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Question: Did Joseph Smith have a Jupiter talisman on his person at the time of his death?
Question: What is the source of the story about Joseph Smith possessing a Jupiter talisman?
Question: Could the list of items on Joseph's person at the time of his death have been incomplete?
Question: What is the probability that Joseph Smith possessed items related to "magic"?
Did Joseph have this Talisman on him when he was murdered? What would it mean if he did?
This well circulated claim finds its origins in a 1974 talk by Dr. Reed Durham. Durham said that Joseph "evidently [had a Talisman] on his person when he was martyred. The talisman, originally purchased from the Emma Smith Bidamon family, fully notarized by that family to be authentic and to have belonged to Joseph Smith, can now be identified as a Jupiter talisman."
There is only one source of evidence that claims Joseph Smith had the Jupiter Talisman on his person, and that source is Charles Bidamon. Bidamon's statement was made long after the death of Joseph and Emma, relied on memories from his youth, and was undergirded by financial motives.
By contrast, contemporary evidence demonstrates that Joseph did not have such a Talisman in his possession at his death.
I now wish I had presented some of my material differently… For instance, at the present time, after rechecking my data, I find no primary evidence that Joseph Smith ever possessed a Jupiter talisman. The source for my comment was a second-hand, late source. It came from Wilford Wood, who was told it by Charlie Bidamon, who was told it by his father, Lewis Bidamon, who was Emma’s second husband and a non-Mormon not too friendly to the LDS Church. So, the idea that the Prophet had such a talisman is highly questionable!... [One author who was presented wrote:] "Dr. Durham also told me he was trying to play the “devil’s advocate” in his Nauvoo speech, which is what many there, including myself, sensed. Unfortunately others took the words to further their purposes."
Bidamon waited fifty-eight years after Emma’s death to make his certification, and notes that at the time of her death he was only fifteen years old.
Anderson noted that Bidamon waited fifty-eight years after Emma’s death to make his certification, and notes that at the time of her death he was only fifteen years old.
Durham based his comments on Wood's description for the item which was: "This piece [the Talisman] was in Joseph Smith's pocket when he was martyred at Carthage Jail.":558 However, a list of the items in Joseph's possession at the time of his death was provided to Emma following the martyrdom. On this list there was no mention made of any Talisman-like item. If there had been such an article, it ought to have been listed.
No Talisman or item like it is listed. It could not be mistaken for a coin or even a "Masonic Jewel" as Durham first thought. Anderson described the Talisman as being “an inch-and-a-half in diameter and covered with symbols and a prayer on one side and square of sixteen Hebrew characters on the other.”:541 Significant is the fact that no associate of Joseph Smith has ever mentioned anything like this medallion. There are no interviews that ever record Emma mentioning any such item as attested to by Charles Bidamon, though he claimed she often spoke of it.
More recent arguments contend that Wood’s list was exaggerated or was an all together different type of list. For example, some suggest that since neither Joseph's gun or hat were on the report, the list must not be complete. It should be obvious, however, that these items were not found on Joseph's person. The record clearly states that he dropped his gun and left it behind before being murdered. As for the hat, even if he had been wearing it indoors, it seems unlikely to have remained on his head after a gun-fight and fall from a second-story window.
Critics also argue that the Talisman was not accounted for was because it ought to have been worn around the neck, hidden from view and secret to all (including Emma no less). Thus, the argument runs, it was overlooked in the inventory. While it may be true that Talismans are worn around the neck, Bidamon's certification clearly states that the Talisman was "in the Prophet’s pocket when he was martyred." So which is it? In his pocket like a lucky charm or secretly worn around his neck as such an item should properly be used? In either case, the record is clear that he did not have a Talisman on his person at the time of his death. The rest is speculation.
The critics also resort to arguing that a prisoner could not possibly have had a penknife, so how accurate can the list of Joseph's possessions be? Obviously, the fact that he had a gun makes the possession of a knife a matter of no consequence. Critics will dismiss contemporary evidence simply because it is inconvenient.
"at the present time, after checking my data, I find no primary evidence that Joseph Smith ever possessed a Jupiter Talisman"
I now wish I had presented some of my material differently.” “For instance, at the present time, after checking my data, I find no primary evidence that Joseph Smith ever possessed a Jupiter Talisman. The source for my comment was a second-hand, late source. It came from Wilford Wood, who was told it by Charlie Bidamon, who was told it by his father, Lewis Bidamon, who was Emma’s second husband and non-Mormon not too friendly to the LDS Church. So the idea that the Prophet had such a talisman is highly questionable.
Stephen Robinson: "In the case of the Jupiter coin, this same extrapolation error is compounded with a very uncritical acceptance of the artifact in the first place"
In the case of the Jupiter coin, this same extrapolation error is compounded with a very uncritical acceptance of the artifact in the first place. If the coin were Joseph's, that fact alone would tell us nothing about what it meant to him. But in fact there is insufficient evidence to prove that the artifact ever belonged to the Prophet. The coin was completely unknown until 1930 when an aging Charles Bidamon sold it to Wilford Wood. The only evidence that it was Joseph's is an affidavit of Bidamon, who stood to gain financially by so representing it. Quinn [and any other critic who embraces this theory] uncritically accepts Bidamon's affidavit as solid proof that the coin was Joseph's. Yet the coin was not mentioned in the 1844 list of Joseph's possessions returned to Emma. Quinn negotiates this difficulty by suggesting the coin must have been worn around Joseph's neck under his shirt. But in so doing Quinn impeaches his only witness for the coin's authenticity, for Bidamon's affidavit, the only evidence linking the coin to Joseph, specifically and solemnly swears that the coin was in Joseph's pocket at Carthage. The real empirical evidence here is just too weak to prove that the coin was really Joseph's, let alone to extrapolate a conclusion from mere possession of the artifact that Joseph must have believed in and practiced magic. The recent Hofmann affair should have taught us that an affidavit from the seller, especially a 1930 affidavit to third hand information contradicted by the 1844 evidence, just isn't enough 'proof' to hang your hat on.
Joseph himself owned the item (e.g., parchment, Mars dagger, or Jupiter talisman).
His possession dates to his early days of "treasure seeking."
He used them for magical purposes.
He made them himself or commissioned them.
He therefore must have used magic books to make them.
He therefore must have had an occult mentor to help him with the difficult process of understanding the magical books and making these items.
This occult mentor transmitted extensive arcane hermetic lore to Joseph beyond the knowledge necessary to make the artifacts.
Theses seven propositions are simply a tissue of assumptions, assertions, and speculations. There is no contemporary primary evidence that Joseph himself owned or used these items. We do not know when, how, or why these items became heirlooms of the Hyrum Smith family. Again, there is no contemporary primary evidence that mentions Joseph or anyone in his family using these artifacts—as Quinn himself noted, "possession alone may not be proof of use." There is no evidence that Joseph ever had any magic books. There is no evidence that Joseph ever had an occult mentor who helped him make or use these items.
Allowing each of these seven propositions a 50% probability—a very generous allowance—creates a .0078% probability that the combination of all seven propositions is true. And this is only one element of a very complex and convoluted argument, with literally dozens of similar unverified assertions. The result is a monumentally high improbability that the overall thesis is correct.
D. Michael Quinn, a major proponent of the "magick" argument, responded to the above by claiming that "Only when cumulative evidence runs contrary to the FARMS agenda, do polemicists like Hamblin want readers to view each piece of evidence as though it existed in isolation."
[Quinn's rebuttal discusses] the process of the verification of historical evidence. The issue was unproven propositions, not parallel evidence.
Of course the probative value of evidence is cumulative. The more evidence you have, the greater the probability that your overall thesis is true. Thus, if Quinn can demonstrate that the talisman and the parchment and the dagger all belonged to the Smith family and were used for magical purposes, it would be more probable that his overall thesis is true than if he could establish only that the Smiths owned and used just one of those three items. But my argument is that the authenticity of each of these pieces of evidence rests on half a dozen unproven propositions and assumptions.
↑ Dr. Reed Durham’s Presidential Address before the Mormon History Association on 20 April 1974.
↑ Original coming from LaMar C. Berett, The Wilford Wood Collection, Vol. 1 (Provo, UT: Wilford C. Wood Foundation, 1972), 173.
↑ Anderson points to its original source in J. W. Woods "The Mormon Prophet," Daily Democrat (Ottumwa, Iowa), 10 May 1885; and in Edward H. Stiles, Recollections and Sketches of Notable Lawyers and Public Men of Early Iowa (Des Moines: Homestead Publishing Co., 1916), 271.
↑ These are examples of later arguments by Quinn in an attempt to refute Anderson.
↑ Gilbert W. Scharffs, The Truth about ‘The God Makers’ (Salt Lake City, Utah: Publishers Press, 1989; republished by Bookcraft, 1994), 180. Full text FairMormon link ISBN 088494963X.
↑ Stephen E. Robinson, "Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, by D. Michael Quinn," Brigham Young University Studies 27 no. 4 (1987), 94–95.
↑ This section of the response was based on William J. Hamblin, "'Everything Is Everything': Was Joseph Smith Influenced by Kabbalah? Review of Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection by Lance S. Owens," FARMS Review of Books 8/2 (1996): 251–325. off-site. By the nature of a wiki project, it has since been modified and added to. | https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Joseph_Smith_and_Jupiter_talisman |
in later BIND releases as well as the GNU libc.
The bug itself is a buffer overflow that can be triggered if a
DNS server sends multiple CNAME records in a DNS response.
This bug has been fixed for the gethostbyXXX class of functions
in GNU libc in 1999. Unfortunately, there is similar code in the
getnetbyXXX functions in recent glibc implementations, and
the code is enabled by default. However, these functions are
used by very few applications only, such as ifconfig and ifuser,
which makes exploits less likely.
We will make updated glibc packages available as they have gone
through our build system, but without separate announcements.
Until glibc patches are available, we recommend that you disable
DNS lookups of network names in nsswitch.conf. Simply replace the
line containing the tag "networks:" with this line:
networks: files
In the unlikely event that you've configured any name to network
mapping via DNS, make sure you copy this information to
/etc/networks.
The resolver bug is also present in the libbind library included
in BIND. This library is used by utilities from the bindutil package.
We are therefore providing security updates for bind8 that
address this vulnerability. As communicated previously (1),
the SuSE security team is not providing fixes for BIND4 anymore.
The bind9 packages shipped by SuSE are not vulnerable.
Please download the update package for your distribution and
verify its integrity by the methods listed in section 3) of this
announcement.
Apply the updata packages (bindutil, bind8) package using
rpm -Fvh bind*.rpm
If you are running the BIND name server, you should restart the name
server process by issuing
rcnamed restart
Our maintenance customers are being notified individually. The
packages are being offered to install from the maintenance web.
References:
(1) http://www.suse.de/de/support/security/adv004_ssh.html
______________________________________________________________________________
2) Pending vulnerabilities in SuSE Distributions and Workarounds:
- There is a format string bug in the "nn" news reader that can
be exploited by a malicious NNTP server to execute arbitrary
commands within the client user's account. We will be releasing
updated packages.
______________________________________________________________________________
3) standard appendix: authenticity verification, additional information
- Package authenticity verification:
SuSE update packages are available on many mirror ftp servers all over
the world. While this service is being considered valuable and important
to the free and open source software community, many users wish to be
sure about the origin of the package and its content before installing
the package. There are two verification methods that can be used
independently from each other to prove the authenticity of a downloaded
file or rpm package:
1) md5sums as provided in the (cryptographically signed) announcement.
2) using the internal gpg signatures of the rpm package.
1) execute the command
md5sum
after you downloaded the file from a SuSE ftp server or its mirrors.
Then, compare the resulting md5sum with the one that is listed in the
announcement. Since the announcement containing the checksums is
cryptographically signed (usually using the key [email protected]),
the checksums show proof of the authenticity of the package.
We disrecommend to subscribe to security lists which cause the
email message containing the announcement to be modified so that
the signature does not match after transport through the mailing
list software.
Downsides: You must be able to verify the authenticity of the
announcement in the first place. If RPM packages are being rebuilt
and a new version of a package is published on the ftp server, all
md5 sums for the files are useless.
2) rpm package signatures provide an easy way to verify the authenticity
of an rpm package. Use the command
rpm -v --checksig
to verify the signature of the package, where is the
filename of the rpm package that you have downloaded. Of course,
package authenticity verification can only target an uninstalled rpm
package file.
Prerequisites:
a) gpg is installed
b) The package is signed using a certain key. The public part of this
key must be installed by the gpg program in the directory
~/.gnupg/ under the user's home directory who performs the
signature verification (usually root). You can import the key
that is used by SuSE in rpm packages for SuSE Linux by saving
this announcement to a file ("announcement.txt") and
running the command (do "su -" to be root):
gpg --batch; gpg .
[email protected]
- SuSE's announce-only mailing list.
Only SuSE's security annoucements are sent to this list.
To subscribe, send an email to
.
For general information or the frequently asked questions (faq)
send mail to:
or
respectively.
=====================================================================
SuSE's security contact is or .
The public key is listed below.
=====================================================================
______________________________________________________________________________
The information in this advisory may be distributed or reproduced,
provided that the advisory is not modified in any way. In particular,
it is desired that the cleartext signature shows proof of the
authenticity of the text.
SuSE Linux AG makes no warranties of any kind whatsoever with respect
to the information contained in this security advisory. | https://www.xatrix.org/news/suse-sa-2002-026-bind-glibc-1701/ |
On May 22, the DOL published an application form on its website for expedited review of a denied COBRA premium deduction. While in some cases employers can deny the subsidy, they should do so carefully, provide detailed reasons and be familiar with the application.
Opinion letter clarifies when employees must give notice of unforeseen FMLA leave
In a new opinion letter, the DOL clarifies that employees must provide notice of the need for FMLA leave, "as soon as practicable" and that an employer can require an employee to follow its "usual and customary" notice requirements before taking leave under FMLA. Employers still must allow exceptions when it is not reasonable to expect an employee to call in and may not impose more stringent notification requirements for FMLA-covered leave than is required for similar non-FMLA absences.
FMLA Federal Decisions
The following are decisions made by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It's important to note that state laws may be more restrictive than federal laws:
Falsification of Doctor's Note Prevents FMLA Leave
In Smith v. Hope School, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that an employee's falsification of medical paperwork precluded her from being entitled to FMLA leave.
Employers now have the right to contact a health care provider's office directly about the authenticity of any medical report. Unlike the rest of the country, California employers should not contact the employee's health care provider directly to verify leave requests.
Discharge may be based on problems discovered during FMLA leave
In Kevin Cracco v. Vitran Express, Inc., the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found when an employer discovers information during an employee's FMLA leave that would otherwise form the basis for a valid termination; the FMLA does not bar the termination. Employers have the burden of proving that the termination was not related to the FMLA leave. | https://www.workcompprofessionals.com/advisory/archive-0000/2009_07_a4.html |
On June 16, 2021, the People’s Court Online Litigation Rules were released, which will officially come into effect on August 1. The Rules define for the first time the scope of blockchain deposition validity and review criteria in Articles 16 to 19. As stated in the official document, this will help parties to actively use blockchain technology to solve the dilemma of “difficult to deposit” and “difficult to authenticate” electronic data. At a time when the number of litigation cases involving blockchain technology is gradually increasing and blockchain evidence is widely used in judicial practice, the release of the Rules undoubtedly provides clear guidelines for the review of blockchain evidence and indicates the direction of preparation and strategies for parties who are prepared to use blockchain evidence for litigation. The following Sara team analyzes these four articles one by one to show some issues that need to be noted when blockchain evidence is used in practice.
Article 16: If the electronic data submitted by the parties as evidence is stored through blockchain technology and verified by technical verification, the people’s court may determine that the electronic data has not been tampered with after the chain, except where there is sufficient evidence to the contrary.
This provision clarifies that the essence of blockchain evidence is still electronic data, and presumes the authenticity of blockchain evidence after it has been chained. The disruptive nature of blockchain electronic data is being reflected in the dilemma of traditional electronic data. In the past, although China established early electronic data as a kind of legal evidence, but electronic data in judicial practice encountered a series of difficulties, the judge is quite conservative and cautious in its application. According to Professor Liu Pinxin’s research, “the vast majority of the court did not explicitly make a judgment on the admissibility of electronic evidence, accounting for 92.8%; only a few explicitly made a judgment on the admissibility, accounting for only 7.2%” (Liu Pinxin, “Corroboration and Probability: The Objectified Admissibility of Electronic Evidence,” Global Law Review, 2017, No. 4, p. 110). No. 4, 2017, p. 110.)
The reason for this is that, first, the grassroots people’s courts often lack the technical ability to identify the authenticity of electronic data, even if sent to the judicial appraisal institute also cost a higher cost; second, the traditional electronic data is vulnerable to tampering characteristics. Therefore, “electronic data provisions” on electronic data extraction, collection, transfer, production and so on the establishment of a nanny type of cumbersome rules. A little inattentive, the relevant evidence will have to be corrected, or even mandatory exclusion. In order to circumvent these cumbersome rules, and even the electronic data into documentary evidence, physical evidence to use the “alienation” situation.
And blockchain more properly solve these two problems: on the one hand, the blockchain application is simple and widespread, only need to verify the hash value and so on can quickly grasp the electronic data has no change; on the other hand, unless encountered 51% of the arithmetic attack, the electronic data on the chain is basically safe, can not be tampered with. Therefore, the parties only need to ensure that the blockchain evidence before the chain is real and relevant to the case, the relevant evidence is difficult to be excluded from the application of the court.
Article 17 Where the parties object to the authenticity of the electronic data stored by blockchain technology after it has been chained and have reasonable grounds, the people’s court shall make a judgment by combining the following factors.
(a) Whether the deposition platform complies with the relevant provisions of the relevant state departments on the provision of blockchain deposition services.
(ii) whether the party has an interest in the deposition platform and uses technical means to improperly interfere with the process of deposition and forensics; and
(iii) whether the information system of the depository platform complies with national standards or industry standards for cleanliness, security, reliability and availability
(d) whether the deposition technology and process meet the requirements of relevant national standards or industry standards on system environment, technical security, encryption methods, data transmission, information verification, etc.
Of course, nothing is absolute. At present, commercial blockchain e-deposit platforms coexist with official blockchain e-deposit platforms. In the future, if blockchain evidence is widely adopted by the court, it will force the parties to generally choose blockchain for electronic data deposition, and then commercial blockchain electronic deposition platforms may spring up. At this point, it is necessary to consider the problem of uneven platforms. In this regard, Article 17 of the “Rules” puts forward some requirements for blockchain electronic depository platforms.
These requirements are not a raw face, but a summary of past case court arguments. For example, in the “blockchain evidence first case”, Hangzhou Internet Court focused on the review of the platform and the case in the relationship between the interests, its judgment in the discussion, the depository platform company shareholders and business scope is relatively independent of the parties, with neutrality, and through the integrity of the National Network and Information Security Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Center Identification testing, with the qualification as a third-party electronic depository platform.
As another counter-example, in a second instance judgment [(2019) Chuan 01 Min Final 1050], although the third-party blockchain electronic depository platform has industry-recognized standards such as “Information Security Management System Certification”, “Information System Security Level Protection Record Certification”, and “Electronic Certification Products and Services Authorization”, it lacks the certification license certificate issued by the competent department of information industry under the State Council. Therefore, it was denied by the court of second instance to have the ability of electronic authentication services, and the relevant case was reversed in the second instance. (Although the blockchain evidence deposited by the platform has been recognized in other cases)
Therefore, in the future, when parties use blockchain evidence to prove the facts of a case, they should combine the above factors for comprehensive consideration and ensure that the depositing platform is a platform with complete relevant certificates and national certification licenses.
Article 18 If the parties propose that the electronic data no longer has authenticity before being stored on the chain and provide evidence to prove or explain the reasons, the people’s court shall review it.
According to the case, the people’s court may require the party that submits electronic data stored in blockchain technology to provide evidence to prove the authenticity of the data before storage on the chain, and make a comprehensive judgment by combining the specific source of data before storage on the chain, the generation mechanism, the storage process, notary public, third-party witness, and associated corroboration data. If the parties cannot provide evidence to prove or make reasonable explanation, and the electronic data cannot be corroborated with other evidence, the people’s court will not confirm its authenticity.
The provision reminds blockchain evidence of the original malice is its lingering shadow. It is best for the parties to sit on the authenticity of the data before it goes on the chain by means of notarization and other means, with the endorsement of the notary platform. However, it is worth noting that even so, the judicial interpretation does not impose an excessive burden of proof on the party providing blockchain evidence. On the one hand, the presumption of authenticity is still valid and requires the other party to first present some evidence or reasons for not having authenticity before the chain; on the other hand, even if the party providing blockchain evidence has difficulty in stating reasonable reasons, the court will not overturn the presumption of authenticity as long as the electronic data and other evidence corroborate each other.
Article 19 The parties may apply for a person with specialized knowledge to give opinions on technical issues related to blockchain technology for storing electronic data. The people’s court may, upon the application of the parties or ex officio, entrust the authenticity of the electronic data stored in the blockchain technology, or retrieve other relevant evidence for verification.
In the past, people with specialized knowledge (or expert support persons) mainly appeared for experts and appraisal opinions. For example, Article 79 of the Civil Procedure Law provides that a party may apply to the people’s court to notify a person with specialized knowledge to appear before the court to give an opinion on the expert opinion made by the expert or on professional issues. Article 197 of the Criminal Procedure Law provides that the public prosecutor, the party and the defense and litigation agent may apply to the court to notify the appearance of a person with specialized knowledge to give an opinion on the appraisal opinion made by the expert. However, since blockchain is a new technology, its related issues have too much room for discussion in technical terms. Therefore, this article broadens the conditions for the appearance of persons with specialized knowledge to testify.
Write in the end
The impact of blockchain technology on electronic data review judgment is far-reaching. The most difficult problem of authenticity of traditional electronic data has been solved with the help of blockchain technology, and it has even achieved the presumption of judicial validity, in which it can be said that blockchain technology has deeply changed the ecology of traditional electronic data. However, the general use of blockchain electronic evidence in the future may bring problems such as over-exaggerating the probative power of blockchain evidence, the uneven standards of third-party platforms, and the increasing severity of the “original malice” of the evidence before the chain. Therefore, while we appreciate the convenience and efficiency brought by blockchain technology, we should still face the problems that may be brought by the change rationally. The parties who wish to prove the facts of the case through blockchain evidence in the future should actively make pre-trial preparations with relevant regulations to ensure that the legality and authenticity of blockchain evidence can be recognized by the court; and the blockchain technology companies who intend to enter the field of judicial depository should pay more attention to the relevant compliance and criminal risks.
This article is the theoretical research of Sara’s team, not as investment advice or legislative advice, welcome to leave a message to discuss. The above is today’s share, thanks to the readers!
Posted by:CoinYuppie，Reprinted with attribution to:https://coinyuppie.com/how-should-blockchain-evidence-be-used-in-practice/
Coinyuppie is an open information publishing platform, all information provided is not related to the views and positions of coinyuppie, and does not constitute any investment and financial advice. Users are expected to carefully screen and prevent risks. | https://coinyuppie.com/how-should-blockchain-evidence-be-used-in-practice/ |
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According to the Personal Data Act (523/1999) private and sensitive information can be collected from study subjects to research purposes only if written informed concent has been unambigiously given by study subject. A Description of the Scientific Research Data File form must be completed for all clinical trials with medicinal products conducted in Finland. The description includes detailed information about the study to the trial subject and must be available for every subject. The Notification to the Data Protection Ombudsman letter and the Notification of Transfer of Personnel Data outside the EU or EEA form must be completed and submitted to the Data Protection Ombudsman ahead of time, latest 30 days before collecting and saving the data at issue.
All subjects participating in clinical trials must be informed about the intended use of information and data about them. Participants, as patients, are entitled to access the information and data collected about them. Subjects participating in clinical trials in Finland must provide written informed consent stating explicitly the right of the regulatory authorities and sponsors’ representatives to check and verify the data. At the same time the subject may also consent to the transfer of the data to other countries including non-EU/EEA states.
Finnish medical authorities have the right to check and verify the authenticity of the research data during and after the trial by comparing participants’ patient records to the research data based on their jurisdiction (Regulation 1/2007, updated version 2/2012). If foreign regulatory authorities intend to inspect the study site and study documentation, the sponsor has to inform Fimea about the planned inspection in writing within 7 days of receiving this information. Sponsor’s representatives can also check and verify the authenticity of study documentation by comparing participants’ patient records to the recorded research data. Verifications done by other than Finnish medical authorities happen under the supervision and at the responsibility of the investigator responsible for the trial. | https://www.clinicaltrialsfinland.com/research-process/clinical-trials-with-medicinal-products/data-protection/ |
General practitioners (GPs) and nurse practitioners are authorized to issue a medical certificate for patients who require some time off work or school due to an illness or injury. It is also used to attest to the result of a patient’s medical examination for further verification. Because of this, it’s important to write them correctly.Read on to know more about medical certificates such as how to issue and make one.
1. Patient Information: In addition to the patient’s general information (name, age, gender, etc.), this may also indicate a person’s employee number, company name, and business address.
2. Purpose of Issuing: A medical certificate may be issued for a variety of reasons. It can be used as a sick note to prove that the patient was legitimately absent because of the stated illness or injury, or to show that the patient meets physical and medical standards to perform a particular activity or job.
3. Doctor’s Note: The physician or dentist may have additional information that he or she would like to communicate through the certificate. Similar to a dental note, this can be used as a reference for future appointments and to clarify any concerns regarding the patient’s present condition.
4. Signature: To verify the authenticity of the medical certificate, the document must contain the signature of the practitioner responsible for issuing it. The name of the examiner must also be indicated right below it.
There have been many fake medical certificates circulating the Internet in recent years. In several cases, people have managed to get away with a fake or altered copy of the document to excuse themselves from work or school. This is an alarming issue that medical professionals must address by following the proper procedure when issuing these certificates.
Take the time to get to know the patient. Find out what their working conditions are like, whether there are tasks they’ll be able to do despite their current health condition, and how long they’ll need to be off work. The information gathered from the assessment would usually depend on the main purpose of the medical certificate.
2. Determine when the patient can get back to work.
3. Gather the necessary information to create the certificate.
Make sure the document contains vital information regarding the patient and his or her present condition. This should be brief yet detailed enough to keep readers informed. It must also reflect the results generated from a medical examination that the patient has undergone prior to when the certificate was issued.
Once the certificate has been completed, always remember to sign it. Official documents that are unsigned may not be accepted by the organization you are submitting it to, as this is likely to raise several concerns on its legitimacy. In some instances, the patient may also be asked to sign the document along with the examiner.
1. Observe the proper practice of issuing valid medical certificates. Medical certificates should be issued appropriately, which means you must only provide one to a patient if there is a need to do so. Otherwise, this unethical and illegal behavior may be subjected to disciplinary action from a regulatory body.
2. Be sure that the document is supported. Like other types of certificates, the medical document must be defended by credible notes, relevant investigations and referrals, or even opinions from other health professionals in the field.
4. Do not include private health information diagnosis unless necessary. Unless the document is entailed by a statutory scheme, refrain from including confidential health information about the patient in the certificate.
5. Keep the content of the certificate limited. In connection to what was previously mentioned, the content of the medical certificate should be limited to the fact that the patient is unwell, unfit to work, and how long they are advised to rest.
How can I make a medical certificate?
What is the purpose of a medical certificate?
Medical certificates are often required for employees to obtain certain health benefits from their respective employers, particularly in terms of insurance claims, tax purposes, and other legal procedures. This may also be used to certify that someone is free of a contagious disease, drug addiction, or mental illness, especially when applying for a job.
Why is a medical certificate important?
A medical certificate is a written statement issued by a qualified healthcare provider which is used to verify the results of a patient’s medical examination. This also serves as evidence of one’s health condition to excuse a student’s or employee’s absence from class or work for reasons of illness. Without the certificate, certain privileges and benefits may not be obtained by the individual.You may also see modern certificate examples.
Never forget your clinical, ethical, and legal responsibilities when it comes to providing a medical certificate to patients. With the help of these guidelines, templates, and examples, you can develop a professional medical certificate in no time! | https://www.examples.com/business/medical-certificates.html |
Tax File Declaration Form 2022 Pdf – The Declaration Form is a legally legal requirement for anyone who is looking for employment as rehabilitation offenders. This form must list all income and expenses related to the employee’s rehabilitation and must include specific information. The declaration must also include the name of the employee as well as the date of birth. The applicant must also indicate the reasons behind the choice to enter the field. The employee is required to complete the form every year. The information contained on the form must be specific and must be listed chronologically.
The Tax File Declaration Form 2022 Pdf contains factual information that relates to the context. The form may be presented in grid or paragraph format. The applicant must complete the Declaration Form to submit it to the appropriate authority. The form may be designed as one piece of info, or in a summary grid. The date when the declaration form has been filed is indicated in the year it was filed. In certain situations, respondents are required to include a proof of identity card to the form.
A Declaration Form is often used in the context of government to confirm the authenticity of the candidate. It allows people to make educated decisions regarding the suitability of the candidate for a job role. The form can also be used to conduct the verification of two factors. It is able to be filled out by anyone, even without the presence of a person who can verify that no one has lied about the identity of the person applying. However an official Declaration Form must be signed prior to its submission to be taken into the hands of a government agency.
The Declaration Form is an important legal document that provides the person’s medical history. It is possible to use a Declaration Form for any reason. It can be needed in order to sign up for a school event or job or for traveling to an overseas country. The declaration form also functions as an authorization document to the person who is responding to specific duties. This Declaration Form is crafted in compliance with the regulations of law. Depending on the situation, it could require additional information or documents.
It is the Declaration Form is an important document for an individual to fill out to gain the protection in their rights. It is legal documents that are required by the government for the individual to be allowed to work in the country. It is essential that a person has an Declaration form as a legal document to prove his or her citizenship. The form is to be completed as per local law. This is an official form demanded by the courts.
Tax File Declaration Form 2022 Pdf is legally binding document that a person must complete before they are legally able to be an elected or appointed political office. This form requires the publication of personal data. It could also be necessary in order to gain the security of their citizenship. A Declaration form should be honest. It is an essential legal document for those who want to become politicians. The purpose of a Declaration form is provide the protection of a country. | https://declarationform.net/tax-file-declaration-form-2022-pdf/ |
The process used to manage authenticity of student work in external assessments is dependant on how the standard is assessed.
1. In timetabled external exam sessions NZQA supervisors manage identified authenticity issues.
2. In external assessments where teachers mark the students work then send a sample to NZQA for verification (eg L1 Visual Art, MCAT, Cook Islands Maori), the school must use its own policies on authenticity and breaches to investigate any possible issues and the outcome where a breach is found. The 2014 Principal’s Nominee seminar provided information to help schools with this.
3. In the following non-examination external assessments where all submissions are sent to NZQA for marking:
- Scholarship Dance, Drama, Music, DVC, Technology, Visual Arts and NCEA DVC and Technology
- NCEA Level 3 Education for Sustainability, and Level 3 Visual Arts
Where the school identifies a possible authenticity breach, NZQA investigates and decides the outcome.
For these non-examination externals, candidates may submit work for assessment even if the teacher does not verify that it is authentic. Where the teacher and the PN do not verify the authenticity of a candidate’s work they must:
- inform the candidate(s) that the school is going to report a possible breach of authenticity to NZQA
- complete the External Assessment Submission Possible Authenticity Breach Report as either handwritten (DOC, 75KB) or electronic (DOCX, 50KB) submissions
- post the report to Breaches, Level 15, NZQA, PO Box 160, Wellington 6140 or email to [email protected].
For 2014, this is a change of process for all of the above subjects.
Authenticity requirements for non-examination external assessment also provides advice and guidance.
Experience shows that effective authenticity processes are those where teachers
- actively teach students about the expectations of authentic work for the specific standard, including referencing etc.
- provide students with written information about authenticity expectations and timelines for production of the work
- set checkpoints to view work in production
- document where students meet checkpoints
- write to students and parents where checkpoints are not met advising that this means the school may not be able to verify the authenticity of the work
- ensure students understand the implications of signing the authenticity declaration
- complete the process well before the submission date.
When NZQA receives a Possible Authenticity Breach Report from a school, we carry out an investigation. This includes providing the candidate with a copy of the school's report. | https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/ncea-rules-and-procedures/authenticity-processes-for-externally-assessed-standards/ |
Free Tips On How To Compose A Great Persuasive Response Essay
The best persuasive responsive essays are the ones that are able to change the reader’s minds in support of its basic argument - through the use of logical reasoning and presentation of facts.
What is the purpose of a persuasive response paper?
- A persuasive paper functions in the same way as an argumentative essay Its basic purpose is to support or argue against a concept, theme, theory, event or for that matter any given subject
- As mentioned above, a persuasive response writing is successful when it has been able to convince the reader at least to some extent of the argument that it proposes.
How to write a great one?
- The first and most important thing to remember regarding writing such a paper is to supply the writing with enough factual evidence and references as possible. This is the best way to convince a reader of the authenticity of your argument. Just writing about your opinion on the matter isn’t good enough to convince someone; they should be given hard facts and logical reasoning in support of the theory.
- It is also not good enough to only prove your own argument; you should also provide enough basis and evidence on disproving the opposing theory or argument. This is another good way to ensure that the reader remains on your side.
- The main forms of evidence that you can use in this kind of writing are - Facts, Quotes, Statistics and examples. If you are able to use these tools effectively and in a way that they support your argument - most of your work towards using logical reasoning is taken care of.
- Researching the topic is as important as knowing enough about the subject to write about. If you want to write a great paper, it is not enough to simply use your own personal knowledge on the subject. You should be prepared to conduct a certain amount of research so you can gain evidence and examples and direct quotations to use to prove your theory and disapprove an opposing one.
Besides the above points, writing a good paper also means that you should adhere to the structural and format rules that have been set. Judging your audience and the typical reader of your paper will also come in handy. Most of all, using a clear and strong writing style will add authenticity to your writing and your paper. | http://chameleonschools.org/effective-guide-to-composing-a-persuasive-response-essay |
I had the pleasure of serving as a committee member for this year’s PLDI Artifact Evaluation Process. After reading Lindsey Kuper’s post from the author’s point of view, I thought I’d say a little about my perspective from the other side. I had a lot of fun doing this, and it’s exciting to think about the implications for our field as artifact evaluation becomes a more common thing at conferences.
The biggest challenge for me was deciding what are the expectations for a high quality artifact. Artifact evaluation is still quite new and many of us have not seen many if any artifacts from other papers, meaning we don’t have a clear set of expectations as a community. With papers, on the other hand, things are clearer. We’ve read our share of good and bad papers, and as a reviewer we generally know that we expect the paper to make claims about a clearly motivated problem and provide sufficient evidence that their solution works. We expect papers to be well-written, although as long as grammatical issues do not seriously hamper understanding the paper, we are pretty forgiving about this.
In the context of artifacts, I was interested first of all in whether I could run the software and verify that it does what the paper claims it does. Secondly, I wanted to see whether I felt I could use the code as a starting point if I were to try to do more research built on the claims of the paper.
The second point, especially, challenges the common practice for research code. Research code is notorious for being duct taped and hacked together at the last minute in order to run just barely well enough to generate the graphs in the paper. In one of my early projects as a grad student, our system involved S-Expressions embedded in C++ code, with a Python script to extract them, run them through a compiler written in Scheme and then stitch the generated C++ code back into the original program. As far as I know, the only programs that ran were the benchmarks in our paper. Even worse, there wasn’t a single SVN revision that worked. You’d need some files from one revision, and other files from another revision, depending on which compiler features you wanted to enable. This is exactly the kind of horror that drove Matt Might to create the CRAPL.
This is also a challenge to artifact evaluation. On the one hand, research is about doing whatever is necessary to prove a concept. We should not expect research code to be Version 1.0 production quality. On the other hand, research is about repeatability and being able to build off previous results. In the project I just mentioned, three days after the paper deadline, I had forgotten with magic combination of SVN revisions to make the code work. If I couldn’t remember how to run my own software, how could I expect anyone else to? This is one of the reasons that we started building an extensive test suite at the very beginning and tried to make the zero-to-tests-running process as simple as possible.
One issue that Lindsey mentioned in her post was that her paper (and several others) relied on some commercial software that they could not redistribute. This creates more tension as a reviewer, because while researchers should be allowed and even encouraged to use whatever tools help them get better results faster, the fact is this also makes it harder for me do evaluate their work. Fortunately, many of us in the research community are part of institutions that have licenses to a variety of software, meaning at least one of the reviewers likely has the necessary software. In spite of these challenges, I don’t want us to get to a place where there is de facto requirement that all research code must be built only with GPL software.
I’ll close with a list of things that I found really helpful in the artifacts I saw.
Provide a virtual machine. Most projects will have a good number of dependencies. The easiest way for me to get the configuration right is to give me a virtual machine image. A really nice VM will boot up to a screen that makes it really obvious what to do next, like a terminal with a welcome message telling me what program to run to repeat the experiment. This makes it easy for me to verify that there does exist software that does what the paper says it does.
Put READMEs in every directory. Each directory should have a README that says what I should be looking for in this directory, and what I can find in each of the subdirectories. If you release your code through GitHub, GitHub makes these READMEs look really nice in their web interface.
Give me a way to install the software on my own machine. While the VM is great for letting me make sure the software actually runs, I’m not going to want to do all my development in a VM if I chose to build off your work. GitHub repos are a great way to do this. Be sure to include a list of dependencies in the README, particularly when specific versions are needed.
Include a script to generate the results in the paper. Running each of the experiments and looking at the results can be a pretty tedious process. If you can completely automate this, my job (and your own, as an author) gets a lot easier. I just have to start the script and when it’s all done I can see whether the graphs I ended up with look roughly the same as the ones in the paper.
With the exception of creating a virtual machine, these suggestions not only make the artifact evaluator’s job easier, they also make conducting research easier. READMEs and an easy way to install the software will help bring new people onboard the project. Being able to automatically regenerate all the graphs in a paper makes it easy to quickly see the impact of changes in your software. It may seem like a lot of time at first, I’m convinced doing this early will more than make up for it in the long run. | https://blog.theincredibleholk.org/blog/2014/04/02/on-being-an-artifact-evaluator/ |
Before returning to Thailand, Emma tries to connect with Maude over old family photos. An argument over the provenance of an unearthed leather jacket causes Maude to reveal her true intentions behind selling the house.
Toby wants to help Emma relax and is entrusted with the repair of the back fence – but as he attempts to avoid the unfolding family drama about the sale of the house he begins to wonder if maybe Adelaide is where he belongs.
Cleo enlists Maude to prepare for a magic show and are interrupted by the surprise arrival of Geoff, Maude’s estranged husband. Cleo relishes the opportunity of a captive audience but fails to understand the risk of letting this man in.
The siblings battle disbelief and exhaustion as they attempt to fulfill the impossible wishes of their mother. They stumble over each other to prepare a nice speech about Maude while Cleo just wants a moment to give her something. | https://watch.topic.com/videos/fing-adelaide-season-1-emma-loves-leather |
Common Law Affidavit Form Ontario – Affidavits are legal documents that have to be signed by oath and under risk of perjury. These forms serve to confirm insurance coverage or reference letters. The main parts of an affidavit include an affidavit’s title, body and the signature section. The person who is affidaviting is the person signing the document. The person must also indicate additional parties to the document, such as their names, addresses and telephone numbers.
The Common Law Affidavit Form Ontario is a legal document that states an actual fact. A statement of facts explains a fact that is legally significant. The statement of fact should be presented in chronological order. It also must include an overview of the person who wrote it. The date when the document was signed by the affiant must be mentioned. Additional documents can be attached to the form by leaving a blank space at its bottom.
About Common Law Affidavit Form Ontario
In an affidavitor affidavit form, the one who is affiliating should state the facts of the matter. The person who gave the statement should be listed in chronological order. An affiant should give brief details about the person who was the one to make the declaration. The affiant should include the date on which he or has taken the oath. The court may also require the holder to mention the name of the person who signed the document.
Download Common Law Affidavit Form Ontario
The Affidavit needs to be customized to the particular situation. It is essential to provide proof that the person signing an affidavit actually is who they claim to be. It is vital to include the legal name of the person signing the affidavit. This assists the court in recognizing the authenticity of the individual. In addition to the legal name, the Affidavit must be filed with a date.
Affidavits are an important document which allows the affiant to state the facts about his or her life. Generally, it is composed of the full legal name address, contact information, as well as other personal details. It should be concise and easy-to-read statements of fact. The affiant should refer to himself or herself using the word “I” throughout the document. The affiant should also put the date and time in the document.
Affidavits are essential documents that are used in many different situations. They are utilized for personal and professional reasons and can be used in many ways. However, they’re not an alternative to legal counsel. They must be written with care however, not to the point that they become a burden. Affidavits do not serve as an equivalent to an actual court. It is crucial to validate the authenticity of a document under both personal and legal circumstances.
Affidavits are described as an affidavit that is written and sworn. It is often used in court proceedings , or in non-court transactions. An affidavit can be utilized to verify statements based on the specific circumstances. If a divorce is in progress an affiant is not required to be present to witness in person. Alternatively, an affidavit can be utilized in divorce proceedings. | https://www.printableform.net/common-law-affidavit-form-ontario/ |
Literacy Improvement Pre-K–5
In a typical elementary classroom, students' skills can often vary by five or six grade levels, presenting a challenge for teachers striving to differentiate instruction. Lexia’s goal is to empower teachers with technology to individualize learning paths for each student, and provides educators with the necessary progress monitoring data and resources to prioritize and plan teacher-led instruction.
Core5's Personalized Learning Model
Core5's Personalized Learning Model
Lexia Reading Core5 is designed to support students of every need in grades Pre-K–5. Core5 supports independent, student-driven learning by adapting and scaffolding based on student responses. The program’s embedded assessment gives teachers access to real-time, norm-referenced and criterion-referenced data from every student interaction, fueling customized lesson plans based on each student's needs. To connect data to classroom instruction, Core5 provides offline resources for targeted, small-group instruction, in addition to paper-and-pencil activities to reinforce mastered skills.
Why Lexia Reading Core5? | https://www.lexialearning.com/node/74 |
This article looks at the overall effectiveness criteria and how types of provision will be inspected. The information on overall effectiveness and types of provision is found in Part 2 of the FE & Skills Inspection Handbook and guidance includes the Education Inspection Framework (EIF). Part 2 of the handbook clearly explains the evaluation schedule for inspection, that is the assessment criteria against which Colleges will be judged.
I feel the whole framework is now more student centred and overall effectiveness is focused on ‘What it’s like to be a learner at your College’, data is taking a back seat. Although good to remember data monitoring and analysis is still critical when looking at types of provision as it is one aspect of the evidence used to inform Ofsted’s risk assessment, that is when and why they decide to schedule a visit. Prudent and targeted monitoring of in year data is also useful in ensuring there are no gaps and that students are on track to reach or exceed their individual targets.
Although there will be some meetings the handbook suggests inspectors are intending to spend more time talking to students and staff along with parents/carers, employers and relevant bodies within the wider community. This means that supporting these groups of people to be inspection ready is critical to success. Ofsted will expect learners and staff to complete the Ofsted questionnaires at the point of inspection along with parents/carer and employers completing their own questionnaires. Scoping views and hearing about what actions leaders and managers have taken in response to ongoing feedback seems to feature large in informing judgements.
Anything you read in italics is my own view or interpretation otherwise I have taken the information in this article directly from the new Ofsted Further Education and Skills Inspection Handbook, published in July 2019, reference 190021.
The same 4-point scale remains: Outstanding (Grade 1), Good (Grade 2), Requires Improvement (Grade 3) and Inadequate (Grade 4). Inspectors will consider if the provision is Good (2) or whether it exceeds Good (2) and is therefore Outstanding (1). If provision is not Good (2) inspectors will consider if the provision requires improvement (3) or is inadequate (4).
Inspectors are looking at:
College Overall Effectiveness Grades (founded on what’s it like to be a learner at your College)
Where there are differences in grades given for a type of provision, inspectors will consider the following when awarding a grade for overall effectiveness
Outstanding (1) - All provision and key judgement grades are outstanding, or by exception if one is good there is evidence of provision rapidly improving.
Good (2) - All provision and key judgement grades are good with some outstanding, or by exception there may be on type of provision which requires improvement, there needs to be convincing evidence of this provision rapidly improving.
Requires Improvement (3) – other than by exceptional circumstances, it is likely that, where the provider requires improvement in any of the key judgements, the provider’s overall effectiveness will require improvement
Inadequate (4) – overall effectiveness is likely to inadequate when one key judgement is inadequate, or safeguarding is ineffective.
There is always a safeguarding Judgement when Ofsted visit – the judgement is effective or not effective – inspectors are looking to see if arrangements for safeguarding are appropriate and effective for all types of provision. Inspectors will make a written judgement on safeguarding in the Key Judgement on Leadership and Management.
Types of provision
Apprenticeships – inspectors will be focused on “how well leaders and managers ensure that the apprenticeship curriculum meets the principles and requirements of an apprenticeship”. Inspectors will be interested in evidence which shows “the extent”, that is how effectively staff engage with employers to; complete the apprenticeship commitment statement, plan initial assessment, reviews and milestones, agree any additional qualification to be included and monitor and support apprentices including those with SEND and those with high needs to progress QUICKLY, gain new knowledge, skills and behaviours and achieve their FULL potential. Stretch and challenge is an intrinsic part of apprenticeship training alongside how well teachers, trainers and coaches share up to date technical knowledge and then how well apprentices can use their knowledge and skills to contribute to their workplace gaining promotion or gaining and sustaining employment. Inspectors will consider arrangement for the Safeguarding of young people and vulnerable learners
Notes on Education Programmes for Young People (EPYP) - inspectors are interested in
Inspectors will look at how well governors, managers and leaders use high needs funding to provide an individualised and challenging programme of study (totally tailored) which enables individuals to: develop their independence, improve their communication skills, make relevant personal choices and decision and prepare them for adult life. Your local offer must be publicised. Safeguarding is a key element. Inspectors are interested in:
Thanks so much for reading, please email [email protected] with your thoughts or feedback or use LinkedIn. Hope you and your students have a fantastic start to the year. Wendy
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. | https://www.yellowgooseleadership.co.uk/articles/overall-effectiveness-and-types-of-provision-in-the-new-eif |
Personalized Learning helps Students with Special Needs catching up after School Shutdowns
When the COVID-19 pandemic first began, it placed an enormous strain on schools across the country. School administrators and educators had to make a sudden shift to remote learning, turning homes into makeshift classrooms. Despite trying to make the best of the situation, research studies show that the prolonged period of school disruption and remote learning have led to little or no progress of students wil learning disabilities. Even as schools now have reopened, it takes time to reverse the damage and get the nation’s children back on a sound educational footing.
For students with disabilities, the hardships they’ve encountered during this time have been especially heavy. Cut off from their usual routines, services and interventions, many have regressed in their learning and development. Both the parents and guardians of these children have also been having a tough time, rarely getting the services they are entitled to and often having to juggle the needs of caring for a disabled child with their other personal and professional responsibilities. What are schools doing to help these children and parents?
Returning to school
In 2019-20, there were 7.3 million students who qualified to receive special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). In a normal year, these students would have been entitled to a free evaluation and assessment, the creation of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), and access to special education services in a non-restrictive environment. Sadly, many of these children did not receive all the quality of the services they were entitled to. Some didn’t receive any help at all for some period.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, almost overnight, schools everywhere had to make this sudden switch, which often necessitated changing their special education programs. The results have been especially dire for those students that require a hands-on or face-to-face approach or specialized equipment that isn’t available at home. Issues were further exacerbated by school staff relocations, understaffing, etc.
While some students with disabilities thrived during remote learning, many anecdotal media reports suggest that many more struggled and now show signs of regression. Those services that were provided often had a negative impact during the pandemic.
The worst of the pandemic now seems to be behind us. Many schools have already been operating in a quite "traditional" mode. However, there is still a lot of debate about what schools can do to help their special needs students that have fallen behind. For a lot of parents, their biggest worry is about whether their children will receive evaluation and monitoring to assess their current state.
It’s a very difficult situation for school administrators, who must organize a full return to school for all students while also ensuring their special needs students get all the care they are entitled to.
How Technology Might Be the Answer
One solution that many schools are turning to is the use of Assistive Technology (AT) to make up for their understaffing issues. With each passing year, we're seeing more and more schools adopt technology for use in the classroom. For PreK-5 students, Kinems provides the answer through a full range of multisensory education games for use in both the home and the classroom. Available through a wide range of media formats including tablets, laptops, digital cards, board games, and movement stations, Kinems platform exists to provide educators and therapists with the tools they need to offer personalized activities for both individual students and groups.
These activities go beyond academics by also providing physical exercises to improve things such as motor perception, eye-hand coordination, response inhibition, bilateral coordination and balance, memory focus, and many more.
In addition, Kinems program also allows educators to easily assess, track, and review the development of their special needs students through printable worksheets. All of this is achieved through a five-step process.
Step 1: Based on the stated IEP goals and individual needs of each child, educators can easily choose the correct games for their needs. Each game is made to be highly stimulating and personalized, allowing for better engagement, retention, and performance.
Step 2: While each student is engaged in their activities, educators will receive real-time reports to monitor the student’s progression. This is especially useful for tracking movement-based activities.
Step 3: On gathering these data reports, educators can then fine-tune the difficulty level of the academic and body activities to aid students in reaching their IEP goals.
Step 4: All data can then be exported for each student to share with their parents and guidance counselors. This way, everyone stays in the loop.
Step 5: Using a completely online approach, parents and guardians can quickly access their child’s data at any time from anywhere using the web. It really couldn’t be more simple.
While schools were closed during the worst of the pandemic, Kinems platform has been supporting many of them through its innovative approach to remote learning. One research study, that tested the effective use of Kinems platform through video-conferencing and online leaning, found that it had a positive impact on the students who participated. Other peer-reviewed studies by scientists in the U.S. and Europe also found that the use of Kinems platform led to increased academic performance, cognitive abilities, and motor skills for students.
Final Thoughts
Schools will find the funds they need to hire more staff, purchase assistive technologies and get their special education programs back on track. The last year can, unfortunately, not be turned back. But hopefully, by using solutions including the Kinems embodied learning platform, parents and educators can immediately assess where their child is in their development and start offering the personalized intervention needed to get them back on track. | https://blog.kinems.com/students-with-special-needs-are-catching-up-after-school-shutdowns/ |
eAssessment for student learning: short free-text questions with tailored feedbackSally Jordan University of Chester Staff Conference, 2nd May 2008 Centre for Open Learning of Mathematics, Science Computing and Technology (COLMSCT)
My plan • Introduction to the Open University and the Open University CETLs; • What is assessment for? • How and why I became involved in eAssessment • Our questions – demonstration • Our evaluation • Your turn – try writing a suitable question in your own subject area • Discussion of possibilities and limitations • Assessment for learning; learning from assessment?
The Open University • Supported distance learning; • 150,000 students, mostly studying part-time; • Undergraduate courses are completely open entry, so students have a wide range of previous qualifications; • Normal age range from 18 to ?? • 10,000 of our students have declared a disability of some sort; • 25,000 of our students live outside the UK.
OpenCETL An informal grouping of four Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning: • Personalised Integrated Learning Support Centre (PILS); • Practice Based Professional Learning CETL (PBBL); • Physics Innovations CETL (piCETL) – joint with the universities of Reading and Leicester; • Centre for the Open Learning of Mathematics, Science, Computing and Technology (COLMSCT).
COLMSCT Working primarily in three areas: • Online experimentation; • eLearning communities and identities; • Assessment. The E-Assessment for Learning Initiative aims to bridge the gap between academic aspirations and systems development. It supports 15 sub-projects from across the University. In each, academic staff undertake innovative e-assessment implementation projects within their own course context in order to explore and inform future development and pedagogy.
What is assessment for? • grading • teaching and learning • self reflection • engaging/pacing Summative (Assessment of learning) or Formative (Assessment for learning)
The Formative Assessment in Science Teaching (FAST) Project Gibbs and Simpson identified 11 conditions under which assessment supports student learning. (Gibbs, G and Simpson, C (2004) Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning. Learning and teaching in higher education, Issue 1, pp3-31) 3 of the conditions relating to pacing and 4 of those relating to feedback underpin our work.
FAST conditions - pacing • Condition 1: Sufficient assessed tasks are provided for students to capture sufficient study time. • Condition 2: These tasks are engaged with by students, orienting them to allocated appropriate amounts of time and effort to the most important aspects of the course. • Condition 3: Tackling the assessed task engages students in productive learning activity of an appropriate kind.
FAST conditions - feedback • Condition 4: Sufficient feedback is provided, both often enough and in enough detail. • Condition 6: The feedback is timely in that it is received by students while it still matters to them and in time for them to pay attention to further learning or receive further assistance. • Condition 9: Feedback is received and attended to. • Condition 10: Feedback is acted upon by the student.
Feedback matters! • Within the Open University context, learners are geographically separated and we cannot assume that they will meet their tutor in order to receive feedback. Feedback on assignments therefore has an important teaching and learning function. • We are seeking to provide students with feedback which is personalised and received in time to be used in future learning and assessment tasks.
S104 : Exploring Science • A new interdisciplinary science course for students entering undergraduate study; • Students have a wide ranges of previous study backgrounds (open entry); • 60 CATs points, spread over 9 months; • We want to help students keep up to date in their studies; • Assessment aims to drive student engagement with the learning process; • Frequent small assessment tasks to help students monitor their own progress.
Interactive online assessment • So we are using regular iCMAs (interactive computer marked assignments) with tailored feedback (alongside conventional tutor marked assignments, marked against learning outcomes); • The iCMAs marks count towards the course score (but they are low stakes – 20% of overall score), so students are motivated to tackle them. However their primary function is to provide pacing and immediate feedback. • Assessment is both summative and formative.
The OpenMark system • Uses a range of question types, going far beyond what is possible with multiple choice; • Question types include: • Numerical input • Text input • Drag and drop • Hotspot • Students are allowed three attempts with an increasing amount of teaching guidance, wherever possible tailored to the student’s previous incorrect answer; • Different students receive variants of each question so each has a unique assignment. Demonstration
The OpenMark system • Is being used by a number of courses across the university in summative, purely formative and diagnostic use; • Underpins most of the projects in the COLMSCT ‘E-assessment for learning initiative’; • Has good accessibility features; • In purely formative use the different variants of each question provide students with extra practice; • OpenMark has been incorporated into Moodle, the open source virtual learning environment being used by the OU.
Questions for S104 : Exploring science • We want to be able to ask questions that require free text answers of a phrase or sentence in length; • We are working with a commercially provided authoring tool (from Intelligent Assessment Technologies); • Student responses are being used to refine the questions; • We are providing targeted feedback on incorrect and incomplete answers.
Short answer questions • We want to mark many different answers as correct; • ..but we want to mark incorrect answers as incorrect; • The fact that the software is linguistically based means that it recognises ‘dog bites man’ as different from ‘man bites dog’; • It copes well with poor spelling and, usually, with poor grammar. • Demonstration
Evaluation 1:User lab observations • Six students were observed in June 2007; • They reacted to the free-text questions in interesting ways e.g. because they thought we were just looking for keywords, some tried to ‘help’ the computer by giving answers in note form; one of the students appeared to ‘brain dump’; • Use made of the feedback provided was also variable; one student said he found it useful but clearly didn’t use it; others read the feedback carefully, checked things in their course book, and altered their response successfully.
Evaluation 2:Human-computer marking comparison • The computer marking was compared with that of 6 human markers; • For most questions the computer’s marking was indistinguishable from that of the human markers; • For all questions, the computer’s marking was closer to that of the question author than that of some of the human markers; • The computer was not always ‘right’, but neither were the human markers.
Writing questions:Our choice of software • We were looking for software to mark the content of short free-text questions; • This is characteristically different from systems which mark essay-writing, from systems which mark essays and from systems which ‘pre-group’ answers for human marking; • We chose the IAT software because it had an authoring tool that I stood a chance of learning how to use; • The software is based on the Natural Language Processing technique of ‘Information Extraction’.
Writing questions:The IAT software • incorporates a number of processing modules aimed at providing robust marking in the face of errors of spelling and grammar; • represents mark schemes as templates; • synonyms can be added and verbs are usually lemmatised.
Writing questions:what makes a good question? • Answers that are difficult to parse include those that are very long and those in note form. • Questions have to be quite tightly constrained e.g. ‘You are handed a rock specimen that consists of interlocking crystals. How would you decide, from its appearance, whether it is an igneous or a metamorphic rock?’ has become ‘You are handed a rock specimen that consists of interlocking crystals. How could you be sure, from its appearance, that this was a metamorphic rock?’
Writing questions:Have a go! Either Have a go at writing a question (or two) in your own discipline that could be marked in this way (remember to think about what correct and incorrect answers students are likely to give. What targeted feedback would you like to give?) Or Think about the answer matching for the ‘Alice’ question on the handout. What correct and incorrect responses can you think of? What keywords are important in these answers? What targeted feedback would you give?
Discussion • Could you use questions like this in your teaching? • What would the advantages be? • What are the limitations? • What’s stopping you?
OpenMark – some other developments • OpenMark is being incorporated into Moodle, and Moodle Gradebook enables tutors to ‘replay’ the questions each student has received and to view their responses; • New question types are being developed (OpenMark examples site) • OpenMark is being used in interesting ways on various courses (mostly for purely formative use) e.g. • Feedback on course learning outcomes • Clinical decision making
Assessment for learning: learning from assessment? • We have records of student answers (used for Award Board decisions for borderline cases); • We can analyse these answers on a question by question basis. What are the common misconceptions? • The evidence is stronger when the assessment is summative and not multiple choice.
Analysis of responses from ‘Maths for Science’ questions: Science students’ mathematical misconceptions • e.g. students have problems with units; • Detailed analysis revealed that this is frequently because they do not know how to divide by a fraction; • Some of the findings have been expected, some have been surprising; • But the evidence is indisputable!
What do we do with what we have learnt? Alter the assessment tasks: • make the questions clear; • improve the feedback; • sometimes don’t ask that question! Improve our teaching.
Acknowledgments • The Centre for Open Learning of Mathematics, Science, Computing and Technology (COLMSCT) especially Barbara Brockbank, Phil Butcher and Laura Hills; Tim Hunt (LTS) • Tom Mitchell of Intelligent Assessment Technologies Ltd. | https://fr.slideserve.com/libitha/eassessment-for-student-learning-short-free-text-questions |
In order to deliver personalized education, districts have to gather and share students' statistics. Here's how the strategic use of data can boost teaching and learning.
When it seems like every week brings news of a massive theft of consumers' private information, "data" is in danger of becoming a
four-letter word. But if districts want to provide truly personalized education, gathering and sharing certain types of student data is
absolutely necessary. According to Patricia Cotter, a veteran entrepreneur who recently completed her doctorate in work-based learning at the
University of Pennsylvania, "Recent technologies like big data, the Internet of Things,
mobile apps and improved storage have made it possible to acquire, combine, store, analyze, interpret and report findings during any phase of
data management."
Taking a break from the business world, Cotter has recently trained her keen eye on education, where she said she sees a renaissance in data
collection "The data repositories residing in disconnected, fragmented departments with little sharing have now been transformed into
centralized, interrelated data systems to enable fast and efficient retrieval of interrelated data for quick and informed decision-making,"
she said. Here are some examples of how getting the right information to the right people at the right time can inspire teachers and students
to do their best work.
Instant Feedback for Students and Parents
Classrooms usually have a wide range of academic levels, and nowhere is that more true than combination classes such as the one headed by
Lisa Wilson, a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at Arroyo Seco Elementary School in
Livermore, CA. With two grade levels in the same room, Wilson individualizes the mathematics curriculum using
TenMarks Math, which allows her to customize assignments for each student.
Students use the TenMarks online tool, which is essentially an interactive workbook. Wilson, a 24-year teaching veteran and technology lead
teacher at her school, explained, "I get percentages and scores on the different standards they work on." She can see which students are not
passing a given standard, "then I pull those students for intervention that same day."
The crucial element of timeliness makes it easier for Wilson to avoid the slow "fall through the cracks" that affects so many students.
"They work in the morning, and I check scores at recess," she said. "After lunch I know who I need to work with in a small group. It used to
be you would only know after you gave the test and you were onto something else, and you would never catch those kids. Since I've been using
TenMarks — only since January 2015 — the number of my kids failing the math test has gone way down."
For intense practice in math facts, Wilson points her students toward XTraMath, a Web
program that tracks proficiency in basic facts. For example, if students keep missing "9 times 7" or "6 times 8," they get those every other
problem, and if they don't get the answer correct within a few seconds, the program will put the answer in grey scale so students have to type
it in and learn it. The program provides instant feedback, and Wilson keeps a close eye on the data, making a point to know where her students
are with math facts.
Spelling City and Moby Max
help Wilson to track spelling and vocabulary, and to collect the most familiar bits of data: grades. "My students take online spelling tests
now on Spelling City, and they wear headphones," said Wilson. "I can give students different spelling lists, and they do it on Chromebooks.
Spelling City corrects the tests and sends me the scores."
School Loop helps tie it all together by allowing Wilson to tell parents how their
kids are doing in real time. Wilson explained, "It's an electronic grade book, and parents can see the grades. They can get a daily e-mail of
how their child is doing. That cuts down a lot on questions, because it's all listed." And, she added, "It tells parents all the things their
child did not do."
Wilson's focus on using formative assessments to monitor students on an ongoing basis so that she can and address problems immediately
represents an ideal in many districts. Consistent use of formative methods has been difficult in the past, but districts around the country
are eagerly scooping up new technological approaches in an effort to make it a reality.
Formative Assessments That 'Help Students Grow'
In forward-looking districts such as Richland County School D
istrict Two (SC), Superintendent Debra W. Hamm is working hard to promote skilled use of formative assessment and real-time data for
decision-making. "We are also encouraging teachers to think beyond just assessment data," said Hamm, "and to think of various sources of
evidence of student success."
Winners of THE Journal's 10th annual Sylvia Charp Award
for district innovation in technology, Richland Two also uses the traditional data-gathering tools, such as the NWEA and Measures of Academic
Progress (MAP) assessments, at least twice a year. "This gives us a good idea of student performance, as well as growth," said Hamm. "The
reports and resources that come with it help teachers identify students who need assistance, determine skills that are already mastered and
identify logical next skills to teach."
Hamm sets the tone for the positive use of data through a commitment to continuing education throughout the district. "We provide
professional development for our teachers that combines knowledge of formative assessment with knowledge of the digital tools," she enthused.
"We expect teachers to use formative assessment to monitor individual student progress.... Among the digital tools we recommend are Google
Forms with Flubaroo, Geddit,
Socrative and Kahoot."
According to Philip D. Lanoue, the superintendent of Clarke County School District
in Athens, GA, the challenge when it comes to student data "is how do you make sense of all this data when there is so much of it." And, he
added, "Data has to constantly be formative, meaning it helps students to grow."
Using data for real-time progress monitoring and personalized learning is a major focus in Clarke County, and district leaders use
technology such as Waggle to help make it happen. "Waggle
monitors performance based on practice," said Lanoue. "Kids get asked questions in a whole bunch of ways, and if they start getting them
[answers] wrong in different ways, their proficiency monitor decreases.... Our new personalized learning model is moving to this one. If we can
create tools that monitor kids on an ongoing basis around proficiency, then I don't have to worry about pre- and post-test. I'm just going to
look at progress."
As a teacher who works with students with disabilities, Deborah L. Spence said she finds that data collection is most beneficial for reading
and math. "Through the use of the ALEKS math program, our Response to Intervention team was
able to identify the lowest-achieving students, then provide appropriately leveled instruction," said Spence, an intervention specialist in the
Autism Unit at Reynoldsburg City Schools (OH). "The program also allows students to track
their progress, parents to monitor content and teachers to identify specific areas of weakness to design individualized interventions."
In the Las Cruces Public School System (NM), Arsenio Romero also boosted reading through a program
called JUMP (Joint Ungraded Multiage Primary), a framework for personalized learning in daily instruction. "Because individualized and
differentiated instruction was to be the norm for each student in JUMP, I purchased Lexia
Reading," said Romero, now assistant superintendent for assessment and turnaround at
Roswell Independent School District (NM). "This past year, the school — as well as the
entire district — migrated to Lexia Reading Core5."
Lexia Reading provides what Romero called, "the right balance of personalized learning that is driven by a student's ability with
teacher-led instruction — all designed around the charts of data and action plans that tell us what children need, when they need it and for
how long…We mandated that our teachers log into the data reports on a daily basis, not just to view what lessons their students were on, but
more precisely, to look at the big picture and take a deep dive into every detail that the program shares."
Using Data To Connect People
For Scott J. Iler, assistant principal at Monrovia High School (CA),
mining for valuable data is a multi-pronged effort using School Loop, Illuminate and
Aeries — all of which help to form a complete picture of student performance.
According to Iler, Illuminate provides a snapshot of what students have done in their benchmark tests. "A teacher will make an assessment,
and it will have all the different Common Core strands," he explained. "Illuminate breaks down successes and failures in each strand by
student and by class. That helps teachers pinpoint their teaching or re-teaching. We use Aeries to store the demographics of our students:
contacts, discipline, counseling, interventions and their grades in a digital cumulative file."
Every student at Monrovia High School is signed up in School Loop, and information uploaded to Aeries eventually rolls over to School Loop.
Iler uses the program to track student progress for purposes of identifying areas of need, but also in situations where things are going well.
Iler explained, "A feature I really like identifies students who are trending up. It's a tracker that allows me to celebrate students on my
campus every two weeks.... Another project started with School Loop is Project Elevate. Project Elevate is a group of students in our
leadership class who are paired with students who School Loop identified as 'at risk.' For example, if a freshman was failing his core classes
in the first six weeks of the school year, he would be targeted by Project Elevate."
Robert Rayburn, principal at Cesar Chavez Elementary School in Norwalk,
CA, employs a data collection system called i-Ready to help create partnerships among his
teachers. Rayburn has been using i-Ready, which he described as a computer adaptive online learning system correlated to Common Core
standards, for the past four years.
Rayburn, who has been in education for more than three decades and has been a principal for 8 years, explained, "We're able to get almost
up-to-the-minute information on how kids are doing based on the online instructions available through the system, as well as the diagnostic
assessments and the progress monitoring assessments which are built in."
According to Rayburn, students spend about 45 minutes a day engaged in online instruction delivered by the i-Ready system, and teachers meet
once a week for 45 minutes to look at data. They choose key data points on students' growth, and collectively decide which interventions are
necessary. "It's allowed us to create a real set of professional learning communities around these common assessments," said Rayburn. "We
apply a team approach, and a really strong multi-tiered intervention program that teachers deliver in small groups. The groups are fluid based
on data that is fresh and up-to-date."
Rayburn's assessment of the assessment system? "It has been the most powerful thing I have seen in my career…. I have 100 percent buy-in
from my staff."
Getting Teachers on Board
When it comes to getting teacher buy-in for new ways to collect and use data, Deborah Spence said she believes that administrators must make
teachers a part of the decision-making process. "Most teachers are life-long learners and will eagerly accept any challenge when given the
opportunity to choose what is best for their students," said Spence. "If a data process gleans authentic results, teachers will more than
likely initiate new strategies and technological tools to meet the expectations."
Sito Narcisse, the associate superintendent of Prince George's County Public Schools
(MD), agreed. "Teachers love systems that can produce real-time data sets. Programs such as
Compass Learning for Credit Recovery,
Performance Matters and
Edusoft help with this context. These programs help to drill down to the indicator level."
Big Data and the Big Picture
Using one or more of these tools can generate plenty of raw data. But, as Patricia Cotter put it, "Data is not the problem. The problem is
getting the data to the right people so it can be used…. Data only tells part of the story, and a lot of it is basic so it doesn't provide the
insights that teachers and schools need to pinpoint teaching and learning problems and identify the best ways to solve them."
With so much raw information floating around, data security is at least a passing concern — or much more than that, depending on whom you
speak with. According to Cotter, worries about data security include the following: search engines targeting and displaying ads based on the
content of e-mails, social media targeting job applicants based on online profiles, consumer products targeting students based on buying
patterns and phishing Web sites duping students with dubious loans.
Privacy is also an ongoing issue. When it comes to parents' fears that their children's information could be stolen by malicious hackers,
though, Cesar Chavez Principal Rayburn is resolute. "Data breaches don't keep me up at night," he said. "In case of a big data breach at
i-Ready, there is no key ID for the students in there. There is no information that connects the child to an address or phone number. The good
we can do by having this data far outweighs the damage that could be done if the data were to get loose."
Today’s K-12 schools are facing increased pressure to respond to shifting demands brought on by a confluence of factors, including the rise of ransomware, the COVID-19 pandemic, and more. As a result, the need for solutions that help streamline operations, safeguard sensitive data and maximize cost efficiencies has never been so great—nor has there been such a demand for innovative remote and blended learning experiences that help bridge the divide across such a diverse population of learners.
Read more... | https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/04/01/big-data-is-not-bad-data.aspx |
Competency Education at Purdue University Global
Purdue University Global competencies [including course outcomes, General Education Literacies (GELs), Professional Competencies (PCs), and program competencies] are designed to ensure that students are learning the skills they need to succeed both in the classroom and on the job. These competencies are the building blocks of every course and degree at Purdue Global.
Foundation
Learning outcomes are informed by key external experts:
Institutional Accreditor: Several of the GELs are developed based on the core components specified by The Higher Learning Commission (HLC).
Programmatic Accreditors: Competencies are designed to meet the needs of over a dozen specialized, programmatic accreditors, such as the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).
Employer Associations: Competencies are aligned with the priorities of employers, as communicated via organizations such as the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), Business Roundtable (BRT), and the Committee for Economic Development (CED).
Design
Competencies undergo a rigorous, faculty-driven creation and revision process at Purdue Global. Educational principles are infused into the curriculum design and development process with learning outcomes, data analysis, and continuous improvement at its core. This process is detailed below.
Program Competency Design: For each program, the creation of its program competencies is a collaborative effort involving academic leadership, curriculum leadership, and a program steering committee. A cognitive task or skills analysis is conducted to determine the key knowledge, skills, and behaviors for a given field. At the same time, the needs of employers and accreditors are used both for overall guidance and to help shape the substance of competencies.
Course Outcome Design: At the course level, faculty members collaborate with the curriculum team to identify the overarching learning outcomes for the course. As with program competencies, a needs analysis is conducted to determine the key knowledge, skills, and behaviors related to the course content. Course outcomes are then written to be both measurable and performance based.
GEL and PC Design: Following a similar process as for course outcomes, the University’s GELs and PCs are created based on the needs of each discipline and discussions with leaders in the field. GEL and PC committees, comprising full-time and adjunct faculty, oversee the development of outcomes and methods to assess them.
Quality
Purdue Global is committed to quality in every area, but we are especially proud of our ability to measure, analyze, and respond to results in student learning, and to do so at a very granular level.
Faculty Oversight and Quality Assurance: The Faculty Curriculum Committee (FCC) oversees course outcomes approvals and the integration of GELs and PCs in a program. New or revised course outcome proposals are submitted to the FCC, then two FCC members assigned to each proposal ensure the quality of outcomes through a robust review process that includes several criteria, including whether each outcome is specific, observable, measurable, and appropriate to the course level.
Continuous Improvement: Once developed and approved, course outcomes become part of a continuous improvement process. To ensure the quality of course outcomes, course data are routinely analyzed and discussed by faculty and staff. These metric reviews are conducted both on an ongoing basis as well as at the start of course revision projects. Qualitative feedback from student and faculty surveys is also analyzed as part of this review.
Measurement: Although having appropriate competencies is vital, the efforts to develop them would be wasted if those competencies could not be measured well. Thus, we take a number of steps to ensure that knowledge and skills are evaluated in a reliable and valid manner.
Assessment
At the center of Purdue Global’s competency system is a robust assessment model, proven and refined over a decade of use.
Competency Assessments: Students at Purdue Global can earn course credit by achieving passing scores on competency assessments. These are designed to efficiently and accurately measure the extent to which a student has mastered course outcomes. Trained subject matter experts, with the support of a curriculum specialist, create these assessments, which are then checked against 16 best practices for assessments and reviewed by an assessment expert.
Purdue Global is in the process of converting all competency assessments to use performance tasks (with multiple-choice exams being acceptable for a small number of specific domains such as mathematics). Performance tasks require a performance or demonstration of knowledge and skills using novel and authentic contexts to show transfer of learning. Each performance task is paired with a corresponding checklist rubric, which details all the criteria necessary for a competent performance of the task. Students whose work meets all the criteria are judged as competent. In the development process, tasks and rubrics are created by subject matter experts and reviewed by curriculum staff to ensure that they follow best practices for assessment design.
Assessment Reliability Research: Purdue Global has engaged in several research projects specifically targeted toward measuring and improving the reliability of assessments. Methods for improving the ability of faculty to reliably evaluate student work have been tested, revealing that a training exercise had a significant impact. Completion of that training is now required for all faculty.
Assessment Rubric Design: Assessment rubrics are developed as tools for assessing mastery of each course outcome. Faculty members are provided with separate rubrics for grading an assignment and evaluating mastery of a course outcome. Whereas an assignment rubric may consider whether a student completed that assignment on time or following a particular style, rubrics for course outcomes are designed only to measure the extent to which a student mastered a particular outcome. Course leaders and subject matter experts, with the guidance and support of curriculum specialists, create outcome-specific rubrics that are used by faculty to determine each student’s progress toward mastery of each course outcome. Assessment data are reviewed on a regular basis to evaluate both student progress and the efficacy of the rubrics.
ExcelTrack™ and Global Track Learning Paths
In early 2017, Purdue Global began offering some of its programs in a competency-based format known as ExcelTrack™. In accordance with the principles of competency-based education or CBE, the ExcelTrack™ learning path is designed to enable students to:
- Acquire real-life, career-oriented skills
- Acquire and demonstrate skills at their own pace without “seat time” requirements
- Save time and money if they can accelerate their path to degree
Because our traditional online courses deliver curricula already built upon competency-based learning outcomes, the ExcelTrack™ learning path uses the same curricula to help students acquire real-life, career-oriented skills. It also uses the same grading scale and course level assessments (CLAs). However, the ExcelTrack™ learning path differs from the traditional online courses in important ways.
While the traditional online courses offer students highly structured learning, the ExcelTrack™ learning path offers them highly flexible, personalized learning. There are no required weekly assignments or class time per course in the ExcelTrack™ learning path—just one grade on a final comprehensive project. While students access the same online classroom containing the same readings and types of learning activities as offered in the traditional online courses, students in the ExcelTrack™ learning path decide which and how much of them to complete to master course concepts. Indeed, they are able to skip material they already know to focus on what they do not know.
Likewise, students in the ExcelTrack™ learning path decide how much and when to work with their instructor and classmates. While students can collaborate with their instructor and classmates in discussion boards and the online seminar, attendance in neither is required. The role of the instructor therefore shifts to a coach who teaches each student according to what they need. In the ExcelTrack™ learning path, courses are divided into small one-credit pieces of courses known as module courses, of which students can decide how many to take each term. Students can even add more module courses to their course load as they progress through a term if they choose.
The flexibility in the ExcelTrack™ learning path offers students opportunities to accelerate the pace of their learning toward their degree. Without the seat time and course registration constraints of the structured traditional online courses, students in the ExcelTrack™ learning path can complete more credits per term. Because the tuition model for the ExcelTrack™ learning path is a flat rate, students stand to achieve significant savings if they can accelerate their pace toward degree completion.* As in the traditional online courses, students in the ExcelTrack™ learning path can also reduce the cost of their degree if they earn transfer credit from completed coursework from an accredited college or university.
Successful students have some professional experience and are required to have previous college experience to draw upon. They should be extremely self-reliant, driven, and able to closely manage their study schedule. The traditional online courses are a better fit for students who do not fit this profile. However, in 2019, Purdue Global introduced the GlobalTrack learning path, which allows students to choose to take one or more module courses alongside traditional courses. This flexibility gives students the opportunity to adjust their course load and pace along their path toward degree completion.
Currently, the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Bachelor of Science in Cloud Computing and Solutions, Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice, Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity, Bachelor of Science in Health Care Administration, Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, Bachelor of Science in Nursing—RN-to-BSN, Master of Business Administration, and the Master of Science in Nursing are offered as ExcelTrack™ options. We continue to develop more module course offerings and complete ExcelTrack™ options.
*ExcelTrack™ is available for select programs. Degree pace and time and cost savings will vary by individual. | https://www.purdueglobal.edu/about/facts-processes/competency-education/ |
The focus of Title I schools is to help students achieve proficiency on core standards, closing academic gaps that may exist. These efforts include providing targeted supports to at-risk students, building teachers' capacity through professional development, and strengthening parents' abilities in helping their children succeed.
An Introduction to Title I
- Answers to Commonly Asked Questions
- For other annual Title I parent information, Granite School District's parent engagement policy, a summary of Granite School District's Annual Title I Parent Meeting, and other information, please visit the Granite School District Title I website.
Parent Compact, Policy & Rights to Know
- Parent-School Learning Compact
- School Parent Engagement Policy
- Parents' Right to Know (opens the District's Title I website)
Other School Information
Parent-School Learning Compact
James E. Moss Elementary
Parent – School Learning Compact
A learning compact outlines shared responsibilities for high student academic achievement and is developed jointly with parents, teachers, administrators, and if appropriate, students. The term parent in this compact refers to the parent(s), guardian(s), or other trusted adult(s) assisting the student in his or her learning.
Attendance: The student will attend at least 90% of school days. The parent will ensure that the student attends at least 90% of school days. The teacher will mark daily attendance in GradeBook. The school will notify the parent when the student is absent.
Curriculum: The student will do his or her assigned work completely and on time, while striving for accuracy and excellence. The parent will be familiar with classroom assignments and due dates, supporting the student in their completion. The teacher and administrator will provide high quality, engaging curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables students to meet USBE’s challenging academic standards.
Homework/Formative Assessments: The student will complete homework on time, and spend an appropriate amount of time on homework and other independent practice as recommended by the teacher. The parent will provide a distraction-free environment to the student for homework and study time. The teacher will provide timely feedback on homework and other formative assessments. The administrator will provide progress reports coinciding with end of grading periods.
Classroom Behavior: The student will follow all reasonable requests made by faculty members. The parent will be familiar with and support classroom expectations. The teacher will establish, post, and enforce clear classroom expectations. The administrator will support classroom expectations through a school-wide Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports.
Parent and Family Engagement: The student will bring flyers and other information from school to home. The parent will attend parent conferences and prioritize other academic school events. The teacher and administrator will engage in a regular, two-way meaningful communication with parents and family members, including hosting a minimum of two parent conferences per academic school year.
Extra Assistance: The student will attend offered tutoring sessions or initiate asking questions to instructors as needed. The parent will contact school officials with questions or concerns, and consider volunteering. The teacher will provide time to assist students and respond to parent questions.
Grade Tracking: The student will check grades and assignments at least weekly. The parent will track their student’s grades, assignments, and attendance at least weekly. The teacher will update GradeBook consistently. The administrator will support students’ and parents’ ability to track grades.
Academic Integrity: The student will demonstrate integrity by doing their own work by citing work appropriately, and by clarifying (as needed, depending on the assignment), the appropriateness of collaboration. The parent will clarify with teacher(s) the appropriate level of parental assistance on individual assignments. The teacher will explicitly review with the students the concept of academic integrity, and what constitutes cheating, plagiarism, and appropriate collaboration. The administrator will support academic integrity in the school by reinforcing this behavior through Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports.
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Parent Engagement Policy
The staff at Moss Elementary School has always regarded parental involvement vital to the success of students achieving academic success. All schools have their individual characteristics and needs; Moss Elementary is no different. Within our community there are many diverse cultures, languages, and students with special needs. We encourage parents and guardians to participate as school volunteers, in PTA and the Community Council.
It is the intent that our communication with parents, such as materials or flyers, will be written in an understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, provided in a language that is understandable. If anyone would like clarification, interpretation, or additional support, please contact the office at 385-646-4930. Each parent or guardian is highly encouraged to work directly with the teacher of the child to resolve any concerns.
A school-parent compact has been developed by the Moss Community Council, PTA, and staff. A copy is available on our website or by contacting the office staff. The purpose of the compact is to increase each child\'s academic achievement.
Our policy includes specifically how the following activities will be accomplished:
Some ways in which parents will be kept informed and assisted in understanding expected state, district and school academic standards, assessment used, and student student achievement expectations.
- Thursday Folders/Memo
- SEP Conferences (translators when needed)
- Send home information from the District Office
- Email, Teleparent, DOJO, School Facebook page
Some ways materials and training will be offered to parents to help them work with their children to improve achievement, such as literacy, numeracy and technology training.
- Family Nights which support academics at home
- Individualized help as requested or needed
Some ways in which appropriate coordination of parent involvement activities can take place with various programs at the school. Some of the programs or activities may include the following: pre-school, after-school programs, parent information and resource centers, parental classes or any other program that might be beneficial.
- School Thursday Memo
- Counseling Center
- Assistance with translation in Spanish when registering and at conferences
- Translation of notes
- Volunteers
Some ways parents and staff will work together, reach out, and communicate with each other to realize more fully the value and contributions that parental involvement adds to the success of the child\'s achievement growth and the success of the school.
- Communication through phone calls, texts, emails, and planners
- Small group meetings as needed
- Facebook, Dojo and Blackboard
School Annual Title I Meeting
Parent input is valued. Each year, a parent meeting is held where our school solicits input in the planning and implementation of school parent engagement activities.
Date: September 26th
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Our meeting Content:
What is Title I?
Our School Goals and Strategies
Parent and Family Engagement Policy
How can I (a parent) be involved?
We are designated Title I so…
- Title I schools receive extra funding (Title I dollars) from the federal government. These dollars are used to:
- Identify students experiencing academic difficulties and provide assistance to help these students;
- Fund additional staff, programs, materials, and/or supplies; and
- Conduct parent and family engagement meetings, trainings, events, and/or activities.
School Title I Goals
Each year, our school conducts a needs assessment, reviews student performance data, and solicits input from various stakeholders in order to develop a meaningful Title I Plan. This plan is data-driven, evidence-based, and responsive to findings from data reviews, needs assessment findings, and stakeholder input. The school comprehensive Title I plan articulates how evidence-based strategies, action steps and milestones will support the goals listed below.
Goal One
James E. Moss Elementary School will have at least 75% of students reaching typical or above typical progress on the End-of-Year Acadience Math and Reading assessments.
Goal Two
James E. Moss Elementary School will have at least 55% of Multilingual Learner students will meet their targeted progress goal on the WIDA test.Back to Index
Sanctioned Status
Moss Elementary
4399 South 500 East
Salt Lake City, Utah
Dear Parent or Guardian,
We are writing to let you know that Moss Elementary School has been designated as a Targeted Support and Improvement school for English Language Learners and Students with Disabilities. This designation means that this student population scores among the lowest-performing five percent in Utah’s Title I schools in academic performance and growth.
The program improvement designation provides an opportunity for principals, teachers, and parents to focus on areas of school improvement. The Granite School District and the Utah State Board of Education are working with our school to improve teaching and learning, especially in the areas of reading and mathematics by providing technical assistance and professional development opportunities to the teachers and administrators within our school.
Moss Elementary School is working to improve its academic program by undergoing a rigorous school improvement effort led by a school system of support team. We have reduced class sizes, trained interventionist to support all grade levels in reading, structured Multilingual Learner program with highly trained certified teachers, and a master schedule that focuses on targeted small group time and teacher collaboration. However, parent support is essential to the success of the school improvement efforts.
Parents can effectively assist student achievement improvement in the following ways:
- Communicating frequently with your student’s teachers
- Making sure your student attends school regularly
- Helping your student with homework
- Monitoring your student’s screen time
- Reading aloud to your student
- Volunteering in the classroom
- Participating in school decision-making
We want to request your help as the school addresses its academic needs and will invite parents to serve on the committee that will develop a school improvement plan.
Sincerely, | https://schools.graniteschools.org/moss/title-i/ |
neurons that respond selectively to very specific features of more complex stimuli. This is a characteristic of the highly specialized cells in the visual cortex.
figure and ground
a fundamental way in which people organize visual perceptions; the figure is the thing being looked at and the ground is background against which it stands. The figure appears to have more substance and shape, to be closer to the viewer, and 'stands out' in front of the ground.
fovea
a tiny spot in the center of the retina that contains only cones; visual acuity is greatest at this spot
frequency theory
asserts that perception of pitch corresponds to the rate, or frequency, at which the entire basilar membrane vibrates
Gestalt psychology
an influential school of thought that emerged from Germany in the early 20th century; argues that the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts.
gustatory system
the sensory system for taste
hue
the dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth
impossible figures
objects that can be represented in two-dimensional pictures but cannot exist in three-dimensional space
inattentional blindness
failing to see visible objects when our attention is distracted elsewhere
intensity
the amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave's amplitude
just noticeable difference (JND)
the smallest difference in stiumulus intensity that a specific sense can detect
lateral antagonism
occurs when neural activity in a cell opposes activity in surrounding cells; allows the retina to compare the light falling in a specific area against general lighting; attention to contrast
lens
the transparent eye structure that focuses the light rays falling on the retina
light
a form of electromagnetic radiation that travels as a wave, moving at the speed of light
light adaptation
the process whereby the eyes become less sensitive to light in high illumination
monocoular depth cues
clues about distance based on the image in either eye alone
motion parallax
a monocular depth cue that involves images of objects at different distances moving across the reetina at different rates
nearsightedness
a condition in which close objects are seen clearly but distant objects appear blurry because the focus of light from a distant object falls a little short of the retina.
olfactory system
the sensory system for smell
opponent process theory of color vision
aserts that color perception depends on receptors that make antagonistic responses to 3 pairs of colors: red/green, yellow/blue, and black/white
optic chiasm
the point at which the optic nerves from the inside half of each eye cross over and then project to the oppoiste half of the brain; ensures that signals from both eyes go to both hemispheres of the brain
optic disk
a hole in the retina where the optic nerve fibers exit the eye. Because you can not see the part of an image that falls on this hole, it is also known as the blind spot.
optic nerve
a collection of axons from ganglion cells that connect the eye with the brain; these axons carry visual information, encoded as a stream of neural impulses, to the brain.
parallel processing
two specialized pathways within the main visual pathway (the magnocellular and parvocellular channels) engage in paralle processing, simlutaneously extracting different kinds of information from the same input
perception
the selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory input;the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events
perceptual constancy
a tendency to experience a stable perception in the face of continually changing sensory input
perceptual hypothesis
an inference about which distal stimuli could be responsible for the proximal stimuli sensed
perceptual set
a readiness to perceive a stimulus in a particular way; creates a slant in how someone interprets sensory input
phi phenomenon
the illusion of movement created by presenting visual stimuli in rapid succession (example: movies made from still frames)
pictorial depth cues
monocular depth cues that suggests distance within a flat picture; include linear perspective, texture gradients, interposition, relative size, height in plane and light/shadow
place theory
asserts that perception of pitch corresponds to the vibration of different portions of or places along the basilar membrane
priming
the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response
proximal stimuli
stimulus energies that impinge directly on sensory receptors; actually "touched" by the eyes, since patterns of light fall on the retinas
proximity
things that are near one another appear to belong together, and we tend to make 'groups' even where none exist
psychophysics
the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them; how phsyical stimuli are translated into psychological experience.
pupil
the opening in the center of the iris that permits light to pass into the rear chamber of the eye
receptive field of a visual cell
the retinal area that, when stimulated, affects the firing of that cell
retina
the neural tissue lining the inside back surface of the eye; it absorbs light, processes images, and sends visual information to the brain
retinal disparity
objects within 25 feet project images to slightly different locations on the right and left retinas, so the right and left eyes see slightly different views of the object
reversible figure
a drawing that is compatible with two interpretations that can shift back and forth
rods
specialized visual receptors that play a key role in night vision and peripheral vision
selective attention
the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus
sensation
the stimulation of sense organs; the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment
sensory adaptation
gradually diminished sensitivity as a consequence of prolonged stimulation
signal detection theory
a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness. Signal detenction theory proposes that the detection of stimuli involves decision processes as well as sensory processes, which are both influenced by a variety of factors beside stimilus intensity.
similarity
a visual perceptual principle that people group stimuli that are similar
simplicity
a visual perceptual principle that people tend to group elements that combine to form a good picture
stimulus
any detectable input from the environment
subjective contours
the perception of contours where none actually exist
subliminal
below one's absolute theshold for conscious awareness
subliminal perception
the registration of sensory input without conscious awareness
subtractive color mixing
a kind of color mixture that works by removing some wavelengths of light, leaving less light than was originally there
threshold
a dividing point between energy levels that do and do not have a detectable effect
top-down processing
information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions by drawing on our experience and expectations. In the perceptual process of the visual system, this is a progression from the whole to the elements, such as seeing a word before its individual letters
transduction
conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brains can interpret.
trichromatic theory of color vision
argues that the human eye has three types of receptors with differing sensitivities to different light wavelengths
visual illusion
an apparently inexplicable discrepancy between the appearance of a visual stimulus and its physical reality
wavelength
the distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. Electromagnetic wavelengths vary from the short blips of cosmic rays to the long pulses of radio transmission
Weber's Law
the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant percentage rather than by a constant amount; difference thresholds increase in proportion to the size of the initial stimulus
common fate
a visual perceptual principle that elements that appear to move together tend to be grouped together
THIS SET IS OFTEN IN FOLDERS WITH...
Chapter 15
47 terms
shohab
Chapter 12
49 terms
shohab
Chapter 7
64 terms
shohab
Chapter 8
41 terms
shohab
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There is a wide agreement that science can benefit from tight interactions between theory and experiments. In the field of mammalian perception a structured theoretical space is lacking. Contemporary theories of perception, many of them implicitly deduced from experimental designs, form a patchy theoretical landscape. This article is an attempt to describe families of implicit and explicit theories of perception, mostly for the visual and tactile modalities, in one structured plane. The two axes spanning this plane are (i) the brain-world (BW) axis, along which external information is acquired by a given brain, and (ii) the brain-brain axis, along which different brains interact.
How do we perceive our environment? Despite decades of intensive research the scientific community does not seem to converge on an agreed direction. To begin with, there is no agreement about the general scheme of perception: is perception ‘direct’ or ‘indirect’? Does it depend on active sensor movements? Is it based on the construction of internal representations? Moreover, the neurobiology of perception seems to progress for the most part independently of its theory; partially, arguably, due to the lack of a structured theoretical landscape. This article proposes a structured theoretical landscape, which, despite its simplicity (or in fact thanks to its simplicity), can form an initial step towards productive theory-experiment dialogue.
Along this axis information about the environment of a specific brain is acquired. We adopt here the Umwelt viewpoint of von Uexkull, according to which the world perceived by a given brain (B i ) is unique to that brain (W i ) (Uexkull, 1926). In line with von Uexkull, whenever we use the term “brain” here we in fact refer to the entire organism, and primarily to the entire perceptual system in that organism, including the sensory organs and their muscles (see Ahissar et al., 2015).
We categorize theories of perception (TOPs), whether implicit or explicit, in five schematic classes, not necessarily mutually exclusive (Figure 1). For this generic scheme we consider two fundamental states – ‘world state’ and ‘brain state’ – and assume that perceptual acquisition updates the brain state according to the world state such that the brain state forms an updated model of the world state (Friston, 2010; Tishby and Polani, 2011). In the following we describe briefly each class and provide several representative examples of implicit or explicit theories.
Figure 1: Theories of perception taxonomy.
Bottom-Up TOPs. Acquisition of information from the world is done in one direction, from W to B, and in a feedforward manner. Various aspects of such processing have been suggested along the years including: integration of neuronal representations of individual features (Feature Integration Theory, FIT; (Treisman and Gelade, 1980)), classification by feedforward transformations (DEEP network, (Cadieu et al., 2014; Kriegeskorte, 2015); HMAX (Poggio and Serre, 2013)), ignition of Local Activations (LA; (Noy et al., 2015)), activation of a Global Work Space (GWS; (Dehaene et al., 1998; Baars, 2002)) and others.
Bottom-Up-Top-Down TOPs. Acquisition of information from the world includes processes running in two directions, from W towards B (bottom-up, BU) and from B towards W (Top-Down, TD) (Rao and Ballard, 1999). Different schemes suggest different types of interactions between the two processing streams. The Reverse Hierarchy Theory (RHT) suggests that the gist of the scene is acquired via a rapid propagation in the bottom-up direction and the details are acquired via top-down processes, whose depth and scrutiny level depends on the context (Hochstein and Ahissar, 2002; Ahissar and Hochstein, 2004). The BU/TD Segmentation (BUTD) scheme proposes that BU and TD processing streams run in parallel and interact at different brain levels, matching stored knowledge with segmentation constrains (Borenstein and Ullman, 2008).
Bottom-up Reentrant TOPs, Acquisition of information from the world is done in the BU direction, from W towards B, and includes local closed-loop dynamics in one or more processing stations. Reentrant processing may facilitate data integration and categorization (Enns and Di Lollo, 2000; Edelman and Gally, 2013), possibly using algorithms for iterative processing such as recursive Bayesian estimation, Kalman filtering or particle filtering.
Closed-loop TOPs. Acquisition of information from the world is done in loops connecting B and W (Uexkull, 1926; Ahissar and Vaadia, 1990; Friston, 2010; Tishby and Polani, 2011). The processing obeys global closed-loop dynamics which link world elements and brain elements. Loop dynamics may follow an internal control signal (Perceptual Control Theory, PCT (Powers, 1973)) or converge to perceptual attractors (Closed-Loop Perception, CLP (Ahissar and Assa, 2016)).
Motor-sensory TOPs. Perception is hypothesized to emerge from motor-sensory interactions and to depend on sensorimotor contingencies (SMCs, (O'Regan and Noe, 2001)). Neuronal implementation is not stated explicitly, and thus this type of TOP may be integrated with previous ones. Specifically, it complements quite naturally closed-loop TOPs (Buhrmann et al., 2013).
BW acquisition processes can in principle follow discrete or continuous dynamics. This distinction is related to, but probably cannot be reduced to, the distinction between discrete dynamical systems and continuous dynamical systems, which is formulated only in terms of their descriptive equations.
If perception follows discrete dynamics it can be localized in space and time. That is, it has starting and ending spatiotemporal coordinates and in principle it can be put “on hold” – be paused and continued later. In contrast, if perception follows continuous dynamics it does not have starting or ending spatiotemporal coordinates and it cannot be put “on hold” – if paused it cannot be continued later. Accordingly, with discrete dynamics perception can be based on transformations between static representations (where x is termed ‘static’ if there exists a time window, short as it may be, in which x does not change) (e.g., (Marr, 1982)). In contrast, with continuous dynamics no static events exist whatsoever (e.g., (Van Gelder and Port, 1995; Kelso, 1997)).
Along this axis information about the environment is exchanged between brains based on their brain states. BB communication is also based on channels of BW acquisition (naturally, since for each brain the other brain is part of its world). For example, auditory perception is used for speech, and visual perception for written symbols. The information carried in these channels, however, is symbolic, and it is transferred between the brain states of the two brains (e.g., B1 and B2; Figure 2). We term the fundamental items transferred in BB communication “ideas”, following Descartes’ terminology (Descartes and Cottingham, 2013). These ideas often represent “substances” perceived in the worlds of these two brains (W1 and W2) - here we refer only to such substance-related ideas. An objective world (W) can be inferred by the collective behavior of the two (or more) brains.
Speech. The physical channel is based on the auditory system. This communication is rhythmic, active in both sides (production and perception) and usually interactive (closing a production-perception loop).
Sign language. The physical channel is typically based on the visual system. This communication is rhythmic, active in both sides (production and perception) and usually interactive (closing a production-perception loop).
Script. The physical channel is typically based on the visual system. Both writing and reading are rhythmic and active, but are typically not interactive.
In other species, BB communication may be based on conspecific calls, songs and displays, as well as on scent communication. In any case, given the discrete nature of ideas, BB communications of ideas should follow discrete dynamics. The physical communication carrying these ideas, via BW channels, may follow either discrete or continuous dynamics, as discussed above.
Interactions between the two axes can occur at many levels. For example (Figure 2, large arrows): BU processes (including those containing reentrant loops) may add additional feedforward levels to convey the internal brain state (that would form an Internal Representation, IR, in this case) to the BB channel. BU-TD acquisition processes may interact bi-directionally with the BB channel, where sites of interactions may span a range between the top of the BU hierarchy (more likely for RHT) and earlier BU junctions (more likely for BU/TD segmentation). Closed-loop acquisition scheme may prefer closed loop interactions with the BB channel, with sites of interactions spanning those parts of the BW loops that are accessible for conscious report.
BW-BB interactions can be embodied, in each brain, via synaptic interactions between any projection from a BB-related station (e.g., speech recipient station) and a BW-related station (e.g., sensory brain areas). Two major candidates, not necessarily mutually exclusive, come to mind here. One are the feedback connections (TD) projecting from high to low level sensory stations. Another are the efference copies -- collaterals of motor-related projections that innervate sensory stations. The dense distribution of these junctions allows BB-BW interactions in virtually all processing stations. These interactions can be unidirectional, bi-directional, open-loop or closed-loop. One crucial transformation must be acknowledged here. Whereas BB communication is based on discrete signals, typically representing perceptual categories, BW communication may be continuous and non-categorical. Thus, BW-BB interactions are likely to include transformations between continuous and discrete representations.
There are two external anchors for empirical studies addressing theories of perception: the world state and the report. Psychophysical and behavioral approaches typically monitor and manipulate these two anchors rigorously. Unlike these two anchors, the internal brain state cannot be monitored, or manipulated, in a rigorous manner. In fact, we can currently sample only a negligible fraction of the relevant neuronal activity in any given condition. Thus, empirical discrimination between available theories should probably proceed in stages, starting with well-designed behavioral experiments and continuing with prediction-based neuronal experiments.
Ahissar, E. and E. Assa, Perception as a closed-loop convergence process. eLife, 2016. 5: p. e12830.
Ahissar, E., Shinde, N. and Haidarliu, S. (2015) Systems Neuroscience of Touch. Scholarpedia 10:32785.
Ahissar, M. and S. Hochstein, The reverse hierarchy theory of visual perceptual learning. Trends Cogn Sci, 2004. 8(10): p. 457-64.
Baars, B.J., The conscious access hypothesis: origins and recent evidence. Trends Cogn Sci, 2002. 6(1): p. 47-52.
Borenstein, E. and S. Ullman, Combined top-down/bottom-up segmentation. IEEE Transactions on pattern analysis and machine intelligence, 2008. 30(12): p. 2109-2125.
Buhrmann, T., E.A. Di Paolo, and X. Barandiaran, A dynamical systems account of sensorimotor contingencies. Frontiers in psychology, 2013. 4.
Cadieu, C.F., et al., Deep neural networks rival the representation of primate IT cortex for core visual object recognition. PLoS computational biology, 2014. 10(12): p. e1003963.
Dehaene, S., M. Kerszberg, and J.P. Changeux, A neuronal model of a global workspace in effortful cognitive tasks. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 1998. 95(24): p. 14529-34.
Descartes, R. and J. Cottingham, René Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy: With Selections from the Objections and Replies. 2013: Cambridge University Press.
Edelman, G.M. and J.A. Gally, Reentry: a key mechanism for integration of brain function. Frontiers in integrative neuroscience, 2013. 7.
Enns, J.T. and V. Di Lollo, What's new in visual masking? Trends Cogn Sci, 2000. 4(9): p. 345-352.
Friston, K., The free-energy principle: a unified brain theory? nature reviews neuroscience, 2010. 11(2): p. 127-38.
Hochstein, S. and M. Ahissar, View from the top: hierarchies and reverse hierarchies in the visual system. Neuron, 2002. 36(5): p. 791-804.
Kelso, J.S., Dynamic patterns: The self-organization of brain and behavior. 1997: MIT press.
Kriegeskorte, N., Deep neural networks: a new framework for modeling biological vision and brain information processing. Annual Review of Vision Science, 2015. 1: p. 417-446.
Marr, D., Vision. 1982, San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.
Noy, N., et al., Ignition’s glow: Ultra-fast spread of global cortical activity accompanying local “ignitions” in visual cortex during conscious visual perception. Consciousness and cognition, 2015. 35: p. 206-224.
O'Regan, J.K. and A. Noe, A sensorimotor account of vision and visual consciousness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2001. 24(5): p. 939-73; discussion 973-1031.
Poggio, T. and T. Serre, Models of visual cortex. Scholarpedia, 2013. 8(4): p. 3516.
Powers, W.T., Feedback: beyond behaviorism. Science, 1973. 179(71): p. 351-6.
Rao, R.P. and Ballard, D.H. (1999) Predictive coding in the visual cortex: a functional interpretation of some extra-classical receptive-field effects. Nature neuroscience 2:79.
Tishby, N. and D. Polani, Information theory of decisions and actions, in Perception-Action Cycle. 2011, Springer. p. 601-636.
Treisman, A.M. and G. Gelade, A feature-integration theory of attention. Cognit Psychol, 1980. 12(1): p. 97-136.
Uexkull, J.v., Theoretical biology. 1926, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & co. ltd.
Van Gelder, T. and R.F. Port, It’s about time: An overview of the dynamical approach to cognition. Mind as motion: Explorations in the dynamics of cognition, 1995. 1: p. 43. | http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Schematic_framework_for_theories_of_perception |
According to College Board, "Psychologists study sensation and perception to explain how and why externally gathered sensations and perceptions impact behaviors and mental processes 🧠 Using input from several anatomical structures, the sensations we perceive process and interpret information about the environment 🌳 around us and our place within it.
This results in perceptions that influence how we think and behave. In this way, sensation and perception provide a bridge between the biological and cognitive perspectives, offering aspects of both for explaining how we think and behave.
How do we process the information we receive from our environments?
How does our interpretation of the information we receive from the environment influence our behaviors and mental processes?
This unit covers what psychologists have learned about how we perceive the world around us. It goes in-depth about your 5 senses and what they tell you about your surroundings. Specifically, the field of psychophysics is described in this chapter—that's the study of the difference between the physical characteristics of our surroundings and our psychological interpretation of them. About 6-8% of the exam is about sensation and perception.
Gustav Fechner
Gustav Fechner studied our awareness of faint stimuli, such as feeling one drop of water fall onto our face, and derived the term absolute threshold.
David Hubel + Torsten Wiesel
Contributing to this unit, these two neurophysiologists studied the visual system and found feature detectors in the occipital lobe’s visual cortex. They won a Nobel Prize together for their discovery of these cells.
Ernst Weber
Ernst Weber studied our difference threshold and is known for Weber’s Law.
|Sensation||Bottom-up Processing||Top-down Processing||Perception|
|Gestalt||Sensory Transduction||Absolute Threshold||Subliminal|
|Signal Detection Theory||Difference Threshold||Weber's Law||Sensory Adaptation|
|Perceptual Set||Schemas||Context Effects||Selective Attention|
|Cocktail Party Effect||Inattentional Blindness||Change Blindness||Figure-Ground Relationship|
|Depth Perception||Monocular Cues||Binocular Cues||Retinal Disparity|
|Perceptual Constancy||McGurk Effect||Wavelength||Hue|
|Amplitude||Cornea||Pupil||Iris|
|Lens||Accommodation||Retina||Rods|
|Cones||Feature Detectors||Optic Nerve||Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory|
|Opponent Process Theory||Audition||Pinna||Eardrum|
|Cochlea||Basilar Membrane||Semicircular canals||Vestibular Sacs|
|Sensorineural Hearing Loss||Conduction Hearing Loss||Place Theory||Frequency Theory|
|Gustation||Olfaction||Somatosensation||Gate-Control Theory|
|Vestibular Sense||Kinesthesis||Proprioception||Sensory Interaction|
Image Courtesy of Live Science
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Sensation and perception book pdf
Sensation and PerceptionSensation and perception are interrelated processes that are developed throughout the lifespan. Although they have a close relationship, sensation and perception have discrete qualities that differentiate one from the other. Sensation is defined as the process in which a sensory receptor is stimulated, producing nerve impulses that travel to the brain, which in turn interprets such impulses as a visual image, a sound, taste, odor, touch, or pain. The physical stimulus present in the environment emits energy that is absorbed by a sensory organ known as transduction , causing sensation. Perception refers to the occurrence when the brain performs organization of information it obtains from the neural impulses, and then begins the process of translation and interpretation. It is a vital process that helps us rationalize or make sense of the information related to the physical stimulus.
Chapter 5: Section 1: Sensation and Perception
Essentials of Psychology. Psychology: themes and variations 4th ed. Students will be left to learn many of the more straightforward facts through the required reading, supplemental resources e. A student's grade shall be earned from their performance solely abd the semester's work.Password Forgot your password. While there is simplicity in covering each sensory modality independently, much of it led by students. As much time as possible will be reserved for discussion, we are organisms that have evolved the ability to process multiple modalities as a unified experience. As mentioned before, rods are primarily involved in our ability to see in dim light.
Wayne Clearly, hearing a sound is different from perceiving the music being played. Worth Publishers. Also, we humans care about our chemical senses.
The two most underappreciated senses can be lumped into the broad category of chemical senses. Gestalt psychologists argued that these principles exist because the mind has an innate disposition to perceive patterns in the stimulus based on certain rules. Abhinavagupta Theodor W. In this study, participants watched a video of people dressed in black and white passing basketballs.
Hurley. Sensory Mechanisms of the Spinal Cord: Primary afferent neurons and the spinal dorsal horn. Cengage Learning. Oxford University Press.
Learning Objectives
The topics of sensation and perception are among the oldest and most important in all of psychology. People are equipped with senses such as sight, hearing and taste that help us to take in the world around us. Amazingly, our senses have the ability to convert real-world information into electrical information that can be processed by the brain. The way we interpret this information-- our perceptions-- is what leads to our experiences of the world. In this module, you will learn about the biological processes of sensation and how these can be combined to create perceptions.
Licenses and Attributions. Figure 3. Academic Press. A great example of this occurs when we leave the radio on in our car after we park it at home for the night. Since the rise of experimental psychology in pcf 19th century, psychology's understanding of perception has progressed by combining a variety of techniques.
Perception from the Latin perceptio is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information, or the environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system , which in turn result from physical or chemical stimulation of the sensory system. Perception is not only the passive receipt of these signals, but it's also shaped by the recipient's learning , memory , expectation , and attention. Perception can be split into two processes, . Perception depends on complex functions of the nervous system, but subjectively seems mostly effortless because this processing happens outside conscious awareness. Since the rise of experimental psychology in the 19th century, psychology's understanding of perception has progressed by combining a variety of techniques.
Updated
Namespaces Article Talk. Main article: Contrast effect. Stimuli are not necessarily translated into a percept and rarely does a single stimulus translate into a percept. Another example is that feeling the coldness of the environment is different from perceiving that winter is coming.
Ancient Medieval Modern Contemporary. Hidden categories: Webarchive template wayback links Articles with short description Articles with long short sensaation Use dmy dates from February All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from March Articles with unsourced statements from July Wikipedia sensatin with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with NDL identifiers. For example, what happens when a person who already has vision loss ages and begins to lose their hearing as well. Be very careful in following rules for academic integrity.Sensation What does it mean to sense something. However, in order to have a meaningful discussion in this topic area, your brain engages in bottom-up processing. Experiments have shown that people automatically compensate for this effect when hearing speech. Seen alone.
Have you ever been expecting a really important phone call and, only to discover that it is not, if the same thing happened in a brightly lit arena during a basketball game, your past experience has changed the way you perceive the writing in the triangle. In other words. Howev! Want to stay up to date.
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4 thoughts on “Sensation and Perception | Introduction to Psychology”
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Goldstein, E. Sensation and Perception , 10th Edition. Cengage Learning. 🧞♀️
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Description
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engaged with sensation and perception topics, comprehend concepts through books that were available and was disappointed, because none of them.
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Color blindness can result from issues with the cones or retinal ganglion cells involved in color percsption. Smell is also a very interactive sense as scientists have begun to observe that olfaction comes into contact with the other sense in unexpected ways. It is not just vision that is affected by cultural factors. Research has focused on the relation of this to other kinds of learningand whether it takes place in peripheral sensory systems or in the brain's processing of sense information. | https://ocantodabalea.com/and-book/609-sensation-and-perception-book-pdf-817-986.php |
# Predictive coding
In neuroscience, predictive coding (also known as predictive processing) is a theory of brain function which postulates that the brain is constantly generating and updating a "mental model" of the environment. According to the theory, such a mental model is used to predict input signals from the senses that are then compared with the actual input signals from those senses. With the rising popularity of representation learning, the theory is being actively pursued and applied in machine learning and related fields.
The phrase 'predictive coding' is also used in several other disciplines such as signal-processing technologies and law in loosely-related or unrelated senses.
## Origins
Theoretical ancestors to predictive coding date back as early as 1860 with Helmholtz's concept of unconscious inference. Unconscious inference refers to the idea that the human brain fills in visual information to make sense of a scene. For example, if something is relatively smaller than another object in the visual field, the brain uses that information as a likely cue of depth, such that the perceiver ultimately (and involuntarily) experiences depth. The understanding of perception as the interaction between sensory stimuli (bottom-up) and conceptual knowledge (top-down) continued to be established by Jerome Bruner who, starting in the 1940s, studied the ways in which needs, motivations and expectations influence perception, research that came to be known as 'New Look' psychology. In 1981, McClelland and Rumelhart in their seminal paper examined the interaction between processing features (lines and contours) which form letters, which in turn form words. While the features suggest the presence of a word, they found that when letters were situated in the context of a word, people were able to identify them faster than when they were situated in a non-word without semantic context. McClelland and Rumelhart's parallel processing model describes perception as the meeting of top-down (conceptual) and bottom-up (sensory) elements.
In the late 1990s, the idea of top-down and bottom-up processing was translated into a computational model of vision by Rao and Ballard. Their paper demonstrated that there could be a generative model of a scene (top-down processing), which would receive feedback via error signals (how much the visual input varied from the prediction), which would subsequently lead to updating the prediction. The computational model was able to replicate well-established receptive field effects, as well as less understood extra-classical receptive field effects such as end-stopping. Today, the fields of computer science and cognitive science incorporate these same concepts to create the multilayer generative models that underlie machine learning and neural nets.
## General framework
Most of the research literature in the field has been about sensory perception, particularly vision, which is more easily conceptualized. However, the predictive coding framework could also be applied to different neural systems. Taking the sensory system as an example, the brain solves the seemingly intractable problem of modelling distal causes of sensory input through a version of Bayesian inference. It does this by modelling predictions of lower-level sensory inputs via backward connections from relatively higher levels in a cortical hierarchy. Constrained by the statistical regularities of the outside world (and certain evolutionarily prepared predictions), the brain encodes top-down generative models at various temporal and spatial scales in order to predict and effectively suppress sensory inputs rising up from lower levels. A comparison between predictions (priors) and sensory input (likelihood) yields a difference measure (e.g. prediction error, free energy, or surprise) which, if it is sufficiently large beyond the levels of expected statistical noise, will cause the generative model to update so that it better predicts sensory input in the future.
In general, it can be more easily stated that it minimizes the amount of surprise (the measure of difference). This is also the reason for what is nowadays called confirmation bias or what might historically be prejudice (although the latter has more negative connotations) since it better fits one's individual experience accumulated so far and supports consistency. Therefore, this turns out to be rather a disadvantage in today's world.
If, instead, the model accurately predicts driving sensory signals, activity at higher levels cancels out activity at lower levels, and the posterior probability of the model is increased. Thus, predictive coding inverts the conventional view of perception as a mostly bottom-up process, suggesting that it is largely constrained by prior predictions, where signals from the external world only shape perception to the extent that they are propagated up the cortical hierarchy in the form of prediction error.
In predictive coding, errors are neither good nor bad, but simply signal the difference between the expected and actual input. The exception is in reward processing, where a better than expected reward produces a positive prediction error and a disappointing result produces a negative prediction error.
### Precision weighting
Expectations about the precision (or inverse variance) of incoming sensory input are crucial for effectively minimizing prediction error in that the expected precision of a given prediction error can inform confidence in that error, which influences the extent to which the error is weighted in updating predictions. Given that the world we live in is loaded with statistical noise, precision expectations must be represented as part of the brain's generative models, and they should be able to flexibly adapt to changing contexts. For instance, the expected precision of visual prediction errors likely varies between dawn and dusk, such that greater conditional confidence is assigned to errors in broad daylight than errors in prediction at nightfall. It has recently been proposed that such weighting of prediction errors in proportion to their estimated precision is, in essence, attention, and that the process of devoting attention may be neurobiologically accomplished by ascending reticular activating systems (ARAS) optimizing the “gain” of prediction error units.
### Active inference
The same principle of prediction error minimization has been used to provide an account of behavior in which motor actions are not commands but descending proprioceptive predictions. In this scheme of active inference, classical reflex arcs are coordinated so as to selectively sample sensory input in ways that better fulfill predictions, thereby minimizing proprioceptive prediction errors. Indeed, Adams et al. (2013) review evidence suggesting that this view of hierarchical predictive coding in the motor system provides a principled and neurally plausible framework for explaining the agranular organization of the motor cortex. This view suggests that “perceptual and motor systems should not be regarded as separate but instead as a single active inference machine that tries to predict its sensory input in all domains: visual, auditory, somatosensory, interoceptive and, in the case of the motor system, proprioceptive."
## Neural theory in predictive coding
Evaluating the empirical evidence that suggests a neurologically plausible basis for predictive coding is a broad and varied task. For one thing, and according to the model, predictive coding occurs at every iterative step in the perceptual and cognitive processes; accordingly, manifestations of predictive coding in the brain include genetics, specific cytoarchitecture of cells, systemic networks of neurons, and whole brain analyses. Due to this range of specificity, different methods of investigating the neural mechanisms of predictive coding have been applied, where available; more generally, however, and at least as it relates to humans, there are significant methodological limitations to investigating the potential evidence and much of the work is based on computational modeling of microcircuits in the brain. Notwithstanding, there has been substantial (theoretical) work that has been applied to understanding predictive coding mechanisms in the brain. This section will focus on specific evidence as it relates to the predictive coding phenomenon, rather than analogues, such as homeostasis (which are, nonetheless, integral to our overall understanding of Bayesian inference but already supported heavily; see Clark for a review).
Much of the early work that applied a predictive coding framework to neural mechanisms came from sensory neurons, particularly in the visual cortex.
More generally, however, what seems to be required by the theory are (at least) two types of neurons (at every level of the perceptual hierarchy): one set of neurons that encode incoming sensory input, so called feed-forward projections; one set of neurons that send down predictions, so called feed-backward projections. It is important to note that these neurons must also carry properties of error detection; which class of neurons has these properties is still up for debate. These sort of neurons have found support in superficial and non-superficial pyramidal neurons.
At a more whole-brain level, there is evidence that different cortical layers (aka laminae) may facilitate the integration of feedforward and feed-backward projections across hierarchies. These cortical layers, divided into granular, agranular, and dysgranular, which house the subpopulations of neurons mentioned above, are divided into 6 main layers. The cytoarchitecture within these layers are the same, but they differ across layers. For example, layer 4 of the granular cortex contain granule cells which are excitatory and distribute thalamocortical inputs to the rest of the cortex. According to one model:
“...prediction neurons... in deep layers of agranular cortex drive active inference by sending sensory predictions via projections ...to supragranular layers of dysgranular and granular sensory cortices. Prediction-error neurons ….in the supragranular layers of granular cortex compute the difference between the predicted and received sensory signal, and send prediction-error signals via projections...back to the deep layers of agranular cortical regions. Precision cells … tune the gain on predictions and prediction error dynamically, thereby giving these signals reduced (or, in some cases, greater) weight depending on the relative confidence in the descending predictions or the reliability of incoming sensory signals.”
The theory that the unit of prediction is the cortical column is based on the remarkable correspondence between the microcircuitry of the cortical column and the connectivity implied by predictive coding.
## Applying predictive coding
### Perception
The empirical evidence for predictive coding is most robust for perceptual processing. As early as 1999, Rao and Ballard proposed a hierarchical visual processing model in which higher-order visual cortical area sends down predictions and the feedforward connections carry the residual errors between the predictions and the actual lower-level activities. According to this model, each level in the hierarchical model network (except the lowest level, which represents the image) attempts to predict the responses at the next lower level via feedback connections, and the error signal is used to correct the estimate of the input signal at each level concurrently. Emberson et al. established the top-down modulation in infants using a cross-modal audiovisual omission paradigm, determining that even infant brains have expectation about future sensory input that is carried downstream from visual cortices and are capable of expectation-based feedback. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data showed that infant occipital cortex responded to unexpected visual omission (with no visual information input) but not to expected visual omission. These results establish that in a hierarchically organized perception system, higher-order neurons send down predictions to lower-order neurons, which in turn sends back up the prediction error signal.
### Interoception
There have been several competing models for the role of predictive coding in interoception.
In 2013, Anil Seth proposed that our subjective feeling states, otherwise known as emotions, are generated by predictive models that are actively built out of causal interoceptive appraisals. In relation to how we attribute internal states of others to causes, Sasha Ondobaka, James Kilner, and Karl Friston (2015) proposed that the free energy principle requires the brain to produce a continuous series of predictions with the goal of reducing the amount of prediction error that manifests as “free energy”. These errors are then used to model anticipatory information about what the state of the outside world will be and attributions of causes of that world state, including understanding of causes of others’ behavior. This is especially necessary because, to create these attributions, our multimodal sensory systems need interoceptive predictions to organize themselves. Therefore, Ondobaka posits that predictive coding is key to understanding other people's internal states.
In 2015, Lisa Feldman Barrett and W. Kyle Simmons (2015) proposed the Embodied Predictive Interoception Coding model, a framework that unifies Bayesian active inference principles with a physiological framework of corticocortical connections. Using this model, they posited that agranular visceromotor cortices are responsible for generating predictions about interoception, thus, defining the experience of interoception.
In 2017, contrary to the inductive notion that emotion categories are biologically distinct, Barrett (2017) proposed the theory of constructed emotion, which is the account that a biological emotion category is constructed based on a conceptual category—the accumulation of instances sharing a goal. In a predictive coding model, Barrett hypothesizes that, in interoception, our brains regulate our bodies by activating "embodied simulations" (full-bodied representations of sensory experience) to anticipate what our brains predict that the external world will throw at us sensorially and how we will respond to it with action. These simulations are either preserved if, based on our brain's predictions, they prepare us well for what actually subsequently occurs in the external world, or they, and our predictions, are adjusted to compensate for their error in comparison to what actually occurs in the external world and how well-prepared we were for it. Then, in a trial-error-adjust process, our bodies find similarities in goals among certain successful anticipatory simulations and group them together under conceptual categories. Every time a new experience arises, our brains use this past trial-error-adjust history to match the new experience to one of the categories of accumulated corrected simulations that is shares the most similarity with. Then, they apply the corrected simulation of that category to the new experience in the hopes of preparing our bodies for the rest of the experience. If it does not, the prediction, the simulation, and perhaps the boundaries of the conceptual category are revised in the hopes of higher accuracy next time, and the process continues. Barrett hypothesizes that, when prediction error for a certain category of simulations for x-like experiences is minimized, what results is a correction-informed simulation that the body will reenact for every x-like experience, resulting in a correction-informed full-bodied representation of sensory experience—an emotion. In this sense, Barrett proposes that we construct our emotions because the conceptual category framework our brains use to compare new experiences, and to pick the appropriate predictive sensory simulation to activate, is built on the go.
### Challenges
As a mechanistic theory, predictive coding has not been mapped out physiologically on the neuronal level. One of the biggest challenges to the theory has been the imprecision of exactly how prediction error minimization works. In some studies, the increase in BOLD signal has been interpreted as error signal while in others it indicates changes in the input representation. A crucial question that needs to be addressed is what exactly constitutes error signal and how it is computed at each level of information processing. Another challenge that has been posed is predictive coding's computational tractability. According to Kwisthout and van Rooij, the subcomputation in each level of the predictive coding framework potentially hides a computationally intractable problem, which amounts to “intractable hurdles” that computational modelers have yet to overcome. Ransom and Fazelpour (2015) indicate "Three Problems for the Predictive Coding Theory of Attention".
Future research could focus on clarifying the neurophysiological mechanism and computational model of predictive coding. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictive_coding |
What is an example of constructive forces?
What is an example of constructive forces?
Constructive Force: Wind – sand transported by the wind creates sand dunes. Water – bits of soil and rock can be carried downstream and deposited causing deltas. Ice – glaciers pick up and move rock and other materials, depositing it elsewhere.
What is the best example of top-down processing?
One classic example of top-down processing in action is a phenomenon known as the Stroop effect. In this task, people are shown a list of words printed in different colors. They're then asked to name the ink color, rather than the word itself.
Which is better top-down or bottom-up?
Key Takeaways. Top-down usually encompasses a vast universe of macro variables while bottom-up is more narrowly focused. Top-down investing strategies typically focus on exploiting opportunities that follow market cycles while bottom-up approaches are more fundamental in nature.
What is top-down thinking?
A top-down approach means thinking through the problem and then asking incisive questions that get to its heart, which sometimes include questions that the client doesn't want to hear. Clients can sometimes look in the wrong place for the source of the problem.
What is top-down modeling?
Top-Down Design Model: In the top-down model, an overview of the system is formulated without going into detail for any part of it. Each part of it then refined into more details, defining it in yet more details until the entire specification is detailed enough to validate the model.
Is C top down approach?
Top down approach and bottom up approach are involved in software development. ... Structure/procedure oriented programming languages like C programming language follows top down approach. Whereas object oriented programming languages like C++ and Java programming language follows bottom up approach.
What is a bottom up model?
A bottom-up approach is the piecing together of systems to give rise to more complex systems, thus making the original systems sub-systems of the emergent system. Bottom-up processing is a type of information processing based on incoming data from the environment to form a perception.
How do you calculate bottom up?
A bottom up analysis is calculated by estimating potential sales in order to determine a total sales figure. A bottom up analysis evaluates where products can be sold, the sales of comparable products, and the slice of current sales you can carve out.
What is the bottom up process in psychology?
Bottom-up processing is an explanation for perceptions that start with an incoming stimulus and working upwards until a representation of the object is formed in our minds. ... It is in the next step of the process, known as perception, that our brains interpret these sensory signals.
What is the bottom up model of reading?
A bottom-up reading model is a reading model that emphasizes the written or printed text, it says that reading is driven by a process that results in meaning (or, in other words, reading is driven by text) and that reading proceeds from part to whole.
What is models of reading?
Modelled reading (reading to or reading aloud) involves students listening to a text read aloud by the teacher. The teacher models skilled reading behaviour, enjoyment and interest in a range of different styles of writing and types of text.
What reading model is most effective?
Top down. The top down reading model is based on the philosophy that the brain and reader are at the center of understanding and succeeding. This method argues that readers bring an understanding to the print, not print to the reader.
What is Piaget's approach on reading?
What Is the Piaget Reading Theory? Piaget's theory in a nutshell was that children begin the process of reading and language acquisition by first gathering sensory and motor information. This is information about the way things feel, taste, smell and look.
What do theorists say about reading?
According to the top-down theory, reading is a natural process that children learn when they live in a language-rich environment. Repeating words, phrases, sentences and even whole books helps new readers internalize language and begin to read fluently.
Why is reading a process?
Reading is a thinking process. It allows the reader to use what he or she may already know, also called prior knowledge. During this processing of information, the reader uses strategies to understand what they are reading, uses themes to organize ideas, and uses textual clues to find the meanings of new words.
What is top-down reading strategy?
Top-down processing of language happens when someone uses background information to predict the meaning of language they are going to listen to or read. ... Learners can be encouraged to use both bottom-up and top-down strategies to help them understand a text.
What is reviewing in reading?
Reviewing is the final stage in the academic reading process. All the other steps you've taken while reading–previewing, active reading, and summarizing–put the content into your head. Reviewing helps seal it in place, and makes sure it stays accessible when you need the information later.
What is the purpose of reviewing?
Reviewing is any process that helps you to make use of personal experience for your learning and development. These reviewing processes can include: reflecting on experience. analysing experience.
What are the benefits of reviewing?
Reviewing helps you think critically about your own research. The experience of identifying the strength and weaknesses in others' research makes you more likely to adopt the strengths and avoid the weaknesses in your own. Being a reviewer is a sign of an emerging national reputation.
What is the importance of reviewing your training and development?
Critically, training and development allows employees to successfully fulfill their roles by: Giving each employee a thorough understanding of what's expected of them. They're clear on their goals and role in the team and wider organization. Getting access to the tools or resources they need to perform their role.
What is the benefit of reviewing a paper?
Benefit of review is gaining a first hand knowledge on recent researches and expanding your thinking and reasoning pattern. In terms of certificate almost all elsevier journals give digital certificates to reviewers which you can print out. You can use it as a reference in looking for a better position or for funding.
Why is reviewing your assessment practices important?
It is important to regularly review the assessment process to ensure that it is the most: Efficient. Appropriate method to use for this learner and situation. Relevant tool to collect the evidence you need to make a competency decision.
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"Remember that all models are wrong; the practical question is how wrong do they have to be to not be useful." —Box & Draper 1987
The man kept on talking and talking, telling me about the cat that was brushing up against his right thigh at that very moment. Eventually, I asked the man what color the trees were outside the window of his hospital room and he tilted his head slightly and described shades of deepest green. The man, a patient I had been asked to see, was comfortable and alert. He knew where he was. He could speak and understand without difficulty. His memory—for both remote events and recall of the last months that led to him being hospitalized for an operation on his failing mitral valve a week earlier—was intact. And yet, looking out his window at the southern slope of Mount Royal, covered in decidedly non-green late-October peak foliage, it wasn’t difficult to tell that something was wrong.
I had been asked to see him because the nursing staff felt he had been acting unusually in the days following his heart surgery. His primary nurse described him as a kidder—a jovial man who wasn’t much trouble. She couldn’t recall him using the call bell. But the joking belied some unusual behavior—he seemed not to know what to do with items on his meal tray and he was continually making excuses for not being able to open juice containers that came along with his meal. He didn’t complain about his difficulties. The nurse told me she helped him with the containers and felt that he had the look of someone who’d forgotten their glasses. He wasn’t getting out of bed and when he did, he moved tentatively. An occupational therapist told me she was unable to do a kitchen assessment with him because he seemed apathetic.
I examined the patient and found that he couldn’t detect my fingers moving 18 inches in front of his face. His pupils were equal and reactive. The man smiled at me throughout the entire examination, seemingly unconcerned, explaining that his inability to answer my questions about what he could see was due to the poor lighting in the brightly fluorescent-lit room. I finished examining him, and I asked him again about the color of the trees.
He was blind. But what was more unusual was that he didn’t seem to know, or at least was unable to acknowledge he was blind.
Imaging confirmed that he’d suffered a stroke that affected both occipital lobes and part of the right parietal lobe. He had Anton’s Syndrome—damage to the occipital lobes that leaves a person cortically blind (their eyes work, but the part of their brain that processes visual information is damaged) and the more curious finding of anosognosia—a denial of illness. All of this, in Anton’s Syndrome anyway, occurs in the absence of other neurological problems such as amnesia or generalized confusion or specific language problems.
The original descriptions of the syndrome also emphasized another aspect to the already strange presentation—patients with Anton’s Syndrome confabulate: in the face of obvious and severe disability (at least to an outside observer), patients with Anton’s Syndrome construct odd, obviously false and often detailed narratives that often seem intended to explain away their situation. My patient’s confident and incorrect response about the color of the leaves raised the eyebrows of the sister who came to visit him as we spoke, and the cat whom the patient reported rubbing against his leg disappeared when an adjacent pillow was moved away from him.
The questions raised by Anton’s Syndrome are among the most interesting in neurology—how can someone not be aware of losing something as vital as sight? How can a person’s narrative, the running explanation of what they are experiencing, be so deranged as to not only lose the ability to describe their situation, but to take on an alternate narrative, to create something fictional in the place of a missing autobiographical narrative?
There are varying responses to the oddness of deficits presented in Anton’s syndrome. Probably the earliest recorded description of the syndrome, and the most typical response, comes from Seneca in his Moral Letters to Lucilius where he describes what has happened to Harpaste, his wife’s former nursemaid: “Now this clown suddenly became blind. The story sounds incredible, but I assure you that it is true: she does not know that she is blind. She keeps asking her attendant to change her quarters; she says that the apartments are too dark.”
“Why do we deceive ourselves?” Seneca muses to Lucilius after this, and we are left to think that he has concluded that the woman’s problem is obstinate denial in the face of what any reasonable, self-aware person would regard as catastrophe. Intuitively, it’s hard not to disagree. (Although the notion of a Stoic philosopher being upset that someone has insufficiently acknowledged their own personal catastrophe has its own irony).
Many people, family and other caregivers, will consider patients with Anton’s Syndrome as simply delirious (they aren’t) or, like Seneca, dismiss them as dim and duplicitous—deceiving themselves as well as others. Even medical professionals have difficulty coming to terms with the concept of anosognosia—a term coined by Anton to denote a lack of awareness of one’s deficit. The medical students who spend a couple of weeks on the neurology service are electrified by the oddity of someone who is unaware that they are blind, but their interest often stops there. These patients are reduced to just another exhibit in the emporium of incredibly odd cases that cluster in neurology. But other trainees, such as neurology residents, who are working towards a deeper understanding of the nervous system, are often genuinely troubled by Anton’s Syndrome. They have seen how other patients who experience visual loss—even minimal distortions—report these in great detail and without delay. They’ve committed themselves to studying the nervous system and internalized the (admittedly grandiose but still essentially correct) notion that the brain is the most complex and miraculous physical entity in the universe. For these specialists-in-training, to have a patient who lacks awareness that they are blind could indicate a person who is in denial, or simply lying—and neither prospect is particularly interesting for a neurologist. Another alternative, even more troubling to the trainees I supervise, is that it could mean that the system on which their patient’s consciousness was based was rather more rickety and corruptible than one would expect from the most miraculous entity in the universe.
Or it could be that the way we’ve been taught the nervous system works is simply wrong.
A traditional view of nervous system function—influenced by the writings of Plato and Descartes and buttressed by Behaviorist theories that by mid-20th century dominated the field—held that sensory information arrived passively, akin to impressions falling on our sense organs. The impulses generated by our sense organs were then transmitted to the brain where there was a ‘making sense’ of the data, based on how it matched up with previous experience or similarity to other prototypes, and this constituted perception. Based on these perceptions, emotions and actions were then selected and movements initiated by motor commands. This is referred to as a ‘bottom-up’ model, and using it to explain cognitive function made a lot of sense with the way the brain and the nervous system were coming to be understood. One of the earliest and best described functions of the nervous system is the stretch reflex—an elegant, two-neuron wiring diagram that shows information flowing into the nervous system through sensory nerves to synapse in the spinal cord with a motor neuron that sent information back out to become action—all of which seems to typify a very plausible bottom-up model. The simplicity, and the utter practicality of the stretch reflex in helping to make diagnoses left a deep impression on generations of doctors who trained as neurologists— it became tempting to think of the nervous system as a complex system of understandable elements, a scaled-up hierarchy of reflexes that reinforced the validity of a ‘bottom-up’ system.
But as much as the ‘bottom-up’ approach offered, it failed to explain other phenomena neurologists saw in their everyday working lives. The vivid visual hallucinations of the Parkinson’s patient, the migratory sensory symptoms that occur in patients labeled as hysterical, the lack of blindness-awareness in Anton’s syndrome—none of this made sense in a system organized in a bottom-up way. And so, when faced with something we don’t understand, we retreat to a stance like Seneca’s, we dismiss or disparage, reactions designed to allow disengagement from situations where we don’t have to admit a larger failure.
A second model does exist, however, with its origins in Aristotelian and, to some degree, in Kantian thought, emphasizing that the brain actively seeks information it predicts may be present in the environment based on a certain intention. The inference (or idea, or prior, or hypothesis) is propagated to a point where certain neurons compare bottom up information and top down predictions to form a prediction error. The prediction error signal—the gap between the expected and the delivered, weighted in line with expectation—is what is propagated ‘up’ to inform the next inference.
It is a system that still relies heavily on sensory input, but more as a substrate for error-testing each inference to eventually arrive at a new, updated belief rather than using sensation as an initiating event. In the nineteenth century this model was most effectively conceptualized by Hermann von Helmholtz, the German physician-scientist who proposed that unconscious inference—the process of generating hypotheses informed by experience and continually testing these hypotheses—was the most plausible model for perception, and further elaborated that the entire system was designed to reduce an organism’s surprise while negotiating the challenges of an ever-changing and often hazardous environment. Helmholtz, understanding that any proposed system had to be both hierarchical and flexible to incorporate learning, proposed that multiple representations and action plans needed to be represented for any situation. Helmholtz’s concept of unconscious inference evolved into what is now referred to as Predictive Processing, a model that, by incorporating notions of Bayesian inference—statistical likelihood of a hypothesis—has come to influence thinking not only in cognitive neuroscience, but artificial intelligence, robotics, and philosophy.
Simply put, a top down model of brain function, with predictive processing as the most robust example of this, sees the brain as a Bayesian inference engine, a relentless creator and tester of hypotheses about the world. Inside us, silently and continuously, multiple ideas about our environment are advanced and tested, assigned probabilities, their error signals weighted with precision, until the explanation (or occasionally, more than one explanation) for experience emerges that best minimizes prediction error. And while this at first glance this may seem unnecessarily complicated, it should be remembered that predictive strategies actually maximize the efficiency of information transfer—predictive processing is the basic principle used in data compression—by giving feedback that only corrects the errors in what has been predicted.
Predictive processing casts a new light on phenomena that were difficult to understand using a ‘bottom-up’ conception of cognitive function. The shapes that ‘appear’ in optical illusions and the pervasiveness of the placebo effect are examples of phenomena heavily dependent on prior expectations. Delusions—the strongly held but demonstrably false beliefs held by individuals can, using the predictive processing model, be understood as errors in inference reinforced by altered error-signaling (a coarse analogy of this altered error signaling would be the example of search engine confirmation bias, sending the conspiracy theorist back more frequently to spurious ‘evidence’ that affirms their initial, unfounded suspicion).
In a predictive processing paradigm, the possibility of being unaware of a loss of previous-held awareness becomes not only tenable, but intuitively understandable. Every process, according to the model, whether it is a thought, a perception, or an action begins with an inference. An inference that is never made (because the part of the brain that generates that inference is damaged) can never be subjected to the rigors of inference-testing. The untested hypothesis is never confirmed, never refuted. It simply does not exist, akin to an argument that is never made.
Anton himself—and I like to think he was troubled by what he saw as he tried to come to grips the way in which the anosognosia demanded new ways of thinking about perception—alluded coincidentally to a loss of inference in his original description of one of the patient’s he saw with visual anosognosia: “The patient was unaware of this loss of vision. The defect did not incite reflection or conclusions, nor sorrow, nor loss of pleasure.”
According to a predictive processing model, the patient with Anton Syndrome I saw years ago, who could not see fingers moving in front of his face and was unable to understand what this meant, could have lost the ability to make inferences about the state of his vision. He had an inference-of-vision-impairment along with being visually impaired. Without this inference—‘I am blind’—the process of discovery regarding blindness stops, because it never really starts. Some have argued that patients with Anton’s Syndrome may be having hallucinations, but visual hallucinations in the blind—called Charles Bonnet syndrome—are well-formed and detailed instead of the approximate guesses of Anton’s Syndrome and those with Charles Bonnet are well aware of their blindness and that their hallucinations are not ‘real.’
The visual demands of the world persist, however, for the vision-impaired and those with inference-of-vision-impairment alike, whether it is trying to negotiate the obstacles in the room or answering a neurologist about the color of the leaves on the trees or making sense of other experiences, and the patient with Anton’s Syndrome is left to make inferences based on what information they have—if you are going to offer a guess about the color of leaves on a tree, if there are any, then green is the right answer 90% of the time. The classic description of the narrative produced by a patient with Anton’s Syndrome is referred to as confabulation—a narrative characterized by its personal nature and its obvious falsity. (The other narrative in Anton’s syndrome—the absence of a personal narrative about blindness—is actually the more glaring example of a dys-narrative state, but is forgotten in the excesses of confabulation.)
Perhaps a more inclusive definition of confabulation would be the personal narrative that continues when information necessary for autobiographical veracity is corrupted—whether it be unavailable, distorted or imprecise—due to memory or perceptual deficits. The narrative continues with all the sense of agency, of authorship, maintained. This is my story, even when the falsity of the narrative is pointed out by outsiders, the confabulator typically maintains its truth—and I’m sticking to it. What is left is narrative with authenticity shorn of objective veracity, which to an outside observer represents a shift from autobiography into inadvertent fictionalization.
In her essay, “The White Album,” right after dropping perhaps her most aphoristic of lines about telling stories in order to live, Joan Didion produced a succinct description of the cognitive process of writing that echoes the concept of a predictive processing model:
“We interpret what we see, select the most workable of multiple choices. We live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate images, by the “ideas” we have learned to freeze the shifting phantasmagoria which is our actual experience.”
We interpret, we select, we live entirely by imposition—the words that Didion uses could hardly be more synonymous with the making of inference, and they capture what we know intuitively about artistic creation in general and narrative in particular. What is narrative if not a series of inferences, presented linguistically, subjected to the same hierarchical, parallel, continually updated testing process as other cognitive acts?
I first read about predictive processing over ten years ago as I was in the midst of editing my first novel. A manuscript sat in front of me—my editor’s initial edits—and my heart sank a little as I noted how the blue pencil markings on the page seemed to camouflage the native typescript. It seemed that every choice I had made in a manuscript that I considered to be already pretty damn good had been subjected to a strict analysis and been found lacking in some way. I remembered reading that VS Naipaul submitted his books not expecting, nor accepting, editorial suggestions. While I may have my delusions, being Naipaul is not one of them, and I started on page one of revisions.
But reading about predictive processing at the same time I was revising a novel was more than a lucky coincidence—it was a source of solace during the process of editing. The thought of a brain constantly making educated guesses about the world was a satisfying melding of concept and act. Predictive processing made me reflect in a way I would not have otherwise done on the process of writing, and I remembered Didion’s words, the exhausting privilege of the act of writing, as I recalled how some parts of the novel had come into being so effortlessly, seeming to appear on the page almost fully-formed whereas other sections seemed wrought from a different, more difficult, place, a process seemingly accompanied by the constant clang of a blacksmith’s hammer.
It made clear to me that my choices as a writer—from the larger thematic choices, to the decisions about the creation of theoretical personalities called characters or choices about tone, to the temporal arrangements of these theoretical events to heighten tension and even particular instances of word choice—all amounted to inferences that I had felt were most likely to create outcomes that gave me (and I hoped others) pleasure. In that sense, the pages of revisions weren’t challenges to my authority but error signals, the bottom-up notifications that signaled a gap in plausibility or coherence or outright good taste between my initial ideas and those of my editor.
Any writer’s unspoken task during the editing process is to understand how to ‘weigh’ the editorial suggestions—in predictive processing terminology how to determine what precision to place on the error signal—and how to better inform the next inference. Many suggestions are accepted, gratefully, as the writer recognizes a misstep avoided, but there are others that require negotiation, a justification and often a thorough reworking—all iterative processes in themselves that make the writer aware again of the array of possible solutions, the multiple representations that exist for any situation that will out of necessity collapse down to the one chosen representation that exists on the finished page.
Predictive processing is a model that purports to explain not only perception but action as well (think about the movement of your arm as a series of predictions about its position, eventually fulfilled by the motor act). As such, predictive processing holds promise as being a potentially unifying theory of brain function, closing the chasm between the cognitive processes that govern ‘everyday’ perceptual and motor acts and what are sometimes regarded as the ‘higher order’ acts of imagination or creation.
This notion, that artistic creation may depend not on muses or serendipity or divine sources but instead relies on the same basic mechanisms that allow us to recognize that our ear is itchy and to scratch that itch, offends some as overly reductionist. There is a need by many to think of the creative act as somehow privileged. But we should recognize that we are “reducing” creative processes to a massively parallel, epistemically ravenous, continually updated processor, honed over millennia to impose its ideas on its surroundings for the good of its own survival. This model doesn’t mean that creative acts are not special, but it does require that we recast every cognitive act as an act of creation. Everything is special. In that sense I am less a reductionist than an elevationist.
But on a more mundane level, when it comes to trying to understand cognitive processes, predictive processing was another way of reinforcing that I am an unapologetic materialist: I believe that experience, perception, memory, action, creation all depend on states of brain. I like to think that I didn’t come to this point primarily from a particular philosophic or cultural stance, but out of a pragmatic need, and expectation, to address the problems faced by my patients. Other than attending to the man with Anton’s syndrome, I am part of a medical team called to look after people whose ability to move, or see, or create with language or have consciousness at all is imperiled by material changes in their nervous system. My job is to find a material cause and propose a material solution without delay. And so if I see a person who is suddenly unable to speak, I cannot address it as a cultural or spiritual problem or even a theoretical problem, but must address it in its purest materialist form: as a blocked artery feeding a specific part of the brain that serves language production. I do this because I am aware, from personal experience and the cumulative experience of medical literature that removal of the small blood clot that blocks that artery increases the chance of recovery of function that has been lost.
If this seems smug—like an argument from technological authority—then consider me already-chastened by those times when these efforts fail, and I am faced with having to help my patients, and their families, understand how their altered nervous systems can continue to navigate their worlds. Materialism gets real, real quick.
The offense felt at this approach by non-materialists—many of whom are superb creators of words or images or ideas—is often accompanied by a tone of derision when discussing material explanations of cognition. This results in reductionism of another, somewhat absurd, variety that is more often met in contemporary culture with Presidential handclaps than critique. From the “Givenness of Things,” Marilynne Robinson writes: “If it is reasonable to say that the brain is meat, it is reasonable, on the same grounds, the next time you look into a baby carriage, to compliment the mother on her lovely little piece of meat.”
This is an example of a recurring theme in modern western discourse, especially in relation to science or technology: the denigration of something made possible by the very thing being denigrated. Just as the spectacular success of vaccines in sparing us the ravages of infectious illnesses like polio allows for the very cultural amnesia necessary for the anti-vaccine movement to thrive, the material brain has the dubious honor of having to generate its own slander. There is a necessary affluence and obliviousness that attend any of these attacks, and an “unacknowledged brain privilege” at work with this attack in particular. But we all have our own forms of blindness of which we are more, or less, aware.
The patient I saw with Anton’s Syndrome regained some elements of cognitive function in the months following his stroke. I saw him in follow-up six months after our initial visits. Deemed unlikely to benefit from rehabilitation because of his lack of awareness regarding his deficits, he had been placed in a seniors’ residence. His anosognosia had resolved—many patients with Anton’s Syndrome do experience some improvement along these lines, but he remained severely visually impaired. He now understood he was blind. He seemed less lighthearted, describing his day in a way someone with a new, severe visual impairment would, the constant need for help, the humbling loss of autonomy. The isolation. Now that he was able to properly infer the depth of his loss, the narrative of his illness had changed, reverting from a fictionalized account to an autobiographical one. Eventually he behaved like a blind person to everyone’s satisfaction. | https://centerforfiction.org/essays/thats-my-story-and-im-probabilistically-sticking-to-it/ |
BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING • BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING refers to processing sensory information as it is coming in. • In other words, if I flash a random picture on the screen, your eyes detect the features, your brain pieces it together, and you perceive a picture. What you see is based only on the sensory information coming in. • Bottom-up refers to the way it is built up from the smallest pieces of sensory information.
TOP-DOWN PROCESSING • TOP-DOWN PROCESSING, on the other hand, refers to perception that is driven by cognition. Your brain applies what it knows and what it expects to perceive and fills in the blanks, so to speak. • Look at the shape in the box to the right. Seen alone, your brain engages in bottom-up processing. There are two thick vertical lines and three thin horizontal lines. There is no context to give it a specific meaning, so there is no top-down processing involved.
TOP-DOWN PROCESSING • Now, look at the same shape in two different contexts. Surrounded by sequential letters, your brain expects the shape to be a letter and to complete the sequence. In that context, you perceive the lines to form the shape of the letter “B. ” Surrounded by numbers, the same shape now looks like the number “ 13. ” When given a context, your perception is driven by your cognitive expectations. Now you are processing the shape in a topdown fashion.
SELECTIVE ATTENTION • 11, 000 bits of information per second • Consciously process about 40 • Cocktail Party Effect • Your ability to attend to only one voice among many
INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS • Inattentional blindness, also known as perceptual blindness, is a psychological lack of attention that is not associated with any vision defects or deficits.
CHANGE BLINDNESS • Change blindness is a perceptual phenomenon that occurs when a change in a visual stimulus is introduced and the observer does notice it.
POP-OUT EFFECT • The pop-out effect (also known as pop-out phenomenon) occurs when a visual stimulus that is comprised of differing components has mostly similar looking objects but one differing object that 'pops-out' or stands out very noticeably from the other objects in the visual field. When looking at a visual field a unique stimulus can be located much faster than stimuli that is similar.
TRANSDUCTION • Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret.
ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD • The term absolute threshold is often used in neuroscience and experimental research. An absolute threshold is the smallest detectable level of a stimulus. For example, in an experiment on sound detention, researchers may present a sound with varying levels of volume. The smallest level that a participant is able to hear is the absolute threshold. • However, it is important to note that at such low levels, participants may only detect the stimulus part of the time. • Because of this, the absolute threshold is usually defined as the smallest level of a stimulus that a person is able to detect 50 percent of the time.
SIGNAL DETECTION THEORY • Predicts when we will detect weak signals (measured as our ratio of “hits” to “false alarms”) • Your ability or likelihood to detect some stimulus is affected by the intensity of the stimulus (e. g. , how loud a noise is) and your physical and psychological state (e. g. , how alert you are). • For example, when you walk to your car that is parked in an empty parking lot late at night all by yourself, you might be much more aware of noises because the situation is somewhat threatening (you are primed and listening carefully to hear anything and everything). In this case, you may hear some slight noises that you might otherwise not hear if you were in a different situation that was not as threatening. Thus, your ability to detect signals or noises has been affected by these factors.
SUBLIMINAL • When we are presented with some information that is just below our conscious awareness but still reaches our brains, it is a subliminal message - meaning, the information is getting into our systems and to our brains without us truly being aware of it.
JUST NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCE THRESHOLD • The absolute threshold should not be confused with the difference threshold, which is the smallest possible detectable difference between two stimuli.
PERCEPTUAL SET • Perceptual set is a tendency to perceive or notice some aspects of the available sensory data and ignore others. • This is the expectation of a person to see or perceive something based on prior experience. • Stereotypes are an example of perceptual set
CONTEXT EFFECTS • The Context Effect is a part of Cognitive Psychology that states that the context (environmental factors) that surrounds an event affects how an event is perceived and remembered. • This effect, that is largely used in the science of marketing, holds that an event is more favorably perceived and remembered when the surrounding environment is comfortable and appealing.
EMOTION AND MOTIVATION • In addition to context, emotion and motivation can also create expectations and color our interpretation of events and behaviors. | https://slidetodoc.com/sensation-and-perception-key-terms-bottomup-processing-bottomup/ |
What is Psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy is the art of systematic use of relationship between therapist and client. It enables the client to view the dynamic process connected to how they relate and to all of their relationships, most particularly their relationship with themselves. (Everything exists only in relationship, and relationship is significant in all healing)
The type and style of relationship between therapist and client is determined by the needs of the client. The therapist provides space for understanding, awareness, reparation and healing. This may be supportive in crisis, reparative, transferential, existential or transpersonal. The therapist facilitates the client to look at their issues and explore what is needed to understand themselves in order to make the significant changes necessary to improve their quality of life.
The therapists approach based on their informed use of skill will depend on differences between individual clients and their needs and different phases in psychotherapy.
The psychotherapeutic relationship is characterised by certain conditions which is that it is usually paid for according to some contractual agreement, this is referred to as the therapeutic alliance, it is the crucial and sometimes only required relationship for effective therapy.
There are three aspects to the working alliance which are required for any form of therapy to be successful, firstly goals must be agreed, then there must be an agreement on the necessary tasks, and there needs to be a personal bond between therapist and client which supports the frequently painful work of life changing psychotherapy.
It is a condition that the therapist is specifically trained to do this work, that the aim and goal of the work is to process and mirror psychological difficulties for the client and to support them to find ways to improve these difficulties. There are other conditions and significant factors for successful therapy but the above rate as most significant.
Styles of psychotherapeutic relationship
From an Integrative perspective there are five forms of Psychotherapeutic relationship.
- The working Alliance
- The transferential/counter-transferential relationship
- The reparative/developmentally-needed relationship
- The person-to-person relationship
- The transpersonal relationship
Techniques Include: | http://www.attractafahy.com/psychotherapy/ |
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Therapeutic rapport is an essential part of a healthy therapist-client relationship, leaving the client feeling safe and respected so that therapy can be successful.
Therapeutic rapport refers to the empathic (caring) and shared understanding of issues between a therapist and a client. It implies a team approach to management of these issues in contrast to an adversarial approach. With good therapeutic rapport, a client feels his therapist "has his back" in a way the allows him to face difficult-to-face problems. Likewise, the therapist in a setting with good therapeutic rapport feels respected in a way which allows her to speak clearly and freely.
The goal of developing a good rapport is to improve your chances for a successful outcome, along with developing mutual trust and respect, to foster an environment in which you, the client, feel safe.
To develop a good rapport, your therapist must, among other things, demonstrate empathy and understanding. Therapeutic rapport is a cornerstone of some forms of psychotherapy, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, which is common in phobia treatment.
In order to develop a therapeutic rapport, you need to feel confident that your therapist is an expert who is developing a treatment plan designed to meet the needs of your specific case.
How will you know if your therapist is taking the time to conceptualize your case?
From your very first session, she should assess the difficulties you currently have. She will help you create a problem list and begin to prioritize that with you.
During the first few sessions, your therapist should outline her treatment plan for you and ask if it's acceptable to you. She should revisit the plan in future sessions and consult with you about necessary modifications.
Your treatment plan should include goals and benchmarks, so it's easier to self-report and assess your own progress.
Genuineness is one of the ways your therapist can develop a healthy rapport with you. When she is genuine, it allows you to see her as a human being, not just a mental health professional. If you see her as being genuine, you are more likely to positively receive critical feedback about your progress.
Provide supportive nonverbal cues, including eye contact and nodding in agreement.
Give feedback in the moment, rather than in a later session.
Encourage you to be active and feel empowered in regards to your treatment plan.
Shows your therapist cares about what you think and values your input.
Gives you space to bring up anything that's bothering you about your treatment and individual sessions. If you sense that your therapist is genuine, you will also realize that therapists are human and aren't perfect. Keep in mind that everyone is different, and what works in a treatment plan for one person may not work for you. One of the ways in which your therapist can recognize your uniqueness is by providing feedback about anything that doesn't seem to be working for you as an individual.
Encourages teamwork between the two of you.
Allows your therapist to repair any damage to your therapeutic relationship, whether it's real or perceived.
When your child is in therapy, his therapist should develop a good rapport with the parents or guardian as well.
Anxiety disorders, such as social phobia, agoraphobia, and specific phobia, are highly treatable and the most frequently diagnosed class of mental health issues in adolescents and children. Phobia is most commonly treated with cognitive behavior therapy techniques, which emphasize the import of the healthy therapeutic relationship for a successful outcome.
With the advent of online and telephone options for therapy, the importance of therapeutic rapport is just as important, but more difficult to develop and assess. We know from history, that typed messages (think Facebook misunderstandings) and communications on the phone are more difficult to interpret since neither the client nor the therapist can visualize important body language clues. Keep this in mind if you are considering distance therapy and ask a potential therapist how she works with this issue.
Just as there are some painters who may a better job painting your house, there are some therapists that do a better job of establishing rapport. Yet, based on the definition of rapport, this effort is two-sided and requires effort on the part of both the therapist and the client.
That said, personality can play a large role in developing rapport with your therapist. Even if a therapist is very compassionate and a client is very motivated to address her mental health issues, there are times when personalities simply don't mix. If you find yourself in this category, don't fret. It doesn't mean that you chose a bad therapist or that you have failed in your attempt to get help. There are many good therapists out there, and just as you may need to interview a few home decorators to see which one matches your personality best, you may need to talk to more than one therapist before you find the one who can best help you work through and cope with any mental health issues.
Bachelor, A., Clients' and Therapists' Views of the Therapeutic Alliance: Similarities, Differences and Relationship to Therapy Outcome. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy. 2013. 20(2):118-35.
Holdsworth, E., Bowen, E., Brown, S., and D. Howat. Client Engagement in Psychotherapeutic Treatment and Association with Client Characteristics, Therapist Characteristics, and Treatment Factors. Clinical Psychology Revew. 2014. 34(5):428-50.
Nissen-Lie, J., Havik, O., Hogeland, P., Ronnestad, M., and J. Monsen. Patient and Therapist Perspectives on Alliance Development: Therapists' Practice Experiences as Predictors. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy. 2015. 22(4):317-27. | https://www.verywellmind.com/therapeutic-rapport-2671659 |
What is Person-Centred Therapy?
Counselling and psychotherapy practitioners understand their work from a variety of perspectives. There are a variety of well-established 'models' or 'approaches' and these generally hold many insights in common, whilst also having their own specific contributions and characteristics (click here for a brief summary of these from BACP). My work is firmly rooted in the person-centred approach.
This approach to therapy originated in the work of psychologist, therapist, educator, and researcher, Carl R. Rogers (1902-1987), who was the initiator not only of person-centred therapy but also of innovative approaches to education, human relations, and community-building. In the decades since his death, the approach has been further developed by practitioners and theorists in many parts of the world, and notably in Scotland. These developments have led to a number of different emphases in working, collectively now described as 'Person-centred and Experiential Psychotherapies', which have a long-established, robust, and developing evidence base. This is on top of that for humanistic therapies more generally. Indeed, in the 1940's Carl Rogers was one of the pioneers of psychotherapy research, leading the way in detailed scientific investigation about when and how therapy is effective. There continues to be a strong tradition of research and innovation amongst contemporary person-centred practitioners, researchers and academics
Person-centred therapy is based on respect for the individual person and their unique experience and perspective, and on the understanding that the therapeutic relationship between counsellor and client, is of primary importance in the work. It is a relational therapy. As a person-centred therapist, I take it as a given that it is ultimately the client and not the therapist who can identify best what is problematic and what direction may need to be taken, even if this may not initially be at all clear to them. People have within themselves the capacity to begin and continue healing and restorative processes, and these processes can best unfold within the secure, non-judging, understanding relationship that person-centred therapists are trained for and strive to participate in. The essential qualities I see as central to creating a safe, supportive and challenging therapeutic environment include:
You can watch a short video of Carl Rogers speaking about the approach here.
For more information about person-centred approaches to counselling and psychotherapy
the following links may be helpful:
The World Association for Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy and Counseling
The Person-Centred Association (UK)
Person-Centred Therapy Scotland
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'The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination.'
'The kind of caring that the client-centered therapist desires to achieve is a gullible caring, in which clients are accepted as they say they are, not with a lurking suspicion in the therapist's mind that they may, in fact, be otherwise. This attitude is not stupidity on the therapist's part; it is the kind of attitude that is most likely to lead to trust'.
'When I have been listened to and when I have been heard, I am able to re-perceive my world in a new way and to go on. It is astonishing how elements that seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens, how confusions that seem irremediable turn into relatively clear flowing streams when one is heard. I have deeply appreciated the times that I have experienced this sensitive, empathic, concentrated listening.'
'This process of the good life is not, I am convinced, a life for the faint-hearted. It involves the stretching and growing of becoming more and more of one's potentialities. It involves the courage to be. It means launching oneself fully into the stream of life'. | http://www.simonspence.net/what-is-person-centred-therapy.html |
Maria believes in the importance of rapport building in the therapeutic alliance.
Rapport Building
Linda Tickle-Degnen and Robert Rosenthal (1990), from Boston University and Harvard University, respectively, explored the subject of rapport in “The Nature of Rapport and Its Nonverbal Correlates.” These researchers found that rapport is not something with which one is intrinsically born; instead it only occurs when two people interact (Tickle-Degnen & Rosenthal, 1990). In their research, Tickle-Degnen & Rosenthal (1990) purported three components of rapport: mutual attentiveness, positivity, and coordination. Biological aspects of the interaction need to be balanced; e.g., matching each other’s energy levels, body language, tone, and talking speed (Angelo, 2015).
A study in 2012 by Vacharkulksemsuk & Fredrickson entitled Strangers in Sync: Achieving Embodied Rapport Through Shared Movements suggested that the coordination aspect of rapport is even more important than the early stages of rapport-building, and that the importance declines when rapport is more firmly established. In another article, Rapport is Not So Soft Anymore by DePaulo & Bell (2009), it was noted that some scientists were too embarrassed to be associated with rapport, as it was considered “mushy” and unprofessional. However, in the 1960’s, researchers reported that patients who underwent surgery and had a strong rapport with their doctors experienced reduced pain after operations, such as in the 1964 study Reduction of Postoperative by Encouragement and Instruction of Patients was a Study of Doctor-patient Rapport by Egbert, Battit, Welch, Bartlett, & Egbert, who were all MDs. Studies of doctor-patient rapport, teacher-student rapport, and therapist/psychologist-patient rapport were the most common studied for the effectiveness of the rapport-building relationship (Angelo, 2015).
History of Therapeutic Alliance
Freud had many therapeutic alliance issues as soon as he began to use psychological treatments for his patients (Freud, 1913). Freud expected them to submit to be hypnotized, but they resisted (Muran & Barber, 2010). After that, they even resisted free association (Freud, 1913). Later, Freud thought that the patient’s transference to him conflicted with his work of analysis, that this “resistance” meant that his patients were not participating in the work as expected (Freud, 1913). Freud struggled to engage and keep his patients in treatment and this pattern became a recurring theme in the development of theories on treatment and alliance (Freud, 1913; Muran & Barber, 2010). However, after failed attempts at establishing therapeutic alliance, Freud decided to emphasize the bond between the patient and therapist (Freud, 1913). He realized that this bond helps to keep the patient in treatment, helps to overcome any doubt, promotes cooperation, and that this enables the patient to effectively participate in treatment (Muran & Barber, 2010). Sterba (1934) introduced the word “alliance” by expanding on the notion that the patient has a rational, observing capacity that enables the analyst to go against the irrationality of the patients’ transferences and defenses. Consequently, the patient’s engagement, leading to commitment, creates a positive feeling toward the therapist, enhancing trust (Thompson et al., 2007).
Defining Therapeutic Alliance and its Relationship with Treatment
Rapport building is needed to establish a working therapeutic alliance to achieve common goals in therapy. Therapeutic alliance is further described as the relationship that a client has with his/her therapist, as well as the level of his or her of trust in the therapist (Salters, 2017; Meyers, 2014). The quality of the client and therapist alliance (see below) is a strong predictor of positive outcomes in treatment (Ardita & Rabellino, 2011). However, it is important to note that techniques and alliance are not at the same level (Muran & Barber, 2010). Researchers Bedi, Davis, & Williams (2005) reserved the term “technique” for interventions geared towards treatment. Bordin (1979) hypothesized that the effectiveness of therapy is a function of the strength of the working alliance.
OUR PATIENTS SAY
All of our patients appreciate what we do… Just hear it from them! | https://mosaictreecounseling.com/rapport-building-and-therapeutic-alliance/ |
Answer in Brief
What are the factors that contribute to healing in psychotherapy? Enumerate some of the alternative therapies.
Solution
Factors Contributing to Healing in Psychotherapy are :-
- A major factor in the healing is the techniques adopted by the therapist and the implementation of the same with the patient/client. If the behavioural system and the CBT school are adopted to heal an anxious client, the relaxation procedures and the cognitive restructuring largely contribute to the healing.
- The therapeutic alliance, which is formed between the therapist and the patient/client, has healing properties, because of the regular availability of the therapist, and the warmth and empathy provided by the therapist.
- At the outset of therapy while the patient/client is being interviewed in the initial sessions to understand the nature of the problem, s/he unburdens the emotional problems being faced. This process of emotional unburdening is known as catharsis, and it has healing properties.
- There are several non-specific factors associated with psychotherapy. Some of these factors are attributed to the patient/client and some to the therapist. These factors are called non-specific because they occur across different systems of psychotherapy and across different clients/patients and different therapists. Non-specific factors attributable to the client/patient are motivation for change, expectation of improvement due to the treatment, etc. These are called patient variables. Non-specific factors attributable to the therapist are positive nature, absence of unresolved emotional conflicts, presence of good mental health, etc. These are called therapist variables.
Some of the alternative therapies are Yoga, meditations, acupuncture, herbal remedies etc.
Concept: Type of Therapies
Is there an error in this question or solution? | https://www.shaalaa.com/question-bank-solutions/what-are-factors-that-contribute-healing-psychotherapy-enumerate-some-alternative-therapies-type-of-therapies_72291 |
As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Erin has had years of experience in the adoption and family services field. She empowers her clients to overcome the obstacles they face through interventions as well as integrating spiritual concepts. Erin is genuine and cares deeply for each of her clients.
April is passionate about improving her clients' quality of life and has spent the last twelve years equipping individuals and couples to better care for themselves and those they love. Anxiety, depression, life transitions, identity formation, grief, forgiveness, marriage transformation, as well as communication and conflict resolution are all areas April enjoys targeting with clients in a sympathetic and supportive environment. As a Licensed Professional Counselor, April looks forward to being your therapist and helping you be your healthiest.
As a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate, Katy provides a therapeutic environment which is warm, safe and supportive in addition to incorporating the mental health aspects of each individual. Katy is gifted in bringing together a theological and psychological perspective in order to accomplish each client's goals and desires. While she covers many therapeutic areas, Katy has specialized in pregnancy loss, infertility, miscarriage and stillbirth.
Steven is a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate committed to understanding each person's story. Steven seeks to engage in past memories of struggle and pain in order to make sense of the whole person and work towards healing individually and in relationship. Steven has experience in many areas of therapy, but he also offers coaching as life has many transitions and sometimes hard changes. | http://lifecarecc.com/location/brier-creek/ |
The Psychotherapy Practice Research Network (PPRNet) blog began in 2013 in response to psychotherapy clinicians, researchers, and educators who expressed interest in receiving regular information about current practice-oriented psychotherapy research. It offers a monthly summary of two or three published psychotherapy research articles. Each summary is authored by Dr. Tasca and highlights practice implications of selected articles. Past blogs are available in the archives. This content is only available in English.
This month...
…I blog about how training can maintain therapeutic alliance, the therapeutic alliance in child and adolescent psychotherapy, and adding short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy to antidepressants
Type of Research
Topics
- ALL Topics (clear)
- Adherance
- Alliance and Therapeutic Relationship
- Anxiety Disorders
- Attachment
- Attendance, Attrition, and Drop-Out
- Client Factors
- Client Preferences
- Cognitive Therapy (CT) and Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Combination Therapy
- Common Factors
- Cost-effectiveness
- Depression and Depressive Symptoms
- Efficacy of Treatments
- Empathy
- Feedback and Progress Monitoring
- Group Psychotherapy
- Illness and Medical Comorbidities
- Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT)
- Long-term Outcomes
- Medications/Pharmacotherapy
- Miscellaneous
- Neuroscience and Brain
- Outcomes and Deterioration
- Personality Disorders
- Placebo Effect
- Practice-Based Research and Practice Research Networks
- Psychodynamic Therapy (PDT)
- Resistance and Reactance
- Self-Reflection and Awareness
- Suicide and Crisis Intervention
- Termination
- Therapist Factors
- Training
- Transference and Countertransference
- Trauma and/or PTSD
- Treatment Length and Frequency
September 2021
Psychotherapies are Less Effective for Black Youth Who Live in Communities with Higher Anti-Black Racism.
Price, M.A., Weisz, J.R., McKetta, S., Hollinsaid, N.L., Lattanner, M.R., Reid, A.E., Hatzenbuehler, M.L. (2021). Meta-analysis: Are psychotherapies less effective for Black youth in communities with higher levels of anti-Black racism? Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Racism is a system in which racial groups are ranked, devalued, and provided limited opportunities and resources. Individual racism refers to how individuals of stigmatized groups respond to racism (self-devaluation, hopelessness), interpersonal racism refers to how people discriminate or mistreat others based on race, and structural or cultural racism refers to collective beliefs regarding racial groups that become enacted by larger social systems and institutions. Historically, health research on the negative effects of racism has focused on interpersonal racism. More recently, research has studied the association between structural or cultural racism and adverse health outcomes. Few studies have examined the effects of cultural racism on mental health outcomes especially among Black youth. In this meta-analysis, Price and colleagues identified 194 studies across 34 US states. They measured anti-Black cultural racism by analyzing publicly available surveys that tapped into racism. The authors statistically aggregated the scores for each US state thus providing a cultural racism score for each state. The authors categorized the 194 studies according to the composition of race of its participants, such that studies had either majority-White samples (k = 158) or majority-Black samples (k = 36). To examine the independent effect of state-level cultural racism, the authors also controlled for several confounding variables in their analyses (state-level White or Black population density, state poverty rate). Higher anti-Black racism at the state level was associated with lower effects of psychotherapy in studies in which most of the youth were Black (β = -0.20, 95% CI: -0.35, -0.04, p = .02). However, the effect of cultural racism was unrelated to the effects of psychotherapy in studies in which most of the youth were White (β = 0.0004, 95% CI: -0.03, 0.03, p = .98). The standardized effect sizes in states with the highest anti-Black racism (g = 0.19) were significantly lower than in states with the lowest racism (g = .60). A concerning finding was that the differences between low and high racism states widened at follow-up, indicating that cultural racism eroded some of the gains made by Black youth in high racism states.
Practice Implications
Researchers have long known the negative health disparities related to racism, but this is the first study to evaluate the effects of cultural racism on the effects of psychotherapy. This meta-analysis indicates that anti-Black cultural racism reduced psychotherapy effectiveness for Black youth, and some gains tended to decline at follow up. Psychotherapists should consider modifying their treatments for Black youth to derive most benefit and to adopt a multicultural orientation. Nevertheless, stigma and racism have negative effects at multiple levels that require structural and community interventions to target racism at its source.
August 2021
What Proportion of Patients Benefit from Short-Term Psychotherapy?
Cuijpers, P., Karyotaki, E., Ciharova, M., Miguel, C., Hisashi, N., &Furukawa, T.A. (2021). The effects of psychotherapies for depression on response, remission, reliable change, and deterioration: A meta-analysis. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 10.1111/acps.13335. Advance online publication.
Many meta-analyses report that psychological therapies are effective to treat depression, that there are no differences between types or orientations of therapy in their outcomes, and that psychotherapy is as effective as medications in the short term and perhaps more effective in the longer term. But what do these findings mean for everyday practice? Many meta-analyses report a standardized mean effect size between treatment and control conditions. However, the effect size is an abstraction that may be difficult to interpret unless you understand the statistic. Clinicians may ask a more practical question: what is the proportion of patients that improve (have meaningful reductions in depression scores) and recover (improved and no longer are depressed)? This meta-analysis by Cuijpers and colleagues of 228 studies representing over 23,000 adult patients looked at the proportion of patients who improved and recovered after psychotherapy relative to those in control conditions (no treatment, care as usual, pill placebo). The psychotherapies were short term manualized treatments like CBT, behavioral activation, interpersonal psychotherapy delivered in individual, group, and self-help formats. About 41% of patients improved with psychotherapy for depression compared to 17% that improved with usual care and 31% for pill placebo. However, after statistically controlling for publication bias (i.e., the likelihood that some unflattering studies were never published), the improvement rate for psychotherapy was 38%. Recovery rates for psychotherapy ranged from 26% to 34%, and recovery in the control conditions ranged from 9% to 17%. There were no differences between therapy orientations. Highest rates of recovery or improvement were achieved by individual therapy and the lowest rates were seen in guided self-help. Deterioration rates were just below 5% in psychotherapy and about 7% to 13% in control conditions.
Practice Implications
The effects of time-limited manualized psychotherapies tested in randomized controlled trials were modest. About 40% of patients improved and about 30% recovered. On the positive side, psychotherapies resulted in only about 5% of patients getting worse. The authors argued that clinicians must consider more effective strategies beyond these approaches to improve outcomes for depression. Some have focused on improving psychotherapist effectiveness, rather than on specific interventions. Methods like progress monitoring, managing countertransference, and repairing therapeutic alliance ruptures are means of improving psychotherapists’ effectiveness.
Patients Crying in Psychotherapy
Genova, F., Zingaretti, P., Gazzillo, F., Tanzilli, A., Lingiardi, V., Katz, M., & Hilsenroth, M. (2021). Patients’ crying experiences in psychotherapy and relationship with working alliance, therapeutic change and attachment styles. Psychotherapy, 58(1), 160–171.
Crying often reflects deep feeling and may play a role in the expression of these feelings. In psychotherapy, crying may be an important experience in helping patients to experience and express their emotions. In previous research, patients who had a strong therapeutic alliance with their therapist also felt that crying allowed them to communicate feelings that they could not express verbally. Researchers also report that patients cry in 14% to 21% of sessions, and that crying may be an indicator of healing when it is assisted by therapist interventions. In this study, Genova and colleagues explored the association between patients’ crying during therapy and the therapeutic alliance and therapeutic change. In a survey, 106 adult patients (mean age = 30.94 years, SD = 8.74) were asked to complete several questionnaires about crying in therapy, crying in their lives in general, the therapeutic alliance, and their outcomes in therapy. Of all patients, 83% reported crying at least once in therapy, suggesting that patient crying during therapy is a common event. Most patients (67.4%) talked to their therapist about crying. Many patients reported negative feelings like sadness (53.5%), frustration (38.4%), or powerlessness (28.2%) after crying in therapy. However, other patients also reported positive feels after crying like relief (45.3%), feeling emotionally touched (34.1%), or a sense of warmth (24.7%). Some patients (41.9%) reported that crying in therapy improved their relationship with their therapist, and no patient reported that crying worsened their therapeutic relationship. There was a significant positive correlation between feeling relieved after crying and the therapeutic alliance (r = .29), but a significant negative correlation between feeling depressed after crying and the therapeutic alliance (r = -.30). Positive feelings after crying were also associated with patient rated improvement in therapy (r = .29 to r = .34). However, negative feelings, such as more tension after crying, were related to poorer outcomes (r = -.27).
Practice Implications
When patients and therapists have a strong therapeutic alliance (collaborative agreement on the goals and tasks of therapy, and a relational bond), patients experience their crying as a useful event to resolve negative feelings. This is especially true when crying leads to greater awareness and new realizations and when the therapist is supportive. It is critical for therapists to explore their patients’ crying in therapy as it represents an opportunity to deepen the therapeutic relationship and the patient’s self-awareness and self-efficacy.
Disclosure of Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in Psychotherapy
Love, H. A., & Morgan, P. C. (2021, March 18). You Can Tell Me Anything: Disclosure of Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in Psychotherapy. Psychotherapy. Advance online publication.
Only about half of people who die by suicide each year disclose their thoughts or behaviors to another person before their death. And many times, those with suicidal ideation do not disclose to their therapist. There is very little known about why patients do or do not disclose their suicidal thoughts or behaviors to their therapists. This qualitative study by Love and Morgan takes a unique approach to identifying themes that lead to patient disclosure or non-disclosure of suicidal thoughts and behaviors to psychotherapists. The authors distributed a survey online to those currently in psychotherapy and who have had suicidal thoughts. Sixty-eight current patients with suicidal thoughts responded to questions about their experience with disclosing or not disclosing to their therapists. On average, participants were 26.78 years old (SD = 7.25), mostly white and female. Half of the patients disclosed, and half did not disclose to their therapist, and most of those who did not disclose to their therapist (77.4%) also did not disclose to others in their lives. The authors did a qualitative analysis of the text responses to identify major themes. The main theme for not disclosing was the fear of negative outcomes. This included involuntary hospitalization, fear of their therapist’s judgment, and overall lack of trust in the therapist. The main themes for disclosing included a desire to receive the best possible care, trust in the therapist, and perception that the therapist was honest about policies regarding suicidal thoughts and behaviors including reporting procedures. Patients’ experience of the disclosure event itself was affected by several factors. Patients experienced the therapist as supportive of the disclosure when the therapist was empathic, nonjudgmental, and normalized suicidal thoughts. Supportive therapists did not minimize suicidal thoughts, but they did address it directly. A positive and supportive therapist response played a large role in the experience of the disclosure process. Not surprisingly, patients who perceived greater therapist support indicated greater satisfaction in the therapist’s response.
Practice Implications
A strong therapeutic alliance that includes a collaborative approach to determining safety planning and crisis management is key to promoting disclosure of suicidal thoughts and behaviors and to a positive experience for clients. Patients who can describe what influences their suicidal thoughts in a safe and empathic therapeutic environment are in a good position to deal with the suicidal urges. Involuntary hospitalization emerged as an important fear because of the loss of autonomy, loss of connection, and hopelessness that it might create. And so, such action, when necessary, should be done as carefully as possible to avoid creating a lack of trust in future care and disclosures. A clear, straightforward, and empathic discussion of the circumstances around suicidal thoughts, and an open discussion of safety and contingency plans is critical to conserve the patient’s trust in the therapist and therapeutic relationship.
July 2021
Matching Patients to Therapists’ Strengths
Constantino, M.J., Boswell, J.F., Coyne, A.E., Swales, T.P., & Kraus, D.R. (2021). Effect of matching therapists to patients vs assignment as usual on adult psychotherapy outcomes: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry, doi: 10:1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.1221.
We know that about 60% of patients do not benefit fully from the psychotherapy they receive and that therapists differ in their effectiveness. In one study, above average therapists were twice as effective as below average therapists. In fact, most therapists are reliably effective for some presenting problems, but not for all. What if we could match a patient to a therapist based on what the therapist is good at? In this unique study in a large mental health treatment network, Constantino and colleagues evaluated the past effectiveness of 48 therapists who treated at least 5 patients each across a variety of patient problem domains. The authors identified those patient problem domains for which each therapist was reliably effective or ineffective using valid psychometric measures. Then the researchers randomly assigned 218 patients in the mental health treatment network to receive care as usual (patients were assigned to therapists based on which therapist was available at the time of referral), or to receive treatment from a therapist who was reliably effective for the patient’s problems. Out of 9 possible patient problem domains, therapists had an average of 1.56 (SD = 1.66) patient domains for which they were reliably effective and an average of 0.96 (SD = 1.65) patient problem domains for which they were reliably ineffective. Over 87% of therapists had at least one strength on which they could be matched to a patient, and 10.4% were reliably ineffective for all patient problem domains. To a moderate degree, patients treated by a therapist matched to their problem domain experienced greater weekly reductions in their general impairment compared with patients in the care as usual group (d = 0.75). Relative to their own average outcomes, a therapist achieved better patient outcomes when treating a matched patient than when treating a care as usual patient.
Practice Implications
This is the first study of its kind and so it needs to be replicated. Most therapists had a few patient domains for which they were effective. About 10% of therapists were ineffective across all patient domains. The results of the trial suggested that therapists are likely more effective with some patients than others, depending on the patient’s problems. Therapists should assess their outcomes with a range of patient problems and evaluate their effectiveness using valid psychometric instruments. If a therapist finds that they are less effective with some patients, then the therapist should receive more training and supervision for treating that patient problem.
Adverse Effects of Psychotherapy in Patients with Depression
Moritz, S., Nestoriuc, Y., Rief, W., Klein, J.P., Jelinek, L., Peth, J. (2019). It can’t hurt, right? Adverse effects of psychotherapy in patients with depression. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 269, 577–586.
Only recently have psychotherapy researchers begun to document adverse events or negative outcomes in treatment trials. Research demonstrates that in everyday clinical practice, clinicians generally are unable to identify patients who get worse because of therapy. Unfortunately, the field remains unclear as to what constitutes an adverse event in psychotherapy. Moritz and colleagues refined and shortened a questionnaire filled out by patients about adverse events that they may have experienced in a recent psychotherapy. The authors defined an adverse event as consisting of three aspects. First, side effects were defined as the patient experiencing an unintended negative effect including stigma, relationships deteriorating, and greater symptoms. Second, malpractice was defined as the patient judging that the therapist provided a treatment that was not appropriate to the problem at hand. Third, unethical conduct was defined as a therapist abusing a patient in some manner. In addition, the authors also had a scale of positive effects experienced by patients due to the therapy. For this study, Moritz and colleagues recruited 135 patients who were diagnosed with depression and asked them to fill out the questionnaire about adverse events in their most recent psychotherapy. Most patients (95.6%) reported at least one positive effect of the psychotherapy that they received. However, at least one adverse event was reported by 52.5% of patients. Side effects were endorsed most frequently by 38.5% of patients. Malpractice was endorsed second most frequently by 26.7% of patients. Finally, unethical conduct was endorsed by 8.1% of patients. Not surprisingly, adverse events in therapy were negatively correlated with positive effects of therapy (r = -.24). Adverse events were not associated with patient factors like gender, or therapy factors like type of therapy or profession of the therapist.
Practice Implications
This study by Moritz and colleagues is far from perfect, but it does begin a conversation about acknowledging that psychotherapy is not necessarily a benign event for some patients. In a previous study for example, 42% of patients with obsessive compulsive disorder experienced more or worsening symptoms due to exposure techniques used in CBT. Psychotherapists are notoriously poor at identifying patients who get worse from therapy, and so some therapists use aids like continuous progress monitoring to track patient progress and identify when therapy may be harmful. | https://socialsciences.uottawa.ca/pprnet/blog?cat_2=36&p=4 |
I believe that it takes courage and strength to move towards healing, and as a therapist it is my privilege to witness adolescents, adults, and families engage in this difficult and rewarding work. Life transitions and unexpected events can cause pain and suffering. I believe in the capacity we all hold to make space for grief, sadness, confusion, and fear, and to embrace our wholeness in the midst of that journey. In my practice as a therapist, I believe the relationship supports acceptance of the self and stepping into a more authentic, present life. I work collaboratively to develop goals that support client’s values, and work with clients to shift into more meaningful life balance. I provide a safe, supportive environment that honors my belief that clients know themselves best.
I use evidence-based practices to explore a variety of concerns including depression, anxiety, identity exploration, trauma, and significant life-transitions. I also have specialized training in working with individuals facing disordered eating and with young adults making the transition to college.
I value a person-centered approach to therapy based in compassion, empathy, and non-judgments towards my clients, and believe these are necessary elements in the path towards healing and resilience. I believe each individual is unique and deserving of an individualized therapeutic approach, and it is my goal to provide a supportive space and treatment plan that hold the importance and fullness of each client’s story.
SPECIALTIES
Disordered Eating
Anxiety
Depression
Mood Disorders
Grief and Loss
Guilt and Shame
Trauma and PTSD
Performance
Perfectionism
Identity
Self-Exploration
Life Transitions
Infertility
Relationship Concerns
Self-Harm
Suicidal Ideation
education
Psy.D. in Counseling Psychology, University of St. Thomas
M.A. in Counseling Psychology, University of St. Thomas
B.A in Psychology, Gustavus Adolphus College
clinical experience
The Emily Program (Postdoctoral Fellowship)
Counseling Center, University of Maine (Doctoral Internship)
Student Counseling Services, University of Minnesota
Fischler and Associates
Counseling and Psychological Services, University of St. Thomas
The Bridge for Youth
In network with
CARE’s Clinicians are In-Network with a variety of providers including:
- BCBS – Blue Cross Blue Shield
- MHCP – MA
- Medical Assistance
- Medicare
- PreferredOne
- UCare
- HealthPartners
- HealthPartners-Commercial
- Cigna
- Aetna
- Hennepin Health
Additionally, Out of Network & Out of Pocket options are available.
resources
Understanding research and the root cause of common psychological issues is a great first step to creating a healthier you! | https://care-clinics.com/portfolio-item/kierst-finsand/ |
Meaningful dialogue is dialogue with meaning! This encounter is the mutual conversation process of the client, (or healing partner), and therapist that reflects a partnership of equality, respect, and dignity where the focus is on the needs and wants of the client. This dialogue focuses on where people see themselves standing in their lives at that point in time. It is not just talk therapy; this therapeutic alliance between equal people with different roles in the healing endeavor explores the client’s concerns by using various healing modalities and Power Prescriptions that facilitate the process. It all begins and continues through a dialogue of meaning.
Just how much rehashing of childhood happenings is necessary? Of course, it varies with each individual and with the felt experience of the memories of those events. However, it can be overdone and deteriorate into a blame game that helps no one.
Just how far can logical reasoning take us? Of course, it also varies on how useful each person finds it to be. Although “different strokes for different folks” is useful to respect individual preferences and modes of understanding one’s world, what is also critical is the worldview and theoretical orientation of the therapist as that is the framework for the therapeutic encounter.
As a Health Patterning therapist, my worldview is clearly crucial to my orientation and direction in working with the people who come to me for guidance in making meaningful changes in their lives. For those who want to know more about my worldview and the underpinnings of my work, refer to the Background section of this site. | https://www.drelizabethbarrett.com/what-i-do/power-prescriptions/meaningful-dialogue |
Sometimes life presents us with challenging episodes and events that may evoke confusion, feelings of being stuck and/or unhealthy reactions and behaviours. Counselling/Psychotherapy creates a safe, supportive and confidential space to explore and understand those emotions that affect our psychological and emotional wellbeing, uncovering a different way forward. It facilitates awareness of your needs, difficulties, repetitive patterns of behaviour and also helps developing insight about who you are to yourself and to others.
Although the process of change can sometimes be challenging, it does provide a chance for you to reclaim greater control of your life. Working together, be it in my practice or through online therapy, I can help you to safely grasp that opportunity.
The quality of the rapport and strength in the relationship between the client and the therapist (‘working alliance’) is essential to ensure a healthy progress in the client’s psychological and emotional state.
The goal of therapy is to increase self-exploration, create awareness, and promote personal growth. Throughout this therapeutic journey, you will develop a greater sense of wellbeing and authenticity enabling you to achieve your full potential. | http://xguinguispsychotherapy.com/en/how-i-work/therapy-counselling-psychotherapy |
Working together for a better world...
On Line Study: Embodied Contact & Sacred Space
How do we create a safe, supportive atmosphere for therapy to take place? In any therapeutic method the therapist and the environment in which the therapy takes place each play an essential part in ensuring that the client feels contained and safe enough to address their issues. When working out of doors, creating the therapeutic container can s…
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Are you feeling unsatisfied with your life? Are you wishing "if only" you had a better job, a nicer spouse, more money, less social distancing or political unrest, you would be happier? Are you feeling depressed or anxious? Are you starting to sense that while your world appears to be falling apart, there might also be more to you and the stories you've been told than you thought? Do you need someone to talk to who is "big" enough, spiritually, intellectually and experientially, to handle your questions and, help guide you to finding your own answers?
(208) 295-9409
Pocatello, ID 83201
& Online
Hailey N Martinez
Counselor, PhD, LCPC, ACS
Verified
Verified
Hello. I am a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and have been a practicing counselor and supervisor for the past 10 years and university professor for the past 7 years. The population I work with includes individuals, couples, and families. Clients present with relationship difficulties, communication issues, stress, career and life concerns. It is common for my clients to be experiencing a need to find a new way of coping with problems in their life or constructs they are experiencing; while trying to develop meaning making of their current life circumstance.
(208) 427-3156
Office is near:Pocatello, ID 83201
& Online
Katie Lee Mulalley
Counselor, LCPC
Verified
1 Endorsed
Verified
1 Endorsed
Katie is a Pocatello native and is passionate about finding ways to better serve her community. She began working in providing mental health services to families and individuals from the Pocatello area after completing her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Boise State University in 2008. She soon learned that she was limited in her scope of practice and felt that she could do more to service her community by completing a degree in counseling. She completed her Master’s degree in Family, Marriage and Couples Counseling at Idaho State University in 2012. She has been providing psychotherapy services to families, couples, individual
(208) 487-5549
Pocatello, ID 83201
& Online
Debra Larsen Aubrey
Psychologist, PhD
Verified
Verified
Hello! I am Dr. Debra Larsen Aubrey (Dr. Deb to my patients). I provide therapy services to individuals (all ages), couples and families. I also complete psychological and neuropsychological assessments. My work focuses on empowering individuals & families, alleviating suffering and helping my clients better understand/improve their mental wellness. I look forward to helping you fulfill your personal mental health goals and creating a solid foundation for your future success and happiness.
(208) 742-3830
Pocatello, ID 83201
& Online
Tandice C Peterson
Counselor, LCPC, CCTP, CCTHP, SSP, AAI
Verified
1 Endorsed
Verified
1 Endorsed
My primary theoretical approach is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and animal assisted therapy. However I also utilize theories such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Adlerian Psychology, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, the use of books, Art Therapy, sand Tray Therapy, Play therapy and attachment therapy. I'm certified in Accelerated Resolution Therapy. Tandice has knowledge and experience working with children and families struggling with sibling and parent conflict issues. Anxiety disorders, depression disorders, PTSD, Bi-Polar, Domestic Violence, Relationship issues, self-esteem and identity issues are also areas of expertise.
(208) 487-5398
Pocatello, ID 83201
& Online
Portneuf Valley Family Center
Verified
Verified
Portneuf Valley Family Center is a locally owned company established in 2005. We are dedicated to providing quality mental health services in Southeast Idaho. To better serve our consumers, we currently have offices in Pocatello and Soda Springs. The staff members at PVFC have years of training and experience working with children, adolescents, and adults as well as with couples and families who struggle with a wide range of difficult issues.
(208) 427-2068
Pocatello, ID 83201
& Online
Pray Counseling
Counselor, MS, LCPC, 4180
Verified
Verified
You never know how STRONG you are until being STRONG is the only choice you have! Wow.... How true is that. Hi, I am Stacy Pray. I am a Licenced Clinical Therapist . My goal for clients to have a positive experience while reducing their symptoms and getting to a better over all health physically , emotionally , and mentally.
Pocatello, ID 83201
& Online
Jo Anna Shotiveyaratana
Licensed Professional Counselor, LPC, MCOUN
Verified
1 Endorsed
Verified
1 Endorsed
My approach to counseling is grounded in compassion and understanding; I seek to cultivate a safe therapeutic environment to allow flexibility in exploring individual needs. The ultimate goal is to respectfully explore your human experience and discover a path of authenticity. I also provide life coaching to help learn principles that can be applied to your unique mental health journey.
(208) 858-4108
Pocatello, ID 83201
& Online
Cody Evans
Counselor, LCPC, NCC, MCoun
Verified
Verified
A mentor once told me, 'Wise people seek counseling.' It is my belief that everyone can use some extra help once in a while, big or small. I enjoy meeting with people to help them reach their full potential. I am ready to listen to you, and want to help you be able to find a higher level of satisfaction in your life. Check out my website to learn more about me by clicking the link on the left or shoot me an email if you have any questions.
(208) 944-0187
Pocatello, ID 83201
& Online
Not accepting new clients
McKenzie Christensen
Counselor, LCPC, NCC
Verified
Verified
McKenzie completed her Masters’ in Counseling also at Idaho State University specializing in marriage, couple, and family counseling. McKenzie enjoys working with a wide range of ages and concerns. Her primary clinical approach is person-centered and family systems. She also utilizes other supportive theories including CBT, play therapy techniques, and Adlerian theory. She is trained in EMDR therapy supporting reprocessing of trauma, depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns. She views individuals and families through a holistic lens.
(208) 486-0843
Pocatello, ID 83201
Not accepting new clients
Richie Kuipers
Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, LCPC
Verified
Verified
Hi there. My name is Richie. I provide a supportive place where clients can learn to access their inherent capacity to heal, overcome barriers, and live a more meaningful life. My counseling approach is strengths-based and uniquely tailored to promote self-awareness, clarification of strengths and values, and to increase your sense of purpose and meaning. Topics we explore might include life transitions, unresolved conflicts, unmet needs, existential concerns, spirituality, identity development, grief/loss, and interpersonal struggles.
(986) 234-3514
Office is near:Pocatello, ID 83201
Lisa Calderwood
Clinical Social Work/Therapist, LCSW, EMDR, CCTP, CTMH, CGP
Verified
Verified
I have a very large tool bag to help you move through a variety of issues. I have the equivalent of a minor in elementary education, child psychology and developmental psychology. I changed majors to Social Work and feel my added skills of psychology and education give me a different edge than a lot of counselors in the field. I work with children, adolescents, adults, seniors, military veteran's and the entire family. I work with many diagnosis's to find a solution together which suits you best in personal growth. Contact us to work together today.
(208) 415-1828
Office is near:Pocatello, ID 83201
& Online
Mental Health Specialists
Clinical Social Work/Therapist, LCSW
Verified
Verified
(208) 238-9000
Office is near:Pocatello, ID 83202
& Online
Online Therapists
Camie Harvey
Clinical Social Work/Therapist, LCSW, EMDR
Verified
Verified
I know how difficult it can be to reach out for help. You are already showing bravery by coming this far. I can help support you in your healing journey as you deepen your self-awareness, connect more fully with others, and learn how to live more authentically. My holistic and mindful approach to healing will empower you to access your inner strength.
(986) 386-4734
Idaho Falls, ID 83404
& Online
Rosemay Eve Webster
Counselor, LMSW
Verified
Verified
The ideal client is an open minded individual who is struggling with any number of issues but is ready to resolve or find a solution to those issues. They are willing to change themselves or their environment to begin to feel more peace or acceptance. The ideal client is punctual and considerate of others time. The ideal client understands that they are part of a larger system and self care is a benefit to themselves and all those they come in contact with.
(208) 400-5532
Rexburg, ID 83440
& Online
Maria Raass
Licensed Professional Counselor, LPC
Verified
Verified
I have had experienced working with Pre-teens to young adults to geriatric adults. I've worked with anxiety, depression, grief & loss, and trauma. I've worked with suicidal ideations and other risk factors. The clients that I've worked with a lot, are those who are motivated for counseling, and motivated to help themselves. I am an ally with the LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-, Trans-, Queer (Questioning) and plus) community as well as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) community.
(986) 386-4922
Idaho Falls, ID 83404
& Online
Heidi Maurer
Licensed Professional Counselor, LPC
Verified
1 Endorsed
Verified
1 Endorsed
I believe therapy is the ultimate form of bravery and vulnerability. Those who engage in treatment with me will find I take a client centered, trauma informed approach to therapy. Meaning, that our therapeutic relationship is of the upmost importance to me and I will pull from a variety of methodologies in order to tailor your treatment to your unique situation. I have found that clients who succeed in therapy are those willing to invite their true selves into the room regardless of what they might be feeling, thinking, or experiencing. By doing so, this allows full understanding of their issues and growth towards sustainable joy.
(986) 234-6135
Idaho Falls, ID 83404
& Online
Laura Rowley
Psychologist, PhD
Verified
Verified
I evaluate children, teens, & adults with questions of ADHD, autism, learning disabilities, and related emotional dysregulation and problems in functioning. Families can experience major frustration in finding interventions that are individualized to people’s unique needs: going through years of therapy and not feeling any better; getting conflicting feedback from other clinicians; having several diagnoses that don’t seem to align with what you’re going through; treatments that don’t seem to get you to your goals. Having a clear diagnosis is key in establishing a treatment plan and supporting interventions that are a good fit.
(385) 279-5199
Idaho Falls, ID 83402
& Online
Susan Nielsen
Clinical Social Work/Therapist, LCSW
Verified
Verified
I have a deep and convicted belief in the power of therapy. I have learned it is a privilege and beautiful honor to sit with clients and hear their story. Everyone's story is important and meaningful. I have learned the connection between therapist and client is essential and can be life altering to someone who may be, or may feel, alone. The need for connection is paramount in our human experience and sometimes it is lacking in our lives. I take this into account with every client, and I offer that connection to my clients. I strive to provide an affirmative, inclusive, and respectful environment to those in the LGBTQ+ community.
Rexburg, ID 83440
& Online
Dawn Cureton
Psychologist, PsyD, MSCP
Verified
Verified
Finding the right clinician to help you through life's many challenges can be difficult. I believe in building a strong therapeutic alliance to allow you to feel safe while exploring a variety of coping mechanisms to assist you in living the most fulling life you can imagine.
(986) 234-3137
Ammon, ID 83406
& Online
See more therapy options for Pocatello
What type of Pocatello mental health professional is right for me?
While most types of therapy have a lot in common, they also fall into clusters that share core features, such as cognitive therapies or psychodynamic approaches. It is important to seek someone who practices evidence-based therapy, meaning one or more forms of treatment that have been scientifically evaluated and tested, and demonstrate consistent improvement for a majority of patients.
If you are unsure about choosing the right therapist, it might be useful to first learn more about therapy types and modalities.
If you are unsure about choosing the right therapist, it might be useful to first learn more about therapy types and modalities.
How to find a therapist in Pocatello?
When looking to find a therapist, it is certainly important to consider training and credentials. Studies also indicate that the therapeutic alliance, or the relationship the client develops with the therapist, is an important factor in their ability to work together to achieve the client’s goals.
What method of therapy is right for me?
When it comes to treatment methods, there's no 'right way.’ Each method of therapy can be beneficial for a variety of issues. Finding a psychologist or therapist who is a good fit for you is the most important step to discovering what type of therapy, or combination of therapeutic approaches, will meet your individual needs. Learn what to expect from different types of therapy and how they work.
How to use my insurance?
Understanding cost and insurance coverage is an important concern for many people. With some basic research and conversations with prospective therapists, you should be able to have a good understanding of the best way to afford therapy. | https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/id/pocatello?category=transgender |
"A thing which has not been understood inevitably reappears; like an unlaid ghost, it cannot rest until the mystery has been resolved and the spell broken".
Working within the Post Natal Depression Project in Edinburgh since 2001. 3 Years experience as family therapist within post natal depression project. I Have extensive experience as an Integrative Counsellor working with clients suffering from depression. Enabling therapeutic and emotional support within primary schools for the City of Edinburgh Education Department. Also working with children who are survivors of domestic abuse. running my own private practice counselling for adults or children.
past experience of Co-facilitating of a self-help group on behalf of Depression Alliance Scotland based in Edinburgh.
Specialising in Loss, Bereavement. Provision of relaxation techniques and working with relationship issues. Working with abuse, sexual, emotional and physical, depression and post natal depression, panic and anxiety disorders. Also Play Therapy with children.
As an Integrative Counsellor I draw from the three main approaches, namely Person-Centred , Psychodynamic Cognitive Behavioural, adapting my way of working depending on my client's needs.
Counselling is the uncovering of inner resources and strengths in order to find a way forward. My philosophy being, unresolved conflict that has been brought fully and safely into awareness can then be worked with, enabling release, a gradual healing to take place, rather than the perpetuation of personal suffering.
I place the Counsellor/Client relationship as central to the healing process. We all have the potential for change, but for many clients this may prove impossible to bring to realisation without the support of a trusted supportive companion. Therefore the creating of a nurturing, safe environment , a relationship based on mutual respect, empathy, honesty, trust and understanding I see as crucial in providing the necessary conditions wherein change can begin. From this secure base my clients are enabled to explore unresolved conflicts, painful aspects of their life both past and present.
Psychological pain may be rooted in childhood. From an early age life often exposes us to stressful traumatic and painful situations, In order to survive we learn certain ways of being, coping, each of us forming as a result of our own experiences our own perception of self, others, the world. In adulthood our early ways of being, relating to others, may no longer serve their original purpose.
Therapy involves enabling exploration and my offering of encouragement to bring awareness to the present ways the client engages with significant others, the expectations of self/others, what unconscious biases may perhaps be carried from one relationship to another. Within this process the counselling relationship is key in providing insight , so beginning the process of self challenge the enabling of clients to see from new and fresh perspectives. Within therapy I offer my clients the opportunity to re-examine core beliefs which in the past may have served well but in the present perpetuate inner pain and low self-esteem. | http://contactcounselling.co.uk/roslin.htm |
It is a dynamic time of growth and discovery in the field of thanatology as western research continues to refine theoretical frameworks and establish best practices for grief counselling. While Kubler-Ross is credited for jumpstarting the field of thanatology, her stage model has been criticized for its lack of empirically-based research (Stroebe, Schut, & Boerner, 2017). In hindsight, we critique her lack of grounded evidence-based processes while maintaining some reverence for her willingness to bring new and applicable knowledge into our collective consciousness. Within a death avoidant patriarchal civilization, may we always hold some gratitude for our thanatological grandmother.
Thanatology has evolved rapidly since Kubler-Ross (1969) presented the world with an empirically unsound yet compellingly influential stages model. Sackett et al (1996) remind us that evidence-based processes includes the essential integration of both the expertise of individual clinical practitioners, as well as the most rigorously researched clinical evidence. Ideally, meticulous researchers and progressive practitioners will eventually intersect, collaborate, and find ways to further our understanding of how humans cope with loss.
Prolonged grief disorder (PGD) is one example of how both thanatological researchers and grief counselors are attempting to build consensus on its definition and to establish effective treatment protocol. According to Jordan and Litz (2014), in contrast to a normative grieving process, persons with PGD experience bereavement difficulties which “persist or grow rather than diminish with time” (p. 181). With limited conclusive data on the efficacy of treatment modalities, current best practices focus on “psychoeducation about grief; encouraging repeated emotionally evocative processing of the reality of the loss in written or oral form; promoting social reengagement, and teaching the patient to challenge unhelpful thoughts that inhibit completion of the aforementioned tasks” (Jordan & Litz, 2014, p. 185). As we continue to collect and synthesize data from various scientific domains including neuroscience, researchers and practitioners alike will continue to define what PGD is, and what effective treatment interventions might be implemented. And, if no stone is to be left unturned in developing effective PGD treatment protocol, are there any interventions the field of thanatology has yet to seriously consider or evaluate?
Ayahuasca, a sacred and potent plant medicine used by South American indigenous populations for traditional holistic healing since approximately 1500 BCE (Naranjo, 1986), is now globally used both legally in some contexts (i.e. US-based UDV and Santo Diame churches) and underground in other settings (i.e. traveling shamans) (McKenna, 2007). Contemporaneously, it is becoming increasingly more common for seekers to travel to South American countries where ayahuasca is both legally recognized and culturally sanctioned (Frescska, Bokor, & Winkelman, 2016). Just as the ayahuasca vine climbs its way to the top of the rainforest canopy, this plant medicine known appropriately as ‘grandmother,’ has branched out from Indigenous use and into the edges of western civilization.
While there is much to be understood before legal and formal therapeutic use is mainstreamed in the United States, in light of increasing use around the world, further research on ayahuasca is inevitable and imperative. Further, as more people are accessing ayahuasca as a form of biopsychospiritual healing (McKenna, 2007; Shanon, 2010), how can grief therapists become better prepared to provide integrative and holistic clinical support for those who seek out plant medicine in their grieving journey? It is the aim of this research paper to provide a brief review of relevant literature along with a summary of considerations for ayahuasca-assisted grief therapy. The project component is a case vignette including a integrative treatment plan involving a client who utilized ayahuasca as a modality to treat her PGD-related symptoms.
Neuroscience research is providing invaluable data on how brain functioning may influence grief, especially complicated, prolonged and traumatic grief. Simultaneously, neuropharmacological studies are revealing how ayahuasca’s ingredients (DMT, B-carbolines) synergistically impact brain functioning (McKenna, 2007) and the various clinical outcomes in the treatment of addiction, PTSD and depression (Shanon, 2010). Ineluctably, advances in neuropsychology will continue to influence the field of thanatology and bereavement counselling practices. Both through personal experience and extensive academic research, this author is not alone in encouraging further thanatological research on the therapeutic application of ayahuasca treatment for PGD.
Naranjo (1979) suggests ayahuasca to be comparable to intensive psychotherapy due to the plant’s remarkable medicinal ability to increase participants’ awareness and resolution of ego defense mechanisms through a process of “secure regression” (Frescska, Bokor, & Winkleman, 2016, p. 10). Kuypers, et al (2016) found ayahuasca to promote this process of secure regression through psychological effects including an increase in “creative divergent thinking” (p. 3395) and a reduction of “judgemental processing and inner reactivity” (p. 3395) which are common goals of mindfulness and cognitive psychotherapy. In other words, research has found ayahuasca drinkers are often able to acknowledge and address cognitive distortions as well as to shift chronic and debilitating emotional states into less intense, more manageable thoughts and feelings. For persons feeling ‘stuck’ in their grief for an extended period of time and/or have not had positive outcomes through traditional grief therapy, this treatment modality may offer some hope.
Preliminary findings (Kuypers et al, 2016) suggest potential for assisting participants in developing coping strategies while under the influence of ayahuasca, which is similar to exposure therapy processes and outcomes. “Repressed memories can surface causing emotional catharsis and opening the way to abreaction, relief, and remission” (Frescska, Bokor, & Winkleman, 2016, p. 8). In surrendering to the intense ayahuasca-induced experience, participants report an increased ability to face their greatest fears including death and loneliness (Frescska, Bokor, & Winkleman, 2016). “A reassessment of the past provides the basis of for an experience of cleansing from the past events and the basis for new perspectives into one’s patterns of behaviour” (Frescska, Bokor, & Winkleman, 2016, p. 8). PGD is defined by an inability to complete or resolve the loss-oriented or the restoration-oriented tasks (Jordan & Litz, 2014). In reviewing the current literature on ayahuasca, further research might explore the following hypothesis: properly pre-screened and therapeutically supported ayahuasca users diagnosed with PGD will experience a decrease in grief-related symptomology compared with a control group.
There are several significant limitations and risks with ayahuasca use in conjunction with PGD-related interventions. Insufficient pre-screening (i.e. medical and psychiatric history) and preparation (i.e. psychological), improper set and setting, and lack of supportive aftercare are known factors which have contributed to “bad trips” or longer term psychological harm (Gonzales et al, 2017). Known medication interactions especially SSRIs, commonly prescribed to treat depression, and other prescriptions, as well as specific diet contraindications have led to adverse health outcomes including convulsions, headaches and cardiovascular problems (Gonzales et al, 2017). Other challenges in conducting further research include standardizing set and setting, dosage, frequency, and integration protocol (Frescska, Bokor, & Winkleman, 2016). It is essential to also acknowledge the risk of spiritual bypassing, or attempting to move too quickly through one’s personal psychospiritual development process, and the importance of thorough therapeutic integrative support (Frescska, Bokor, & Winkleman, 2016) in the exploration of ayahuasca as an intervention for complicated grief.
While thanatological research on ayahuasca might be compared to a seedling, research on near-death experiences (NDE) is more akin to a small fruit-bearing tree. Ongoing NDE research provides glimpses into how a bereaved person might be influenced by measurable non-ordinary states of consciousness. In researching grief among twenty-two near-death experiencers, Lee, Feudo, and Gibbons (2014) found that “NDEs produce positive effects on the grieving process” (p. 877) perhaps due to “reducing negative religious coping and helping them find meaning from their loss” (p. 877). A near-death experiencer may face “a protracted, mental struggle that often spans several years” (Lee, Feudo, & Gibbons, 2014, p. 882), resulting in an enhanced ability to “perceive life and death with a greater philosophical and purpose-driven frame of reference” (p. 882) which contributes to an increased ability to cope with loss. One possible bridge between understanding ayahuasca’s potential for PGD treatment is the more extensive research with persons who have experienced near-death or NDE.
Liester (2013) summarized the nine elements of NDE initially identified by Dr. Raymond Moody as follows: a sense of being dead, peace and painless, out-of-body experience, tunnel experience, meeting people of light including friends and family, meeting a being of light that radiates love and understanding, life review, a rapid rise into the heavens, along with a “reluctance to return to life” (p. 27). Other common NDE phenomena include a shift in perceiving time and physical space (Liester, 2013). Interestingly, Shanon (2010) found eight of the aforementioned nine elements of NDE to be common in ayahuasca-induced experiences (AIE). The one major difference between NDE and AIE is unlike near death experiences, ayahuasca does not seem to contribute to one’s hesitancy to reengage in life (Liester, 2013). In other words, AIE is a voluntary occurrence which simulates all but one element of a near-death experience. AIE typically promotes a willingness to step back into one’s life with a readiness to integrate newly acquired insights.
Building on Moody’s foundation, current research indicates the following perceptual changes are common in both NDE and AIE: “heightened sensory perception, visualizations, extraterrestrial travel, meeting teachers or guides, visions of the divine, and hearing music” (Liester, 2013, p. 38). Further, the four main emotional experiences shared by both NDE and AIE persons are fear, ecstasy, peace, and love (Liester, 2013). In addition, Liester (2013) also identified common cognitive shifts among NDE and AIE persons such as “self-understanding” (p. 40), a sense of interconnectedness, “intuitive and expanded knowledge” (p. 40). While Strassman (2001) once proposed DMT, one of the chemicals prominent in ayahuasca, to be a molecule that is released by the brain at the time of death, evidence-based research has yet to fully back up his hypothesis. Even though evidence-based research has yet to clarify why NDE and AIE are so similar, there is enough crossover and common phenomena to warrant future research.
Even though ayahuasca has been used for centuries as a treatment for various biopsychospiritual conditions, current empirical research is limited on ayahuasca’s potentiality as an intervention for prolonged grief disorder (PGD). Gonzales et al (2017) conducted a mixed method, cross-sectional, online-based survey study to explore the use of ayahuasca in grief therapy. In measuring grief and experiential avoidance, Gonzales et al (2017) found the ayahuasca users reported, “lower levels of grief than people who attended a peer-support group” (p. 15) due to ayahuasca-induced direct emotional confrontation of the loss, leading to “feelings of peace and acceptance of death” (p. 16). While small in scale and lacking longitudinal data, the Gonzales et al (2017) study successfully plants a seed within the field of thanatology so that further studies can examine ayahuasca’s potentiality as a form of grief therapy.
As western science gradually finds ways to comprehend the potential therapeutic value of ayahuasca, how should thanatologists proceed with future research of this ancient plant medicine? Johnson, Richards, and Griffiths (2008) recommend the following safeguards in moving forward with human hallucinogen research: “Exclusion of volunteers with personal and family history of psychotic disorders or other severe psychiatric disorders, establishing trust and rapport between session monitors and volunteers before sessions, careful volunteer preparation, a safe physical session environment and interpersonal support” (p. 603), and thorough follow up with participants, especially regarding a rare yet harmful condition, known as hallucinogen persisting perception disorder.
With the re-emergence of psychedelic research, “carefully conducted research that respects hallucinogens’ unique and often powerful psychological effects may potentially inform the treatment of various psychiatric disorders,” (Johnson, Richards, & Griffiths, 2008, p. 616) including complicated, prolonged and traumatic grief. Further research will want to explore several facets of combining plant medicine with PGD-focused psychotherapy including set, setting, timing and frequency of ayahuasca use, best practices and protocol for preparation and integration sessions with a grief therapist, and longitudinal studies of participant outcomes.
So, how does a grief therapist work with a bereaved client who has already had an AIE or is preparing for an AIE?It is an ethical obligation for a grief therapist to acknowledge when a presenting case is beyond one’s scope of competence. Not all grief therapists may be comfortable with treating AIE clients and seeking clinical supervision or referring to a more appropriate practitioner are also parts of providing ethical and competent grief support. For grief therapists interested in supporting bereaved persons with AIE, here are a few key points for consideration.
Therapists should recognize AIE’s ability to “provide a psychosomatic therapeutic value that has not been described by any therapeutic models to date” (Gonzales et al, 2017, p. 16). In other words, ayahuasca may provide persons experiencing prolonged or complicated grief an opportunity to access the oscillation between loss-oriented, and restorative-oriented coping, and who are otherwise resistant to mainstream and established grief therapy techniques such as narrative writing (Gonzales et al, 2017). Additionally, and no less important is perhaps the most therapeutic effect of ayahuasca is its ability to aid in post-traumatic growth as it “promotes a new representation of the loved one and facilitates maintenance of the bond through the establishment of a new relationship” (Gonzales et al, 2017, p. 17). The hypothesis of integrating plant medicine into grief therapy becomes more interesting, especially when considering how to address the non-adaptive processes commonly seen in persons diagnosed with PGD.
It is important to recognize AIE as a voluntary and intentional intervention. The intention of attending an ayahuasca ceremony is to provide the participant an opportunity to return to life with new insights and understandings. The benefits of grief therapy for an ayahuasca user include supporting the client by properly preparing for the experience in a safe and nonjudgmental space to integrate the AIE.
As mentioned earlier, NDE and AIE research finds significant overlap (Liester, 2013), thus becoming familiar with NDE protocol is a fair starting point for establishing therapeutic practices when working with a ayahuasca user. Unlike the vast majority of NDE, a client who uses ayahuasca has made a conscious decision to self-induce a non-ordinary mind state, has hopefully thoroughly prepared for the experience including proper medical clearance, and is seeking therapeutic support to prepare for as well as integrate the experience.
Avoid assuming that post-ayahuasca cognitions or behaviors are symptomatic of pathology. Likewise, remember that other mental health conditions do and can co-exist in any client. Thorough initial and ongoing assessment of the client is key.
“Respect the profound nature of these experiences as well as the individuality of each experiencer” (p. 40).
“Provide a safe, nonjudgmental environment” (p. 40) so the client “can freely discuss their experiences and the emotions surrounding” (p. 40) the ayahuasca experience.
Be aware of one’s own values, biases and countertransference issues. Seek consultation when needed.
With the framework of the dual process model as a framework, provide supportive integration of the ayahuasca experience into everyday life.
Reflect back the client’s intention and encourage he or she to share as a way to enhance recall of relevant details and insights as they pertain to grief therapy. Much like lucid dream details, AIE memories can fade quickly.
With an acknowledgement to the grandmother of thanatology, our current understanding of how grief works is represented by the dual process model of bereavement which identifies how the attachment style of bereaved persons influences their ability to oscillate between “loss orientation and restoration orientation” (Harris & Winouker, 2016, p. 29). One factor of PGD is an inability to move back and forth between the two orientations. Ayahuasca-assisted grief therapy also consists of a dual process where a client can oscillate between preparation grief therapy sessions, then participate in a shamanic healing ceremony to address blocked or intrusive grief work, and later return to the grief therapist’s office to tend to the integrative and restorative mode of their grieving process. Just as the ayahuasca brew consists of two sacred plants, the path towards exploring the potential use of ayahuasca in prolonged grief disorder treatment contains two invaluable parts: reverence for indigenous healing practices and respect for empirical research, which judiciously yet consistently has in many cases verified ancient knowledge.
While there remain legal restrictions and limited research available on ayahuasca-assisted grief therapy, there is persuasive data from neuroscience, psychedelic science, and thanatology that compels further study. For now, it might be sufficient to plant seeds with the scholar practitioners who seek to improve upon our current and collective understanding of prolonged grief. And as the garden is tended, the field of thanatology will continue to establish interventions that are ethical, legal and effective. The globalization of ayahuasca use and the gradual progress made in legalizing other psychedelic medicines for PTSD, addiction, and depression (MAPS, 2018) provides inspiration and impetus for progressive practitioners and researchers alike to explore this intriguing intervention for PGD. Dedicated to alleviating the psychospiritual discomfort common in PGD, this author holds much hope that someday the field of thanatology will come to include ‘grandmother’ ayahuasca as a useful treatment modality in grief therapy.
Foster, R. D., James, D., Holden, J. M. (2009). Practical applications of research on near-death experiences. In Holden, J. M., Greyson, B., James, D. (Eds.). The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences(pp. 235-258) Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger Publishers.
Griffith, L. J. (2009). Near-Death Experiences and Psychotherapy. Psychiatry (Edgmont), 6(10), 35–42.
Harris, D. L., & Winokuer, H. R. (2016).Principles and practice of grief counseling(2nded.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
Liester, M.B. (2013). Near-death experiences and ayahuasca-induced experiences: Two unique pathways to a phenomenologically similar state of consciousness. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 45(1), 24-48.
McKenna, D.J. (2007). The healing vine: Ayahuasca as medicine in the 21stcentury. In M.J. Winkleman & T.B. Roberts (Eds.). Psychedlic Medicine,Vol. 1: New evidence for hallucinogenic substances as treatments (pp. 21-44). Westport, CT: Praeger.
Naranjo, P. (1986). El ayahuasca en la arqueologia. America Indigena, 46, 117-127.
Shanon, B. (2010). The antipodes of the mind: Charting the phenomenology of the ayahuasca experience. New York, NY: Oxford Press University.
Stroebe, M. Schut, H., & Boerner, K. (2017). Cautioning health-care professionals: Bereaved persons are misguided through the stages of grief. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 74(4), 455-473.
Walsh, K. (2012). Grief and loss: Theories and skills for the helping professions (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Presenting Problem:Sue presents with increasing longing for her father to be alive so they could resolve their relational issues. Sue also presents with diminished sense of self, anger related to the loss, difficulty accepting the loss, emotional numbness since the loss, feeling that life is unfulfilling and empty, feeling shocked by the loss. Sue reports sleep disturbance, increased food intake, increased social isolation, difficulty concentrating especially at work, increased irritability especially with partner. Depression, generalized anxiety disorder and PTSD have been ruled out. Recent medical examination ruled out any physical condition.
Goal: Suewould like support to prepare for an ayahuasca-induced experience (AIE) and support in integrating her shamanic journey. Sue’s goal is to find ways to mitigate the aforementioned grief symptoms which she reports are intensifying.
Legal/ethical: Sue has arranged to travel to a country where ayahuasca is legal and has thoroughly researched her options. Therapist is a Master’s level licensed grief therapist with extensive training/experience in spiritual emergence counseling. Ethically, it is within the therapist’s scope of competency to provide the services sought by Sue.
Crisis/Safety: Sue denies any history or current suicidal or homicidal ideation. Sue has a loving family and social support system intact.
Assessment: Sue is seeking grief therapy in conjunction with a planned ayahuasca healing session. Sue identifies early adolescent emotional neglect from her father resulting in an adult strained relationship until the time of his death three years ago. Sue complains of increased grief symptoms including longing for her dad and accompanied with significant sleep disturbances and difficulty concentration at work. She is oriented to person, place and time. Thinking is linear and her memory appears good. Affect matches content. She denies any suicidal or homicidal ideations or actions in the past or present. She states a social use of alcohol. She apparently has a strong support system including her mother and partner. She became aware of ayahuasca and has done extensive research and self-reflection in preparation for her upcoming ceremony.
Provisional Diagnosis: Sue meets the criteria of the proposed ICD-11 PDG with a score of 26 on Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG) screening tool.
Treatment Plan: Establish therapeutic alliance with therapist and attend four grief therapy sessions prior to ayahuasca ceremony. Upon returning from a week-long overseas trip to participate in three ayahuasca sessions, Sue will resume grief therapy and AIE integration work with therapist for approximately twelve weeks.
Highlights of Grief Therapy Treatment: Initial four weekly sessions focused on co-creating a trusting therapeutic alliance, ongoing assessment of mediators of mourning, and discussion of treatment goals. Therapist noted client’s self-awareness of difficulty in expressing emotions around her father’s death in sessions (“numbness yet aware of anger and yearning”). Sue self-reported increased tension in familial relations and difficulty in concentrating at work. During the week away, therapist was available via email and video conferencing for any urgent matters. Sue emailed updates but did not request additional support while participating in the ayahuasca sessions. Of clinical significance regarding Sue’s AIE included “witnessing without reliving the intense emotional pain” of not having a close relationship with her father along with a sense of mutual forgiveness and reconciliation. The AIE included a review of times when her father had not been emotionally available during her childhood. Sue reported watching the scenes “like watching a movie” where she could feel the emotions of both persons without feeling overwhelmed by them. Sue used a healing Polynesian chant (“I love you. I forgive you. Please forgive me. Thank you.”) during AIE to access feelings of sadness and acceptance which replaced the previous “numbness” she had identified. During the integration grief therapy sessions, therapist noted a shift in Sue’s ability to express her emotions more fully, including several sessions in which she cried openly. Sue self-reported less irritability and increased ability to focus at work. Sue stated that up until now she was unable to do so but that she planned on visiting her father’s grave for the first time since his death. Grief therapy sessions continued for an additional four weeks as Sue did experience some challenges in integrating the AIE into her daily life. One such complication included a shift in how she began to interpret her mother’s role in her estranged relationship with her father. By the 16th session, Sue self-reported and presented with clinically significant reduction in PGD symptoms and termination was discussed. Sue was open to an additional two sessions and also to additional grief related resources. The therapist informed Sue that she could return if additional support regarding her grief was needed. | https://www.kenbreniman.com/?action=view_article&id=107&subtheme=_none&module=articlemodule&src=533dec4414e23 |
My central focus is on building the therapeutic relationship. This is the foundation on which we can work togeter in a safe and collaborative way.
Issues worked with
Abuse, Trauma
You will be respected, in a safe and supportive manner while we seek to find your clarity to enable change
Childhood abuse, Family issues, Anxiety, Depression, Grief
I am more directive in style and help clients to manage and change thoughts and feelings and the way they think and behave through integrating various approaches.
Family issues, Addiction, Relationships, Trauma, Work-related issues
My approach to therapy is to create a strong relationship where my client feels that they are truly seen and understood.
Attachment issues, Personality disorders, Family issues, Anxiety, Trauma
My approach to therapy is integrative, bringing together different elements of therapies to suit each individual person’s needs and personal circumstances.
Bereavement, Depression, Chronic or acute health conditions, Grief, Loss
I am an integrative therapist, I am warm and passionate and I value working collaboratively and respectfully with my clients.
Social anxiety, Loneliness, Stress, Anxiety, Self-esteem
My integrative approach focuses on helping clients to look at the difficulties they face by changing their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.
Bereavement, Anxiety, Relationships
I offer a safe and trusting environment, where the client can feel free to open up fully and explore themselves. | https://www.problemshared.net/find-a-therapist |
Spectrometers on board all three Hershel instruments have been used to analyse the light from objects inside our galaxy and from other galaxies, producing some of the best measurements yet of atoms and molecules involved in the birth and death of stars. This includes the first results from the SPIRE Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS), which covers th whole submillimetre wavelength range from 194 to 672 microns. The SPIRE FTS will be invaluable to astronomers in determining the composition, temperature, density and mass of interstellar material in nearby galaxies and in star-forming clouds in our own galaxy.
Professor Keith Mason, Chief Executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), which provides the UK funding for Herschel, said “Herschel has once again returned some spectacular indications of what is to come. This wealth of new data exists because of the dedication and skill of the scientists working on this project and will vastly expand our knowledge of the life cycle of stars”.
Professor Matt Griffin of Cardiff University, who is the SPIRE Principal Investigator, said: “Some trial observations have been made during initial testing of the spectrometer, and it is clear that the data are of excellent quality, and even these initial results are very exciting scientifically, especially our ability to trace the presence of water throughout the Universe. The spectrometer was technically very challenging to build, and the whole team is delighted that it works so well”.
Professor Glenn White, of the Open University and STFC’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and an expert in the field of molecular astronomy for which the SPIRE spectrometer is designed, said: “The exquisite sensitivity and quality of these early data reveal spectacular spectroscopic signatures that show the diversity and complexity of the birth processes common to the formation of star and planets. Herschel is going to help us trace the evolution and life of stars, to map the chemistry in our galactic neighbourhood, and allow us to detect water and complex molecules in distant galaxies”.
Professor Mike Barlow of University College London, who will use the SPIRE instrument to study the material ejected into space by stars near the end of their lives, said: “The unprecedented spectral range and the wealth of detail revealed by the SPIRE spectrometer, in a hitherto almost unexplored region of the spectrum, promises to revolutionise our understanding of the formation of molecules and dust particles during the final stages of the lives of stars. These dust particles go on to play a crucial role in the formation of new stars and provide the raw material for the planetesimals and planets that form around them”. | https://herscheltelescope.org.uk/news/first-spectra/ |
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Brownstein, Joel R.; Bolton, Adam S.; Schlegel, David J.; Eisenstein, Daniel J.; Kochanek, Christopher S.; Connolly, Natalia; Maraston, Claudia; Pandey, Parul; Seitz, Stella; Wake, David A.; Wood-Vasey, W. Michael; Brinkmann, Jon; Schneider, Donald P. and Weaver, Benjamin A.
(2012).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/744/1/41
Abstract
We present a catalog of 25 definite and 11 probable strong galaxy–galaxy gravitational lens systems with lens redshifts 0.4 <~ z <~ 0.7, discovered spectroscopically by the presence of higher-redshift emission lines within the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of luminous galaxies, and confirmed with high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images of 44 candidates. Our survey extends the methodology of the Sloan Lens Advanced Camera for Surveys survey (SLACS) to higher redshift.We describe the details of the BOSS spectroscopic candidate detections, our HST ACS image processing and analysis methods, and our strong gravitational lens modeling procedure. We report BOSS spectroscopic parameters and ACS photometric parameters for all candidates, and mass-distribution parameters for the best-fit singular isothermal ellipsoid models of definite lenses. Our sample to date was selected using only the first six months of BOSS survey-quality spectroscopic data. The full five-year BOSS database should produce a sample of several hundred strong galaxy–galaxy lenses and in combination with SLACS lenses at lower redshift, strongly constrain the redshift evolution of the structure of elliptical, bulgedominated galaxies as a function of luminosity, stellar mass, and rest-frame color, thereby providing a powerful test for competing theories of galaxy formation and evolution. | https://oro.open.ac.uk/38296/ |
Using the Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS), astronomers have obtained an ultra-deep (~29 hour integration) near-infrared spectrum of a massive compact quiescent galaxy at a redshift of about 2.2 (when the universe was only about three billion years old). Understanding how a massive galaxy–especially this early in the history of the universe–can squelch star birth with such efficiency is a challenging problem for both observational and theoretical astrophysicists.
The team, led by Mariska Kriek of Princeton University, used GNIRS on Gemini South to dissect the light of the galaxy, identified as 1255-0, in what is the deepest single-slit near infrared spectrum ever taken of a galaxy with a redshift greater than 2 (Figure 1). The spectrum, for the first time, shows absorption line features in this type of galaxy that allow for accurate redshift determination (Figure 2) and is providing insights into this unique category of galaxies that are very massive yet display extremely efficient squelching of star formation at this epoch. See Kriek et al.’s earlier work on this subject (also using GNIRS) here.
A general dearth of spectroscopic data on galaxies of this type and redshift (age) make it very difficult to piece together an evolutionary scenario that explains how these galaxies can so quickly go from what must have been a remarkably frenzied period of star birth in the early universe to the quiescence phase that we see at redshifts of around 2. The Gemini GNIRS data, thanks to the detection of stellar continuum emission and of faint emission lines (ratios obtained for [NII]/H(alpha), [SII/H(alpha) and [OII]/[OIII]), allow analysis of star formation which is estimated to be less than 1% of the galaxy’s past average star formation rate. The emission-line ratios are also typical of Low-Ionization Nuclear Emission-line Region (LINER) galaxies. Best fit models to the spectrum imply an age of formation corresponding to a redshift range of z = 4 to 7.
This work has been published in The Astrophysical Journal, 700:221-231, July 20, 2009. The paper is titled: "AN ULTRA-DEEP NEAR-INFRARED SPECTRUM OF A COMPACT QUIESCENT GALAXY AT z = 2.2," and the authors are: Mariska Kriek, Pieter G. van Dokkum, Ivo Labbé, Marijn Franx, Garth D. Illingworth, Danilo Marchesini, & Ryan F. Quadri.
This research was conducted on the Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS) which is currently undergoing re-commissioning after an accidental overheating of the instrument during maintenance in 2007. GNIRS will be re-deployed on the Gemini North Telescope. It is expected that GNIRS will be available for the Gemini community again in early 2010. See the GNIRS status page here.
Figure 1: The ~ 29 hrs deep GNIRS spectrum of 1255-0 (black). The spectrum is sampled to bins of 50 °A in observed frame, and smoothed by a boxcar of 75 Å. The gray shaded background indicates the noise level of the spectrum, with dark being noisier. We omitted the regions in between the atmospheric windows. Overplotted in green is the best-fit Bruzual & Charlot (2003) SPS model to the spectrum and optical-IR photometry, assuming a Chabrier (2003) IMF and solar metallicity. This fit corresponds to a stellar mass of 2.3 x 1011M⊙, an age of 2.1 Gyr, a τ of 0.3 Gyr, a reddening of Av = 0.25 mag, a SFR of 1.9 M⊙/yr, and a specific SFR of 0.008 Gyr−1. The locations of possible absorption and emission lines are indicated by the red dashed and blue dotted lines, respectively.
Figure 2: Reduced χ2 vs. continuum redshift (number of degrees of freedom Ndof = 319), when leaving redshift as a free parameter in the SPS model (Bruzual & Charlot 2003) fitting. The other parameters, including metallicity are allowed to vary. The rest-frame UV-NIR broadband photometry is not included in the fit. The 68% and 95% confidence intervals are indicated by the dotted lines. The best-fit emission line redshift is indicated by the vertical solid line, and its 68% and 95% confidence intervals by the green and blue shaded regions, respectively. The continuum emission yields a well constrained spectroscopic redshift. The redshift difference between the stellar and nebular emission is not at all significant. | http://gsmirror.gemini.edu/node/11276 |
Isotopic signatures in a wide variety of complex organic compounds can reveal unique insights in biological and biogeochemical process. This is true as chemical and physical processes lead to changes in the natural isotope composition of organic compounds. The isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur provide scientists with a wealth of information on the origin of compounds, pathways of metabolism, synthesis and diagenesis as well as conditions of formation, and more.
Research topics include the study of ecology, biology, oceanography, plant metabolism, biochemistry and soil science, as well as the study of interactions among organisms and their environment. Revealing metabolic processes within plants is possible by quantifying the imposed isotopic signature. Under controlled conditions in a laboratory plant chamber, environmental parameters such as temperature, air humidity, soil moisture, and light intensity can be varied, and the isotopic signature quantified. Studying these processes allows to partition CO2 fluxes in and out of ecosystems and ultimately leads to a better understanding of plant life.
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Applications
C and N isotope ratio analysis of organic components
Compound-specific isotopic analysis of organic compounds is a useful approach for tracking the origin and fate of carbon and nitrogen in biogeochemical studies. When it comes to investigating metabolic pathways, GC-IRMS is a powerful technique, for either conducting tracer experiments or by studying the natural abundance of 15N or 13C in amino acids. Nitrogen content is usually low in organic compounds, so the determination of 15N/14N ratios is much more demanding than the determination of carbon isotope ratios.
Further reading
Plant metabolism and nutrition
Scientists can use stable isotope composition of plant material to understand processes associated with plant metabolism. For example, during photosynthetic CO2 fixation, fractionation of stable carbon isotopes occurs and, consequently, plants are generally depleted in the heavier carbon isotope, 13C. Isotopic fractionation in plants is caused by physical and biochemical factors. The two major types of plants, C3 and C4 fixation plants, have different biochemical pathways with the heavier isotope 13C being more (C3) and less (C4) depleted. This distinction can be used in a variety of applications. | https://www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/industrial/spectroscopy-elemental-isotope-analysis/geosciences/biogeochemistry.html |
are isobars (nuclides with the same mass number). However, because isotope is the older term, it is better known than nuclide, and is still sometimes used in contexts where nuclide might be more appropriate, such as nuclear technology and nuclear medicine.
Isotopes are atoms of the same element having the same numbers of protons (atomic number), but different numbers of neutrons. They have same chemical properties due to the same electron configuration, but different physical properties.
as uranium two-thirty-five (American English) or uranium-two-three-five (British) instead of 235-92-uranium.
Primordial nuclides include 32 nuclides with very long half-lives (over 100 million years) and 253 that are formally considered as "stable nuclides", because they have not been observed to decay. In most cases, for obvious reasons, if an element has stable isotopes, those isotopes predominate in the elemental abundance found on Earth and in the Solar System. However, in the cases of three elements (tellurium, indium, and rhenium) the most abundant isotope found in nature is actually one (or two) extremely long-lived radioisotope(s) of the element, despite these elements having one or more stable isotopes.
Theory predicts that many apparently "stable" isotopes/nuclides are radioactive, with extremely long half-lives (discounting the possibility of proton decay, which would make all nuclides ultimately unstable). Of the 253 nuclides never observed to decay, only 90 of these (all from the first 40 elements) are theoretically stable to all known forms of decay. Element 41 (niobium) is theoretically unstable via spontaneous fission, but this has never been detected. Many other stable nuclides are in theory energetically susceptible to other known forms of decay, such as alpha decay or double beta decay, but no decay products have yet been observed, and so these isotopes are said to be "observationally stable". The predicted half-lives for these nuclides often greatly exceed the estimated age of the universe, and in fact there are also 27 known radionuclides (see primordial nuclide) with half-lives longer than the age of the universe.
Soddy proposed that several types of atoms (differing in radioactive properties) could occupy the same place in the table. For example, the alpha-decay of uranium-235 forms thorium-231, whereas the beta decay of actinium-230 forms thorium-230. The term "isotope", Greek for "at the same place", was suggested to Soddy by Margaret Todd, a Scottish physician and family friend, during a conversation in which he explained his ideas to her. He won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Chemistry in part for his work on isotopes.
as stable), and 26 elements have only a single stable isotope (of these, 19 are so-called mononuclidic elements, having a single primordial stable isotope that dominates and fixes the atomic weight of the natural element to high precision; 3 radioactive mononuclidic elements occur as well). In total, there are 253 nuclides that have not been observed to decay. For the 80 elements that have one or more stable isotopes, the average number of stable isotopes is 253/80 = 3.1625 isotopes per element.
(spin 9) is thought to be the rarest of the 253 stable isotopes, and is the only primordial nuclear isomer, which has not yet been observed to decay despite experimental attempts.
Elements are composed of one nuclide (mononuclidic elements) or of more naturally occurring isotopes. The unstable (radioactive) isotopes are either primordial or postprimordial. Primordial isotopes were a product of stellar nucleosynthesis or another type of nucleosynthesis such as cosmic ray spallation, and have persisted down to the present because their rate of decay is so slow (e.g. uranium-238 and potassium-40). Post-primordial isotopes were created by cosmic ray bombardment as cosmogenic nuclides (e.g., tritium, carbon-14), or by the decay of a radioactive primordial isotope to a radioactive radiogenic nuclide daughter (e.g. uranium to radium). A few isotopes are naturally synthesized as nucleogenic nuclides, by some other natural nuclear reaction, such as when neutrons from natural nuclear fission are absorbed by another atom.
). There are about 94 elements found naturally on Earth (up to plutonium inclusive), though some are detected only in very tiny amounts, such as plutonium-244. Scientists estimate that the elements that occur naturally on Earth (some only as radioisotopes) occur as 339 isotopes (nuclides) in total. Only 253 of these naturally occurring nuclides are stable in the sense of never having been observed to decay as of the present time. An additional 35 primordial nuclides (to a total of 289 primordial nuclides), are radioactive with known half-lives, but have half-lives longer than 80 million years, allowing them to exist from the beginning of the Solar System. See list of nuclides for details.
All the known stable nuclides occur naturally on Earth; the other naturally occurring nuclides are radioactive but occur on Earth due to their relatively long half-lives, or else due to other means of ongoing natural production. These include the afore-mentioned cosmogenic nuclides, the nucleogenic nuclides, and any radiogenic nuclides formed by ongoing decay of a primordial radioactive nuclide, such as radon and radium from uranium.
An additional ~3000 radioactive nuclides not found in nature have been created in nuclear reactors and in particle accelerators. Many short-lived nuclides not found naturally on Earth have also been observed by spectroscopic analysis, being naturally created in stars or supernovae. An example is aluminium-26, which is not naturally found on Earth, but is found in abundance on an astronomical scale.
According to generally accepted cosmology theory, only isotopes of hydrogen and helium, traces of some isotopes of lithium and beryllium, and perhaps some boron, were created at the Big Bang, while all other nuclides were synthesized later, in stars and supernovae, and in interactions between energetic particles such as cosmic rays, and previously produced nuclides. (See nucleosynthesis for details of the various processes thought responsible for isotope production.) The respective abundances of isotopes on Earth result from the quantities formed by these processes, their spread through the galaxy, and the rates of decay for isotopes that are unstable. After the initial coalescence of the Solar System, isotopes were redistributed according to mass, and the isotopic composition of elements varies slightly from planet to planet. This sometimes makes it possible to trace the origin of meteorites.
The atomic mass (mr) of an isotope (nuclide) is determined mainly by its mass number (i.e. number of nucleons in its nucleus). Small corrections are due to the binding energy of the nucleus (see mass defect), the slight difference in mass between proton and neutron, and the mass of the electrons associated with the atom, the latter because the electron:nucleon ratio differs among isotopes.
Several forms of spectroscopy rely on the unique nuclear properties of specific isotopes, both radioactive and stable. For example, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy can be used only for isotopes with a nonzero nuclear spin. The most common nuclides used with NMR spectroscopy are 1H, 2D, 15N, 13C, and 31P.
↑ Soddy, Frederick (1913). "Intra-atomic charge". Nature. 92 (2301): 399–400. Bibcode:1913Natur..92..399S. doi:10.1038/092399c0.
1 2 3 Ley, Willy (October 1966). "The Delayed Discovery". For Your Information. Galaxy Science Fiction. pp. 116–127.
↑ Budzikiewicz H, Grigsby RD (2006). "Mass spectrometry and isotopes: a century of research and discussion". Mass spectrometry reviews. 25 (1): 146–57. Bibcode:2006MSRv...25..146B. doi:10.1002/mas.20061. PMID 16134128.
↑ Thomson, J. J. (1912). "XIX. Further experiments on positive rays". Philosophical Magazine. Series 6. 24 (140): 209. doi:10.1080/14786440808637325.
↑ Thomson, J. J. (1910). "LXXXIII. Rays of positive electricity". Philosophical Magazine. Series 6. 20 (118): 752. doi:10.1080/14786441008636962. | http://library.kiwix.org/wikipedia_en_computer_novid_2018-10/A/Isotope.html |
My fundamental research intrest is the formation and evolution of galaxies. Special emphsis is placed on analysing galaxies located in high-density environments, in order to understand the interplay between galaxy evolution and the environment, as it is well established that the environment in which a galaxy resides strongly impacts its evolutionary path.
To reveal the importance of various mechanisms driving galaxy evolution in the most massive structures of the universe, galaxy clusters, we quantitatively investigate the spatially resolved 2D distributions of star formation rates, gas metallicities, ionising mechanisms, stellar and gas morphologies, as well as the gas kinematics of a representative sample of star-forming cluster members. We probe the cosmic epoch after which cluster assembly peaks, i.e. intermediate redshifts of z∼0.35 (∼ 4 billion years lookback time) when the inner region of the large-scale structures achieves virialisation. The galaxies we study span a wide range of stellar masses, from the dwarf regime (log(M/M⊙) < 9.5) up to the brightest cluster galaxies (log(M/M⊙) ∼ 11), allowing us to probe the impact of the environment as a function of the mass of the systems. For this, we employ high-resolution 2D and, more importantly, 3D spectroscopic observations from world- class facilities such as ESO/VLT, using instruments such as VIMOS and MUSE. The 3D spectroscopic data allow us to perform a pixel-by-pixel analysis of the physical properties of the warm ionised gas confined in the interstellar medium of the galaxies under scrutiny. The spectroscopic observations are supplemented by high-resolution optical and infrared photometry from both ground-based telescopes such as SUBARU and VLT/HAWK-I and space-based observatories such as HST. We study different scaling relations including the mass-star formation rate, the mas-gas-phase metallicity, the fundamental metallicity and the Tully-Fisher relation for galaxies in high-density environments, compared to those of isolated field galaxies. This allows us to search for signatures of cluster-specific mechanisms using for example enhanced gas-phase metallicities and/or disturbed gas velocity fields and gas morphologies as tracers.
From the sample of low mass cluster galaxies analysed in Ciocan et al. (2022), we find that ∼65% have disturbed gas velocity fields and morphologies and that they depart from the different scaling relations, hinting at preprocessing before infall into the cluster and ram pressure stripping as the mechanisms driving these offsets. The low and intermediate-mass systems studied in Ciocan et al. (2022) and (2020) show more enhanced metallicities than predicted by the fundamental metallicity relation, hinting at the cutoff of pristine gas inflow when the galaxies are accreted into the cluster together with ram pressure stripping as the environmental mechanisms responsible for these discrepancies. In Ciocan et al. (2021), we find that the brightest cluster galaxy is affected by ’chaotic cold accretion’, meaning that the system is fuelled by gas, which has condensed from the intra-cluster medium, owing to the feedback from the supermassive black hole. | https://galaxy.univie.ac.at/about-us/phd-students/bianca-iulia-ciocan/ |
AbstractThe main goal of this work is to apply a emergent technique, based on nonlinear optics, to the detection of the molecular recognition process in biosensing devices. For this purpose, we implement the sum-frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy, which is able to extract a vibrational fingerprint from the studied interface. Our experimental route begins with a study of molecular adsorption mechanisms that constitute an essential prerequisite to the biosensor technology. The adsorption properties of two molecules (decanethiol and decyl thiocyanate) that differ only through their anchoring groups are investigated. Complementary techniques such as XPS or STM complete the SFG spectroscopic information. We show that the use of thiocyanate groups allows the formation of self-assembled monolayers on platinum substrate, even if the persistence of cyanate ions disturbs the organization of the layers. Our study continues with the analysis of a model biosensor based on the biotin/avidin system. The SFG confirms the formation of a organized monolayer of probe molecules (biotin) on Au, Ag, Pt and CaF2 substrates. The molecular recognition with the target molecule (avidin) is observed on CaF2 substrates in the spectral range of the CH and NH stretching vibrations. The use of alternative target molecules (BSA, saturated avidin) demonstrates that the SFG detection occurs in a specific way. In a next step, we identify a preparation method leading to the formation of DNA based sensors that are suitable for the SFG investigations. The quality of the hybridization process of four different methods is investigated by surface plasmon resonance (SPR). That one shows that the best chemical architecture consists to adsorb mercaptohexanol (MCH) molecules in between the DNA strands, which are previously assembled on the substrate. In a final step, the SFG is applied to DNA based sensors formed with the method selected by SPR. The obtained spectra exhibit a poor organization of the probe molecules, which prevents us to detect the hybridization process by SFG. Besides, the spectroscopic information reveals the presence at the interface of residues from the buffer solution. | https://researchportal.unamur.be/en/studentTheses/etude-de-biocapteurs-par-spectroscopie-optique-non-lin%C3%A9aire |
Understanding heterogeneous catalysis has been one of the most long-standing aim and achievement in the field of modern surface science. Development of scanning probe microscopy technique opened a new perspective for understanding of heterogeneous catalysis, by not only providing local structural information in atomic- and molecular resolution, but also enabling local manipulation and excitation.
In this talk, microscopic investigation using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy on elements of heterogeneous catalysis – namely reactants (adsorbates), metal catalyst, and oxide support – is presented, which reveals interesting local aspects only possible in atomic- and molecular resolution.
The first part deals with the interaction between adsorbates and metal catalyst, by employing CO chemisorbed on Pt(111) surface, with a range of adsorbate coverage. Overlayer structures of CO on Pt(111) changes from randomly scattered molecules to ontop-dominant (√3 ×√3)R30° islands, gradual occupation of bridge-site with a specific geometry, eventually leading to the formation of c(4×2) domains. The island structures and laterally confined shuttling of a single bridgeadsorbed CO molecule in a local unit indicates the relatively long-range intermolecular interaction. STM action spectroscopy (STM-AS) and construction of model potential energy surface considering the intermolecular interaction successfully reveal a metastable state involved to the motion of bridge CO, and its spectroscopic information.
The second part deals with “oxide support”, employing the most abundant oxide system, silicon oxide. Recent exploration of 2D ultra-thin silica films supported on metal surface successfully resolves atomic arrangements, revealing the structural diversity. In addition to known crystalline monolayer, crystalline and amorphous bilayer, new polymorph with zigzag line shape is investigated with STM and other spectroscopic methods, supported with DFT calculation. This particular polymorph is one of ordered intermediate phase of silica ultra-thin film, including 3-membered ring comprised by tetrahedral SiO4 units.
Reference:
H. J. Yang, T. Minato, M. Kawai, and Y. Kim, J. Phys. Chem. C 117, 16429 (2013).
H. J. Yang, M. Trenary, M. Kawai, and Y. Kim, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 7, 4369 (2016).
D. Kuhness, H. J. Yang, M. Heyde, and H.-J. Freund et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 140, 6164 (2018).
Time
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New features may make southern sky's "Coalsack"
ideal for further study
Stargazers call a prominent dark black region in the Southern Hemisphere's night sky the Coalsack. Even for naked-eye observers, the cloud of cold gas that makes up the Coalsack is hard to miss: it covers a part of the misty luminescence of the Milky Way, blocking out the band of distant stars in the disk of our galaxy with deep black shades that earned the Coalsack its name.
However, a newly discovered aspect of the Coalsack may soon have astronomers thinking of it more like a treasure chest. At an American Astronomical Society Meeting in Nashville this week, astronomers will reveal evidence that the Coalsack has hot gases on its perimeter, a finding that means the Coalsack will likely provide many outstanding opportunities to learn more about interactions between regions of hot and cold gas, processes that are essential to star formation and distribution of the elements that make up life forms and the planets. Findings from the Coalsack may also help scientists refine their models of energy production in the galaxy.
"Every once in a while nature gives us a break and sets things up so that we can study the key processes fairly easily," says B-G Andersson, associate research scientist in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins and lead author of the AAS presentation. "For astronomers, this is a bit like finding a living dodo -- instead of trying to make inferences about how the dodo walks, which is what we normally have to do, we can get direct, detailed observations of it walking."
The Coalsack is relatively nearby in cosmological terms, about 650 light years away in the same spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy as Earth. Because it is close by, structures in the Coalsack can be studied in great detail. It's also nicely backlit from Earth's point-of-view by bright stars in the next arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, allowing scientists to use spectroscopy to acquire a fairly comprehensive sense of the chemical ingredients of the cloud.
The hot gas on the perimeter may indicate that the Coalsack is contained within a region of active massive star formation and supernovae known as the Upper Centaurus- Lupus super-bubble. This region has produced large hot stars that burn out quickly and die explosively, sometimes heating interstellar gas to high temperatures. Naked-eye observers can still see the darkness of the cold gas in the Coalsack because most of the surrounding hot gas is too warm to emit light in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Andersson and coauthors David Knauth and Robin Shelton of Johns Hopkins, S.L. Snowden of Goddard Space Flight Center and Peter Wannier of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory built the case for their finding with data taken by the orbiting Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) and Roentgen Satellite (ROSAT) observatories. They had been using FUSE to study how cold gas clouds dissipate at their edges when their observations of the Coalsack came back with signs of oxygen VI , oxygen atoms with five of their eight surrounding electrons stripped away.
Astronomers know that considerable energy is required to knock that many electrons off an oxygen atom, and as a result have long interpreted the presence of oxygen VI as a sign that very hot gases are entering a cooling process. How this cooling process occurs -- through turbulent mixing of the gas with colder gas clouds or through conduction of electrons -- is a topic of debate among astronomers that further study of the Coalsack may help resolve.
Tipped off by the FUSE readings, Andersson and his colleagues analyzed X-ray data from ROSAT, which surveyed X-ray emissions from the entire sky, and found that the perimeter of the Coalsack, particularly its southeast edge, lights up in X-rays -- another sign of the hot gas cloud. Through further analysis, they were able to show that the two readings appeared to be coming from the same region around the Coalsack.
"If our model of the Coalsack is right, then you can use it to test various theories of oxygen VI generation, and this may help us better understand what are the mechanisms behind previously detected oxygen VI production in many more distant parts of the galaxy," Andersson comments. "This could tell us something about energy production in the galaxy, and that could in turn tell us more about star formation."
Andersson noted that astronomers have been studying the Coalsack since the early 19th century, and plenty of good data on many features of the cloud are already available.
"This is starting to look like a really good laboratory for conducting these kinds of experiments," he said. "There are certainly other cases where oxygen VI has likely been associated with a cloud, but never before have we had such a nearby cloud with a reliable distance determination or as many background stars behind the cloud to allow us to look at absorption readings."
This research was funded by NASA. | https://pages.jh.edu/news_info/news/home03/may03/coalsack.html |
Faith-based organizations can play an important role in promoting conservation and sustainable natural resources management to help ecosystems and livelihoods more resilient.
The World Bank, through the TerrAfrica partnership, has been engaging with the Alliance of Religion and Conservation (ARC) to leverage the reach of faith groups in addressing degradation and build greener landscape in Africa.
Faith groups, a prominent sector of civil society, are taking on a more engaged role in the effort to restore land and prevent further land degradation in Africa as part of a larger drive to shape beliefs, behavior and actions towards greener and more sustainable development in the continent.
The move comes as countries and their partners are increasingly focused on restoring land to help secure livelihoods, economic growth, and food security.
Faith groups are key partners for TerrAfrica, an African-driven global partnership that aims to address land degradation and promote a multi-sectoral, coordinated approach that involves governments, international organizations and civil society members.
The involvement of faith groups is of particular importance in Africa, where 90% of the population is religious (describing themselves as Christian or Muslim). For the past four years, a World Bank team working on environment and natural resources has partnered with the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) to work with faith groups in restoring land and preventing further land degradation in Africa.
Success in the use of a landscape approach to build the resilience of both ecosystems and people requires the involvement of all actors. Each one has an important role to play in making resilient landscapes a reality. As stated in "Enhancing Resilience in African Drylands" report, the collaborative actions of farmers on steep slopes in tandem with concerted actions by herders to reduce grazing pressures will have greater impact on the land restoration than fragmented or individual efforts alone.
Already, the TerrAfrica/ARC partnership has supported 27 faith groups—with a potential reach of 184 million people—as they prepared long-term plans to care for the environment. The plans, which are based on each group's core beliefs, practices and teachings, include commitments to sustainable and resilient land management, water conservation, and environmental education.
These achievements were celebrated at Buckingham Palace in December, at an event with religious leaders from all faiths hosted by Prince Philip who founded ARC as a broker between religions and environment groups.
" Faith groups are important stakeholders for the World Bank. They offer a unique and unparalleled opportunity to access grassroots communities. "
Last October, in Uganda, 90 leaders in faith, agriculture and education from eight African countries signed the Mukono Declaration calling for a new alliance for faithful farming and resilient landscapes.
The TerrAfrica/ARC partnership and the Mukono Declaration signal a growing global convergence around the landscape approach, which was evident at the 2014 Global Landscapes Forum in Lima. It also aligns with the recommendations and work that is being done by TerrAfrica. Already, the TerrAfrica partnership has worked with 24 sub-Saharan countries and 20 partners including Regional Economic Communities, UN bodies, international organizations, EU, bilaterals and civil society, to secure $3 billion for sustainable land and water management investment, place 15 million hectares under sustainable land management and prepare 18 country investment frameworks.
TerrAfrica plans to further promote a landscape approach by supporting the implementation of the Africa Landscapes Action Plan. Jointly prepared by TerrAfrica, NEPAD and EcoAgriculture, the plan presents an agenda to develop landscapes initiatives in Africa and spells out priority actions that embrace all actors, extend to all sectors and integrate both policies and services.
The World Bank will also support the African Union NEPAD launch of an African Alliance for Resilient Landscapes and promote the Initiative 25x25x25: 25 million hectare under sustainable landscape management by 2025, with the participation of 25 million farmers. Developed under the TerrAfrica platform, the Alliance will promote sustainable landscape management in African countries and be supported by a coalition of partners.
“Through this Alliance, we expect that land actors and policymakers will recognize the importance of moving beyond single-sector interventions to support the resilience of both ecosystems and livelihoods,” says Paola Agostini, TerrAfrica Program Coordinator. “This approach has real potential to make landscapes more resilient and productive, so that future generations will continue to benefit“.
The movement of faith-based actions will complement the Alliance by bringing a faith response to resilient landscapes and facilitate the dialogue among faith groups and with the secular world around the sustainable development goals. It is also expected to convey the moral imperative to reduce poverty and increase shared prosperity in an environmentally sustainable way. | http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/01/12/engaging-with-faith-groups-to-restore-land-in-africa |
California FarmLink is a resource hub and service provider that helps farmers learn and improve business and financial management skills, find land, secure land tenure, and obtain financing. This organization works to link independent, underserved farmers and ranchers to the working agricultural lands and financing they need for a sustainable future.
By maintaining and sharing resources and continuing to convene and build this network of practitioners, MCHT aims to continue to support ongoing state-wide and region-specific conservation action planning dialogs.
The Conservation Fund’s forest carbon offset projects are developed with careful consideration of climate and community benefits. The Fund’s carbon program supports both conservation-based forest management and forest restoration projects in some of America’s favorite places.
After five years of work, Jefferson Land Trust’s Conservation Plan, a long-range, hundred-year vision of county growth and resource stewardship, was completed in 2010. JLT’s projects highlight how strategic planning can effectively align complementary management objectives such as stewarding sustainable working lands, conserving habitat, providing recreation, and enhancing overall resilience of ecosystems.
The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation (LPBF) works to restore and preserve natural resources within the watershed. Restoration projects combined with community education and outreach to improve land management practices have yielded measurable water quality improvements. By increasing protection of natural features such as marshes, barrier islands, and ridges, conservation efforts help protect surrounding communities – both ecological and socio-economic – from the impacts of increasingly stronger hurricanes and sea level rise.
At Nebraska Land Trust flexible easements further long-term management objectives. As climate conditions present new management threats, it is important that conservation easements allow for the flexibility to mitigate and adapt to these impacts.
The North Florida Land Trust has used 26 natural resource criteria to map and prioritize strategic conservation objectives in a seven-county region. The resulting North Florida Conservation Priorities map offers a quantitative guide of conservation values, informing acquisition and management priorities in this area.
The Pacific Forest Trust is a pioneer of approaches and standards used to create forest climate policies including carbon emissions reductions or offset projects which harness and protect the natural ability of forests to accumulate and hold carbon, acting as carbon “sinks” and providing essential climate benefits.
Kentucky Natural Lands Trust (KNLT) is working to protect, connect, and restore wildlands, large forest tracts, and migratory corridors.
Blackwater 2100 is a collaborative strategic conservation plan that aims to address salt marsh loss and migration in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay. | https://climatechange.lta.org/case-studies/scp/ |
This is part of a series of blogs focused on the Sustainable Development Goals and data from the 2016 Edition of World Development Indicators.
, despite efforts to protect them. Between 1990 and 2015 the world lost more than 129 million hectares—over 3 percent of its forest area. Despite efforts to protect forests, natural habitats and biodiversity, the impact of of human activity on the environment continues to affect the world’s poorest communities and deforestation, desertification and the loss of biodiversity all pose major challenges. Sustainable Development Goal 15 looks to “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss".
Protecting forests
Crucial to both the health of the planet and its diverse species and to the livelihoods of a fifth of the human population, forests contribute to long-term economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental stability. Despite many international engagements to protect forest areas, national and regional afforestation and reforestation efforts need to accelerate to ensure the sustainability of forests (target 15.2). While some regions have steadily increased forest coverage, Latin America and the Caribbean has lost 97 million hectares since 1990, and Sub-Saharan Africa has lost 83 million hectares. Over 16 percent of Brazil’s original Amazonian forest has disappeared, and the current rate of loss is 2 million hectares a year. Pressures on forests will continue as the world’s population grows, urbanization accelerates, and demand for food, fiber, energy, and minerals increases.
Minimizing desertification and land degradation
The loss of potential and existing agricultural land to drought, floods, and land degradation affects vast swathes of the world’s poor, many of whom depend on agriculture for their livelihoods and nourishment. Restoring land and soil (target 15.3) helps keep land degradation in check.
. Drought and desertification have led to losses of 12 million hectares, on which 20 million tons of grain could have been grown, and have further impoverished already vulnerable communities. Degradation in the drylands—zones naturally predisposed to high aridity and water - is causing the desertification of 3.6 billion hectares. Degradation and concurrent loss of vegetative cover also lead to a loss in net primary productivity, the rate at which vegetation fixes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Implementing sustainable and integrated land and water management practices will help the areas and populations most impacted.
Safeguarding natural habitats and biodiversity
As forests, drylands, and freshwater ecosystems disappear, so does the world’s biodiversity. Action to protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species and their habitats will help reverse this (target 15.5). Plants provide humanity with 80 percent of the human diet, and populations throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America use traditional plant-based medicine to help meet their healthcare needs. Substantial gains have been made in conserving biodiversity, with roughly 12 percent of global forests now designated as protected areas. | https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/protecting-life-land-protect-poor |
In 1997 government developed LandCare in Africa to highlight the importance of land conservation. Much has been done since and in October 2016, the seventh Biennial LandCare Conference was held in Kimberley.
Deliberations focused on finding resolutions to pressing LandCare challenges. The conference was co-hosted by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Northern Cape Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, under the theme ‘Making a LandCare difference towards achieving land degradation neutrality’.
LandCare aims to optimise productivity and sustainability of natural resources in greater productivity, food security, job creation and a better life for all. The programme is community-based, community-led and government supported.
One of the sub-themes of the conference was ‘Management strategies and practices to promote resilience and the sustainable use of communal grazing for improved livestock, market access and economic benefits.’
To promote this outcome, it was decided that traditional leaders, their communities and government officials should work together through the establishment of community interest groups to manage fodder resources, land degradation and to enforce Conservation of Agricultural Resources Act (CARA) legislation to ensure sustainable supply of quality fodder for communities.
Other resolutions included the introduction of new beneficial fodder species to supplement the natural veld; and the promotion of LandCare awareness in communities, scaling out beneficial technologies and incorporating LandCare in the school curriculum.
PRESERVING WETLANDS
Another sub-theme was the ‘Sustainable use of wetlands and water management options in arid and semi-arid regions to mitigate the impact of drought and enhance livelihood’.
With South Africa experiencing its worst drought in decades, this was a particularly critical area of deliberation.
Outcomes included that LandCare projects should follow an integrated approach which ensures community buy-in and ownership for proper planning and implementation; and that Acts and policies which protect our natural resources, including CARA, the National Water Act and the National Environmental Management Act should complement each other with common goals and must be enforced or revised where necessary.
It was decided that awareness creation about the importance of catchment management through the capacity-building of youth and extension personnel was
important, and that steps must be taken to highlight the benefits of natural resource conservation.
SUSTAINABLE FARMING
Sustainable farming was grappled with in the sub-theme ‘LandCare solutions to enhance adoption of sustainable land management practices such as Conservation Agriculture (CA) or agroforestry for improved agricultural production.’
Resolutions included the implementation of Climate Smart Agricultural Technologies which extend to CA, bio fertiliser and soil health, agrobiodiversity, soil organic carbon build-up practices and indigenous knowledge. It was noted that government, including local government, should be involved in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of agricultural conservation programmes.
INVADER PLANT SPECIES
The sub-theme ‘Best practices for the control and utilisation of invader plant species’ included the following resolutions:
That a basic training course in the responsible use of herbicides and practical sessions in veld management should be provided; that research on bush expansiveness and invasive species, focusing on the causes, implications and opportunities – such as alternative uses, including fuelwood, furniture and biochar, be explored; and that concerted efforts by all relevant stakeholders, including landowners and government, in a multi-faceted approach are required to plan and control invasive weeds.
It is hoped that the resolutions taken at the conference inform the evolution of the LandCare programme as well as related government policies and programmes. | https://www.vukuzenzele.gov.za/landcare-values-sown |
TOPIC:
Topic 1.1.1-2021(RIA) Sustainable soil and water management for combating land degradation and desertification and promoting ecosystem restoration.
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Drylands cover 33.8% of the Mediterranean and poor soil and water management, overgrazing, deforestation and wildfires are turning large sections of these areas into deserts. Some studies have estimated that 30% of semi-arid Mediterranean drylands are now affected by desertification, which is also a security issue as it has the potential to force migration from the Middle East and North Africa into Europe. The causes of land degradation are not only environmental and technical (improper water management, soil erosion, land and water salinisation, drought, flooding and forest fires), aggravated by climate changes, but also socio-economic as a consequence of the lack of governance and appropriate policies. Small-holding farmers usually occupy areas impacted by land degradation, and agriculture is a primary source of livelihood. Therefore, the socio-economic impacts of land degradation are affecting the stability of the local population and particularly rural women and youth. Actions taken by single countries are not sufficient to deal with the challenges, research and innovation are needed to foster efforts at the transnational level to prevent land and water degradation considering different processes and mainly both prevention of desertification and soil and water quality restoration. At the same time, the current knowledge about the economics of sustainable land and water management and recovery is still needed to support decisions on investments. As a consequence, more applied research is required to quantify the final impacts of the proposed measures.
Good practices and approaches have been developed to enhance sustainable management of agricultural soils to avoid further degradation and to support the restoration of already degraded lands. These include sustainable land/soil management practices such as agroforestry, conservation agriculture, sustainable pasture management, agroecological practices, safe use of unconventional water resources including corresponding assessment, planning and management tools. Proper and sustainable management of agricultural soils can reduce degradation of land and soils (in particular soil erosion and loss of organic matter), preserve and increase soil health and fertility. Actions should be now taken to adapt and enhance the scaling up and out of the already available practices to increase areas under sustainable soil and water management resulting in tangible impacts on the environment and livelihoods. The “living lab” approach should be considered to demonstrate the scaling out of successful sustainable management option at massive scale. Proposals should identify representative sites based on previous works done in different Mediterranean countries, taking into account land degradation hot spots and following a participatory method that ensures the involvement of key stakeholders and decision-makers at different levels. At the same time, tools for assessment and monitoring of land degradation should be harmonised and standardised. The identification of site-specific constraints that hinder the widespread uptake of good practices is needed. The proposals should identify actions, at different levels, to enhance the enabling environment and promote a wider uptake and implementation of sustainable land and water management options. This includes knowledge, capacity, socio-economic, such as high costs and lack of incentives, inappropriate policies and governance, access to finance and markets and absence of strategic planning among others constraints and barriers to be considered. Indeed, the proposals should set up a methodology for the participatory assessment of the impact of the implemented solutions, for instance through living lab approach, to ensure sustainability beyond the project lifespan. Research on investment opportunities on innovative sustainable land and water management within the context of climate change should be considered. This includes the investigation of the cost and benefits (in terms of environmental, social, economic and climate-related) building up examples of business models to enhance investment, and organise the outcome of this work into a public domain available data to improve the investment on sustainable land and water management. | https://prima-med.org/submit-your-project/thematic-area-1-water-management-2021/ |
Mr. President,
1. I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.
2. At the outset, the Group would like to congratulate you on your election as President of the 14th Session of the COP. We also extend our appreciation to the Executive Secretary of the Convention, Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw, and his team for their efforts to further the objective of combating desertification and land degradation and mitigating the effects of drought.
3. We take this opportunity to thank the Government and People of India for hosting this Conference, as well as for the hospitality extended to all of us since our arrival to the country.
4. The Group continues to attach great importance to the challenges of desertification, land degradation, drought and sand and dust storms as they are major environmental, economic and social challenges for global sustainable development, and are the cause of great suffering to millions of people across the world.
5. The Group expresses its deep concern about the continuous trend of land degradation in which about one fifth of the Earth's land surface covered by vegetation showed persistent and declining trends in productivity. We stress that in some cases, advanced stages of land degradation are leading to desertification. In this context, it is significant to continue combatting desertification, restoring degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, especially in developing countries.
6. Action on adaptation to climate change is an urgent priority for developing countries, especially those that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, and bearing in mind that the provision of scaled-up financial resources should aim to achieve a balance between adaptation and mitigation.
7. The Group recognizes the interlinkages between climate change and land degradation as outlined by the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land, as land is both a source and a sink of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and climate change contributes to and exacerbates land degradation and desertification processes.
Mr. President,
8. The Group recalls that in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly in target 15.3, the international community committed to combating desertification, restoring degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and striving to achieve a land-degradation-neutral world by 2030.
9. Therefore, strengthening the resilience of ecosystems, agriculture, infrastructure, and societies as a whole is more urgent than ever as we reaffirm our commitment to achieving sustainable development in its three dimensions - economic, social and environmental - in a balanced and integrated manner.
10. In this connection, the Group reaffirms that the achievement of the SDGs and targets, including Goal 15 and target 15.3, would serve as an accelerator to ending poverty and hunger, tackling inequality and stimulating sustained and inclusive economic growth.
11. The Group acknowledges that desertification, land degradation and drought are challenges of global dimension and contribute to and aggravate economic, social and environmental problems such as poverty, poor health, lack of food security, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, reduced resilience to climate change and forced migration.
12. Furthermore, protecting and restoring land are important instruments in the fight against desertification. Therefore, there is a need to strengthen the environmental information and knowledge management aspects of desertification, land degradation, and drought.
Mr. President,
13. The Group recognizes the early action taken by the UNCCD Secretariat to assist countries in target setting and identification of national hot spots for rehabilitation or restoration. However, much is still needed to be done, including the need to tackle the different realities at the national and regional level to implement the decisions of the Convention.
14. The Group affirms that action to achieve land degradation neutrality (LDN) has the potential to act as an accelerator for achieving a number of Sustainable Development Goals and as a catalyst for attracting sustainable development financing and climate finance to implement the Convention, in line with the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
15. The Group calls upon all countries to develop an integrated approach, including environmental protection, poverty alleviation and social-economic sustainable development, and urges developed country Parties to actively support the efforts of developing country Parties in promoting Sustainable Land Management practices and in seeking to achieve the LDN targets, as appropriate, by providing substantial financial resources, facilitated access to appropriate technology and other forms of support.
Mr. President,
16. The Group recognizes sand and dust storms as a serious challenge to sustainable development in the affected countries and regions, and reiterates its calls upon the United Nations system to play its role in advancing international cooperation and support to combat sand and dust storms, and invites all other related organizations to integrate into their respective cooperation frameworks and operational programmes measures and actions aimed at combating sand and dust storms, including the following measures: enhancing capacity-building at the national level; the development and implementation of regional and sub-regional programmes and projects; the sharing of information, best practices and experiences and the transferring of technology; efforts to control and prevent the main factors of sand and dust storms; and the development of early warning systems as crucial tools to address this issue.
17. The Group stresses the importance of addressing the socioeconomic and environmental challenges of the affected countries and of ways to address combating sand and dust storms in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Mr. President,
18. The Group restates that the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs is the most relevant issue for developing countries. The collective implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs will generate a starting point to build the future we need in order to protect and support future generations and humankind.
19. In conclusion, the Group reiterates its commitment for engaging constructively on the discussions of the COP 14 agenda and to contribute to decisions that will advance the implementation of this important Convention and the achievement of Goal 15 and target 15.3.
I thank you. | http://www.g77.org/statement/getstatement.php?id=190902 |
Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), takes a critical look at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21) and outlines the priorities of UNCCD prior to Cop 22. Besides sustainable land management, enhancing the resilience of rural communities and food security are a few of the many goals of the Convention. Monique Barbut was previously CEO and Chair of the Global Environment Facility from July 2006 to August 2012.
How do you assess the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21)? Was enough done to support farmers in ACP countries?
As with every COP conference, historic progress was achieved in Paris. An agreement has finally been reached between Party countries with the goal to keep the rise in average global temperature well below 2°C. But it doesn’t end there. The carbon sequestration capacity of land was also recognised for the first time, which is a major advance towards making sustainable land management (SLM) a global priority. Land will therefore be pivotal in the implementation of Article 5 of the Paris Agreement on carbon sinks – which I am very pleased about. Land is the basis of all goods and services provided by ecosystems. With the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions pledges in place, there is a real chance that we could fill 25% of the emissions gap. By rehabilitating 12 million ha of land (the amount of land lost annually) per year by 2030, an additional 3.33 Gt of carbon could be sequestered annually. Farmers in ACP countries will therefore have a major role to play in this initiative through greater adoption of good SLM practices. This, in turn, will help to mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration. It will also mean that farmers are more able to adapt to varying climate conditions and will improve food and water security for local communities and farmers whose livelihoods depend on sustainably managed land.
The land degradation neutrality (LDN) concept was developed in 2015. How will this concept push land to the top of the sustainable development agenda?
Achieving LDN will enable us to maintain or even increase our natural capital to support ecosystem services that are essential for our well-being. We need to preserve healthy ecosystems and restore those that have been degraded. Only then will they be able to provide enough of the good-quality resources we need – namely the food, air and clean water that we consume. Underlying this concept is the hope of completely halting the net loss of productive land and rehabilitating land. As restoring degraded land and achieving LDN are specific targets under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15, the entire international community is called upon to strengthen initiatives in favour of SLM and restoration of degraded land. Achieving LDN also indirectly fulfils other SDGs, such as ending poverty (SDG 1), achieving food security by eradicating global hunger through increased yields and sustainable farming (SDG 2), managing water resources sustainably (SDG 6), creating decent work and employment for all (SDG 8), increasing carbon sequestration in soil to tackle climate change and its impacts (SDG 13), and achieving peace by reducing conflict and environmental migration (SDG 16). The international community therefore has a duty to throw its weight behind these initiatives and to make sure there is sufficient money to deliver the undeniable environmental and social benefits of LDN. Once finalised, the ground-breaking LDN Fund will give the public and private sectors a way to pool their efforts towards this goal.
The Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative (GGW) was launched in 2005. Is it still a source of hope despite the difficulties encountered?
As the saying goes, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’. Substantial time and human and financial resources are required to develop and implement a large-scale initiative like GGW. Major progress was made, with the commitment of many countries, at the first GGW conference held in Dakar in May 2016. The harmonised regional strategy has now been turned into national action plans, a regional capacity-building programme is in place, and there is a communication plan. Countries have access to a platform for knowledge management, experience sharing and best practices. Several major projects are already underway and local initiatives are building on successful SLM experiments in other locations, tailoring the lessons learned to suit country-specific contexts. Things are moving in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go.
By 2030, GGW aims to restore 50 million ha of land, sequester 250 million t of carbon, ensure food security for 20 million people, support 300 million people in Sahelian communities, create at least 350,000 jobs and provide 10 million smallholder farmers with access to climate change-resilient agricultural technologies. Once accomplished, the GGW will be the largest living structure on the planet, three times larger than the Great Barrier Reef.
I firmly believe that income generation and rural green job creation through the GGW, or any project based on sustainable land management and restoration in rural areas, will strengthen communities’ resilience to climate change and desertification, ensure food security and reduce rural out-migration towards Europe. It will also help to reduce conflict between communities competing over land and water, and prevent young people becoming radicalised and joining extremist groups. This offers real hope for all of sub-Saharan Africa.
What, in your view, are the most relevant techniques to promote smart, sustainable agriculture while boosting yields?
The UNCCD recommends over 250 good practices for sustainable land and water management in various ecosystems, including conservation agriculture, farmer-assisted natural regeneration, agroforestry and no-tillage farming. There are many good examples around the world where these techniques have delivered significant yield improvements.
A 1,900 ha grain farm in the semi-arid region of Queensland, Australia has adopted no-tillage and controlled-traffic farming techniques across the site in an effort to prevent soil compaction. The farm has also applied the three principles of conservation agriculture (minimal or zero tillage, crop rotation and cover crops) wherever possible. In just 3 years, soil structure between crop lines had improved, obtaining a more malleable and crumbly texture and retaining more moisture. And 5 years on, sorghum yields were up from 3 to 7 t per ha. What’s more, no-tillage farming costs four times less overall than traditional farming methods, while diesel costs are eight times less per year. By introducing SLM practices, the farmer has seen a sharp rise in income.
The steep mountainsides in the Faizobod District of Tajikistan were farmed intensively during the Soviet era, causing substantial soil degradation in the process. A livestock farmer has introduced rotational grazing near the Karsang and Tshinoro mountains to address this problem. The animals graze for 4 hours in the early morning and 4 hours in the afternoon, on a rotating cycle of between 10 days and 2 weeks. The dung helps to improve soil fertility and promotes the growth of more resource-dependent species, replacing fertilisers used during the Soviet-era. This rotational system also helps to prevent excessive trampling of the soil – a phenomenon observed on other over-exploited smallholder farms. The farmer was also finally able to increase his revenue by selling his animals at higher prices than his neighbours
More than 5 million ha of degraded land has been rehabilitated in the Maradi Region of southern Niger using a technique known as ‘farmer-assisted natural regeneration’. This has led to supplementary production of 500,000 t of grain per year and enough fodder to feed significantly more cattle. This technique has already improved the food security situation for about 2.5 million people.
2015 was the International Year of Soils and we are now over halfway through the UN Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification. How have things gone so far and what does the future hold?
The International Year of Soils saw renewed respect for our soils and our land – elements that, directly or indirectly, provide all the goods and services we need (95% of our food, drugs, clean water, etc.). If we want to combat desertification, we have to take care of our soils and our land. The adoption of the SDGs, and especially SDG 15 (life on land), marks a global gear-change in the UN Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification. Land has finally been placed at the very top of the climate agenda. This recognition is strengthening our effort to tackle both desertification and climate change and will continue to do so over the coming years. | https://spore.cta.int/en/spore-exclusive/article/monique-barbut-sustainable-land-management-a-global-priority-sid08b030ccc-850a-4ed8-9b4b-97015dcede36 |
Dryland systems are the agro-ecosystems characterized by extreme climatic variability with low and erratic precipitation, water scarcity and high susceptibility to land degradation, including desertification, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity. These challenges are paramount and can result in food insecurity within dryland communities.
To improve the productivity and resilience of drylands, to positively contribute to livelihood options and to adapt to climate change, management actions should include the rehabilitation of degraded drylands and the restoration of ecosystem services. The 6th webinar of the EbA in the agricultural sectors webinar module seeks to identify approaches, tools and methods available to promote the implementation and scaling up of ecosystem-based approaches in dryland ecosystems; to share lessons learned and good practices generated from the past and ongoing experience; and to identify opportunities and challenges for scaling up of ecosystem-based approaches for climate change adaptation in drylands.
The overall objective of the CACILM2 Project is to scale up integrated natural resources management (INRM) in drought prone and salt affected agricultural production landscapes in the five Central Asian countries. This will be done through scaling up of sustainable management practices that minimize pressures and negative impacts on natural resources that reduce risks and vulnerability and, enhance capacity of rural communities to cope with or adapt to drought and salinity. For this presentation, a background of the CACILM1 project, it’s achieved experiences and how it led to the second phase will be presented. It will then discuss the importance, the effects and benefits of SLM (sustainable land management) and INRM best practices and their impacts on ecosystem services and production landscapes at wider scales in drylands and the chosen five Central Asian countries.
Africa’s Great Green Wall (GGW) initiative involves over 20 countries around the Sahara. Conceived as a mosaic of green and productive landscapes, the Great Green Wall is considered as a game changer for Africa’s Drylands and communities, given its potential to address climate change adaptation and mitigation, prevent and combat desertification, eradicate poverty, end hunger and boost food and nutrition security. FAO is engaged in this initiative through the EU-funded Action Against Desertification (AAD) programme, supporting six African countries (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Gambia, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal) in large-scale restoration— one that places rural communities at its heart and biodiversity as key source of resilience and adaptation to climate change. Through this presentation, we will showcase how plant-based solutions are being used for restoration and adaptation to climate change in Africa’s drylands.
To enhance natural resource governance and restore the degraded rangelands, an ecosystem approach to resource governance is a pre requisite. The Participatory Rangeland Management Planning (PRMP) has been used by IUCN in engaging communities in rangeland management and planning. The aim of PRMP is to facilitate participatory rangeland management and planning in a simplified and practical way. The center of PRMP is participation by all the key stakeholders. The principles of PRM closely link with the principles of EbA especially in enhancing participation, incorporation of local knowledge and planning at the ecosystem scale. The PRMP approach was used in a project on strengthening natural resource governance in Garba Tula in Isiolo County, Kenya. The goal of the project was to improve governance to support better livelihood security and ecosystem management. The main output from the project was supporting the development of by-laws at the County level which recognize and build-on customary rules and regulations. | http://www.fao.org/in-action/kore/webinar-archive/webinar-details/en/c/1147624/ |
A Green Africa: The Reason for Hope
Africa is among the most drought-affected regions of the world, with some parts of the continent experiencing as many as nine prolonged dry spells in the three decades between 1974 and 2004.
The rate at which land degradation is accelerating is cause for increasing concern, and according to United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) statistics, total land area degraded increased to 25 percent in 2011 from 15 percent in 1991.
A direct consequence of land degradation is drought, which has negatively impacted communities who depend on subsistence farming and livestock rearing, especially in Southern Africa and West Africa.
This has left many vulnerable communities on the continent ‑ where 75 percent of the poor lives in countries with dry land population ‑ in dire need of assistance.
According to UNCCD, two-thirds of Africa is desert or dry land, and almost three-quarters of agricultural land is degraded to some degree.
It is estimated that more than 500 million hectares of the continent’s land is affected by soil erosion and degradation. Drought and desertification greatly affect Africa’s agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability.
In many African countries, combating desertification and promoting economic development are interdependent. Many poor African people have limited choice but to over-exploit the land.
The degradation of land through use of unsustainable practices and technologies threaten their livelihoods, and household food security will remain compromised unless lasting solutions to address desertification, land degradation and drought are found.
Land degradation has been a source of social and political tensions and conflicts in some communities and countries of the continent.
Desertification has other adverse impacts on non-dry land as well. In addition to dust storms, biophysical impacts include downstream flooding, impairment of global carbon sequestration capacity, and global climate change.
The Case of Namibia
This year, Namibia – which is a historically dry country – is facing its worst drought in more than a decade that has left more than 330 000 people in rural communities in need of immediate food assistance (14 percent of Namibia’s total population of 2.3 million) and more than 100 000 children under five years of age at risk of malnutrition.
According to a May 2013 UNICEF report on the drought situation in Namibia, “The coping strategies employed by households in affected regions include going an entire day without eating, limiting portion sizes of meals and harvesting immature crops.”
Namibia’s President Hifikepunye Pohamba has declared the drought situation an emergency.
Though a Parliamentary Committee tasked by Namibia’s National Assembly to monitor the drought situation recently, has painted a gloomy picture of the situation in some of the most affected northern regions of the country blaming it on the slow pace of relief aid distribution, Namibia has done much to alleviate the situation.
The country has also done much to find a lasting solution, as, according to Desert Research Foundation of Namibia, “drought is permanent feature of the Namibian climate and not an unusual event”.
Part of the government’s efforts to find a lasting solution for the country’s recurrent drought was the establishment of a ‘National Drought Policy and Strategy’ in 1996, which, among others, aims to ensure household food security is not compromised and enable rural people and the agricultural sector to recover quickly.
This, it has done through promoting best farming practices.
However, for Namibia to make headway in building resilience among vulnerable communities, it has to move “from knowing to doing. Take what we know to community level”, as well as remove bureaucratic hurdles that are hampering progress.
Dr Mary Seally of the DRFN said this when she presented a paper on improving drought preparedness among rural communities in Namibia at a recent public lecture.
Re-greening Africa
Ecological restoration of degraded land to contribute to sustainable development and poverty eradication is possible through pro-poor policies and sound water and land management.
For instance, Niger in West Africa has managed to restore five million hectares of degraded land in 20 years by planting 200 million new trees through farmer-managed natural regeneration.
At the same time, it has increased its cereal production.
Today Niger boasts a society resilient to climate shocks.
Meanwhile, low political recognition has been one of the major challenges to the UNCCD’s efforts “to forge a global partnership to reverse and prevent desertification/land degradation and to mitigate the effects of drought”. And Luc Gnacadja, the Executive Secretary of UNCCD, was in Namibia recently to mobilise political support ahead of UNCCD the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP11).
Namibia hosts COP11, the first in Southern Africa, where member states will share information on the causes and extent of drought and desertification in Africa as well as to mobilise, build and promote sharing of scientific expertise and technical skills in drought and desertification related research.
During the Windhoek conference scheduled for September 16 to 27, 2013, member states will work towards improving the living conditions of people in dry lands and maintaining and restoring land and soil productivity.
Sealing the UNCCD COP11 hosting agreement recently, Namibia’s Home Affairs Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah pointed out that desertification for cropland expansion and overgrazing are the major causes of land degradation and desertification in the country that is being driven by poor and unsustainable ways of using the land for agricultural production.
She said rehabilitation of degraded lands was crucial and that scientific research and technological innovation will be required in order to better prepare for and manage the risks associated with drought.
“The COP11 takes place as Namibia experiences its severest drought in generations, which compels us to rethink the way we use our land and to come up with innovative methods to reverse land degradation and desertification in the driest country of sub-Saharan Africa,” she said.
She said hosting this conference would be a good opportunity for the country to showcase its good practices to the world in the area of land degradation and drought mitigation.
“Hosting this conference will not only further solidify Namibia's commitment to addressing the threats of land degradation, but it will also offer a snapshot of a country whose interventions against this threat have grown from strength to strength” she said.
Minister Nandi-Ndaitwah said Namibia has planned several side events ‑ a Namibian exhibition pavilion and technical tours to the Gobabeb Research and Training Centre and other community projects ‑ during the conference to showcase the country's good practices.
Speaking at the same event, Gnacadja said degradation is driven by poorly thought out and unsustainable ways of using the land for agricultural production.
This has resulted in a situation where half of Africa's population lives in dry lands.
A large part of Africa's rain forests is under very high risk of desertification and two thirds of Africa's arable land could be lost by 2025 if this trend continues
He, therefore, called for action at policy and grassroots level in order to mitigate the effects of drought, and to combat desertification and land degradation effectively.
On the ground, he called for help to enable local communities adopt and scale up sustainable land management practices.
An estimated 2 000 to 3 000 international delegates – including Heads of State, ministers and other high-level dignitaries – are expected to attend COP11. | https://southernafrican.news/2013/08/19/a-green-africa-the-reason-for-hope/ |
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Library highlights
06-04-2018
Publication to present project BRIDGES under the FAO-Turkish Forestry Partnership programme in support of efforts to combat land degradation and desertification in Eritrea, Mauritania and Sudan, contributing to Africa's Great Green Wall initiative.
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Plants vs Sand. How the World Food Programme is helping communities use plants to stop sand dunes in Mauritania
Library highlights
27-04-2018
A lone grain of sand, on its own, is completely harmless. It travels on its journey carried by the wind, by water, or even hitchhikes on a living being, barely noticed as it meanders through the landscape. When a grain of sand joins up with others to become a sand dune, it can become a force that…
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The economic impact of reducing food waste in Germany, Poland and Spain
Library highlights
25-05-2018
A new study has quantified the economic impact of reducing avoidable food waste in Germany, Poland and Spain. The researchers modelled impacts on production, GDP and employment. The results show that reducing food waste from households has the greatest impact, although policy measures should be…
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Assessment and quantification of marginal lands for biomass production in Europe using soil quality indicators
Library highlights
29-05-2018
The cultivation of bioenergy plants at fertile, arable lands increasingly results in new land use conflicts with food production and cannot be considered as sustainable, therefore. Marginal lands have been frequently considered as potential alternative for producing bioenergy from biomass. However,…
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UNCCD has another 9 LDN country profiles, adding up to a total of 30
Library highlights
25-06-2018
The LDN Country Profiles provide evidence-based arguments that contribute to making the case for investing in measures to avoid, reduce and reverse land degradation. These profiles demonstrate the importance and multiple benefits of taking actions to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality. The country…
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Economies: rights and access to work
Library highlights
26-06-2018
When people are forced to leave their homes, they usually also leave behind their means of economic activity. In their new location, they may not be able, or permitted, to work. This has wide-ranging implications. This issue includes 22 articles on the main feature theme of Economies: rights and…
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OECD releases new report on Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Sustainable Development with insights from 16 countries
Library highlights
10-07-2018
The need to mainstream biodiversity into economic growth and development is being increasingly recognised and is now also firmly embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals. Drawing on experiences and insights from 16 predominantly megadiverse countries, this report examines how biodiversity is…
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New Article: Leverage Points for Governing Agricultural Soils: A Review of Empirical Studies of European Farmers’ Decision-Making
Library highlights
06-09-2018
What drives farmers’ decision-making? To inform effective, efficient, and legitimate governance of agricultural soils, it is important to understand the behaviour of those who manage the fields.
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Great Insights Magazine - the new issue: North Africa, hope in troubled times
Library highlights
09-11-2018
North Africa was the birthplace of the Arab uprisings in late 2010. This movement affected all the countries in the region, albeit to varying degrees. And while protestors asked in unison for deep political and economic changes, the various governments in North Africa responded differently to their…
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Greening the desert with pastures, orchards, legume crops, medicinal plants and potato farms
Library highlights
28-09-2016
New initiatives like on-farm trials for seed potato production have the potential of benefiting farmers in the arid regions of Rajasthan, India.
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Fighting Drought with Fruit
Library highlights
29-09-2016
South Africa is presently experiencing one of the worst droughts in 45 years, with the lowest ever rainfall since 1904. In 2015, South Africa received only an average of 403 mm, which is merely 66% of the annual average rainfall. This matter has to be urgently addressed, with food sources under…
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Long-term involvement of stakeholders in research projects on desertification and land degradation: How has their perception of the issues changed and what strategies have emerged for combating desertification?
Library highlights
29-09-2016
Original Research Article published in the latest Journal of Arid Environments
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Collaboration, interdisciplinary thinking, and communication: new approaches to K–12 ecology education (Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment)
Library highlights
04-10-2016
Five example programs demonstrate successful integration of these three practices into K-12 ecological research activities, an application that will benefit not only future ecologists but also students who enter other careers as ecologically literate citizens.
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Emerging technological and cultural shifts advancing drylands research and management (Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment)
Library highlights
04-10-2016
It highlights several important technological and cultural advances that may transform drylands research and improve the links between research, management, and knowledge in dryland landscapes. Second, it highlights several cultural advances that promote interactive environments for sharing,…
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Using Agroforestry to Save the Planet
Library highlights
04-10-2016
Food Tank highlights 16 agroforestry projects that are benefiting farmers, communities, and the environment.
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Land-based adaptation to global change: What drives soil and water conservation in western Africa? (Global Environmental Change) OA
Library highlights
04-10-2016
This study presents a meta-analysis of case studies that investigate the adoption of soil and water conservation measures, as an important approach to resource conservation.
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Walking the Talk: A Snapshot of Country and Regional Experiences, Good Practices and Lessons Learnt in African Agriculture and CAADP since 2003
Library highlights
10-10-2016
As a celebration of national and regional efforts and achievements, this panorama of country experiences and good practices will not only help intensify the African agriculture transformation underway, but will also promote active participation of citizenry, enhance mutual accountability, and ensure…
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The value of land: Prosperous lands and positive rewards through sustainable land management
Library highlights
08-11-2016
Land provides humans with the means to live, and from the first steps tread upon it, has been a patient provider of vital resources.
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Climate change and the geographical and institutional drivers of economic development
Library highlights
09-11-2016
The links between climate change, economic development and poverty reduction have gained increasing attention over recent years in both the academic and policy literature. | https://knowledge.unccd.int/search?f%5B0%5D=topic%3A1280&f%5B1%5D=topic%3A1284&f%5B2%5D=topic%3A1324&f%5B3%5D=topic%3A1551&f%5B4%5D=topic%3A1679&f%5B5%5D=topic%3A2094&f%5B6%5D=type%3Apublications&%3Bf%5B1%5D=topic%3A1595 |
As the UNCCD COP 15 draws near and The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UNDER) gathers momentum, UNCCD and WOCAT are partnering up on a video series that highlight the central role of sustainable land management (SLM) in restoring and maintaining the health of ecosystems. SLM has a central role in each of the eight UNDER ecosystems – farmlands, grasslands, forests, mountains, freshwaters, urban areas, peatlands, oceans and coasts – by combating land degradation, improving production and securing livelihoods while simultaneously generating multiple environmental co-benefits. While people have directly contributed to ecosystem degradation, they can also be the primary agents of change toward a sustainable land management restoration when armed with knowledge to adopt and upscale SLM. The new video series presents successful practices for each ecosystem, demonstrating how SLM can deliver powerful solutions to ecosystem degradation.
Gender equality is a key entry-point for Sustainable Land Management (SLM) and UNCCD together with WOCAT are working to improve gender-responsiveness of SLM practices. Direct and indirect gender-related barriers prevent women from adopting SLM practices. These barriers include land tenure insecurity; land availability; education or literacy levels; access to seeds, fertilizers, or extension services; and access to technologies and financing. As a result, women adopt SLM technologies at a rate that is typically lower and slower than that of men. In line with the UNCCD Gender Action Plan (GAP) and guided by the idea to build back better, the aim of this UNCCD-WOCAT project is to: Add a gender lens to SLM technologies and appraoches and assess their gender-responsiveness Evaluate how gender-responsiveness of SLM Technologies and Approaches can be improved, stepping up adoption and dissemination, making SLM beneficial for women and men alike. This will support project planners, designers and implementers to identify, realize and scale gender-responsive SLM Technologies and Approaches within the framework of LD/SLM and LDN projects and programmes as well as promote the implementation of gender-responsive SLM practices in the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. Phase 1: Development of Gender-responsive SLM tool In the first phase, WOCAT and UNCCD designed a tool that helps to test the gender-responsiveness of SLM Technologies and Approaches and to identify areas of improvement to support project planners, designers, and implementers in their effort to scale up SLM Technologies and Approaches that are gender-responsive. The gender-responsive SLM tool was reviewed during a UNCCD-WOCAT consultation workshop with experts from different organizations and regions, resulting in the fine-tuning of the tool. Currently, the tool is being tested with WOCAT network partners in more than 10 countries around the globe, supporting it further refinement and facilitating a first round of data collection. Data will be analysed and presented in the form of SLM Gender Profiles, showcasing women and men's involvement in different SLM Technologies and providing insights and recommendations on the improvement of SLM Technologies and related Approaches in view of gender equality and women empowerment. Phase 2: New gender module added to WOCAT Database (start mid-2022) The Global WOCAT SLM Database will be enhanced with a new “gender module”, i.e. the gender-responsive SLM tool will be integrated into the Database. This will allow: An online assessment of the gender-responsiveness of SLM Technologies and Approaches; and The search for gender-responsive SLM Technologies and Approaches. The gender module will be promoted and disseminated and interested partners and institutions trained in its application.
Communities all over the world have suffered some of the most brutal effects of drought and flooding this year. Flash floods in western Europe, eastern and central Asia and southern African. And catastrophic drought in Australia, southern Africa, southern Asia, much of Latin America, western North America and Siberia are cases in point. The impacts extend well beyond the individual events. For example, the rise in food insecurity in the southern African region and unprecedented wildfires in North America, Europe and Central Asia. What is going on? This is much more than bad weather in some cases, and is increasingly so. The UNCCD organized an event at COP26, the Climate Change Conference taking place in Glasgow, United Kingdom, to focus attention on the land-water-climate nexus. The science and policy responses discussed make it clear that human decisions exacerbated by climate change are significantly – and arguably, catastrophically – amplifying the impact of drought and floods. The discussion encouraged more strategic land use decisions. Decisions that ensure what we do where, and in particular, what we plant where, mitigatesthe impacts of both extremes, be it too much or too little rainfall. It also shed light on how important it is to have healthy soils. Soils that are replete with organic matter will obtain “more crop per drop”, and reduce the risks associated with drought and flooding. Extreme events, including both droughts and floods are on the rise. With more land projected to be get drier and more and more people living in drylandsin the future, the discussions centered on the shift more than 60 countries are making from “reactive” response to droughts and floods to “proactive” planning and risk management designed to build resilience. Participants from Malawi, Pakistan, Honduras, Grenada and Burkina Faso provided concrete examples of policy alignment and cross-sectorial approaches to implementation. Here is a quick overview of the highlights. Read more: Land and drought
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Ramsar Convention, the intergovernmental treaty which unites 171 countries to protect and use wisely the wetlands and the resources they provide. The Ramsar Convention is the oldest of the modern global intergovernmental environmental agreements. In the fifty years since it was founded, a lot more became known about the importance of wetlands for water security, disaster risk reduction, mitigating climate change, supporting biodiversity and providing livelihoods. Across the world, wetlands are of great importance to humanity. All agricultural production depends on water which is transported and provided to humankind through wetlands. More than half of the world relies on wetland-grown produce for their staple diet, for example from rice paddies. Wetlands also provide more than a billion livelihoods across the world in an array of activities that also deliver food, water supplies, transport, and leisure. Wetlands loss contributes to poverty and food insecurity. During the months of August and September 2021, the anniversary website is featuring stories and messages on why wetlands are important and what can be done to ensure they are better protected and used. On October 7, the Ramsar secretariat will host an intergenerational dialogue between leaders past and future to create connections across generations to elevate the urgency to protect, conserve and restore wetlands. This anniversary-themed video presents the many benefits of wetlands and gives the overview of the convention's work.
Statement by UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw: All of our planet’s inhabitants – humanity, and all wildlife species – require water to survive. We learn very young that life cannot exist without water. Yet over 2 billion people still lack access to safe water today. This year’s World Water Day celebrates the theme ‘Valuing water.’ This fundamental need has enormous and complex value for our societies, households, food, culture, health, education, economics and the sustainability of our environment. Global water use has increased sixfold over the past 100 years, driven by intensive agriculture and population growth. The demand for water just in food production may reach 13 trillion cubic metres annually by 2050 – 3.5 times greater than the total human use today. The importance of water for land is obvious: humanity’s relentless production and consumption relies heavily on water use and is a prime cause of desertification and land degradation. In a warming world beset by weather extremes, droughts will become more common, more intense, and more prolonged in many places – including places already at the margins of habitability. Drought and desertification are not just problems for the global South. We already see impacts, and land degradation, in highly productive and populated parts of the developed world – including California, Spain and Australia. Land degradation and desertification reduce evapotranspiration, disrupting regional rainfall patterns. In contrast, healthy land promotes consistent seasonal and annual rainfall and aids flood mitigation, soil health and aquifer recharge, helping to bring back landscapes from the brink. The UNCCD’s Drought Initiative is working globally to support our Parties to develop drought preparedness systems, spearheading regional efforts to reduce drought vulnerability and risk. Our Drought toolbox provides resources to support actions that aim to boost the resilience of people and ecosystems. Land restoration is a vital ally to World Water Day. As we celebrate today, let’s remember that we must value water and land equally as part of the same challenge – to build a better, more equal, healthier planet post COVID-19. | https://www.unccd.int/news-stories?f%5B0%5D=tags%3Aagroforestry&f%5B1%5D=tags%3Asoil&f%5B2%5D=tags%3Awater |
Background – Food systems are central to the global economic and social debate. This is due to their impact on climate change and biodiversity loss, the economic, social, and cultural importance of the sector, and the effects of nutrition on the well-being and health of individuals and societies. In addition, the relevance of food security in all countries has become an urgent priority. Last year’s Food System Summit testifies to this relevance and today’s challenges confirm the need for action in both the short and long term. The war in Ukraine and the subsequent spike in food prices are turning this situation into a dramatic international food crisis. Ukraine and Russia contribute 30% of the world wheat market, 55% of the sunflower oil market and high percentages of other key food products. Russia is one of the world’s leading exporters of fertilizers, while wheat is a key food for 35% of the world’s population and 26 countries for more than 50%. Moreover, food systems transversally affect the SDGs, impacting seemingly distant goals such as zero poverty, good health, or climate action.
Recent IPCC Assessment Reports highlight the vulnerability of global food systems to climate change and the negative consequences of climate extremes on food security. Crop yields are being compromised by surface ozone, methane emissions, warmer and drier conditions are increasing tree mortality, desertification, soil erosion, ocean warming, and acidification are decreasing fishing activity yields. Moreover, higher temperatures will spread toxigenic fungi, plant and animal-based pathogens, and harmful algal blooms. Similarly, more frequent flood events will increase food contamination, considerably affecting human health. Moreover, environmental degradation hinders the access to nutritious food and increases the risks of the emergence of climate-driven zoonoses. Moreover, climate extremes negatively affect economic prosperity and food accessibility, particularly among the most vulnerable groups such as women, children, and the elderly. All these complexities and challenges are even more severe in the Mediterranean region, which is a hot spot for climate change and whose Countries are highly dependent on the import of wheat.
Nonetheless, food systems are key elements not just in the problem but also as a driver for a solution. Innovation and the uptake of adaptation strategies available to food systems will be a fundamental step in mitigating climate change, given the considerable role that such systems play in environmental degradation. Food systems are responsible for one-third of global GHG emissions, biodiversity loss and global water footprint. This is due to the production of food commodities, their processing, distribution, and the management of the system’s waste. In addition, food systems are also highly inequitable, with 10% of the global population still facing hunger and 65% of people under the poverty threshold working in the agricultural sector.
In this regard, research and innovation are indispensable factors in addressing the food emergency in the Mediterranean area and increasing agricultural production sustainably, optimizing water, soil, energy, fertilizers and other inputs. Cooperation and partnerships in enhancing and implementing similar R&I solutions are pivotal, and no solution or deterrence of climate change can be achieved without the complete commitment of all stakeholders comprising food systems.
Session coordinator – Angelo Riccaboni and Giovanni Stanghellini
Lead organisation – PRIMA
Type of event – Hybrid panel debate
Background
In the context of COP 27, PRIMA, UfM, FAO, and CIHEAM are jointly organising a side event entitled “Regional actions to counter land degradation, enhance climate change resilience and food security”, which will represent an opportunity for participating entities to raise awareness of solutions and funding opportunities for sustainable land management (SLM), as well as to map out regional actions to counter land degradation and desertification in the Mediterranean Region.
As recalled in the conclusions of the UNCCD COP15 and at the UN Food Systems Summit, reducing desertification risks while increasing food security, improving livelihoods and increasing natural and climate resilience requires immediate action, investments and wide stakeholder involvement. This is true for the Mediterranean region, where SLM and restoration are key to generating positive socio-economic impacts.
In this event, PRIMA projects will outline how deploying innovative solutions and SLM in Mediterranean demo areas can help prevent desertification and restore drylands.
These projects will contribute, at the technical level, to the objectives of the LANDMEDNET Initiative, aiming to promote concerted regional efforts to address land degradation and climate change and, at the political level, they will support the UfM 2030 GreenerMed agenda, aiming to provide a regional framework that creates policy and operational convergence around the three priority axes of cooperation agreed by the 42 UfM countries.
Event objectives
The event aims to:
Session coordinators – Antonella Autino and Marco Orlando, PRIMA
Lead organisation – PRIMA
Type of event: Hybrid Panel debate
Background –
Concept – Agri-food systems are at the centre of the global debate on sustainable development, for their impact on climate change, CO2 emissions and biodiversity loss, for the importance that food security is assumed worldwide, for the spread of obesity and malnutrition, and the effects of it on the well-being and health of individuals and societies. The recent geopolitical crisis in Ukraine confirms this sector’s relevance from an economic, social, humanitarian and strategic standpoint.
In the path towards more sustainable agrifood systems, companies can play a central role, adopting production and distribution models that are more attentive to environmental resources and social equity and promoting dietary patterns in line with sustainable diets. The Mediterranean and the MED diet constitute a case in point where it would be interesting to engage with the smallholders and companies to call upon them to take responsibility for adopting more sustainable institutional, economic, social and environmental practices. If there is no doubt that companies’ behaviour might have negatively impacted some of the current problems, the same sector can also be part of the solution.
This evolution, as it can benefit the environment and society, could also benefit the companies themselves in terms of new market opportunities, financial resources, and better relations with stakeholders and regulators. Large companies have already grasped the importance of this evolution. On the other hand, smaller companies are less committed to this process, with the risk of losing market opportunities and competitiveness. At the same time, precisely the smallholders and small companies are the backbones of the productivity system of several Mediterranean Countries and economies. To avoid sustainability being seen as a burden, instead of an opportunity, it is necessary to start with the promotion of the grammar of sustainability in smaller companies. That is to make them understand what sustainability means for agrifood companies, how to introduce it into operational activities, how to monitor it and how to communicate it.
The establishment of accounting and sustainability reporting mechanisms, meant to assess the alignment of companies’ practices to SDGs and related targets, has played a positive role in pushing companies to improve their behaviours, also triggering sustainable investments for economic growth. Perceptions around sustainability performance measurement and reporting have also evolved significantly. While this type of performance was considered not very common years ago, today, the alignment to sustainability is an act of leadership and expected conduct.
The current debate around food systems has clearly shown that the global objective cannot be achieved independently of the different local contexts where citizens, businesses and consumers live. In particular, the G20 Agriculture Communique has clearly stated that there is no one size fits all strategy to promote sustainable food systems. On the contrary, the appropriate implementation of the strategy shall also bear in mind and adequately valorize the cultural, traditional, and historical elements. Therefore, the issue of how to assess business practices becomes crucial for the future of the food sector.
The seminar will investigate the models and systems to measure the impact of agrifood production on the environment and on nutrition, taking into consideration the risks that inadequate measurement systems can endanger traditional Mediterranean production and value chains.
Lead organisation – PRIMA
Type of event- Hybrid panel debate
The European Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change strongly embed Nature-based (NbS) components as positive and cost-efficient ways of supporting ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change. These nature-based components are embedded in UfM Ministerial Declarations on Environment and Climate Action and the Sustainable Blue Economy at the Mediterranean level. Several initiatives have made NbS a priority within the Mediterranean region, including PRIMA, UfM, FAO, Interreg NEXT MED, EFI, MEDWET and many more. This session will focus on three urgent and essential Nature-based Solutions to the Mediterranean region’s most pressing challenges – wetlands; agroecology; marine and coastal protected areas – based on solid experience and cooperation.
Background
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) promoting the use of ecosystem services through conservation or restoration interventions are key to addressing global societal challenges, such as climate change, environmental degradation, and natural disaster risk reduction. Harnessing natural capital by adopting nature-based solutions – in contrast to conventional engineered solutions – can help tackle these challenges contributing to the UN 2030 Agenda. This session will focus on the following Nature-based Solutions:
Wetland (natural and constructed)
Wetlands are some of the world’s most biologically diverse and productive natural ecosystems, vital habitats for wildlife and essential for water regulation and carbon storage.
Despite their vital roles, wetlands are among the most vulnerable ecosystems, with up to 48% of Mediterranean wetlands lost since 1970. The effects of climate change, population growth and increasing economic development are expected to exacerbate the loss and degradation of many wetlands and their associated species. There is an urgent need to conserve and restore the natural wetlands and promote the establishment of newly constructed wetlands to maximise the ecosystem services these areas provide as an eco-friendly, cost-effective and technically feasible approach.
Agroecology as nature-based solutions: The Mediterranean region holds over 80 million hectares of degraded land. Effective joint mitigation and adaptation approaches are critical to achieving climate and restoration goals in the Mediterranean region. PRIMA nature-based solutions (NbS) enhance the resilience of ecosystems to climate change and help accelerate the transition toward more sustainable food and systems through agroecological measures. The PRIMA projects integrate these approaches in different agro-systems by promoting polycultures, agroforestry, and crop-livestock mixed systems.
Marine and Coastal Protected Areas:
The Mediterranean coastal ecosystems are under wide and intensive pressure. While the most populated areas in the Mediterranean region, marine and coastal areas are threatened by increased sea levels and erosion.
At the UNFCCC COP 26, Governments recognised the need for cross-cutting incorporation of the ocean under the work of all relevant constituted bodies and workstreams. The Union for the Mediterranean Climate Change Adaptation Framework, Ministerial Declarations on Environment (Athens, 2014) and Blue Economy (Brussels, 2015) recognise strong links between the marine ecosystem and climate change concerns.
Nature-based Solutions comprise “actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural and modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits” (IUCN).
Lead organisation – PRIMA
Type of event– Hybrid panel debate
Background
The Mediterranean is one of the hotspots for CC. Its temperature increase is a 20% higher than the world average. CC has severe consequences such as rainfall decrease, increase of water demand, sea level increase, heavy storms, wildfires, to mention just a few. It has important impacts on agriculture, food security, health, social unrest and migrations.
To cope with these challenges, it is essential to understand how they are produced and which strategies work best in terms of mitigation and adaptation. It is also very relevant to predict when and where the extreme events will take place with as much anticipation as possible These strategies imply very often a change in individual and collective behavior and therefore to understand the incentives which work better and at the same time are feasible.
Knowledge is thus essential and the basis for all mitigation and adaptation measures. Actually, it means to develop robust systems of R&I without which measures and policies to mitigate and adapt to CC will not work. R&I have to encompass the biophysics of CC and also its socioeconomic impacts. Sectorial approaches are very limited because systems are complex and interrelated. Solutions to cope with CC need to be intersectoral across different disciplines and stakeholders.
These challenges are common to all the countries of the region and certainly no one can cope with them on its own. Countries around the Mediterranean are very diverse with huge differences in per capita GDP, population and scientific development but CC is a threat for them all. Cooperation among them is crucial not only to reach critical mass but also to test whether problems and solutions are similar or need to be adapted to different settings.
The EC and the UfM have developed a R&I Roadmap of three pillars CC, renewable energy and health. R&I on CC is certainly the core but renewable energy is closely related to CC and the region has a huge potential to develop it. Health will also be affected by CC even if less directly. It is a priority to develop and implement this roadmap in the next years to come.
PRIMA is an R&I program of 19 participating states around the Mediterranean, 11 from the EU and 8 non-EU which has been working since 2018. So far, it has funded 170 projects involving around 1700 teams from all the participating states. Its main areas are water, agriculture and food and their relations and links. CC is a transversal issue for most projects specially when they develop sustainable solutions.
PRIMA has shown to be a good broker allowing the cooperation of scientists and innovators from all participating states and has develop strong scientific networks around the Mediterranean. Knowledge is essential to understand CC and its implications and certainly to devise complex and difficult solutions. PRIMA can contribute to this difficult endeavor.
Moderator: Omar Amawi Deputy Deputy Director PRIMA
Speakers: Wolfgang Cramer, Chair of the MEDECC
Alvaro Albacete, Deputy SG of UfM
Octavi Quintana, Director, PRIMA
Clara de la Torre, Deputy DG CLIMA , European Commission
Lead organisation – PRIMA
Type of event– Hybrid panel debate
Background
Climate change affects the Mediterranean region significantly more than the world average, endangering the sustainable provision of water, energy, food, and ecosystem services. The region is more vulnerable to climate change impacts than other regions. Water scarcity will likely increase in the next decades because of climate change. Moreover, agricultural practices aimed at increasing yields have led to enhanced water use for irrigation. Continued intensification of agricultural practices will result in adverse consequences for water resources, biodiversity, and landscape functioning. This is combined with enhanced disturbances of environmental integrity, overexploitation of ecosystem services and a growing tendency towards desertification.
Mediterranean countries face a difficult challenge in meeting the growing demands for food, water, and energy, further compounded by climate change. Effective adaptation to change requires the efficient use of land, water, energy, and other vital resources and coordinated efforts to minimise trade-offs and maximise synergies. However, the policy process generally follows a sectoral approach that does not consider the interconnections and interdependence among the different sectors. The role of the water–food–energy nexus in addressing the competing demands of – and facilitating – adaptation and development has not yet been fully recognised.
Sectoral adaptation strategies can increase vulnerability or undermine net resilience by decreasing capacity or increasing risks in another place or sector, resulting in maladaptation. Most adaptation plans, including the National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), have been prepared to meet sectoral goals. They generally focus on sectoral and project-based activities without adequate consideration or coordination of cross-sectoral interactions among key climate-sensitive sectors such as water, energy, food, and ecosystems.
Event objectives
Considering that effective adaptation to change requires the efficient use of land, water, energy, and other vital resources and coordinated efforts to minimise trade-offs and maximise synergies, this event will be an opportunity for countries to raise awareness among policymakers, scientists, and local communities that the adaptation is closely linked with the sustainable use and management of water, energy and food, all of which are vital for sustainable development.
The event, aims to: | https://prima-med.org/cop/cop27agenda/ |
The latest UN Convention to Combat Desertification conference in Ivory Coast last week attempted to address the issue while droughts were also learned to continue to pose threats alongside
The 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) held in Ivory Coast last week agreed on accelerating the restoration of one billion ha of degraded land by 2030, an area the size of the US or China, to slow down the land degradation, which now stands at 40% of the global landmass as noted in the new Global Land Outlook 2, a five-year study with over 1,000 scientific references to support the decision-making process at the conference. Such a degradation rate, the report noted, could threaten roughly half of the global GDP or around US$ 44 trillion.
Degraded land as defined by the report includes not only arid desert or forests maimed by logging or urban sprawl, but also apparently “green” areas that are intensely farmed or stripped of natural vegetation. Most of the damage done has come from food production, and much of the degradation is most visible in developing countries. But other human activities including overconsumption also encourage intensive use of land and further degradation such as meat production and fast fashion.
Without urgent action, degradation continues as usual, and by the next three decades, an area the size of South America will be further degraded, the report projected.
“Modern agriculture has altered the face of the planet more than any other human activity. We need to urgently rethink our global food systems, which are responsible for 80% of deforestation, 70% of freshwater use, and the single greatest cause of terrestrial biodiversity loss,” said the UNCCD’s Executive Secretary, Ibrahim Thiaw.
The Global Land Outlook 2 report projects associated risks in three prime scenarios in the next three decades; Business as Usual, Restoration, and Restoration and Protection
Under the Business-as-Usual scenario, around 16 million sq km or an area almost the size of South America could be further degraded if the degradation trend continues as it is or is upward. By then, 12-14% of agricultural, pasture, and grazing land, as well as natural areas could face a long-term decline in vegetative productivity, with sub-Saharan Africa being worst affected. Over the period, an additional 69 GtCO2 would be emitted following land-use change and soil degradation. This, the report noted, represents 17% of current annual GHG emissions.
Under the Restoration scenario, it is assumed that around five billion ha or 50 million sq km or 35% of global land area could be restored using measures such as agroforestry, grazing management, and assisted natural regeneration. The current pledge of the international community stands at 10 million sq km. Over the period, crop yields could increase by 5-10% in most developing countries because of improved soil. The largest gains could be in the Middle East, North Africa, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa. Carbon stocks, meanwhile, are projected to rise around 17 GtCO2 as a result.
Last but not least is the scenario involving restoration and protection. This involves restoration measures plus protection measures for areas important for biodiversity, water regulation, soil conservation and carbon stocks.
It is projected that by 2050 under this scenario, an additional four million sq km of natural areas the size of India and Pakistan could be achieved, with the largest gains falling in South and Southeast Asia, as well as Latin America. About 83 GtCO2 could be restored while about a third of the biodiversity loss projected could be prevented.
“Land is the operative link between biodiversity loss and climate change, and therefore must be the primary focus of any meaningful intervention to tackle these intertwined crises. Restoring degraded land and soil provides fertile ground on which to take immediate and concerted action,” said UNCCD Deputy Executive Secretary Andrea Meza Murillo.
UNCCD Lead Scientist Barron Orr, meanwhile, said; “Just as COVID-19 vaccines were developed, tested, and rolled out at unprecedented speed and scale, so too must land restoration and other nature-based solutions be undertaken to prevent further environmental decline and ensure a healthy and prosperous future.
“We can reduce the risk of zoonotic disease transmission, increase food and water security, and improve human health and livelihoods by managing, expanding, and connecting protected and natural areas, improving soil, crop, and livestock health in food systems, and creating green and blue spaces in and around cities.”
The acceleration of the one billion ha restoration target would require improvement of data gathering and monitoring to track progress against the achievement of land restoration commitments and establishing a new partnership model for large-scale integrated landscape investment programmes.
The conference, which is one of the three Rio Conventions, also resolved to boost drought resilience, establish a working group on drought, while addressing possible forced migration and displacement driven by desertification and land degradation. The three conventions, UNCCD, UNFCCC, and CBD, meanwhile, were assured of acquiring greater synergies through nature-based solutions and target setting at the national level.
Other three new declarations were also issued alongside; be they the Abidjan Call to boost long-term environmental sustainability across value chains while protecting and restoring forests and lands and improving communities’ resilience to climate change, the COP15 “Land, Life and Legacy” Declaration to respond to the Global Land Outlook 2 report, and the Abidjan Declaration on achieving gender equality for successful land restoration.
Drought In Numbers
The conference also heard another set of findings on drought, Drought In Numbers 2022, which showed that the number and duration of droughts have risen 29% since 2000, and over 1.4 billion people were affected by drought from 2000 to 2019. This makes drought the disaster affecting the second-highest number of people, after flooding, with Africa suffering from drought more frequently than any other continent; 134 droughts, of which 70 occurred in East Africa. The percentage of plants affected by drought, meanwhile, has more than doubled in the last 40 years, with about 12 million hectares of land lost each year due to drought and desertification, the report noted.
Over the past 50 years, from 1970 to 2019, weather, climate, and water hazards accounted for 50% of disasters and 45% of disaster-related deaths, mostly in developing countries. Droughts represent 15% of natural disasters but took the largest human toll, approximately 650,000 deaths in those years, the report further noted.
Unless action is stepped up, the report predicts that by the next decade, an estimated 700 million people will be at risk of being displaced by drought and by 2050, droughts may affect over three-quarters of the world’s population, with an estimated 4.8-5.7 billion people possibly living in areas that are water-scarce for at least one month each year, up from 3.6 billion today.
And up to 216 million people could be forced to migrate by the same decade due to drought in combination with other factors including water scarcity, declining crop productivity, sea-level rise, and overpopulation
“We are at a crossroads. We need to steer toward the solutions rather than continuing with destructive actions, believing that marginal change can heal systemic failure.
“One of the best, most comprehensive solutions is land restoration, which addresses many of the underlying factors of degraded water cycles and the loss of soil fertility. We must build and rebuild our landscapes better, mimicking nature wherever possible and creating functional ecological systems.
“Beyond restoration is the need for a paradigm shift from “reactive” and “crisis-based” approaches to “proactive” and “risk-based” drought management approaches involving coordination, communication and cooperation, driven by sufficient finance and political will,” said Mr. Thiaw.
Mr. Thiaw also underlined the importance of promoting public awareness about desertification and drought, and letting people know the problems can be effectively tackled “through ingenuity, commitment, and solidarity.”
“We all must live up to our responsibility to ensure the health of present and future generations, wholeheartedly and without delay,” said the UNCCD chief. | https://bkktribune.com/one-billion-ha-of-degraded-land-set-for-restoration-by-next-decade-as-40-of-land-worldwide-already-degraded/ |
The purpose of this subject is to develop the critical disciplines of research methodology and to arm students with the necessary knowledge and skills to analyse and interpret research that informs our understanding of young people’s health and well-being. The aim is also to provide students with the skills needed to design, implement and communicate the findings of research that will contribute to more effective program delivery to young people, within and across different sectors.
This subject will provide participants with the critical skills needed to design their research project, including the research questions, a rationale - why is it worth studying this question/area, the aims and objectives of the research; identification of theoretical/conceptual frameworks to be used as well as relevant bodies of literature; methodology - how will the problem be investigated and why is this the best design.
Demonstrated skill in writing up the results.
Methods of study may include policy analysis, theoretically-based studies as well as methods based on the collection and analysis of interview or survey data, or as determined by both the student and the supervisor. In this unit students will have a supervisor appointed, work with the supervisor to develop a research proposal, enhance their ability to plan and conduct research in a specific methodological framework, explore current literature relating to their proposed research topic, and prepare an application for human research ethics approval.
There is no prepared content in this unit. It is a research unit in which students, in consultation with an appointed supervisor, carry out research tasks to develop new knowledge (content) themselves. From time to time, supervisors will provide students with appropriate readings to support their research. Supervisors are appointed by the co-ordinator in consultation with the student.
Students will be assigned a supervisor in the year they begin their thesis.
Clearly state aims and objectives of the research project, and methodology that will be implemented in order to meet the aims and objectives.
Prepare and write a professional journal article for a relevant publication in the field of adolescent health and wellbeing. | https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/2018/subjects/poph90268 |
The Study of Methods
The Study of Methods is a discipline that is the study of the way that a research is conducted. The methods used to analyze a research problem or question are outlined in the methodology section. These guidelines, also known as the APA style guidelines, can help writers to develop and present a strong methodology section. This is an important part of an essay because it helps to make the reader understand how the study is structured and how it addresses the research question.
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Research paper
The methodology section of a research paper should describe how the research process is performed. It should also include a description of all the methods that were used to collect the data. It is important to note that the research methodology section should only contain relevant information that is relevant to the goals of the project. The use of the proper terminology and phrasing can help the reader understand how a research is being conducted. It also helps to explain the research goals and how the methods were applied.
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A research methodology
A research methodology should include details of the methods used for collecting data and analyzing it. It should also include all the details of the data collection process. In addition, it should be logically related to the objectives and goals of the research. A good methodology can help researchers explain the research method and achieve their goals. The goal of a research should be clear and objective. The research method should be clear and precise in order to ensure that the findings are unbiased.
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To know more information about cloudmama and thewebgross. When you visit flipboard this site also get proper news about getroblox and newstabportal. | https://petloves.net/the-study-of-methods/ |
systems would open up a wider range of useful downstream applications and, ultimately, data which can better inform clinicians.
Aims and Objectives
The "gold standard" tool for sleep monitoring is polysomnography (PSG). However, the data produced by PSG requires interpretation by a trained expert. Additionally, there can often be subjective disagreement between
experts . This work aims to show that a machine learning approach using VBM can achieve a similar level of agreement, or better, than independent experts achieve when analysing sleep.
This work also aims to identify patient activity that is indicative of underlying health concerns. In particular: restlessness, self-harm and excessive exercise are three examples of activity that could be identified through
VBM using a machine learning approach.
One of the key pillars to machine learning success has traditionally been large, annotated datasets. However, in healthcare, data is often scarce, unlabelled and sensitive in nature. I will explore how these challenges can
be overcome, to develop machine learning systems that can be used to tackle the downstream tasks detailed above.
Novelty of the research methodology
Sleep staging/quantification remains an active area of research. No single process can currently claim to provide an objective measure of sleep. Using state-of-the-art computer vision methods in combination with
existing biomarker data, is a novel approach to achieve this.
Alignment to EPSRC's strategies and research areas
The proposed research strongly aligns with the EPSRC areas of 'Artificial intelligence technologies' and
'Medical imaging'.
Any companies or collaborators involved
My research is kindly sponsored by Oxehealth, a vision based patient monitoring company spun out of the
Oxford Institute of Biomedical Engineering in 2012.
M. Villarroel et al., 'Non-contact physiological monitoring of preterm infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit', npj
Digital Medicine, vol. 2, no. 1, Art. no. 1, Dec. 2019, doi: 10.1038/s41746-019-0199-5.
H. Lloyd-Jukes, O. J. Gibson, T. Wrench, A. Odunlade, and L. Tarassenko, 'Vision-Based Patient Monitoring and
Management in Mental Health Settings', Journal of Clinical Engineering, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 36-43, Mar. 2021, doi:
10.1097/JCE.0000000000000447. | https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2416606 |
provided:
|800-1000 words|
|Weighting:||10%|
|Unit Learning Outcomes:||ULO-1|
|Course Learning|
Outcomes:
|CLO-1|
A Research Proposal Brief early in the semester is to receive feedback about the suitability of the topic so that by the time is a document that informs others of a proposed piece of research and its significance. This is the first stage of preparing a Research Proposal that could be used as part of an application to undertake a research degree or to apply for funding to conduct the research.
The purpose of writing the Research Proposal Brief early in the semester is to receive feedback about the suitability of the topic so that by the time you complete the Research Proposal (due in week 10) the final submission is of a standard that could be used to support an application for a research degree or for research funding.
The Research Proposal Brief early in the semester is to receive feedback about the suitability of the topic so that by the time is therefore very important as it provides the basis for feedback that will assist you to prepare an excellent Research Proposal and should be taken very seriously even though the weighting of the assignment is relatively low. The most important aspect of this assignment is to identify a solid research question, which also means justifying the question from previous research. This will save you time in the long run. If the proposal brief is well-designed it will be an outline of the full proposal for the thesis to follow.
You are required to submit a written Research Proposal Brief in academic format (800-1000 words) and give an oral presentation (5-10 minutes) about your research proposal.
This assessment is worth 10% of your marks for SBM1300 and forms the basis of the Research Proposal due in week 10 and worth 40% of your marks for SBM1300 and your Research Proposal Presentation due week 12 and worth 20% of your marks for SBM1300. Students develop the Research Proposal across the semester incorporating (a) feedback on the Research Proposal Brief; (b) feedback from the Feasibility analysis (due week 5 and worth 10% of your marks for SBM1300); (c) learnings from your classes, discussions, feedback and readings during the semester.
For the Research Proposal Brief you need to prepare an outline of your proposed research topic and research plan for investigating the topic using the template for the structure below. The document should be between 800 and 1000 words in length (excluding project title and references). The recommended lengths of each section are approximate, and will vary depending on the research question you are proposing to investigate and the methodology you are proposing to use in your research proposal.
|Contents||Length (words)|
|1. Project Title: This is a brief descriptive summary of the proposed research topic. For ideas on how a project title should look, look at articles in Project Management journals such as the International Journal of Project Management||< 20 words|
|2. Research Overview and Justification: This is a brief summary of the research topic that describes the topic and why it is important for a research study to be|
conducted to investigate the topic
|150|
|3. Condensed Literature Review (at least three research-based sources).|
Discuss the objectives, methodologies and findings of relevant previous research
|250-300|
|that provides a background for your research topic. The aim is to provide a|
critique of existing work and identify gaps in knowledge and / or methodological weaknesses in existing research.
|4. Research Objectives, Research question and Sub-questions. Linking back to sections (2) and (3), present and justify the question that your research project will be designed to answer.||150-200|
|5. Methodology (which type- Comparative, Descriptive, Action, Ethnographic,, Explanatory, Exploratory). Think about how you would answer your research question (e.g., by reviewing trends in national / international statistics, by conducting a survey of consumers, by undertaking interviews with employers) and start to consider any advantages, disadvantages, materials needed or practical limitations of the methodology. This section is the most likely to change as you progress through the unit and learn about alternative ways of answering your research question. Remember, this is hypothetical. You do not have to|
actually be able to carry out the study, but you need to think about what you would need to carry out a study to answer your research question.
|150-200|
|6. Significance of the research of the project. This is a final summary of all of the sections above ending with a statement of why it is important to conduct the research using the methodology proposed.||100-150|
|8. References and Resources: provide references to at least three research studies, government reports and/or industry reports using Harvard Referencing. Please note, websites are not acceptable resources for the purpose of the|
assignment.
For solution, connect with professionals online. | https://www.abcassignmenthelp.com/sbm1300-research-proposal-brief-proposal-identifying-a-research-area-assignment-1a-answer |
The ABCs of Online Learning Research
Learn how to get started doing research on online learning in this active, applied three-week online workshop. Using QM and the QM Research Library as a point of reference, this workshop covers the steps necessary for developing a quality research study related to online learning.
Course Length:
Three weeks
Delivery Mode:
Online (Asynchronous)
Instruction:
Facilitated
Fee with Membership:
$200.00
Fee:
$300.00
In this workshop, participants are asked to come with a general idea/topic that they’d like to research. Through the course of the workshop, they will grow and refine that idea into a quality research proposal. Whether you’re new to researching online learning or are an experienced researcher, the learning activities in this workshop, along with the feedback and guidance of your facilitator and peers, will help you avoid some of the pitfalls in online learning research and develop a quality research project to meet stakeholder needs.
Recommended For
Faculty, teachers, librarians, instructional designers, administrators, adjunct instructors, or anyone interested in conducting research to improve online education.
Learning Objectives
- Describe the foundational concepts of Quality Matters and the information and resources for QM-focused research.
- Create an appropriate research question based on current interests/needs, and refine your question based on a brief literature review.
- Identify and define the variables in your study, and account for the unique barriers and considerations in online learning research by addressing confounding variables.
- Draft a research study design with a doable methodology for data collection and analysis.
- Contribute articles, finding, and ideas to online learning research. | https://www.qualitymatters.org/index.php/professional-development/workshops/abcs-of-qm-focused-research |
Objectives for the Research Methodology: Data Collection and Tips
Gathering information, or what others may know as information mining, is a crucial part of any writing – essay, term, or research paper writing. Without this no effective writing will take place. You should get right on to it because adequate information gives credence to declarations, arguments, controversies, etc. This is where the objectives of research methodology come from. you may have already learned the purpose of methodology. Actually, research methodology has to do with how to obtain information, compilation, analysis, and presentation of results in a research assignment.
Quick Navigation through the Objectives for the Research Methodology Page
- Objectives’ Classification
- How Can We Help?
- Objectives of a Research Methodology
- Objectives of a Research Paper
- Objectives for the Research Definition
- Objectives for the Qualitative Research
- Objectives for the Research Proposal
Download Free Sample of Research Methodology Objectives
Qualitative Research Methods Sample (Click the Image to Enlarge)
Objectives’ Classification
There are several objectives for research methodology. It should be taken into consideration that such objective for research methods as data collection is a basic and obligatory step for a successful paper. Every research starts with the information that is relevant to the topic of the writing. Moreover, from the viewpoint of objectives any research paper may be classified as: 1) correlational, 2) explanatory, 3) exploratory, and 4) descriptive. Correlational research is conducted, in order to prove the existence of a relationship between two or more issues. Explanatory research is necessary to find out why and how the relationship between the aspects takes place. Exploratory research is applied to explore the field, where little is known. As for descriptive research, it is conducted to give a description and explanation of a certain situation or problem. All the data is gathered in the dependence on the research objective. The research question may be answered in two ways – by means of structured (quantitative research) or unstructured approach (qualitative research).
Among the objectives for research is that the paper must be organized so that it will be easy for a reader to find a particular section or paragraph. It is very important to complete the writing in a required style. It is also necessary to make a summary of the work done and present it in the past tense. All the sentences and phrases must have correct spelling and grammar. Research writers must not use abstract information and provide the readers with strong arguments concerning the problem under analysis. If necessary, one should present tables and schemes.
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All writing assignments have a goal, which is to demonstrate an idea to a reader or audience effectively and persuasively. It requires some level of proof to lend credence to ones opinion, suggestion, ideas, submission, declaration, thesis statement, etc. Argumentation, evaluation, controversy, comparison and contrast, cause and effect strategies are not enough for the confirmation of information. It is necessary to resort to the use of systematic analysis, evaluation and presentation of facts or data. It is called research methodology, which often comes after research writing. Sociology, marketing, environmental, health and medicine, anthropology, scientific professional research paper and essay writing are among the fields that require data analysis. For instance, let’s take this research topic “The effect of the change of product rebranding on consumers of Coca-Cola.” It may be categorized under marketing discipline and it requires a huge amount of research.
Objectives of a Research Methodology
The objectives of a research methodology:
- give credibility to a claim or belief
- show the source of data mining in order to prove the depth, extent and validity of research
- help the writer to spot the result of the data analysis without going through the works of interpreting the research analysis
- help one to know the research paper rubric grading for the assignment
- leads to discovery and inventions; most scientific discoveries happened through this pattern
- the use of statistical analysis like ANOVA, market analysis, descriptive etc helps to give answers to research queries, like the one above
- give the readers an idea on what devises are good for a particular data
- Gather the information from libraries, journals, survey, poll, questionnaires, interviews, internet, etc
- Make a sample design for classification
- Subject the samples to statistical analysis like ANOVA, or the type that best suits your purpose
- Present the result in a comprehensive form for readers to read and understand.
Under objectives for research approach are often meant inductive and deductive approaches. The first one is frequently called “bottom up” approach, as it works moving from specific observations to broader ideas or generalizations. As a rule, this way of reasoning involves some degree of uncertainty. Deductive approach starts with some general idea and then focus on the specific notion. Deductive reasoning is applied for rules, laws and accepted principles. Inductive reasoning is applied to consider inductive arguments.
Objectives of a Research Paper
Objectives for research paper should be considered by everyone, who is going to deal with this writing. Thus, any research is written to determine: 1) a phenomenon, 2) the characteristics of a certain object or person, 3) the frequency with which the phenomenon under analysis takes place, and 4) the relationship between several factors. In fact, there are two objectives for research – how the information is got and how the researcher comes up with the data.
Objectives for the Research Definition
Objectives for research definition are directed to give a pithy answer to the research question. The major purpose is to prove the hypothesis presented before conducting the research. The paper defines an object systematically and according to all required instructions. It is necessary to apply planning and reading literature reviews that match the topic of the research to define the paper properly.
Objectives for the Qualitative Research
Objectives for qualitative research are to get to know about people’s attitudes and value systems concerning the problem under analysis. The purpose of qualitative research is to answer “how” and “why” questions. Such things as emails, interviews and notes are taken into consideration here. Qualitative research is quite important because it has several advantages: high sensitivity to contextual factors, ability to learn more about social meaning, flexibility to follow unpredictable situations and ideas.
Objectives for the Research Proposal
Objectives for research proposal include several items that are necessary for writing a strong proposal. For instance, it is important to write it by means of simple language for everyone to understand it. There should be no references, difficult terms or jargon. The question for research must be simple. Moreover, any research proposal consists of several essential parts: 1) title, 2) abstract, 3) objective, 4) technical approach, and bibliography.
Research methodology is no doubt very important in research paper writing because without it claims will not be confirmed. It is an essential part of any research; as it helps students to make a good research presentation.
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Research Question and Objectives
Our research question focuses on: how land management in mountains is being affected by three main factors: migration, climate changes (temperature and rainfall patterns) and hazard events in Cochabamba region of Bolivia and Panchase region of Western Nepal, and which measures are needed to increase resilience of livelihoods and land management practices?
The research objective is to explore the interface between people and mountain dynamics under a context of climate change in order to develop policy recommendations for land management and livelihood strategies, disaster risk reduction and implementation of climate adaptation plans.
Methodology
This trans-disciplinary research combines methodologies from physical and social sciences. Physical science methods include: geologic and geomorphologic analysis, satellite images interpretation and mapping. Social science methods include: participatory risk mapping, household survey, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions. Merging both components, the WOCAT mapping is a tool for assessing land degradation and identifying and evaluating sustainable land management practices.
Disciplines involved – Research Key Words
Disciplines involved: Human-Environment System Science (30%); Human geography (30%), Geomorphology and Geology (30%); Geographic Information System (10%)
Key words: Bolivia, Nepal, mountain communities, livelihoods, sustainable land management, out-migration, climate change, vulnerability, resilience, disaster risk reduction. | http://projects.snis.ch/land-management-bolivia-nepal/description/ |
MEDLIOR reviewers specialize in both systematic and rapid literature review methodology, and will work with you to meet your objectives, timelines, and budget. Our reviewers have the advantage of bringing clinical expertise from across a wide range of therapeutic areas.
Following a consultation to establish the objectives of your research, our team will work with you to develop a robust literature review, utilizing established Cochrane Collaboration methodology, to complete the following:
In addition, MEDLIOR offers the following literature review services that can be customized to fit your research needs: | https://www.medlior.com/service/literature-reviews/ |
A research proposal is the preliminary step to writing any research paper. The research proposal has to be submitted before the appointed by the college for the approval of the project. To get the approval, the research proposal must be of a good standard and convince the committee members
of your capabilities in research and writing and also that the project proposed is a significant and worthwhile.
Let us examine the format of a typical proposal: Whichever your subject is or whatever the methodology you plan to use, three main things have to be very clear from the research proposal: your objectives for conducting this research, your reason/s for choosing this particular subject or topic (or, thesis question) and your plans regarding the the carrying out of the research, In short, it is the what-why-how of the research project.
Like all college essays the research proposal too has the introduction, body and conclusion.Research proposals usually consist of the following sections:
-
Abstract: a very short summary of the main research problem and methodology to be used and what results are expected and the requirements for the research. It is usually less than 200 words long and goes before the introduction to give a preview of your proposal to the committee. Of course, it can be written last and added.
-
Introduction that has the following subsections:
-
Background: the context of the thesis question and its setting
-
Problem identification: the thesis question and why it was selected
-
Problem definition: explanation of the problem (thesis question)
-
Problem justification: how this research will improve knowledge and understanding of the research subject
-
Goals and objectives: the potential impact that expected to be achieved by the research and defines the who, what, why, whom, when, where of the research
-
Thesis question/s and Hypothesis (theory)
-
Assumptions
-
Limitations of the research and
-
Definition of terms
3. Literature Review: This is an analysis of the literature (other research papers and books) on the subject, which would lead to a new theoretical perception about the implications of this problem, bring together and integrate the work already done in the area, and the information that could be gained from them. It would also demonstrate your knowledge and the awareness level in the subject and your abilities in analyzing and assessing literature.
4. Methodology: qualitative or quantitative methodology can be selected according to the instructions, course and the tutor’s suggestions. The main subsections in this are:
-
Design -The method of carrying out the research and the requirements in
general
-
Participants – the subjects or samples used in the study and the method used for selecting them
-
Instruments or tools – the type of measuring instruments used, the reasons for selecting these instruments
-
Procedure – detailing the method of carrying out the research and the type of analysis and interpretation that are to be used for evaluating the results
5. Work schedule: the time schedules for carrying out the different modules of the research with the dates mentioned clearly.
6. Bibliography: the references used for writing the proposal with all details included and written according to the reference style required by the university.
Whether it is research papers or college essays, our paper writing service can help you. Our college essay writing service will also be able to guide you to write your research paper or you can order a research paper online. Just click on the link to our paper help. | http://essaywritingexpert.com/blog/2012/03/21/research-proposal/ |
This module enables you to continue to develop your research knowledge base and analysis skills from years one and two. It facilitates reflection on practice to further appreciate the importance of evidence based midwifery practice. The module encourages the critical analysis of evidence from a wide variety of sources and its appropriate application to practice. As part of the module you will analyse a midwifery practice topic, identify and critically analyse literature on that topic, and develop a research proposal to address a research question generated from your review. This substantial project will enable you to further develop your abilities as a lifelong learner and midwife.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Learning Outcomes
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge based of research theory through the justification of all stages of the research process for your research project plan.
- Demonstrate best midwifery practice in your articulation of ethical and client focused elements within your project.
- Critically analyse the professional issues that might arise during the conduct of your suggested project, making innovative suggestions for how these might be overcome.
- Synthesise from the literature review to develop an appropriate research question(s.)
- Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the context and provision of maternity services in your articulation of potential challenges and solutions to undertaking the suggested research project.
- Systematically identify and critically review the current best practice (policy/ guidelines) and the literature in the topic area.
- Demonstrate the skills of independent learning appropriate to a midwife throughout the conduct of this project.
- Critically reflect on practice and identify a clinically focused question that might be addressed using a research approach.
Syllabus
This content will build on the knowledge gain in all previous modules but in particular those of the online research module of year 2.
Critical review of theory and practice
- Search and selection of evidence
- Critical review of evidence
Research theory
- Paradigms and Research Approaches
- Developing research questions/ hypotheses and objectives
- Sampling frameworks and processes
- Data collection and analysis
Ethical and legal
- Ethical principles in research
- Research governance processes
- Recognising and Protecting vulnerable clients
- Informed Consent
- Data protection
Decision making
- Dissemination
- Project management skills
- Self-management
- Time management
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Lectures (Research related)
Technology enhanced learning activities
Self-directed study
Seminar activity
Small group and individual supervision
|Type||Hours|
|Seminar||30|
|Lecture||20|
|Project supervision||2|
|Tutorial||12|
|Independent Study||311|
|Total study time||375|
Resources & Reading list
Textbooks
Craig JV and Smyth, RL. (2012). The Evidence-Based Practice Manual for Nurses. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingston.
Creswell JW (2011). Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research. London: Sage Publications Limited.
Flick U (2011). Introducing Research Methodology; A Beginners Guide to Doing A Research Project. Los Angeles: Sage Publications Limited.
Bowling A (2014). Research Methods in Health: Investigating Health and Health Services. Milton Keynes: Open University Pres.
Gerrish K and Lacey A (2010). The Research Process in Nursing. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Polit DF and Beck CT (2014). Essentials of Nursing Research; Appraising Evidence for Nursing Practice. Philadelphia: Lipincott, Williams and Wilkins.
Greenhalgh T (2014). How to Read a Paper: The Basics of Evidence-Based Medicine. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell / BMJ Books.
Straus SE, Richardson WS, Glasziou P and Haynes RB (2011). Evidence-Based Medicine. How to Practise and Teach EBM. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.
Cluett ER and Bluff R (2006). Principles and Practice of Research in Midwifery. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingston Elsevier.
Gray DE (2009). Doing Research in the Real World. Los Angeles: Sage Publications Limited.
Assessment
Formative
This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.Poster Presentation
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module. | https://www.southampton.ac.uk/courses/modules/npms3033 |
Marking scheme Postgraduate Research Methods
Student name:
|
|
LO. L1. critically explore and identify research areas in their subject discipline that are fertile, and formulate specific problems in these areas that are research-worthy
Research title is clear
Research question is formulated to state the problem attempted to be addressed by the work to be undertaken
Evidence of original thinking
Literature Review is underpinning the question and aims and objectives
|
|
Total 35
|
|
LO.2 critically understand, and know how to apply, various different types of research method in their subject discipline
Methodology is justified and has a clear structure
Analysis and discussion of the findings have a connection to the research question and supported by the body of knowledge and critical thinking
|
|
Total 35
|
|
LO3 construct, communicate, and defend a research strategy that is appropriate to the level of an MSc research project
The structure of the proposal and justification clear
Limitations and further research are mentioned
Conclusions have a clear connection to the aims and objectives
|
|
Total 15
|
|
Presentation and appropriate references
Up to date references
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General comment: | https://www.calltutors.com/Assignments/1-critically-explore-and-identify-research-areas-in-their-subject-discipline-that-are-fertile-and-formulate-specific-problems-in-these-areas |
The College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences (CEHHS) at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, the state’s flagship research institution, seeks a scientist who can provide leadership and mentoring to faculty across the college in designing and implementing education and/or health-focused studies for the purpose of achieving external funding. A successful candidate will have strong methodological skills in intervention-type research, including theory-driven intervention development, study design, data collection, and quantitative analytic conceptualization. This role also requires superb grantsmanship skills, as evidenced by a history of funding as a lead principal investigator. This role will focus on supporting faculty in their pursuit of external funding, through providing individualized consultation to faculty in methodology and grantwriting. This position will work closely with the Associate Dean of Research and the Director of External Funding in CEHHS, and have a home department within CEHHS that most closely aligns with the candidate’s terminal degree and research area. The candidate will be expected to maintain a successfully funded research agenda, and develop collaborations with CEHHS. The candidate will support professional development activities on methodology and grantsmanship that are provided by CEHHS to faculty on campus. Finally, the University of Tennessee Knoxville is seeking candidates who have the ability to contribute in meaningful ways to the diversity and intercultural goals of the University, which includes having the ability to infuse those goals within research conceptualization and methodology used in external funding applications. This is a 12-month, tenure-track, highly-funded position.
Required Qualifications: Doctoral degree in an education- or health-related field; must qualify for the rank of associate or full professor in the home department in which the candidate would be based; at least 3 years of external funding in research/scholarship as the lead investigator; an extensive record of scholarship in education or health, in which leadership is demonstrated; strong knowledge of quantitative, experimental methods; and demonstrated commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Desired Qualifications: Experience as being part of a multidisciplinary research team; history of mentoring faculty in externally-funded scholarship (methodology and grantwriting).
Specific questions may be addressed to Dr. Hollie Raynor, search committee chair, at [email protected].
Submit letter of application addressing the required and desired qualifications; curriculum vita; and the names, mail and e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers of three references via https://apply.interfolio.com/94468
Application review will begin 1/15/22 and continue until the position is filled. | https://www.jbhe.com/2021/11/utk-assoc-full-professor-sr-methodologist/?shared=email&msg=fail |
INTEGRATIVE TAXONOMIC TRAINING FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF PUERTO RICAN ENTOMOLOGIST
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Globally Puerto Rico is a strategic hub for the US to do research on tropical and subtropical agriculture. Many important crops are grown here that are also grown in the humid regions of the southern US and tropical regions around the world. To capitalize on this economically important region proposed work plans to help develop a highly trained agricultural workforce that is capable of leading the development of genomic based solutions to pest control on tropical crops. To have a highly competitive homegrown workforce in agriculture related genomics, hands on courses with direct real world applications need to be developed. Far too few students don’t get these research based educational opportunities, especially in Puerto Rico.To remedy this lack of practical genomics education applied to agriculture Dr. Van Dam has developed several courses to train students in assembly of genomes and to identify candidate genes that can be used in pest control via new CRISPR/RNAi control methods. By collaborating with USDA-ARS Subtropical Research Laboratory and USDA-ARS Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory where this type of pest control research is taking place, students can learn how what they are doing in the class room has a direct, concrete, real world application.
OBJECTIVES: Objectives. Proposed research directly aligns with NIFA HSI Educational Grant Program goal area 1. “Attract and support undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups in order to prepare them for careers related to the food, agriculture, natural resources and human (FANH) sciences in the United States;”. Via providing educational agriculture based research opportunities in Entomology and Genomics for Hispanic students at UPRM, PI Dr. Van Dam will be preparing them to take on leadership roles in agriculture relevant sciences. Some of the students may apply for agriculture related jobs within the USDA by providing them with cooperative linkages with the USDA ARS Horticulture Laboratory, while others may go on to pursue advanced degrees in agriculture in mainland institutions by providing them the education and cooperative links with mainland research intensive institutions. Thus, PI will be providing new skills to prepare Hispanic students for FANH related careers which fully aligns with NIFA HSI primary objective 1.Specific Educational Objectives students should reach through proposed activities: (Approximatley 50 undergraduate students and 6 graduate students per year): Hard Skills sets:Competency in insect identification at the family level and be able to proficiently work through keys to identify insects to the genus level.Master statistical analyses of morphometric data related to insect taxonomy and be able to analyze physical museum data sets as well as massive BIG DATA online data sets eg. iDigBio, and how to add data to iDigBio. Be able to carry out a taxonomic description and build a scientific key to species.Complete fluency in analyzing next generation sequencing data eg. BIG DATA related genome sequencing and related databases. Complete understanding of phylogenetic trees and utility of met-barcoding via ONT. Illumina and Hi-C data collection in genome assembly. Equally if not more important Soft Skills set students should develop through proposed educational activities:Highly developed critical thinking skills, trouble shooting ability, and solve problems independently. Develop an appreciation for and how their existing knowledge can be applied to solve agriculture related problems. Develop collaboration and learn how to tackle large complex problems efficiently as a team. Develop excellent communication and leadership skills to give students the confidence needed to continue their education and/or participate in agriculture based research endeavors. Specific Research Objectives:Provide the Agriculture Research Community with four chromosome level Weevil genomes that are serious pests locally in Puerto Rico and globally in agriculture.Provide gene expression evidence for mechanisms of host plant specificity in weevils.Develop a pathway to train highly competent Insect Systematists using the most cutting edge a cutting edge integrative research based approach.Evaluate the effectiveness of educational strategies in engaging students in research that have a high success rate at delivering them into FANH careers.
See the Research Blog for current research highlights related to this USDA HSI Grant and related research.
Milestones:
Upgraded Molecular Lab:
Upgraded Database Setup:
Upgraded Microscopes for Teaching Morphology: | https://www.uprm.edu/invcol/teaching/ |
The specialization prepares educators and other professionals to serve as educational technology experts and leaders in their schools and organisations. Specifically, students of the specialization will learn to integrate technology into educational environments creating experiences that meet the diverse needs of all learners, develop mastery of concepts in technology-rich settings while modelling safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses of digital information, learn the skills to investigate issues critical to the field as well as determine potential solutions. All courses combine a range of resources and technologies to facilitate direct interaction between students, faculty and other educational technology experts from external organizations. Program graduates will be prepared with the knowledge and skills required to address real-world problems and emerging challenges in various learning settings.
The program aligns with the Educational Science MA Qualifications Framework of ELTE and international standards, specifically ISTE Standards for Technology Coaches. The objectives of the program also comport with ISTE standards for Educators.
Coordinator: Dr. Enikő Orsolya Bereczki
Click here for our video!
Educational Management
The specialisation is designed for students wishing to get into a career in education. The Programme of Study is practice-based focusing on developing and understanding management and development in education at programme, organisation and system-level. A focus is on practice-based inquiry and development, seminars are strongly connected with field-work and internship in educational institution or institution/company working on the field of educational research and development. The qualification makes students eligible to apply for doctoral studies or to work in educational administration or development at schools, universities, development institutions or companies.
Coordinator: Dr. Erika Kopp
Research Studies
The aim of the specialisation is to integrate expert knowledge and current research in order to prepare our students to both practice and conduct research on the field of education. Our programme provides the opportunity to advance professional practice in both research methodology and management of educational research.
The program offers courses in a tutorial setting with small groups, in collaboration with research groups of the institute depending on students’ own research interests.
Completion of the programme can lead to a variety of careers within the field of education. Our programme also prepares students for further studies in the doctorate program (PhD) in education science.
Areas of competences provided in our training:
- Research methodolody
- Theory of education development
- Sociology of Education
- Planning and implementing education research
- Academic reading and writing
- Critical evaluation of education research
Coordinator: Dr. Anikó Fehérvári
Childhood Studies
The aim of this specialization is to provide overview of the most recent scientific knowledge on development and education of children between 0-12 years as well as topics of cultural and social environment related to this development. Another important goal is to provide necessary methodological knowledge about current trends, approaches, methods, practical issues to study children, and use of this knowledge in a childhood study workshop.
Individual and peer-supported learning, thinking and working together, group work and projects play key role in the courses of the specialization. During the 2 years of MA training two big projects take place in the specialization: a research workshop and an institutional practice.
The specialization is recommended especially for educational professionals who are interested in theoretical and practical knowledge about development, care and education of children between 0-12 years. | https://nevtud.ppk.elte.hu/en/content/specialisations.t.6583?m=2859 |
This project will develop co-constructed transferable socio-emotional learning (SEL) pedagogies among teachers, students, whānau, iwi, hapū and community. It will enable teachers to develop and integrate SEL pedagogies within their teaching and learning programmes that enhances support for students’ identities, languages, and cultures that are inclusive of the bicultural context of Aotearoa New Zealand. Methodology includes participatory action research aligned with and mutually informed by Kaupapa Māori Research.
Aims
The overarching aim of the project is to support young people in Years 5-9 when early adolescents often experience increased social anxiety and stress. The project aims to:
- Develop an expanded construct of SEL within the Aotearoa New Zealand context that brings together competencies of socio-emotional learning that aligns with Oranga Tamariki’s child wellbeing outcomes, and with Māori conceptions
- Enhance the socio-emotional well-being of students in Years 5-9, via the co-construction of a linguistically and culturally sustaining Ako framework for socio-emotional learning, which incorporates Māori values and conceptions of wellbeing. This will be implemented in classrooms via the NZ Curriculum, particularly as related to the values and key competencies
- Co-construct a culturally responsive teaching-learning socio-emotional learning framework incorporating Māori values and conceptions of wellbeing and development for use by schools.
Why is this research important?
National research indicates that many Year 7 and 8 students are failing to experience desired outcomes for student wellbeing. These students also demonstrate lower levels of achievement at this level, as well as, increased rates of being stood down or suspended. Developing knowledge and skills related to socio-emotional well-being can offer positive support for students during this developmental period of transition and identity development, contributing to positive mental health, which in turn supports educational engagement. This research is also important for Māori students who often experience disengagement from school, which undermines their potential educational attainment. Research has observed that as teachers develop their knowledge of and empathy for Māori students’ identity, languages and worldviews, they are more likely to support the SEL and motivation of Māori students.
What we plan to do
The project utilises a community-focused participatory action research methodology guided by Kaupapa Māori research principles that utilises Māori principles, practices, and worldview in constructing the research process, and understanding research outcomes. Action research design will be adopted to facilitate culturally-responsive and evidence-based practices.
Data
During the initial phase data will be collected in the form of wānanga to be held with kaiako, whānau of involved classes, whānau groups of participating schools, as well as, local rūnanga.
Analysis
Data collected from the wānanga will be synthesised and analysed to identify aspects that align with components of socio-emotional learning and an expanded construct of socio-emotional learning. These will be applied during a review of existing measures related to socio-emotional well-being and student engagement. The focus will be on designing socio-emotional well-being measures for students, whānau, parents, and teachers to be applied during the subsequent phase of the project. | http://tlri.org.nz/tlri-research/research-progress/school-sector/co-constructing-culturally-and-linguistically |
While conducting research, it is essential to cover all important aspects of the subject to gain a well-studied insight into the subject at hand. This Penlighten article attempts to answer how one can write a good research methodology.
Research is conducted for the purpose of discovering, interpreting, enhancing, developing standards to systematize measurements, and furthering advancement of knowledge. Methodology is the rationale behind the collection of concepts, ideas, theories, and assumptions. Combined, a good research methodology is a technique of collecting data systematically.
In this following Penlighten article, we will provide the readers with certain tips that they can use for going about the process of writing a good research methodology.
Steps to Writing
Introduction
An introduction of the research subject, the main problem it attempts to solve, and the objectives of researching the particular subject should be mentioned in the introduction. A clear introduction is essential not only to hold the reader’s attention, but to give the reader a brief preview of what is to come.
Main Body
The main body contains the content relating to the introduction. These include reviews, opinions, and references that relate to the main research subject, either defining, explaining, justifying or defying the theory. This section will also consist of your findings and the reasons for their validation. The subject matter explanation can be described through content, images, graphs, etc. The basic review in an elaborated form is what forms the main body of the research.
Research Method
The authenticity and cogency of the research depends upon the validity of the research data, the reliability of measures taken to amass the data, as well as the time taken to conduct the analysis. Hence, it is imperative to provide the reader with details of data collection and generation, analysis method of the problems, as well as their solutions, and/or effects of the researched data.
Comparative Discussion
Present interpretation of the results, and provide comparative analysis with results of previous research methods used to obtain the data. This will allow the reader to have a diversified view of the subject, and a better understanding of validating your research.
Conclusion
The conclusion should answer the most basic question about the research subject and the question it posed―whether the problem has been solved. Whether the stated objectives have been met, and if the applied methodology was successful in the correct analysis of the research. A note on the shortcomings of the research, or the methodology in research will help future researchers to analyze and perfect future researches.
Types
Quantitative Research Methodology
Quantitative research is the systematic scientific investigation used to measure the feelings and thoughts of people, and actions of the way and why things are done. Everything that is measurable can be used to gather quantitative data. This method of research is used in analysis of natural sciences and social sciences subjects. The quantitative concept can be applied to physics, biology, sociology, and journalism. Structured questionnaires and interviews, one-on-one, and telephonic data gathering are some of the common ways of collection data for quantitative research.
Qualitative Research Methodology
Qualitative research is used to gain an in-depth insight into matters that affect human behavior. It is a study that reflects more on the why and how of decision making, by studying people’s culture, value system, attitude, behavior, concern, motivation, aspiration, etc. Qualitative research is multi-focal in its reasoning, exploring, questioning, and answering; hence, it is extremely useful in market research, constructing business decisions and policies, enhancing communication, and facilitating research. Unlike quantitative data collection, methods of qualitative research is based on unstructured interviews and recordings, and feedback.
Evaluative research methodology, usually uses standard social research methods, in terms of service quality assessment, process evaluation, and standards for evaluative purposes. The main purpose served by evaluative research is to provide useful feedback for decision-making.
Most researches fail because they contain information that is irrelevant or because they do not answer what they set out to. At the end of every stage, if one checks for accomplishments, and feels that they are inching closer towards solving the problem or understanding the subject highlighted in their research, then that is a successful methodology in the making. A good research methodology demands patience, persistence, insight, understanding, curiosity, and perseverance. | https://penlighten.com/how-to-write-good-research-methodology |
There are approximately 7,000 rare diseases affecting an estimated 30 million people in the United States. Many of these diseases are serious or life-threatening and it is estimated that half affect children. Unfortunately, most rare diseases still do not have approved therapies. Each year, the FDA joins the global observance of Rare Disease Day at the end of February, to raise awareness about known rare diseases, many of which have no treatment. This year’s Rare Disease Day theme is Bridging Health and Social Care in recognition that rare diseases deeply impact patients, caregivers and their families.
Rare Disease Day is an opportunity to look back at the progress we have made and to foster our continued efforts to make further advances. In 2018 we saw a record number of novel drugs and biologics approved for rare diseases. In particular, there were 35 novel drugs and biologics approved in 2018 with orphan drug designation. This is the highest number since the passage of the Orphan Drug Act in 1983. This diverse group of novel products was spread across a wide range of therapeutic areas and touched many unmet clinical needs.
The FDA will host a public meeting on April 29, 2019: ”Patient Perspectives of the Impact of Rare Diseases: Bridging the Commonalities.” This provides the opportunity to hear patients’ and caregivers’ perspectives on how rare diseases impact their daily lives and to assess commonalities that may help the Agency and medical product developers further understand and advance the development of treatments for rare diseases. While the differences between rare diseases are critically important, it is also important to assess commonalities to synergize product development in rare diseases.
We will be enhancing our grant review process by providing grant reviewers with patient perspectives gleaned from listening sessions with patients about rare diseases. These enhancements will build on our new priorities in grant review. Specifically, to address the unmet needs for rare diseases, the Office of Orphan Products has made meaningful changes to both our funding focus and review process for the Clinical Trial and Natural History grants programs. We are focusing on studies of rare diseases with unmet needs that use efficient and innovative trial designs, such as adaptive and seamless trial designs, use of modeling and simulations, incorporation of real world data, and basket and umbrella trials studying multiple rare diseases/products. We also ask our applicants to incorporate patient input into their research proposals.
The FDA has approved drugs and biologics for more than 750 rare disease indications. In 2018, while there were 35 novel drugs and biologics approved to treat rare diseases, there were more than 90 rare disease indications approved. These approvals included drugs and biologics utilizing programs to facilitate and expedite development and review of medical products to address unmet medical need. Among the many new orphan therapies in 2018, the FDA approved the first drug to treat patients with a rare, inherited form of rickets, and the first orally-administered drug to treat Fabry disease. The FDA also approved a new biologic for patients when reversal of anticoagulation is needed due to life-threatening or uncontrolled bleeding.
In addition to drugs and biologics, there has been progress in the development of medical devices for rare diseases. Since 1990, the FDA has approved 76 medical devices for orphan indications under the Agency’s Humanitarian Device Exemption program. In 2018, the FDA approved 2 devices in the program. One device helps patients with acute perforations of native coronary arteries and coronary bypass graft vessels and the other device received approval to expand its use in patients with nephrotic syndrome associated with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.
The number of orphan drug designation requests has steadily increased from 2012 through 2016 and has remained greater than 500 annually for the past 3 years. In 2018, the Office of Orphan Products received 507 new requests for designation. Under our Orphan Drug Modernization Pilot Program we completed 100 percent of all new orphan drug designation requests within our 90-day goal. Based on the evaluation of our Pilot feedback we have now incorporated modifications to our new templates, reviewer’s guide and the Modernized Orphan Drug Designation Program and we continue to optimize our tools to ensure efficient and accurate reviews.
Similar to our orphan drug designation program, the Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher Program and Humanitarian Use Device Program are also intended to stimulate product development for rare diseases. In 2018, we received 52 new requests for rare pediatric disease designation and 22 new requests for humanitarian use device designation.
In addition, the FDA issued several guidance documents related to rare diseases in the last year. These documents are intended to provide clear information to stakeholders so that they can plan modern, efficient product development programs for effectively treating rare diseases.
Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) Program draft guidance to provide clarity about HDE program changes resulting from the 21st Century Cures Act and the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017, in addition to explaining the criteria the FDA considers to determine if “probable benefit” has been demonstrated as part of the Agency’s decision-making process regarding marketing authorization for a humanitarian use designation.
Six draft guidance documents related to gene therapy including guidance focused on clinical issues for retinal diseases, hemophilia, and rare diseases more generally.
Rare Diseases: Early Drug Development and the Role of the Pre-IND Meetings draft guidance to provide clarity around pre-investigational new drug (pre-IND) application meetings.
Rare Diseases: Common Issues in Drug Development draft guidance to provide information on various rare disease drug development issues, including evaluation and validation of biomarkers as surrogate endpoints and evaluation of safety questions.
More than $15 million to fund approximately 60 ongoing and 12 new clinical trials. Highlights of the newly funded clinical trial grants include evaluation of therapies for rare forms of cancer and rare endocrine disorders. About 40% of the grants fund studies that enroll children and adolescents.
Approximately $2 million to fund ongoing natural history studies to inform medical product development by better understanding how specific rare diseases progress over time. We have 6 natural history study grants that are ongoing (2 co-funded with National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) support), including studies in Friedreich Ataxia and Angelman Syndrome.
Six million dollars via the Center for Devices and Radiological Health to 5 pediatric device consortia grantees that will provide advice and support services to innovators of medical devices for children. Our recent awards included three for real-world evidence projects. Additionally, we have refined metrics to collect quantitative and qualitative achievements as well as impact narratives on device projects to communicate the advances in pediatric device development to community stakeholders.
New ways to communicate with our stakeholders. In collaboration with the Patient Affairs Staff, the FDA produced a video about our grants program as part of the “Patients Matter” series to inform grantees and patients about the grant programs, the need for patient involvement, and the benefits to grantees.
Initiation of a patient portal that will give patients and caregivers a common entry point to the Agency for questions and meeting requests. Co-developed by Patient Affairs Staff and the medical product centers, the patient portal will route inquiries to the appropriate medical product center or office to ensure that they are received and responded to in an effective and efficient manner. As patient populations and their needs evolve and become increasingly complex, we want patients and those who advocate on their behalf to know that our door is open. As a science-based agency, we continue to develop and engage programs that clarify patient values and advance the science of patient input.
Continuation of the Rare Disease Listening Sessions Pilot to learn more about the experience of having a rare disease or condition directly from patients, caregivers and advocates. These listening sessions are conducted by Patient Affairs Staff and in partnership with the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD). These sessions provide a unique opportunity for the FDA to gain insights into patients’ perspectives on the burdens of disease and its current treatments, as well as its impacts on the patients’ and caregivers’ daily activities and quality of life.
Establishment of our first FDA Orphan Products Grants Internal Review Committee comprised of FDA regulatory and rare disease experts. In this approach, FDA experts will evaluate the grant applications alongside external rare disease experts to determine the likelihood for the project to exert a sustained, powerful influence on the research fields involved using revised review criteria specific to the goals of the program.
While there have been many accomplishments in 2018, there is still much more work to be done. The FDA’s work is about helping people and bridging the gaps between stakeholders to advance public health. We are committed to more progress in the future and invite patients and stakeholders to work with us to inform and support product development. As we move forward together, we are energized to incorporate additional input from patients in addressing the challenges of developing treatments for rare diseases. | https://www.hitechanswers.net/fda-is-working-to-bridge-gaps-and-meet-needs-for-rare-disease-product-development/ |
1.
How new is the patient engagement role in your organisation, how has it evolved and what are your hopes for the role in the future?
I have been with AVROBIO since April of 2018. We are a fast-growing clinical stage lentiviral gene therapy company located in Cambridge, MA. One of the main reasons I chose to join AVROBIO was that the company was young, small, and had only one programme in the clinic. AVROBIO’s CEO, Geoff MacKay, spoke to me about the responsibility we have to patients when developing gene therapies and his personal goal of bringing gene therapy mainstream. I felt very fortunate to join a company that recognised the value of the patient voice so early in drug development. I knew I could make a difference and I was all in from day one.
Two of the Fabry patient advocacy organisations, Fabry Australia and the Canadian Fabry Association, had relationships with the investigators in their respective countries. That was a great start to connect advocacy to clinical trials and most importantly to connect with a group of empowered and informed patients.
As an organisation, we have steadily deepened our collaboration with patient communities, including learning from and gaining perspective from them prior to and during clinical trial design. Our advocacy mission is to establish relationships with advocacy groups early, substantively and consistently. There is still room to improve, but we make progress every day.
My hope is that the future role of advocacy enables industry and patient leaders to work closely on the co-development of new treatments. It is also my wish that patients become knowledgeable about the drug development processes and regulatory requirements so that they can be equal partners in healthcare and drug development right alongside clinicians, industry and regulators. I strive to develop a system to make it possible to incorporate patient needs and perspectives in every decision. I also hope that decisions for patients and families are based on quality of life and effectiveness and less based on cost. In addition, I would like to better formalise the profession of patient advocacy to become a core part of healthcare training among other disciplines.
2.
What does a typical week entail for you, and are there any specific projects you can tell us about?
Weeks are very busy and go by fast. At AVROBIO we are developing lentiviral gene therapies for six rare diseases and work with about 50 patient advocacy organisations on a regular basis. Aside from working directly with patient communities, we serve as a resource for internal teams to ensure they know and understand as much as possible about the patients and families affected with these diseases and can incorporate that into their work and plans. My team secures patient input for program development, develops patient-facing, scientifically accurate educational materials, helps the organisation understand what it is like to live with the disease, and finds ways to motivate and inspire employees so everyone in the company feels the same responsibility and dedication to patients.
3.
What were your personal motivations to taking up a role in patient engagement?
I was born to do this. This is my life calling and passion. I realised this was my passion when my grandfather became severely ill during my college years and needed dialysis and a very specific nutrition prescription to manage his medical conditions. I started my career as a registered dietitian helping patients and families understand their medical diagnosis and how they can best manage it themselves. Medical nutrition therapy is about elevating patient knowledge and empowering people to be the best self-advocates they can be.
This determination to elevate knowledge so patients can be informed decision makers has guided my career for almost two decades. I started my industry career educating pharmaceutical companies’ medical and sales teams to be more compassionate and learn what was really important in a person’s life. Now, I have the privilege of helping communities and AVROBIO better understand the complex decisions associated with participating in gene therapy clinical trials. I try to make sure that patients have as much clear and accurate information as possible before embarking on a journey with a new potential treatment. My small contribution is about ensuring that what is important for patients is incorporated from beginning to end.
4.
What makes the role of patient engagement officer important to your organisation?
The company can’t be successful without patient engagement. Lysosomal disorders are heterogenous and rare. Patient engagement is responsible for clinical trial awareness, ensuring clinical trial protocols are amenable to patient participation, that clinical trial endpoints are representative of the unmet needs of patients and that all stakeholders understand the monumental commitment patients and families make to participate in a gene therapy trial, among other activities critical for success. Patient engagement also helps patient communities understand the challenges industry faces when developing these therapies so we can work together toward common goals.
5.
In your role, how do you ensure the patient voice remains central?
It’s about not compromising. Patient engagement is beyond talk. It is all about how we make decisions. Many of these decisions are very tough and have consequences. My leadership knows that doing the right thing for patients is the right thing for the business. My job is to ensure the patient perspective is included when we need to make hard decisions and we stay true as much as possible to our patient-first value.
6.
How do you reconcile operational business needs with elevating the patient voice?
I’ve learned over the years that we are all part of the same community. Industry, legislators, patients, the business and investors. It takes maturity and long-term commitment to carry the long-term vision of improving lives for patients. We work in a collaborative environment where many functions weigh in on important decisions that impact patients’ lives.
7.
What are the most rewarding aspects of your role?
Helping people see possibilities and having faith in a better world. For patients and families, it is bringing these possibilities to reality. From my background in clinical practice, nothing is more rewarding than when someone feels competent and empowered. Patient advocacy is about enabling someone to move from a passive to an active role in their healthcare.
8.
What is your proudest moment in your career thus far?
Every time I choose to be uncomfortable to be a better person. Career successes are highly correlated to personal growth. At times when I am going through something that seems extremely difficult, it has led to great moments of happiness and satisfaction. I recently learned that it was a dream come true for a few individuals from Brazil to participate in a gene therapy trial, knowing that I played a very small part to make it possible has been extremely rewarding.
9.
What advice would you give someone considering working in the rare disease space?
In rare disease, you must dedicate time to learn from patients and families as often as possible. Companies working to develop therapies in rare diseases are often young and entrepreneurial. Creativity and agility are needed to uncover needs and identify where the populations exist. Communities are often as knowledgeable about their own disease as the clinician experts and provide a unique perspective in the development of therapies.
Working in rare diseases means that you are all in with patients and their families. To be prescriptive and specific: at least once a month, make an effort to learn from the patient community. Search videos, join a walk, participate in rare disease day activities, or learn about the legislative bills that are in discussion.
10.
If you weren’t Patient Engagement Officer of Avrobio, what was Plan B? What did your 10-year-old self want to do as a job?
Plan B was to be a clinician; a primary care physician to help patients and families. As a 10-year-old, I wanted to be a superhero to do what appeared to be impossible. | https://rarerevolutionmagazine.com/peopleofrare/fernanda-copeland-of-avrobio/ |
Our Commitment to Patients and Advocacy Organizations
The entire Cyclo Therapeutics team is committed to collaborating with patients and advocacy organizations around the world. Together, we share a common goal to raise awareness and improve the lives of patients, their families and caregivers affected by rare and serious diseases. Our most advanced drug discovery program is focused on Niemann-Pick Disease Type C (NPC), a rare genetic disease characterized by the body’s inability to transport cholesterol and other fats and oils inside of cells. We are working tirelessly to advance our Phase 3 study, currently the most advanced clinical research program underway, to identify a treatment for NPC.
While our commitment to serving patients is engrained throughout every part of our organization, the Patient Advocacy function at Cyclo Therapeutics serves as a liaison between our company and members of the patient and advocacy community. We work together in areas of mutual interest and in accordance with our company values and local country regulations, and we seek to work with Advocacy organizations that follow the same principles. We believe this connection to the patient community makes us stronger and more informed as a company, and it inspires us in our work every single day.
At Cyclo Therapeutics, we:
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Believe the voice of the patient community is critical and should inform our decision-making process.
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Seek out feedback and perspectives from the patient community along our journey as a company and will share our progress and key learnings with you as we are able.
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Listen to and value collaboration with advocacy organizations and commit to supporting and working with organizations around the world that share our common values.
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Follow regulations set forth in countries that state how we can and cannot engage with patients and organizations.
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Focus upon our role of raising awareness and addressing the needs of the NPC community as part of our global drug development program.
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Persevere relentlessly in our scientific pursuits with the safety and best interests of the NPC community in mind, and follow clinical trial protocols, regulations, and medical privacy rules.
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Lead innovative strategy discussions with regulatory authorities around the world to ensure alignment of the most appropriate and expeditious path for approval of safe and effective therapies for the NPC community.
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Finally, aspire to continue to learn and evolve based on our engagement with the NPC community, and welcome the opportunity to hear from you. Please reach out to us at [email protected] with feedback or suggestions.
Trappsol® Cyclo™ is not currently approved for any indication.
Third-party websites are provided for convenience only. Cyclo Therapeutics, Inc. does not approve of, or endorse any of the content. Cyclo Therapeutics, Inc. does not maintain, control or monitor the content of third-party websites in any way. | https://cyclotherapeutics.com/our-commitment/ |
Washington, DC, July 31, 2019—The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD)®, the leading independent nonprofit organization representing the over 25 million Americans with rare diseases, has announced the Patient/Caregiver Opening Address speakers for the 2019 NORD Rare Diseases & Orphan Products Breakthrough Summit, to be held October 21-22 in Washington, DC.
The NORD Rare Summit is the largest and most innovative multi-stakeholder event of its kind, drawing together more than 800 participants from across the rare disease community—including patient advocacy groups, government, industry and academia—to discuss the most current and urgent topics related to rare diseases and orphan products. “The Time is Now” is the theme for 2019, which will be examined from the perspectives of a diverse group of thought leaders.
Each year, the Summit begins with a Patient/Caregiver Opening Address to underscore that while the event includes the entire rare disease community, the focus is always on patients and how the larger rare community can work together to improve the lives of those affected by rare diseases. This year’s address will feature two speakers whose stories both illustrate the powerful ways in which families impacted by rare diseases are helping to drive progress in research, an increased understanding of diseases and the development of treatments.
Entitled “There Is No Time Like the Present – Inspiration to Action,” the session will feature Karen Pignet-Aiach and Terry Jo Bichell, PhD, two examples of family members who were inspired by the needs of their loved ones to acquire the education and skills necessary to advance research toward treatments for diseases that previously had none.
Karen Pignet-Aiach
Karen is Founder, CEO and Board Chair of Lysogene, a biopharmaceutical company focused on rare neurodegenerative diseases. She began her career as an audit specialist with Arthur Andersen and later established her own financial consulting business. However, in 2005 her daughter, Ornella, was diagnosed with Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) IIIA or Sanfilippo Syndrome A, which has no known cure and results in greatly reduced life expectancy. For a time, Karen focused on working with nonprofit organizations to connect with scientists and support research on this rare condition. In 2009, she founded Lysogene, a company which today has a gene therapy in development for MPS IIIA.
Terry Jo Bichell, PhD
Terry Jo was a practicing nurse midwife with a degree in public health teaching women how to breastfeed and care for their babies when her own son, Louie, was diagnosed with Angelman syndrome, a rare genetic disorder about which very little was known at the time. Ultimately, Terry Jo went back to school at Vanderbilt University with one goal in mind: to find a cure for Angelman syndrome. She earned a PhD and today plays an important role in Angelman syndrome research, serving as Director and Scientific Officer for the Angelman Biomarkers and Outcome Measures (ABOM) Alliance, a coalition of patient advocacy groups, clinicians, researchers and pharmaceutical companies studying Angelman syndrome. Terry Jo also serves as the Tennessee Volunteer Ambassador for NORD’s Rare Action Network (RAN), providing advocacy and education at the state level for all children and adults affected by rare disorders.
These impactful speakers will join the directors of three key U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) divisions, the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) and the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), as well as other leaders from National Institutes of Health (NIH), patient advocacy groups, industry and academia. The 2019 Rare Summit will also feature an expansive poster session; one-to-one networking opportunities; nine breakout sessions over two days; and a plethora of roundtable discussions.
“The pace of progress in rare diseases is accelerating, and it is clear that now is the time for driving innovation, advocacy, research and new therapies. This year we’ll be taking on timely topics such as the challenges of gene therapy, retaining treatment affordability while sustaining innovation, and fostering dialogue among payers, providers and patients,” said Peter L. Saltonstall, President and CEO of NORD. “The Rare Summit is a unique opportunity to learn from subject matter experts, network with your peers and hear directly from FDA and NIH leaders on their perspectives and current priorities.”
Sponsors of the 2019 NORD Rare Summit include Sanofi Genzyme, Eversana, Retrophin and Takeda. For a complete listing of the more than 95 speakers, panel discussions, lunch and learn groups and more, download the agenda. To register for the 2019 NORD Rare Diseases & Orphan Products Breakthrough Summit, click here. Information about exhibiting and corporate sponsorship opportunities can be requested by clicking here. For more general information, visit nordsummit.org.
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About the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD)®
The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) is the leading independent advocacy organization representing all patients and families affected by rare diseases. NORD is committed to the identification, treatment and cure of the more than 7,000 rare diseases, of which approximately 90% are still without an FDA-approved treatment or therapy. Rare diseases affect over 25 million Americans. More than half of those affected are children.
NORD began as a small group of patient advocates that formed a coalition to unify and mobilize support to pass the Orphan Drug Act of 1983. For more than 35 years, NORD has led the way in voicing the needs of the rare disease community, driving supportive policies and education, advancing medical research and providing patient and family services for those who need them most. NORD is made strong together with over 275 disease-specific member organizations and their communities and collaborates with many other organizations on specific causes of importance to the rare disease patient community. | https://rarediseases.org/2019-nord-rare-summit-to-feature-caregivers-who-have-moved-from-inspiration-to-action/ |
Track 5: Patient Engagement
This track, composed of 12 sessions, is themed, Operationalizing Patient Engagement, and Concepts of Meaningful Patient Engagement. It will address meaningful patient engagement in medical product development, from early product development, and approval, through maintenance phases. It focuses on important questions for all stakeholders, including:
- How do we meaningfully engage patients and incorporate their voices into decision-making throughout the medical product life cycle?
- How do we become truly patient- (and people-) centric in our approach?
- How do we operationalize patient-centric approaches in our day-to-day work?
- How can we measure the effectiveness of our efforts, both for patient outcomes and to meet the needs of other stakeholders such as industry and regulatory decision-makers?
- What have we learned that can be used to drive more meaningful patient engagement?
- How do stakeholders best work together to leverage their collective power and expertise to promote meaningful involvement of patients?
DIA 2018 is now Patients Included! Click here to learn more!
Sessions in Patient Engagement
Sunday, June 24 | Short Courses
Monday, June 25
- Patient-Focused Medicines Development: Where it has Led us to Today, What Challenges Remain, and What do we Still Need to do to Achieve Success?
- A Hot Debate: Perspectives on Benefit-Risk from Patients Across Diseases
- A New Ecosystem: The Nature of Relationships Between Patient Advocacy Groups and Sponsors
Tuesday, June 26
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Global Perspectives on Patient Engagement
- Incorporating Patient Input Into US Food and Drug Administration’s Medical Product Development and Regulatory Decision
- The Patient's Assessment of the Patient-Focused Drug Development Meeting Initiatives
- Reaching the Underserved: Methods to Ensure Diversity and Inclusion for Patient Research, Clinical Trials, and Advisory Panels
- Using Advocacy Partnerships to Improve Real World Evidence in Clinical Trials
Wednesday, June 27
- Maintaining Patient Engagement in the Development of Patient-Reported Outcome (PRO) Measures
- How do Patients and Other Multi-Disciplinary Stakeholders Collaborate to Develop Patient Registries That Accelerate Research?
- Addressing the Elephant in the Room: A Hard Look at Metrics, Legal, Payers, and Other Leading Obstacles Facing the Sustainability of Patient Engagement
- Engaging the Rare Disease Community to Design Clinical Trials
- Patient Observation Versus Patient Engagement: Optimizing Development
Thursday, June 28
- Beyond Adult Patients, Untapped Advisors in Clinical Development: Adolescents, Parents, Siblings, and Spouses
Who is This Track Designed For?
Professionals involved in: patient affairs, patient advocacy, patient groups, patient support services, medical affairs (including CMOs and MSLs), clinical trial design and optimization, clinical research and operations, regulatory affairs, regulatory agency, corporate and government affairs, safety and pharmacovigilance, outcomes research, epidemiology, and Health Technology Assessment.. | https://www.diaglobal.org/zh-cn/flagship/dia-2018/program/tracks/05 |
Authored by Cello Health, now part of Lumanity
We’ve asked some of our experts to share insights on the challenges posed by rare diseases in healthcare, particularly in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Each has given their own take based on their experience of working in the rare disease space, based on the impact on payers, pharmaceutical companies and, most importantly, patients.
What is your perspective on the impact of the pandemic on the development of rare disease treatments? Does the COVID-19 pandemic shed any positive light on future rare disease therapeutics?
Michael Rice
From my perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic is having a tempestuous impact on progress in the development of novel treatments for rare disease patients. Older individuals and those with rare diseases suffer disproportionate morbidity and mortality from SARS-CoV-2 infections due to both co-morbidities and immunosuppression related to their disease and the medicines and procedures necessary to manage symptoms or control progression. Furthermore, for those considered at high risk, normal daily living is fraught with continual risks of exposure, particularly when accessing healthcare facilities for clinical management and their lifesaving treatments. In this respect, patients may have received inadequate healthcare or an impaired ability to enroll in clinical trials, which may have worsened their outcomes, and delayed biotech companies’ ability to enroll patients for clinical trials of potential new treatments.
At the same time, innovators found the virtual environment and Zoom meetings quite efficient for raising capital to fund translation of early-stage discoveries. Indeed, over the last 2 years, rare disease-focused biotech companies have raised record-level venture capital and private investments to fund investigational new drug (IND)-enabling studies towards first-in-human studies. Another area of progress has been uniquely enabled by the COVID-19 pandemic itself, through the acceleration of the understanding and funding for novel vaccine platforms and mRNA therapeutics. Beneficiaries of windfalls from the COVID-19 vaccines, such as Moderna, Pfizer, BioNTech and others are investing in developing mRNA-based vaccines for SARS-Cov-2 variants and many other infectious diseases.
Beyond vaccines, the learnings from mRNA synthesis and formulation are being applied to individualize cancer immunotherapies and as a way to deliver therapeutic proteins for rare monogenetic diseases caused by loss of function mutations and haploinsufficiency. While the promise of creating a greater good from the devastating losses from the last 2 years of the epidemic are in the early stages, we are hopeful that significant unmet needs of rare disease patients will be addressed in the future by such breakthrough innovations.
How has engagement of rare disease communities evolved since the COVID-19 pandemic hit 2 years ago? How can rare disease communities be better engaged in future pandemic events?
Jane Barrett
The COVID-19 pandemic is having a profound but hidden impact on the ability of rare disease patient communities to engage.
Despite the diversity of rare diseases, they share commonalities – they struggle to get a timely diagnosis; they suffer from isolation and the average doctor has little knowledge, which means they gravitate to peers and groups online for information; disengagement from the healthcare system is always a risk due to difficulty accessing successful treatment and specialized centers.
So, what has happened to these recognized dynamics during the pandemic? In non-rare diseases, the collective backlog of delayed diagnoses is monumental, and non-urgent appointments and surgeries are incredibly backed up too. These forces, of course, are affecting the rare disease patients too, though evidence is slower to emerge. However, common sense and anecdote point to COVID-19 having a profound but hidden impact on the ability of rare disease patient communities to engage.
Getting a rare disease diagnosis is challenge enough in normal times, but the overlay of COVID-19 is making this all the harder with the multiple appointments, a prelude to diagnosis, being dragged out over a longer period still. More delays mean more deterioration and, in some rare diseases, this can mean the difference between qualifying for an effective treatment (e.g., gene therapy) or not, because time windows are very small. Many conversations may be needed and the pandemic has sadly squeezed the time for these vital discussions and decisions.
The pandemic has intensified the isolation of rare disease patients and caregivers, making continued engagement harder but more vital. They have had to be even more proactive in their fight for diagnosis, access to an expert and the right treatment, while the availability of such help has shrunk.
Additional stressors and delays have meant that the already important online communities have become even more crucial to meet patient needs – both clinical and emotional. The pandemic has, therefore, increased the influential power of online advocates and patient support groups (formal and informal). This means it is vital that pharma companies make sure rare disease online influencers and patient groups have access to correct information about treatments and to expert centers and specialists. Signposting peer patients to the right treaters will help avoid patients getting clogged up in the waiting lists of those with non-rare conditions in non-specialized hospitals.
More than ever, rare patients need encouragement to remain engaged with healthcare systems. Being hidden and unheard is a ubiquitous rare disease experience and an event like the COVID-19 pandemic makes it all the more important to demonstrate that the rare voice matters and is being listened to in the face of such high demand on services.
What are the fresh challenges rare disease communities have to expect in a post-pandemic normal?
Michael Parisi
The rare disease community has been defined by their resilience. There is no denying that the COVID‑19 pandemic was the great equalizer. This became abundantly clear in a recent conversation that I had with a young woman living with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). When we spoke about the isolation, the fear of getting a life-threatening infection, and the inability to breathe that comes with the pandemic, she said, ‘now the world knows what it’s like to live with MDS every day of your life.’
As we move into 2022, there are a host of new challenges that the rare disease community will face – some new, and some familiar but with a new complexion. Two things that immediately come to mind-first:
- Rare cannot mean forgotten. Many rare disease communities feel like the urgency around their movements have been overtaken by the needs brought forward by the pandemic – which means they have to shout louder, push harder than ever before to gain the attention and focus on their diseases.
- Lost empathy. A great concern of the community is fear that we have lost empathy, specifically that things they need to do to say safe, such as wearing a mask and gloves, have now become symbols for judgement rather than opportunities to stop and gain knowledge. So, as we move forward, we all need to take a minute to listen and learn so we can better understand and help people living with rare diseases live their best lives.
How can companies developing treatments for rare diseases better serve patient/carer communities?
Ron Akehurst
There are many ways in which companies can and do serve, but I am a member of the Committee at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) that has responsibility for recommending funding of treatments for ultra-rare diseases in England, and I observe that companies should more effectively demonstrate the value of new treatments. In particular, they should make sure they can demonstrate the effects of their treatment on how patients feel, function and survive by use of appropriate outcome measurement.
Outcome measures that are commonly used in trials in rare diseases, in particular, biomarkers, are often adequate to achieve marketing approval, but may fail to support the needed price and/or achieve reimbursement from payers, thus preventing the treatment reaching the target patients. Demonstrating in a trial that a biomarker is improved does not demonstrate the effect on patients. Even when registration trials go beyond a biomarker, such as dystrophin for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, to measures such as The Six Minute Walk Test, they still only reflect an aspect (albeit an important one) of treatment and miss much. In the latter case, obviously, benefits in the non-ambulant are not captured.
The particular ways in which patients are affected by rare diseases are often unknown, and measures that reflect the improvements that matter to patients have to be created in conjunction with the patient community. In this way, companies will increase the chances of approval from funding bodies and speed the availability of effective treatments to patients.
Can you describe the role of rare disease patients as partners to companies developing treatments for their disease?
Susan Daniels
Rare disease patients, their families and support networks, face a disproportionate struggle for knowledge, advocacy, and options for treatment. This places a heavy personal and financial burden on individuals and families. The rare disease community is actively engaged and uniquely motivated to find valuable solutions to streamline both the clinical trials and approval processes to expedite much needed treatments to market. Given the predicted increase in spending on rare disease innovation in the future, payers are looking for innovative, multi-stakeholder partnerships to share the risk and investment, often initiated and driven by rare disease patients themselves.
For its part, the rare disease community is committed to better awareness and knowledge of rare diseases within clinical and research communities. They are advocating for increased and sustained activation of the stakeholder patient communities, for better collaboration to drive support, funding, and experience and, ultimately, better exposure and partnership to the researchers and companies key to the development of solutions. Integrating patient involvement and lived experience in research planning, development pathways and life cycle management is key to this partnership.
As a company, we are firmly engaged with a number of rare disease communities and working in partnerships with pharmaceutical companies who seek to support them. We are continuously dedicated to gaining a better understanding of the unmet needs of patients, with a view to supporting both groups in their quest for better insights and solutions to bring new innovation to these patients sooner.
What learning should we embrace from the COVID-19 pandemic to better serve those with rare disease?
Angela Wheeler
When imagining a post-pandemic era and its potential impact on rare disease, I was struck by the many learnings we could take from this period to better serve those with rare diseases.
Historically, people living with a rare disease have experienced the isolation and struggle to obtain adequate healthcare that many of us have just experienced for the first time during this pandemic. People with a rare disease have often carried the responsibility for seeking correct diagnosis, educating medical specialists, explaining the burden of disease, amplifying the need for new treatments, creating their own support networks, and making incredible sacrifices to seek specialized care and participate in trials.
What have we learned recently that could better serve the rare disease community? Certainly, the amazing collaboration of pharma companies to share information and develop diagnostic tests, vaccines, treatments, and medical equipment would be welcome. We could continue to examine and expedite drug approval processes to make novel, first-in-class treatments available for emergency use by those at high risk. The acceleration of patient-centric and localized clinical trial design options and the launch of in-home, online and telephone access to medical resources and services could transform the way people with a rare disease participate in the healthcare system.
While the scale of the effort required during a pandemic is vastly different, the situational urgency and principal behaviors demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic provide a roadmap for how we can better serve the rare disease community in the future. Development of and accelerated access to rare disease treatment has always been key to improving the lives of those with a rare disease. Think what is now possible with the application of these learnings to rare disease!
How can we transform the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic into opportunities in the rare disease area?
Amber Gilbert
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light both small cracks and major rifts in the healthcare ecosystem. With intention and effort, these challenges can evolve into opportunities to improve care and outcomes for patients overall as well as for patients with rare disease.
One of the most vivid challenges of the pandemic has been the impact of information and misinformation on individual behavior. Payers, health authorities, and other public health stakeholders have experienced the urgency of providing patients with balanced, digestible information that can inform individual decision making. This movement towards more effective sharing of health information can be extended into rare disease where patients can directly benefit from better education to help expedite diagnoses and advocate for treatments.
Another major challenge of the pandemic has been the significant disparities in access to care across vulnerable populations. This challenge is amplified in the rare disease community where under-representation of racial and ethnic minorities in clinical trials is well documented, and treatment is often concentrated into a limited number of centers of excellence. A positive outcome of the pandemic has been broader awareness and emerging efforts on the part of payers to improve access to care and health equity. This positive momentum can be applied to rare disease, where improved outcomes are much needed, and payers are uniquely positioned to help facilitate better access along the patient journey.
Payers often view themselves as a critical part of the care infrastructure for patients. We have the opportunity to help our clients find common ground with payers to better share information and support equitable access to care that can help improve outcomes for patients with rare disease.
What roles do our experts play in solving the challenges that the rare disease community faces during and after the pandemic?
Valarie Leishman
Our in-house experts have worked closely with our rare disease partners to identify their challenges and develop solutions. One recent example involves the confusing messages and the frequently changing guidance regarding COVID-19 vaccinations and rare disease populations. Patients that are immunocompromised and patients with cancer have requested information regarding the efficacy of the vaccine in their population. Should they receive antibody testing post-vaccination? If they do get tested, how should they interpret the results? Are the third dose and extra boosters safe for these patients?
We have developed patient education to specifically address these questions and to encourage patients to work closely with their healthcare providers to determine the best course of action. We will continue to be there for our rare disease partners to address their ever-changing needs.
Our experts
Michael Rice VP, Head of Advanced Therapeutics, Cello Health
Jane Barrett Master Practitioner, Patient Insights, Cello Health
Michael Parisi CEO, Guidemark Health
Ron Akehurst Executive Chairman, BresMed
Susan Daniels Director, Cello Health Communications
Angela Wheeler President, Cello Health Insight USA
Amber Gilbert CEO, Cyan Health
Valerie Leishman Lead Patient and Professional Stakeholder Services, Guidemark Health
Development of and accelerated access to rare disease treatment has always been key to improving the lives of those with a rare disease. Think what is now possible with the application of these learnings to rare disease!
A positive outcome of the pandemic has been broader awareness and emerging efforts on the part of payers to improve access to care and health equity. This positive momentum can be applied to rare disease, where improved outcomes are much needed, and payers are uniquely positioned to help facilitate better access along the patient journey. | https://lumanity.com/perspectives/insights-into-working-with-rare-diseases/ |
PPD’s endocrinology and metabolic clinical trial experience helps us to manage programs of any size and complexity around the world.
PPD’s Las Vegas clinical research unit recruits clinical trial volunteers for a wide range of studies.
PPD News and Events Media kit
More global experience working with rare disorders than any other CRO.
PPD is committed to advancing the development of medicines for adults and children with rare diseases and we have developed solutions to reach, recruit and retain small, globally dispersed patient populations. By leveraging our medical, operational, regulatory and real-world expertise, we design and operationalize studies with the customized approach that each rare disease requires. We successfully execute trials with organizations of all sizes. In the past five years, we have conducted more rare disease studies than any other contract research organization (CRO).
We deploy a four-part framework to support and conduct rare disease studies that ensures the application of best practices in study development. The key elements of this framework include:
The Rare Disease and Pediatric Center of Excellence team provides tailored thought leadership and innovation in the design and execution of rare disease trials, as well as aligned oversight of program delivery and clear escalation paths for operational teams. The center of excellence is the most comprehensive offered by any CRO and provides strategic insights that can inform and optimize clinical and regulatory strategy development. Additionally, the center of excellence facilitates access to a broad array of key stakeholders, including medical experts, patients and patient advocacy groups.
We have extensive global experience working with drug developers to design and execute successful clinical trials focused on rare disease indications across a broad spectrum of therapeutic areas.
In the past five years, we have conducted more than 290 studies involving more than 65,000 patients in more than 65 countries.
PPD’s Pediatric Investigator Network (PIN) is a network of 14 pediatric centers of excellence established to accelerate and optimize the development of therapies specifically for pediatric populations. The PIN allows PPD to:
PPD’s rare disease team cares deeply about the rare disease patients in our clinical trials and strives to better understand their experiences. By collaborating with patient advocacy groups, we are able to incorporate patients’ voices into our study designs and gain valuable insights about the patient journey as we strive to enhance the clinical trial experience for patients and their caregivers.
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© 2019 Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC. All rights reserved. | https://www.ppdi.com/Therapeutics/Rare-Diseases |
Patient-Centred Research (WP3)
The general framework of the ERICA project’ WP3 is Patient Centered Research for Rare diseases. To facilitate the Europe-wide implementation of standardized Patient-Centred Outcome Measures (PCOMs) and Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) for rare diseases while ensuring the involvement of the patient community in their development and validation process.
WP3 is led by Ana Rath and María del Mar Mañú Pereira, respectively from Orphanet and ERN-EuroBloodNet, in collaboration with MAPI Research Trust.
Specifically, the WP3’s key goal is to promote and disseminate in Europe the adoption of standardized Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) for rare diseases while ensuring the involvement of the ERNs Health care providers and RDs patients organizations in this process.
WP3 aims concretely to facilitate via the creation of the repository of existing PRO and ObsRO for rare disease the use of those standardized tools that consider patients and caregivers’ perspectives in reporting health outcome measures and in the health assessment decision-making process for rare diseases.
Accordingly, the WP3 team would like to reach the following achievements:
- to create a central repository of (validated) common and domain-specific RD PROMs for ERNs
First version launched! PROMs Repository
- to define priority areas for future PROMs development
- to support ERNs in the adoption of validated instruments for PROMs
During the ERICA WP3 ‘Patient centred research’, the Expert Working Group Kick-off Meeting was presented during the first part, the action plan to the Expert Working Group and participants. Specifically, it has been described the Questionnaire Database Presentation – PROQOLID™, the Orphanet Disability questionnaire (ODQ), and the strategy for the RD Clustering, Questionnaire Coding and PROs selection.
Whereas during the second part of the meeting, an interactive exercise has allowed to tackle some needs for the use of PROMS repository, the ideal context of use of RDs PROMs, the expected search engine terms to be inserted in the repository and the expected results.
Results of this exercise are under analysis and will be used for customizing the repository of existing PRO and ObsRO for Rae Disease adapting it as much as possible on expressed needs and expectations.
The Kick-off meeting of WP3 Patient Centred Expert Working Group (PCEWG) was held in two consecutive sessions:
Session I was dedicated to present the work done so far for the identification and codification of instruments for the assessment of Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) in rare diseases (RD). Session I gave the frame for an open discussion in Session II to better understand and define the RDs community needs in terms of building a repository of PROMs for RD.
See also updates presented during the ERICA 2nd GA in Bologna: | https://erica-rd.eu/work-packages/patient-centred-research/ |
Sarcoidosis is a very complex disease which makes quality of life issues a huge factor for patients. There are numerous factors which adversely impact the quality of life for patients. Not only are patients required to contend with the complications and symptoms of the disease, but many are faced with societal perceptions because many patients do not necessarily “look sick” and their family and friends may question the validity of their disease, wondering why they are no longer able to function, perform or engage in work or play; or participate in everyday activities. Some patients experience a certain level of stress and anxiety as there are many unknowns associated with the disease. Patients have no understanding of the origin of sarcoidosis; its cause has been elusive, there is no known cure, and patients are often treated with medications for which there are numerous adverse and long term side effects. A major and important issue for many patients is an unexplainable overwhelming fatigue which impacts every aspect of their lives. Quality of life issues can impact relationships with spouses, significant others, family, friends, colleagues; as well as affect the patient’s self-esteem. The magnitude of quality of life issues can be totally devastating which can result in feelings of bewilderment, fear, and depression for the patient.
A high percentage of patients experience a difficult diagnosis or a misdiagnosis. There was a report of a patient who presented symptoms at the age of twelve years old, but did not receive a proper diagnosis of sarcoidosis until the age of 40. Other patients have reported having received a misdiagnosis of cancer or have been accused of imagining their symptoms and referred to psychiatrists.
In the treatment of the disease, many patients are prescribed prednisone. Prednisone has many adverse side-effects, including weight gain, diabetes, high blood pressure, mood swings, depression, difficulty sleeping, heartburn, acne, thinning of the skin and bones, cataracts, glaucoma, and adrenal gland insufficiency. Patients struggle with the side effects of weight gain, mood swings, and depression as these symptoms adversely affect their quality of life. Many patients are faced with the difficult decision of whether to endure the side effects of the medication, or the symptoms of the disease.
Fatigue is a huge quality of life issue. A major percentage of sarcoidosis patients experience severe fatigue which impairs their ability to function at their normal level. Another quality of life issue that some patients experience is that they look completely healthy. Many times when patients complain of their symptoms to family, friends, and colleagues they are not taken seriously or are accused of making up their symptoms. Also, others do not understand why patients are not able to perform work or participate in social activities as they previously did prior to their illness as they “look fine.”
It is helpful for sarcoidosis patients to have a network and support group to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, experiences, and expertise. Many patient organizations host websites, podcasts, educational conferences, video posts, and/or newsletters that provide valuable information to enable patients to understand and manage the symptoms of the disease.
Some sarcoidosis organizations have implemented public awareness programs which increase the probability of better diagnosis by physicians. Other organizations engage in research initiatives to identify the cause and cure for the disease, and to improve diagnosis, prevention and treatment. Some groups are involved in advocacy efforts to foster support for sarcoidosis initiatives on the local, state, and federal levels of government.
Resources
Below are resources to further address quality of life issues, and to help you to identify patient support groups:
Nonspecific Symptoms Lead to Lower Quality of Life for Patients, Partners, Study Shows
Sarcoidosis and Quality of Life: A Dissertation
Living with Sarcoidosis: A Video by the American Lung Association
There are several organizations providing information about Sarcoidosis Support groups in the United States and internationally.
The American Lung Association can help people with sarcoidosis find support groups through their Better Breathers Club meeting in your community. The Lung Association recommends patients and caregivers join the Living with Lung Disease Support Community to connect with others facing this disease.
The Lung Helpline (1-800-LUNGUSA) is open seven days a week and is staffed by experienced registered nurses, respiratory therapists and certified tobacco treatment specialists. They can provide you with the support and the answers patients are looking for.
Check these sites to find nearby support groups:Stop Sarcoidosis WASOG
NORD (National Organization for Rare Diseases) provides the programs and services that may support patients. This information can help patients connect with others living with rare diseases and to facilitate access to additional resources. | https://www.sarcoidosisri.org/sarcoidosis/quality-of-life-issues/ |
By definition, rare diseases have low prevalence but they represent a large and diverse group of life-threatening or chronically debilitating conditions some of which may which have no cure, existing pathways of care, or appropriate medical interventions. Collectively rare diseases pose significant public health burden and social issues as they affect approximately 6-10% of the world’s population1. Individuals affected by rare diseases are often dispersed and face a variety of challenges including lack of or barriers to specialized care, delays in diagnosis, negative social consequences and other psychosocial burden2.
In recent years, the medical, scientific and political communities have demonstrated renewed interest in rare diseases and rare diseases research. This in part is due to increased recognition of these conditions by the healthcare community, improved understanding of the underlying pathophysiology, advances to bring therapies to the market, and greater public awareness3. The Patient Advocacy Groups (PAGs) that promote the needs and priorities of patients play a crucial role in propagating the public awareness. Over the years, PAGs have evolved as one of the major stakeholders in advancing the care and research in rare diseases by forging collaborative partnerships with other stakeholders. They also have an important role in adoption of public policies, advocating for research funding, and fostering conducive environment for rare diseases research4. Despite all these advancements made in the realm of rare diseases, our understanding of the impact of rare these diseases on the lives of individuals affected is incomplete. This could be true for many of the common diseases as well. For instance, we do not fully comprehend the extent of their problems nor do we sufficiently understand the barriers to care experienced and/or perceived by the individuals affected by rare diseases.
Eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders (EGIDs) are a group of rare diseases and are being increasingly recognized as an emerging healthcare problem. They represent heterogeneous conditions characterized by eosinophilic inflammation affecting various segments of the gastrointestinal tract, such as esophagus, stomach, small intestine and colon, referred to as eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), eosinophilic gastritis (EG), eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EGE), and eosinophilic colitis (EC), respectively5. Of these, EoE is the most well studied entity and is estimated to affect 56.7 per 100,000 persons or 152,152 individuals in the United States (US). While the exact burden of EG, EGE and EC is unclear, the estimated prevalence of EG is 6.3, EGE is 8.4, and EC is 3.3 per 100,000 persons in the US6-8. Recently, an NIH-funded multi-center Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Researchers (CEGIR) have been studying these conditions9. Even though significant progress being made towards understanding the epidemiologic and genetic underpinnings of the EGIDs and EoE in particular, the diagnosis and monitoring of these conditions remains expensive and burdensome, and the commonly used treatment options are largely empiric or experimental10. As a result, individuals affected by EGIDs, like many of those affected by other rare diseases, have unmet needs and experience barriers to care. The article by Hiremath et al is first to systematically investigate the unmet needs and barriers perceived by the EGID community11. Their results indicate that the individuals affected by EGIDs have a constellation of unmet needs and experience barriers to care across multiple domains meaningful to them.
In this study, the authors used a community-based participatory approach wherein the PAGs, as representatives of the EGID community, were actively involved in conceptualizing study design, development of study protocol and survey questionnaire, and disseminating the survey through their web-based platforms (including online portals and social media outlets). The domains and questions most relevant to the EGID community were identified through focus group interviews conducted by the PAGs. The final questionnaire consisted of 58 questions spanning across medical, healthcare, social, and emotional impact domains. The responses were collected in a 5 point Likert scale (1=Totally agree; 5=Totally disagree). By leveraging partnership between PAGs and medical researchers and using the web-based approach this study was able to achieve participation from a large and diverse group of individuals affected by EGIDs. In all, 414 responses from adults diagnosed with EGIDs and adult caregivers of children (less than 18 years of age) with EGIDs were received. Of these, 361 were analyzed with 280 (78%) being complete in all aspects. The majority of respondents were adult caregivers of children with EGIDs, and the participants were from 9 countries.
In medical domain, over half of the participants indicated that they had to consult multiple providers prior to being diagnosed with EGID indicating that it is challenging to readily make this diagnosis in the fieldchange multiple providers prior to being diagnosed with EGID. Only a small proportion of participants indicated that current approach to diagnose EGID requiring repeated endoscopy was convenient (19%), and about one in three participants indicated that repeated endoscopy was affordable (33%). A large majority of respondents indicated that the current treatment for their EGID (i.e. dietary elimination, topical steroids, immunomodulators, elemental diet) was neither easy to adhere nor convenient. The responses in the healthcare domain emphasized the lack of insurance coverage for most common treatment modalities for EGIDs such as topical corticosteroids and elemental formulas. A notable proportion (64%) of respondents indicated that they did not have easy access to dieticians or nutritionists who they felt understood the challenges faced by EGID patients. In the social domain, the large majority (79%) of respondents indicated that they used social media to connect with peers and get social support. Approximately 62% had experienced food-related discrimination due to their EGID relatedthe dietary restrictions they need to adhere to as part of their treatment. The respondents also emphasized lack of knowledge about EGIDs in the school and at workplaces. With regards to the emotional impact, the large proportion (70%) of respondents indicated that they had support from their family members and friends. A large proportion of participants indicated that the EGID had placed significant emotional burden, and stress as a result of out-of-pocket costs related to EGIDs. When asked to prioritize the domains for improvement, the participants emphasized on improving the medical domain followed by healthcare and emotional impact domains. They felt that least amount of improvement was needed in the social challenges domain. Overall, the perceptions of unmet needs and barriers were similar between adult EGID patients and the adult caregivers of children with EGIDs.
The methodology used in this study has multiple limitations. Most importantly, the responses could be subject to significant bias and the authors were unable to estimate the response rate. Nonetheless, the real strength of this study is that it has initiated the process of appreciating unmet needs and barriers across multiple domains identified by the EGID community to be most relevant to them. Understanding the unmet needs and perceived barriers will serve as an important step towards inspiring future patient-centered research and informing the policies to bridge gaps and to ultimately advance the field of EGIDs and rare diseases research.
In conclusion, this study underscores the importance of PAGs in advocating for individuals with rare diseases, and is an example of advancing the field through partnership between medical research community and the PAGs. Understanding unmet needs and barriers to care experienced by the affected individuals will provide direction to the medical and health care research in rare diseases.
Acknowledgement
G.H and E.S.D are supported by Consortium of Gastrointestinal Eosinophilic Disease Researchers (CEGIR; U54 AI117804). CEGIR is part of the Rare Disease Clinical Research Network (RDCRN), an initiative of the Office of Rare Diseases Research (ORDR), National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), and is cofunded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), and NCATS. CEGIR is also supported by patient advocacy groups including the American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED), Campaign Urging Research for Eosinophilic Disease (CURED), and Eosinophilic Family Coalition (EFC).
References
- Angelis A, Tordrup D, Kanavos P. Socio-economic burden of rare diseases: A systematic review of cost of illness evidence. Health Policy. 2015; 119: 964–979.
- Schieppati A, Henter JI, Daina E, et al. Why rare diseases are an important medical and social issue. The Lancet. 2008.
- Griggs RC, Batshaw M, Dunkle M, et al. Clinical research for rare disease: Opportunities, challenges, and solutions. MGM. 2009; 96: 20–26.
- Merkel PA, Manion M, Gopal-Srivastava R ,et al. The partnership of patient advocacy groups and clinical investigators in the rare diseases clinical research network. Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2016; 11: 66.
- Fahey LM, Liacouras CA. Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders. Pediatr Clin North Am. 2017; 64: 475–485.
- Furuta GT, Katzka DA. Eosinophilic Esophagitis. N Engl J Med. 2015; 373: 1640–1648.
- Dellon ES, Jensen ET, Martin CF, et al. Prevalence of eosinophilic esophagitis in the United States. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2014; 12: 589–96.e1.
- Jensen ET, Martin CF, Kappelman MD,. Prevalence of Eosinophilic Gastritis, Gastroenteritis, and Colitis: Estimates From a National Administrative Database. Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition. 2016; 62: 36–42.
- Cheng K, Gupta SK, Kantor S, et al. Creating a multi-center rare disease consortium – the consortium of eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease researchers (CEGIR). Translational Science of Rare Diseases Preprint. 1–15.
- Schoepfer A, Blanchard C, Dawson H, et al. Eosinophilic esophagitis: latest insights from diagnosis to therapy. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2018; 124: 1419. | https://www.rarediseasesjournal.com/articles/commentary-individuals-affected-by-eosinophilic-gastrointestinal-disorders-have-complex-unmet-needs-and-experience-barriers-to-car.html |
The Patient Experience Project (PEP), an EVERSANA™ agency, has announced the addition of Jeffrey Vickers as an account manager. In this role, Vickers works closely with multiple teams and clients, providing brand strategy and client relationship management support to ensure client partners’ needs and goals are appropriately represented and the best quality of work is produced.
Vickers is an experienced healthcare and biotechnology professional with solid strategic and resource planning experience that includes cross-functional team management and financial and clinical data analysis. Prior to joining PEP, Vickers was an integration project management contractor at Shire Plc. In this position, he collaborated with project leads in identifying effective resolutions to support ongoing integration activities. As a project manager in strategic planning at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Vickers conducted market research on industry trends and best-in-class solutions in support of research project planning. He has participated in research and independent studies at The Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, and Albany Medical Center.
Vickers graduated from the University at Albany with a master of business administration, and has a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry from Skidmore College. He holds a professional certificate in medical device manufacturing and regulary affairs from Tufts School of Medicine.
Carey Stephenson is an account director at the Patient Experience Project (PEP), an EVERSANA™ agency. In her role, Stephenson works closely with multiple teams and clients, providing brand strategy and client relationship management support to ensure client partners’ needs and goals are appropriately represented and the best quality of work is produced.
Stephenson has nearly 15 years of account service experience. She most recently was director of commercial insights at Dohmen Life Science Services in Chicago, where she worked with rare disease patients and their communities to gain insights and identify their unmet needs to inform program recommendations spanning patient support services, clinical trial design and recruitment, advocacy relationship-building, and successful commercialization. Prior to that she worked at Siren Interactive and Intouch Solutions, also in Chicago, where she applied her digital strategy and integrated marketing experience to serve the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
Stephenson is a graduate of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where she earned a bachelor degree in journalism and advertising with a concentration in marketing and English. She is a longstanding volunteer with the Chicago Lights Tutoring program, advocating for educational opportunities and support for under-served youth in local communities. For more information on PEP, visit The-PEP.com.
Danielle Thompson is an insights specialist at the Patient Experience Project (PEP). She has become an integral part of developing PEP’s signature Workgroups for patients and caregivers, helping to ensure that their voices and stories are heard.
Danielle is known at PEP for bringing empathy and an uncanny attention to detail to her role, not to mention being a fashion-forward favorite of her colleagues. Read Danielle’s answers to our questions below.
One of the most rewarding things about working at PEP is meeting the people in the communities we serve. It’s easy to get frustrated sometimes when you’re putting in long hours at work and working hard to meet deadlines; however, meeting these patients and their families makes it all worth it. Listening to their stories and struggles really helps put things into perspective for me. If putting in extra hours means that I am ultimately helping someone, well, then I’m okay with that.
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve been given is to let go of what you can’t control. I try to remember and live by this advice both at work and outside of it.
I was told by a coworker that you’re in charge of your own happiness. Once I heard that, it really stuck with me. There are many things we “have” to do in life, and the ability to say yes and no to the things that are optional is really powerful. I’m getting better at saying yes to the things I know will make me happy and no to the things I know won’t. Oh, and I always say yes to dessert!
I can remember the lyrics to most songs.
I love trying new restaurants with my friends. Finding someone who will share food with you is invaluable.
Are you involved in any volunteer work?
When I can, I take part in the volunteer opportunities we offer at PEP. It’s just another way to help the communities we serve. It’s also fun to get outside of the office with my coworkers and get to know them on a more personal level with the stresses of deadlines removed. | http://www.the-pep.com/category/blog-posts/ |
Generally, a new type of government is established when its earlier alternative fails to fulfill the needs of citizens. When such a type of government is established, the positive attributes of the previous government are retained whereas, the negative attributes are changed. Similarly, Fascism and Absolute Monarchy were established. So, what exactly is the difference between Fascism and Absolute Monarchy? These two types of government are differentiated based on factors like definition, ideologies, characteristics, structure, etc. The widely used definition of Fascism is "Government with the basis of a powerful leader" whereas, Absolute Monarchy is defined as "Absolute monarchy or absolutism is a monarchical form of government in which the monarch has absolute power among his or her people".
Comparison of Fascism vs Absolute Monarchy proves to be significant when we are studying different types of governments. Fascism and Absolute Monarchy may differ drastically in their principles or they could be such government forms, which are derived from one another. These principles and other details can be studied at Fascism Definition and Absolute Monarchy Definition.
When you compare Fascism vs Absolute Monarchy structure the factors to be considered are majority rule, succession, presence of parliament and constitution.
© 2015-2019. A softUsvista venture! | https://www.governmentvs.com/en/fascism-vs-absolute-monarchy/comparison-10-62-0 |
Q.:- What ideas did Phan Boi Chu and Phan Chu Trinh share in common? What did they differ on?
Answer:-
The goal of both the leaders was the same-freedom of Vietnam from French colonial rule, but they wanted to gain it through different ways. Phan Chu Trinh wanted to overthrow the monarchy in order to form a basis for the promotion of the popular rights by establishing a democratic republic.
His opinion was not to gain freedom from the French colonial rule through the monarchy. Also, he did not want to boycott Western civilization. He also liked the democratic ideals of the West. He was much influenced by the French revolutionary ideal of liberty and so he accepted it.
Opposite to it Phan Boi Chau was much affected by the Confucian tradition and was in favour of driving out the French, using the monarchy.
He wished that first the foreign enemy should be driven out and after their nation’s freedom was restored they could talk about other things. | http://www.tutionteacher.in/what-ideas-did-phan-boi-chu-and-phan-chu-trinh-share-in-common-what-did-they-differ-on/ |
K. Loewenstein’s essay [La monarchia nello Stato modern, 1969] has provided the reader with an overview of all the various forms of monarchy and the possibilities that, in his opinion, remain for a monarchical regime in the present age.
Monarchy, as we have seen, is not taken in the literal sense of the term (government of one man, power concentrated in one man) but, correctly, in its traditional and most current sense, i.e., with reference to a King.
Loewenstein’s conclusions are rather pessimistic. In order to exist in our day, monarchy should resign itself to being a shadow of what it had been. It could be conceived only within a democratic framework and, properly speaking, in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Apart from England, which would be a special case, the model offered by the monarchies of the small states of northern and western Europe — Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg — is what should possibly be kept in mind.
In the analysis of the range of the various arguments adopted in favor of monarchy, Loewenstein tried to be objective, but was unable always to be so. The precise aversion to every principle of true authority is quite visible in him, while an insufficient emphasis is given to the factors of an ethical and immaterial character. Now we believe that if you were forced to conceive of a monarchy only in an empty and democratized form, besides only being possible because it concerns marginal small states, not yet involved in the dynamism of the great forces of the era, we undoubtedly might as well end the discussion in the negative.
It must be recognized, however, that pessimistic conclusions regarding monarchy appear largely justified only if you hypostatize the situation of the current world and believe that it is irreversible and destined to continue itself indefinitely. This situation is defined by a general materialism, the prevalence of base interests, the egalitarian error, the government of the masses, technocracy, and the so-called “consumer society.” Except that we are beginning to multiply the signs of a profound crisis of this world of affluence and counterfeit order. Various forms of revolt are already noticeable, for which it is not impossible that it could reach a state of tension and a breaking point, and that, especially in the face of possible liminal situations, tomorrow different forms of sensitivity may be reawakened, reactions occurring similar to those an organism is capable of when it is mortally threatened in its deepest being.
The supplanting, or to a lesser extent, of this new climate is the decisive element also for the problem of monarchy. In our opinion, it should be placed in the following terms: What meaning could monarchy have in the case that such a change in climate should take place, and in what form could it be a center for the reconstitution of a “normal” order — normal in a higher sense? Certainly, the presence of a true monarchy in a nation would have a rectifying power, but this is a vicious circle: without the premise that we mentioned, any restoration would have a contingent, not organic and, in a sense, unnatural character.
The disorder present in the political field, everything that it shows of instability, dangerously open to subversion — to Marxism and communism — substantially derives from the deficiency of a superior principle of authority and from an almost hysterical impatience for such a principle, through which certain political experiences of recent times serve at most as a convenient alibi. Speaking of a superior principle of authority, we refer to an authority that has an actual legitimacy and, in a certain way, a “transcendent” character, because without this, authority would lack any basis, it would be contingent and revocable. A truly stable center would be missing.
It is important to clearly fix this essential point, in order to differentiate the type of monarchy, which this essay deals with, from monarchy in the broad sense of power or government of one man. In fact, spurious counterfeit forms of authority are conceivable, and are even realized. Communist regimes are also based on a de facto authoritarianism that can disguise the crudest and even tyrannical forms which are the justifications that they mendaciously give. One can put the dictatorial phenomenon along the same lines if it is conceived otherwise than in relation to emergency situations as originally occurred in ancient Rome.
On the other hand, the antithesis, so often advanced between dictatorship and democracy, is relative, except that you examine the existential foundation of these two political phenomena, that is, a “state of the masses.” If the dictatorship has not purely functional and technical characteristics (an example is offered currently by the Salazar regime in Portugal), if it is based on pathos as in some recent plebiscitary and populist forms, galvanizing it is the same element activated by every democratic demagoguery. The dictator makes a bad surrogate to the monarch with the appeal to forces that confusingly seek a foothold, a center, whatever it is, just to come to the head of chaos, disorder, situations that have become unbearable. This also explains, however, the phenomenon of possible, abrupt changes in polarity as a result of some trauma that has suspended the cohesive and driving force of the system, as in a magnetic field when the power goes out. The most perspicuous case is perhaps provided, in this respect, by the astonishing change in the collective political climate occurring in present-day Germany, after the almost frantic mass enthusiasm that had characterized the previous dictatorial period. It is significant that, on the contrary, a similar phenomenon of inversion was not produced in Germany after the First World War, because its antecedent was not a dictatorship but a traditional monarchy.
Through the “transcendence” of the principle of authority characteristic of regality, the monarchical regime constitutes the only real antithesis both to dictatorship as well as absolute democracy. We must indicate the basis of its superior right for that reason. The various forms that it may take and the ideas or symbols that can legitimize this transcendence according to the times, do not touch the essential: the essential thing is the principle. Loewenstein is right when he says that in a world desacralized by the natural sciences, in which religion itself is undermined, there can no longer be a question of the mystique of the monarchy that in other times was supported on certain theological conceptions and a certain liturgy. But if you take a look at the world of the holders of the crown at all times and in all places, the recognition of the need for a stable center can be seen as a common and constant theme, a pole, something that to be truly stable must have, in a certain way, its own principle in itself or from above, which must not have a derived character. In this respect one can take a look, for example, at F. Wolff-Windegg’s excellent work, Die Gekrönten. Someone rightly wrote: “A purely political royalty — it can certainly be said — has never existed.” Not so long ago, the sovereignty of divine right “by the grace of God,” did not imply, in its subjects, specific theological considerations; its value, so to speak, in existential terms, corresponded precisely to the need for a higher point of reference that absolutely does not happen when the king is such only through the “will of the nation” or “the people.” On the other hand, only under that assumption could those dispositions, those forms of behavior and customs of a higher ethical value develop, in the subjects, in the sign of loyalty, which we will discuss shortly.
If in the past, the bond of fidelity that united the subject and follower with the sovereign could be treated as a sacrament — sacramentum fidelitatis — something that was preserved even later as the quite perceptible foundation of a special ethics, an ethic, in fact, of loyalty and honor, which could acquire a particular force in the assumption, just now indicated, of the presence of a personalized symbol. In normal times, the fact that the sovereign as an individual might not always be at the height of the principle, did not matter; his function remained unprescriptive and intangible because obedience was not to the man but to the king, and his person had value essentially as a support so that the capacity for super-individual dedication, that pride in serving freely and possibly even the readiness to sacrifice (as in the dramatic moments when a whole people rallied around their sovereign) could be awakened or propitiated, that they might constitute a way of elevation and dignification for the individual and, at the same time, the most powerful force to hold together the union of a political body and to limit in it what it has that is anodyne and disheartened, and in recent times has taken a dangerous extent.
That everything that cannot be achieved to the same extent in another form of political regiment, is quite obvious. A president of the republic can be flattered, but no one will ever recognize in him anything but a functionary, a “bourgeois” like any other, which only extrinsically, not on the basis of an inherent legitimacy, is vested with a temporary and conditioned authority. Whoever maintains a certain subtle sensibility perceives that “being in the service of their king,” the “fight for their king” (even the fight “for their own country,” despite the romantic coloring, has in comparison something less noble, more naturalistic and collectivistic), the “representing the king,” all have a specific quality, all of which indicates instead a parodic, not to say grotesque, character when it pertains “to one’s own president.” Especially in the case of the army, high bureaucracy, and diplomacy (regardless of the nobility), this appears very obvious. The same oath, when it is not paid to a sovereign but to the republic or one or another abstraction, has something discordant and empty about it. With a democratic republic, something immaterial, but still essential and irreplaceable, is inevitably lost. The anodyne and the profane prevail. A monarchist nation that becomes a republic is, in a certain way, a “degraded” nation.
If we observed that the kind of fluidity that forms around the symbol of the Crown is quite different from what may be related to the exalted “states of the multitude,” which can arouse or favor the demagogy of a popular leader, the difference also exists with regard to any simple nationalistic mysticism. Of course, the sovereign also incarnates the nation, symbolizes its unity on a higher plane, establishing almost, with it, a “unity of destiny.” But here we find the opposite of every Jacobin patriotism; there are none of those confused collectivizing myths that speak to the pure demos and that almost divinize it. It can be said that monarchy moderates, limits, and purifies simple nationalism; which, as it prevents any dictatorship replacing it with advantage, so it also prevents any nationalistic excess; it defends a structured, hierarchical, and balanced order. It is known that the most calamitous upheavals of recent times can be attributed mainly to unrestrained nationalism.
It is clear that take to take all that as firm, means going against the current. But, again, we pose an alternative: it is a question of accepting, or not, a state of fact as irreversible, thinking that only the useless vestiges of monarchy can exist. One of the elements to consider in this regard is the intolerance in our world, for distance. The success of dictatorships and other spurious political forms is due, in part, precisely to the fact that the leader is seen as “one of us,” the “Great Comrade,” and only in these terms is he accepted as a guide and obeyed. In these circumstances the concern for “popularity” and for “democratic” means is quite understandable. But that, basically, is anything but natural; we do not see why he should be subordinated when the leader, in the end, is just “one of us” when an essential distance is felt, as in the case of the true sovereign. So a “pathos of distance” — to use one of Nietzsche’s expressions — should be substituted for that of affinity, in relationships that exclude any haughty arrogance on the one hand, and every servility on the other. This is a basic point, in its existential character, for a restoration of the monarchy. Without exhuming anachronistic forms, instead of propaganda that “humanizes” the sovereign in order to captivate the masses, almost on the same line as the U.S. presidential election propaganda, one should see to what extent traits of a figure characterized by some innate superiority and dignity can have a profound activity in a suitable context. A kind of asceticism and liturgy of power could play a part here. While just these traits will enhance the prestige of the one who embodies a symbol, they should be able to exert a force of attraction on common man, even pride, in the subject. Moreover, even in fairly recent times there has been the example of Emperor Franz Joseph who, while interposing the strict ancient ceremonial between himself and his subjects, while not imitating in the least the “democratic” kings of the small Nordic States, enjoyed a particular, not common popularity.
To sum up, the main prerequisite for a revival of monarchy, pursuant to the dignity and function which we mentioned, there remains, in our opinion, the awakening of a new sensibility for an order that is detached from the most material, and also the simply “social,” plane, and tends to everything that is honor, loyalty, and responsibility, because similar values in the monarchy have their natural center of gravity; while, in turn, the monarchy will be end up degraded, reduced to a simple formal and decorative survival when these values are not alive and active — first in an elite, in a real ruling class. They are not the same chords that the defender of the monarchical idea and of any other system must make resonate in the individual and in the community. So it is absurd to entrust the destinies of the monarchical idea to propaganda and a praxis that approximately copies the methods of the opposed party in a democratic spirit. Even today being able to ascertain the appearance of tendencies toward an authoritarian center, towards a “monarchy” in the literal sense (= monocracy) is not enough, after what we said about the profound differences which the various objectifications of the principle of unity and authority may present. The meaning of what is not allowed to be sold, bought, or usurped in the dignity and participation in political life is a decisive factor and escapes like water through their fingers for those who think only in terms of matter, of personal advantage, hedonism, functionality, and rationality. If one must no longer speak of that meaning because of the famous Marxist “meaning of history,” which is claimed to be irrevocable, we might as well set aside definitively the cause of monarchy. This would, moreover, be tantamount to profess the most bleak pessimism in regard to what still can appeal to man of recent times.
After having considered the spiritual aspect of the problem of monarchy, it is necessary to indicate the aspects that are related on the positive, institutional, and constitutional plane. On such a plane, it will be necessary to make clear the specific function to attribute to monarchy and what differentiates a monarchical system from other systems. It is amazing that a comparable problem is almost not faced by the propaganda of the monarchists. In elections there were, even in Italy, discourses by the monarchists who blamed, more or less on the same lines of other sectors of the opposition, the dysfunctions of the republican democratic and partocratic State and the danger of communism, avoiding however indicating, in no uncertain terms and without fear, in which terms the presence of the monarchy would positively eliminate both, or, better put, in virtue of which particular prerogatives the monarchy would be for so much.
If one is really a monarchist, one cannot concede that the monarchy becomes reduced to a simple decorative and representative institution, a kind of nice furniture or, according to the image mentioned by Loewenstein, something like the golden figure that was put on the bow of a galleon; the State, in concrete terms, would remain that of the republican parliamentary democracies, concerning the king only to countersign, as would a president of the republic, whatever the government and parliament decide. The restoration should instead involve a kind of monarchical revolution (or counter-revolution).
The well-known maxim “the king reigns but does not govern,” should be opposed to the other: “the king reigns and rules” — rules, of course, not in terms of the absolute monarchies of the past, but, in the normal way, in the framework of established law and a constitution. In this regard, the best example was given to us by the previous central European monarchies, for which Loewenstein has not hidden his strong antipathy. Not only a regulatory, moderating, and arbitral power with respect to various political forces should be reserved to the sovereign but also that of a last resort. The constitution and the law should not be made into fetishes. Constitution and law do not fall ready-made from heaven. They are historical formations, and their intangibility is conditioned by the normal course of things. When this course fails, when faced with emergency situations, a higher power must assert itself positively, which has remained dormant and inactive under normal conditions; it does not for this reason cease to constitute the center of the system. The king is the legitimate subject of that power. He can and must exercise it whenever it is necessary, saying, “Thus far and no farther,” and preventing every subversive revolutionary movement (preventing it by means of a “revolution from above”), as well as any dictatorial upheaval whose only justification is the lack of a true center of authority.
It is not said that such power must be exercised directly by the sovereign; he may do it through a capable and decisive chancellor or prime minister who, strong in the support of the Crown and essentially responsible as its face, can deal with the situation. The case of Bismarck in the “institutional conflict” mentioned by Loewenstein corresponds to this possibility. Certain of the confidence of the sovereign, Bismarck could also take no account of parliament’s opposition and by following his path, he made the greatness of Germany, receiving later the approval of his work in a new constitution.
One might venture to say that, in part, there was a similar situation at first sight when the King of Italy supported Mussolini, granting him powers that however, Victor Emmanuel himself, if he had not felt so constitutionally bound, could have exercised, so as to impose an order on an Italy shocked by subversion and the social crisis through new structures, without the need of fascism, and preventing those developments — defined by some in terms of a “diarchy” — which finally undermined to some extent his position through the presence, almost, of a state within the state. At decisive moments a sovereign should never forget the saying of an ancient wisdom: Rex est qui nihil metuit (The king is the one who fears nothing). Through a badly understood humanitarianism, in extreme cases, even the danger of battles in which blood might flow, he cannot be afraid because this is not about persons, but of making authority, order and justice rule above all things, against possible turmoil by a part of it. The formula, as we have already stated: “Thus far and no farther.” In unexceptional situations Benjamin Constant’s conception of the Crown as the “fourth power,” as an arbitral and balancing function, can be accepted. Even the rights recognized by Bagehot for the Crown: the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn, are unexceptionable.
Therefore, a shift of the center of gravity should be effectuated with a monarchical restoration. A national delegation may also be chosen by the “people,” according to some modality (which we will return to), but it should be responsible, in primis et ante omnia, over against the king, according to relations of personalized responsibility which would close the door on many forms of democratic corruption. The king should be, therefore, the supreme point of reference, and the previously mentioned values of loyalty and honor should be felt, rather than the representatives being the instruments of the parties and the mysterious, ephemeral entity of the “people” whom they exploited, and who alone has the power to confirm or repeal according to the system of absolute democracy, i.e., of officially recognized universal suffrage.
On the other hand, for a true renewal of monarchy the ideal of an organic State needs to be present, through which the problem of the compatibility in general between monarchy with the system of absolute parliamentary democracy cannot be evaded. The superimposition of one over the other can only lead to something of a hybrid. It is to be considered that if the hoped for change in mentality will be achieved, the absurdity of the system of representation based on indiscriminate universal suffrage will gradually be recognized, i.e., on the law of pure number, having as the obvious premise not the conception of the citizen as a “person” but his degrading reduction to an interchangeably undifferentiated atom.
In this regard, it must be remembered that modern democracy in its absolute form is one thing, another is a system of representation, the latter not necessarily coinciding with the former. It is known that a system of representation also existed in traditional monarchical States, but generally as organic representations, i.e., of bodies and orders, not of ideological parties. To want to consider the parties, the best system would be bipartisan, accepting an opposition that acts constructively and dynamically within the system, not outside of it or against it. (For example, that a revolutionary or communist party, whenever it observes certain purely formal statuary norms, can be considered “legal” and must be allowed in a national assembly even though its stated or implied program is the overthrow of the existing order, is a true absurdity.) Apart from the bipartisan solution, already adopted with advantage in England’s monarchy, the representative system that through its most organic character should be harmonized with the monarchy would be traditional corporative, in the broadest sense, without reference to the attempt, which was made by fascism with the creation of a corporate rather than partocratic Chamber. Perhaps the current Portuguese system — the Spanish to a lesser extent — will approach the desired order. Loewenstein highlighted the alternative that would occur in the case of a restoration, because either the king is supported on the upper classes who are more inclined to sustain the monarchy, and then he would play into the hands of those who are quick to accuse him of conservative reactionism, or else he goes toward the working classes and, in general, starts acting as the “king of the people,” and then he would dangerously alienate the support of the other part of the nation.
Now, a similar turning point obviously presupposes the retention, the perpetuation, of the state of class struggle, in terms of Marxist ideology. But we believe that one of the prerequisites for a new, organic, and monarchical order must be seen exactly in overcoming this antagonistic division of national forces. Corporate reform should aim precisely at that, which the mentioned alternative is carried out, opposite which the restored monarchy would be found, or would fail to a large degree. Even if within corporations, or whatever you want to designate as the primary representative authority, opposing tendencies were asserted, one is to think that the preeminence given to the principle of jurisdiction would reduce the ideological factor considerably in such differences.
In a sector that has become increasingly important to the system of corporate representatives on the basis of responsibilities could exhibit an actual character of a particular path of development exhibited by almost teratology presented by the technocratic element and, in general, by the economy. We know of the criticism against the technological civilization of consumption in the most advanced industrial society; the destructive aspects that are typical have been shown, the need to put a brake on economic processes that have become almost independent, like the image of the “unleashed giant” used by W. Sombart. Now it is not possible to envisage a brake on the system, a restraint, without the intervention of a higher political power. The task of adequately restraining and ordering on the strength of a more complete hierarchy of interests and values, the forces in motion in society, obviating also a paradoxical situation that has occurred in recent times, that of an increasingly strong state with an increasingly weak head, would evidently find the most favorable environment for its implementation in a true monarchical state. Institutionally, the authority could be provided either by a single assembly, but, alongside representatives of economic and productive forces also comprising representatives of the spiritual and cultural life (as there were, in fact, in the “General States” or Diets, similar assemblies of ancient traditional monarchical regimes), or by the bicameral system, an Upper House and a Lower House, the latter being truly corporative, the former making itself felt instead in the higher-level instances. We know that the latest “conquest” of absolute democracy was to reduce the upper House, or Senate, to a useless duplicate of the other House because even for it the principle of the election of the masses and of interim elections (at least for most of its elements) was asserted. As in the Italy of yesterday, the definition of the Upper House should be, instead, one of the essential tasks of the monarchy, even if only conveniently assisted, continuing the formal nature of the appointment from above.
In this way the Upper House would remain the political body closest to the Crown and it would be natural that loyalty, fidelity, and active impersonality were present in it to the highest degree. It should have power, authority, prestige, and a meaning different from that in the Lower House. As custodian of values and higher interests, it would constitute the real nucleus of the state, its “head.” It would, therefore, have to emphasize its active functional character in the place of the codetermination of the political line, a character that will differentiate it greatly from what had been, in post-Risorgimento monarchical Italy, the Senate: an assembly of worthy people, of “highly intelligent men,” of notable personages according to worth, yet as essentially decorative role, without any real, vigorous organic function.
Without dwelling on the details, it is clear that a system of this kind would overcome the aberrations of absolute democracy and the republican partocracy and it would have its natural integration in the monarchy. Here monarchy would not be something heterogeneous, almost the remains of another world, superimposed on the current parliamentary system. Therefore, de rigueur, the problem of monarchy returns as part of a larger problem, that of the “revolutionary” reshaping of the entire modern state.
But for the functions of the monarchy that we have tried to sketch out, in order to be able not only “to reign” but also to have an active part — more or less critical depending on the circumstances — in the “government,” it is clear that it would require a special qualification of the sovereign not only in terms of character, pursuant to the strict traditional education of princes, but also in terms of expertise, knowledge, and experience. This is made necessary by the character both of the times as well as the modern state. The ancient regal Far Eastern conception of wei-wu-wei, of “action without action,” is suggestive, alluding not to a direct material action but to an action “through presence,” as the center and quintessential power. This aspect, while maintaining its intrinsic validity in terms just mentioned, when, as in current times and probably still more in those that were predicted, everything is in motion and forces tend to move out of their normal orbit, needs to be integrated, while taking care that it is not crippled in this way. As we said, in other times in a monarchy the symbol also had preeminence over the person; given the overall climate and given the strength of a long tradition and legitimacy, it was able not to be jeopardized by the merely human aspects of the person who in either case embodied it. If today or tomorrow we were to come to a restoration of the monarchy, this would no longer be possible: the delegate should be at most at the stature of the principle, not through the ostentation of the person, but through the opposite. He should also have the qualities of a true leader, a man capable of holding the scepter more than just symbolically and ritually. Such a qualification to this day cannot be only like that of the ages of the warrior dynasties. The qualities of character, courage, and vitality, while remaining the essential basis, should be united with those of an enlightened mind and essential political knowledge, adequate to the complex structure of a modern state and the forces at work in contemporary society.
The decline of traditional regimes had two causes which acted firmly even before the materialistic climate of modern civilization and industrial society was added. On the one hand, at the top there was in fact a growing inability to fully embody the principle especially when the general structures were beginning to creak; on the other hand, at the bottom, there was the failure, in the people who had become more or less the “masses,” of a specific sensibility, of certain capacity of recognition. Therefore, the possibility of a monarchical restoration is subjected to a double claim, and appears to be conditioned by the removal of both negative factors. On the one hand, rulers would be valued, who do not owe their prestige only to their super-elevated position, to the symbol that overshadows them, but who are also able to cope with any situation as exponents of an idea and a higher power. On the other hand, that change in general mental and moral level of the masses would be required, which need we have not tired of emphasizing.
Nowadays, one or the other conditions appear hypothetical. But if we do not have to come to essentially negative conclusions, to be drawn from studies on monarchy in the modern state, such as that undertaken by Loewenstein; if it must not be considered merely as an institution, a pale shadow of what monarchy was, it is now almost entirely devoid of its meaning and its essential raison d’être, there is no other way of laying out the problem. It is therefore worthwhile to repeat that the fate of monarchy appears to be, in a certain way, in agreement with that of the entire modern civilization and more properly depends on what may be the solution to a crisis which, as appears from many clues, is assailing the very foundations of that civilization.
Published: October 7, 2014 | This entry was posted in North American New Right and tagged articles, democracy, dictatorship, Julius Evola, monarchy, North American New Right, reprints, Traditionalism, translations. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.
I would at least opine that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain were very noble. Under their rule the Jews and Moslems were removed from Spain, then they financed Columbus’ opening up of the New World. Can’t have a much better record than that when it comes to advancing the White race.
What a lot of waffle about dignity and other abstractions. Evola can’t be familiar with the real reasons for the French Revolution. Of course it had nothing to do with famine caused by crushing feudal dues and Louis iiv’s division of the common lands among the nobles. No, it was occult subversion and freemasonry all the way.
It is really too bad that the Queen of England allowed that simulacrum of her to parachute into the Olympic games. Actually for me it was very symbolic of her fall into being just human. Royalty is supposed to be above us on a vertical scale, not just distant from us on a horizontal scale. Elizabeth the first knew what it was about to be a Queen of a country.
No to monarchy or the rule of the rich for the rich. Yes to restricting voting to whites. | https://www.counter-currents.com/2014/10/the-meaning-and-function-of-monarchy/ |
Generally, a new type of government is established when its earlier alternative fails to fulfill the needs of citizens. When such a type of government is established, the positive attributes of the previous government are retained whereas, the negative attributes are changed. Similarly, Monarchy and Theocracy were established. So, what exactly is the difference between Monarchy and Theocracy? These two types of government are differentiated based on factors like definition, ideologies, characteristics, structure, etc. The widely used definition of Monarchy is "Government led by a king or queen" whereas, Theocracy is defined as "A type of government ruled by leaders having religious authority".
Comparison of Monarchy vs Theocracy proves to be significant when we are studying different types of governments. Monarchy and Theocracy may differ drastically in their principles or they could be such government forms, which are derived from one another. These principles and other details can be studied at Monarchy Definition and Theocracy Definition.
When you compare Monarchy vs Theocracy structure the factors to be considered are majority rule, succession, presence of parliament and constitution.
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Generally, a new type of government is established when its earlier alternative fails to fulfill the needs of citizens. When such a type of government is established, the positive attributes of the previous government are retained whereas, the negative attributes are changed. Similarly, Dictatorship and Direct Democracy were established. So, what exactly is the difference between Dictatorship and Direct Democracy? These two types of government are differentiated based on factors like definition, ideologies, characteristics, structure, etc. The widely used definition of Dictatorship is "A type of government where political authority is controlled by an individual or a political entity" whereas, Direct Democracy is defined as "A type of Democracy government in which people decide all the policies directly, also known as pure Democracy".
Comparison of Dictatorship vs Direct Democracy proves to be significant when we are studying different types of governments. Dictatorship and Direct Democracy may differ drastically in their principles or they could be such government forms, which are derived from one another. These principles and other details can be studied at Dictatorship Definition and Direct Democracy Definition.
When you compare Dictatorship vs Direct Democracy structure the factors to be considered are majority rule, succession, presence of parliament and constitution.
© 2015-2021. A softUsvista venture! | https://www.governmentvs.com/en/dictatorship-vs-direct-democracy/comparison-33-34-0 |
Origin. The current concept of Thai kingship evolved through 800 years of absolute rule.
How long was Thailand a monarchy?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|King of Thailand|
|First monarch||Sri Indraditya of Sukhothai|
|Formation||1238; 783 years ago|
|Residence||Grand Palace (ceremonial) Dusit Palace (residential)|
|Website||royaloffice|
Is Thailand a absolute monarchy?
Thailand categorizes itself as a constitutional monarchy, the king has little direct power under the constitution and exercises power through the National Assembly, the Council of Ministers, and the Courts in accordance with the 2017 constitution. … The Prime Minister is elected by both houses of the National Assembly.
How long did the last king of Thailand rule?
Bhumibol Adulyadej
|Bhumibol Adulyadej ภูมิพลอดุลยเดช|
|King Bhumibol in1960|
|King of Thailand|
|Reign||9 June 1946 – 13 October 2016|
|Coronation||5 May 1950|
When was the last absolute monarchy?
Absolute monarchy lasted until 1814 in Norway, and 1848 in Denmark.
Why is Thailand called Rama?
All kings in the current Chakri dynasty of Thailand are often referred to as Rama. The name Rama was adopted from the name of the Hindu God Rama, an avatar of Vishnu. The use of the name “Rama ‘n’th” is in line with Thai practice of giving numbers to the king in the current dynasty.
Is Thailand a dictatorship?
The 2007 Constitution (drafted by a military-appointed council, but approved by a referendum) was annulled by the 2014 coup-makers who ran the country as a military dictatorship. Thailand has so far had seventeen Constitutions. Throughout, the basic structure of government has remained the same.
What countries are absolute monarchy?
Modern countries where monarchs maintain absolute power are:
- Brunei.
- Eswatini.
- Oman.
- Saudi Arabia.
- Vatican City.
- United Arab Emirates. | https://muangsingtravel.com/attractions/how-long-was-thailand-an-absolute-monarchy.html |
How are laws made in an oligarchy?
Given that by meaning the power of an oligarchy is managed by a little group of people such as nobility, landowners, wealth, or family-ties. For that reason that little group of the effective just MAKE laws that finest fit THEIR desires and requires and do so without the rule of passage through a federal government hierarchy.
Considering this, how are leaders selected in an oligarchy?
If the leader is weak, an oligarchy can form under a monarchy or tyranny. A prominent group increases its power around this individual, and when the leader leaves, the oligarchs stay in power. They pick a puppet or among their own to change the leader
who supervises in a oligarchy? λιγαρχία (oligarkhía); from? λίγος (olígos), indicating ‘couple of’, and? ρχω (arkho), indicating ‘to rule or to command’) is a kind of class structure in which power rests with a little number of individuals.
Likewise, how is power moved in an oligarchy?
Aristotle utilized the term oligarchia to designate the guideline of the couple of when it was worked out not by the finest however by evildoers unjustly. In this sense, oligarchy is a debased type of upper class, which represents federal government by the couple of in which power is vested in the very best people.
What are the kinds of oligarchy?
Kinds of Federal Government by Oligarchic Qualities. Oligarchy exists in various kinds such as upper class, plutocracy, kratocracy, stratocracy, timocracy, meritocracy, technocrachy, geniocracy, noocracy, theocracy, kritarchy and patricracy.
Associated Concern Responses.
What are the 2 kinds of oligarchies?
What are 2 kinds of oligarchies? theocracy and monarchy. dictatorship and theocracy. communism and dictatorship.
What are the 2 kinds of monarchy?
Various kinds of queens exist. A monarchy might be a restricted monarchy, a absolute monarchy, or an outright monarchy A restricted monarchy is one in which the royalty have just ritualistic powers.
What is the distinction in between upper class and oligarchy?
Whats various: Oligarchy is the guideline of the couple of in a generic method where on the other hand upper class is a kind of governing where administration or power is in the hands of an unique class of individuals. Aristocrats are linked to royal households through blood, whereas an Oligarchy is not.
How are leaders selected in a theocracy?
The power of the spiritual leader( s) originates from God and the guidelines that they develop are based off of their faiths and custom-mades. In a theocracy modification in power occurs when a brand-new leader is selected by God or his spiritual agents in the world.
What is a synonym for oligarchy?
Words associated with oligarchy autocracy, injustice, dominance, ruthlessness, authoritarianism, despotism, totalitarianism, browbeating, terrorism, absolutism, seriousness, monocracy, fascism, totality, arrogance, high-handedness, unreasonableness, peremptoriness.
What are the benefits of oligarchy?
Among the primary pros of oligarchy is that it puts power in the hands of individuals who are typically professionals and can make educated choices for the populated or business. It for that reason is more effective than each and every single individual having the ability to make choices, and can typically maximize individuals to concentrate on their own work or lives.
Who is the leader of theocracy?
In a pure theocracy, the civil leader is thought to have an individual connection with the civilization’s faith or belief. For instance, Moses led the Israelites, and Muhammad led the early Muslims.
Who runs an oligarchy?
The political term, oligarchy, pertains to English from the Greek with its significance undamaged a kind of federal government run by a little number of individuals such as rich landowners, royalty or effective military figures. If you state that you can’t combat the oligarchy, you suggest the leaders of such a location.
Exactly what is an oligarch?
More normally, an oligarch is a “member of an oligarchy; an individual who belongs to a little group holding power in a state”. Aristotle offered the idea of oligarchy some unfavorable undertones, however the term does not always indicate wealth.
Is America a plutocracy?
According to Kevin Phillips, author and political strategist to Richard Nixon, the United States is a plutocracy in which there is a “combination of cash and federal government.”
What is a Russian oligarch suggest?
Russian oligarch Russian oligarchs are service oligarchs of the previous Soviet republics who quickly built up wealth throughout the period of Russian privatization in the after-effects of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.
What do we suggest by the term federal government?
A federal government is the system or group of individuals governing an arranged neighborhood, typically a state. When it comes to its broad associative meaning, federal government usually includes legislature, executive, and judiciary.
What nation is a real democracy?
Switzerland is an unusual example of a nation with instruments of direct democracy (at the levels of the towns, cantons, and federal state). People have more power than in a representative democracy.
What kind of federal government systems exist?
Constitutional democracy a type of federal government in which the sovereign power of individuals is defined in a governing constitution. Dictatorship a type of federal government in which a ruler or little clique wield outright power (not limited by a constitution or laws).
In what type of federal government does a little group?
An oligarchy is a federal government ruled by a little group of effective individuals. These individuals might spread out power similarly or not similarly. An oligarchy is various from a real democracy since really couple of individuals are provided the opportunity to alter things.
Newbie
Is Venezuela an oligarchy?
Venezuela has a governmental federal government. The Economic expert Intelligence System ranked Venezuela an “authoritarian routine” in 2019.
Newbie
What are the 16 kinds of federal government?
Kinds of Federal Government Tabulation
- Anarchy.
- Upper Class.
- Administration.
- Commercialism.
- Manifest Destiny.
- Communism.
- Democracy.
- Federalism.
Newbie
What are the 3 kinds of federal government?
3 Branches of Federal Government Our federal federal government has 3 parts. They are the Executive, (President and about 5,000,000 employees) Legal (Senate and Legislature) and Judicial (Supreme Court and lower Courts). The President of the United States administers the Executive Branch of our federal government
Check Out Complete Short Article https://everythingwhat.com/how-are-laws-made-in-an-oligarchy . | https://pcarenahungary.com/how-are-laws-made-in-an-oligarchy/ |
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