Month: September 2024

The superior thyroid artery origin pattern: a systematic review with meta-analysis

Latest Results

Abstract

Purpose

The current systematic review with meta-analysis aimed to investigate the pooled prevalence of the superior thyroid artery (STA) pattern of origin (distinct or fused-common origin with adjacent arteries in the form of a common trunk). The standard and uncommon variants were also studied, considering the STA’s exact surface of origin and the relationship with the upper border of the thyroid cartilage (TC, reference point), considering the laterality effect. Thus, the STA topographical anatomy was considered.

Methods

An evidence-based systematic review with meta-analysis was performed according to the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. A literature search was conducted in four online databases using specific keywords, the pooled prevalence was calculated using statistical analysis in the R programming language, and multiple subgroup analyses were performed.

Results

The most common distinct origin of the STA was from the external carotid artery (ECA) (56.94% pooled prevalence, 95%CI: 50.89–62.89), and the rarest one was from the internal carotid artery (ICA) (< 0.01%, 95%CI: 0.00–0.00). Common trunks were also investigated, with the thyrolingual trunk emanating from the ECA estimated at 0.61% (95%CI: 0.21–1.14), representing the most common. Subgroup analysis based on the nationality, type of study, and sample size, as well as a comparison between left and right sides and males and females, were investigated.

Conclusions

The most common STA origin was estimated as the ECA, the medial surface of origin, and above the TC upper border. Adequate knowledge of STA origin is paramount for surgeons, especially during thyroidectomy, not to cause iatrogenic injury to the external branch of the superior laryngeal nerve.

Exploring Systemic Sustainability in Manufacturing: Geoanthropology’s Strategic Lens Shaping Industry 6.0

Latest Results

Abstract

This seminal study explores systemic sustainability within the Industry 5.0 paradigm, using the strategic lens of geoanthropology to shape the emerging concept of Industry 6.0. A transdisciplinary approach is adopted, integrating geoanthropological insights into the analysis of the Italian ceramic district. Seven key factors are considered: resource consumption, production dynamics, innovation, environmental impact, social impact, market dynamics, and economic impact. Historical events such as changes in Italian industrial policy, market slowdowns, and the COVID-19 pandemic are identified as significant for the sector. A contingent analysis tailored to the unique characteristics of the ceramic district provides an in-depth understanding of its challenges and opportunities. The incorporation of geoanthropology provides a transdisciplinary perspective that allows for an in-depth examination of the complex interactions between people and their environment in an industrial setting. The study highlights the central role of innovation, digitalization, and government policies in driving positive changes in production efficiency, market dynamics, and economic impact. Nevertheless, challenges remain, including the delicate balance between environmental sustainability and resource consumption, as well as the effective management of the social impacts of digitization. To address these challenges, a systemic sustainability index derived from geoanthropological insights is proposed as a pragmatic tool to measure and guide the development of sustainability initiatives in the ceramic district. The results of this study not only pave the way for new horizons in sustainability assessment but also provide valuable insights for industrial district managers to formulate strategies that foster organizational flexibility and resilience.

Flexible Decision Framework for Resilient Healthcare Supply Chain Systems Focusing Pharmaceutical Industry

Latest Results

Abstract

There has been rising interest in the resilient supply chains of the healthcare industry following the stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic and other geopolitical disruptive events. While the resilient supply chain literature is robust, there is a dearth of studies related to resilient healthcare supply chain (RHSC), in general, and the resilient pharmaceutical supply chain, in specific. The current study integrates the academic and grey literature as well as experts’ opinions, to develop a theoretical framework that can be used to assess the resiliency of PSC. This research proposes a novel framework—the argumentation-based modified total interpretive structural modeling with polarity (ABM-TISMP)—that integrates MICMAC, network, and scenario analyses. With this framework, the paper aims to help scholars and practitioners understand the “what,” “how,” and “why” of the RHSC, as well as identify future research directions.

LANTITE’s impact on teacher diversity: Unintended consequences of testing pre-service teachers

Latest Results

Abstract

Australian schools are diverse, and support students from a wide range of racial, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds, as well as students with disability. Ironically, efforts to ensure equally diverse teacher workforces have been ineffective. Attempts to improve broader representation in teachers have been hampered by a homogenous approach to teacher recruitment and education. In 2016, Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education (LANTITE) became a graduation requirement for teachers. The aim of this research is to explore the test-taking experiences of students (pre-service teachers) from diverse backgrounds, and the stakeholders who support them. A thematic analysis of data from a larger mixed methods study revealed additional tensions for students from diverse backgrounds including unintended consequences such as traumatic experiences and having to encounter additional hurdles to be successful. This study provides unique insights into additional pressures and hurdles students from diverse backgrounds experience when completing this high-stakes test.

Towards an Indigenous literature re-view methodology: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boarding school literature

Latest Results

Abstract

This paper outlines the development of a new Indigenous research methodology: Indigenous Literature Re-view Methodology (ILRM). In the rejection of the idea that Western, dominant forms of research ‘about’ Indigenous peoples are most valid, ILRM was developed with aims to research in ways that give greater emphasis to Indigenous voices and knowledges, foregrounding Indigenous ways of being, doing and knowing. The advantages of ILRM include identifying themes as ‘relevant’ as opposed to ‘common’. This method is based on relatedness, which is framed by Aboriginal ontology, axiology and epistemology, or ways of being, ways of doing and ways of knowing. Describing and employing ILRM to re-view Indigenous Australian boarding school literature, it was found there is a modest but robust body of research that has emerged in the past 20 years. Sixty-six written sources (i.e. journal articles, reports, theses and books) which were published in 2000 onwards and focussed on a topic of contemporary Indigenous boarding schooling were analysed. Sources that included a chapter or section on boarding as part of a publication focussed on other topics were not included in this re-view. Seven major themes emerged, including home, student experience, transitions, access, staff, health and evaluation. This paper focusses on the development and use of ILRM as an Indigenous methodology for researchers in Indigenous fields of study.

Colonial texts on Aboriginal land: the dominance of the canon in Australian English classrooms

Latest Results

Abstract

From its conception in Australia, subject ‘English’ has been considered central to the curriculum. The English literature strand in the curriculum does not stipulate specific texts but is more explicit regarding what should be considered as an appropriate ‘literary text’. Curriculum documents emphasise the need for texts to have cultural and aesthetic value whilst suggesting that English teachers include texts that are chosen by students, texts from Asia, and texts by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors. Despite this, the influences of British colonisation manifests in Australian English teachers’ text selection as they continue to choose texts from the 'canon’. This paper is framed by Rigney’s principles of Indigenism and Indigenous Standpoint Theory (1999; 2017) and will draw on my own lived experience—as an Aboriginal student, English teacher, and now researcher—to examine the presence of colonialism in English and the consequent subordination of Indigenous perspectives. This paper will suggest some of the ramifications of prioritising colonial texts while teaching and learning on Aboriginal land and investigate how the construction of subject English could feel assimilative to Indigenous people. I will explore this by using my own experience of learning William Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ as a student and of teaching Doris Pilkington’s ‘Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence’ as a teacher as examples.

The role of Aboriginal education officers in the context of settler colonial schooling: challenges and possibilities

Latest Results

Abstract

Educational policies indicate that the role of an Aboriginal Education Officer (AEO) is to build on contextual understanding and provide culturally appropriate support to assist Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students’ learning. There is little research exploring the role of the AEO from the perspective of Aboriginal peoples. The stories of four AEOs from New South Wales, Australia, will be shared through a narrative case study. This article will focus on AEOs’ experiences when they were initially employed in their schools. Findings suggest that the lack of clarity within the state-wide AEO statement of duties impacted the schools’ delegation to the AEOs. This, in turn impacted on the AEOs’ initial experience in the role and the inclusion of tasks that AEOs felt were outside of their expectations. Policy states that more Aboriginal educators are required in education systems but there are continual hurdles that AEOs face that prevent them from successfully performing their duties.

Negotiating senses of belonging and identity across education spaces

Latest Results

Abstract

A multitude of educational programs attempt to facilitate young people’s engagement with ideas and practices of active citizenship. For young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander or Indigenous people in Australia, such interventions are often subject to complex experiences of senses of belonging and non-belonging. This paper responds to calls from researchers to develop better understandings of young Indigenous people’s own senses and practices of belonging and to better understand the ways in which these perspectives and practices are spatially influenced at the level of local communities, ‘country’ and cultural groupings, and within larger state, national or transnational settings. Their testimonies illustrate the tensions that young Indigenous people must navigate in a settler colony that has never truly recognised Indigenous sovereignty but show that sovereignty remains intact. Focus groups were conducted with 58 young Indigenous people in Melbourne and regional Victoria who were participating in an Indigenous youth leadership program designed to foster formal and informal active citizenship practices, and to nurture a strong, affirming sense of Indigenous identity. The testimonies of these participants provide valuable insights into educational sites as spaces in which young people experience a spectrum of weak to strong senses of belonging. They also provide insights into the possibilities of engaging the challenges faced by many young Indigenous people in educational settings, challenges that include race discordance and exclusion, deficit discourses and gaps and distances in educational practice. They highlight the need to recognise the aspirations of young Indigenous people and the capacities of colonial education systems to meet them, and the imperative to celebrate young Indigenous identities in meaningful, non-tokenistic ways.

Suspensions in QLD state schools, 2016–2020: overrepresentation, intersectionality and disproportionate risk

Latest Results

Abstract

Overrepresentation in exclusionary school discipline is extensively documented for certain groups of students, particularly students of colour and those with disability, yet while these groups may overlap, policies that aim to address disproportionality tend to consider equity factors in isolation. The majority of research on overrepresentation, intersectionality and disproportionate risk has been conducted in the United States, yet there has been limited research within an Australian context despite reports of the overrepresentation of students in priority equity groups: students with a disability, Indigenous students and those living in out-of-home care. To disentangle the intersectionalities between these three priority equity groups, we created seven independent groups in which one or more of these factors was present. We then compare each of these seven groups to one referent group (not Indigenous, no disability, not in care) to examine trends in Queensland state school suspensions from 2016 to 2020. Findings show that students in the seven groups were issued suspensions at rates disproportionate to enrolments, in contrast to the referent group, with the risk of suspension increasing with greater intersectionality. Further analyses highlight disability as a common underlying factor, both in terms of increasing risk of suspension and in its repeated use, particularly for students recorded as receiving adjustments in the Social-Emotional category. These findings underscore the need for more nuanced reform and support strategies that can better account for the intersectionalities between groups.

Self-help: a Systematic Review of the Efficacy of Mental Health Apps for Low- and Middle-Income Communities

Latest Results

Abstract

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are tasked with providing adequate and accessible mental health care. However, this has been a slow process due to the lack of resources. With the recent advances in technology, mental health apps offer the opportunity to provide mental health care that is accessible and affordable. This study explored the efficacy of mental health apps in LMICs using the AAAQ framework. A systematic review following PRISMA guidelines explored studies published from 2015 to 2021. Seven studies met the inclusion criteria and were analysed using content analysis and thematic synthesis. Themes centred around the availability of mental health care systems in LMICs, some of the barriers to accessing mental health care, the need for mental health apps to be congruent with the communities that they are used in and quality criteria for apps. The study offers valuable insight towards mediating some of the struggles faced in the implementation of appropriate mental health care in LMICs using mental health apps.