Perceived study-induced influence on the control group in a randomized controlled trial evaluating a complex intervention to promote psychosocial well-being after stroke: a process evaluation

Background A commonly applied control condition in trials evaluating complex interventions in rehabilitation research is “usual care.” The main challenge is to ensure that the control group receives genuine usual care as delivered in everyday clinical practice. The assessment interviews and dialogues with the data collectors may influence the control group participants’ reflections on their condition and adjustments. This represents a threat to the internal validity of the trial. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore the perceived study-induced influence of assessment interviews on the adjustment of the members of a control group in a randomized clinical trial. The aim of the trial was to test a dialogue-based psychosocial intervention aiming at promoting the psychosocial well-being and adjustment of stroke survivors. Methods Fifteen participants in the control group of a multicenter stroke rehabilitation trial participated in narrative semi-structured interviews. Ricoeur’s interpretation theory guided the analysis. Results The perceived study-induced influence of the assessment interviews on the adjustment process of members of the control group varied considerably. The results demonstrated that the assessment interviews facilitated some participants’ feelings of control and their ability to cope. Other participants’ statements indicate that they relied on their existing personal capacity to cope and adjust and that the assessment interviews did not make any difference either on their coping ability or on their process of adjustment. Five themes were identified that described the perceived study-induced influence of the assessment interviews in the control group. The themes illustrated that the assessments served as a safety net, enhanced awareness and understanding, encouraged seeking support, allowed the opportunity to vent disappointment, or did not make any difference either way. Conclusions RCT assessment interviews may influence the adjustment process and represent a serious problem in measuring interventions over time in trials of complex interventions in rehabilitation research. To uphold rigor and stringency, the usual care control conditions should be thoroughly assessed and described. Informing participants only about the treatment they were allocated to receive might counteract the potential to dilute the difference between the two arms of the trial

Solar cell process development in the european integrated project crystalclear

CrystalClear is a large integrated project funded by the European Commission that aims to drastically reduce the cost of crystalline Si PV modules, down to 1 Euro/Wp. Among the different subprojects, the one dealing with the development of advanced solar cells is relatively large (with 11 partners out of the 15 Crystal Clear partners taking part) and has a crucial role. The goal of the subproject is to develop cell design concepts and manufacturing processes that would enable a reduction in the order of 40% of the cell processing costs per Wp. In this paper, we give an overview of all the development work that has taken place in the CrystalClear solar cells subproject so far. World class results have been achieved, particularly on high efficiency cells on Si ribbons, and on industrial-type solar cells on very thin (120 (j.m thick) substrates

Quantifying and mapping species threat abatement opportunitiesto support national target setting

The successful implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s post-2020Global Biodiversity Framework will rely on effective translation of targets from global tonational level and increased engagement across diverse sectors of society. Species conserva-tion targets require policy support measures that can be applied to a diversity of taxonomicgroups, that link action targets to outcome goals, and that can be applied to both global andnational data sets to account for national context, which the species threat abatement andrestoration (STAR) metric does. To test the flexibility of STAR, we applied the metric to vascular plants listed on national red lists of Brazil, Norway, and South Africa. The STARmetric uses data on species’ extinction risk, distributions, and threats, which we obtainedfrom national red lists to quantify the contribution that threat abatement and habitatrestoration activities could make to reducing species’ extinction risk. Across all 3 coun-tries, the greatest opportunity for reducing plant species’ extinction risk was from abatingthreats from agricultural activities, which could reduce species’ extinction risk by 54% inNorway, 36% in South Africa, and 29% in Brazil. Species extinction risk could be reducedby a further 21% in South Africa by abating threats from invasive species and by 21% inBrazil by abating threats from urban expansion. Even with different approaches to red-listing among countries, the STAR metric yielded informative results that identified wherethe greatest conservation gains could be made for species through threat-abatement andrestoration activities. Quantifiably linking local taxonomic coverage and data collection toglobal processes with STAR would allow national target setting to align with global targetsand enable state and nonstate actors to measure and report on their potential contributionsto species conservation. habitat restoration, national red lists, species’ extinction risk, threat reduction, threatened species, vascular plantspublishedVersio

Robustness of common hemodynamic indicators with respect to numerical resolution in 38 middle cerebral artery aneurysms

Background: Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to compute the hemodynamics in cerebral aneurysms has received much attention in the last decade. The usability of these methods depends on the quality of the computations, highlighted in recent discussions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the convergence of common hemodynamic indicators with respect to numerical resolution. Methods: 38 middle cerebral artery bifurcation aneurysms were studied at two different resolutions (one comparable to most studies, and one finer). Relevant hemodynamic indicators were collected from two of the most cited studies, and were compared at the two refinements. In addition, correlation to rupture was investigated. Results: Most of the hemodynamic indicators were very well resolved at the coarser resolutions, correlating with the finest resolution with a correlation coefficient >0.95. The oscillatory shear index (OSI) had the lowest correlation coefficient of 0.83. A logarithmic Bland-Altman plot revealed noticeable variations in the proportion of the aneurysm under low shear, as well as in spatial and temporal gradients not captured by the correlation alone. Conclusion: Statistically, hemodynamic indicators agree well across the different resolutions studied here. However, there are clear outliers visible in several of the hemodynamic indicators, which suggests that special care should be taken when considering individual assessment