The importance of service-users' perspectives: A systematic review of qualitative evidence reveals overlooked critical features of weight management programmes.

BACKGROUND: Extensive research effort shows that weight management programmes (WMPs) targeting both diet and exercise are broadly effective. However, the critical features of WMPs remain unclear. OBJECTIVE: To develop a deeper understanding of WMPs critical features, we undertook a systematic review of qualitative evidence. We sought to understand from a service-user perspective how programmes are experienced, and may be effective, on the ground. SEARCH STRATEGY: We identified qualitative studies from existing reviews and updated the searches of one review. INCLUSION CRITERIA: We included UK studies capturing the views of adult WMP users. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Thematic analysis was used inductively to code and synthesize the evidence. MAIN RESULTS: Service users were emphatic that supportive relationships, with service providers or WMP peers, are the most critical aspect of WMPs. Supportive relationships were described as providing an extrinsic motivator or "hook" which helped to overcome barriers such as scepticism about dietary advice or a lack confidence to engage in physical activity. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The evidence revealed that service-users' understandings of the critical features of WMPs differ from the focus of health promotion guidance or descriptions of evaluated programmes which largely emphasize educational or goal setting aspects of WMPs. Existing programme guidance may not therefore fully address the needs of service users. The study illustrates that the perspectives of service users can reveal unanticipated intervention mechanisms or underemphasized critical features and underscores the value of a holistic understanding about "what happens" in complex psychosocial interventions such as WMPs

Hourly weather observations from the Scottish Highlands (1883–1904) rescued by volunteer citizen scientists

Weather observations taken every hour during the years 1883–1904 on the summit of Ben Nevis (1345 m above sea level) and in the town of Fort William in the Scottish Highlands have been transcribed from the original publications into digital form. More than 3,500 citizen scientist volunteers completed the digitization in less than 3 months using the WeatherRescue.org website. Over 1.5 million observations of atmospheric pressure, wet‐ and dry‐bulb temperatures, precipitation and wind speed were recovered. These data have been quality controlled and are now made openly available, including hourly values of relative humidity derived from the digitized dry‐ and wet‐bulb temperatures using modern hygrometric algorithms. These observations are one of the most detailed weather data collections available for anywhere in the UK in the Victorian era. In addition, 374 observations of aurora borealis seen by the meteorologists from the summit of Ben Nevis have been catalogued and this has improved the auroral record for studies of space weather

Weight management programmes: Re-analysis of a systematic review to identify pathways to effectiveness.

BACKGROUND: Previous systematic reviews of weight management programmes (WMPs) have not been able to account for heterogeneity of effectiveness within programmes using top-down behavioural change taxonomies. This could be due to overlapping causal pathways to effectiveness (or lack of effectiveness) in these complex interventions. Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) can help identify these overlapping pathways. METHODS: Using trials of adult WMPs with dietary and physical activity components identified from a previous systematic review, we selected the 10 most and 10 least effective interventions by amount of weight loss at 12 months compared to minimal treatment. Using intervention components suggested by synthesis of studies of programme user views, we labelled interventions as to the presence of these components and, using qualitative comparative analysis, developed pathways of component combinations that created the conditions sufficient for interventions to be most effective and least effective. RESULTS: Informed by the synthesis of views studies, we constructed 3 truth tables relating to quality of the user-provider relationship; perceived high need for guidance from providers; and quality of the relationship between peers in weight management programmes. We found effective interventions were characterized by opportunities to develop supportive relationships with providers or peers, directive provider-led goal setting and components perceived to foster self-regulation. CONCLUSIONS: Although QCA is an inductive method, this innovative approach has enabled the identification of potentially critical aspects of WMPs, such as the nature of relationships within them, which were previously not considered to be as important as more concrete content such as dietary focus

Constructivism in education: An overview of contributions to the literature and to the JPACTe annotated bibliography. Fall

Abstract Constructivism in education has evolved over the past century due to the contributions of many individuals in the U. S. and abroad. This article provides an overview of the contributions of theorists, researchers, and educators most closely associated with its rise in the field of education. The article also provides an outline and guide to the annotated bibliography on constructivism in education on the JPACTe website

Real-Time Probe Data Dashboard for Monitoring Detour Route during I-65 N Road Closure

On August 7, 2015, a 37 mile stretch of I-65 N from MM 141 to 178 was closed due to a structural evaluation of a bridge. Traffic was detoured onto US-52, SR-26, and US-231 before returning to the highway. In order to monitor delay and congestion on the detour route, a real-time dashboard was implemented in the style of the interstate Traffic Ticker. Throughout the detour, this website was used to monitor congestion in real time and measure the impact of mitigation actions. The improvement in travel can be seen from the addition of temporary signals, retiming of the US-231 corridor, and conversion of US-231 and SR-18 to a two-way stop

Redox linked flavin sites in extracellular decaheme proteins involved in microbe-mineral electron transfer

Extracellular microbe-mineral electron transfer is a major driving force for the oxidation of organic carbon in many subsurface environments. Extracellular multi-heme cytochromes of the Shewenella genus play a major role in this process but the mechanism of electron exchange at the interface between cytochrome and acceptor is widely debated. The 1.8 Å x-ray crystal structure of the decaheme MtrC revealed a highly conserved CX8C disulfide that, when substituted for AX8A, severely compromised the ability of S. oneidensis to grow under aerobic conditions. Reductive cleavage of the disulfide in the presence of flavin mononucleotide (FMN) resulted in the reversible formation of a stable flavocytochrome. Similar results were also observed with other decaheme cytochromes, OmcA, MtrF and UndA. The data suggest that these decaheme cytochromes can transition between highly reactive flavocytochromes or less reactive cytochromes, and that this transition is controlled by a redox active disulfide that responds to the presence of oxygen

Detection of high-frequency oscillations by hybrid depth electrodes in standard clinical intracranial EEG recordings

High-frequency oscillations (HFOs) have been proposed as a novel marker for epileptogenic tissue, spurring tremendous research interest into the characterization of these transient events. A wealth of continuously recorded intracranial electroencephalographic (iEEG) data is currently available from patients undergoing invasive monitoring for the surgical treatment of epilepsy. In contrast to data recorded on research-customized recording systems, data from clinical acquisition systems remain an underutilized resource for HFO detection in most centers. The effective and reliable use of this clinically obtained data would be an important advance in the ongoing study of HFOs and their relationship to ictogenesis. The diagnostic utility of HFOs ultimately will be limited by the ability of clinicians to detect these brief, sporadic, and low amplitude events in an electrically noisy clinical environment. Indeed, one of the most significant factors limiting the use of such clinical recordings for research purposes is their low signal to noise ratio, especially in the higher frequency bands. In order to investigate the presence of HFOs in clinical data, we first obtained continuous intracranial recordings in a typical clinical environment using a commercially available, commonly utilized data acquisition system and "off the shelf" hybrid macro-/micro-depth electrodes. These data were then inspected for the presence of HFOs using semi-automated methods and expert manual review. With targeted removal of noise frequency content, HFOs were detected on both macro- and micro-contacts, and preferentially localized to seizure onset zones. HFOs detected by the offline, semi-automated method were also validated in the clinical viewer, demonstrating that (1) this clinical system allows for the visualization of HFOs and (2) with effective signal processing, clinical recordings can yield valuable information for offline analysis. © 2014 Kondylis, Wozny, Lipski, Popescu, DeStefino, Esmaeili, Raghu, Bagic and Richardson