element codes still require fast direct solvers which when coupled to current CPU power enables new insight as a result of high-fidelity modeling. The third area involves decision making by the analyst. This area involves the integration and interrogation of vast amounts of information - some global in character while local details are critical and often drive the design. The proposed presentation will describe and illustrate these areas using composite structures, energy-absorbing structures, and inflatable space structures. While certain engineering approximations within the finite element model may be adequate for global response prediction, they generally are inadequate in a design setting or when local response prediction is critical. Pitfalls to be avoided and trends for emerging analysis tools

Nanomaterials for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells; Materials Challenges Facing Electrical Energy Storate

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

Gopal Rao, MRS Web-Editor; Yury Gogotsi, Drexel University; Karen Swider-Lyons, Naval Research Laboratory

Symposium T: Nanomaterials for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells are under intense investigation worldwide for applications ranging from transportation to portable power. The purpose of this seminar is to focus on the nanomaterials and nanostructures inherent to polymer fuel cells. Symposium topics will range from high-activity cathode and anode catalysts, to theory and new analytical methods. Symposium U: Materials Challenges Facing Electrical Energy Storage Electricity, which can be generated in a variety of ways, offers a great potential for meeting future energy demands as a clean and efficient energy source. However, the use ofmore » electricity generated from renewable sources, such as wind or sunlight, requires efficient electrical energy storage. This symposium will cover the latest material developments for batteries, advanced capacitors, and related technologies, with a focus on new or emerging materials science challenges.« less

Abnormal GABAergic function and face processing in schizophrenia: A pharmacologic-fMRI study.

PubMed

Tso, Ivy F; Fang, Yu; Phan, K Luan; Welsh, Robert C; Taylor, Stephan F

2015-10-01

The involvement of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) system in schizophrenia is suggested by postmortem studies and the common use of GABA receptor-potentiating agents in treatment. In a recent study, we used a benzodiazepine challenge to demonstrate abnormal GABAergic function during processing of negative visual stimuli in schizophrenia. This study extended this investigation by mapping GABAergic mechanisms associated with face processing and social appraisal in schizophrenia using a benzodiazepine challenge. Fourteen stable, medicated schizophrenia/schizoaffective patients (SZ) and 13 healthy controls (HC) underwent functional MRI using the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) technique while they performed the Socio-emotional Preference Task (SePT) on emotional face stimuli ("Do you like this face?"). Participants received single-blinded intravenous saline and lorazepam (LRZ) in two separate sessions separated by 1-3weeks. Both SZ and HC recruited medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate during the SePT, relative to gender identification. A significant drug by group interaction was observed in the medial occipital cortex, such that SZ showed increased BOLD signal to LRZ challenge, while HC showed an expected decrease of signal; the interaction did not vary by task. The altered BOLD response to LRZ challenge in SZ was significantly correlated with increased negative affect across multiple measures. The altered response to LRZ challenge suggests that abnormal face processing and negative affect in SZ are associated with altered GABAergic function in the visual cortex, underscoring the role of impaired visual processing in socio-emotional deficits in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Challenges faced by nurses in managing pain in a critical care setting.

PubMed

Subramanian, Pathmawathi; Allcock, Nick; James, Veronica; Lathlean, Judith

2012-05-01

To explore nurses' challenges in managing pain among ill patients in critical care. Pain can lead to many adverse medical consequences and providing pain relief is central to caring for ill patients. Effective pain management is vital since studies show patients admitted to critical care units still suffer from significant levels of acute pain. The effective delivery of care in clinical areas remains a challenge for nurses involved with care which is dynamic and constantly changing in critically ill. Qualitative prospective exploratory design. This study employed semi structured interviews with nurses, using critical incident technique. Twenty-one nurses were selected from critical care settings from a large acute teaching health care trust in the UK. A critical incident interview guide was constructed from the literature and used to elicit responses. Framework analysis showed that nurses perceived four main challenges in managing pain namely lack of clinical guidelines, lack of structured pain assessment tool, limited autonomy in decision making and the patient's condition itself. Nurses' decision making and pain management can influence the quality of care given to critically ill patients. It is important to overcome the clinical problems that are faced when dealing with pain experience. There is a need for nursing education on pain management. Providing up to date and practical strategies may help to reduce nurses' challenges in managing pain among critically ill patients. Broader autonomy and effective decision making can be seen as beneficial for the nurses besides having a clearer and structured pain management guidelines. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Challenges faced in rural hospitals: the experiences of nurse managers in Uganda.

PubMed

Kakyo, T A; Xiao, L D

2018-04-19

The aim of this study was to understand nurse ward managers perceived challenges in the rural healthcare setting in Uganda. The health workforce, essential medicines and equipment and political unrest are the main factors affecting the international community in addressing the hefty disease burden in World Health Organization African regions. Nurse ward managers have an important role to play to mitigate these factors in health facilities in these regions through leadership, supervision and support for staff. This study utilized interpretive phenomenology based on Gadamer's hermeneutical principles. Eleven nurse managers from two rural public hospitals in Uganda were interviewed. Those with more than a 2-year experience in their management role were invited to participate in the study. Nurse managers pointed out four major challenges with staffing, while they worked in the rural healthcare settings. These are summarized into themes: 'Numbers do matter'; 'I cannot access them when I need them at work'; 'Challenges in dealing with negative attitudes'; and 'Questioning own ability to manage health services'. Health facilities in rural areas face extremely low staff-to-patient ratio, a high level of workload, lack of essential medicines and equipment, low salaries and delayed payment for staff. Nurse managers demonstrated situation-based performance to minimize the impact of these challenges on the quality and safety of patient care, but they had less influence on policy and resource development. It is imperative to mobilize education for nurse ward managers to enable them to improve leadership, management skills and to have a greater impact on policy and resource development. © 2018 International Council of Nurses.

Facing the challenges and building solutions in clinical psychiatric nursing in Iran: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Zarea, Kourosh; Nikbakht-Nasrabadi, Alireza; Abbaszadeh, Abbas; Mohammadpour, Ali

2012-10-01

Psychiatric nurses play an important role in the process of caring for mentally ill patients and are continually faced with the numerous challenges and complex issues related to this field. This study aimed to understand the perspectives of psychiatric nurses regarding the issues they face while providing care and examine the possible solutions for improvement of inpatient care in clinical settings. The study adopted a qualitative approach that utilized a content analysis of audio taped, semi-structured interviews that had been conducted with 24 nurses. Two main themes emerged from the data. The first, Challenges in Providing Care within Psychiatric Wards, had the following subthemes: Politics and Rules of Organization, Safety and Security Issues, Uncertainty about the Role, Lack of Trained Staff, and Sociocultural Issues. The second theme, Solutions for Improving Psychiatric Care, had the subthemes of Empowerment across four domains: Psychiatric Nurses, Mentally Ill Patients and their Families, The Psychiatric Mental Health System, and the Cultural Context. The results indicated that if nurses are expected to provide optimal nursing care within a psychiatric ward, then there is a need for a stable and responsible organizational structure, skilled psychiatric nurses, and community-based care along with an anti-stigma program.

Seeing the Forest through the Trees: A Challenge Facing Communication across the Curriculum Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garside, Colleen

2002-01-01

Notes that communication across the curriculum programs (CXCPs) are designed to increase students' communication competence and enhance student learning. Examines the challenge of maintaining the integrity of multiple disciplines when communication gets taken across the curriculum. Concludes with suggestions for future program directions and…

Infrared and visible fusion face recognition based on NSCT domain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Zhihua; Zhang, Shuai; Liu, Guodong; Xiong, Jinquan

2018-01-01

Visible face recognition systems, being vulnerable to illumination, expression, and pose, can not achieve robust performance in unconstrained situations. Meanwhile, near infrared face images, being light- independent, can avoid or limit the drawbacks of face recognition in visible light, but its main challenges are low resolution and signal noise ratio (SNR). Therefore, near infrared and visible fusion face recognition has become an important direction in the field of unconstrained face recognition research. In this paper, a novel fusion algorithm in non-subsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) domain is proposed for Infrared and visible face fusion recognition. Firstly, NSCT is used respectively to process the infrared and visible face images, which exploits the image information at multiple scales, orientations, and frequency bands. Then, to exploit the effective discriminant feature and balance the power of high-low frequency band of NSCT coefficients, the local Gabor binary pattern (LGBP) and Local Binary Pattern (LBP) are applied respectively in different frequency parts to obtain the robust representation of infrared and visible face images. Finally, the score-level fusion is used to fuse the all the features for final classification. The visible and near infrared face recognition is tested on HITSZ Lab2 visible and near infrared face database. Experiments results show that the proposed method extracts the complementary features of near-infrared and visible-light images and improves the robustness of unconstrained face recognition.

Challenges Facing Higher Education at the Millennium. American Council on Education/Oryx Press Series on Higher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hirsch, Werner Z., Ed.; Weber, Luc E., Ed.

This collection of 17 essays focuses on the major changes that higher education needs to make so that it can effectively pursue teaching and research and significantly contribute public service in a rapidly changing world. The essays include: (1) "Survey of the Main Challenges Facing Higher Education at the Millennium" (Luc E. Weber);…

Lost in Translation: Adapting a Face-to-Face Course Into an Online Learning Experience.

PubMed

Kenzig, Melissa J

2015-09-01

Online education has grown dramatically over the past decade. Instructors who teach face-to-face courses are being called on to adapt their courses to the online environment. Many instructors do not have sufficient training to be able to effectively move courses to an online format. This commentary discusses the growth of online learning, common challenges faced by instructors adapting courses from face-to-face to online, and best practices for translating face-to-face courses into online learning opportunities. © 2015 Society for Public Health Education.

Tolerance to spatial-relational transformations in unfamiliar faces: A further challenge to a configural processing account of identity recognition.

PubMed

Lorenzino, Martina; Caminati, Martina; Caudek, Corrado

2018-05-25

One of the most important questions in face perception research is to understand what information is extracted from a face in order to recognize its identity. Recognition of facial identity has been attributed to a special sensitivity to "configural" information. However, recent studies have challenged the configural account by showing that participants are poor in discriminating variations of metric distances among facial features, especially for familiar as opposed to unfamiliar faces, whereas a configural account predicts the opposite. We aimed to extend these previous results by examining classes of unfamiliar faces with which we have different levels of expertise. We hypothesized an inverse relation between sensitivity to configural information and expertise with a given class of faces, but only for neutral expressions. By first matching perceptual discriminability, we measured tolerance to subtle configural transformations with same-race (SR) versus other-race (OR) faces, and with upright versus upside-down faces. Consistently with our predictions, we found a lower sensitivity to at-threshold configural changes for SR compared to OR faces. We also found that, for our stimuli, the face inversion effect disappeared for neutral but not for emotional faces - a result that can also be attributed to a lower sensitivity to configural transformations for faces presented in a more familiar orientation. The present findings question a purely configural account of face processing and suggest that the role of spatial-relational information in face processing varies according to the functional demands of the task and to the characteristics of the stimuli. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of Critical Thinking Skills through Writing Tasks: Challenges Facing Maritime English Students at Aqaba College, AlBalqa Applied University, Jordan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alidmat, Ali Odeh Hammoud; Ayassrah, Mohamed Ayed

2017-01-01

Teaching English for Special Purposes (ESP) in a context where English is taught as a Foreign Language (EFL) is no easy task. There is in fact extensive research reporting on challenges facing both teacher and student in the Foreign Language classroom where language skills must be learnt outside their usual context. Even more challenging is…

Paradoxically aggressive multiple sclerosis in the face of natalizumab therapy.

PubMed

Berger, J R

2008-06-01

In the pivotal trials of natalizumab in the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (AFFIRM and SENTINEL), a dramatic reduction in relapse rate, new or enlarging T2-hyperintense lesions, and mean number of gadolinium-enhancing lesions was observed. While both relapses and new MRI lesions were observed in these trials, there has been no comment on the presence of aggressive disease in the face of natalizumab treatment. I report a 31-year-old woman with relapsing remitting MS of 12 years duration who developed aggressive demyelinating disease four months after the initiation of natalizumab. The clinical worsening was accompanied by a significant increase in new large T2-hyperintense signal abnormalities and in both solid and C-shaped contrast-enhancing lesions. Neither the clinical severity nor the striking MRI abnormalities had been noted earlier in her disease course. Neutralizing antibodies to natalizumab were not detected. She subsequently responded to combination therapy of pulsed methylprednisolone and daily glatiramer acetate.

Animal models of binge drinking, current challenges to improve face validity.

PubMed

Jeanblanc, Jérôme; Rolland, Benjamin; Gierski, Fabien; Martinetti, Margaret P; Naassila, Mickael

2018-05-05

Binge drinking (BD), i.e., consuming a large amount of alcohol in a short period of time, is an increasing public health issue. Though no clear definition has been adopted worldwide the speed of drinking seems to be a keystone of this behavior. Developing relevant animal models of BD is a priority for gaining a better characterization of the neurobiological and psychobiological mechanisms underlying this dangerous and harmful behavior. Until recently, preclinical research on BD has been conducted mostly using forced administration of alcohol, but more recent studies used scheduled access to alcohol, to model more voluntary excessive intakes, and to achieve signs of intoxications that mimic the human behavior. The main challenges for future research are discussed regarding the need of good face validity, construct validity and predictive validity of animal models of BD. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[The Quebec Healthy Cities and Towns Network: a powerful movement faced with new challenges].

PubMed

Simard, Paule

2007-01-01

After twenty years serving its members, the Quebec Healthy Cities and Towns Network (QHCTN) faces several challenges. There are currently many changes being made in the local organization and the administration of services. The Network, through its capacity to mobilize the different municipalities, is the best placed to advocate and support a coordinated approach to government initiatives and also to encourage partnerships with other institutions (education, health, socio-economic) and communities. There is, nonetheless, a need to rethink its direct support to members, especially in terms of communication and networking among them.

Challenges of microtome‐based serial block‐face scanning electron microscopy in neuroscience

PubMed Central

WANNER, A. A.; KIRSCHMANN, M. A.

2015-01-01

Summary Serial block‐face scanning electron microscopy (SBEM) is becoming increasingly popular for a wide range of applications in many disciplines from biology to material sciences. This review focuses on applications for circuit reconstruction in neuroscience, which is one of the major driving forces advancing SBEM. Neuronal circuit reconstruction poses exceptional challenges to volume EM in terms of resolution, field of view, acquisition time and sample preparation. Mapping the connections between neurons in the brain is crucial for understanding information flow and information processing in the brain. However, information on the connectivity between hundreds or even thousands of neurons densely packed in neuronal microcircuits is still largely missing. Volume EM techniques such as serial section TEM, automated tape‐collecting ultramicrotome, focused ion‐beam scanning electron microscopy and SBEM (microtome serial block‐face scanning electron microscopy) are the techniques that provide sufficient resolution to resolve ultrastructural details such as synapses and provides sufficient field of view for dense reconstruction of neuronal circuits. While volume EM techniques are advancing, they are generating large data sets on the terabyte scale that require new image processing workflows and analysis tools. In this review, we present the recent advances in SBEM for circuit reconstruction in neuroscience and an overview of existing image processing and analysis pipelines. PMID:25907464

Gendered race: are infants' face preferences guided by intersectionality of sex and race?

PubMed

Kim, Hojin I; Johnson, Kerri L; Johnson, Scott P

2015-01-01

People occupy multiple social categories simultaneously (e.g., a White female), and this complex intersectionality affects fundamental aspects of social perception. Here, we examined the possibility that infant face processing may be susceptible to effects of intersectionality of sex and race. Three- and 10-month-old infants were shown a series of computer-generated face pairs (5 s each) that differed according to sex (Female or Male) or race (Asian, Black, or White). All possible combinations of face pairs were tested, and preferences were recorded with an eye tracker. Infants showed preferences for more feminine faces only when they were White, but we found no evidence that White or Asian faces were preferred even though they are relatively more feminized. These findings challenge the notions that infants' social categories are processed independently of one another and that infants' preferences for sex or race can be explained from mere exposure.

Gendered race: are infants’ face preferences guided by intersectionality of sex and race?

PubMed Central

Kim, Hojin I.; Johnson, Kerri L.; Johnson, Scott P.

2015-01-01

People occupy multiple social categories simultaneously (e.g., a White female), and this complex intersectionality affects fundamental aspects of social perception. Here, we examined the possibility that infant face processing may be susceptible to effects of intersectionality of sex and race. Three- and 10-month-old infants were shown a series of computer-generated face pairs (5 s each) that differed according to sex (Female or Male) or race (Asian, Black, or White). All possible combinations of face pairs were tested, and preferences were recorded with an eye tracker. Infants showed preferences for more feminine faces only when they were White, but we found no evidence that White or Asian faces were preferred even though they are relatively more feminized. These findings challenge the notions that infants’ social categories are processed independently of one another and that infants’ preferences for sex or race can be explained from mere exposure. PMID:26388823

Challenges Facing Managers in Managing Conflict in Schools in the South and South Central Regions of Botswana

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morake, Nnior Machomi; Monobe, Ratau John; Dingwe, Stephonia

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the challenges facing managers in managing conflict in schools of South and South Central Regions of Botswana. In this study, the schedule of interview was used to collect empirical data. A random sample of 50 school managers and deputy school managers was selected for interviews. Major findings of the…

The Europa Mission: Multiple Europa Flyby Trajectory Design Trades and Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lam, Try; Arrieta-Camacho, Juan J.; Buffington, Brent B.

2015-01-01

With potential sources of water, energy and other chemicals essential for life, Europa is a top candidate for finding current life in our Solar System outside of Earth. This paper describes the current trajectory design concept for a multiple Europa flyby mission and discusses several trajectory design challenges. The candidate reference trajectory utilizes multiple Europa flybys while around Jupiter to enable near global coverage of Europa while balancing science requirements, radiation dose, propellant usage, and flight time. Trajectory design trades and robustness are also discussed.

ASF: Facing the Challenges for 15 Years and Counting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

La Belle-Hamer, N.; Nicoll, J.; Atwood, D.; Arko, S.

2006-12-01

The Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) of the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, has just celebrated its 15th year of experience in satellite remote sensing. ASF is involved in a wide range of activities - - from downlinking satellite data to developing data analysis tools, value-added products, and training for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) users. Satellite remote sensing data are acquired, processed, analyzed, and archived by ASF from several satellites; ASF has built expertise in handling and manipulating the data, SAR in particular. SAR is the only satellite imagery in the world today that can be acquired at any time of the day or night and during adverse weather conditions. It can be used to develop value-added products to aid in global climate change research. Examples include the SAR-derived coastal winds in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea; monitoring of the major ice shelves in the Arctic and Antarctic; and examining the impact on sea level from the Greenland ice sheets and glaciers. The challenges facing the use of remote-sensing data in climate change research can be divided into three major categories: economical, political, and technical. The expense of designing, building, and launching a satellite is substantial. The costs of the ground segment including data management can be substantial and should not be neglected. The US agency funding climate often has the research community pushing for new missions against declining federal budgets in direct competition with ongoing missions. On the political front, data policy, data ownership, and cost recovery are issues often perceived as insurmountable by the user community. The technical issues, while challenging, are often the easiest to solve. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, with the successful launch of the Advanced Land Observing System (ALOS), has embarked on a new way of handling the ground segment with the introduction of international data nodes. ASF will serve with NOAA

Using an Iterative Mixed-Methods Research Design to Investigate Schools Facing Exceptionally Challenging Circumstances within Trinidad and Tobago

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Lisle, Jerome; Seunarinesingh, Krishna; Mohammed, Rhoda; Lee-Piggott, Rinnelle

2017-01-01

In this study, methodology and theory were linked to explicate the nature of education practice within schools facing exceptionally challenging circumstances (SFECC) in Trinidad and Tobago. The research design was an iterative quan>QUAL-quan>qual multi-method research programme, consisting of 3 independent projects linked together by overall…

When Health Systems Are Barriers to Health Care: Challenges Faced by Uninsured Mexican Kidney Patients

PubMed Central

Kierans, Ciara; Padilla-Altamira, Cesar; Garcia-Garcia, Guillermo; Ibarra-Hernandez, Margarita; Mercado, Francisco J.

2013-01-01

Background Chronic Kidney Disease disproportionately affects the poor in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Mexico exemplifies the difficulties faced in supporting Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT) and providing equitable patient care, despite recent attempts at health reform. The objective of this study is to document the challenges faced by uninsured, poor Mexican families when attempting to access RRT. Methods The article takes an ethnographic approach, using interviewing and observation to generate detailed accounts of the problems that accompany attempts to secure care. The study, based in the state of Jalisco, comprised interviews with patients, their caregivers, health and social care professionals, among others. Observations were carried out in both clinical and social settings. Results In the absence of organised health information and stable pathways to renal care, patients and their families work extraordinarily hard and at great expense to secure care in a mixed public-private healthcare system. As part of this work, they must navigate challenging health and social care environments, negotiate treatments and costs, resource and finance healthcare and manage a wide range of formal and informal health information. Conclusions Examining commonalities across pathways to adequate healthcare reveals major failings in the Mexican system. These systemic problems serve to reproduce and deepen health inequalities. A system, in which the costs of renal care are disproportionately borne by those who can least afford them, faces major difficulties around the sustainability and resourcing of RRTs. Attempts to increase access to renal therapies, therefore, need to take into account the complex social and economic demands this places on those who need access most. This paper further shows that ethnographic studies of the concrete ways in which healthcare is accessed in practice provide important insights into the plight of CKD patients and so constitute an

When health systems are barriers to health care: challenges faced by uninsured Mexican kidney patients.

PubMed

Kierans, Ciara; Padilla-Altamira, Cesar; Garcia-Garcia, Guillermo; Ibarra-Hernandez, Margarita; Mercado, Francisco J

2013-01-01

Chronic Kidney Disease disproportionately affects the poor in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Mexico exemplifies the difficulties faced in supporting Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT) and providing equitable patient care, despite recent attempts at health reform. The objective of this study is to document the challenges faced by uninsured, poor Mexican families when attempting to access RRT. The article takes an ethnographic approach, using interviewing and observation to generate detailed accounts of the problems that accompany attempts to secure care. The study, based in the state of Jalisco, comprised interviews with patients, their caregivers, health and social care professionals, among others. Observations were carried out in both clinical and social settings. In the absence of organised health information and stable pathways to renal care, patients and their families work extraordinarily hard and at great expense to secure care in a mixed public-private healthcare system. As part of this work, they must navigate challenging health and social care environments, negotiate treatments and costs, resource and finance healthcare and manage a wide range of formal and informal health information. Examining commonalities across pathways to adequate healthcare reveals major failings in the Mexican system. These systemic problems serve to reproduce and deepen health inequalities. A system, in which the costs of renal care are disproportionately borne by those who can least afford them, faces major difficulties around the sustainability and resourcing of RRTs. Attempts to increase access to renal therapies, therefore, need to take into account the complex social and economic demands this places on those who need access most. This paper further shows that ethnographic studies of the concrete ways in which healthcare is accessed in practice provide important insights into the plight of CKD patients and so constitute an important source of evidence in that effort.

Visual Search Efficiency is Greater for Human Faces Compared to Animal Faces

PubMed Central

Simpson, Elizabeth A.; Mertins, Haley L.; Yee, Krysten; Fullerton, Alison; Jakobsen, Krisztina V.

2015-01-01

The Animate Monitoring Hypothesis proposes that humans and animals were the most important categories of visual stimuli for ancestral humans to monitor, as they presented important challenges and opportunities for survival and reproduction; however, it remains unknown whether animal faces are located as efficiently as human faces. We tested this hypothesis by examining whether human, primate, and mammal faces elicit similarly efficient searches, or whether human faces are privileged. In the first three experiments, participants located a target (human, primate, or mammal face) among distractors (non-face objects). We found fixations on human faces were faster and more accurate than primate faces, even when controlling for search category specificity. A final experiment revealed that, even when task-irrelevant, human faces slowed searches for non-faces, suggesting some bottom-up processing may be responsible for the human face search efficiency advantage. PMID:24962122

Adult attachment, hostile conflict, and relationship adjustment among couples facing multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Crangle, Cassandra J; Hart, Tae L

2017-11-01

Couples facing multiple sclerosis (MS) report significantly elevated rates of relationship distress, yet the effects of attachment have never been examined in this population. We examined whether hostile conflict mediated the dyadic effects of attachment on relationship adjustment in couples facing MS and whether these associations were moderated by gender or role. We also explored whether dyadic adjustment mediated the relationship between attachment and hostile conflict. The study was cross-sectional and included 103 couples in which one partner had been diagnosed with MS. Participants completed the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised, Dyadic Adjustment Scale, and Aversive Interactions Scale, as well as demographic variables. We used the actor-partner interdependence model for data analysis. There were significant actor and partner effects of greater anxious attachment and worse dyadic adjustment. Actor and partner effects of anxious attachment were significantly mediated by greater hostile conflict. Gender significantly moderated the effects between avoidant attachment and dyadic adjustment. The actor effect was significant for males and females; the partner effect was only significant for females. The actor effect for females but not males was significantly mediated by greater hostile conflict. Role was not a significant moderator. Exploratory analyses also showed that dyadic adjustment mediated the relationship between anxious and avoidant attachment and hostile conflict. Findings highlight the important effects of attachment on relationship adjustment in MS couples. Both hostile conflict and dyadic adjustment appear to be mechanisms through which insecure attachment has a detrimental effect. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Despite higher-than-normal rates of marital distress and separation/divorce, the effects of attachment on relationship adjustment among couples facing multiple sclerosis have never been examined

Challenges for data storage in medical imaging research.

PubMed

Langer, Steve G

2011-04-01

Researchers in medical imaging have multiple challenges for storing, indexing, maintaining viability, and sharing their data. Addressing all these concerns requires a constellation of tools, but not all of them need to be local to the site. In particular, the data storage challenges faced by researchers can begin to require professional information technology skills. With limited human resources and funds, the medical imaging researcher may be better served with an outsourcing strategy for some management aspects. This paper outlines an approach to manage the main objectives faced by medical imaging scientists whose work includes processing and data mining on non-standard file formats, and relating those files to the their DICOM standard descendents. The capacity of the approach scales as the researcher's need grows by leveraging the on-demand provisioning ability of cloud computing.

Real-time scheduling faces operational challenges.

PubMed

2005-01-01

Online real-time patient scheduling presents a number of challenges. But a few advanced organizations are rolling out systems slowly, meeting those challenges as they go. And while this application is still too new to provide measurable benefits, anecdotal information seems to point to improvements in efficiency, patient satisfaction, and possibly quality of care.

Changing panorama for surveillance of device-associated healthcare infections: Challenges faced in implementation of current guidelines.

PubMed

Gupta, Renu; Sharma, Sangeeta; Saxena, Sonal

2018-01-01

Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are preventable in up to 30% of patients with evidence-based infection prevention and control (IPC) activities. IPC activities require effective surveillance to generate data for the HAI rates, defining priority areas, identifying processes amenable for improvement and institute interventions to improve patient's safety. However, uniform, accurate and standardised surveillance methodology using objective definitions can only generate meaningful data for effective execution of IPC activities. The highly exhaustive, complex and ever-evolving infection surveillance methodology pose a challenge for effective data capture, analysis and interpretation by ground level personnel. The present review addresses the gaps in knowledge and day-to-day challenges in surveillance faced by infection control team for effective implementation of IPC activities.

Prevalence and correlates of community re-entry challenges faced by HIV-infected male prisoners in Malaysia

PubMed Central

Choi, P; Kavasery, R; Desai, M M; Govindasamy, S; Kamarulzaman, A; Altice, F L

2010-01-01

Summary HIV-infected prisoners face an inordinate number of community re-entry challenges. In 2007, 102 HIV-infected prisoners in Malaysia were surveyed anonymously within six months prior to release to assess the prevalence and correlates of community re-entry challenges. Staying out of prison (60.8%), remaining off drugs (39.2%), finding employment (35.3%) and obtaining HIV care (32.4%) were the re-entry challenges reported most frequently. Global stigma, negative self-image and public attitudes-related stigma were independently associated with challenges to obtaining HIV care. In multivariate analyses, those with previous incarcerations (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 3.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4–7.6), higher HIV-related symptoms (AOR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.0–4.1) and higher public attitudes-related stigma (AOR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.2–5.1) had a significantly higher likelihood of identifying more re-entry challenges. Targeted interventions, such as effective drug treatment, HIV care and public awareness campaigns, are crucial for stemming the HIV epidemic and improving health outcomes among HIV-infected prisoners in Malaysia. PMID:20606222

Challenges facing drug development for malaria.

PubMed

Craft, J Carl

2008-10-01

Malaria is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the developing world. Until recently malaria was winning but with increase in funding particularly from philanthropic groups the ability to control malaria is again possible. There are still many challenges to developing the next generations of anti-malarials. This article will briefly discuss the challenges and the advance that are being made.

Adapting a Face-to-Face Role-Playing Simulation for Online Play

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bos, Nathan; Shami, N. Sadat

2006-01-01

The rapid acceleration of online course offerings presents a design challenge for instructors who want to take materials developed for face-to-face settings and adapt them for asynchronous online usage. Broadcast lectures are relatively easy to transfer, but adapting content is harder when classes use small-group discussions, as in role-playing or…

College Students with Children Are Common and Face Many Challenges in Completing Higher Education. Briefing Paper #C404

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Bethany; Froehner, Megan; Gault, Barbara

2013-01-01

This paper discusses the challenges college students with children face, as well as the steps colleges, universities, and the surrounding communities must take to help students succeed in their work as both students and parents. The role of parenthood in postsecondary settings needs greater focus from the higher education reform community. Unless…

Missed Opportunities for Science Learning: Unacknowledged Unscientific Arguments in Asynchronous Online and Face-to-Face Discussions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Callis-Duehl, Kristine; Idsardi, Robert; Humphrey, Eve A.; Gougis, Rebekka Darner

2018-02-01

We explored the scientific argumentation that occurs among university biology students during an argumentation task implemented in two environments: face-to-face in a classroom and online in an asynchronous discussion. We observed 10 student groups, each composed of three students. Our analysis focused on how students respond to their peers' unscientific arguments, which we define as assertions, hypotheses, propositions, or explanations that are inaccurate or incomplete from a scientific perspective. Unscientific arguments provide opportunities for productive dissent, scientific argumentation, and conceptual development of scientifically desirable conceptions. We found that students did not respond to the majority of unscientific arguments in both environments. Challenges to unscientific arguments were expressed as a question or through explanation, although the latter was more common online than face-to-face. Students demonstrated significantly more epistemic distancing in the face-to-face environment than the online environment. We discuss the differences in discourse observed in both environments and teaching implications. We also provide direction for future research seeking to address the challenges of engaging students in productive scientific argumentation in both face-to-face and online environments.

Preparing Future Scholars for Academia and Beyond: A Mixed Method Investigation of Doctoral Students' Preparedness for Multiple Career Paths

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cason, Jennifer

2016-01-01

This action research study is a mixed methods investigation of doctoral students' preparedness for multiple career paths. PhD students face two challenges preparing for multiple career paths: lack of preparation and limited engagement in conversations about the value of their research across multiple audiences. This study focuses on PhD students'…

One in three U.S. households faced challenges in paying energy bills in 2015

EIA Publications

2017-01-01

Nearly one-third of U.S. households (31%) reported facing a challenge in paying energy bills or sustaining adequate heating and cooling in their home in 2015. According to the most recent results from EIA’s Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), about one in five households reported reducing or forgoing basic necessities like food and medicine to pay an energy bill and 14% reported receiving a disconnection notice for energy service. Households may have also used less energy than they would prefer to: 11% of households surveyed reported keeping their home at an unhealthy or unsafe temperature.

Challenges Faced by Development Partners in Supporting the Growth and Development of Commercial Enterprises in Lira District, Northern Uganda

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eton, Marus; Mwirumubi, Richard; Edaku, Charles

2017-01-01

Entrepreneurship is defined as the process where an individual discovers, evaluates and exploit opportunities independently. Most countries have embraced entrepreneurship development as ways of creating employment and economic growth and development. The objective of the study was to examine the challenges faced by commercial enterprises in Lira…

Interference among the Processing of Facial Emotion, Face Race, and Face Gender.

PubMed

Li, Yongna; Tse, Chi-Shing

2016-01-01

People can process multiple dimensions of facial properties simultaneously. Facial processing models are based on the processing of facial properties. The current study examined the processing of facial emotion, face race, and face gender using categorization tasks. The same set of Chinese, White and Black faces, each posing a neutral, happy or angry expression, was used in three experiments. Facial emotion interacted with face race in all the tasks. The interaction of face race and face gender was found in the race and gender categorization tasks, whereas the interaction of facial emotion and face gender was significant in the emotion and gender categorization tasks. These results provided evidence for a symmetric interaction between variant facial properties (emotion) and invariant facial properties (race and gender).

Interference among the Processing of Facial Emotion, Face Race, and Face Gender

PubMed Central

Li, Yongna; Tse, Chi-Shing

2016-01-01

People can process multiple dimensions of facial properties simultaneously. Facial processing models are based on the processing of facial properties. The current study examined the processing of facial emotion, face race, and face gender using categorization tasks. The same set of Chinese, White and Black faces, each posing a neutral, happy or angry expression, was used in three experiments. Facial emotion interacted with face race in all the tasks. The interaction of face race and face gender was found in the race and gender categorization tasks, whereas the interaction of facial emotion and face gender was significant in the emotion and gender categorization tasks. These results provided evidence for a symmetric interaction between variant facial properties (emotion) and invariant facial properties (race and gender). PMID:27840621

Family medicine in Iran: facing the health system challenges.

PubMed

Esmaeili, Reza; Hadian, Mohammad; Rashidian, Arash; Shariati, Mohammad; Ghaderi, Hossien

2014-11-30

In response to the current fragmented context of health systems, it is essential to support the revitalization of primary health care in order to provide a stronger sense of direction and integrity. Around the world, family medicine recognized as a core discipline for strengthening primary health care setting. This study aimed to understand the perspectives of policy makers and decision makers of Iran's health system about the implementation of family medicine in Iran urban areas. This study is a qualitative study with framework analysis. Purposive semi-structured interviews were conducted with Policy and decision makers in the five main organizations of Iran health care system. The codes were extracted using inductive and deductive methods. According to 27 semi-structured interviews were conducted with Policy and decision makers, three main themes and 8 subthemes extracted, including: The development of referral system, better access to health care and the management of chronic diseases. Family medicine is a viable means for a series of crucial reforms in the face of the current challenges of health system. Implementation of family medicine can strengthen the PHC model in Iran urban areas. Attempting to create a general consensus among various stakeholders is essential for effective implementation of the project.

Threats to family planning services in Michigan: organizational responses to economic and political challenges.

PubMed

Dalton, Vanessa K; Jacobson, Peter D; Berson-Grand, Julie; Weisman, Carol S

2005-01-01

Title X is the only federal funding specifically for contraception and family planning services. This study identifies the threats and challenges Title X family planning organizations face in Michigan, and examines organizational responses to these challenges. We hypothesized that organizational responses to current challenges, including recent legislation, would differ between organizational types. We used a multiple case study design to examine safety net providers that received Title X funding in 2001. Cases were selected to represent economic and geographic diversity and included a mix of population densities. Key informants at each organization participated in face-to-face, semistructured interviews. Interviews collected data on current challenges, organizational planning processes, and organizational responses. All Title X organizations reported significant challenges, including rising costs, increasing need, and inadequate funding. Private organizations were more concerned about political challenges, especially recent Michigan legislation, than health departments. Organizational type was associated with the type of response. Health departments tended to close clinics or cut services, whereas private organizations recruited insured populations and increased patient fees. Based on these findings, the family planning safety net in Michigan appears to be undergoing significant change. These changes may decrease the availability of affordable family planning services in Michigan.

The Education Challenges Facing Small Nation States in the Increasingly Competitive Global Economy of the Twenty-First Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bacchus, Mohammed Kazim

2008-01-01

Publication of this piece is intended as a tribute to the late Professor M. Kazim Bacchus who passed away in March 2007. The paper provides a general discussion concerning the social and educational challenges faced by small nation states in an age characterised by globalisation. The analysis first identifies some of the basic features of small…

Facing the Challenges of Today and the Future: Ensuring Successful Outcomes for Students from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bullock, Lyndal M.; Gable, Robert A.; Carrero, Kelly; Lewis, Calli; Collins, Emerald; Zolkowski, Staci; Lusk, Mandy

2014-01-01

American schools are witnessing the increasing cultural heterogeneity of our nation's population. Educators are faced with the challenge of ensuring positive educational outcomes for all students, despite the lack of empirical understanding of how to effectively educate culturally and linguistically diverse learners. The purpose of this paper is…

NASA Space Rocket Logistics Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Neeley, James R.; Jones, James V.; Watson, Michael D.; Bramon, Christopher J.; Inman, Sharon K.; Tuttle, Loraine

2014-01-01

The Space Launch System (SLS) is the new NASA heavy lift launch vehicle and is scheduled for its first mission in 2017. The goal of the first mission, which will be uncrewed, is to demonstrate the integrated system performance of the SLS rocket and spacecraft before a crewed flight in 2021. SLS has many of the same logistics challenges as any other large scale program. Common logistics concerns for SLS include integration of discreet programs geographically separated, multiple prime contractors with distinct and different goals, schedule pressures and funding constraints. However, SLS also faces unique challenges. The new program is a confluence of new hardware and heritage, with heritage hardware constituting seventy-five percent of the program. This unique approach to design makes logistics concerns such as commonality especially problematic. Additionally, a very low manifest rate of one flight every four years makes logistics comparatively expensive. That, along with the SLS architecture being developed using a block upgrade evolutionary approach, exacerbates long-range planning for supportability considerations. These common and unique logistics challenges must be clearly identified and tackled to allow SLS to have a successful program. This paper will address the common and unique challenges facing the SLS programs, along with the analysis and decisions the NASA Logistics engineers are making to mitigate the threats posed by each.

Open Educational Resources (OER): Opportunities and Challenges for Indian Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dutta, Indrajeet

2016-01-01

Creation of knowledge workers holds key for success of a country. Unfortunately, many of the countries though having chain of human resources yet are unable to transform human resources to their advantage as they face multiple challenges like poverty, poor economy, poor infrastructure, limited access to education and inadequate technological…

Multi-Directional Multi-Level Dual-Cross Patterns for Robust Face Recognition.

PubMed

Ding, Changxing; Choi, Jonghyun; Tao, Dacheng; Davis, Larry S

2016-03-01

To perform unconstrained face recognition robust to variations in illumination, pose and expression, this paper presents a new scheme to extract "Multi-Directional Multi-Level Dual-Cross Patterns" (MDML-DCPs) from face images. Specifically, the MDML-DCPs scheme exploits the first derivative of Gaussian operator to reduce the impact of differences in illumination and then computes the DCP feature at both the holistic and component levels. DCP is a novel face image descriptor inspired by the unique textural structure of human faces. It is computationally efficient and only doubles the cost of computing local binary patterns, yet is extremely robust to pose and expression variations. MDML-DCPs comprehensively yet efficiently encodes the invariant characteristics of a face image from multiple levels into patterns that are highly discriminative of inter-personal differences but robust to intra-personal variations. Experimental results on the FERET, CAS-PERL-R1, FRGC 2.0, and LFW databases indicate that DCP outperforms the state-of-the-art local descriptors (e.g., LBP, LTP, LPQ, POEM, tLBP, and LGXP) for both face identification and face verification tasks. More impressively, the best performance is achieved on the challenging LFW and FRGC 2.0 databases by deploying MDML-DCPs in a simple recognition scheme.

InterFace: A software package for face image warping, averaging, and principal components analysis.

PubMed

Kramer, Robin S S; Jenkins, Rob; Burton, A Mike

2017-12-01

We describe InterFace, a software package for research in face recognition. The package supports image warping, reshaping, averaging of multiple face images, and morphing between faces. It also supports principal components analysis (PCA) of face images, along with tools for exploring the "face space" produced by PCA. The package uses a simple graphical user interface, allowing users to perform these sophisticated image manipulations without any need for programming knowledge. The program is available for download in the form of an app, which requires that users also have access to the (freely available) MATLAB Runtime environment.

Probabilistic Elastic Part Model: A Pose-Invariant Representation for Real-World Face Verification.

PubMed

Li, Haoxiang; Hua, Gang

2018-04-01

Pose variation remains to be a major challenge for real-world face recognition. We approach this problem through a probabilistic elastic part model. We extract local descriptors (e.g., LBP or SIFT) from densely sampled multi-scale image patches. By augmenting each descriptor with its location, a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is trained to capture the spatial-appearance distribution of the face parts of all face images in the training corpus, namely the probabilistic elastic part (PEP) model. Each mixture component of the GMM is confined to be a spherical Gaussian to balance the influence of the appearance and the location terms, which naturally defines a part. Given one or multiple face images of the same subject, the PEP-model builds its PEP representation by sequentially concatenating descriptors identified by each Gaussian component in a maximum likelihood sense. We further propose a joint Bayesian adaptation algorithm to adapt the universally trained GMM to better model the pose variations between the target pair of faces/face tracks, which consistently improves face verification accuracy. Our experiments show that we achieve state-of-the-art face verification accuracy with the proposed representations on the Labeled Face in the Wild (LFW) dataset, the YouTube video face database, and the CMU MultiPIE dataset.

Post-Adoption Face-to-Face Contact with Birth Parents: Prospective Adopters' Views

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turkington, Selina; Taylor, Brian J.

2009-01-01

The trend in adoption since the 1960s has been away from secrecy and towards greater openness; contact through an intermediary, and direct contact by letter, is now widely accepted. More controversial is the challenge of face-to-face contact with birth parents, and social workers involved in the decision-making process find themselves having to…

Parent Education for Dialogic Reading: Online and Face-to-Face Delivery Methods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beschorner, Beth; Hutchison, Amy

2016-01-01

This study explored the impact of a parent education program and the contextual factors that influenced the experiences of families in the program. Seventeen parents completed a 9-week, face-to-face program and 15 parents completed a similar online program. This study was designed as a multiple case study and utilized multimethods for data…

Cross-modal face recognition using multi-matcher face scores

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Yufeng; Blasch, Erik

2015-05-01

The performance of face recognition can be improved using information fusion of multimodal images and/or multiple algorithms. When multimodal face images are available, cross-modal recognition is meaningful for security and surveillance applications. For example, a probe face is a thermal image (especially at nighttime), while only visible face images are available in the gallery database. Matching a thermal probe face onto the visible gallery faces requires crossmodal matching approaches. A few such studies were implemented in facial feature space with medium recognition performance. In this paper, we propose a cross-modal recognition approach, where multimodal faces are cross-matched in feature space and the recognition performance is enhanced with stereo fusion at image, feature and/or score level. In the proposed scenario, there are two cameras for stereo imaging, two face imagers (visible and thermal images) in each camera, and three recognition algorithms (circular Gaussian filter, face pattern byte, linear discriminant analysis). A score vector is formed with three cross-matched face scores from the aforementioned three algorithms. A classifier (e.g., k-nearest neighbor, support vector machine, binomial logical regression [BLR]) is trained then tested with the score vectors by using 10-fold cross validations. The proposed approach was validated with a multispectral stereo face dataset from 105 subjects. Our experiments show very promising results: ACR (accuracy rate) = 97.84%, FAR (false accept rate) = 0.84% when cross-matching the fused thermal faces onto the fused visible faces by using three face scores and the BLR classifier.

The Benefits and Challenges of Multiple Health Behavior Change in Research and in Practice

PubMed Central

Prochaska, Judith J.; Nigg, Claudio R.; Spring, Bonnie; Velicer, Wayne F.; Prochaska, James O.

2009-01-01

Objective The major chronic diseases are caused by multiple risks, yet the science of multiple health behavior change (MHBC) is at an early stage, and factors that facilitate or impede scientists’ involvement in MHBC research are unknown. Benefits and challenges of MHBC interventions were investigated to strengthen researchers’ commitment and prepare them for challenges. Method An online anonymous survey was emailed to listservs of the Society of Behavioral Medicine between May 2006 and 2007. Respondents (N = 69) were 83% female; 94% held a doctoral degree; 64% were psychologists, 24% were in public health; 83% targeted MHBC in their work. Results A sample majority rated 23 of the 24 benefits, but only 1 of 31 challenge items, as very-to-extremely important. Those engaged in MHBC rated the total benefits significantly higher than respondents focused on single behaviors, F(1,69) = 4.21, p<.05, and rated the benefits significantly higher than the challenges: paired t(57) = 7.50, p<.001. The two groups did not differ in ratings of challenges. Conclusion It appears individuals focused solely on single behaviors do not fully appreciate the benefits that impress MHBC researchers; it is not that substantial barriers are holding them back. Benefits of MHBC interventions need emphasizing more broadly to advance this research area. PMID:19948184

Software Assurance Challenges for the Commercial Crew Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cuyno, Patrick; Malnick, Kathy D.; Schaeffer, Chad E.

2015-01-01

This paper will provide a description of some of the challenges NASA is facing in providing software assurance within the new commercial space services paradigm, namely with the Commercial Crew Program (CCP). The CCP will establish safe, reliable, and affordable access to the International Space Station (ISS) by purchasing a ride from commercial companies. The CCP providers have varying experience with software development in safety-critical space systems. NASA's role in providing effective software assurance support to the CCP providers is critical to the success of CCP. These challenges include funding multiple vehicles that execute in parallel and have different rules of engagement, multiple providers with unique proprietary concerns, providing equivalent guidance to all providers, permitting alternates to NASA standards, and a large number of diverse stakeholders. It is expected that these challenges will exist in future programs, especially if the CCP paradigm proves successful. The proposed CCP approach to address these challenges includes a risk-based assessment with varying degrees of engagement and a distributed assurance model. This presentation will describe NASA IV&V Program's software assurance support and responses to these challenges.

Challenges and Opportunities Faced by Biofield Practitioners in Global Health and Medicine: A White Paper

PubMed Central

King, Rauni Prittinen

2015-01-01

Biofield therapies (BTs) are increasingly employed in contemporary healthcare. In this white paper, we review specific challenges faced by biofield practitioners resulting from a lack of (1) a common scientific definition of BT; (2) common educational standards for BT training (including core competencies for clinical care); (3) collaborative team care education in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and in integrative health and medicine (IHM); (4) a focused agenda in BT research; and (5) standardized devices and scientifically validated mechanisms in biofield research. We present a description of BT and discuss its current status and challenges as an integrative healthcare discipline. To address the challenges cited and to enhance collaboration across disciplines, we propose (1) standardized biofield education that leads to professional licensure and (2) interprofessional education (IPE) competencies in BT training required for licensed healthcare practitioners and encouraged for other practitioners using these therapies. Lastly, we discuss opportunities for growth and a potential strategic agenda to achieve these goals. The Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine (AIHM) provides a unique forum to facilitate development of this emerging discipline, to facilitate IPE, and to further increase the availability of BT to patients. PMID:26665047

About-face on face recognition ability and holistic processing.

PubMed

Richler, Jennifer J; Floyd, R Jackie; Gauthier, Isabel

2015-01-01

Previous work found a small but significant relationship between holistic processing measured with the composite task and face recognition ability measured by the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT; Duchaine & Nakayama, 2006). Surprisingly, recent work using a different measure of holistic processing (Vanderbilt Holistic Face Processing Test [VHPT-F]; Richler, Floyd, & Gauthier, 2014) and a larger sample found no evidence for such a relationship. In Experiment 1 we replicate this unexpected result, finding no relationship between holistic processing (VHPT-F) and face recognition ability (CFMT). A key difference between the VHPT-F and other holistic processing measures is that unique face parts are used on each trial in the VHPT-F, unlike in other tasks where a small set of face parts repeat across the experiment. In Experiment 2, we test the hypothesis that correlations between the CFMT and holistic processing tasks are driven by stimulus repetition that allows for learning during the composite task. Consistent with our predictions, CFMT performance was correlated with holistic processing in the composite task when a small set of face parts repeated over trials, but not when face parts did not repeat. A meta-analysis confirms that relationships between the CFMT and holistic processing depend on stimulus repetition. These results raise important questions about what is being measured by the CFMT, and challenge current assumptions about why faces are processed holistically.

About-face on face recognition ability and holistic processing

PubMed Central

Richler, Jennifer J.; Floyd, R. Jackie; Gauthier, Isabel

2015-01-01

Previous work found a small but significant relationship between holistic processing measured with the composite task and face recognition ability measured by the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT; Duchaine & Nakayama, 2006). Surprisingly, recent work using a different measure of holistic processing (Vanderbilt Holistic Face Processing Test [VHPT-F]; Richler, Floyd, & Gauthier, 2014) and a larger sample found no evidence for such a relationship. In Experiment 1 we replicate this unexpected result, finding no relationship between holistic processing (VHPT-F) and face recognition ability (CFMT). A key difference between the VHPT-F and other holistic processing measures is that unique face parts are used on each trial in the VHPT-F, unlike in other tasks where a small set of face parts repeat across the experiment. In Experiment 2, we test the hypothesis that correlations between the CFMT and holistic processing tasks are driven by stimulus repetition that allows for learning during the composite task. Consistent with our predictions, CFMT performance was correlated with holistic processing in the composite task when a small set of face parts repeated over trials, but not when face parts did not repeat. A meta-analysis confirms that relationships between the CFMT and holistic processing depend on stimulus repetition. These results raise important questions about what is being measured by the CFMT, and challenge current assumptions about why faces are processed holistically. PMID:26223027

Some imminent but overlooked preanalytical and analytical challenges currently facing biomarkers and companion diagnostics.

PubMed

Halim, Abdel-Baset

2015-06-01

An incredibly high failure rate in the pharmaceutical industry has positioned personalized medicine with its prerequisite drug-diagnostic codevelopment, commonly known as companion diagnostics (CDx), in the frontline as an potential rescuer. This hopefulness is potentiated by the recent major advances and competitiveness in molecular diagnostics, making laboratory tests widely accessible at affordable prices. If executed correctly, biomarkers and CDx can potentially help the drug industry by enhancing the probability of success and possibly accelerating time to market; help the diagnostics industry develop tests utilizing precious, clinically annotated human samples; and, more importantly, benefit patients by supporting accurate diagnosis and selection of the most efficacious and least toxic therapies. However, this spectacular road is not yet paved, and it faces an enormous number of challenges. This paper will list these challenges and highlight some critical problems with representative examples of imminent but still overlooked preanalytical and analytical variables that can defeat the whole purpose of biomarkers and CDx and mislead drug developers and clinicians. The paper will provide some suggestions for mitigation. © 2015 New York Academy of Sciences.

Assessing Student Performance and Perceptions in Lecture Capture vs. Face-to-Face Course Delivery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Euzent, Patricia; Martin, Thomas; Moskal, Patrick; Moskal, Patsy

2011-01-01

Public universities are currently facing a challenge in determining how to deliver quality instruction in the face of severe fiscal constraints. With recent technological advances, courses streamed over the Internet (i.e., lecture capture) are now becoming common. However, little research has been published that specifically examines student…

Animal, but Not Human, Faces Engage the Distributed Face Network in Adolescents with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whyte, Elisabeth M.; Behrmann, Marlene; Minshew, Nancy J.; Garcia, Natalie V.; Scherf, K. Suzanne

2016-01-01

Multiple hypotheses have been offered to explain the impaired face-processing behavior and the accompanying underlying disruptions in neural circuitry among individuals with autism. We explored the specificity of atypical face-processing activation and potential alterations to fusiform gyrus (FG) morphology as potential underlying mechanisms.…

Construction and Validation of a Survey Instrument to Determine the Gender-Related Challenges Faced by Pre-Service Male Primary Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cruickshank, Vaughan; Pedersen, Scott; Hill, Allen; Callingham, Rosemary

2015-01-01

The gender-related challenges facing males entering the primary-school teaching profession have been well documented in the academic literature over recent decades. The majority of these data have come about through qualitative reports. Whilst qualitative methods provide important perspectives into these issues, the use of valid and reliable…

Challenges faced by primary care physicians when prescribing for patients with chronic diseases in a teaching hospital in Malaysia: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Sellappans, Renukha; Lai, Pauline Siew Mei; Ng, Chirk Jenn

2015-08-27

The aim of this study was to identify the challenges faced by primary care physicians (PCPs) when prescribing medications for patients with chronic diseases in a teaching hospital in Malaysia. 3 focus group discussions were conducted between July and August 2012 in a teaching primary care clinic in Malaysia. A topic guide was used to facilitate the discussions which were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using a thematic approach. PCPs affiliated to the primary care clinic were purposively sampled to include a range of clinical experience. Sample size was determined by thematic saturation of the data. 14 family medicine trainees and 5 service medical officers participated in this study. PCPs faced difficulties in prescribing for patients with chronic diseases due to a lack of communication among different healthcare providers. Medication changes made by hospital specialists, for example, were often not communicated to the PCPs leading to drug duplications and interactions. The use of paper-based medical records and electronic prescribing created a dual record system for patients' medications and became a problem when the 2 records did not tally. Patients sometimes visited different doctors and pharmacies for their medications and this resulted in the lack of continuity of care. PCPs also faced difficulties in addressing patients' concerns, and dealing with patients' medication requests and adherence issues. Some PCPs lacked time and knowledge to advise patients about their medications and faced difficulties in managing side effects caused by the patients' complex medication regimen. PCPs faced prescribing challenges related to patients, their own practice and the local health system when prescribing for patients with chronic diseases. These challenges must be addressed in order to improve chronic disease management in primary care and, more importantly, patient safety. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not

Factors Influencing Men Entering the Nursing Profession, and Understanding the Challenges Faced by Them: Iranian and Developed Countries’ Perspectives

PubMed Central

Zamanzadeh, Vahid; Valizadeh, Leila; Negarandeh, Reza; Monadi, Morteza; Azadi, Arman

2013-01-01

Context: Men entering the nursing profession have been investigated from several different perspectives. Due to male gender characteristics and existing public image, nursing is often not considered as a career choice by men. Whether nursing would benefit from increased number of men is a key question in the literature. The purpose of this integrative review of the literature was to identify factors influencing men to enter the nursing profession. In addition, it sought to understand the challenges they are confronted within this profession. Evidence Acquisition: A systematic search of the existing literature was performed using an Internet search with broad keywords to access related articles in both Persian and English databases. Finally, 34 studies (written between 2000 and early 2013) were selected and surveyed. Results: Most of the studies were conducted in developed counties. The review identified reasons why males choose nursing, and other challenges facing men entering and working in nursing. Themes that emerged from the literature include educational and societal barriers experienced by men in nursing, recruitment, career choice, and role strain. Conclusions: Regarding men’s influences on professional development, and also the importance of gender-based caring, policies for recruitment and retention of men in nursing must be followed hastily. However, there is a need for further research regarding the challenges faced by men entering nursing, in both Iran and other developing countries. PMID:25414879

Value, Challenges, and Satisfaction of Certification for Multiple Sclerosis Specialists

PubMed Central

Halper, June

2014-01-01

Background: Specialist certification among interdisciplinary multiple sclerosis (MS) team members provides formal recognition of a specialized body of knowledge felt to be necessary to provide optimal care to individuals and families living with MS. Multiple sclerosis specialist certification (MS Certified Specialist, or MSCS) first became available in 2004 for MS interdisciplinary team members, but prior to the present study had not been evaluated for its perceived value, challenges, and satisfaction. Methods: A sample consisting of 67 currently certified MS specialists and 20 lapsed-certification MS specialists completed the following instruments: Perceived Value of Certification Tool (PVCT), Perceived Challenges and Barriers to Certification Scale (PCBCS), Overall Satisfaction with Certification Scale, and a demographic data form. Results: Satisfactory reliability was shown for the total scale and four factored subscales of the PVCT and for two of the three factored PCBCS subscales. Currently certified MS specialists perceived significantly greater value and satisfaction than lapsed-certification MS specialists in terms of employer and peer recognition, validation of MS knowledge, and empowering MS patients. Lapsed-certification MS specialists reported increased confidence and caring for MS patients using evidence-based practice. Both currently certified and lapsed-certification groups reported dissatisfaction with MSCS recognition and pay/salary rewards. Conclusions: The results of this study can be used in efforts to encourage initial certification and recertification of interdisciplinary MS team members. PMID:25061432

Hierarchical Spatio-Temporal Probabilistic Graphical Model with Multiple Feature Fusion for Binary Facial Attribute Classification in Real-World Face Videos.

PubMed

Demirkus, Meltem; Precup, Doina; Clark, James J; Arbel, Tal

2016-06-01

Recent literature shows that facial attributes, i.e., contextual facial information, can be beneficial for improving the performance of real-world applications, such as face verification, face recognition, and image search. Examples of face attributes include gender, skin color, facial hair, etc. How to robustly obtain these facial attributes (traits) is still an open problem, especially in the presence of the challenges of real-world environments: non-uniform illumination conditions, arbitrary occlusions, motion blur and background clutter. What makes this problem even more difficult is the enormous variability presented by the same subject, due to arbitrary face scales, head poses, and facial expressions. In this paper, we focus on the problem of facial trait classification in real-world face videos. We have developed a fully automatic hierarchical and probabilistic framework that models the collective set of frame class distributions and feature spatial information over a video sequence. The experiments are conducted on a large real-world face video database that we have collected, labelled and made publicly available. The proposed method is flexible enough to be applied to any facial classification problem. Experiments on a large, real-world video database McGillFaces [1] of 18,000 video frames reveal that the proposed framework outperforms alternative approaches, by up to 16.96 and 10.13%, for the facial attributes of gender and facial hair, respectively.

Efficient live face detection to counter spoof attack in face recognition systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biswas, Bikram Kumar; Alam, Mohammad S.

2015-03-01

Face recognition is a critical tool used in almost all major biometrics based security systems. But recognition, authentication and liveness detection of the face of an actual user is a major challenge because an imposter or a non-live face of the actual user can be used to spoof the security system. In this research, a robust technique is proposed which detects liveness of faces in order to counter spoof attacks. The proposed technique uses a three-dimensional (3D) fast Fourier transform to compare spectral energies of a live face and a fake face in a mathematically selective manner. The mathematical model involves evaluation of energies of selective high frequency bands of average power spectra of both live and non-live faces. It also carries out proper recognition and authentication of the face of the actual user using the fringe-adjusted joint transform correlation technique, which has been found to yield the highest correlation output for a match. Experimental tests show that the proposed technique yields excellent results for identifying live faces.

Impaired face recognition is associated with social inhibition

PubMed Central

Avery, Suzanne N; VanDerKlok, Ross M; Heckers, Stephan; Blackford, Jennifer U

2016-01-01

Face recognition is fundamental to successful social interaction. Individuals with deficits in face recognition are likely to have social functioning impairments that may lead to heightened risk for social anxiety. A critical component of social interaction is how quickly a face is learned during initial exposure to a new individual. Here, we used a novel Repeated Faces task to assess how quickly memory for faces is established. Face recognition was measured over multiple exposures in 52 young adults ranging from low to high in social inhibition, a core dimension of social anxiety. High social inhibition was associated with a smaller slope of change in recognition memory over repeated face exposure, indicating participants with higher social inhibition showed smaller improvements in recognition memory after seeing faces multiple times. We propose that impaired face learning is an important mechanism underlying social inhibition and may contribute to, or maintain, social anxiety. PMID:26776300

Hyper-realistic face masks: a new challenge in person identification.

PubMed

Sanders, Jet Gabrielle; Ueda, Yoshiyuki; Minemoto, Kazusa; Noyes, Eilidh; Yoshikawa, Sakiko; Jenkins, Rob

2017-01-01

We often identify people using face images. This is true in occupational settings such as passport control as well as in everyday social environments. Mapping between images and identities assumes that facial appearance is stable within certain bounds. For example, a person's apparent age, gender and ethnicity change slowly, if at all. It also assumes that deliberate changes beyond these bounds (i.e., disguises) would be easy to spot. Hyper-realistic face masks overturn these assumptions by allowing the wearer to look like an entirely different person. If unnoticed, these masks break the link between facial appearance and personal identity, with clear implications for applied face recognition. However, to date, no one has assessed the realism of these masks, or specified conditions under which they may be accepted as real faces. Herein, we examined incidental detection of unexpected but attended hyper-realistic masks in both photographic and live presentations. Experiment 1 (UK; n = 60) revealed no evidence for overt detection of hyper-realistic masks among real face photos, and little evidence of covert detection. Experiment 2 (Japan; n = 60) extended these findings to different masks, mask-wearers and participant pools. In Experiment 3 (UK and Japan; n = 407), passers-by failed to notice that a live confederate was wearing a hyper-realistic mask and showed limited evidence of covert detection, even at close viewing distance (5 vs. 20 m). Across all of these studies, viewers accepted hyper-realistic masks as real faces. Specific countermeasures will be required if detection rates are to be improved.

Holistic face training enhances face processing in developmental prosopagnosia

PubMed Central

Cohan, Sarah; Nakayama, Ken

2014-01-01

Prosopagnosia has largely been regarded as an untreatable disorder. However, recent case studies using cognitive training have shown that it is possible to enhance face recognition abilities in individuals with developmental prosopagnosia. Our goal was to determine if this approach could be effective in a larger population of developmental prosopagnosics. We trained 24 developmental prosopagnosics using a 3-week online face-training program targeting holistic face processing. Twelve subjects with developmental prosopagnosia were assessed before and after training, and the other 12 were assessed before and after a waiting period, they then performed the training, and were then assessed again. The assessments included measures of front-view face discrimination, face discrimination with view-point changes, measures of holistic face processing, and a 5-day diary to quantify potential real-world improvements. Compared with the waiting period, developmental prosopagnosics showed moderate but significant overall training-related improvements on measures of front-view face discrimination. Those who reached the more difficult levels of training (‘better’ trainees) showed the strongest improvements in front-view face discrimination and showed significantly increased holistic face processing to the point of being similar to that of unimpaired control subjects. Despite challenges in characterizing developmental prosopagnosics’ everyday face recognition and potential biases in self-report, results also showed modest but consistent self-reported diary improvements. In summary, we demonstrate that by using cognitive training that targets holistic processing, it is possible to enhance face perception across a group of developmental prosopagnosics and further suggest that those who improved the most on the training task received the greatest benefits. PMID:24691394

Computer Self-Efficacy, Anxiety, and Learning in Online versus Face to Face Medium

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hauser, Richard; Paul, Ravi; Bradley, John

2012-01-01

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationships between changes to computer self-efficacy (CSE) and computer anxiety and the impact on performance on computer-related tasks in both online and face-to-face mediums. While many studies have looked at these factors individually, relatively few have included multiple measures of these…

Alternative face models for 3D face registration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salah, Albert Ali; Alyüz, Neşe; Akarun, Lale

2007-01-01

3D has become an important modality for face biometrics. The accuracy of a 3D face recognition system depends on a correct registration that aligns the facial surfaces and makes a comparison possible. The best results obtained so far use a one-to-all registration approach, which means each new facial surface is registered to all faces in the gallery, at a great computational cost. We explore the approach of registering the new facial surface to an average face model (AFM), which automatically establishes correspondence to the pre-registered gallery faces. Going one step further, we propose that using a couple of well-selected AFMs can trade-off computation time with accuracy. Drawing on cognitive justifications, we propose to employ category-specific alternative average face models for registration, which is shown to increase the accuracy of the subsequent recognition. We inspect thin-plate spline (TPS) and iterative closest point (ICP) based registration schemes under realistic assumptions on manual or automatic landmark detection prior to registration. We evaluate several approaches for the coarse initialization of ICP. We propose a new algorithm for constructing an AFM, and show that it works better than a recent approach. Finally, we perform simulations with multiple AFMs that correspond to different clusters in the face shape space and compare these with gender and morphology based groupings. We report our results on the FRGC 3D face database.

Remote-online case-based learning: A comparison of remote-online and face-to-face, case-based learning - a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Nicklen, Peter; Keating, Jenny L; Paynter, Sophie; Storr, Michael; Maloney, Stephen

2016-01-01

Case-based learning (CBL) is an educational approach where students work in small, collaborative groups to solve problems. Computer assisted learning (CAL) is the implementation of computer technology in education. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of a remote-online CBL (RO-CBL) with traditional face-to-face CBL on learning the outcomes of undergraduate physiotherapy students. Participants were randomized to either the control (face-to-face CBL) or to the CAL intervention (RO-CBL). The entire 3rd year physiotherapy cohort (n = 41) at Monash University, Victoria, Australia, were invited to participate in the randomized controlled trial. Outcomes included a postintervention multiple-choice test evaluating the knowledge gained from the CBL, a self-assessment of learning based on examinable learning objectives and student satisfaction with the CBL. In addition, a focus group was conducted investigating perceptions and responses to the online format. Thirty-eight students (control n = 19, intervention n = 19) participated in two CBL sessions and completed the outcome assessments. CBL median scores for the postintervention multiple-choice test were comparable (Wilcoxon rank sum P = 0.61) (median/10 [range] intervention group: 9 [8-10] control group: 10 [7-10]). Of the 15 examinable learning objectives, eight were significantly in favor of the control group, suggesting a greater perceived depth of learning. Eighty-four percent of students (16/19) disagreed with the statement "I enjoyed the method of CBL delivery." Key themes identified from the focus group included risks associated with the implementation of, challenges of communicating in, and flexibility offered, by web-based programs. RO-CBL appears to provide students with a comparable learning experience to traditional CBL. Procedural and infrastructure factors need to be addressed in future studies to counter student dissatisfaction and decreased perceived depth of learning.

The challenge of localizing the anterior temporal face area: a possible solution.

PubMed

Axelrod, Vadim; Yovel, Galit

2013-11-01

Humans recognize faces exceptionally well. However, the neural correlates of face recognition are still elusive. Accumulated evidence in recent years suggests that the anterior temporal lobe (ATL), in particular face-selective region in the ATL, is a probable locus of face recognition. Unfortunately, functional MRI (fMRI) studies encounter severe signal drop-out in the ventral ATL, where that ATL face area resides. Consequently, all previous studies localized this region in no more than half of the subjects and its volume was relatively small. Thus, a systematic exploration of the properties of the ATL face area is scarce. In the current high-resolution fMRI study we used coronal slice orientation, which permitted us to localize the ATL face area in all the subjects. Furthermore, the volume of the area was much larger than was reported in previous studies. Direct within subjects comparison with data collected with the commonly used axial slice orientation confirmed that the advantage of the coronal slice orientation in revealing a reliable and larger face-selective area in the ATL. Finally, by displaying the face-selective activations resultant from coronal and axial scanning together, we demonstrate an organization principle of a chain of face-selective regions along the posterior-anterior axis in the ventral temporal lobe that is highly reproducible across all subjects. By using the procedure proposed here, a significant progress can be made in studying the neural correlates of face recognition. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Face in the Crowd Effect Unconfounded: Happy Faces, Not Angry Faces, Are More Efficiently Detected in Single- and Multiple-Target Visual Search Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Becker, D. Vaughn; Anderson, Uriah S.; Mortensen, Chad R.; Neufeld, Samantha L.; Neel, Rebecca

2011-01-01

Is it easier to detect angry or happy facial expressions in crowds of faces? The present studies used several variations of the visual search task to assess whether people selectively attend to expressive faces. Contrary to widely cited studies (e.g., Ohman, Lundqvist, & Esteves, 2001) that suggest angry faces "pop out" of crowds, our review of…

Challenges facing young African scientists in their research careers: A qualitative exploratory study.

PubMed

Kumwenda, Save; Niang, El Hadji A; Orondo, Pauline W; William, Pote; Oyinlola, Lateefah; Bongo, Gedeon N; Chiwona, Bernadette

2017-03-01

Africa accounts for 14% of world's population, and the economies of most African countries are considered to be growing, but this is not reflected in the amount of research published by Africans. This study aimed at identifying the challenges that young African scientists face in their career development. This was a qualitative exploratory study involving young researchers who attended the Teaching and Research in Natural Sciences for Development (TReND) in Africa scientific writing and communication workshop, which was held in Malawi in September 2015. A semi-structured questionnaire was sent to all workshop participants who consented to taking part in the survey. In total, 28 questionnaires were sent via email and 15 were returned, representing a response rate of 53.6%. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Young Africans develop their research interests various ways. The most common career-promoting factors identified by the study participants included formal classroom learning, aspirations to attain academic qualifications, work satisfaction, and the desire to fulfill parents' dreams. Challenges cited by survey respondents included a lack of mentorship, funds, and research and writing skills. Lack of interest in research by policymakers, lack of motivation by peers, and heavy workload (leaving little time for research) were also reported as challenges. Respondents suggested that grants specifically targeting young scientists would be beneficial. Participants also urged for the establishment of mentorship programmes, increasing motivation for research, and more frequent training opportunities. There is need for improved funding for institutional and research network strengthening in Africa, with particular attention given to expanding opportunities for young researchers.

Many Faces Have I.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zilliox, Joseph T.; Lowery, Shannon G.

1997-01-01

Describes an extended investigation of polygons and polyhedra which was conducted in response to a challenge posed in Focus, a newsletter from the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). Students were challenged to construct a polyhedron with faces that measure more than 13 inches to a side. Outlines the process, including the questions posed…

Illumination robust face recognition using spatial adaptive shadow compensation based on face intensity prior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsieh, Cheng-Ta; Huang, Kae-Horng; Lee, Chang-Hsing; Han, Chin-Chuan; Fan, Kuo-Chin

2017-12-01

Robust face recognition under illumination variations is an important and challenging task in a face recognition system, particularly for face recognition in the wild. In this paper, a face image preprocessing approach, called spatial adaptive shadow compensation (SASC), is proposed to eliminate shadows in the face image due to different lighting directions. First, spatial adaptive histogram equalization (SAHE), which uses face intensity prior model, is proposed to enhance the contrast of each local face region without generating visible noises in smooth face areas. Adaptive shadow compensation (ASC), which performs shadow compensation in each local image block, is then used to produce a wellcompensated face image appropriate for face feature extraction and recognition. Finally, null-space linear discriminant analysis (NLDA) is employed to extract discriminant features from SASC compensated images. Experiments performed on the Yale B, Yale B extended, and CMU PIE face databases have shown that the proposed SASC always yields the best face recognition accuracy. That is, SASC is more robust to face recognition under illumination variations than other shadow compensation approaches.

Pose-Invariant Face Recognition via RGB-D Images.

PubMed

Sang, Gaoli; Li, Jing; Zhao, Qijun

2016-01-01

Three-dimensional (3D) face models can intrinsically handle large pose face recognition problem. In this paper, we propose a novel pose-invariant face recognition method via RGB-D images. By employing depth, our method is able to handle self-occlusion and deformation, both of which are challenging problems in two-dimensional (2D) face recognition. Texture images in the gallery can be rendered to the same view as the probe via depth. Meanwhile, depth is also used for similarity measure via frontalization and symmetric filling. Finally, both texture and depth contribute to the final identity estimation. Experiments on Bosphorus, CurtinFaces, Eurecom, and Kiwi databases demonstrate that the additional depth information has improved the performance of face recognition with large pose variations and under even more challenging conditions.

Impaired face recognition is associated with social inhibition.

PubMed

Avery, Suzanne N; VanDerKlok, Ross M; Heckers, Stephan; Blackford, Jennifer U

2016-02-28

Face recognition is fundamental to successful social interaction. Individuals with deficits in face recognition are likely to have social functioning impairments that may lead to heightened risk for social anxiety. A critical component of social interaction is how quickly a face is learned during initial exposure to a new individual. Here, we used a novel Repeated Faces task to assess how quickly memory for faces is established. Face recognition was measured over multiple exposures in 52 young adults ranging from low to high in social inhibition, a core dimension of social anxiety. High social inhibition was associated with a smaller slope of change in recognition memory over repeated face exposure, indicating participants with higher social inhibition showed smaller improvements in recognition memory after seeing faces multiple times. We propose that impaired face learning is an important mechanism underlying social inhibition and may contribute to, or maintain, social anxiety. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Web-based versus face-to-face interprofessional team encounters with standardized patients.

PubMed

Lempicki, Kelly A; Holland, Christine S

2018-03-01

Challenges exist in developing interprofessional education (IPE) activities including coordinating schedules and obtaining appropriate space for teams to work. Virtual worlds have been explored as a means to overcome some of these challenges. We sought to develop a web-based interprofessional team interaction with a standardized patient (SP), as compared to a face-to-face SP interaction, focusing on the competency area of interprofessional communication. Interprofessional teams of students were randomized to complete a web-based or face-to-face SP encounter. The web-based encounter was conducted via video conference that students accessed using their own electronic device. Interprofessional communication was evaluated by faculty observers and the SPs. Participants of the web-based encounter also completed a perceptions questionnaire. Interprofessional communication was rated as average/above average by the authors and SPs. Perceptions of the web-based encounter were mixed with not all students willing to complete such an encounter again despite finding it enjoyable and a positive learning experience. The need for adequate preparation was identified, including the opportunity to review the patient case before the encounter. The web-based SP encounter afforded students the opportunity to utilize communication technology to provide patient-centered care while collaborating as an interprofessional team. Video conferencing presents an opportunity to bypass some logistical challenges in scheduling IPE experiences and can be implemented as a co-curricular activity, avoiding course revisions. Additional studies are needed to further explore student and patient perspectives and clarify when, and with what level of trainees, the experiences are most valuable. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Efficacy of a training program designed to help address challenges faced by health promotion volunteers.

PubMed

Taguchi, Atsuko; Murayama, Hiroshi; Arakawa, Mihoko; Terao, Atsushi

2017-01-01

Objective　To evaluate the effectiveness of a training program designed to address the following three challenges facing health promotion volunteers: lack of new volunteers, short tenure of volunteering, and failure to build a collaborative relationship with other civic organizations.Methods　Thirty-eight volunteer leaders representing 36 school districts (one from each district and two additional leaders) from southern parts of Shiga Prefecture participated in the training program. Four training sessions were conducted between July 2012 and January 2013. Each session lasted for 2 hours. The program included a lecture, group work, and role playing, all of which centered on the challenges experienced by the volunteers and possible solutions. Those who participated constituted the "training group," and other volunteers in the same area of Shiga, who did not take part in the program, made up the "non-training group." A third, control group consisted of health promotion volunteers based in City A, located outside the areas where the training occurred. To compare the three groups, we collected data before and after the training. The main evaluation index comprised the following three survey items: having confidence in recruiting new volunteers, having confidence in overcoming the difficulties or discouragement to continue to volunteer, and having confidence in explaining their activities to other local organizations to earn their cooperation. These questions were asked in a self-administered questionnaire using a 6-point Likert scale (1: strongly disagree, 6: strongly agree).Results　The data were compared among the training group (28 out of the 38 participants completed the survey), non-training group (n=293), and control group (n=107). On the question about recruiting new volunteers, the training group's mean score increased from 2.9 (standard deviation (SD)=1.3) to 3.3 (SD=1.0) following the training, and the improvement relative to the other two groups was

Benefits, Challenges, and Perceptions of the Multiple Article Dissertation Format in Instructional Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Rebecca Arlene; West, Richard E.; Rich, Peter

2016-01-01

This study used survey data to investigate the benefits, challenges, perceptions, and current practices of the multiple article dissertation format in instructional technology. Online surveys were sent to current students, alumni, faculty, and department representatives of instructional technology programs, and data were analysed using qualitative…

Face Search at Scale.

PubMed

Wang, Dayong; Otto, Charles; Jain, Anil K

2017-06-01

Given the prevalence of social media websites, one challenge facing computer vision researchers is to devise methods to search for persons of interest among the billions of shared photos on these websites. Despite significant progress in face recognition, searching a large collection of unconstrained face images remains a difficult problem. To address this challenge, we propose a face search system which combines a fast search procedure, coupled with a state-of-the-art commercial off the shelf (COTS) matcher, in a cascaded framework. Given a probe face, we first filter the large gallery of photos to find the top- k most similar faces using features learned by a convolutional neural network. The k retrieved candidates are re-ranked by combining similarities based on deep features and those output by the COTS matcher. We evaluate the proposed face search system on a gallery containing 80 million web-downloaded face images. Experimental results demonstrate that while the deep features perform worse than the COTS matcher on a mugshot dataset (93.7 percent versus 98.6 percent TAR@FAR of 0.01 percent), fusing the deep features with the COTS matcher improves the overall performance ( 99.5 percent TAR@FAR of 0.01 percent). This shows that the learned deep features provide complementary information over representations used in state-of-the-art face matchers. On the unconstrained face image benchmarks, the performance of the learned deep features is competitive with reported accuracies. LFW database: 98.20 percent accuracy under the standard protocol and 88.03 percent TAR@FAR of 0.1 percent under the BLUFR protocol; IJB-A benchmark: 51.0 percent TAR@FAR of 0.1 percent (verification), rank 1 retrieval of 82.2 percent (closed-set search), 61.5 percent FNIR@FAR of 1 percent (open-set search). The proposed face search system offers an excellent trade-off between accuracy and scalability on galleries with millions of images. Additionally, in a face search experiment involving

Current Challenges Facing the Future of Secondary Education and Transition Services for Youth with Disabilities in the United States. Discussion Paper

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET), University of Minnesota, 2004

2004-01-01

This paper is intended to promote discussion among professionals, policymakers, employers, parents, and individuals with disabilities concerning current and future challenges facing secondary education and transition services nationally. The issues identified and discussed should not, however, be viewed as inclusive of the full range of possible…

Challenges of Virtual School Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, Jayson W.; LaFrance, Jason; Beck, Dennis

2015-01-01

The purpose of this case study was to examine challenges faced by virtual school leaders in the United States. Through semistructured interviews, the researchers explored challenges faced by eighteen leaders of fully online or blended online programs. Analysis revealed six main challenges: funding, staff, accountability, time, parents, and…

Biosensors for Sustainable Food Engineering: Challenges and Perspectives

PubMed Central

Ragavan, Vasanth; Weng, Xuan; Chand, Rohit

2018-01-01

Current food production faces tremendous challenges from growing human population, maintaining clean resources and food qualities, and protecting climate and environment. Food sustainability is mostly a cooperative effort resulting in technology development supported by both governments and enterprises. Multiple attempts have been promoted in tackling challenges and enhancing drivers in food production. Biosensors and biosensing technologies with their applications, are being widely applied to tackling top challenges in food production and its sustainability. Consequently, a growing demand in biosensing technologies exists in food sustainability. Microfluidics represents a technological system integrating multiple technologies. Nanomaterials, with its technology in biosensing, is thought to be the most promising tool in dealing with health, energy, and environmental issues closely related to world populations. The demand of point of care (POC) technologies in this area focus on rapid, simple, accurate, portable, and low-cost analytical instruments. This review provides current viewpoints from the literature on biosensing in food production, food processing, safety and security, food packaging and supply chain, food waste processing, food quality assurance, and food engineering. The current understanding of progress, solution, and future challenges, as well as the commercialization of biosensors are summarized. PMID:29534552

Biosensors for Sustainable Food Engineering: Challenges and Perspectives.

PubMed

Neethirajan, Suresh; Ragavan, Vasanth; Weng, Xuan; Chand, Rohit

2018-03-12

Current food production faces tremendous challenges from growing human population, maintaining clean resources and food qualities, and protecting climate and environment. Food sustainability is mostly a cooperative effort resulting in technology development supported by both governments and enterprises. Multiple attempts have been promoted in tackling challenges and enhancing drivers in food production. Biosensors and biosensing technologies with their applications, are being widely applied to tackling top challenges in food production and its sustainability. Consequently, a growing demand in biosensing technologies exists in food sustainability. Microfluidics represents a technological system integrating multiple technologies. Nanomaterials, with its technology in biosensing, is thought to be the most promising tool in dealing with health, energy, and environmental issues closely related to world populations. The demand of point of care (POC) technologies in this area focus on rapid, simple, accurate, portable, and low-cost analytical instruments. This review provides current viewpoints from the literature on biosensing in food production, food processing, safety and security, food packaging and supply chain, food waste processing, food quality assurance, and food engineering. The current understanding of progress, solution, and future challenges, as well as the commercialization of biosensors are summarized.

Challenges faced by multidisplinary new investigators on addressing grand challenges in global health

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The grand challenges approach aims to spark innovative and transformative strategies to overcome barriers to significant global health issues. Grand Challenges Canada endorses an ‘Integrated Innovation™’ approach that focuses on the intersection of scientific/technological, social and business innovation. In this article we explore themes emerging from a dialogue between the authors, who are multidisciplinary recipients of the ‘Rising Stars in Global Health’ award from Grand Challenges Canada, regarding benefits of engaging in integrated innovation research, and recommendations for how this approach may develop in the future. Discussion Our dialogue followed a semi-structured interview format that addressed three topics: 1) reflections on applying an Integrated Innovation™ approach for global health; 2) thoughts on participation in the Grand Challenges 2012 meeting; and 3) authors’ visions of Grand Challenges Canada and the Grand Challenge movement towards 2020. The dialogue was transcribed verbatim and we used thematic analysis techniques to identify, analyze and report themes in the data. Benefits of working using the Grand Challenges approach centered on two themes: a) the potential for scientific breakthrough and b) building interdisciplinary collaborations and a community of scholars. Challenges and opportunities for Grand Challenges in moving forward included: a) capacity building, particularly regarding Integrated Innovation™ and scale-up planning; b) interdisciplinary and international mentorship for new investigators; and c) potential for future commercialization. Conclusions Our discussion highlighted that Integrated Innovation™ offers the opportunity to develop new theories, methods and approaches to global health while simultaneously fostering a collaborative spirit grounded in international, interdisciplinary collaborations. However, the arguable over-emphasis on corporatization poses a major challenge for new investigators

Challenges faced by multidisplinary new investigators on addressing grand challenges in global health.

PubMed

Logie, Carmen; Dimaras, Helen; Fortin, Anny; Ramón-García, Santiago

2014-04-15

The grand challenges approach aims to spark innovative and transformative strategies to overcome barriers to significant global health issues. Grand Challenges Canada endorses an 'Integrated Innovation™' approach that focuses on the intersection of scientific/technological, social and business innovation. In this article we explore themes emerging from a dialogue between the authors, who are multidisciplinary recipients of the 'Rising Stars in Global Health' award from Grand Challenges Canada, regarding benefits of engaging in integrated innovation research, and recommendations for how this approach may develop in the future. Our dialogue followed a semi-structured interview format that addressed three topics: 1) reflections on applying an Integrated Innovation™ approach for global health; 2) thoughts on participation in the Grand Challenges 2012 meeting; and 3) authors' visions of Grand Challenges Canada and the Grand Challenge movement towards 2020. The dialogue was transcribed verbatim and we used thematic analysis techniques to identify, analyze and report themes in the data. Benefits of working using the Grand Challenges approach centered on two themes: a) the potential for scientific breakthrough and b) building interdisciplinary collaborations and a community of scholars. Challenges and opportunities for Grand Challenges in moving forward included: a) capacity building, particularly regarding Integrated Innovation™ and scale-up planning; b) interdisciplinary and international mentorship for new investigators; and c) potential for future commercialization. Our discussion highlighted that Integrated Innovation™ offers the opportunity to develop new theories, methods and approaches to global health while simultaneously fostering a collaborative spirit grounded in international, interdisciplinary collaborations. However, the arguable over-emphasis on corporatization poses a major challenge for new investigators. We propose a more balanced way forward

Identity from Variation: Representations of Faces Derived from Multiple Instances

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burton, A. Mike; Kramer, Robin S. S.; Ritchie, Kay L.; Jenkins, Rob

2016-01-01

Research in face recognition has tended to focus on discriminating between individuals, or "telling people apart." It has recently become clear that it is also necessary to understand how images of the same person can vary, or "telling people together." Learning a new face, and tracking its representation as it changes from…

Knowledge Production and Transmission in a Changing Society: Challenges Facing Law Lecturers in a Distance Education Environment in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, Susan

2006-01-01

In this article I highlight the challenges facing a law lecturer in a multicultural society in transformation where the student is being prepared to serve society in different occupational fields as a professional person. I indicate that the law itself cannot effect change. For this we need properly trained lawyers. For an effective transformation…

Challenges facing the veterinary profession in Ireland: 1. clinical veterinary services.

PubMed

Magalhães-Sant'Ana, Manuel; More, Simon J; Morton, David B; Hanlon, Alison J

2017-01-01

The provision of veterinary clinical services is known to elicit a range of challenges which require an ethical appraisal. In a recent Policy Delphi study, referrals/second opinions and 24 h emergency care were identified as matters of key concern by veterinary professionals in Ireland. In this case study (the first in a series of three resulting from a research workshop exploring challenges facing the veterinary profession in Ireland; the other two case studies investigate the on-farm use of veterinary antimicrobials and emergency/casualty slaughter certification) we aim to provide a value-based reflection on the constraints and possible opportunities for two prominent veterinary clinical services in Ireland: referrals/second opinions and 24 h emergency care. Using a qualitative focus group approach, this study gathered evidence from relevant stakeholders, namely referral and referring veterinarians, clients, animal charities, and the regulatory body. Six overarching, interrelated constraints emerged from the thematic analysis: the need to improve current guidance, managing clients' expectations, concerns with veterinarian well-being, financial issues, timeliness of referral, and conflicts between veterinary practices. Possible solutions to improve veterinary referral and out-of-hours clinical services included clarifying the terms used in current norms and regulations (namely 'referral', 'second opinion', '24 h emergency care' and '24 h cover'), improved communication (making the client aware of the different levels of veterinary care that are being offered, and transparent and full disclosure of clinical records), and the promotion of Continuing Veterinary Education in communication, business management and ethical decision-making. These findings may help inform the Veterinary Council of Ireland about future recommendations and regulatory measures.

Meaningful Use and Electronic Laboratory Reporting: Challenges Health Information Technology Vendors Face in Kentucky.

PubMed

Abisa, Michael

2017-01-01

To explore the challenges Health Information Technology (HIT) vendors face to satisfy the requirements for Meaningful Use (MU) and Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR) of reportable diseases to the public health departments in Kentucky. A survey was conducted of Health Information Exchange (HIE) vendors in Kentucky through the Kentucky Health Information Exchange (KHIE). The survey was cross-sectional. Data were collected between February and March 2014. Participants were recruited from KHIE vendors. Participants received online survey link and by email and asked to submit their responses. Vendors' feedback were summarized and analyzed to identify their challenges. Out of the 55 vendors who received the survey, 35(63.64%) responded. Of the seven transport protocol options for ELR, vendors selected virtual private network (VPN) as the most difficult to implement (31.7%). Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) was selected as preferred ELR transport protocol (31.4%). Most of the respondents, 80% responded that they do not have any challenge with the Health Level 7 (HL7) standard implementation guide required by MU for 2014 ELR certification. The study found that the most difficult transport protocol to implement for ELR is VPN and if vendors have preference, they would use SFTP for ELR over KHIE choice of VPN and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). KHIE vendors do not see any variability in what is reportable by different jurisdiction and also it is not difficult for them to detect what is reportable from one jurisdiction verse the other.

In Pursuit of Ethical Research: Studying Hybrid Communities Using Online and Face-to-Face Communications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Busher, Hugh; James, Nalita

2015-01-01

Hybrid communities using online and face-to-face communications to construct their practices are increasingly part of everyday life amongst people who have easy access to the internet. Researching these communities raises a number of challenges for researchers in the pursuit of ethical research. The paper begins by exploring what is understood by…

Clinical Research Informatics: Challenges, Opportunities and Definition for an Emerging Domain

PubMed Central

Embi, Peter J.; Payne, Philip R.O.

2009-01-01

Objectives Clinical Research Informatics, an emerging sub-domain of Biomedical Informatics, is currently not well defined. A formal description of CRI including major challenges and opportunities is needed to direct progress in the field. Design Given the early stage of CRI knowledge and activity, we engaged in a series of qualitative studies with key stakeholders and opinion leaders to determine the range of challenges and opportunities facing CRI. These phases employed complimentary methods to triangulate upon our findings. Measurements Study phases included: 1) a group interview with key stakeholders, 2) an email follow-up survey with a larger group of self-identified CRI professionals, and 3) validation of our results via electronic peer-debriefing and member-checking with a group of CRI-related opinion leaders. Data were collected, transcribed, and organized for formal, independent content analyses by experienced qualitative investigators, followed by an iterative process to identify emergent categorizations and thematic descriptions of the data. Results We identified a range of challenges and opportunities facing the CRI domain. These included 13 distinct themes spanning academic, practical, and organizational aspects of CRI. These findings also informed the development of a formal definition of CRI and supported further representations that illustrate areas of emphasis critical to advancing the domain. Conclusions CRI has emerged as a distinct discipline that faces multiple challenges and opportunities. The findings presented summarize those challenges and opportunities and provide a framework that should help inform next steps to advance this important new discipline. PMID:19261934

Engineering craniofacial structures: facing the challenge.

PubMed

Zaky, S H; Cancedda, R

2009-12-01

The human innate regenerative ability is known to be limited by the intensity of the insult together with the availability of progenitor cells, which may cause certain irreparable damage. It is only recently that the paradigm of tissue engineering found its way to the treatment of irreversibly affected body structures with the challenge of reconstructing the lost part. In the current review, we underline recent trials that target engineering of human craniofacial structures, mainly bone, cartilage, and teeth. We analyze the applied engineering strategies relative to the selection of cell types to lay down a specific targeted tissue, together with their association with an escorting scaffold for a particular engineered site, and discuss their necessity to be sustained by growth factors. Challenges and expectations for facial skeletal engineering are discussed in the context of future treatment.

Feature level fusion of hand and face biometrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ross, Arun A.; Govindarajan, Rohin

2005-03-01

Multibiometric systems utilize the evidence presented by multiple biometric sources (e.g., face and fingerprint, multiple fingers of a user, multiple matchers, etc.) in order to determine or verify the identity of an individual. Information from multiple sources can be consolidated in several distinct levels, including the feature extraction level, match score level and decision level. While fusion at the match score and decision levels have been extensively studied in the literature, fusion at the feature level is a relatively understudied problem. In this paper we discuss fusion at the feature level in 3 different scenarios: (i) fusion of PCA and LDA coefficients of face; (ii) fusion of LDA coefficients corresponding to the R,G,B channels of a face image; (iii) fusion of face and hand modalities. Preliminary results are encouraging and help in highlighting the pros and cons of performing fusion at this level. The primary motivation of this work is to demonstrate the viability of such a fusion and to underscore the importance of pursuing further research in this direction.

Technology Integration in a One-to-One Laptop Initiative: A Multiple Case Study Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Marsha B.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this multiple case study analysis was to examine teachers' experiences and perceptions in order to understand what actions and interactions supported or inhibited technology integration during a one-to-one laptop initiative. This research sought to gain teachers' perspectives on the challenges and successes they faced as classroom…

Self-face recognition in social context.

PubMed

Sugiura, Motoaki; Sassa, Yuko; Jeong, Hyeonjeong; Wakusawa, Keisuke; Horie, Kaoru; Sato, Shigeru; Kawashima, Ryuta

2012-06-01

The concept of "social self" is often described as a representation of the self-reflected in the eyes or minds of others. Although the appearance of one's own face has substantial social significance for humans, neuroimaging studies have failed to link self-face recognition and the likely neural substrate of the social self, the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). We assumed that the social self is recruited during self-face recognition under a rich social context where multiple other faces are available for comparison of social values. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined the modulation of neural responses to the faces of the self and of a close friend in a social context. We identified an enhanced response in the ventral MPFC and right occipitoparietal sulcus in the social context specifically for the self-face. Neural response in the right lateral parietal and inferior temporal cortices, previously claimed as self-face-specific, was unaffected for the self-face but unexpectedly enhanced for the friend's face in the social context. Self-face-specific activation in the pars triangularis of the inferior frontal gyrus, and self-face-specific reduction of activation in the left middle temporal gyrus and the right supramarginal gyrus, replicating a previous finding, were not subject to such modulation. Our results thus demonstrated the recruitment of a social self during self-face recognition in the social context. At least three brain networks for self-face-specific activation may be dissociated by different patterns of response-modulation in the social context, suggesting multiple dynamic self-other representations in the human brain. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Transfer between pose and expression training in face recognition.

PubMed

Chen, Wenfeng; Liu, Chang Hong

2009-02-01

Prior research has shown that recognition of unfamiliar faces is susceptible to image variations due to pose and expression changes. However, little is known about how these variations on a new face are learnt and handled. We aimed to investigate whether exposures to one type of variation facilitate recognition in the untrained variation. In Experiment 1, faces were trained in multiple or single pose but were tested with a new expression. In Experiment 2, faces were trained in multiple or single expression but were tested in a new pose. We found that higher level of exposure to pose information facilitated recognition of the trained face in a new expression. However, multiple-expression training failed to transfer to a new pose. The findings suggest that generalisation of pose training may be extended to different types of variation whereas generalisation of expression training is largely confined within the trained type of variation.

[Political challenges facing the consolidation of the Sistema Único de Saúde: a historical approach].

PubMed

Rodrigues, Paulo Henrique de Almeida

2014-01-01

This article investigates the circumstances in which Brazil’s sanitation reform was conceived and the Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) was constructed. A brief analysis is conducted of Brazil’s political transition to democracy, focusing on three political challenges facing the consolidation of SUS: its weak support base amongst workers, competition with the private sector, and the fragmentation of its administration caused by its municipalization. Finally, the changes in the scenario caused by the weakening of neoliberalism since the 2008 crisis, the reemergence of a multipolar political scenario internationally, and the financing conditions of the Brazilian State are described.

Challenges Facing Children with Special Healthcare Needs and Their Families: Telemedicine as a Bridge to Care.

PubMed

Hooshmand, Mary; Yao, Kristiana

2017-01-01

Telemedicine is an increasingly utilized mode of healthcare delivery, which improves access to care for vulnerable populations. Children with Special Healthcare Needs (CSHCN) and their families face significant challenges, such as geographic, financial, and sociocultural barriers, in accessing needed healthcare services. The literature supports telemedicine as an effective accepted bridge between CSHCN and their providers. A growing body of telemedicine projects also suggests cost-effectiveness when considering the direct and indirect costs the families of CSCHN incur in seeking healthcare services. These new systems of care should prioritize caring and family centeredness while reducing the burdens of CSHCN and their families.

ORNL Experience and Challenges Facing Dynamic Wireless Power Charging of EV's

DOE PAGES

Miller, John M.; Jones, Perry T.; Li, Jan-Mou; ...

2015-05-21

As visionary as dynamic, or in-motion, wireless charging of electric vehicles appears the concept is well over a century old as this paper will show. This is because the concept of magnetic induction dates back to the pioneering work of physicist Michael Faraday in the early 19th century. Today wireless power transfer (WPT) is being standardized for stationary and quasi-stationary charging of electric vehicles (EV). The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has undertaken the standardization of stationary charging and will make this public during 2016. In addition to this the IEEE-SA (Standards Activities) initiated standards development for EV?s in theirmore » EVWPT working group in 2012. This study introduces the many challenges facing EVWPT in not only high power transfer to a moving vehicle and energy management at a utility scale, but communications in a vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) environment and management of high data rates, ultra-low latency, and dealing with communications loss in dense urban areas. Finally, future concepts such as guideway powering of EV?s are presented to illustrate one technical trajectory EVWPT may take.« less

Unconventional combinations of prospective parents: ethical challenges faced by IVF providers.

PubMed

Klitzman, Robert

2017-02-28

Professional guidelines have addressed ethical dilemmas posed by a few types of nontraditional procreative arrangements (e.g., gamete donations between family members), but many questions arise regarding how providers view and make decisions about these and other such arrangements. Thirty-seven ART providers and 10 patients were interviewed in-depth for approximately 1 h each. Interviews were systematically analyzed. Providers faced a range of challenges and ethical dilemmas concerning both the content and the process of decisions about requests for unconventional interfamilial and other reproductive combinations. Providers vary in how they respond - what they decide, who exactly decides (e.g., an ethics committee or not), and how - often undergoing complex decision-making processes. These combinations can involve creating or raising the child, and can shift over time - from initial ART treatment through to the child's birth. Patients' requests can vary from fully established to mere possibilities. Arrangements may also be unstable, fluid, or unexpected, posing challenges. Difficulties emerge concerning not only familial but social, combinations (e.g., between friends). These arrangements can involve blurry and confusing roles, questions about the welfare of the unborn child, and unanticipated and unfamiliar questions about how to weigh competing moral and scientific concerns - e.g., the autonomy of the individuals involved, and the potential risks and benefits. Clinicians may feel that these requests do not "smell right"; and at first respond with feelings of "yuck," and only later, carefully and explicitly consider the ethical principles involved. Proposed arrangements may, for instance, initially be felt to involve consanguineous individuals, but not in fact do so. Obtaining and verifying full and appropriate informed consent can be difficult, given implicit familial and/or cultural expectations and senses of duty. Social attitudes are changing, yet patients

Challenges for Electronics in the Vision for Space Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

LaBel, Kenneth A.

2005-01-01

This presentation has been a brief snapshot discussing electronics and Exploration-related challenges. The vision for Space Exploration creates a new paradigm for NASA missions. This includes transport (Crew Exploration Vehicle-CEV), and lunar and Mars Exploration and human presence. If one considers the additional hazards faced by these concepts versus more traditional NASA missions, multiple challenges surface for reliable utilization of electronic parts. The true challenge is to provide a risk as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA-a traditional biological radiation exposure term), while still providing cost effective solutions. This presentation also discusses the hazard for electronic parts and exploration, the types of electronic parts for exploration, and the critical juncture for space usage of commercial changes in the electronics world.

The Intersection of Online and Face-to-Face Teaching: Implications for Virtual School Teacher Practice and Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garrett Dikkers, Amy

2015-01-01

This mixed-method study reports perspectives of virtual school teachers on the impact of online teaching on their face-to-face practice. Data from a large-scale survey of teachers in the North Carolina Virtual Public School (n = 214), focus groups (n = 7), and interviews (n = 5) demonstrate multiple intersections between online and face-to-face…

An Investigation into Challenges Faced by Secondary School Teachers and Pupils in Algebraic Linear Equations: A Case of Mufulira District, Zambia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Samuel, Koji; Mulenga, H. M.; Angel, Mukuka

2016-01-01

This paper investigates the challenges faced by secondary school teachers and pupils in the teaching and learning of algebraic linear equations. The study involved 80 grade 11 pupils and 15 teachers of mathematics, drawn from 4 selected secondary schools in Mufulira district, Zambia in Central Africa. A descriptive survey method was employed to…

[Future challenges in multiple sclerosis].

PubMed

Fernández, Óscar

2014-12-01

Multiple sclerosis occurs in genetically susceptible individuals, in whom an unknown environmental factor triggers an immune response, giving rise to a chronic and disabling autoimmune disease. Currently, significant progress is being made in our knowledge of the frequency and distribution of multiple sclerosis and its risk factors, genetics, pathology, pathogenesis, diagnostic and prognostic markers, and treatment. This has radically changed patients' and clinicians' expectations of multiple sclerosis and has raised hope that there will soon be a way to control the disease. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Flexray - An Answer to the Challenges Faced by Spacecraft On-Board Communication Protocols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gunes-Lasnet, S.; Furano, G.

2007-08-01

The current spacecraft on-board network protocols are facing challenges: They need to consume low power, to handle a high data rate, and eventually need to have real-time capabilities as well as fault-tolerance; all of this at a low cost. Meanwhile, the automotive protocols are showing ever increasing enhanced performances: the automotive industry has shown recent break-throughs in communication networks. Among them, FlexRay targets specifically the next generation of automotive applications allowing Steer-by-Wire and Brake-by- Wire. FlexRay supports a very high data rate, is fault- tolerant, has real-time capabilities, and supports both periodic and aperiodic data transfer on a single bus. Space avionics has benefited from the automotive spin- ins in the past, so could FlexRay answer the space systems demands? This paper aims at demonstrating that space avionics could profit from the use of FlexRay.

Challenges facing the farm animal veterinary profession in England: A qualitative study of veterinarians' perceptions and responses.

PubMed

Ruston, Annmarie; Shortall, Orla; Green, Martin; Brennan, Marnie; Wapenaar, Wendela; Kaler, Jasmeet

2016-05-01

The farm animal veterinary profession in the UK has faced a number of challenges in recent decades related to the withdrawal of government funding and a contraction of the agricultural sector. They have come under pressure to respond by developing skills and focusing on disease prevention advisory services. However, this puts veterinarians in competition with other providers of these services, and moves in this direction have only been partial. Failure to respond to these challenges puts the veterinary profession at risk of de-professionalisation-a loss of their monopoly over knowledge, an erosion of client beliefs in their service ethos and a loss of work autonomy. This paper explores how farm animal veterinarians in England perceive these challenges and are responding to them. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were carried out with 28 veterinarians from Royal College of Veterinary Surgeon farm accredited practices. Veterinarians were chosen from high, medium and low density cattle farming regions. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and themes identified through the constant comparison method. The majority of respondents recognised the challenges facing the veterinary profession. Most believed their role had changed, moving towards that of a disease prevention adviser who was part of the farm management team. In terms of maintaining and redefining their professional status, farm animal veterinarians do have a defined body of knowledge and the ability to develop trusting relationships with clients, which enhances their competitiveness. However, while they recognise the changes and challenges, moves towards a disease prevention advisory model have only been partial. There seem to be little effort towards using Farm accreditation status or other strategies to promote their services. They do not appear to be finding effective strategies for putting their knowledge on disease prevention into practice. Disease prevention appears to be delivered on farm on an ad

Challenges in adapting existing clinical natural language processing systems to multiple, diverse health care settings.

PubMed

Carrell, David S; Schoen, Robert E; Leffler, Daniel A; Morris, Michele; Rose, Sherri; Baer, Andrew; Crockett, Seth D; Gourevitch, Rebecca A; Dean, Katie M; Mehrotra, Ateev

2017-09-01

Widespread application of clinical natural language processing (NLP) systems requires taking existing NLP systems and adapting them to diverse and heterogeneous settings. We describe the challenges faced and lessons learned in adapting an existing NLP system for measuring colonoscopy quality. Colonoscopy and pathology reports from 4 settings during 2013-2015, varying by geographic location, practice type, compensation structure, and electronic health record. Though successful, adaptation required considerably more time and effort than anticipated. Typical NLP challenges in assembling corpora, diverse report structures, and idiosyncratic linguistic content were greatly magnified. Strategies for addressing adaptation challenges include assessing site-specific diversity, setting realistic timelines, leveraging local electronic health record expertise, and undertaking extensive iterative development. More research is needed on how to make it easier to adapt NLP systems to new clinical settings. A key challenge in widespread application of NLP is adapting existing systems to new clinical settings. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

The challenges that parents of children with epilepsy face: A qualitative study.

PubMed

Kampra, Matina; Tzerakis, Nikolaos; Lund Holm Thomsen, Louise; Katsarou, Efstathia; Voudris, Konstantinos; D Mastroyianni, Sotiria; Mouskou, Stella; Drossou, Kyriaki S; Siatouni, Anna; Gatzonis, Stylianos

2017-06-01

This qualitative study explored the challenges that Greek parents/caregivers of children with controlled epilepsy (CwE) face regarding the disorder. Interviews were conducted based on open-ended questions guided by a review of the literature. A total of 91 parents/caregivers were recruited by neurologists at the neurology clinics of two Athens public hospitals. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used to explore parent/caregiver experiences. The data were grouped and analyzed through a textual interpretation. Two key challenges were identified for parents of CwE: the disclosure of epilepsy and the absence of adequate information about coping with epilepsy. Parents in Greece were hesitant to reveal their child's epilepsy to school staff and their wider social milieu. Also, although satisfied with the patient-centered approach they experienced with their hospital doctor, parents/caregivers found that they needed more education about the existing sources of psychosocial and emotional support to cope with their child's epilepsy personally and as a family. Finally, the parents/caregivers who let their child know about the epilepsy and discussed the implications with the child found that parent-child communication improved. This study provides valuable insight into the impact of epilepsy on parents of CwE, which might help hospital and school staff support families with greater understanding, sensitivity, and skill. The findings suggest that Greek authorities should staff hospitals and schools with experts and more systematically advertise sources of information about epilepsy and ways to cope with it. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Grand challenges in mass storage: A systems integrators perspective

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Richard R.; Mintz, Daniel G.

1993-01-01

Within today's much ballyhooed supercomputing environment, with its CFLOPS of CPU power, and Gigabit networks, there exists a major roadblock to computing success; that of Mass Storage. The solution to this mass storage problem is considered to be one of the 'Grand Challenges' facing the computer industry today, as well as long into the future. It has become obvious to us, as well as many others in the industry, that there is no clear single solution in sight. The Systems Integrator today is faced with a myriad of quandaries in approaching this challenge. He must first be innovative in approach, second choose hardware solutions that are volumetric efficient; high in signal bandwidth; available from multiple sources; competitively priced, and have forward growth extendibility. In addition he must also comply with a variety of mandated, and often conflicting software standards (GOSIP, POSIX, IEEE, MSRM 4.0, and others), and finally he must deliver a systems solution with the 'most bang for the buck' in terms of cost vs. performance factors. These quandaries challenge the Systems Integrator to 'push the envelope' in terms of his or her ingenuity and innovation on an almost daily basis. This dynamic is explored further, and an attempt to acquaint the audience with rational approaches to this 'Grand Challenge' is made.

The effect of exposure to multiple lineups on face identification accuracy.

PubMed

Hinz, T; Pezdek, K

2001-04-01

This study examines the conditions under which an intervening lineup affects identification accuracy on a subsequent lineup. One hundred and sixty adults observed a photograph of one target individual for 60 s. One week later, they viewed an intervening target-absent lineup and were asked to identify the target individual. Two days later, participants were shown one of three 6-person lineups that included a different photograph of the target face (present or absent), a foil face from the intervening lineup (present or absent), plus additional foil faces. The hit rate was higher when the foil face from the intervening lineup was absent from the test lineup and the false alarm rate was greater when the target face was absent from the test lineup. The results suggest that simply being exposed to an innocent suspect in an intervening lineup, whether that innocent suspect is identified by the witness or not, increases the probability of misidentifying the innocent suspect and decreases the probability of correctly identifying the true perpetrator in a subsequent test lineup. The implications of these findings both for police lineup procedures and for the interpretation of lineup results in the courtroom are discussed.

Implementation of genomics research in Africa: challenges and recommendations.

PubMed

Adebamowo, Sally N; Francis, Veronica; Tambo, Ernest; Diallo, Seybou H; Landouré, Guida; Nembaware, Victoria; Dareng, Eileen; Muhamed, Babu; Odutola, Michael; Akeredolu, Teniola; Nerima, Barbara; Ozumba, Petronilla J; Mbhele, Slee; Ghanash, Anita; Wachinou, Ablo P; Ngomi, Nicholas

2018-01-01

There is exponential growth in the interest and implementation of genomics research in Africa. This growth has been facilitated by the Human Hereditary and Health in Africa (H3Africa) initiative, which aims to promote a contemporary research approach to the study of genomics and environmental determinants of common diseases in African populations. The purpose of this article is to describe important challenges affecting genomics research implementation in Africa. The observations, challenges and recommendations presented in this article were obtained through discussions by African scientists at teleconferences and face-to-face meetings, seminars at consortium conferences and in-depth individual discussions. Challenges affecting genomics research implementation in Africa, which are related to limited resources include ill-equipped facilities, poor accessibility to research centers, lack of expertise and an enabling environment for research activities in local hospitals. Challenges related to the research study include delayed funding, extensive procedures and interventions requiring multiple visits, delays setting up research teams and insufficient staff training, language barriers and an underappreciation of cultural norms. While many African countries are struggling to initiate genomics projects, others have set up genomics research facilities that meet international standards. The lessons learned in implementing successful genomics projects in Africa are recommended as strategies to overcome these challenges. These recommendations may guide the development and application of new research programs in low-resource settings.

Muslims in America: Identity, Diversity and the Challenge of Understanding. 2001 Carnegie Challenge.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Afridi, Sam

This paper discusses challenges and opportunities facing Muslims in the United States, where between 5 to 8 million Muslims live (the fastest growing religion in the country). American Muslims face many challenges, and the public has little understanding of the teachings and practice of Islam. Muslims are prone to negative stereotypes, ethnic…

Meaningful Use and Electronic Laboratory Reporting: Challenges Health Information Technology Vendors Face in Kentucky

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Objectives To explore the challenges Health Information Technology (HIT) vendors face to satisfy the requirements for Meaningful Use (MU) and Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR) of reportable diseases to the public health departments in Kentucky. Methodology A survey was conducted of Health Information Exchange (HIE) vendors in Kentucky through the Kentucky Health Information Exchange (KHIE). The survey was cross-sectional. Data were collected between February and March 2014. Participants were recruited from KHIE vendors. Participants received online survey link and by email and asked to submit their responses. Vendors’ feedback were summarized and analyzed to identify their challenges. Out of the 55 vendors who received the survey, 35(63.64%) responded. Results Of the seven transport protocol options for ELR, vendors selected virtual private network (VPN) as the most difficult to implement (31.7%). Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) was selected as preferred ELR transport protocol (31.4%). Most of the respondents, 80% responded that they do not have any challenge with the Health Level 7 (HL7) standard implementation guide required by MU for 2014 ELR certification. Conclusion The study found that the most difficult transport protocol to implement for ELR is VPN and if vendors have preference, they would use SFTP for ELR over KHIE choice of VPN and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). KHIE vendors do not see any variability in what is reportable by different jurisdiction and also it is not difficult for them to detect what is reportable from one jurisdiction verse the other PMID:29403575

One size fits all? Challenges faced by physicians during shift handovers in a hospital with high sender/recipient ratio

PubMed Central

Yang, Xi Jessie; Park, Taezoon; Siah, Tien Ho Kewin; Ang, Bee Leng Sophia; Donchin, Yoel

2015-01-01

INTRODUCTION The aim of the present study was to investigate the challenges faced by physicians during shift handovers in a university hospital that has a high handover sender/recipient ratio. METHODS We adopted a multifaceted approach, comprising recording and analysis of handover information, rating of handover quality, and shadowing of handover recipients. Data was collected at the general medical ward of a university hospital in Singapore for a period of three months. Handover information transfer (i.e. senders’ and recipients’ verbal communication, and recipients’ handwritten notes) and handover environmental factors were analysed. The relationship between ‘to-do’ tasks and information transfer, handover quality and handover duration was examined using analysis of variance. RESULTS Verbal handovers for 152 patients were observed. Handwritten notes on 102 (67.1%) patients and handover quality ratings for 98 (64.5%) patients were collected. Although there was good task prioritisation (information transfer: p < 0.005, handover duration: p < 0.01), incomplete information transfer and poor implementation of non-modifiable identifiers were observed. The high sender/recipient ratio of the hospital made face-to-face and/or bedside handover difficult to implement. Although the current handover method (i.e. use of telephone communication) allowed for interactive communication, it resulted in systemic information loss due to the lack of written information. The handover environment was chaotic in the high sender/recipient ratio setting, and the physicians had no designated handover time or location. CONCLUSION Handovers in high sender/recipient ratio settings are challenging. Efforts should be made to improve the handover processes in such situations, so that patient care is not compromised. PMID:25532519

Turning challenges into design principles: Telemonitoring systems for patients with multiple chronic conditions.

PubMed

Sultan, Mehwish; Kuluski, Kerry; McIsaac, Warren J; Cafazzo, Joseph A; Seto, Emily

2018-01-01

People with multiple chronic conditions often struggle with managing their health. The purpose of this research was to identify specific challenges of patients with multiple chronic conditions and to use the findings to form design principles for a telemonitoring system tailored for these patients. Semi-structured interviews with 15 patients with multiple chronic conditions and 10 clinicians were conducted to gain an understanding of their needs and preferences for a smartphone-based telemonitoring system. The interviews were analyzed using a conventional content analysis technique, resulting in six themes. Design principles developed from the themes included that the system must be modular to accommodate various combinations of conditions, reinforce a routine, consolidate record keeping, as well as provide actionable feedback to the patients. Designing an application for multiple chronic conditions is complex due to variability in patient conditions, and therefore, design principles developed in this study can help with future innovations aimed to help manage this population.

Economic Development: A Community College Faces the Challenge.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crowley, Jackie; Boatright, Joyce

1988-01-01

Faced with a changing economy, the Houston Community College System (Texas) set goals and objectives to pull together its resources in response to the crisis in the Houston area. This article describes successful strategies and approaches used to network, market, and develop company partnerships and training activities to meet local needs. (Author)

Challenges faced in e-infrastructure at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Namibia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maletzky, Monica; Mhopjeni, Kombada

2014-05-01

The e-infrastructure at the Ministry of Mines is undergoing considerable restructuring with most of it in the planning phase. One of the main challenges faced is the Local Area Network that is outdated and not capable to handling the volume of data that is transferred in the network. Most of the Network Interface Cards (NIC) on the servers and all related LAN equipment have a capability of 10/100Mb/s and cannot support the volume of data transported over the network. This is not adequate for the need of high end users such as geoscientists who work with large geological, remote sensing and geophysical datasets. Taking the above into consideration the Ministry has embarked on implementing changes to the network. The initiative involves the acquisition of Cisco Layer3 switches that have the capability of transferring large volumes of data, up to 10Gb/s. Subsequent upgrades of the NICs and small form-factor pluggable (SFP) are planned in the near future. Apart from the internal network, the Ministry's present internet connection is insufficient as the Ministry shares the outbound link with all other Ministries in the Namibian government. The internet provided by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), which serves as the government's internet service provider (ISP), to our institution is currently 2Mb/s. OPM has embarked on the upgrade of the network infrastructure. The first phase of the involved the upgrade of the national point of presence (POP) to operate at a capacity of 300Mb/s. This would be followed by the expansion of a fibre network to all the government institutions. Upon completion, the internet performance will be improved as it is envisaged that the Ministry of Mines and Energy's bandwidth will be upgraded to 10Mb/s and hopefully alleviate the current strain on the system. This project is expected to be completed by June 2014. However, due to the challenges that our office is faced with, we have acquired a 4Mb/s internet link for the interim period

Interdyad Differences in Early Mother-Infant Face-to-Face Communication: Real-Time Dynamics and Developmental Pathways

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lavelli, Manuela; Fogel, Alan

2013-01-01

A microgenetic research design with a multiple case study method and a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses was used to investigate interdyad differences in real-time dynamics and developmental change processes in mother-infant face-to-face communication over the first 3 months of life. Weekly observations of 24 mother-infant dyads…

Face-Evoked Steady-State Visual Potentials: Effects of Presentation Rate and Face Inversion

PubMed Central

Gruss, L. Forest; Wieser, Matthias J.; Schweinberger, Stefan R.; Keil, Andreas

2012-01-01

Face processing can be explored using electrophysiological methods. Research with event-related potentials has demonstrated the so-called face inversion effect, in which the N170 component is enhanced in amplitude and latency to inverted, compared to upright, faces. The present study explored the extent to which repetitive lower-level visual cortical engagement, reflected in flicker steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs), shows similar amplitude enhancement to face inversion. We also asked if inversion-related ssVEP modulation would be dependent on the stimulation rate at which upright and inverted faces were flickered. To this end, multiple tagging frequencies were used (5, 10, 15, and 20 Hz) across two studies (n = 21, n = 18). Results showed that amplitude enhancement of the ssVEP for inverted faces was found solely at higher stimulation frequencies (15 and 20 Hz). By contrast, lower frequency ssVEPs did not show this inversion effect. These findings suggest that stimulation frequency affects the sensitivity of ssVEPs to face inversion. PMID:23205009

Successful Recovery and Transplantation of 11 Organs Including Face, Bilateral Upper Extremities, and Thoracic and Abdominal Organs From a Single Deceased Organ Donor.

PubMed

Tullius, Stefan G; Pomahac, Bohdan; Kim, Heung Bae; Carty, Matthew J; Talbot, Simon G; Nelson, Helen M; Delmonico, Francis L

2016-10-01

We report on the to date largest recovery of 11 organs from a single deceased donor with the transplantation of face, bilateral upper extremities, heart, 1 lung, liver (split for 2 recipients), kidneys, pancreas, and intestine. Although logistically challenging, this case demonstrates the feasibility and safety of the recovery of multiple thoracic and abdominal organs with multiple vascular composite allotransplants and tissues. Our experience of 8 additional successful multiple vascular composite allotransplants, thoracic, and abdominal organ recoveries suggests that such procedures are readily accomplishable from the same deceased donor.

From Toques to Tokes: Two challenges facing nationwide legalization of cannabis in Canada.

PubMed

Bear, Daniel

2017-04-01

In 2015, a new Liberal Government came to power in Canada, elected on a platform that included legalization and regulation of cannabis for recreational purposes. Their legislation, based on recommendations from a Federal Task Force on Marijuana Legalization and Regulation, is due in early April 2017. This commentary utilizes Canadian Federal policy papers, previous literature, and internal and international agreements to examine two key areas critical to the development of a nationwide regulated market for cannabis in Canada; the need to overcome restrictions to legalizing cannabis in United Nations' drug control treaties, and the unique challenges that non-medical cannabis creates for navigating interprovincial trade policies in Canada. Irrespective of UN conventions that appear to prohibit legalization of cannabis the Government is preparing to bring forward legislation as this article goes to print. At the same time significant squabbles impede the selling of even beer and wine inter-provincially in Canada. This paper identifies the challenges facing Canadian legalization efforts, but also shows how the legalization legislation may provide opportunities to engender significant change beyond the simple legalization of a specific drug. This commentary does not argue for any specific course of action for Canada, but rather explores the nuance of legalization absent from the declaration in the Liberal party platform. The paper argues that Canada's efforts may hasten the dismantling of the UN drug control structure, and provide renewed opportunities for intern-provincial trade in Canada. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Informatics Challenges Facing Biobanks: A Perspective from a United Kingdom Biobanking Network

PubMed Central

Groves, Martin; Jordan, Lee B.; Stobart, Hilary; Purdie, Colin A.; Thompson, Alastair M

2015-01-01

The challenges facing biobanks are changing from simple collections of materials to quality-assured fit-for-purpose clinically annotated samples. As a result, informatics awareness and capabilities of a biobank are now intrinsically related to quality. A biobank may be considered a data repository, in the form of raw data (the unprocessed samples), data surrounding the samples (processing and storage conditions), supplementary data (such as clinical annotations), and an increasing ethical requirement for biobanks to have a mechanism for researchers to return their data. The informatics capabilities of a biobank are no longer simply knowing sample locations; instead the capabilities will become a distinguishing factor in the ability of a biobank to provide appropriate samples. There is an increasing requirement for biobanking systems (whether in-house or commercially sourced) to ensure the informatics systems stay apace with the changes being experienced by the biobanking community. In turn, there is a requirement for the biobanks to have a clear informatics policy and directive that is embedded into the wider decision making process. As an example, the Breast Cancer Campaign Tissue Bank in the UK was a collaboration between four individual and diverse biobanks in the UK, and an informatics platform has been developed to address the challenges of running a distributed network. From developing such a system there are key observations about what can or cannot be achieved by informatics in isolation. This article will highlight some of the lessons learned during this development process. PMID:26418270

Establishing versus preserving impressions: Predicting success in the multiple audience problem.

PubMed

Nichols, Austin Lee; Cottrell, Catherine A

2015-12-01

People sometimes seek to convey discrepant impressions of themselves to different audiences simultaneously. Research suggests people are generally successful in this "multiple audience problem." Adding to previous research, the current research sought to examine factors that may limit this success by measuring social anxiety and placing participants into situations requiring them to either establish or preserve multiple impressions simultaneously. In general, participants were more successful when preserving previously conveyed impressions than when establishing impressions for the first time. In contrast, social anxiety did not affect multiple audience success. In all, this research offers valuable insight into potential challenges that people face in many social situations. © 2015 International Union of Psychological Science.

Further Evaluations of Functional Communication Training and Chained Schedules of Reinforcement to Treat Multiple Functions of Challenging Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Falcomata, Terry S.; Muething, Colin S.; Gainey, Summer; Hoffman, Katherine; Fragale, Christina

2013-01-01

We evaluated functional communication training (FCT) combined with a chained schedule of reinforcement procedure for the treatment of challenging behavior exhibited by two individuals diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and autism. Following functional analyses that suggested that challenging behavior served multiple functions for both participants,…

Speaking from the Inside: Challenges Faced by Communication Researchers Investigating Disease-Related Issues in a Hospital Setting.

PubMed

Bourquin, Céline; Stiefel, Friedrich; Singy, Pascal

2015-09-01

This commentary came from within the framework of integrating the humanities in medicine and from accompanying research on disease-related issues by teams involving clinicians and researchers in medical humanities. The purpose is to reflect on the challenges faced by researchers when conducting emotionally laden research and on how they impact observations and subsequent research findings. This commentary is furthermore a call to action since it promotes the institutionalization of a supportive context for medical humanities researchers who have not been trained to cope with sensitive medical topics in research. To that end, concrete recommendations regarding training and supervision were formulated.

An equine pain face

PubMed Central

Gleerup, Karina B; Forkman, Björn; Lindegaard, Casper; Andersen, Pia H

2015-01-01

Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the existence of an equine pain face and to describe this in detail. Study design Semi-randomized, controlled, crossover trial. Animals Six adult horses. Methods Pain was induced with two noxious stimuli, a tourniquet on the antebrachium and topical application of capsaicin. All horses participated in two control trials and received both noxious stimuli twice, once with and once without an observer present. During all sessions their pain state was scored. The horses were filmed and the close-up video recordings of the faces were analysed for alterations in behaviour and facial expressions. Still images from the trials were evaluated for the presence of each of the specific pain face features identified from the video analysis. Results Both noxious challenges were effective in producing a pain response resulting in significantly increased pain scores. Alterations in facial expressions were observed in all horses during all noxious stimulations. The number of pain face features present on the still images from the noxious challenges were significantly higher than for the control trial (p = 0.0001). Facial expressions representative for control and pain trials were condensed into explanatory illustrations. During pain sessions with an observer present, the horses increased their contact-seeking behavior. Conclusions and clinical relevance An equine pain face comprising ‘low’ and/or ‘asymmetrical’ ears, an angled appearance of the eyes, a withdrawn and/or tense stare, mediolaterally dilated nostrils and tension of the lips, chin and certain facial muscles can be recognized in horses during induced acute pain. This description of an equine pain face may be useful for improving tools for pain recognition in horses with mild to moderate pain. PMID:25082060

En-face Flying Spot OCT/Ophthalmoscope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosen, Richard B.; Garcia, Patricia; Podoleanu, Adrian Gh.; Cucu, Radu; Dobre, George; Trifanov, Irina; van Velthoven, Mirjam E. J.; de Smet, Marc D.; Rogers, John A.; Hathaway, Mark; Pedro, Justin; Weitz, Rishard

This is a review of a technique for high-resolution imaging of the eye that allows multiple sample sectioning perspectives with different axial resolutions. The technique involves the flying spot approach employed in confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy which is extended to OCT imaging via time domain en face fast lateral scanning. The ability of imaging with multiple axial resolutions stimulated the development of the dual en face OCT-confocal imaging technology. Dual imaging also allows various other imaging combinations, such as OCT with confocal microscopy for imaging the eye anterior segment and OCT with fluorescence angiography imaging.

Theoretical Borderlands: Using Multiple Theoretical Perspectives to Challenge Inequitable Power Structures in Student Development Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abes, Elisa S.

2009-01-01

This article is an exploration of possibilities and methodological considerations for using multiple theoretical perspectives in research that challenges inequitable power structures in student development theory. Specifically, I explore methodological considerations when partnering queer theory and constructivism in research on lesbian identity…

Challenges When Introducing Electronic Exam

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuikka, Matti; Kitola, Markus; Laakso, Mikko-Jussi

2014-01-01

Time pressures often necessitate the use of more efficient exam tools, such as electronic exams (e-exams), instead of traditional paper exams. However, teachers may face challenges when introducing e-exams in a higher education context. This paper describes what kinds of challenges teachers may face when introducing e-exams, based on experiences…

Implementation of genomics research in Africa: challenges and recommendations

PubMed Central

Adebamowo, Sally N.; Francis, Veronica; Tambo, Ernest; Diallo, Seybou H.; Landouré, Guida; Nembaware, Victoria; Dareng, Eileen; Muhamed, Babu; Odutola, Michael; Akeredolu, Teniola; Nerima, Barbara; Ozumba, Petronilla J.; Mbhele, Slee; Ghanash, Anita; Wachinou, Ablo P.; Ngomi, Nicholas

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT Background: There is exponential growth in the interest and implementation of genomics research in Africa. This growth has been facilitated by the Human Hereditary and Health in Africa (H3Africa) initiative, which aims to promote a contemporary research approach to the study of genomics and environmental determinants of common diseases in African populations. Objective: The purpose of this article is to describe important challenges affecting genomics research implementation in Africa. Methods: The observations, challenges and recommendations presented in this article were obtained through discussions by African scientists at teleconferences and face-to-face meetings, seminars at consortium conferences and in-depth individual discussions. Results: Challenges affecting genomics research implementation in Africa, which are related to limited resources include ill-equipped facilities, poor accessibility to research centers, lack of expertise and an enabling environment for research activities in local hospitals. Challenges related to the research study include delayed funding, extensive procedures and interventions requiring multiple visits, delays setting up research teams and insufficient staff training, language barriers and an underappreciation of cultural norms. While many African countries are struggling to initiate genomics projects, others have set up genomics research facilities that meet international standards. Conclusions: The lessons learned in implementing successful genomics projects in Africa are recommended as strategies to overcome these challenges. These recommendations may guide the development and application of new research programs in low-resource settings. PMID:29336236

A personal perspective on challenges that face women scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cashman, Katharine

2016-04-01

Gender equality has been a topic of discussion throughout my long (now three decade) career. This alone illustrates the complex nature of the issue, and the lack of a simple solution, particularly as many of the daily challenges that women face are institution or discipline-specific. For this reason, I will summarize some of the issues that appear to me to be more general, and therefore ones that may have general solutions. The first and foremost relates to demands on women's time. One way that academic institutions have sought to overcome gender bias has been to require that every university committee have a female member; in departments, schools and faculties where women represent a minority, this necessarily means that women shoulder an inequitable share of the service duties. I have experienced this myself, seen it in promotion files at all levels, and observed it with regard to my female colleagues. Clearly time spent doing service is time not spent doing science. There is also an easy solution to this problem, which is to re-think the underlying assumption that men are necessarily gender-biased if they don't have a woman sitting in the room! Additional time demands can come from informal mentoring of both students and younger colleagues, particularly in cases where senior male colleagues are viewed as too important, or too intimidating, to be consulted on personal issues. Although I suspect that this problem may also be widespread, it is more difficult to quantify, and is therefore more difficult to factor into time allotments of departmental duties. A final thought relates to hiring practices. I have now worked in both the US and UK educational systems, which have very different interview and hiring protocols. I will review both, highlighting components that I think are most likely to promote equitable hiring practices.

Energy conservation using face detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deotale, Nilesh T.; Kalbande, Dhananjay R.; Mishra, Akassh A.

2011-10-01

Computerized Face Detection, is concerned with the difficult task of converting a video signal of a person to written text. It has several applications like face recognition, simultaneous multiple face processing, biometrics, security, video surveillance, human computer interface, image database management, digital cameras use face detection for autofocus, selecting regions of interest in photo slideshows that use a pan-and-scale and The Present Paper deals with energy conservation using face detection. Automating the process to a computer requires the use of various image processing techniques. There are various methods that can be used for Face Detection such as Contour tracking methods, Template matching, Controlled background, Model based, Motion based and color based. Basically, the video of the subject are converted into images are further selected manually for processing. However, several factors like poor illumination, movement of face, viewpoint-dependent Physical appearance, Acquisition geometry, Imaging conditions, Compression artifacts makes Face detection difficult. This paper reports an algorithm for conservation of energy using face detection for various devices. The present paper suggests Energy Conservation can be done by Detecting the Face and reducing the brightness of complete image and then adjusting the brightness of the particular area of an image where the face is located using histogram equalization.

The challenges of healthcare delivery to people with multiple sclerosis in Iran.

PubMed

Yazdannik, Ahmadreza; Abolhassani, Shahla; Taleghani, Fariba; Zamani, Ahmadreza

2015-01-01

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease prevalent in young and middle-aged people. Patients with MS often have numerous complicated needs and, consequently, require a broad range of health services. Results of a number of studies indicate that patients' needs are only partially met. This study was conducted to explore the challenges of healthcare delivery to patients with MS in Iran. In this qualitative case study, 43 participants selected through purposeful sampling were interviewed using semi-structured method in the cities of Isfahan and Tehran in 2012-2013. Besides the interview, documentations relevant to healthcare delivery were collected from different sources, including websites of all Iranian universities of medical sciences, insurance organizations, patients' weblogs, news agencies, the MS Center forum for MS patients, and MS Payam bimonthly. The data were analyzed through the constant comparative analysis. The data were categorized into four main categories, including functional challenges (diagnosis problems, failure to pay attention to patient needs, failure to follow-up, and miscommunication), administrative challenges (resource allocation and supervision), policy-making challenges (lack of comprehensive services, bureaucracy, and problems in provision of medications), and structural challenges (difficult access to services, lack of comprehensive centers, space limit, and long wait). Despite all attempts of governmental and nongovernmental organizations for healthcare delivery to MS patients, these services cannot satisfy all needs of the patients. In this regard, service providers and administrators should pay more attention to the needs and expectations of patients and their families.

Feature instructions improve face-matching accuracy

PubMed Central

Bindemann, Markus

2018-01-01

Identity comparisons of photographs of unfamiliar faces are prone to error but important for applied settings, such as person identification at passport control. Finding techniques to improve face-matching accuracy is therefore an important contemporary research topic. This study investigated whether matching accuracy can be improved by instruction to attend to specific facial features. Experiment 1 showed that instruction to attend to the eyebrows enhanced matching accuracy for optimized same-day same-race face pairs but not for other-race faces. By contrast, accuracy was unaffected by instruction to attend to the eyes, and declined with instruction to attend to ears. Experiment 2 replicated the eyebrow-instruction improvement with a different set of same-race faces, comprising both optimized same-day and more challenging different-day face pairs. These findings suggest that instruction to attend to specific features can enhance face-matching accuracy, but feature selection is crucial and generalization across face sets may be limited. PMID:29543822

The Twenty-First Century Multiple Generation Workforce: Overlaps and Differences but Also Challenges and Benefits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helyer, Ruth; Lee, Dionne

2012-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the issues around a multiple generational workforce and more specifically, the challenges and benefits for education providers and employers. Design/methodology/approach: Reviewing research papers, analysing academic texts, interrogating market intelligence and contextualising case studies, the…

Supporting Public High School Teachers in a Context of Multiple Mandates: A Social Justice Approach to Professional Learning Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harak, Philip J.

2012-01-01

Although public school teaching by its inherent nature presents numerous classroom challenges, the public high school teacher today is faced in addition with multiple external mandates from several outside stakeholders. Given the established track record of professional learning communities (PLCs) to provide teacher support and development, I…

Rewards and unique challenges faced by African-American custodial grandmothers: the importance of future planning.

PubMed

Crowther, Martha R; Huang, Chao-Hui Sylvia; Allen, Rebecca S

2015-01-01

This exploratory study examined the context and consequences of custodial grandparenting, along with attitudes and preferences regarding future planning among 22 African-American custodial grandmothers. A mixed-method research design was employed. Based on our integration of two theories regarding future planning and health behavior change, caregiving, emotional distress, religiosity and spirituality, and future planning were assessed using questionnaires along with semi-structured interviews. African-American custodial grandmothers (mean age M = 53.64, SD = 9.58) perceived their caregiving role as rewarding (72%) yet challenging (86%). More than 40% reported significant emotional distress (CES-D ≥ 16) that warrants clinical attention. Findings showed that while 64% of study participants had future plans regarding who will substitute in their caregiving role if they become incapacitated, only 9% had completed a living will. Three major themes emerged regarding custodial grandmothers' caregiving role which includes: (1) rewards; (2) challenges including feeling overwhelmed and health concerns; and (3) caregiving decisions including conflicts between 'My plan was…/put self on-hold' for grandchildren and difficulty with future planning. These themes highlighted the dynamics of caregiving across time, including current context and the ongoing process of decision-making. Findings suggest that while African-American custodial grandmothers find caregiving rewarding, they face unique challenges in contemplating and developing future plans. Custodial grandmothers think about substitute caregivers for their grandchildren but need assistance communicating a plan focused on their own needs for future care. Culturally sensitive interventions designed to facilitate effective utilization of future plans within this caregiver population are needed.

Attractive faces temporally modulate visual attention

PubMed Central

Nakamura, Koyo; Kawabata, Hideaki

2014-01-01

Facial attractiveness is an important biological and social signal on social interaction. Recent research has demonstrated that an attractive face captures greater spatial attention than an unattractive face does. Little is known, however, about the temporal characteristics of visual attention for facial attractiveness. In this study, we investigated the temporal modulation of visual attention induced by facial attractiveness by using a rapid serial visual presentation. Fourteen male faces and two female faces were successively presented for 160 ms, respectively, and participants were asked to identify two female faces embedded among a series of multiple male distractor faces. Identification of a second female target (T2) was impaired when a first target (T1) was attractive compared to neutral or unattractive faces, at 320 ms stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA); identification was improved when T1 was attractive compared to unattractive faces at 640 ms SOA. These findings suggest that the spontaneous appraisal of facial attractiveness modulates temporal attention. PMID:24994994

Challenges facing the development of the Arabic chatbot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

AlHagbani, Eman Saad; Khan, Muhammad Badruddin

2016-07-01

The future information systems are expected to be more intelligent and will take human queries in natural language as input and answer them promptly. To develop a chatbot or a computer program that can chat with humans in realistic manner to extent that human get impressions that he/she is talking with other human is a challenging task. To make such chatbots, different technologies will work together ranging from artificial intelligence to development of semantic resources. Sophisticated chatbots are developed to perform conversation in number of languages. Arabic chatbots can be helpful in automating many operations and serve people who only know Arabic language. However, the technology for Arabic language is still in its infancy stage due to some challenges surrounding the Arabic language. This paper offers an overview of the chatbot application and the several obstacles and challenges that need to be resolved to develop an effective Arabic chatbot.

Strengths and challenges faced by school-aged children with unilateral CP described by the Five To Fifteen parental questionnaire.

PubMed

Forsman, Lea; Eliasson, Ann-Christin

2016-12-01

The purpose of this study was to describe motor and non-motor (e.g. cognitive, social, and behavioral) challenges faced in daily life by children with unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP). In this cross-sectional study, parents completed the Five to Fifteen questionnaire and provided demographic information for 46 children aged 6-15 years (mean 11.01 ± 2.89 SD). Most children were reported to have problems in both motor and non-motor domains, ranging from 20 to 92% depending on the domain. Perception and learning were the non-motor functions most commonly reported as challenging (63 and 65%, respectively). The total number of problems was significantly higher in age groups above 9 years. The correlation between all domains was high, but was consistently higher with the fine motor sub-domain, which could be used to predict executive function, perception, memory, and learning outcomes (R 2 =0.502, 0.642, 0.192, 0.192). Most children with CP have everyday challenges beyond their primary motor deficiencies.

Faces are special but not too special: Spared face recognition in amnesia is based on familiarity

PubMed Central

Aly, Mariam; Knight, Robert T.; Yonelinas, Andrew P.

2014-01-01

Most current theories of human memory are material-general in the sense that they assume that the medial temporal lobe (MTL) is important for retrieving the details of prior events, regardless of the specific type of materials. Recent studies of amnesia have challenged the material-general assumption by suggesting that the MTL may be necessary for remembering words, but is not involved in remembering faces. We examined recognition memory for faces and words in a group of amnesic patients, which included hypoxic patients and patients with extensive left or right MTL lesions. Recognition confidence judgments were used to plot receiver operating characteristics (ROCs) in order to more fully quantify recognition performance and to estimate the contributions of recollection and familiarity. Consistent with the extant literature, an analysis of overall recognition accuracy showed that the patients were impaired at word memory but had spared face memory. However, the ROC analysis indicated that the patients were generally impaired at high confidence recognition responses for faces and words, and they exhibited significant recollection impairments for both types of materials. Familiarity for faces was preserved in all patients, but extensive left MTL damage impaired familiarity for words. These results suggest that face recognition may appear to be spared because performance tends to rely heavily on familiarity, a process that is relatively well preserved in amnesia. The findings challenge material-general theories of memory, and suggest that both material and process are important determinants of memory performance in amnesia, and different types of materials may depend more or less on recollection and familiarity. PMID:20833190

RRR for NNN-a rapid research response for the Neglected Tropical Disease NGDO Network: a novel framework to challenges faced by the global programs targeting neglected tropical diseases.

PubMed

Toledo, Chelsea E; Jacobson, Julie; Wainwright, Emily C; Ottesen, Eric A; Lammie, Patrick J

2016-03-01

While global programs targeting the control or elimination of five of the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)-lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, schistosomiasis and trachoma-are well underway, they still face many operational challenges. Because of the urgency of 2020 program targets, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development devised a novel rapid research response (RRR) framework to engage national programs, researchers, implementers and WHO in a Coalition for Operational Research on NTDs. After 2 years, this effort has succeeded as an important basis for the research response to programmatic challenges facing NTD programs. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Challenges faced by health-care providers offering infant-feeding counseling to HIV-positive women in sub-Saharan Africa: a review of current research.

PubMed

Tuthill, Emily L; Chan, Jessica; Butler, Lisa M

2015-01-01

Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) has been identified as the optimal nutrition and critical behavior in attaining human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-free infant survival in resource-limited settings. Health-care providers (HCPs) in clinic- and community-settings throughout sub-Saharan Africa (sSA) provide infant-feeding counseling. However, rates of EBF at 6 months of age are suboptimal. HCPs are uniquely positioned to educate HIV-positive mothers and provide support by addressing known barriers to EBF. However, limited evidence exists on the experiences faced by HCPs in providing counseling on infant feeding to HIV-positive women. Our objective is to describe experiences faced by HCPs when delivering infant-feeding counseling in the context of HIV in program settings in sSA. We searched a range of electronic databases, including PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO from January 1990 to February 2013, in addition to hand-searching, cross-reference searching, and personal communications. The search was limited to publications in English. Empirical studies of HCP experiences providing infant-feeding counseling in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV programs in sSA were selected. We identified 10 peer-reviewed articles reporting HCP challenges in infant-feeding counseling that met inclusion criteria. Articles included qualitative, cross-sectional and mixed-method studies, and cumulatively reported 31 challenges faced by HCPs. Among the challenges identified, the most commonly reported were personal beliefs held by the HCPs toward infant feeding in the context of HIV, contradictory messages, staff workload, directive counseling styles, and a lack of practical strategies to offer mothers, often leading to improvised counseling approaches. Counseling strategies need to be developed that are relevant, meaningful, and responsive to the needs of both HCPs and mothers.

Enhanced facial texture illumination normalization for face recognition.

PubMed

Luo, Yong; Guan, Ye-Peng

2015-08-01

An uncontrolled lighting condition is one of the most critical challenges for practical face recognition applications. An enhanced facial texture illumination normalization method is put forward to resolve this challenge. An adaptive relighting algorithm is developed to improve the brightness uniformity of face images. Facial texture is extracted by using an illumination estimation difference algorithm. An anisotropic histogram-stretching algorithm is proposed to minimize the intraclass distance of facial skin and maximize the dynamic range of facial texture distribution. Compared with the existing methods, the proposed method can more effectively eliminate the redundant information of facial skin and illumination. Extensive experiments show that the proposed method has superior performance in normalizing illumination variation and enhancing facial texture features for illumination-insensitive face recognition.

3D Face Modeling Using the Multi-Deformable Method

PubMed Central

Hwang, Jinkyu; Yu, Sunjin; Kim, Joongrock; Lee, Sangyoun

2012-01-01

In this paper, we focus on the problem of the accuracy performance of 3D face modeling techniques using corresponding features in multiple views, which is quite sensitive to feature extraction errors. To solve the problem, we adopt a statistical model-based 3D face modeling approach in a mirror system consisting of two mirrors and a camera. The overall procedure of our 3D facial modeling method has two primary steps: 3D facial shape estimation using a multiple 3D face deformable model and texture mapping using seamless cloning that is a type of gradient-domain blending. To evaluate our method's performance, we generate 3D faces of 30 individuals and then carry out two tests: accuracy test and robustness test. Our method shows not only highly accurate 3D face shape results when compared with the ground truth, but also robustness to feature extraction errors. Moreover, 3D face rendering results intuitively show that our method is more robust to feature extraction errors than other 3D face modeling methods. An additional contribution of our method is that a wide range of face textures can be acquired by the mirror system. By using this texture map, we generate realistic 3D face for individuals at the end of the paper. PMID:23201976

The challenges of healthcare delivery to people with multiple sclerosis in Iran

PubMed Central

Yazdannik, Ahmadreza; Abolhassani, Shahla; Taleghani, Fariba; Zamani, Ahmadreza

2015-01-01

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease prevalent in young and middle-aged people. Patients with MS often have numerous complicated needs and, consequently, require a broad range of health services. Results of a number of studies indicate that patients’ needs are only partially met. Aims: This study was conducted to explore the challenges of healthcare delivery to patients with MS in Iran. Materials and Methods: In this qualitative case study, 43 participants selected through purposeful sampling were interviewed using semi-structured method in the cities of Isfahan and Tehran in 2012–2013. Besides the interview, documentations relevant to healthcare delivery were collected from different sources, including websites of all Iranian universities of medical sciences, insurance organizations, patients’ weblogs, news agencies, the MS Center forum for MS patients, and MS Payam bimonthly. The data were analyzed through the constant comparative analysis. Results: The data were categorized into four main categories, including functional challenges (diagnosis problems, failure to pay attention to patient needs, failure to follow-up, and miscommunication), administrative challenges (resource allocation and supervision), policy-making challenges (lack of comprehensive services, bureaucracy, and problems in provision of medications), and structural challenges (difficult access to services, lack of comprehensive centers, space limit, and long wait). Conclusion: Despite all attempts of governmental and nongovernmental organizations for healthcare delivery to MS patients, these services cannot satisfy all needs of the patients. In this regard, service providers and administrators should pay more attention to the needs and expectations of patients and their families. PMID:27462625

'I feel like a salesperson': the effect of multiple-source care funding on the experiences and views of nursing home nurses in England.

PubMed

Thompson, Juliana; Cook, Glenda; Duschinsky, Robbie

2015-06-01

The difficulties faced in the recruitment and retention of nursing staff in nursing homes for older people are an international challenge. It is therefore essential that the causes of nurses' reluctance to work in these settings are determined. This paper considers the influence that multiple-source care funding issues have on nursing home nurses' experiences and views regarding the practice and appeal of the role. The methodology for this study was hermeneutic phenomenology. Thirteen nurses from seven nursing homes in the North East of England were interviewed in a sequence of up to five interviews and data were analysed using a literary analysis method. Findings indicate that participants are uncomfortable with the business aspects that funding issues bring to their role. The primary difficulties faced are: tensions between care issues and funding issues; challenges associated with 'selling beds'; and coping with self-funding residents' changing expectations of care. The findings of the study suggest that multiple-source care funding systems that operate in nursing homes for older people pose challenges to nursing home nurses. Some of these challenges may impact on their recruitment and retention. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Many faces of expertise: fusiform face area in chess experts and novices.

PubMed

Bilalić, Merim; Langner, Robert; Ulrich, Rolf; Grodd, Wolfgang

2011-07-13

The fusiform face area (FFA) is involved in face perception to such an extent that some claim it is a brain module for faces exclusively. The other possibility is that FFA is modulated by experience in individuation in any visual domain, not only faces. Here we test this latter FFA expertise hypothesis using the game of chess as a domain of investigation. We exploited the characteristic of chess, which features multiple objects forming meaningful spatial relations. In three experiments, we show that FFA activity is related to stimulus properties and not to chess skill directly. In all chess and non-chess tasks, experts' FFA was more activated than that of novices' only when they dealt with naturalistic full-board chess positions. When common spatial relationships formed by chess objects in chess positions were randomly disturbed, FFA was again differentially active only in experts, regardless of the actual task. Our experiments show that FFA contributes to the holistic processing of domain-specific multipart stimuli in chess experts. This suggests that FFA may not only mediate human expertise in face recognition but, supporting the expertise hypothesis, may mediate the automatic holistic processing of any highly familiar multipart visual input.

The hows and whys of face memory: level of construal influences the recognition of human faces

PubMed Central

Wyer, Natalie A.; Hollins, Timothy J.; Pahl, Sabine; Roper, Jean

2015-01-01

Three experiments investigated the influence of level of construal (i.e., the interpretation of actions in terms of their meaning or their details) on different stages of face memory. We employed a standard multiple-face recognition paradigm, with half of the faces inverted at test. Construal level was manipulated prior to recognition (Experiment 1), during study (Experiment 2) or both (Experiment 3). The results support a general advantage for high-level construal over low-level construal at both study and at test, and suggest that matching processing style between study and recognition has no advantage. These experiments provide additional evidence in support of a link between semantic processing (i.e., construal) and visual (i.e., face) processing. We conclude with a discussion of implications for current theories relating to both construal and face processing. PMID:26500586

Challenge clusters facing LCA in environmental decision-making-what we can learn from biofuels.

PubMed

McManus, Marcelle C; Taylor, Caroline M; Mohr, Alison; Whittaker, Carly; Scown, Corinne D; Borrion, Aiduan Li; Glithero, Neryssa J; Yin, Yao

Bioenergy is increasingly used to help meet greenhouse gas (GHG) and renewable energy targets. However, bioenergy's sustainability has been questioned, resulting in increasing use of life cycle assessment (LCA). Bioenergy systems are global and complex, and market forces can result in significant changes, relevant to LCA and policy. The goal of this paper is to illustrate the complexities associated with LCA, with particular focus on bioenergy and associated policy development, so that its use can more effectively inform policymakers. The review is based on the results from a series of workshops focused on bioenergy life cycle assessment. Expert submissions were compiled and categorized within the first two workshops. Over 100 issues emerged. Accounting for redundancies and close similarities in the list, this reduced to around 60 challenges, many of which are deeply interrelated. Some of these issues were then explored further at a policy-facing workshop in London, UK. The authors applied a rigorous approach to categorize the challenges identified to be at the intersection of biofuels/bioenergy LCA and policy. The credibility of LCA is core to its use in policy. Even LCAs that comply with ISO standards and policy and regulatory instruments leave a great deal of scope for interpretation and flexibility. Within the bioenergy sector, this has led to frustration and at times a lack of obvious direction. This paper identifies the main challenge clusters: overarching issues, application and practice and value and ethical judgments. Many of these are reflective of the transition from application of LCA to assess individual products or systems to the wider approach that is becoming more common. Uncertainty in impact assessment strongly influences planning and compliance due to challenges in assigning accountability, and communicating the inherent complexity and uncertainty within bioenergy is becoming of greater importance. The emergence of LCA in bioenergy governance is

From mild ataxia to huntington disease phenocopy: the multiple faces of spinocerebellar ataxia 17.

PubMed

Koutsis, Georgios; Panas, Marios; Paraskevas, George P; Bougea, Anastasia M; Kladi, Athina; Karadima, Georgia; Kapaki, Elisabeth

2014-01-01

Introduction. Spinocerebellar ataxia 17 (SCA 17) is a rare autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxia (ADCA) caused by a CAG/CAA expansion in the TBP gene, reported from a limited number of countries. It is a very heterogeneous ADCA characterized by ataxia, cognitive decline, psychiatric symptoms, and involuntary movements, with some patients presenting with Huntington disease (HD) phenocopies. The SCA 17 expansion is stable during parent-child transmission and intrafamilial phenotypic homogeneity has been reported. However, significant phenotypic variability within families has also been observed. Report of the Family. We presently report a Greek family with a pathological expansion of 54 repeats at the SCA 17 locus that displayed remarkable phenotypic variability. Among 3 affected members, one presented with HD phenocopy; one with progressive ataxia, dementia, chorea, dystonia, and seizures, and one with mild slowly progressive ataxia with minor cognitive and affective symptoms. Conclusions. This is the first family with SCA 17 identified in Greece and highlights the multiple faces of this rare disorder, even within the same family.

[Neural basis of self-face recognition: social aspects].

PubMed

Sugiura, Motoaki

2012-07-01

Considering the importance of the face in social survival and evidence from evolutionary psychology of visual self-recognition, it is reasonable that we expect neural mechanisms for higher social-cognitive processes to underlie self-face recognition. A decade of neuroimaging studies so far has, however, not provided an encouraging finding in this respect. Self-face specific activation has typically been reported in the areas for sensory-motor integration in the right lateral cortices. This observation appears to reflect the physical nature of the self-face which representation is developed via the detection of contingency between one's own action and sensory feedback. We have recently revealed that the medial prefrontal cortex, implicated in socially nuanced self-referential process, is activated during self-face recognition under a rich social context where multiple other faces are available for reference. The posterior cingulate cortex has also exhibited this activation modulation, and in the separate experiment showed a response to attractively manipulated self-face suggesting its relevance to positive self-value. Furthermore, the regions in the right lateral cortices typically showing self-face-specific activation have responded also to the face of one's close friend under the rich social context. This observation is potentially explained by the fact that the contingency detection for physical self-recognition also plays a role in physical social interaction, which characterizes the representation of personally familiar people. These findings demonstrate that neuroscientific exploration reveals multiple facets of the relationship between self-face recognition and social-cognitive process, and that technically the manipulation of social context is key to its success.

Risk factors associated with challenging behaviour in people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities.

PubMed

Poppes, P; van der Putten, A J J; Post, W J; Vlaskamp, C

2016-06-01

Several factors that correlate with the onset or continuation of challenging behaviour are mentioned in research. These are factors related to persons with ID, but also to direct support professionals and the context. Although many of these factors seem to affect the onset or continuation of challenging behaviour in people with ID in general, results are often inconclusive and have little focus on people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). The present study aimed to assess the extent to which known factors related to challenging behaviour are also applicable to a group of 198 people with PIMD. To determine which factors were associated with challenging behaviour, univariate analyses on associations between known risk factors and challenging behaviour were conducted. The associated factors were then subject to a regression analysis to determine the extent to which they explain the prevalence of challenging behaviour and can thus be seen as factors associated with challenging behaviour. The results show that, in particular, factors concerning the personal characteristics of people with PIMD, such as sleeping problems and auditory problems, were related to the variance in mean frequency of challenging behaviour. Only one factor related to the direct support professionals was found: when these professionals had been offered training on the subject of challenging behaviour in people with intellectual disabilities in general, they identified significantly more withdrawn behaviour. We found no contextual factors related to challenging behaviour. These findings are generally consistent with findings reported in other studies, especially concerning the personal characteristics of people with PIMD. Further research should focus on the effects of providing safe auditory environments and appropriate sleep schedules for people with PIMD on the occurrence of challenging behaviour. © 2016 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of

Obstacles facing Africa's young climate scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dike, Victor Nnamdi; Addi, Martin; Andang'o, Hezron Awiti; Attig, Bahar Faten; Barimalala, Rondrotiana; Diasso, Ulrich Jacques; Du Plessis, Marcel; Lamine, Salim; Mongwe, Precious N.; Zaroug, Modathir; Ochanda, Valentine Khasenye

2018-06-01

Current and future climate change poses a substantial threat to the African continent. Young scientists are needed to advance Earth systems science on the continent, but they face significant challenges.

The mighty oak faces challenges in the Pacific West

Treesearch

Gail Wells

2010-01-01

In popular imagination, the oak tree stands for strength, endurance, and longevity. But in the coastal lowlands and central valleys of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California, oaks face a battery of natural and human-induced threats. Sudden oak death, caused by a virulent pathogen identified in 2000, has killed millions of tanoaks, California black oaks,...

Hyperspectral face recognition with spatiospectral information fusion and PLS regression.

PubMed

Uzair, Muhammad; Mahmood, Arif; Mian, Ajmal

2015-03-01

Hyperspectral imaging offers new opportunities for face recognition via improved discrimination along the spectral dimension. However, it poses new challenges, including low signal-to-noise ratio, interband misalignment, and high data dimensionality. Due to these challenges, the literature on hyperspectral face recognition is not only sparse but is limited to ad hoc dimensionality reduction techniques and lacks comprehensive evaluation. We propose a hyperspectral face recognition algorithm using a spatiospectral covariance for band fusion and partial least square regression for classification. Moreover, we extend 13 existing face recognition techniques, for the first time, to perform hyperspectral face recognition.We formulate hyperspectral face recognition as an image-set classification problem and evaluate the performance of seven state-of-the-art image-set classification techniques. We also test six state-of-the-art grayscale and RGB (color) face recognition algorithms after applying fusion techniques on hyperspectral images. Comparison with the 13 extended and five existing hyperspectral face recognition techniques on three standard data sets show that the proposed algorithm outperforms all by a significant margin. Finally, we perform band selection experiments to find the most discriminative bands in the visible and near infrared response spectrum.

Firefighter Training in Sweden: From Face-to-Face Learning in Training Grounds to Distance Learning--A Challenge for Exercise Instructors?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holmgren, Robert

2016-01-01

When distance learning supported by digital technologies was introduced in firefighter training in Sweden some years ago, training exercise instructors accustomed to face-to-face teaching in the field had to adapt their professional roles to an electronic landscape with a number of new opportunities and constraints. Based on activity theory and…

'Faceness' and affectivity: evidence for genetic contributions to distinct components of electrocortical response to human faces.

PubMed

Shannon, Robert W; Patrick, Christopher J; Venables, Noah C; He, Sheng

2013-12-01

The ability to recognize a variety of different human faces is undoubtedly one of the most important and impressive functions of the human perceptual system. Neuroimaging studies have revealed multiple brain regions (including the FFA, STS, OFA) and electrophysiological studies have identified differing brain event-related potential (ERP) components (e.g., N170, P200) possibly related to distinct types of face information processing. To evaluate the heritability of ERP components associated with face processing, including N170, P200, and LPP, we examined ERP responses to fearful and neutral face stimuli in monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins. Concordance levels for early brain response indices of face processing (N170, P200) were found to be stronger for MZ than DZ twins, providing evidence of a heritable basis to each. These findings support the idea that certain key neural mechanisms for face processing are genetically coded. Implications for understanding individual differences in recognition of facial identity and the emotional content of faces are discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Parent Education for Dialogic Reading during Shared Storybook Reading: Multiple Case Study of Online and Face-to-Face Delivery Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beschorner, Beth

2013-01-01

This study examined the impact of a parent education program on the frequency of shared storybook reading and dialogic reading techniques. Additionally, the contextual factors that influenced the outcomes of the program were explored. Seventeen parents completed a nine-week face-to-face parent education program and fifteen parents completed a…

Thermal-to-visible face recognition using partial least squares.

PubMed

Hu, Shuowen; Choi, Jonghyun; Chan, Alex L; Schwartz, William Robson

2015-03-01

Although visible face recognition has been an active area of research for several decades, cross-modal face recognition has only been explored by the biometrics community relatively recently. Thermal-to-visible face recognition is one of the most difficult cross-modal face recognition challenges, because of the difference in phenomenology between the thermal and visible imaging modalities. We address the cross-modal recognition problem using a partial least squares (PLS) regression-based approach consisting of preprocessing, feature extraction, and PLS model building. The preprocessing and feature extraction stages are designed to reduce the modality gap between the thermal and visible facial signatures, and facilitate the subsequent one-vs-all PLS-based model building. We incorporate multi-modal information into the PLS model building stage to enhance cross-modal recognition. The performance of the proposed recognition algorithm is evaluated on three challenging datasets containing visible and thermal imagery acquired under different experimental scenarios: time-lapse, physical tasks, mental tasks, and subject-to-camera range. These scenarios represent difficult challenges relevant to real-world applications. We demonstrate that the proposed method performs robustly for the examined scenarios.

Trismus in Face Transplantation Following Ballistic Trauma.

PubMed

Krezdorn, Nicco; Alhefzi, Muayyad; Perry, Bridget; Aycart, Mario A; Tasigiorgos, Sotirios; Bueno, Ericka M; Green, Jordan R; Pribaz, Julian J; Pomahac, Bohdan; Caterson, Edward J

2018-06-01

Trismus can be a challenging consequence of ballistic trauma to the face, and has rarely been described in the setting of face transplantation. Almost half of all current face transplant recipients in the world received transplantation to restore form and function after a ballistic injury. Here we report our experience and challenges with long standing trismus after face transplantation. We reviewed the medical records of our face transplant recipients whose indication was ballistic injury. We focused our review on trismus and assessed the pre-, peri- and postoperative planning, surgery and functional outcomes. Two patients received partial face transplantation, including the midface for ballistic trauma. Both patients suffered from impaired mouth opening, speech intelligibility, and oral competence. Severe scarring of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) required intraoperative release in both patients, and additional total condylectomy on the left side 6 months posttransplant for 1 patient. Posttransplant, both patients achieved an improvement in mouth opening; however, there was persistent trismus. One year after transplantation, range of motion of the jaw had improved for both patients. Independent oral food intake was possible 1 year after surgery, although spillage of liquids and mixed consistency solids persisted. Speech intelligibility testing showed impairments in the immediate postoperative period, with improvement to over 85% for both patients at 1 year posttransplant. Ballistic trauma to the face and subsequent reconstructive measures can cause significant scarring and covert injuries to structures such as the TMJ, resulting in long standing trismus. Meticulous individual planning prior to interventions such as face transplantation must take these into account. We encourage intraoperative evaluation of these structures as well as peri- and postoperative treatment when necessary. Due to the nature of the primary injury, functional outcomes after face

High-order multiple gestations.

PubMed

Elliott, John P

2005-10-01

Infertility treatments have produced an increase in multiple gestations with twins accounting for 3.3% of births in the United States in 2002. Over that same time period, premature deliveries increased from 10.7% in 1992 to 12.1% in 2002. High-order multiple gestations have also increased, and virtually all of those deliver prematurely. Clinicians are facing the challenge of managing these complicated pregnancies. Neonatal outcome will primarily depend on the gestational age at delivery and the birth weight of the babies. Care is directed at aggressively and proactively preventing preterm delivery. Ultrasound assessments are made frequently to assess fetal anatomical abnormalities, nuchal translucency, fetal growth, cervical length, amniotic fluid, and biophysical profile. Stress reduction and activity reduction will decrease uterine activity, and tocolytic drugs are employed to decrease background contractions to reduce preterm labor (PTL). Fetal fibronectin testing helps predict risk of PTL, and magnesium sulfate tocolysis is used in aggressive dosing to arrest PTL if it occurs. Outcomes are presented and discussed. Successful outcomes are not only possible, but probable.

Heterogeneous Face Attribute Estimation: A Deep Multi-Task Learning Approach.

PubMed

Han, Hu; K Jain, Anil; Shan, Shiguang; Chen, Xilin

2017-08-10

Face attribute estimation has many potential applications in video surveillance, face retrieval, and social media. While a number of methods have been proposed for face attribute estimation, most of them did not explicitly consider the attribute correlation and heterogeneity (e.g., ordinal vs. nominal and holistic vs. local) during feature representation learning. In this paper, we present a Deep Multi-Task Learning (DMTL) approach to jointly estimate multiple heterogeneous attributes from a single face image. In DMTL, we tackle attribute correlation and heterogeneity with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) consisting of shared feature learning for all the attributes, and category-specific feature learning for heterogeneous attributes. We also introduce an unconstrained face database (LFW+), an extension of public-domain LFW, with heterogeneous demographic attributes (age, gender, and race) obtained via crowdsourcing. Experimental results on benchmarks with multiple face attributes (MORPH II, LFW+, CelebA, LFWA, and FotW) show that the proposed approach has superior performance compared to state of the art. Finally, evaluations on a public-domain face database (LAP) with a single attribute show that the proposed approach has excellent generalization ability.

Quality labeled faces in the wild (QLFW): a database for studying face recognition in real-world environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karam, Lina J.; Zhu, Tong

2015-03-01

The varying quality of face images is an important challenge that limits the effectiveness of face recognition technology when applied in real-world applications. Existing face image databases do not consider the effect of distortions that commonly occur in real-world environments. This database (QLFW) represents an initial attempt to provide a set of labeled face images spanning the wide range of quality, from no perceived impairment to strong perceived impairment for face detection and face recognition applications. Types of impairment include JPEG2000 compression, JPEG compression, additive white noise, Gaussian blur and contrast change. Subjective experiments are conducted to assess the perceived visual quality of faces under different levels and types of distortions and also to assess the human recognition performance under the considered distortions. One goal of this work is to enable automated performance evaluation of face recognition technologies in the presence of different types and levels of visual distortions. This will consequently enable the development of face recognition systems that can operate reliably on real-world visual content in the presence of real-world visual distortions. Another goal is to enable the development and assessment of visual quality metrics for face images and for face detection and recognition applications.

Adolescents in Wartime U.S. Military Families: A Developmental Perspective on Challenges and Resources

PubMed Central

Milburn, Norweeta G.; Lightfoot, Marguerita

2013-01-01

Adolescents in wartime U.S. military families are a unique group of young people who are experiencing the usual milestones of adolescent development, including establishing their identities and becoming autonomous, while they face the challenges of military life such as multiple frequent moves, relocation and parent deployment to combat settings. This paper reviews research on adolescents in wartime U.S. military families, within the context of adolescent development, to identify their behavioral, emotional and academic risk status, and challenges and resources. Recommendations for future research and interventions to foster the healthy development of these adolescents are also provided. PMID:23780722

Temporal Stability of Multiple Response Systems to 7.5% Carbon Dioxide Challenge

PubMed Central

Roberson-Nay, Roxann; Gorlin, Eugenia I.; Beadel, Jessica R.; Cash, Therese; Vrana, Scott; Teachman, Bethany A.

2017-01-01

Self-reported anxiety, and potentially physiological response, to maintained inhalation of carbon dioxide (CO2) enriched air shows promise as a putative marker of panic reactivity and vulnerability. Temporal stability of response systems during low-dose, steady-state CO2 breathing challenge is lacking. Outcomes on multiple levels were measured two times, one week apart, in 93 individuals. Stability was highest during the CO2 breathing phase compared to pre-CO2 and recovery phases, with anxiety ratings, respiratory rate, skin conductance level, and heart rate demonstrating good to excellent temporal stability (ICCs ≥ 0.71). Cognitive symptoms tied to panic were somewhat less stable (ICC = 0.58) than physical symptoms (ICC = 0.74) during CO2 breathing. Escape/avoidance behaviors and DSM-5 panic attacks were not stable. Large effect sizes between task phases also were observed. Overall, results suggest good-excellent levels of temporal stability for multiple outcomes during respiratory stimulation via 7.5% CO2. PMID:28163046

Parallel, multi-stage processing of colors, faces and shapes in macaque inferior temporal cortex

PubMed Central

Lafer-Sousa, Rosa; Conway, Bevil R.

2014-01-01

Visual-object processing culminates in inferior temporal (IT) cortex. To assess the organization of IT, we measured fMRI responses in alert monkey to achromatic images (faces, fruit, bodies, places) and colored gratings. IT contained multiple color-biased regions, which were typically ventral to face patches and, remarkably, yoked to them, spaced regularly at four locations predicted by known anatomy. Color and face selectivity increased for more anterior regions, indicative of a broad hierarchical arrangement. Responses to non-face shapes were found across IT, but were stronger outside color-biased regions and face patches, consistent with multiple parallel streams. IT also contained multiple coarse eccentricity maps: face patches overlapped central representations; color-biased regions spanned mid-peripheral representations; and place-biased regions overlapped peripheral representations. These results suggest that IT comprises parallel, multi-stage processing networks subject to one organizing principle. PMID:24141314

Standing by Their Principles: Two Librarians Who Faced Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Helen; Leu, DaNae; Venuto, Dee Ann

2015-01-01

What do school librarians fear most? Hands down, their biggest fear is a formal challenge to a resource in the school library. There are no accurate statistics about the number of challenges to school library resources. The staff of ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom estimates that only about 20 percent are reported to ALA annually. For the…

Face Recognition in Humans and Machines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Toole, Alice; Tistarelli, Massimo

The study of human face recognition by psychologists and neuroscientists has run parallel to the development of automatic face recognition technologies by computer scientists and engineers. In both cases, there are analogous steps of data acquisition, image processing, and the formation of representations that can support the complex and diverse tasks we accomplish with faces. These processes can be understood and compared in the context of their neural and computational implementations. In this chapter, we present the essential elements of face recognition by humans and machines, taking a perspective that spans psychological, neural, and computational approaches. From the human side, we overview the methods and techniques used in the neurobiology of face recognition, the underlying neural architecture of the system, the role of visual attention, and the nature of the representations that emerges. From the computational side, we discuss face recognition technologies and the strategies they use to overcome challenges to robust operation over viewing parameters. Finally, we conclude the chapter with a look at some recent studies that compare human and machine performances at face recognition.

"It's Intense, to an Extent": A Qualitative Study of the Emotional Challenges Faced by Staff Working on a Treatment Programme for Intellectually Disabled Sex Offenders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sandhu, Daljit K.; Rose, John; Rostill-Brookes, Helen J.; Thrift, Su

2012-01-01

Background: This study explores the emotional challenges faced by staff working on a sex offender treatment programme for people with an intellectual disability. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with eight participants working on a treatment programme for sex offenders with an intellectual disability. Interviews were analysed…

When Worlds Collide--Examining the Challenges Faced by Teacher Education Programmes Combining Professional Vocational Competence with Academic Study, Lessons from Further Education to Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaw, Angela

2016-01-01

This paper examines the challenges faced by higher education institutions in designing, teaching and quality assuring programmes of study which, of necessity, must combine the gaining of professional vocational competence with academic study. The paper gives recognition to the policy framework in which these programmes fit--with particular…

Ethical challenges faced by healthcare professionals who care for suicidal patients: a scoping review.

PubMed

Saigle, Victoria; Racine, Eric

2018-04-17

For each one of the approximately 800,000 people who die from suicide every year, an additional twenty people attempt suicide. Many of these attempts result in hospitalization or in contact with other healthcare services. However, many personal, educational, and institutional barriers make it difficult for healthcare professionals to care for suicidal individuals. We reviewed literature that discusses suicidal patients in healthcare settings in order to highlight common ethical issues and to identify knowledge gaps. A sample was generated via PubMed using keywords "[(ethics OR *ethic*) AND suicid*] AND [English (Language) OR French (Language)]" (final N = 52), ethics content was extracted according to scoping review methodology, and categorized thematically. We identified three main areas posing ethical challenges for health professionals caring for suicidal individuals and their families. These were: (1) making clinical decisions for patients in acute care or when presented with specific circumstances; (2) issues arising from therapeutic relationships in chronic care, and (3) organizational factors. There is considerable uncertainty about how to resolve ethical issues when caring for someone who is suicidal. The stigma associated with suicide and mental illness, problems associated with risk-benefit assessments, and the fear of being held liable for malpractice should a patient die by suicide were overarching themes present across these three categories. Caring for suicidal patients is clinically and ethically challenging. The current literature highlights the complexity and range of decisions that need to be made. More attention should be paid to the difficulties faced by healthcare professionals and the development of solutions.

What Are the Professional, Political, and Ethical Challenges of Co-Creating Health Care Systems?

PubMed

Singh, Guddi; Owens, John; Cribb, Alan

2017-11-01

Co-creation is seen by many as a means of meeting the multiple challenges facing contemporary health care systems by involving institutions, professionals, patients, and stakeholders in new roles, relationships, and collaborative practices. While co-creation has the potential to positively transform health care systems, it generates a number of political and ethical challenges that should not be overlooked. We suggest that those involved in envisioning and implementing co-creation initiatives pay close attention to significant questions of equity, power, and justice and to the fundamental challenge of securing a common vision of the aims of and agendas for health care systems. While such initiatives present significant opportunities for improvement, they need to be viewed in light of their accompanying professional, political, and ethical challenges. © 2017 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.

Science Education and the Challenges Facing Its Integration into the 21st Century School System in a Globalized World: A Case of Igbo Nation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ezeudu, F. O.; Nkokelonye, C. U.; Ezeudu, S. A.

2013-01-01

This paper is a study of historical foundations of science education in Igboland, its nature and scope as well as the challenges facing its integration into the 21st century school system in a globalized world. The authors found that there were many scientific activities in Igbo culture, but many problems hinder their integration into the basic…

Challenging Behaviors among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Multiple Disabilities Attending Special Schools in Singapore

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poon, Kenneth K.

2012-01-01

This study sought to understand the profile of and the factors which impact upon challenging behaviors among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and multiple disabilities (MD). Teachers of 322 and 132 children with ASD and MD, respectively, attending special schools in Singapore, completed the Developmental Behavior Checklist, Teacher…

Face identification with frequency domain matched filtering in mobile environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Dong-Su; Woo, Yong-Hyun; Yeom, Seokwon; Kim, Shin-Hwan

2012-06-01

Face identification at a distance is very challenging since captured images are often degraded by blur and noise. Furthermore, the computational resources and memory are often limited in the mobile environments. Thus, it is very challenging to develop a real-time face identification system on the mobile device. This paper discusses face identification based on frequency domain matched filtering in the mobile environments. Face identification is performed by the linear or phase-only matched filter and sequential verification stages. The candidate window regions are decided by the major peaks of the linear or phase-only matched filtering outputs. The sequential stages comprise a skin-color test and an edge mask filtering test, which verify color and shape information of the candidate regions in order to remove false alarms. All algorithms are built on the mobile device using Android platform. The preliminary results show that face identification of East Asian people can be performed successfully in the mobile environments.

Challenges faced by health volunteers in comprehensive health centers in the southwest of Iran: A qualitative content analysis.

PubMed

Vizeshfar, Fatemeh; Momennasab, Marzieh; Yektatalab, Shahrzad; Iman, Mohamad Taghi

2018-01-01

Introduction: Health volunteers are employed to execute governmental health promotion programs in most countries around the world. The present study aimed to assess the challenges of health volunteers program to provide a better understanding of the present situation. Methods: This study was conducted using a qualitative approach. 14 participants were selected purposively selected from two comprehensive health care centers in the southwest of Iran. The data were collected through 14 semi-structured interviews, 2 observations, and 3 diaries and analyzed using content analysis. Results: Data analysis resulted in emergence four themes, namely role confusion, the inefficiency of volunteers training, the inefficiency of attraction and maintenance of volunteers, and being unknown to people. Unfertilized capacity is the main theme extracted from all themes. Conclusion: Health volunteers' perfect accomplishment of roles will have a positive impact on the provision of primary healthcare services and health objectives. Hence, comprehensive planning based on the needs of health volunteers will change them into a strong arm in the health system. Thus, managerial support and precise planning seem to be necessary for facing these challenges.

Challenges faced by health volunteers in comprehensive health centers in the southwest of Iran: A qualitative content analysis

PubMed Central

Vizeshfar, Fatemeh; Momennasab, Marzieh; Yektatalab, Shahrzad; Iman, Mohamad Taghi

2018-01-01

Introduction:Health volunteers are employed to execute governmental health promotion programs in most countries around the world. The present study aimed to assess the challenges of health volunteers program to provide a better understanding of the present situation. Methods:This study was conducted using a qualitative approach. 14 participants were selected purposively selected from two comprehensive health care centers in the southwest of Iran. The data were collected through 14 semi-structured interviews, 2 observations, and 3 diaries and analyzed using content analysis. Results:Data analysis resulted in emergence four themes, namely role confusion, the inefficiency of volunteers training, the inefficiency of attraction and maintenance of volunteers, and being unknown to people. Unfertilized capacity is the main theme extracted from all themes. Conclusion:Health volunteers’ perfect accomplishment of roles will have a positive impact on the provision of primary healthcare services and health objectives. Hence, comprehensive planning based on the needs of health volunteers will change them into a strong arm in the health system. Thus, managerial support and precise planning seem to be necessary for facing these challenges. PMID:29696067

Category search speeds up face-selective fMRI responses in a non-hierarchical cortical face network.

PubMed

Jiang, Fang; Badler, Jeremy B; Righi, Giulia; Rossion, Bruno

2015-05-01

The human brain is extremely efficient at detecting faces in complex visual scenes, but the spatio-temporal dynamics of this remarkable ability, and how it is influenced by category-search, remain largely unknown. In the present study, human subjects were shown gradually-emerging images of faces or cars in visual scenes, while neural activity was recorded using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Category search was manipulated by the instruction to indicate the presence of either a face or a car, in different blocks, as soon as an exemplar of the target category was detected in the visual scene. The category selectivity of most face-selective areas was enhanced when participants were instructed to report the presence of faces in gradually decreasing noise stimuli. Conversely, the same regions showed much less selectivity when participants were instructed instead to detect cars. When "face" was the target category, the fusiform face area (FFA) showed consistently earlier differentiation of face versus car stimuli than did the "occipital face area" (OFA). When "car" was the target category, only the FFA showed differentiation of face versus car stimuli. These observations provide further challenges for hierarchical models of cortical face processing and show that during gradual revealing of information, selective category-search may decrease the required amount of information, enhancing and speeding up category-selective responses in the human brain. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Health Risks Faced by Public School Band Directors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woolery, Danielle N.; Woolery, Jesse A.

2013-01-01

Public school band directors face many work-related hazards in their grueling, yet rewarding job. As a school year progresses, directors are expected to work long hours, while trying to balance professional and personal responsibilities. A band director whose career spans multiple decades can potentially face a number of serious medical problems.…

Imprinting and flexibility in human face cognition.

PubMed

Marcinkowska, Urszula M; Terraube, Julien; Kaminski, Gwenaël

2016-09-29

Faces are an important cue to multiple physiological and psychological traits. Human preferences for exaggerated sex typicality (masculinity or femininity) in faces depend on multiple factors and show high inter-subject variability. To gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying facial femininity preferences in men, we tested the interactive effect of family structure (birth order, sibling sex-ratio and number of siblings) and parenthood status on these preferences. Based on a group of 1304 heterosexual men, we have found that preference for feminine faces was not only influenced by sibling age and sex, but also that fatherhood modulated this preference. Men with sisters had a weaker preference for femininity than men with brothers, highlighting a possible effect of a negative imprinting-like mechanism. What is more, fatherhood increased strongly the preference for facial femininity. Finally, for fathers with younger sisters only, the more the age difference increased between them, the more femininity preference increased. Overall our findings bring new insight into how early-acquired experience at the individual level may determine face preference in adulthood, and what is more, how these preferences are flexible and potentially dependent on parenthood status in adult men.

Imprinting and flexibility in human face cognition

PubMed Central

Marcinkowska, Urszula M.; Terraube, Julien; Kaminski, Gwenaël

2016-01-01

Faces are an important cue to multiple physiological and psychological traits. Human preferences for exaggerated sex typicality (masculinity or femininity) in faces depend on multiple factors and show high inter-subject variability. To gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying facial femininity preferences in men, we tested the interactive effect of family structure (birth order, sibling sex-ratio and number of siblings) and parenthood status on these preferences. Based on a group of 1304 heterosexual men, we have found that preference for feminine faces was not only influenced by sibling age and sex, but also that fatherhood modulated this preference. Men with sisters had a weaker preference for femininity than men with brothers, highlighting a possible effect of a negative imprinting-like mechanism. What is more, fatherhood increased strongly the preference for facial femininity. Finally, for fathers with younger sisters only, the more the age difference increased between them, the more femininity preference increased. Overall our findings bring new insight into how early-acquired experience at the individual level may determine face preference in adulthood, and what is more, how these preferences are flexible and potentially dependent on parenthood status in adult men. PMID:27680495

Anti-racist pedagogy: challenges faced by faculty of color in predominantly white schools of nursing.

PubMed

Hassouneh, Dena

2006-07-01

Despite the significant effects of systems of oppression on health, nursing education tends not to include anti-racist pedagogy in its curricula, preferring instead to focus more narrowly on culture. This narrow focus allows nurses to depoliticize discussions of race and other social differences, largely ignoring the influence that systems of oppression, imperialism, and historical trauma have had on health in marginalized populations. In contrast, anti-racist pedagogy educates students in ways that make racialized power relations explicit, deconstruct the social construction of race, and analyze interlocking systems of oppression that serve to marginalize and exclude some groups while privileging others. This article describes anti-racist pedagogy from the perspective of a faculty member of color, drawing on personal experience and a review of the anti-racist pedagogical literature. Specifically, this article highlights some of the personal and professional challenges faced by faculty of color when engaged in anti-racist pedagogy in predominantly white schools of nursing.

Redesigning photo-ID to improve unfamiliar face matching performance.

PubMed

White, David; Burton, A Mike; Jenkins, Rob; Kemp, Richard I

2014-06-01

Viewers find it difficult to match photos of unfamiliar faces for identity. Despite this, the use of photographic ID is widespread. In this study we ask whether it is possible to improve face matching performance by replacing single photographs on ID documents with multiple photos or an average image of the bearer. In 3 experiments we compare photo-to-photo matching with photo-to-average matching (where the average is formed from multiple photos of the same person) and photo-to-array matching (where the array comprises separate photos of the same person). We consistently find an accuracy advantage for average images and photo arrays over single photos, and show that this improvement is driven by performance in match trials. In the final experiment, we find a benefit of 4-image arrays relative to average images for unfamiliar faces, but not for familiar faces. We propose that conventional photo-ID format can be improved, and discuss this finding in the context of face recognition more generally. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Face photo-sketch synthesis and recognition.

PubMed

Wang, Xiaogang; Tang, Xiaoou

2009-11-01

In this paper, we propose a novel face photo-sketch synthesis and recognition method using a multiscale Markov Random Fields (MRF) model. Our system has three components: 1) given a face photo, synthesizing a sketch drawing; 2) given a face sketch drawing, synthesizing a photo; and 3) searching for face photos in the database based on a query sketch drawn by an artist. It has useful applications for both digital entertainment and law enforcement. We assume that faces to be studied are in a frontal pose, with normal lighting and neutral expression, and have no occlusions. To synthesize sketch/photo images, the face region is divided into overlapping patches for learning. The size of the patches decides the scale of local face structures to be learned. From a training set which contains photo-sketch pairs, the joint photo-sketch model is learned at multiple scales using a multiscale MRF model. By transforming a face photo to a sketch (or transforming a sketch to a photo), the difference between photos and sketches is significantly reduced, thus allowing effective matching between the two in face sketch recognition. After the photo-sketch transformation, in principle, most of the proposed face photo recognition approaches can be applied to face sketch recognition in a straightforward way. Extensive experiments are conducted on a face sketch database including 606 faces, which can be downloaded from our Web site (http://mmlab.ie.cuhk.edu.hk/facesketch.html).

The experiences and challenges faced by rehabilitation community service therapists within the South African Primary Healthcare health system

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Background Twenty-two years after the promulgation of a plethora of progressive health policies since 1994, the South African public health system reflects a number of stumbling blocks regarding implementation. Rehabilitation professionals are not sufficiently equipped nor allowed the opportunity to comprehensively implement Primary Healthcare (PHC) from a bottom-up approach, thus engaging communities. Training on addressing social health determinants and their impact on ill-health and health outcomes is inadequate. The inadequate understanding of the advocacy role that rehabilitation professionals could play in addressing social health determinants remains a challenge in healthcare. Rehabilitation, a pillar of PHC, remains poorly understood in terms of its role within the health system. Aim We argue for rehabilitation as a vehicle for addressing social determinants of health with community service practitioners playing a critical role in addressing the inequities within the healthcare package. Setting The article reflects the opportunities and challenges faced by rehabilitation community service therapists in the delivery of rehabilitation services in a rural area of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Methods A single case study from the perspective of a researcher was used to explore the experience and reflection of the first author during her community service as an occupational therapist. Results The case study highlights some existing gaps within the delivery of rehabilitation services in the rural Eastern Cape. A community service package with a specific approach towards addressing social determinants of health for persons with disability at a community level is suggested. Conclusion Advocating for a rehabilitation service package to shift to community-based levels is critical. It is envisaged that a community-based approach will facilitate an understanding of the barriers faced by persons with disabilities as constituting disability, thus

The Face-Processing Network Is Resilient to Focal Resection of Human Visual Cortex

PubMed Central

Jonas, Jacques; Gomez, Jesse; Maillard, Louis; Brissart, Hélène; Hossu, Gabriela; Jacques, Corentin; Loftus, David; Colnat-Coulbois, Sophie; Stigliani, Anthony; Barnett, Michael A.; Grill-Spector, Kalanit; Rossion, Bruno

2016-01-01

Human face perception requires a network of brain regions distributed throughout the occipital and temporal lobes with a right hemisphere advantage. Present theories consider this network as either a processing hierarchy beginning with the inferior occipital gyrus (occipital face area; IOG-faces/OFA) or a multiple-route network with nonhierarchical components. The former predicts that removing IOG-faces/OFA will detrimentally affect downstream stages, whereas the latter does not. We tested this prediction in a human patient (Patient S.P.) requiring removal of the right inferior occipital cortex, including IOG-faces/OFA. We acquired multiple fMRI measurements in Patient S.P. before and after a preplanned surgery and multiple measurements in typical controls, enabling both within-subject/across-session comparisons (Patient S.P. before resection vs Patient S.P. after resection) and between-subject/across-session comparisons (Patient S.P. vs controls). We found that the spatial topology and selectivity of downstream ipsilateral face-selective regions were stable 1 and 8 month(s) after surgery. Additionally, the reliability of distributed patterns of face selectivity in Patient S.P. before versus after resection was not different from across-session reliability in controls. Nevertheless, postoperatively, representations of visual space were typical in dorsal face-selective regions but atypical in ventral face-selective regions and V1 of the resected hemisphere. Diffusion weighted imaging in Patient S.P. and controls identifies white matter tracts connecting retinotopic areas to downstream face-selective regions, which may contribute to the stable and plastic features of the face network in Patient S.P. after surgery. Together, our results support a multiple-route network of face processing with nonhierarchical components and shed light on stable and plastic features of high-level visual cortex following focal brain damage. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Brain networks consist

The Face-Processing Network Is Resilient to Focal Resection of Human Visual Cortex.

PubMed

Weiner, Kevin S; Jonas, Jacques; Gomez, Jesse; Maillard, Louis; Brissart, Hélène; Hossu, Gabriela; Jacques, Corentin; Loftus, David; Colnat-Coulbois, Sophie; Stigliani, Anthony; Barnett, Michael A; Grill-Spector, Kalanit; Rossion, Bruno

2016-08-10

Human face perception requires a network of brain regions distributed throughout the occipital and temporal lobes with a right hemisphere advantage. Present theories consider this network as either a processing hierarchy beginning with the inferior occipital gyrus (occipital face area; IOG-faces/OFA) or a multiple-route network with nonhierarchical components. The former predicts that removing IOG-faces/OFA will detrimentally affect downstream stages, whereas the latter does not. We tested this prediction in a human patient (Patient S.P.) requiring removal of the right inferior occipital cortex, including IOG-faces/OFA. We acquired multiple fMRI measurements in Patient S.P. before and after a preplanned surgery and multiple measurements in typical controls, enabling both within-subject/across-session comparisons (Patient S.P. before resection vs Patient S.P. after resection) and between-subject/across-session comparisons (Patient S.P. vs controls). We found that the spatial topology and selectivity of downstream ipsilateral face-selective regions were stable 1 and 8 month(s) after surgery. Additionally, the reliability of distributed patterns of face selectivity in Patient S.P. before versus after resection was not different from across-session reliability in controls. Nevertheless, postoperatively, representations of visual space were typical in dorsal face-selective regions but atypical in ventral face-selective regions and V1 of the resected hemisphere. Diffusion weighted imaging in Patient S.P. and controls identifies white matter tracts connecting retinotopic areas to downstream face-selective regions, which may contribute to the stable and plastic features of the face network in Patient S.P. after surgery. Together, our results support a multiple-route network of face processing with nonhierarchical components and shed light on stable and plastic features of high-level visual cortex following focal brain damage. Brain networks consist of interconnected

Alternatives to the face-to-face consultation in general practice: focused ethnographic case study.

PubMed

Atherton, Helen; Brant, Heather; Ziebland, Sue; Bikker, Annemieke; Campbell, John; Gibson, Andy; McKinstry, Brian; Porqueddu, Tania; Salisbury, Chris

2018-04-01

NHS policy encourages general practices to introduce alternatives to the face-to-face consultation, such as telephone, email, e-consultation systems, or internet video. Most have been slow to adopt these, citing concerns about workload. This project builds on previous research by focusing on the experiences of patients and practitioners who have used one or more of these alternatives. To understand how, under what conditions, for which patients, and in what ways, alternatives to face-to-face consultations present benefits and challenges to patients and practitioners in general practice. Focused ethnographic case studies took place in eight UK general practices between June 2015 and March 2016. Non-participant observation, informal conversations with staff, and semi-structured interviews with staff and patients were conducted. Practice documents and protocols were reviewed. Data were analysed through charting and the 'one sheet of paper' mind-map method to identify the line of argument in each thematic report. Case study practices had different rationales for offering alternatives to the face-to-face consultation. Beliefs varied about which patients and health issues were suitable. Co-workers were often unaware of each other's practice; for example, practice policies for use of e-consultations systems with patients were not known about or followed. Patients reported benefits including convenience and access. Staff and some patients regarded the face-to-face consultation as the ideal. Experience of implementing alternatives to the face-to-face consultation suggests that changes in patient access and staff workload may be both modest and gradual. Practices planning to implement them should consider carefully their reasons for doing so and involve the whole practice team. © British Journal of General Practice 2018.

Challenge clusters facing LCA in environmental decision-making—what we can learn from biofuels

DOE PAGES

McManus, Marcelle C.; Taylor, Caroline M.; Mohr, Alison; ...

2015-08-07

Purpose: Bioenergy is increasingly used to help meet greenhouse gas (GHG) and renewable energy targets. However, bioenergy’s sustainability has been questioned, resulting in increasing use of life cycle assessment (LCA). Bioenergy systems are global and complex, and market forces can result in significant changes, relevant to LCA and policy. The goal of this paper is to illustrate the complexities associated with LCA, with particular focus on bioenergy and associated policy development, so that its use can more effectively inform policymakers. Methods: The review is based on the results from a series of workshops focused on bioenergy life cycle assessment. Expertmore » submissions were compiled and categorized within the first two workshops. Over 100 issues emerged. Accounting for redundancies and close similarities in the list, this reduced to around 60 challenges, many of which are deeply interrelated. Some of these issues were then explored further at a policy-facing workshop in London, UK. The authors applied a rigorous approach to categorize the challenges identified to be at the intersection of biofuels/bioenergy LCA and policy. Results and discussion: The credibility of LCA is core to its use in policy. Even LCAs that comply with ISO standards and policy and regulatory instruments leave a great deal of scope for interpretation and flexibility. Within the bioenergy sector, this has led to frustration and at times a lack of obvious direction. This paper identifies the main challenge clusters: overarching issues, application and practice and value and ethical judgments. Many of these are reflective of the transition from application of LCA to assess individual products or systems to the wider approach that is becoming more common. Uncertainty in impact assessment strongly influences planning and compliance due to challenges in assigning accountability, and communicating the inherent complexity and uncertainty within bioenergy is becoming of greater

Young persons with visual impairment: challenges of participation.

PubMed

Salminen, Anna-Liisa; Karhula, Maarit E

2014-07-01

To describe the challenges to activity and participation faced by young people with visual impairment within the framework of the International Classification of Functioning (ICF). 14 young persons (aged 16-22 years) with visual impairment and their parents (n = 22) participated in the study. The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) was used to describe challenges of participation as perceived by the young persons themselves. Individual interviews with the young persons and their parents were used to investigate in more depth the challenges the young persons face with regard to participation. Young persons with visual impairment face challenges to participation most frequently with regard to mobility, domestic life, interpersonal interaction and relationships, major life areas, and leisure activities. The environment in which they live has a central role as a barrier or facilitator of participation. The challenges related to activities and participation that young persons with visual impairment face are diverse. It is important that these challenges are assessed individually and with the help of subjective measures. Serving as a broad framework for classifying the data, the ICF proved to be a useful tool, but used strictly at category level it may limit the coding of data and narrow interpretation.

The functional basis of face evaluation

PubMed Central

Oosterhof, Nikolaas N.; Todorov, Alexander

2008-01-01

People automatically evaluate faces on multiple trait dimensions, and these evaluations predict important social outcomes, ranging from electoral success to sentencing decisions. Based on behavioral studies and computer modeling, we develop a 2D model of face evaluation. First, using a principal components analysis of trait judgments of emotionally neutral faces, we identify two orthogonal dimensions, valence and dominance, that are sufficient to describe face evaluation and show that these dimensions can be approximated by judgments of trustworthiness and dominance. Second, using a data-driven statistical model for face representation, we build and validate models for representing face trustworthiness and face dominance. Third, using these models, we show that, whereas valence evaluation is more sensitive to features resembling expressions signaling whether the person should be avoided or approached, dominance evaluation is more sensitive to features signaling physical strength/weakness. Fourth, we show that important social judgments, such as threat, can be reproduced as a function of the two orthogonal dimensions of valence and dominance. The findings suggest that face evaluation involves an overgeneralization of adaptive mechanisms for inferring harmful intentions and the ability to cause harm and can account for rapid, yet not necessarily accurate, judgments from faces. PMID:18685089

The Role of School Nurses, Challenges, and Reactions to Delegation Legislation: A Qualitative Approach.

PubMed

Lineberry, Michelle; Whitney, Elizabeth; Noland, Melody

2018-06-01

Passage of new laws, national standards regarding delegation, and the recommendation for at least one full-time nurse in every school have provided more visibility to the role of school nurses. Recent legislative amendments in Kentucky presented an opportunity to examine how the role of the school nurse is changing. Aims were to describe the (1) role of school nurses in Kentucky, (2) impact of school nurses, (3) challenges faced by school nurses, and (4) impact of budget cuts and legislation. Three focus groups were conducted. School nurses faced challenges of limited time and resources, communication barriers, and multiple documentation requirements. Nurses' greatest impacts were their availability, recognition of psychosocial problems and health concerns, and connection with resources. Nurses had not yet encountered many changes due to new legislation that expanded delegation of diabetes-related tasks to unlicensed school personnel, but some had concerns about possible negative effects while others expressed support.

From Mild Ataxia to Huntington Disease Phenocopy: The Multiple Faces of Spinocerebellar Ataxia 17

PubMed Central

Panas, Marios; Paraskevas, George P.; Bougea, Anastasia M.; Karadima, Georgia; Kapaki, Elisabeth

2014-01-01

Introduction. Spinocerebellar ataxia 17 (SCA 17) is a rare autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxia (ADCA) caused by a CAG/CAA expansion in the TBP gene, reported from a limited number of countries. It is a very heterogeneous ADCA characterized by ataxia, cognitive decline, psychiatric symptoms, and involuntary movements, with some patients presenting with Huntington disease (HD) phenocopies. The SCA 17 expansion is stable during parent-child transmission and intrafamilial phenotypic homogeneity has been reported. However, significant phenotypic variability within families has also been observed. Report of the Family. We presently report a Greek family with a pathological expansion of 54 repeats at the SCA 17 locus that displayed remarkable phenotypic variability. Among 3 affected members, one presented with HD phenocopy; one with progressive ataxia, dementia, chorea, dystonia, and seizures, and one with mild slowly progressive ataxia with minor cognitive and affective symptoms. Conclusions. This is the first family with SCA 17 identified in Greece and highlights the multiple faces of this rare disorder, even within the same family. PMID:25349749

From medical invention to clinical practice: the reimbursement challenge facing new device procedures and technology--part 2: coverage.

PubMed

Raab, G Gregory; Parr, David H

2006-10-01

This paper, the second of 3 that discuss the reimbursement challenges facing new medical device technology in various issues of this journal, explains the key aspects of coverage that affect the adoption of medical devices. The process Medicare uses to make coverage determinations has become more timely and open over the past several years, but it still lacks the predictability that product innovators prefer. The continued uncertainty surrounding evidence requirements undermines the predictability needed for optimal product planning and innovation. Recent steps taken by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide coverage in return for evidence development should provide patients with access to promising new technologies and procedures while generating important evidence concerning their effectiveness.

Challenge and Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mehaffy, George L.

2012-01-01

In the past twenty years, various industries have been forever altered by technology: newspapers, book publishing, the photography business, and many more. Higher education too faces unprecedented challenges primarily driven by rapid changes in technology. To meet these challenges and adapt to these changes, new models are needed. Six challenges…

Challenges and Roadblocks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hargrove, Kathy

2011-01-01

Gifted education has many challenges, and gifted programs sometimes throw up significant roadblocks. But passionate teachers can still make a difference in developing the gifts of the children. In this article, the author summarizes the challenges teachers face in serving gifted students and the roadblocks preventing a strong, supportive gifted…

Socio-economic and cultural vulnerabilities to cervical cancer and challenges faced by patients attending care at Tikur Anbessa Hospital: a cross sectional and qualitative study.

PubMed

Tadesse, Sara Kebede

2015-09-16

Cervical cancer is a leading cause of death among women in Ethiopia, affecting them at a time of their life when they are critical to social and economic stability. This study was mainly focused on assessing different socioeconomic and cultural related factors that make women vulnerable to cervical cancer and challenges women face in the process of diagnosis and treatment. To achieve the objective of the study both qualitative and quantitative methods were utilized.198 participants were enrolled in a cross- sectional survey and 10 in-depth interviews were conducted with patients in Tikur Anbessa Hospital. A consecutive sampling method was used to select participants in the survey while purposive sampling was employed to select participants in the qualitative design. For the population covered in the study, poverty along with other socio-cultural practices such as early marriage, high parity and to certain extent polygamy were identified as factors that increased the vulnerability of women to cervical cancer. In addition, the study has uncovered several challenges faced by cervical cancer patients in the diagnosis and treatment process. Three types of challenges that include, health care based, psychological and economic were identified. System and practitioner delay were found as the main hurdles within the variable of health care related challenges. What's more, the psychological challenges identified included, fear of recurrence, negative social attitude and distress associated with the side effects from treatments such as fecal & urinary leakage. Furthermore, inability of bearing costs related to treatment and accommodation were cited as the main economic challenges. The study showed various socio-economic and cultural vulnerabilities that expose women to cervical cancer and the challenges encountered by cervical cancer patients after their diagnosis. Addressing this issue largely lies in strengthening primary and secondary preventive mechanisms, providing

High confidence in falsely recognizing prototypical faces.

PubMed

Sampaio, Cristina; Reinke, Victoria; Mathews, Jeffrey; Swart, Alexandra; Wallinger, Stephen

2018-06-01

We applied a metacognitive approach to investigate confidence in recognition of prototypical faces. Participants were presented with sets of faces constructed digitally as deviations from prototype/base faces. Participants were then tested with a simple recognition task (Experiment 1) or a multiple-choice task (Experiment 2) for old and new items plus new prototypes, and they showed a high rate of confident false alarms to the prototypes. Confidence and accuracy relationship in this face recognition paradigm was found to be positive for standard items but negative for the prototypes; thus, it was contingent on the nature of the items used. The data have implications for lineups that employ match-to-suspect strategies.

How distinct is the coding of face identity and expression? Evidence for some common dimensions in face space.

PubMed

Rhodes, Gillian; Pond, Stephen; Burton, Nichola; Kloth, Nadine; Jeffery, Linda; Bell, Jason; Ewing, Louise; Calder, Andrew J; Palermo, Romina

2015-09-01

Traditional models of face perception emphasize distinct routes for processing face identity and expression. These models have been highly influential in guiding neural and behavioural research on the mechanisms of face perception. However, it is becoming clear that specialised brain areas for coding identity and expression may respond to both attributes and that identity and expression perception can interact. Here we use perceptual aftereffects to demonstrate the existence of dimensions in perceptual face space that code both identity and expression, further challenging the traditional view. Specifically, we find a significant positive association between face identity aftereffects and expression aftereffects, which dissociates from other face (gaze) and non-face (tilt) aftereffects. Importantly, individual variation in the adaptive calibration of these common dimensions significantly predicts ability to recognize both identity and expression. These results highlight the role of common dimensions in our ability to recognize identity and expression, and show why the high-level visual processing of these attributes is not entirely distinct. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Beyond the Therapeutic Hour: An Exploratory Pilot Study of Using Technology to Enhance Alliance and Engagement within Face-to-Face Psychotherapy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richards, Penelope; Simpson, Susan

2015-01-01

In this paper we introduce and investigate the capacity for a novel, technologically advanced system (goACT) to enhance face-to-face psychotherapy. Specifically, we explore the capacity for goACT to enhance therapeutic alliance (TA) and engagement, and reduce distress. Using a mixed-methods, multiple-baseline design we present the first study to…

The Oxytocin Receptor Gene ( OXTR) and Face Recognition.

PubMed

Verhallen, Roeland J; Bosten, Jenny M; Goodbourn, Patrick T; Lawrance-Owen, Adam J; Bargary, Gary; Mollon, J D

2017-01-01

A recent study has linked individual differences in face recognition to rs237887, a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the oxytocin receptor gene ( OXTR; Skuse et al., 2014). In that study, participants were assessed using the Warrington Recognition Memory Test for Faces, but performance on Warrington's test has been shown not to rely purely on face recognition processes. We administered the widely used Cambridge Face Memory Test-a purer test of face recognition-to 370 participants. Performance was not significantly associated with rs237887, with 16 other SNPs of OXTR that we genotyped, or with a further 75 imputed SNPs. We also administered three other tests of face processing (the Mooney Face Test, the Glasgow Face Matching Test, and the Composite Face Test), but performance was never significantly associated with rs237887 or with any of the other genotyped or imputed SNPs, after corrections for multiple testing. In addition, we found no associations between OXTR and Autism-Spectrum Quotient scores.

Experimental comparisons of face-to-face and anonymous real-time team competition in a networked gaming learning environment.

PubMed

Yu, Fu-Yun; Han, Chialing; Chan, Tak-Wai

2008-08-01

This study investigates the impact of anonymous, computerized, synchronized team competition on students' motivation, satisfaction, and interpersonal relationships. Sixty-eight fourth-graders participated in this study. A synchronous gaming learning system was developed to have dyads compete against each other in answering multiple-choice questions set in accordance with the school curriculum in two conditions (face-to-face and anonymous). The results showed that students who were exposed to the anonymous team competition condition responded significantly more positively than those in the face-to-face condition in terms of motivation and satisfaction at the 0.050 and 0.056 levels respectively. Although further studies regarding the effects of anonymous interaction in a networked gaming learning environment are imperative, the positive effects detected in this preliminary study indicate that anonymity is a viable feature for mitigating the negative effects that competition may inflict on motivation and satisfaction as reported in traditional face-to-face environments.

Challenge theme 2: assuring water availability and quality in the 21st century: Chapter 4 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science

USGS Publications Warehouse

Callegary, James; Langeman, Jeff; Leenhouts, Jim; Martin, Peter

2013-01-01

Along the United States–Mexican border, the health of communities, economies, and ecosystems is inextricably intertwined with the availability and quality of water, but effective water management in the Borderlands is complicated. Water users compete for resources, and their needs are increasing. Managers are faced with issues such as finding a balance between agriculture and rapidly growing cities or maintaining public supplies while ensuring sufficient resources for aquatic ecosystems. In addition to human factors, the dry climate of the Borderlands, as compared to more temperate regions, also increases the challenge of balancing water supplies between humans and ecosystems. Warmer, drier, and more variable conditions across the southwestern United States—the projected results of climate change (Seager and others, 2007)—would further stress water supplies.

Missile Defense: European Phased Adaptive Approach Acquisitions Face Synchronization, Transparency, and Accountability Challenges

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-21

House of Representatives Subject: Missile Defense: European Phased Adaptive Approach Acquisitions Face Synchronization , Transparency, and...TITLE AND SUBTITLE Missile Defense: European Phased Adaptive Approach Acquisitions Face Synchronization , Transparency, and Accountability...However, we found that DOD has not fully implemented a management process that synchronizes EPAA acquisition activities and ensures transparency and

Acceptance of Cloud Services in Face-to-Face Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning: A Comparison between Single-User Mode and Multi-User Mode

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Chia-Sui; Huang, Yong-Ming

2016-01-01

Face-to-face computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) was used extensively to facilitate learning in classrooms. Cloud services not only allow a single user to edit a document, but they also enable multiple users to simultaneously edit a shared document. However, few researchers have compared student acceptance of such services in…

Clustering Millions of Faces by Identity.

PubMed

Otto, Charles; Wang, Dayong; Jain, Anil K

2018-02-01

Given a large collection of unlabeled face images, we address the problem of clustering faces into an unknown number of identities. This problem is of interest in social media, law enforcement, and other applications, where the number of faces can be of the order of hundreds of million, while the number of identities (clusters) can range from a few thousand to millions. To address the challenges of run-time complexity and cluster quality, we present an approximate Rank-Order clustering algorithm that performs better than popular clustering algorithms (k-Means and Spectral). Our experiments include clustering up to 123 million face images into over 10 million clusters. Clustering results are analyzed in terms of external (known face labels) and internal (unknown face labels) quality measures, and run-time. Our algorithm achieves an F-measure of 0.87 on the LFW benchmark (13 K faces of 5,749 individuals), which drops to 0.27 on the largest dataset considered (13 K faces in LFW + 123M distractor images). Additionally, we show that frames in the YouTube benchmark can be clustered with an F-measure of 0.71. An internal per-cluster quality measure is developed to rank individual clusters for manual exploration of high quality clusters that are compact and isolated.

Mentoring Matters: The Challenge for Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCann, Thomas M.; Ed.; Johannessen, Larry, Ed.

2009-01-01

Beginning teachers face many challenges and difficulties; as a result, one-third will leave the profession in the first three years and nearly half will be gone within their first five years in the profession. The challenge facing university teacher education programs is to fix the hole in the bottom of the bucket and find strategic new ways to…

"Put on a Happy Face"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Michael

2004-01-01

All evaluators face the challenge of striving to adhere to the highest possible standards of ethical conduct. Translating the AEA's Guiding Principles and the Joint Committee's Program Evaluation Standards into everyday practice, however, can be a complex, uncertain, and frustrating endeavor. Moreover, acting in an ethical fashion can require…

Taxonomy of Challenges for Digital Forensics.

PubMed

Karie, Nickson M; Venter, Hein S

2015-07-01

Since its inception, over a decade ago, the field of digital forensics has faced numerous challenges. Despite different researchers and digital forensic practitioners having studied and analysed various known digital forensic challenges, as of 2013, there still exists a need for a formal classification of these challenges. This article therefore reviews existing research literature and highlights the various challenges that digital forensics has faced for the last 10 years. In conducting this research study, however, it was difficult for the authors to review all the existing research literature in the digital forensic domain; hence, sampling and randomization techniques were employed to facilitate the review of the gathered literature. Taxonomy of the various challenges is subsequently proposed in this paper based on our review of the literature. The taxonomy classifies the large number of digital forensic challenges into four well-defined and easily understood categories. The proposed taxonomy can be useful, for example, in future developments of automated digital forensic tools by explicitly describing processes and procedures that focus on addressing specific challenges identified in this paper. However, it should also be noted that the purpose of this paper was not to propose any solutions to the individual challenges that digital forensics face, but to serve as a survey of the state of the art of the research area. © 2015 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Face-to-face: Perceived personal relevance amplifies face processing

PubMed Central

Pittig, Andre; Schupp, Harald T.; Alpers, Georg W.

2017-01-01

Abstract The human face conveys emotional and social information, but it is not well understood how these two aspects influence face perception. In order to model a group situation, two faces displaying happy, neutral or angry expressions were presented. Importantly, faces were either facing the observer, or they were presented in profile view directed towards, or looking away from each other. In Experiment 1 (n = 64), face pairs were rated regarding perceived relevance, wish-to-interact, and displayed interactivity, as well as valence and arousal. All variables revealed main effects of facial expression (emotional > neutral), face orientation (facing observer > towards > away) and interactions showed that evaluation of emotional faces strongly varies with their orientation. Experiment 2 (n = 33) examined the temporal dynamics of perceptual-attentional processing of these face constellations with event-related potentials. Processing of emotional and neutral faces differed significantly in N170 amplitudes, early posterior negativity (EPN), and sustained positive potentials. Importantly, selective emotional face processing varied as a function of face orientation, indicating early emotion-specific (N170, EPN) and late threat-specific effects (LPP, sustained positivity). Taken together, perceived personal relevance to the observer—conveyed by facial expression and face direction—amplifies emotional face processing within triadic group situations. PMID:28158672

Face-to-face: Perceived personal relevance amplifies face processing.

PubMed

Bublatzky, Florian; Pittig, Andre; Schupp, Harald T; Alpers, Georg W

2017-05-01

The human face conveys emotional and social information, but it is not well understood how these two aspects influence face perception. In order to model a group situation, two faces displaying happy, neutral or angry expressions were presented. Importantly, faces were either facing the observer, or they were presented in profile view directed towards, or looking away from each other. In Experiment 1 (n = 64), face pairs were rated regarding perceived relevance, wish-to-interact, and displayed interactivity, as well as valence and arousal. All variables revealed main effects of facial expression (emotional > neutral), face orientation (facing observer > towards > away) and interactions showed that evaluation of emotional faces strongly varies with their orientation. Experiment 2 (n = 33) examined the temporal dynamics of perceptual-attentional processing of these face constellations with event-related potentials. Processing of emotional and neutral faces differed significantly in N170 amplitudes, early posterior negativity (EPN), and sustained positive potentials. Importantly, selective emotional face processing varied as a function of face orientation, indicating early emotion-specific (N170, EPN) and late threat-specific effects (LPP, sustained positivity). Taken together, perceived personal relevance to the observer-conveyed by facial expression and face direction-amplifies emotional face processing within triadic group situations. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press.

Sex-related preferences for real and doll’s faces versus real and toy objects in young infants and adults

PubMed Central

Escudero, Paola; Robbins, Rachel A.; Johnson, Scott P.

2013-01-01

Findings of previous studies demonstrate sex-related preferences for toys in 6-month-old infants: Boys prefer non-social or mechanical toys such as cars, while girls prefer social toys such as dolls. Here, we explored the innate versus learned nature of this sex-related preferences using multiple pictures of doll and real faces (of men and women) as well as pictures of toy and real objects (cars and stoves). Forty-eight 4- and 5-month-old infants (24 girls) and 48 young adults (24 women) saw six trials of all relevant pairs of faces and objects, with each trial containing a different exemplar of a stimulus type. The infant results showed no sex-related preferences; infants preferred faces of men and women, regardless of whether they were real or doll’s faces. Similarly, adults did not show sex-related preferences for social versus non-social stimuli, but, unlike infants, they preferred faces of the opposite sex over objects. These results challenge claims of an innate basis for sex-related preferences for toy and real stimuli preferences (Connellan et al., 2000) and suggest that sex-related preferences result from maturational and social development, which continues into adulthood. PMID:23933180

Challenges Faced by Graduate Business Education in Southern Africa: Perceptions of MBA Participants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Temtime, Zelealem T.; Mmereki, Rebana N.

2011-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the degree of satisfaction and perceived relevance of the Graduate Business Education (GBE) programme at the University of Botswana. Design/methodology/approach: A self-administered questionnaire and face to face interviews were used to collect data from Master of Business Administration (MBA)…

A Novel Face-on-Face Contact Method for Nonlinear Solid Mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wopschall, Steven Robert

The implicit solution to contact problems in nonlinear solid mechanics poses many difficulties. Traditional node-to-segment methods may suffer from locking and experience contact force chatter in the presence of sliding. More recent developments include mortar based methods, which resolve local contact interactions over face-pairs and feature a kinematic constraint in integral form that smoothes contact behavior, especially in the presence of sliding. These methods have been shown to perform well in the presence of geometric nonlinearities and are demonstratively more robust than node-to-segment methods. These methods are typically biased, however, interpolating contact tractions and gap equations on a designated non-mortar face, which leads to an asymmetry in the formulation. Another challenge is constraint enforcement. The general selection of the active set of constraints is brought with difficulty, often leading to non-physical solutions and easily resulting in missed face-pair interactions. Details on reliable constraint enforcement methods are lacking in the greater contact literature. This work presents an unbiased contact formulation utilizing a median-plane methodology. Up to linear polynomials are used for the discrete pressure representation and integral gap constraints are enforced using a novel subcycling procedure. This procedure reliably determines the active set of contact constraints leading to physical and kinematically admissible solutions void of heuristics and user action. The contact method presented herein successfully solves difficult quasi-static contact problems in the implicit computational setting. These problems feature finite deformations, material nonlinearity, and complex interface geometries, all of which are challenging characteristics for contact implementations and constraint enforcement algorithms. The subcycling procedure is a key feature of this method, handling active constraint selection for complex interfaces and mesh

Lessons from forest FACE experiments provide guidance for Amazon-FACE science plan (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Norby, R. J.; Lapola, D. M.

2013-12-01

Free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) experiments have provided novel insights into the ecological mechanisms controlling the cycling and storage of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems, and they provide a strong foundation for next-generation experiments in unexplored biomes. Specific lessons from FACE experiments include: (1) Carbon cycle responses are time-dependent because component processes have different rate constants: for example, net primary productivity is increased by elevated CO2, but the response may diminish with time as N cycling feedbacks become important. (2) Carbon partitioning patterns determine the fate of the extra C taken up by CO2-enriched plants, but partitioning responses remain an important challenge for ecosystem models. (3) The influence of N cycling on plant and ecosystem C cycling continues to be a critical uncertainty, and new experiments, especially in the tropics, must also consider P cycling. (4) Plant community structure can influence the ecosystem response to elevated CO2, but dynamic vegetation effects have not been adequately addressed. These experiences from FACE experiments in temperate forests are now guiding the development of a science plan for a FACE experiment in Amazonia. Models and small-scale experimental results agree that elevated CO2 will affect the metabolism of tropical ecosystems, but the qualitative and quantitative expression of the effects are largely unknown, representing a major source of uncertainty that limits our capacity to assess the vulnerability of the Amazon forest to climate change. Recognizing the high importance of the forests of the Amazon basin on global carbon, water, and energy cycles, biodiversity conservation, and the provision of essential services in Latin America, a consortium of Brazilian researchers and international collaborators have developed a science plan for Amazon-FACE. While the challenges presented both by infrastructure needs (roads, electricity, and provision of CO2) and biology (the

Getting out of the house: the challenges mothers face when their children have long-term care needs.

PubMed

Yantzi, Nicole M; Rosenberg, Mark W; McKeever, Patricia

2007-01-01

In most industrialised countries, the care needs of those who are sick, disabled and frail are increasingly met in peoples' homes. One of the implications of this shift in the site of care is that individuals with long-term care needs and their family care providers experience social and spatial isolation. Many are housebound and most face considerable challenges in getting out of the house. This paper illuminates these challenges as they are experienced by mothers of children with long-term care needs, and the resulting isolation and disconnection that they experience. Eleven semistructured interviews were conducted in two regions of Ontario, Canada. Grounded theory informed the analysis of the mothers' accounts of their experiences of getting out of the house. The present findings are derived from a larger investigation of the meanings and experiences of the home as a place of caring for families with children who have long-term care needs. Secondary analysis of the data found that three main challenges restricted the mothers' abilities to leave their houses. Mothers experienced difficulties getting out of the house when they attempted to leave with the child, and when the child was left with an alternative care provider. Physical challenges were associated with the work and planning required in moving the child's equipment and supplies, meticulous planning of the outing within the daily schedule, and navigating barriers in the built and natural environments. Social challenges reflected the lack of people within the mothers' social network of family and friends who have the knowledge and expertise to care for the child. Service challenges resulted from the gaps between the policies and practices of paid respite, and the conditions that must be satisfied in order for mothers to be able and/or willing to leave the house. The authors also examined the reasons why some of the mothers worked from home, and the strategies that they used to get out of the house for

Alternatives to the face-to-face consultation in general practice: focused ethnographic case study

PubMed Central

Atherton, Helen; Brant, Heather; Ziebland, Sue; Bikker, Annemieke; Campbell, John; Gibson, Andy; McKinstry, Brian; Porqueddu, Tania; Salisbury, Chris

2018-01-01

Background NHS policy encourages general practices to introduce alternatives to the face-to-face consultation, such as telephone, email, e-consultation systems, or internet video. Most have been slow to adopt these, citing concerns about workload. This project builds on previous research by focusing on the experiences of patients and practitioners who have used one or more of these alternatives. Aim To understand how, under what conditions, for which patients, and in what ways, alternatives to face-to-face consultations present benefits and challenges to patients and practitioners in general practice. Design and setting Focused ethnographic case studies took place in eight UK general practices between June 2015 and March 2016. Method Non-participant observation, informal conversations with staff, and semi-structured interviews with staff and patients were conducted. Practice documents and protocols were reviewed. Data were analysed through charting and the ‘one sheet of paper’ mind-map method to identify the line of argument in each thematic report. Results Case study practices had different rationales for offering alternatives to the face-to-face consultation. Beliefs varied about which patients and health issues were suitable. Co-workers were often unaware of each other’s practice; for example, practice policies for use of e-consultations systems with patients were not known about or followed. Patients reported benefits including convenience and access. Staff and some patients regarded the face-to-face consultation as the ideal. Conclusion Experience of implementing alternatives to the face-to-face consultation suggests that changes in patient access and staff workload may be both modest and gradual. Practices planning to implement them should consider carefully their reasons for doing so and involve the whole practice team. PMID:29378697

Evaluation of a Multimedia Intervention for Children and Families Facing Multiple Military Deployments.

PubMed

Flittner O'Grady, Allison; Thomaseo Burton, E; Chawla, Neelu; Topp, David; MacDermid Wadsworth, Shelley

2016-02-01

Repeated military deployments have been a common experience for many military families in the past 15 years. While there has been an increase in research and intervention focused on the effects on families of military deployments, much of this work has not focused specifically on the particular needs of young children. Talk, Listen, Connect: Multiple Deployments (TLC-II MD), a multimedia kit designed for home use, is among the first interventions directed toward young children. Created by Sesame Workshop and using popular Sesame Street characters, TLC-II MD was designed to support and equip families with young children with skills to address challenges associated with multiple deployments. This study utilized a randomized experimental design to evaluate the impact of TLC-II MD relative to a control condition using a Sesame Workshop multimedia kit not tailored to military families. Parents in both groups reported that children enjoyed the video overall and watched it repeatedly. Also in both groups, caregivers' depressive symptoms and children's aggressive behaviors declined significantly over time. Caregivers in the test group reported significantly larger increases in comfort discussing the deployment with their child and stronger perceptions that the DVD helped children to cope. Thus, the resilience-oriented materials were helpful to both groups, but those tailored to military families were significantly more likely to be perceived as helpful. Findings offer evidence regarding the ability of multimedia self-administered interventions to assist military families.

Cost analysis of conventional facial reconstruction procedures followed by face transplantation.

PubMed

Siemionow, M; Gatherwright, J; Djohan, R; Papay, F

2011-02-01

For the first time, this study analyzes the cost of multiple conventional reconstructions and face transplantation in a single patient. This patient is a 46-year-old female victim of a shotgun blast resulting in loss of multiple functional and aesthetic subunits. For over 5 years, she underwent multiple conventional reconstructions with suboptimal results. In December 2008, she became the recipient of the first U.S. face transplant. This has provided the unique opportunity to present the cost of 23 separate conventional reconstructive procedures and the first face transplant in the United States. The combined cost of conventional reconstructive procedures and the first U.S. face transplant was calculated to be $353 480 and $349 959, respectively. The combined cost posttransplant totaled $115 463. The direct cost pretransplant was $206 646, $232 893 peritransplant and $74 236 posttransplant. The two largest areas of cost utilization were surgical ($79 625; 38.5%) and nursing ($55 860; 27%), followed by anesthesia ($24 808; 12%) and pharmacy ($16 581; 8%). This study demonstrates that the cost of the first U.S. face transplant is similar to multiple conventional reconstructions. Although the cost of facial transplantation is considerable, the alleviation of psychological and physiological suffering, exceptional functional recovery and fulfillment of long-lasting hope for social reintegration may be priceless. ©2011 The Authors Journal compilation©2011 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

Lessons Learned in Evaluating a Multisite, Comprehensive Teen Dating Violence Prevention Strategy: Design and Challenges of the Evaluation of Dating Matters: Strategies to Promote Healthy Teen Relationships.

PubMed

Niolon, Phyllis Holditch; Taylor, Bruce G; Latzman, Natasha E; Vivolo-Kantor, Alana M; Valle, Linda Anne; Tharp, Andra T

2016-03-01

This paper describes the multisite, longitudinal cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) design of the evaluation of the Dating Matters: Strategies to Promote Healthy Relationships initiative, and discusses challenges faced in conducting this evaluation. Health departments in 4 communities are partnering with middle schools in high-risk, urban communities to implement 2 models of teen dating violence (TDV) prevention over 4 years. Schools were randomized to receive either the Dating Matters comprehensive strategy or the "standard of care" strategy (an existing, evidence-based TDV prevention curriculum). Our design permits comparison of the relative effectiveness of the comprehensive and standard of care strategies. Multiple cohorts of students from 46 middle schools are surveyed in middle school and high school, and parents and educators from participating schools are also surveyed. Challenges discussed in conducting a multisite RCT include site variability, separation of implementation and evaluation responsibilities, school retention, parent engagement in research activities, and working within the context of high-risk urban schools and communities. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of our approaches to these challenges in the hopes of informing future research. Despite multiple challenges, the design of the Dating Matters evaluation remains strong. We hope this paper provides researchers who are conducting complex evaluations of behavioral interventions with thoughtful discussion of the challenges we have faced and potential solutions to such challenges.

Lessons Learned in Evaluating a Multisite, Comprehensive Teen Dating Violence Prevention Strategy: Design and Challenges of the Evaluation of Dating Matters: Strategies to Promote Healthy Teen Relationships

PubMed Central

Niolon, Phyllis Holditch; Taylor, Bruce G.; Latzman, Natasha E.; Vivolo-Kantor, Alana M.; Valle, Linda Anne; Tharp, Andra T.

2018-01-01

Objective This paper describes the multisite, longitudinal cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) design of the evaluation of the Dating Matters: Strategies to Promote Healthy Relationships initiative, and discusses challenges faced in conducting this evaluation. Method Health departments in 4 communities are partnering with middle schools in high-risk, urban communities to implement 2 models of teen dating violence (TDV) prevention over 4 years. Schools were randomized to receive either the Dating Matters comprehensive strategy or the “standard of care” strategy (an existing, evidence-based TDV prevention curriculum). Our design permits comparison of the relative effectiveness of the comprehensive and standard of care strategies. Multiple cohorts of students from 46 middle schools are surveyed in middle school and high school, and parents and educators from participating schools are also surveyed. Results Challenges discussed in conducting a multisite RCT include site variability, separation of implementation and evaluation responsibilities, school retention, parent engagement in research activities, and working within the context of high-risk urban schools and communities. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of our approaches to these challenges in the hopes of informing future research. Conclusions Despite multiple challenges, the design of the Dating Matters evaluation remains strong. We hope this paper provides researchers who are conducting complex evaluations of behavioral interventions with thoughtful discussion of the challenges we have faced and potential solutions to such challenges. PMID:29607239

Farmer responses to multiple stresses in the face of global change: Assessing five case studies to enhance adaptation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nicholas, K. A.; Feola, G.; Lerner, A. M.; Jain, M.; Montefrio, M.

2013-12-01

The global challenge of sustaining agricultural livelihoods and yields in the face of growing populations and increasing climate change is the topic of intense research. The role of on-the-ground decision-making by individual farmers actually producing food, fuel, and fiber is often studied in individual cases to determine its environmental, economic, and social effects. However, there are few efforts to link across studies in a way that provides opportunities to better understand empirical farmer behavior, design effective policies, and be able to aggregate from case studies to a broader scale. Here we synthesize existing literature to identify four general factors affecting farmer decision-making: local technical and socio-cultural contexts; actors and institutions involved in decision-making; multiple stressors at broader scales; and the temporal gradient of decision-making. We use these factors to compare five cases that illustrate agricultural decision-making and its impacts: cotton and castor farming in Gujarat, India; swidden cultivation of upland rice in the Philippines; potato cultivation in Andean Colombia; winegrowing in Northern California; and maize production in peri-urban central Mexico. These cases span a geographic and economic range of production systems, but we find that we are able to make valid comparisons and draw lessons common across all cases by using the four factors as an organizing principle. We also find that our understanding of why farmers make the decisions they do changes if we neglect to examine even one of the four general factors guiding decision-making. This suggests that these four factors are important to understanding farmer decision-making, and can be used to guide the design and interpretation of future studies, as well as be the subject of further research in and of themselves to promote an agricultural system that is resilient to climate and other global environmental changes.

The challenges facing mental health programs for post-conflict and refugee communities.

PubMed

Silove, Derrick

2004-01-01

The majority of refugees and communities exposed to warfare and oppression live in low-income countries with few resources or special skills. Yet, epidemiological studies have identified high levels of traumatic stress reactions in such populations. These stress reactions can be intensified by harsh policies aimed at deterring survivors from seeking refuge in technologically advanced societies. The scale of the problem of mass violence and displacement creates formidable challenges for mental health professionals in their efforts to develop practical frameworks for responding to the extensive needs of displaced persons. In this article, a model is proposed for low-income, post-conflict countries, based on a two-tiered formulation. At the eco-social level, mental health professionals can play a supportive, but not a lead, role in facilitating recovery of core adaptive systems that hasten natural recovery from stress for the majority of the population. Where small-scale, community mental health services are established, the emphasis should be on assisting persons and their families who are at greatest survival and adaptive risk. Training and promotion of local workers to assume leadership in such programs are essential. In technologically advanced societies in which refugees are in a minority, torture and trauma services can focus more specifically on traumatic stress reactions, acculturation, and resettlement. In a historical epoch in which displaced persons are facing particularly harsh treatment, there is a pressing need for consensus amongst mental health professionals in advocating for their needs.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: From Face to Face Interaction to a Broader Contextual Understanding of Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jahoda, A.; Dagnan, D.; Kroese, B. Stenfert; Pert, C.; Trower, P.

2009-01-01

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is increasingly used to address the emotional and interpersonal problems of people with ID. There is a limited but promising evidence base supporting this activity. However, these individuals face real and continuing challenges in their lives that have implications for their self and interpersonal perceptions.…

The road to treating smoldering multiple myeloma.

PubMed

Korde, Neha; Mailankody, Sham; Landgren, Ola

2014-09-01

The management of smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) has been a challenge to clinicians, ever since the condition was first characterized in 1980. While the risk of progression to symptomatic myeloma is greater for SMM (10% per year) compared to MGUS (1% per year), several SMM patients remain asymptomatic for years without evidence of disease progression. Early clinical trials focusing on early treatment of SMM have been equivocal with no clear benefit. However, the last decade has seen a greater understanding of the pathogenesis of plasma cell disorders, including SMM, and development of better therapeutics. A recent randomized trial has provided evidence of clinical benefit with early treatment of high-risk SMM. In this review, we summarize issues related to the early treatment of SMM including risk stratification and possible outcomes with therapy initiation. In the context of reviewing recent clinical trial data supporting early treatment, we define challenges faced by clinicians and provide future directions to the road to treating SMM. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Challenges of Attending E-Learning Studies in Nigeria

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bugi, Stephan Z.

2012-01-01

This study set out to find out what challenges the E-leaner faces in the Nigerian environment. Survey research design was used to obtain the opinion of 200 randomly selected E-learners in Kaduna metropolis. Their responses revealed that the most prominent challenges they face are, Inadequate Power supply, Internet connectivity problems, Efficacy…

Challenges in war-related thoracic injury faced by French military surgeons in Afghanistan (2009-2013).

PubMed

de Lesquen, Henri; Beranger, Fabien; Berbis, Julie; Boddaert, Guillaume; Poichotte, Antoine; Pons, Francois; Avaro, Jean-Philippe

2016-09-01

This study reports the challenges faced by French military surgeons in the management of thoracic injury during the latest Afghanistan war. From January 2009 to April 2013, all of the civilian, French and Coalition casualties admitted to French NATO Combat Support Hospital situated on Kabul were prospectively recorded in the French Military Health Service Registry (OPEX(®)). Only penetrating and blunt thoracic trauma patients were retrospectively included. Eighty-nine casualties were included who were mainly civilian (61%) and men (94%) with a mean age of 27.9 years old. Surgeons dealt with polytraumas (78%), severe injuries (mean Injury Severity Score=39.2) and penetrating wounds (96%) due to explosion in 37%, gunshot in 53% and stabbing in 9%. Most of casualties were first observed or drained (n=56). In this non-operative group more than 40% of casualties needed further actions. In the operative group, Damage Control Thoracotomy (n=22) was performed to stop ongoing bleeding and air leakage and Emergency Department Thoracotomy (n=11) for agonal patient. Casualties suffered from hemothorax (60%), pneumothorax (39%), diaphragmatic (37%), lung (35%), heart or great vessels (20%) injuries. The main actions were diaphragmatic sutures (n=25), lung resections (wedge n=6, lobectomy n=4) and haemostasis (intercostal artery ligation n=3, heart injury repairs n=5, great vessels injury repairs n=5). Overall mortality was 11%. The rate of subsequent surgery was 34%. The analysis of the OPEX(®) registry reflects the thoracic surgical challenges of general (visceral) surgeons serving in combat environment during the latest Afghanistan War. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

District of Columbia: D.C. Public Schools' Modernization Program Faces Major Challenges. Testimony before the Subcommittee on the District of Columbia, Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, David E.

This Congressional testimony focuses on the challenges faced by the District of Columbia in modernizing its public schools. Specifically, it addresses: (1) increases in the cost of modernizing the schools; (2) delays in completing the schools; (3) quality inspection problems; and (4) concerns about managing asbestos hazards. The testimony…

An opportunity and an imperative: Chapter 11 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science

USGS Publications Warehouse

Updike, Randall G.; Page, William R.

2013-01-01

Along the nearly 3,200 kilometers (almost 2,000 miles) of the United States–Mexican border, we are witnessing the expression of the challenges of the 21st century. The Borderlands have become a microcosm for the entire United States and Mexico; the issues faced in that region are felt throughout both nations—water availability and quality, ecosystem health, natural resource needs, safety from natural hazards, and human socioeconomic well-being. If these issues were not challenging enough, we now recognize that the difficulties of addressing them are exacerbated by the onset of climate change, and as we come to better understand the complexities of the components of these challenge themes, we discover that each part is inextricably intertwined with other overarching issues. Further, because we are a creative and progressive society, we all seek to understand and appreciate the natural environments associated with the Borderlands while at the same time benefitting from the region’s many social and economic values. It is little wonder that we as a society find it increasingly difficult to ask the right questions, much less find suitable answers to the questions we do ask. For the many scientists who have worked in the Borderlands and contributed to the preceding chapters, this circular is a way to describe to the two nations of the region the capabilities the U.S. Geological Survey can provide to assist in that quest for knowledge and understanding in preparation for the future.

Water management: Current and future challenges and research directions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cosgrove, William J.; Loucks, Daniel P.

2015-06-01

Water distinguishes our planet compared to all the others we know about. While the global supply of available freshwater is more than adequate to meet all current and foreseeable water demands, its spatial and temporal distributions are not. There are many regions where our freshwater resources are inadequate to meet domestic, economic development and environmental needs. In such regions, the lack of adequate clean water to meet human drinking water and sanitation needs is indeed a constraint on human health and productivity and hence on economic development as well as on the maintenance of a clean environment and healthy ecosystems. All of us involved in research must find ways to remove these constraints. We face multiple challenges in doing that, especially given a changing and uncertain future climate, and a rapidly growing population that is driving increased social and economic development, globalization, and urbanization. How best to meet these challenges requires research in all aspects of water management. Since 1965, the journal Water Resources Research has played an important role in reporting and disseminating current research related to managing the quantity and quality and cost of this resource. This paper identifies the issues facing water managers today and future research needed to better inform those who strive to create a more sustainable and desirable future.

Drug Testing Programs Face Snags and Legal Challenges.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cowart, Virginia S.

1988-01-01

A description of the problems that occurred with attempts to conduct drug tests at the 1987 Pan American games leads to a discussion of the legal challenges to drug testing and the need to establish a clear, effective, and fair policy for drug tests of athletes. (CB)

Issues and Challenges Facing the Minority Woman Dentist.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sinkford, Jeanne C.

1992-01-01

The status of minority women dentists is reviewed, and initiatives to improve it are noted. Issues and challenges for African-American female dentists are outlined, including negative racial/gender stereotypes, lack of advancement opportunities, difficulties in starting practices and securing professional and social support systems, lack of…

Comparing Costs of Telephone versus Face-to-Face Extended Care Programs for the Management of Obesity in Rural Settings

PubMed Central

Radcliff, Tiffany A.; Bobroff, Linda B.; Lutes, Lesley D.; Durning, Patricia E.; Daniels, Michael J.; Limacher, Marian C.; Janicke, David M.; Martin, A. Daniel; Perri, Michael G.

2012-01-01

Background A major challenge following successful weight loss is continuing the behaviors required for long-term weight maintenance. This challenge may be exacerbated in rural areas with limited local support resources. Objective This study describes and compares program costs and cost-effectiveness for 12-month extended care lifestyle maintenance programs following an initial 6-month weight loss program. Design A 1-year prospective controlled randomized clinical trial. Participants/Setting The study included 215 female participants age 50 or older from rural areas who completed an initial 6-month lifestyle program for weight loss. The study was conducted from June 1, 2003, to May 31, 2007. Intervention The intervention was delivered through local Cooperative Extension Service offices in rural Florida. Participants were randomly-assigned to a 12-month extended care program using either individual telephone counseling (n=67), group face-to-face counseling (n=74), or a mail/control group (n=74). Main Outcome Measures Program delivery costs, weight loss, and self-reported health status were directly assessed through questionnaires and program activity logs. Costs were estimated across a range of enrollment sizes to allow inferences beyond the study sample. Statistical Analyses Performed Non-parametric and parametric tests of differences across groups for program outcomes were combined with direct program cost estimates and expected value calculations to determine which scales of operation favored alternative formats for lifestyle maintenance. Results Median weight regain during the intervention year was 1.7 kg for participants in the face-to-face format, 2.1 kg for the telephone format, and 3.1 kg for the mail/control format. For a typical group size of 13 participants, the face-to-face format had higher fixed costs, which translated into higher overall program costs ($420 per participant) when compared to individual telephone counseling ($268 per participant) and

Difficulties facing physician mothers in Japan.

PubMed

Yamazaki, Yuka; Kozono, Yuki; Mori, Ryo; Marui, Eiji

2011-11-01

Despite recent increases in the number of female physicians graduating in Japan, their premature resignations after childbirth are contributing to the acute shortage of physicians. Previous Japanese studies have explored supportive measures in the workplace, but have rarely focused on the specific problems or concerns of physician-mothers. Therefore, this study explored the challenges facing Japanese physician-mothers in efforts to identify solutions for their retention. Open-ended questionnaires were mailed to 646 alumnae of Juntendo University School of Medicine. We asked subjects to describe their opinions about 'The challenges related to female physicians' resignations'. Comments gathered from alumnae who graduated between 6 and 30 years ago and have children were analyzed qualitatively. Overall, 249 physicians returned the questionnaire (response rate 38.5%), and 73 alumnae with children who graduated in the stated time period provided comments. The challenges facing physician-mothers mainly consisted of factors associated with Japanese society, family responsibilities, and work environment. Japanese society epitomized by traditional gender roles heightened stress related to family responsibilities and promoted gender discrimination at work environment. Additionally, changing Japanese society positively influenced working atmosphere and husband's support. Moreover, the introduction of educational curriculums that alleviated traditional gender role was proposed for pre- and post- medical students. Traditional gender roles encourage discrimination by male physicians or work-family conflicts. The problems facing female physicians involve more than just family responsibilities: diminishing the notion of gender role is key to helping retain them in the workforce. © 2011 Tohoku University Medical Press

"Members of the same club": challenges and decisions faced by US IRBs in identifying and managing conflicts of interest.

PubMed

Klitzman, Robert

2011-01-01

Conflicts of interest (COIs) in research have received increasing attention, but many questions arise about how Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) view and approach these. I conducted in-depth interviews of 2 hours each with 46 US IRB chairs, administrators, and members, exploring COI and other issues related to research integrity. I contacted leaders of 60 IRBs (every fourth one among the top 240 institutions by NIH funding), and interviewed IRB leaders from 34 of these institutions (response rate = 55%). Data were analyzed using standard qualitative methods, informed by Grounded Theory. IRBs confront financial and non-financial COIs of PIs, institutions, and IRBs themselves. IRB members may seek to help, or compete with, principal investigators (PIs). Non-financial COI also often appear to be "indirect financial" conflicts based on gain (or loss) not to oneself, but to one's colleagues or larger institution. IRBs faced challenges identifying and managing these COI, and often felt that they could be more effective. IRBs' management of their own potential COI vary, and conflicted members may observe, participate, and/or vote in discussions. Individual IRB members frequently judge for themselves whether to recuse themselves. Challenges arise in addressing these issues, since institutions and PIs need funding, financial information is considered confidential, and COI can be unconscious. This study, the first to explore qualitatively how IRBs confront COIs and probe how IRBs confront non-financial COIs, suggests that IRBs face several types of financial and non-financial COIs, involving themselves, PIs, and institutions, and respond varyingly. These data have critical implications for practice and policy. Disclosure of indirect and non-financial COIs to subjects may not be feasible, partly since IRBs, not PIs, are conflicted. Needs exist to consider guidelines and clarifications concerning when and how, in protocol reviews, IRB members should recuse themselves

Sex-related preferences for real and doll faces versus real and toy objects in young infants and adults.

PubMed

Escudero, Paola; Robbins, Rachel A; Johnson, Scott P

2013-10-01

Findings of previous studies demonstrate sex-related preferences for toys in 6-month-old infants; boys prefer nonsocial or mechanical toys such as cars, whereas girls prefer social toys such as dolls. Here, we explored the innate versus learned nature of this sex-related preferences using multiple pictures of doll and real faces (of men and women) as well as pictures of toy and real objects (cars and stoves). In total, 48 4- and 5-month-old infants (24 girls and 24 boys) and 48 young adults (24 women and 24 men) saw six trials of all relevant pairs of faces and objects, with each trial containing a different exemplar of a stimulus type. The infant results showed no sex-related preferences; infants preferred faces of men and women regardless of whether they were real or doll faces. Similarly, adults did not show sex-related preferences for social versus nonsocial stimuli, but unlike infants they preferred faces of the opposite sex over objects. These results challenge claims of an innate basis for sex-related preferences for toy real stimuli and suggest that sex-related preferences result from maturational and social development that continues into adulthood. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

New Challenges Facing Small Undergraduate Departments And The Role Of Faculty And Administrators.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Shazly, A. K.

2003-12-01

Small geoscience departments with 5 faculty members or less in undergraduate institutions are facing serious challenges that will have a profound impact on their future, as well as the future of geoscience education. In addition to past and future budget cuts that affect all departments, small departments are more vulnerable to such problems as (i) decreased enrollments in introductory level classes, (ii) small number of geology majors, (iii) small number of graduates per year (iv) lack or paucity of equipment necessary for faculty and student research, (v) limited opportunities for external funding, (vi) need to offer upper division classes on an alternate year basis, (vii) difficulty in recruiting and retaining students, (viii) high teaching loads for faculty, and (ix) designing rigorous curricula based on 120 credit hours with a significant component of liberal art classes. These problems pose new challenges for faculty, department chairs and administrators. Faculty need to design curricula tailored to the need of the job market, without compromising rigor or the quality of the program. New classes/ concentrations in environmental science, hydrogeology and geographical information systems should be offered, and traditional classes in petrology, geophysics and tectonics should be maintained. Classes in Physics, Chemistry and Math should be core requirements. Student involvement in research should be encouraged at an early stage (sophomore/ junior levels). Department chairs need to assign duties in their department carefully to capitalize on the strengths of their faculty: faculty with strong research backgrounds should be helped in their efforts to pursue external funding opportunities, whereas those with strong teaching abilities should be evaluated primarily on their performance in the classroom. Student credit hour production should not be used as a criterion for evaluating faculty. Administrators should evaluate programs and departments based on the success

Expanding frontiers in materials chemistry and physics with multiple anions.

PubMed

Kageyama, Hiroshi; Hayashi, Katsuro; Maeda, Kazuhiko; Attfield, J Paul; Hiroi, Zenji; Rondinelli, James M; Poeppelmeier, Kenneth R

2018-02-22

During the last century, inorganic oxide compounds laid foundations for materials synthesis, characterization, and technology translation by adding new functions into devices previously dominated by main-group element semiconductor compounds. Today, compounds with multiple anions beyond the single-oxide ion, such as oxyhalides and oxyhydrides, offer a new materials platform from which superior functionality may arise. Here we review the recent progress, status, and future prospects and challenges facing the development and deployment of mixed-anion compounds, focusing mainly on oxide-derived materials. We devote attention to the crucial roles that multiple anions play during synthesis, characterization, and in the physical properties of these materials. We discuss the opportunities enabled by recent advances in synthetic approaches for design of both local and overall structure, state-of-the-art characterization techniques to distinguish unique structural and chemical states, and chemical/physical properties emerging from the synergy of multiple anions for catalysis, energy conversion, and electronic materials.

Professional development for teachers of students who are deaf or hard of hearing: facing the assessment challenge.

PubMed

Cawthon, Stephanie

2009-01-01

Teachers of students with low-incidence disabilities, such as students who are deaf or hard of hearing, face unique challenges in putting education policy into practice. The present article presents professional development findings from the Third Annual National Survey of Accommodations and Assessment for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (Cawthon, Hersh, Kim, & Online Research Lab, in press). A total of 391 participants described professional development they had experienced related to assessment of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Teachers reported greater exposure to topics in school/district sessions and discussion with their colleagues than in their preparation programs. Teaching at a school for the deaf or teaching students in high school were significant predictors of an increased prevalence of professional development opportunities on assessment-related topics for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Community in Online Higher Education: Challenges and Opportunities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arasaratnam-Smith, Lily A.; Northcote, Maria

2017-01-01

Exploring the challenges and opportunities associated with the concepts of community and communication in online higher education, this paper reconsiders the intention to replicate face-to-face learning and teaching strategies in online learning environments. Rather than beginning with the assumption that face-to-face education is the prototype…

Challenges and Solutions for Latin American-Trained International Medical Graduates in Psychiatry Residency

PubMed Central

Hausmann-Stabile, Carolina; Zayas, Luis H.; Hauser, David; Carvajal, Carlos; Mejia, Carlina; Nieves, Delia

2014-01-01

Objective Latin American-trained IMGs in psychiatry face multiple challenges that go beyond their medical training. These challenges call for innovative problem-solving. Although the professional development of IMGs has been discussed in the professional literature, little is written about their experiences. In this case study report, a group of IMGs reflect on their experiences and describe how they solved challenges. Method Using cogenerative ethnography, four IMGs trained in Colombia, Dominican Republic and Mexico provided insights on their challenges and solutions while adapting to psychiatric residency training. Individual interviews, focused discussion, focus groups, and written reports were analyzed using data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing techniques. Results We illustrate the challenges of IMG training in psychiatry using their reflections and stories. We categorized these challenges into three domains: immigration and acculturation; social adjustment; and medical training. Quotes were selected to illustrate IMGs’ challenges and coping strategies. Conclusion Some of the combined cultural, social and academic challenges of Latin American-trained IMGs in psychiatry are described. Recognizing and planning for the personal challenges of IMGs in psychiatry can enhance the transition into psychiatric training. Ultimately, improvements in IMG training converts into improved healthcare for all patients. PMID:25673899

History and challenges of Brazilian social movements for the achievement of the right to adequate food.

PubMed

da Silva, Ana Carolina Feldenheimer; Recine, Elisabetta; Johns, Paula; Gomes, Fabio da Silva; Ferraz, Mariana de Araújo; Faerstein, Eduardo

2018-03-01

The historical struggles that Brazil faced to overcome malnutrition coincided with the empowerment of civil society and social movements which played a crucial role in the affirmation of health and food as social rights. After two decades under military dictatorship, Brazil went through a redemocratization process in the 1980s when activism emerged to demand spaces to participate in policy-making regarding the social agenda, including food and nutrition security (FNS). From 1988 onward institutional structures were established: the National Council of FNS (CONSEA) convenes government and civil society sectors to develop and monitor the implementation of policies, systems and actions. Social participation has been at the heart of structural changes achieved since then. Nevertheless, the country faces multiple challenges regarding FNS such as the double burden of disease, increasing use of pesticides and genetically modified seeds, weak regulation of ultra-processed products, and marketing practices that affect the environment, population health, and food sovereignty. This article aims at examining the development of the participatory political system and the role played by Brazilian social movements in the country's policies on FNS, in addition to outlining challenges faced by those policies.

The Hierarchical Brain Network for Face Recognition

PubMed Central

Zhen, Zonglei; Fang, Huizhen; Liu, Jia

2013-01-01

Numerous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have identified multiple cortical regions that are involved in face processing in the human brain. However, few studies have characterized the face-processing network as a functioning whole. In this study, we used fMRI to identify face-selective regions in the entire brain and then explore the hierarchical structure of the face-processing network by analyzing functional connectivity among these regions. We identified twenty-five regions mainly in the occipital, temporal and frontal cortex that showed a reliable response selective to faces (versus objects) across participants and across scan sessions. Furthermore, these regions were clustered into three relatively independent sub-networks in a face-recognition task on the basis of the strength of functional connectivity among them. The functionality of the sub-networks likely corresponds to the recognition of individual identity, retrieval of semantic knowledge and representation of emotional information. Interestingly, when the task was switched to object recognition from face recognition, the functional connectivity between the inferior occipital gyrus and the rest of the face-selective regions were significantly reduced, suggesting that this region may serve as an entry node in the face-processing network. In sum, our study provides empirical evidence for cognitive and neural models of face recognition and helps elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying face recognition at the network level. PMID:23527282

The hierarchical brain network for face recognition.

PubMed

Zhen, Zonglei; Fang, Huizhen; Liu, Jia

2013-01-01

Numerous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have identified multiple cortical regions that are involved in face processing in the human brain. However, few studies have characterized the face-processing network as a functioning whole. In this study, we used fMRI to identify face-selective regions in the entire brain and then explore the hierarchical structure of the face-processing network by analyzing functional connectivity among these regions. We identified twenty-five regions mainly in the occipital, temporal and frontal cortex that showed a reliable response selective to faces (versus objects) across participants and across scan sessions. Furthermore, these regions were clustered into three relatively independent sub-networks in a face-recognition task on the basis of the strength of functional connectivity among them. The functionality of the sub-networks likely corresponds to the recognition of individual identity, retrieval of semantic knowledge and representation of emotional information. Interestingly, when the task was switched to object recognition from face recognition, the functional connectivity between the inferior occipital gyrus and the rest of the face-selective regions were significantly reduced, suggesting that this region may serve as an entry node in the face-processing network. In sum, our study provides empirical evidence for cognitive and neural models of face recognition and helps elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying face recognition at the network level.

"Pedogeriatrics": a pediatric nephrologist's outlook on common challenges facing pediatric and geriatric nephrologists.

PubMed

Grünberg, Jose

2010-03-01

Dramatic demographic changes longevity and medical progress helped create a new population made up of the survivors of previously fatal diseases. These trends pose new major social and economic challenges that should be accounted for in health policy making. This paper discusses the similarities between the specialties of pediatrics and geriatrics, especially in the realm of patient care. Children and the elderly share a limited autonomy and dependence on the human environment (i.e., willing and able caregiving persons) due to age or disease. The long-term care of dependent patients (DP) requires caregiving persons who share with dependent persons the risk of losing autonomy, facing burnout, family disruption, and interference with work and educational activities. Families with DPs may face potential losses of income because both patients and caregivers are partially or completely unable to work, the former for medical reasons and the latter due to the new demands on their time and energy. Additionally, new expenses have to be met because while direct medical expenses might be covered by insurance or the State, other expenses have to be financed by the family, such as co-payments for medicines, new water or electricity home installations, and transport and eventual hotel costs if they have to stay overnight near a hospital outside of their town. The main objectives of long-term care should be to maximize patients' independence and prevent their physical and psychological deterioration while minimizing the social, economic and personal costs to caregivers. To achieve these goals, one needs a holistic approach, a multidisciplinary professional team (doctors, nurses, social workers, nutritionists and psychologists) and auxiliary staff (secretaries, electricians, administrators, messengers, cleaning staff, doormen, nursing aids and coordinators of medical appointments and medical procedures). Optimal management of DPs on chronic treatments such as chronic dialysis

Facing Global Challenges with Materials Innovation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rizzo, Fernando

2017-10-01

The path of society evolution has long been associated with a growing demand for natural resources and continuous environmental degradation. During the last decades, this pace has accelerated considerably, despite the general concern with the legacy being left for the next generations. Looking ahead, the predicted growth of the world population, and the improvement of life conditions in most regions, point to an increasing demand for energy generation, resulting in additional pressure on the Earth's sustainability. Materials have had a key role in decreasing the use of natural resources, by either improving efficiency of existing technologies or enabling the development of radical new ones. The greenhouse effect (CO2 emissions) and the energy crisis are global challenges that can benefit from the development of new materials for the successful implementation of promising technologies and for the imperative replacement of fossil fuels by renewable sources.

Distinct representations of configural and part information across multiple face-selective regions of the human brain

PubMed Central

Golarai, Golijeh; Ghahremani, Dara G.; Eberhardt, Jennifer L.; Gabrieli, John D. E.

2015-01-01

Several regions of the human brain respond more strongly to faces than to other visual stimuli, such as regions in the amygdala (AMG), superior temporal sulcus (STS), and the fusiform face area (FFA). It is unclear if these brain regions are similar in representing the configuration or natural appearance of face parts. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging of healthy adults who viewed natural or schematic faces with internal parts that were either normally configured or randomly rearranged. Response amplitudes were reduced in the AMG and STS when subjects viewed stimuli whose configuration of parts were digitally rearranged, suggesting that these regions represent the 1st order configuration of face parts. In contrast, response amplitudes in the FFA showed little modulation whether face parts were rearranged or if the natural face parts were replaced with lines. Instead, FFA responses were reduced only when both configural and part information were reduced, revealing an interaction between these factors, suggesting distinct representation of 1st order face configuration and parts in the AMG and STS vs. the FFA. PMID:26594191

New Challenges of the Computation of Multiple Sequence Alignments in the High-Throughput Era (2010 JGI/ANL HPC Workshop)

ScienceCinema

Notredame, Cedric

2018-05-02

Cedric Notredame from the Centre for Genomic Regulation gives a presentation on New Challenges of the Computation of Multiple Sequence Alignments in the High-Throughput Era at the JGI/Argonne HPC Workshop on January 26, 2010.

Russian Military Reform: Problems and Challenges

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-03-25

RUSSIAN MILITARY REFORM : PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES BY LIEUTENANT COLONEL ZURAB AGLADZE Georgian Army...USAWC STRATEGIC REASERCH PROJECT RUSSIAN MILITARY REFORM : PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES by Lieutenant Colonel...noncommissioned officers still continue to be unsolved. Despite some successes, Russian military reform still faces many challenges that will

USGS Science: Addressing Our Nation's Challenges

USGS Publications Warehouse

Larson, Tania M.

2009-01-01

With 6.6 billion people already living on Earth, and that number increasing every day, human influence on our planet is ever more apparent. Changes to the natural world combined with increasing human demands threaten our health and safety, our national security, our economy, and our quality of life. As a planet and a Nation, we face unprecedented challenges: loss of critical and unique ecosystems, the effects of climate change, increasing demand for limited energy and mineral resources, increasing vulnerability to natural hazards, the effects of emerging diseases on wildlife and human health, and growing needs for clean water. The time to respond to these challenges is now, but policymakers and decisionmakers face difficult choices. With competing priorities to balance, and potentially serious - perhaps irreversible - consequences at stake, our leaders need reliable scientific information to guide their decisions. As the Nation's earth and natural science agency, the USGS monitors and conducts scientific research on natural hazards and resources and how these elements and human activities influence our environment. Because the challenges we face are complex, the science needed to better understand and deal with these challenges must reflect the complex interplay among natural and human systems. With world-class expertise in biology, geology, geography, hydrology, geospatial information, and remote sensing, the USGS is uniquely capable of conducting the comprehensive scientific research needed to better understand the interdependent interactions of Earth's systems. Every day, the USGS helps decisionmakers to minimize loss of life and property, manage our natural resources, and protect and enhance our quality of life. This brochure provides examples of the challenges we face and how USGS science helps decisionmakers to address these challenges.

[Gender identity disorder: challenges and specificity in the treatment of requests for sexual reassignment].

PubMed

Pécoud, P; Pralong, F; Bauquis, O; Stiefel, F

2011-02-16

Gender identity disorder is defined as a permanent desire to relieve one's own sexual features to acquire the sexual features and line to life of the opposite sex. The diagnosis is based on the psychiatric evaluation and treatment on an interdisciplinary approach by endocrinologists, surgeons and psychiatrists, and can be conceptualized into distinct phases: diagnostic evaluation, real life experience, hormonal treatment and surgery. Multiples challenges have to be faced, especially by the psychiatrist who follows the patient during the whole process.

Recognizing Disguised Faces: Human and Machine Evaluation

PubMed Central

Dhamecha, Tejas Indulal; Singh, Richa; Vatsa, Mayank; Kumar, Ajay

2014-01-01

Face verification, though an easy task for humans, is a long-standing open research area. This is largely due to the challenging covariates, such as disguise and aging, which make it very hard to accurately verify the identity of a person. This paper investigates human and machine performance for recognizing/verifying disguised faces. Performance is also evaluated under familiarity and match/mismatch with the ethnicity of observers. The findings of this study are used to develop an automated algorithm to verify the faces presented under disguise variations. We use automatically localized feature descriptors which can identify disguised face patches and account for this information to achieve improved matching accuracy. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated on the IIIT-Delhi Disguise database that contains images pertaining to 75 subjects with different kinds of disguise variations. The experiments suggest that the proposed algorithm can outperform a popular commercial system and evaluates them against humans in matching disguised face images. PMID:25029188

The "Teachers Diploma Program" in Zambian Government Schools: A Baseline Qualitative Assessment of Teachers' and Students' Strengths and Challenges in the Context of a School-Based Psychosocial Support Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaljee, Linda; Munjile, Kelvin; Menon, Anitha; Tembo, Stephen; Li, Xiaoming; Zhang, Liying; Malungo, Jacob; Stanton, Bonita; Langhaug, Lisa

2017-01-01

In Zambia, as elsewhere throughout sub-Saharan Africa, orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) face multiple physical, emotional, social and psychological challenges which often negatively affect opportunities for educational attainment. REPSSI (Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative), in collaboration with, the University of Cape Town and other…

Neural dynamics associated with semantic and episodic memory for faces: evidence from multiple frequency bands.

PubMed

Zion-Golumbic, Elana; Kutas, Marta; Bentin, Shlomo

2010-02-01

Prior semantic knowledge facilitates episodic recognition memory for faces. To examine the neural manifestation of the interplay between semantic and episodic memory, we investigated neuroelectric dynamics during the creation (study) and the retrieval (test) of episodic memories for famous and nonfamous faces. Episodic memory effects were evident in several EEG frequency bands: theta (4-8 Hz), alpha (9-13 Hz), and gamma (40-100 Hz). Activity in these bands was differentially modulated by preexisting semantic knowledge and by episodic memory, implicating their different functional roles in memory. More specifically, theta activity and alpha suppression were larger for old compared to new faces at test regardless of fame, but were both larger for famous faces during study. This pattern of selective semantic effects suggests that the theta and alpha responses, which are primarily associated with episodic memory, reflect utilization of semantic information only when it is beneficial for task performance. In contrast, gamma activity decreased between the first (study) and second (test) presentation of a face, but overall was larger for famous than nonfamous faces. Hence, the gamma rhythm seems to be primarily related to activation of preexisting neural representations that may contribute to the formation of new episodic traces. Taken together, these data provide new insights into the complex interaction between semantic and episodic memory for faces and the neural dynamics associated with mnemonic processes.

A conceptual framework toward identifying and analyzing challenges to the advancement of pharmacy.

PubMed

Bader, Lina R; McGrath, Simon; Rouse, Michael J; Anderson, Claire

Pharmacists and health care professionals are faced with increasing and changing health care needs around the world. To meet these demands, they are required to continuously upgrade and develop their professions. Reprofessionalization is therefore crucial to the successful delivery of health services, but traditional theories might provide little practical guidance to evaluating the overall status of a profession. This study proposes a new conceptual framework of three interrelated professional sectors: education, regulation and practice, and uses it to identify and analyze challenges facing the pharmacy profession in Jordan. A multiple-method qualitative study comprised of semi-structured interviews and focus groups was conducted in Amman, Jordan. To explore and identify the challenges, a purposively recruited cross-sector sample of 53 key informants, stakeholders and pharmacists were interviewed. Interview transcripts were translated and analyzed using QSR NVivo 10. Thematic analysis identified eight main challenges facing pharmacy in Jordan. The original participants were then invited to participate in focus groups, the purpose of which was to validate the interview findings, map them against the conceptual framework and discuss recommendations for development. The eight validated challenges span the following areas: graduates preparedness for practice, pharmacy education accreditation and quality assurance, pre-registration requirements, workforce development, workforce planning, remuneration and wage rate, pharmacy assistants, and Pharm.D. pharmacists. Focus group participants used the framework to map each of the challenges to the primary sector-to-sector disconnect that they perceived to explain it. A list of recommendations addressing each of the challenges was also devised. The framework was found to offer valuable insight as an explanatory and diagnostic tool in policy-relevant research. By emphasizing the processual and contextual nature of

Overcoming challenges faced by breastfeeding mothers.

PubMed

Amir, Lisa H; Bearzatto, Anita

2016-08-01

Women who are breastfeeding often consult their general practitioner (GP) with concerns about nipple and breast pain, or the adequacy of their milk supply. Common concerns for their breastfed infant include slow weight gain, 'fussiness' with breastfeeding and 'funny stools'. This article offers suggestions for clinicians to support breastfeeding women and their infants. Good attachment to the breast is important to reduce nipple pain and trauma, and to ensure adequate breast drainage and ongoing milk supply. Other causes of nipple pain include vasospasm, dermatitis and infection. Breast pain may be due to blocked ducts, mastitis or abscess. Very early mastitis may be treated by improved emptying. Slow weight gain in a breastfed infant may indicate a medical problem or low supply of breast milk. Some infants have breastfeeding challenges because they are small or premature, or from anatomical issues affecting feeding. In such cases, further help from a lactation consultant may be beneficial.

Reconstructive Management of Devastating Electrical Injuries to the Face.

PubMed

Janis, Jeffrey E; Khansa, Ibrahim; Lehrman, Craig R; Orgill, Dennis P; Pomahac, Bohdan

2015-10-01

Devastating fourth-degree electrical injuries to the face and head pose significant reconstructive challenges. To date, there have been few peer-reviewed articles in the literature that describe those reconstructive challenges. The authors present the largest case series to date that describes the management of these injuries, including the incorporation of face transplantation. A retrospective case series was conducted of patients with devastating electrical injuries to the face who were managed at two level-1 trauma centers between 2007 and 2011. Data describing patient injuries, initial management, and reconstructive procedures were collected. Five patients with devastating electrical injuries to the face were reviewed. After initial stabilization and treatment of life-threatening injuries, all five underwent burn excision and microsurgical reconstruction using distant flaps. Two of the patients eventually underwent face transplantation. The authors describe differences in management between the two trauma centers, one of which had the availability for composite tissue allotransplantation; the other did not. Also described is how initial attempts at traditional reconstruction affected the eventual face transplantation. The care of patients with complex electrical burns must be conducted in a multidisciplinary fashion. As with all other trauma, the initial priority should be management of the airway, breathing, and circulation. Additional considerations include cardiac arrhythmias and renal impairment attributable to myoglobinuria. Before embarking on aggressive reconstruction attempts, it is advisable to determine early whether the patient is a candidate for face transplantation in order to avoid antigen sensitization, loss of a reconstructive "lifeboat," surgical plane disruption, and sacrifice of potential recipient vessels. Therapeutic, V.

Beyond Faces and Expertise

PubMed Central

Zhao, Mintao; Bülthoff, Heinrich H.; Bülthoff, Isabelle

2016-01-01

Holistic processing—the tendency to perceive objects as indecomposable wholes—has long been viewed as a process specific to faces or objects of expertise. Although current theories differ in what causes holistic processing, they share a fundamental constraint for its generalization: Nonface objects cannot elicit facelike holistic processing in the absence of expertise. Contrary to this prevailing view, here we show that line patterns with salient Gestalt information (i.e., connectedness, closure, and continuity between parts) can be processed as holistically as faces without any training. Moreover, weakening the saliency of Gestalt information in these patterns reduced holistic processing of them, which indicates that Gestalt information plays a crucial role in holistic processing. Therefore, holistic processing can be achieved not only via a top-down route based on expertise, but also via a bottom-up route relying merely on object-based information. The finding that facelike holistic processing can extend beyond the domains of faces and objects of expertise poses a challenge to current dominant theories. PMID:26674129

Adequately Addressing Pediatric Obesity: Challenges Faced by Primary Care Providers.

PubMed

Shreve, Marilou; Scott, Allison; Vowell Johnson, Kelly

2017-07-01

To assess the challenges primary care providers encounter when providing counseling for pediatric patients identified as obese. A survey assessed the current challenges and barriers to the screening and treatment of pediatric obesity for providers in northwest Arkansas who provide care to families. The survey consisted of 15 Likert scale questions and 4 open-ended questions. Time, resources, comfort, and cultural issues were reported by providers as the biggest barriers in screening and the treatment of pediatric obesity. All providers reported lack of time as a barrier to providing the care needed for obese children. Cultural barriers of both the provider and client were identified as factors, which negatively affect the care and treatment of obese children. Primary care providers continue to experience challenges when addressing pediatric obesity. In this study, a lack of adequate time to address obesity was identified as the most significant current barrier and may likely be tied to physician resources. Although reimbursement for obesity is increasing, the level of reimbursement does not support the time or the resources needed to treat patients. Many providers reported their patients' cultural view of obesity influenced how they counsel their patients. Increasing providers' knowledge concerning differences in how weight is viewed or valued may assist them in the assessment and care of obese pediatric patients. The challenges identified in previous research continue to limit providers when addressing obesity. Although progress has been made regarding knowledge of guidelines, continuing effort is needed to tackle the remaining challenges. This will allow for earlier identification and intervention, resulting in improved outcomes in pediatric obesity.

Video face recognition against a watch list

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbas, Jehanzeb; Dagli, Charlie K.; Huang, Thomas S.

2007-10-01

Due to a large increase in the video surveillance data recently in an effort to maintain high security at public places, we need more robust systems to analyze this data and make tasks like face recognition a realistic possibility in challenging environments. In this paper we explore a watch-list scenario where we use an appearance based model to classify query faces from low resolution videos into either a watch-list or a non-watch-list face. We then use our simple yet a powerful face recognition system to recognize the faces classified as watch-list faces. Where the watch-list includes those people that we are interested in recognizing. Our system uses simple feature machine algorithms from our previous work to match video faces against still images. To test our approach, we match video faces against a large database of still images obtained from a previous work in the field from Yahoo News over a period of time. We do this matching in an efficient manner to come up with a faster and nearly real-time system. This system can be incorporated into a larger surveillance system equipped with advanced algorithms involving anomalous event detection and activity recognition. This is a step towards more secure and robust surveillance systems and efficient video data analysis.

Teaching Improvisation in Elementary General Music: Facing Fears and Fostering Creativity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitcomb, Rachel

2013-01-01

Improvisation is a vital part of an elementary general music education. While some music teachers successfully include improvisation in music instruction, others have fears and face challenges when attempting improvisational activities in the classroom. This article acknowledges obstacles facing music educators when attempting to incorporate…

Challenges of integrating evidence into health policy and planning: linking multiple disciplinary approaches.

PubMed

Huckel Schneider, Carmen; Blyth, Fiona

2017-04-27

To explore the challenges that arise through the multidisciplinary nature of evidence informed policy making (EIPM). Type of program or service: Education and practice for EIPM. This article summarises and compares four disciplinary approaches to EIPM with highly contrasting starting points: behavioural science, policy science, critical theory and intervention research. Key insights and theories are highlighted to provide a gateway into each, and to complement what is already known about the evidence needs of policy makers in terms of high-quality, timely and well-communicated research evidence. The extension of the evidence based medicine approach to EIPM has created interest in the processes of use of evidence in health policy and planning. Research in this field has spanned multiple disciplines; however, the disciplines use very different research methods and begin with different basic assumptions. Thus, despite the multidisciplinary nature of EIPM, true interdisciplinary research and action remain a challenge. We conclude with a set of key questions that can be used as a gateway to interdisciplinary EIPM in the future.

Tracking and recognition face in videos with incremental local sparse representation model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chao; Wang, Yunhong; Zhang, Zhaoxiang

2013-10-01

This paper addresses the problem of tracking and recognizing faces via incremental local sparse representation. First a robust face tracking algorithm is proposed via employing local sparse appearance and covariance pooling method. In the following face recognition stage, with the employment of a novel template update strategy, which combines incremental subspace learning, our recognition algorithm adapts the template to appearance changes and reduces the influence of occlusion and illumination variation. This leads to a robust video-based face tracking and recognition with desirable performance. In the experiments, we test the quality of face recognition in real-world noisy videos on YouTube database, which includes 47 celebrities. Our proposed method produces a high face recognition rate at 95% of all videos. The proposed face tracking and recognition algorithms are also tested on a set of noisy videos under heavy occlusion and illumination variation. The tracking results on challenging benchmark videos demonstrate that the proposed tracking algorithm performs favorably against several state-of-the-art methods. In the case of the challenging dataset in which faces undergo occlusion and illumination variation, and tracking and recognition experiments under significant pose variation on the University of California, San Diego (Honda/UCSD) database, our proposed method also consistently demonstrates a high recognition rate.

The Challenges of Pharmacy Education in Yemen

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Pharmacy education in Yemen has faced many challenges since its introduction in the 1980s. Most Yemeni pharmacy schools, especially private ones, are experiencing difficulties in providing the right quality and quantity of clinical educational experiences. Most of these challenges are imbedded in a teaching style and curricula that have failed to respond to the needs of the community and country. The slow shift from traditional drug-dispensing to a patient-centered or focused approach in pharmacy practice requires a fundamental change in the roles and responsibilities of both policymakers and educators. The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to discuss the challenges facing the pharmacy education in Yemen; (2) to provided recommendations to overcome challenges. PMID:25386011

Facing the challenges of multiscale modelling of bacterial and fungal pathogen–host interactions

PubMed Central

Schleicher, Jana; Conrad, Theresia; Gustafsson, Mika; Cedersund, Gunnar; Guthke, Reinhard

2017-01-01

Abstract Recent and rapidly evolving progress on high-throughput measurement techniques and computational performance has led to the emergence of new disciplines, such as systems medicine and translational systems biology. At the core of these disciplines lies the desire to produce multiscale models: mathematical models that integrate multiple scales of biological organization, ranging from molecular, cellular and tissue models to organ, whole-organism and population scale models. Using such models, hypotheses can systematically be tested. In this review, we present state-of-the-art multiscale modelling of bacterial and fungal infections, considering both the pathogen and host as well as their interaction. Multiscale modelling of the interactions of bacteria, especially Mycobacterium tuberculosis, with the human host is quite advanced. In contrast, models for fungal infections are still in their infancy, in particular regarding infections with the most important human pathogenic fungi, Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus. We reflect on the current availability of computational approaches for multiscale modelling of host–pathogen interactions and point out current challenges. Finally, we provide an outlook for future requirements of multiscale modelling. PMID:26857943

Normal composite face effects in developmental prosopagnosia.

PubMed

Biotti, Federica; Wu, Esther; Yang, Hua; Jiahui, Guo; Duchaine, Bradley; Cook, Richard

2017-10-01

Upright face perception is thought to involve holistic processing, whereby local features are integrated into a unified whole. Consistent with this view, the top half of one face appears to fuse perceptually with the bottom half of another, when aligned spatially and presented upright. This 'composite face effect' reveals a tendency to integrate information from disparate regions when faces are presented canonically. In recent years, the relationship between susceptibility to the composite effect and face recognition ability has received extensive attention both in participants with normal face recognition and participants with developmental prosopagnosia. Previous results suggest that individuals with developmental prosopagnosia may show reduced susceptibility to the effect suggestive of diminished holistic face processing. Here we describe two studies that examine whether developmental prosopagnosia is associated with reduced composite face effects. Despite using independent samples of developmental prosopagnosics and different composite procedures, we find no evidence for reduced composite face effects. The experiments yielded similar results; highly significant composite effects in both prosopagnosic groups that were similar in magnitude to the effects found in participants with normal face processing. The composite face effects exhibited by both samples and the controls were greatly diminished when stimulus arrangements were inverted. Our finding that the whole-face binding process indexed by the composite effect is intact in developmental prosopagnosia indicates that other factors are responsible for developmental prosopagnosia. These results are also inconsistent with suggestions that susceptibility to the composite face effect and face recognition ability are tightly linked. While the holistic process revealed by the composite face effect may be necessary for typical face perception, it is not sufficient; individual differences in face recognition ability

Oral health challenges facing Dubai children with Autism Spectrum Disorder at home and in accessing oral health care.

PubMed

Mansoor, D; Al Halabi, M; Khamis, A H; Kowash, M

2018-06-01

To investigate the challenges faced by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) children and their families in Dubai from three different perspectives of dental care: oral care at home, oral care at the dentist and access to oral care, and to compare the results to their normally developing peers. A case-control comparative study of 84 ASD and 53 healthy children attending special needs centres and schools in Dubai including siblings of the autistic children. Data collection was by a survey questionnaire completed by parents or guardians. More parents of ASD children compared to parents of healthy children reported difficulties across almost all oral care variables explored. The majority of ASD children's parents (83.3%) reported that their children need assistance in brushing their teeth compared with 15.4% of the healthy controls (p-value < 0.001). The ASD children's uncooperative behaviour increased during dental visits and significantly more parents (37%) rated their child's experience as negative compared with 9.5% among the parents of control children (p-value=0.006). The autistic children had visited a dentist mostly for extractions. This study indicates that autistic children in Dubai experience more challenges and barriers to oral care than their typically developing healthy peers.

Behavioural and neurophysiological evidence for face identity and face emotion processing in animals

PubMed Central

Tate, Andrew J; Fischer, Hanno; Leigh, Andrea E; Kendrick, Keith M

2006-01-01

Visual cues from faces provide important social information relating to individual identity, sexual attraction and emotional state. Behavioural and neurophysiological studies on both monkeys and sheep have shown that specialized skills and neural systems for processing these complex cues to guide behaviour have evolved in a number of mammals and are not present exclusively in humans. Indeed, there are remarkable similarities in the ways that faces are processed by the brain in humans and other mammalian species. While human studies with brain imaging and gross neurophysiological recording approaches have revealed global aspects of the face-processing network, they cannot investigate how information is encoded by specific neural networks. Single neuron electrophysiological recording approaches in both monkeys and sheep have, however, provided some insights into the neural encoding principles involved and, particularly, the presence of a remarkable degree of high-level encoding even at the level of a specific face. Recent developments that allow simultaneous recordings to be made from many hundreds of individual neurons are also beginning to reveal evidence for global aspects of a population-based code. This review will summarize what we have learned so far from these animal-based studies about the way the mammalian brain processes the faces and the emotions they can communicate, as well as associated capacities such as how identity and emotion cues are dissociated and how face imagery might be generated. It will also try to highlight what questions and advances in knowledge still challenge us in order to provide a complete understanding of just how brain networks perform this complex and important social recognition task. PMID:17118930

Behavioural and neurophysiological evidence for face identity and face emotion processing in animals.

PubMed

Tate, Andrew J; Fischer, Hanno; Leigh, Andrea E; Kendrick, Keith M

2006-12-29

Visual cues from faces provide important social information relating to individual identity, sexual attraction and emotional state. Behavioural and neurophysiological studies on both monkeys and sheep have shown that specialized skills and neural systems for processing these complex cues to guide behaviour have evolved in a number of mammals and are not present exclusively in humans. Indeed, there are remarkable similarities in the ways that faces are processed by the brain in humans and other mammalian species. While human studies with brain imaging and gross neurophysiological recording approaches have revealed global aspects of the face-processing network, they cannot investigate how information is encoded by specific neural networks. Single neuron electrophysiological recording approaches in both monkeys and sheep have, however, provided some insights into the neural encoding principles involved and, particularly, the presence of a remarkable degree of high-level encoding even at the level of a specific face. Recent developments that allow simultaneous recordings to be made from many hundreds of individual neurons are also beginning to reveal evidence for global aspects of a population-based code. This review will summarize what we have learned so far from these animal-based studies about the way the mammalian brain processes the faces and the emotions they can communicate, as well as associated capacities such as how identity and emotion cues are dissociated and how face imagery might be generated. It will also try to highlight what questions and advances in knowledge still challenge us in order to provide a complete understanding of just how brain networks perform this complex and important social recognition task.

Can the usage of human growth hormones affect facial appearance and the accuracy of face recognition systems?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rose, Jake; Martin, Michael; Bourlai, Thirimachos

2014-06-01

In law enforcement and security applications, the acquisition of face images is critical in producing key trace evidence for the successful identification of potential threats. The goal of the study is to demonstrate that steroid usage significantly affects human facial appearance and hence, the performance of commercial and academic face recognition (FR) algorithms. In this work, we evaluate the performance of state-of-the-art FR algorithms on two unique face image datasets of subjects before (gallery set) and after (probe set) steroid (or human growth hormone) usage. For the purpose of this study, datasets of 73 subjects were created from multiple sources found on the Internet, containing images of men and women before and after steroid usage. Next, we geometrically pre-processed all images of both face datasets. Then, we applied image restoration techniques on the same face datasets, and finally, we applied FR algorithms in order to match the pre-processed face images of our probe datasets against the face images of the gallery set. Experimental results demonstrate that only a specific set of FR algorithms obtain the most accurate results (in terms of the rank-1 identification rate). This is because there are several factors that influence the efficiency of face matchers including (i) the time lapse between the before and after image pre-processing and restoration face photos, (ii) the usage of different drugs (e.g. Dianabol, Winstrol, and Decabolan), (iii) the usage of different cameras to capture face images, and finally, (iv) the variability of standoff distance, illumination and other noise factors (e.g. motion noise). All of the previously mentioned complicated scenarios make clear that cross-scenario matching is a very challenging problem and, thus, further investigation is required.

Reforms and emerging noncommunicable disease: some challenges facing a conflict-ridden country--the case of the Syrian Arab Republic.

PubMed

Sen, Kasturi; Al-Faisal, Waleed

2013-01-01

The past year witnessed considerable turbulence in the Arab world-in this case, Syria, a lower middle-income country with a record of a strong public health infrastructure. This paper explores the current challenges facing its health system from reforms, civil strife and international sanctions all of which we argue have serious implications for population health. The health sector in Syria was little known, and until recently, it was well integrated to provide preventive and specialized care when needed. Regionally, it was one of the few countries ready and capable of addressing the challenges of demographic and epidemiologic transition with a long-standing emphasis on primary care and prevention, unlike most countries of the region. This context has changed dramatically through the recent implementation of reforms and the current civil war. Changes to financing, management and the delivery of health service placed access to services in jeopardy, but now, these are compounded by the destruction from an intractable and violent conflict and international sanctions. This paper explores some of the combined effects of reforms, conflict and sanctions on population health. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

FACE-IT: Framework to Advance Climate, Economics, and Impact Investigations with Information Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foster, I.; Elliott, J. W.; Jones, J.; Montella, R.

2013-12-01

Issues relating to climate change and food security require an understanding of the interaction between the natural world and human society over long time scales. Understanding climate change, its impacts on the natural world and society, and the tradeoffs inherent in societal responses demands an unprecedented degree of cooperation across academic fields. New data sources on expected future climate, soil characteristics, economic activity, historical weather, population, and land cover, provide a potential basis for this cooperation. New methods are needed for sharing within and across communities not only data but the software used to generate, synthesize, and analyze it. Progress on these research challenges is hindered by the extreme difficulties that researchers, collaborators, and the community experiences when they collaborate around data. Multiplicity of data formats; inadequate computational tools; difficulty in sharing data and programs, lack of incentives for pro-social behavior and large data volumes are among the technology barriers. The FACE-IT project at the University of Chicago, NASA, and University of Florida employs an integrated approach to cyberinfrastructure to advance the characterization of vulnerabilities, impacts, mitigation, and adaptation to climate change in human and environmental systems. Leveraging existing research cyberinfrastructure the project is creating a full-featured FACE-IT Platform prototype with new capabilities for ingesting, organizing, managing, analyzing and using large quantities of diverse data. The project team collaborates with two distinct interdisciplinary communities to create community specific FACE-IT Instances to both advance their research and enable at-scale evaluation of the utility of the FACE-IT approach. In this talk I will introduce the FACE-IT system and discuss early applications.

Anthropometric Analysis of the Face.

PubMed

Zacharopoulos, Georgios V; Manios, Andreas; Kau, Chung H; Velagrakis, George; Tzanakakis, George N; de Bree, Eelco

2016-01-01

Facial anthropometric analysis is essential for planning cosmetic and reconstructive facial surgery, but has not been available in detail for modern Greeks. In this study, multiple measurements of the face were performed on young Greek males and females to provide a complete facial anthropometric profile of this population and to compare its facial morphology with that of North American Caucasians. Thirty-one direct facial anthropometric measurements were obtained from 152 Greek students. Moreover, the prevalence of the various face types was determined. The resulting data were compared with those published regarding North American Caucasians. A complete set of average anthropometric data was obtained for each sex. Greek males, when compared to Greek females, were found to have statistically significantly longer foreheads as well as greater values in morphologic face height, mandible width, maxillary surface arc distance, and mandibular surface arc distance. In both sexes, the most common face types were mesoprosop, leptoprosop, and hyperleptoprosop. Greek males had significantly wider faces and mandibles than the North American Caucasian males, whereas Greek females had only significantly wider mandibles than their North American counterparts. Differences of statistical significance were noted in the head and face regions among sexes as well as among Greek and North American Caucasians. With the establishment of facial norms for Greek adults, this study contributes to the preoperative planning as well as postoperative evaluation of Greek patients that are, respectively, scheduled for or are to be subjected to facial reconstructive and aesthetic surgery.

From Theory to Practice: Facing Ethical Challenges as a Clinical Intern

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hambrick, James P.; Pimentel, Sandra; Albano, Anne Marie

2009-01-01

Although formal ethics classes provide a basic foundation in managing ethical dilemmas, professionals often point to their experiences on internship as an important training ground for consolidation of their ethical development. Clinical interns face many personal and professional transitions that can lead to a number of ethical dilemmas.…

Key water issues now facing our nation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hirsch, Robert M.; Miller, Timothy L.; Hamilton, Pixie A.; Gilliom, Robert J.

2008-01-01

Challenges to sustaining sufficient and high-quality water for human consumption, industry, farms, energy production, and ecosystem services continue to intensify in many parts of the Nation. We face four key water issues that call for support from the science and engineering communities.

“Members of the Same Club”: Challenges and Decisions Faced by US IRBs in Identifying and Managing Conflicts of Interest

PubMed Central

Klitzman, Robert

2011-01-01

Conflicts of interest (COIs) in research have received increasing attention, but many questions arise about how Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) view and approach these. Methods I conducted in-depth interviews of 2 hours each with 46 US IRB chairs, administrators, and members, exploring COI and other issues related to research integrity. I contacted leaders of 60 IRBs (every fourth one among the top 240 institutions by NIH funding), and interviewed IRB leaders from 34 of these institutions (response rate = 55%). Data were analyzed using standard qualitative methods, informed by Grounded Theory. Results IRBs confront financial and non-financial COIs of PIs, institutions, and IRBs themselves. IRB members may seek to help, or compete with, principal investigators (PIs). Non-financial COI also often appear to be “indirect financial” conflicts based on gain (or loss) not to oneself, but to one's colleagues or larger institution. IRBs faced challenges identifying and managing these COI, and often felt that they could be more effective. IRBs' management of their own potential COI vary, and conflicted members may observe, participate, and/or vote in discussions. Individual IRB members frequently judge for themselves whether to recuse themselves. Challenges arise in addressing these issues, since institutions and PIs need funding, financial information is considered confidential, and COI can be unconscious. Conclusions This study, the first to explore qualitatively how IRBs confront COIs and probe how IRBs confront non-financial COIs, suggests that IRBs face several types of financial and non-financial COIs, involving themselves, PIs, and institutions, and respond varyingly. These data have critical implications for practice and policy. Disclosure of indirect and non-financial COIs to subjects may not be feasible, partly since IRBs, not PIs, are conflicted. Needs exist to consider guidelines and clarifications concerning when and how, in protocol reviews, IRB

Institutional design and organizational practice for universal coverage in lesser-developed countries: challenges facing the Lao PDR.

PubMed

Ahmed, Shakil; Annear, Peter Leslie; Phonvisay, Bouaphat; Phommavong, Chansaly; Cruz, Valeria de Oliveira; Hammerich, Asmus; Jacobs, Bart

2013-11-01

There is now widespread acceptance of the universal coverage approach, presented in the 2010 World Health Report. There are more and more voices for the benefit of creating a single national risk pool. Now, a body of literature is emerging on institutional design and organizational practice for universal coverage, related to management of the three health-financing functions: collection, pooling and purchasing. While all countries can move towards universal coverage, lower-income countries face particular challenges, including scarce resources and limited capacity. Recently, the Lao PDR has been preparing options for moving to a single national health insurance scheme. The aim is to combine four different social health protection schemes into a national health insurance authority (NHIA) with a single national fund- and risk-pool. This paper investigates the main institutional and organizational challenges related to the creation of the NHIA. The paper uses a qualitative approach, drawing on the World Health Organization's institutional and Organizational Assessment for Improving and Strengthening health financing (OASIS) conceptual framework for data analysis. Data were collected from a review of key health financing policy documents and from 17 semi-structured key informant interviews. Policy makers and advisors are confronting issues related to institutional arrangements, funding sources for the authority and government support for subsidies to the demand-side health financing schemes. Compulsory membership is proposed, but the means for covering the informal sector have not been resolved. While unification of existing schemes may be the basis for creating a single risk pool, challenges related to administrative capacity and cross-subsidies remain. The example of Lao PDR illustrates the need to include consideration of national context, the sequencing of reforms and the time-scale appropriate for achieving universal coverage. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All

Challenges Women with Disability Face in Accessing and Using Maternal Healthcare Services in Ghana: A Qualitative Study.

PubMed

Ganle, John Kuumuori; Otupiri, Easmon; Obeng, Bernard; Edusie, Anthony Kwaku; Ankomah, Augustine; Adanu, Richard

2016-01-01

While a number of studies have examined the factors affecting accessibility to and utilisation of healthcare services by persons with disability in general, there is little evidence about disabled women's access to maternal health services in low-income countries and few studies consult disabled women themselves to understand their experience of care and the challenges they face in accessing skilled maternal health services. The objective of this paper is to explore the challenges women with disabilities encounter in accessing and using institutional maternal healthcare services in Ghana. A qualitative study was conducted in 27 rural and urban communities in the Bosomtwe and Central Gonja districts of Ghana with a total of 72 purposively sampled women with different physical, visual, and hearing impairments who were either lactating or pregnant at the time of this research. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used to gather data. Attride-Stirling's thematic network framework was used to analyse the data. Findings suggest that although women with disability do want to receive institutional maternal healthcare, their disability often made it difficult for such women to travel to access skilled care, as well as gain access to unfriendly physical health infrastructure. Other related access challenges include: healthcare providers' insensitivity and lack of knowledge about the maternity care needs of women with disability, negative attitudes of service providers, the perception from able-bodied persons that women with disability should be asexual, and health information that lacks specificity in terms of addressing the special maternity care needs of women with disability. Maternal healthcare services that are designed to address the needs of able-bodied women might lack the flexibility and responsiveness to meet the special maternity care needs of women with disability. More disability-related cultural competence and patient-centred training for healthcare

Social, Cultural, and Environmental Challenges Faced by Children on Antiretroviral Therapy in Zimbabwe: a Mixed-Method Study

PubMed Central

Macherera, Margaret; Moyo, Lindani; Ncube, Mkhanyiseli; Gumbi, Angella

2012-01-01

Objectives Despite the advent of antiretroviral therapy (ART), many children, particularly in the rural communities of Zimbabwe, remain vulnerable. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors and challenges facing children on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Brunapeg area of Mangwe District, Zimbabwe. Methods A mixed-method approach involving interviewer-guided focus group discussions and piloted semi-structured questionnaires was utilized to collect data from different key population groups. The data obtained were analyzed through content coding procedures based on a set of predetermined themes of interest. Results A number of challenges emerged as barriers to the success of antiretroviral therapy for children. Primary care givers were less informed about HIV and AIDS issues for people having direct impact on the success of antiretroviral therapy in children whilst some were found to be taking the antiretroviral drugs meant for the children. It also emerged that some primary care givers were either too young or too old to care for the children while others had failed to disclose to the children why they frequently visited the Opportunistic Infections (OI) clinic. Most primary care givers were not the biological parents of the affected children. Other challenges included inadequate access to health services, inadequate food and nutrition and lack of access to clean water, good hygiene and sanitation. The lack of community support and stigma and discrimination affected their school attendance and hospital visits. All these factors contributed to non-adherence to antiretroviral drugs. Conclusions and Public Health Implications Children on ART in rural communities in Zimbabwe remain severely compromised and have unique problems that need multi-intervention strategies both at policy and programmatic levels. Effective mitigating measures must be fully established and implemented in rural communities of developing countries in the fight for universal

Grand challenges in the management and conservation of North American inland fishes and fisheries

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lynch, Abigail; Cooke, Steven J.; Beard, Douglas; Kao, Yu-Chun; Lorenzen, Kai; Song, Andrew M.; Allen, Micheal S.; Basher, Zeenatul; Bunnell, David B.; Camp, Edward V.; Cowx, Ian G.; Freedman, Jonathan A.; Nguyen, Vivian M.; Nohner, Joel K.; Rogers, Mark W.; Siders, Zachary A.; Taylor, William W.; Youn, So-Jung

2017-01-01

Even with long-standing management and extensive science support, North American inland fish and fisheries still face many conservation and management challenges. We used a grand challenges approach to identify critical roadblocks that if removed would help solve important problems in the management and long-term conservation of North American inland fish and fisheries. We identified seven grand challenges within three themes (valuation, governance, and externalities) and 34 research needs and management actions. The major themes identified are to (1) raise awareness of diverse values associated with inland fish and fisheries, (2) govern inland fish and fisheries to satisfy multiple use and conservation objectives, and (3) ensure productive inland fisheries given nonfishing sector externalities. Addressing these grand challenges will help the broader community understand the diverse values of inland fish and fisheries, promote open forums for engagement of diverse stakeholders in fisheries management, and better integrate the inland fish sector into the greater water and land use policy process.