Proactive prevention: Act now to disrupt the impending non-communicable disease crisis in low-burden populations

Non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention efforts have traditionally targeted high-risk and high-burden populations. We propose an alteration in prevention efforts to also include emphasis and focus on low-risk populations, predominantly younger individuals and low-prevalence populations. We refer to this approach as proactive prevention. This emphasis is based on the priority to put in place policies, programs, and infrastructure that can disrupt the epidemiological transition to develop NCDs among these groups, thereby averting future NCD crises. Proactive prevention strategies can be classified, and their implementation prioritized, based on a 2-dimensional assessment: impact and feasibility. Thus, potential interventions can be categorized into a 2-by-2 matrix: high impact/high feasibility, high impact/low feasibility, low impact/high feasibility, and low impact/low feasibility. We propose that high impact/high feasibility interventions are ready to be implemented (act), while high impact/low feasibility interventions require efforts to foster buy-in first. Low impact/high feasibility interventions need to be changed to improve their impact while low impact/low feasibility might be best re-designed in the context of limited resources. Using this framework, policy makers, public health experts, and other stakeholders can more effectively prioritize and leverage limited resources in an effort to slow or prevent the evolving global NCD crisis

Can Methodological Applications Develop Critical Thinking?

Abstract: This paper outlines how using research methods to develop critical thinking was explored in a workshop and then developed into a curriculum. An exercise showed how diverse methodologies led to different answers, which were explored to consider the nature of knowledge itself and the subsequent implications. The paper concludes that such an approach can (a) develop critical thinking skills at a level of deep, rather than surface learning and (b) effectively challenge some preconceived ideas held by students about how knowledge is developed and shared. The crucial element of success was the design and implementation of the assessment

A chaotic microresonator structure for an optical implementation of an artificial neural network

Tuneable all-optical signal processing has been the holy grail of information photonics; it has been pursued for many years but has proven to be very challenging. In this contribution, we present our recent work in developing an all-optical signal processing device called a photonic reservoir computer (PhRC) which can be tuned to perform a bespoke task. The PhRC is inspired by how the brain handles and process information. We demonstrate that a chaotic micro-resonator is a suitable platform for the optical implementation of such an artificial neural network

Disaster resilience as a complex problem:why linearity is not applicable for long-term recovery

Despite considerable research into developing effective systems for achieving disaster resilience after a major disaster (Blakely, Birch & Anglin, 2011; Vale & Campanella, 2005), there is an ongoing gap between the purpose of long-term disaster recovery and actual implementation. We will suggest that this is because, unusually, the nature of the disaster recovery process changes over time. It develops from being a complicated set of interrelated, urgent but essentially predictable problems in the short-term response phase, into a complex systems problem. In this paper we will first show that the disaster literature assumes a linear progression from short-term to long-term recovery as part of a well-document disaster life cycle. Second, we suggest that this is based on a set of assumptions about the disaster recovery process which are potentially both limiting the possibilities of building a disaster resilient community and explaining current problems being experienced by those involved in disaster recovery worldwide. We then use data from Japan and Christchurch to offer evidence of the need to change some of the elements of the long-term recovery model

True mid-infrared Pr3+ absorption cross-section in a selenide-chalcogenide host-glass

The mid-infrared (MIR) spans the 3-25 m wavelength range. Rare-earth-ion doped selenide-chalcogenide glasses are being developed for direct-emission MIR fibre lasers. The true Pr3+ absorption cross-section in the 3.5-6 µm wavelength region of a Pr3+-doped (500 ppmw of Pr3+ i.e. 9.47 x 1019 Pr3+ ions cm-3) GeAsGaSe host-glass is presented, after numerically removing the underlying, extrinsic vibrational absorption due to [H-Se-] contamination of the host-glass