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Evaluation of a program for routine implementation of shared decision-making in cancer care: results of a stepped wedge cluster randomized trial
Implementation Science volume 16, Article number: 106 (2021)
Shared decision-making (SDM) is preferred by many patients in cancer care. However, despite scientific evidence and promotion by health policy makers, SDM implementation in routine health care lags behind. This study aimed to evaluate an empirically and theoretically grounded implementation program for SDM in cancer care.
In a stepped wedge design, three departments of a comprehensive cancer center sequentially received the implementation program in a randomized order. It included six components: training for health care professionals (HCPs), individual coaching for physicians, patient activation intervention, patient information material/decision aids, revision of quality management documents, and reflection on multidisciplinary team meetings (MDTMs). Outcome evaluation comprised four measurement waves. The primary endpoint was patient-reported SDM uptake using the 9-item Shared Decision Making Questionnaire. Several secondary implementation outcomes were assessed. A mixed-methods process evaluation was conducted to evaluate reach and fidelity. Data were analyzed using mixed linear models, qualitative content analysis, and descriptive statistics.
A total of 2,128 patient questionnaires, 559 questionnaires from 408 HCPs, 132 audio recordings of clinical encounters, and 842 case discussions from 66 MDTMs were evaluated. There was no statistically significant improvement in the primary endpoint SDM uptake. Patients in the intervention condition were more likely to experience shared or patient-lead decision-making than in the control condition (d=0.24). HCPs in the intervention condition reported more knowledge about SDM than in the control condition (d = 0.50). In MDTMs the quality of psycho-social information was lower in the intervention than in the control condition (d = − 0.48). Further secondary outcomes did not differ statistically significantly between conditions. All components were implemented in all departments, but reach was limited (e.g., training of 44% of eligible HCPs) and several adaptations occurred (e.g., reduced dose of coaching).
The process evaluation provides possible explanations for the lack of statistically significant effects in the primary and most of the secondary outcomes. Low reach and adaptations, particularly in dose, may explain the results. Other or more intensive approaches are needed for successful department-wide implementation of SDM in routine cancer care. Further research is needed to understand factors influencing implementation of SDM in cancer care.
clinicaltrials.gov, NCT03393351, registered 8 January 2018.
In cancer care, health care decisions often revolve around complex treatment options with various patterns of benefits and risks and with a substantial impact on the patient’s subsequent quality of life . This makes it especially important to consider patients’ values and preferences during the decision-making process [2, 3]. Many patients with cancer prefer to be involved in medical decisions [4,5,6,7]. In shared decision-making (SDM), an important component of high-quality health care, patients and health care professionals (HCPs) build a team in the decision-making process by combining medical knowledge with personal preferences and values to find the option that best suits the patient’s individual situation [8,9,10]. Therewith, SDM is an important pillar of both evidence-based medicine and patient-centered care [11, 12]. SDM is widely supported by ethical considerations  and by health policy makers [14, 15]. A range of patient- and clinician-mediated interventions to facilitate SDM have been evaluated in clinical trials, including SDM communications skills training for HCPs  and patient decision aids (PtDAs ,). However, translation into routine practice has repeatedly been found to be limited [4, 18,19,20,21]. This lack of implementation has been associated with patients’ decision regret as well as lower patient-reported quality of care and physician communication [7, 22].
In the past years, a range of SDM implementation efforts has been made. Some of these endeavors focused on the implementation of PtDAs as the main strategy to foster SDM implementation. Many of these studies did not explicitly ground their work in theoretical considerations , as recommended by implementation scientists [24, 25]. Several SDM implementation projects did include multiple strategies, e.g., the MAGIC (Making good decisions in collaboration) program in the UK  and an SDM implementation program in breast cancer care in the Netherlands . In Germany, at the time of planning this study, no projects focusing on the implementation of SDM in routine clinical practice had been concluded [14, 28].
Building on the importance of using a theoretical underpinning in implementation projects [24, 25] and of conducting pre-implementation studies to understand the local context and its stakeholders’ perspectives on potential implementation strategies, we used the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR ,) and developed a multi-component SDM implementation program for cancer care based on the results of a thorough pilot study. In this pilot study, we assessed the current state of SDM implementation and the needs of different stakeholders regarding SDM implementation at the same comprehensive cancer center that also participated in the implementation study reported here. The pilot study used a range of qualitative methods, including interviews, focus groups, and observational methods, and triangulated perspectives between different stakeholders and researchers. Detailed results are described elsewhere [18, 19, 30,31,32].
The aim of the present study was to evaluate this theoretically and empirically grounded multi-component program for implementation of SDM in routine cancer care.
We used a stepped wedge design, a variant of the cluster randomized controlled trial, in which the participating clusters received the intervention in a randomized order. The SDM implementation program was sequentially introduced in each of the three participating departments in time intervals of 6 months, i.e., each department moved from control condition (prior to introduction of the implementation program) to intervention condition (exposure to implementation program). The findings are reported in accordance with relevant reporting guidelines ( [33, 34], see Additional files 1 and 2). Methodological details have been described in a published study protocol .
Setting and participants
The study was conducted in three departments of a comprehensive cancer center within an academic hospital in Germany treating a wide range of cancer entities. Each department offers inpatient and outpatient care. We selected the departments due to their respective leadership’s high interest in the implementation of SDM identified in the pilot study, which is a known facilitator for SDM implementation . The study team consisted of researchers with expertise in SDM interventions and implementation. Hospital administrators and health services managers were involved in the study in an advisory capacity (e.g., in a workshop meeting at the beginning of the study).
We aimed to include an unselected sample of patients who had a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of a neoplasm (ICD 10: C00-D49, excluding D10-D36), received health care at one of the participating departments, were 18 years old or older, and spoke German sufficiently. As it was not always possible to verify diagnosis and age at the time of recruitment, we decided to also include German-speaking patients with uncertainty regarding diagnosis or age who visited the cancer-specific in- and outpatient facilities at the departments during the data collection waves (see Additional file 3 for a list of changes from the study protocol). All physicians and nurses who were working at the departments at the time of the study were invited to participate.
The multi-component SDM implementation program was based on theoretical considerations  and empirical findings from a preparatory pilot study [18, 19, 30,31,32]. It consisted of SDM training for HCPs (one group session per HCP), individual SDM coaching of physicians (two sessions per physician), a patient activation intervention (i.e., Ask 3 Questions, ASK3Q [36, 37]), provision of information material and decision aids for patients, revision of quality management documents (i.e., incorporation of SDM in the departments’ standard operating procedures), and reflection on multidisciplinary team meetings (MDTMs) . Which findings of the pilot study informed which component of the implementation program has been described in the study protocol . While most strategies focused on the individual level (patient, HCP), the last two strategies focused on the organizational level. Additionally, we developed a title in laypeople’s terms and a label for this study that we used on all documents and on pens specifically designed for this study. As suggested by Proctor et al. , actors, actions, targets of action, temporality, and dose of each implementation strategy were defined a priori .
The control condition was standard medical decision-making without the specific implementation program to foster SDM. Although patient-centeredness has a continuously increasing impact on the organization of health care in Germany , specific effort to implement SDM in routine practice is generally absent. Therefore, the control condition did not include any intentional or direct SDM implementation efforts.
Measures and outcomes
Implementation outcomes  were collected from four sources: a standardized survey of patients, a standardized survey of HCPs, rating of audio-recorded clinical encounters, and systematic observation of MDMTs.
The primary outcome was uptake of SDM assessed by the 9-item Shared Decision Making Questionnaire (SDM-Q-9), a patient-reported measure of the SDM process in patient-physician encounters . Secondary patient-reported outcomes included the uptake of SDM using the 3-item collaboRATE measure [41,42,43], a single-item measure of the experienced decision control during the rated clinical encounter (adapted Control Preference Scale (CPS) [44,45,46],), and a single-item measure of patient satisfaction.
HCP-rated measures were single items for self-assessed knowledge and use of SDM, a single-item measure of general preference for decision control in clinical encounters (adapted CPS ), the 8-item IcanSDM measure assessing perceived barriers of SDM implementation [47, 48] as an indicator of appropriateness of SDM, the 10-item Organizational Readiness for Implementing Change (ORIC) scale [49, 50], and six single-item assessments of acceptability of SDM adapted from McColl’s questionnaire on attitudes towards evidence-based practice  and the Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS ,), and derived from results of the pilot study.
Outcomes for the audio-recorded clinical encounters were the uptake of SDM as measured by the Observer OPTION5 tool [53,54,55] and patient-rated single-item assessments of the experienced decision control in the rated encounter and the general preference for decision control in clinical encounters (adapted CPS ,).
As indicators for penetration of SDM in MDTMs, for each case discussed in the MDTMs, observer-rated outcomes were the quality of information on patient view, the quality of psychosocial information, and the number of recommendations given, as measured by an adapted version of the Metric for the Observation of Decision Making in Multidisciplinary Team Meetings (MDT-MODe [32, 56],).
Most of these measures had been defined prior to starting the study  and all of them were specified prior to data analysis (for deviations from the study protocol regarding the outcome measures see Additional file 3). All surveys included assessment of demographic and clinical or professional information, respectively. Patients’ global health was assessed using a single item derived from the Short-Form-Health Survey (SF-12 ,) and their distress was assessed using the German version of the NCCN Distress Thermometer .
Sample size considerations
In order to be able to identify a small to moderate effect (Cohen’s d of 0.3) of the implementation program on the patients’ experience of SDM, we aimed to collect data from 1440 patients . The target sample size of HCPs was not fixed a priori (complete sampling). Additionally, we aimed to analyze the audio recordings of 144 clinical encounters (12 encounters × 3 departments × 4 measurement waves) and to observe 64 MDMTs (4 types of MDTMs × 4 meetings × 4 measurement waves).
Data collection was planned at four measurement waves with a 2-month duration each. Some deviations from the study protocol occurred due to insufficient recruitment and, regarding the fourth measurement wave, the pandemic of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (see Additional file 3). Hence, data were collected from baseline to month 2, months 9 to 10.5, months 17 to 18.5, and months 25 to 30 (including 10 weeks recruitment stop due to the pandemic).
Patients were approached by members of the study team in the waiting areas of outpatient clinics and on the wards for inpatients. They were transparently informed about the purpose of the study and gave written informed consent before participation in the paper and pencil survey and/or the audio recording of the clinical encounter with the physician. They were asked to fill out questionnaires anonymously after the clinical encounter. HCPs were approached in team meetings or via mail with the request to participate in the anonymous paper and pencil HCP survey. The ID for matching questionnaires from the same HCP at different measurement waves was created by the HCP and not decipherable by the study team. MDTMs were sampled from the four types of MDTMs for which the participating departments were responsible. MDTMs and consultations for audio recordings were selected unsystematically according to availability of staff resources during the measurement waves.
We used guidelines developed by the study team for data entry and quality control. Quality of quantitative data was checked by partial double entry and calculation of agreement rates. Quality of transcripts of audio recordings was examined through proofreading by a second member of the study team. For the evaluation of audio recordings members of the study team were trained in the use of the Observer OPTION5 measure by the principal investigator (IS), experienced in the method. Raters were blinded to the allocation of audio recordings regarding control and intervention condition.
For the outcome evaluation, an analysis plan was prepared and reported in the study protocol . Analyses were performed consistently with the same statistical procedure for all outcomes, using linear mixed models for continuous and generalized linear mixed models for dichotomous outcomes . All models included a fixed effect for the intervention, a linear fixed effect for the measurement time point (wave), and a random intercept for department differences . All available cases were analyzed. Covariates were added to model deviations from the study protocol and trial registration, i.e., for returning questionnaires more than 14 days after the end of the respective measurement wave, for rating clinical encounters that took place more than 90 days before the survey, for underage patients, and for the patient’s diagnosis not being confirmed or suspected malignant neoplasm. Additional covariates, of which distribution were imbalanced between the intervention and control condition, were included as necessary in order to control confounding.
The last measurement wave of the study was impacted by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We handled this incident in two ways [61, 62]. In the main analyses, an additional covariate was included to indicate measurement under pandemic conditions. In the per-protocol sensitivity analysis (see below), we considered data collected during the pandemic as missing. Estimated marginal means were calculated for the per-protocol population, i.e., participants fulfilling all per-protocol criteria and being surveyed under non-pandemic conditions.
We conducted several sensitivity analyses for the most important outcomes to test the robustness of the intervention effect estimate. In a “full-covariate” analysis, we fitted models including additional covariates to further minimize baseline imbalance. In a “categorical time” analysis, we allowed the wave effect to have a non-linear effect. In a “multiplicative effect” analysis, we tested whether including the interaction between intervention and wave influences the results. In a “heterogeneous effects” analysis, we included a department-level random slope for the intervention effect. In a “repeated measures” analysis, we took into account that a minority of the HCPs answered the survey more than once, leading to dependencies in the data. Finally, in a “per-protocol” analysis, we included only data that were collected in full accordance with the trial registration.
We have calculated standardized mean differences (Cohen’s d) by dividing the estimated mean difference between groups by the pooled observed standard deviation for continuous data  and by using approximations from the odds ratio in case of dichotomous data . Findings with P < .05 were considered statistically significant. As the analyses of the secondary outcomes were not adjusted for multiple testing, these findings should be considered exploratory. All statistical analyses were conducted with IBM SPSS Statistics 25 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY).
We assessed quantitative implementation process indicators (including reach) as well as fidelity and adaptations of the implementation strategies by systematic documentation on how the different strategies were implemented. Process evaluation was used to address necessary adaptations of the program throughout the study and to support the interpretation of the outcome evaluation results. Descriptive statistics were calculated to describe quantitative implementation process indicators and to assess reach of the different implementation strategies. Fidelity and adaptations were furthermore evaluated. The following dataset were analyzed: (a) structured field notes of observations made by the study team, (b) minutes of meetings with clinical partners, and (c) transcripts of process interviews with HCPs. Qualitative data analysis, using primarily a deductive approach, was conducted: First, a coding scheme was created by one researcher (HC). Second, approximately 25–30% of the material was coded (HC). Third, the coding scheme was discussed and revised within the study team (HC, PH, IS). Fourth, coded material was revised and the remaining material was coded (HC). Fifth and last, results were discussed in the study team (HC, PH, IS) and final revisions were made (HC).
The case flow throughout the study is depicted in Figure 1. Return rates for analyzable patient surveys were 2128 of 4224 invited patients (50.4%). Most frequently voiced reasons for patients’ non-participation in the survey were prior participation in the study (n = 459), physical or psychological burden (n = 225), or no interest in the study (n = 183). 809 patients did not voice a reason for non-participation. 559 of 1186 potential HCP surveys were returned and included in data analyses (47.1%). 146 of 161 invited patients contributed to the study by allowing to audio-record their clinical encounter with a physician. Of these, 14 cases were not applicable for OPTION5 observer rating (i.e., both external raters appraised not applicable). This led to a return rate of analyzable audio recordings of 132 of 161 (82.0%).
On average, the 2128 surveyed patients (61.4% female, mean age 57.0 years) rated their level of subjective health and their level of distress as moderate. Most of them had a confirmed cancer diagnosis for less than five years. They visited the department mostly due to diagnostic, treatment-related, or monitoring reasons in approximately equal shares. About two-thirds reported that they were consulting their HCP about a treatment-related decision. Notable differences between intervention and control conditions were identified regarding gender, time since the first diagnosis, reason for visit, and the topic of decision. Table 1 gives a detailed overview on sample characteristics of surveyed patients.
Among the 559 HCP responses (71.8% female, 67.9% 40 years old or younger), slightly more were from nurses compared to physicians. About 60% of HCPs had five years or more experience in oncological care, and the vast majority treated oncological patients at the time of the study. The responses were given by 408 different individuals, with 300 of them (73.5%) only participating once in the survey. No substantial differences were identified between the intervention and the control condition. For details on characteristics of surveyed HCPs, see Table 2.
Audio recordings of 132 patients (56.5% female, mean age 58.6 years) were analyzed. The majority had a confirmed cancer diagnosis, which they received mostly less than five years ago. Notable group differences existed regarding gender, occupational status, diagnosis, time since first diagnosis, and appropriateness of the clinical encounter for SDM ratings as judged by external raters. Details on this sample are reported in Table 3.
Sixty-six MDTMs with a total of 842 discussed cases were observed. This resulted in 425 cases in 38 meetings in the intervention condition, and 417 cases in 28 meetings in the control condition.
Across all data sources, approximately 20 to 25% of the data were collected during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The pandemic situation began during the fourth (final) measurement wave of this study. At this point, all implementation intervals were completed, i.e., all three departments had moved to the intervention condition. Due to the stepwise implementation of the intervention, about 10% of the post-intervention patient data from department 1, about 40% of the post-intervention patient data from department 2, and about 90% of the post-intervention patient data from department 3 were collected during the pandemic situation.
Results of the outcome evaluation
We did not find a statistically significant difference between the control and intervention condition regarding the primary outcome, i.e., uptake of SDM from the patients’ perspective (as measured by the SDM-Q-9, Table 4).
Most secondary outcomes did not show a statistically significant difference between the groups either (Tables 4 and 5). Regarding the experienced decision control, patients in the intervention condition reported 55% higher odds of having had a shared or patient-led rather than a physician-led decision compared to the control condition (P = .017, d = 0.24; Table 5). HCPs in the intervention condition reported statistically significantly higher self-assessed knowledge about SDM (estimated difference 1.58 points on a 0 to 10 visual analog scale, P = .002, d = 0.50; Table 4). A detrimental effect was identified in terms of penetration of SDM in MDTMs. 58% lower odds of including the patient’s view appropriately in the MDTM case discussion were found in the intervention condition compared to the control condition (P = .020, d = − 0.48; Table 5). The sensitivity analyses largely confirmed these findings (Additional file 4).
Intraclass correlations were below 5% in most cases, with the largest between-department variations regarding organizational readiness for implementing change, observer-assessed uptake of SDM, and patient-reported decision control (Tables 4 and 5).
296 pages of field note documentation, minutes of 39 meetings, and 107 process interviews with 126 participants were analyzed.
Reach was calculated for two of the implementation strategies: SDM trainings for HCPs and individual coaching for physicians. Overall, 173 of 392 eligible HCPs (44%) participated in an SDM training. Fewer eligible nurses participated in comparison to eligible physicians (41% nurses, 52% physicians). Over all three departments, 57 of 118 eligible physicians (48%) participated in at least one coaching session. 37 of 118 (31%) participated in both coaching sessions. There was considerable variation with regards to the participation rates between departments, especially for SDM training (range: 35 to 73%).
Over the course of the three implementation intervals, 2709 postcards of the patient activation intervention ASK3Q, 762 information brochures “Patienten und Ärzte als Partner” (English: patients and physicians as partners ,) and 370 generic decision aids [66, 67] were distributed to the departments. Furthermore, 136 ASK3Q posters were hung. For more detailed information on reach and implementation indicators, see Additional file 5.
Concerning fidelity, several adaptations were made regarding the different implementation strategies. Most adaptations concerned dose and temporality of the implementation strategies. For example, the SDM team trainings for HCPs lasted on average 50 minutes instead of two hours as planned a priori. Also, some coaching sessions took place without prior training of physicians. Table 6 gives an overview on how the strategies were originally planned in the study protocol  and which adaptations were made.
In this large-scaled study, the results on the primary and most secondary outcomes imply that the introduction of a multi-component program did not lead to more SDM implementation in the implementation condition compared to the control condition. Limited positive effects were found on few secondary outcomes, including an increased knowledge on SDM in HPCs. Results of the process evaluation yielded limited reach, and considerable adaptations of some of the implementation strategies were required.
Results from a pilot study formed the empirical basis of the implementation program. The pilot study led to a pre-selection of participating departments based on their head physicians being open to SDM and to the implementation study. The thorough prior analysis of the current state allowed the study team to get familiar with the respective setting and local barriers for SDM implementation before the beginning of the implementation trial. Needs identified during the pilot study were largely incorporated in the implementation program . However, some aspects could not be considered as intended. Interdisciplinary training and facilitating team communication were planned but could be accomplished to a limited extent only [19, 31]. Also, the implementation program had a focus on HCPs. Patient empowerment training, tailored patient decision aids, and the establishment of a patient advocate were not included in the implementation program .
According to the National Cancer Institute  and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research , certain changes to core components of implementation strategies, e.g., reduction of dosage, which was necessary for several of the strategies in this study, have to be considered “red light changes” that should be avoided. While we deemed those adaptations necessary to fit the local context (due to limited available resources in the departments), they might have undermined the effectiveness of the program. In retrospect, the study might have benefitted from more rigorous and critical discussion of the possible advantages and disadvantages of adaptations. In this context, it is important to discuss the aspect of stakeholder engagement within the participating departments. Implementation science recommends to reflect a priori on capacities and resources within an organization . This has not been in the focus of this study and might have led to implementation strategies that did not match the existing capacities. Thus, it was difficult for the core implementation team to balance fidelity and adaptations, leading to these potentially critical changes. The process evaluation also showed limited reach, suggesting that even a program with lower dose than initially planned was difficult to implement in the participating departments. Future implementation studies might benefit from more detailed a priori planning of resource allocation together with clinical leaders. Furthermore, despite controversial views, financial reimbursement for SDM or payment models incentivizing SDM might ease resource allocation to foster SDM implementation [35, 69].
Also, we have to reflect critically, whether the implementation strategies addressed attitudes and beliefs of HCPs enough , which has been found a key factor in SDM implementation in a multicenter study from the UK . The implementation program had an effect on HCPs’ SDM knowledge, but not on their attitudes towards SDM. Even though attitudes towards SDM were found to be relatively positive, there was considerable variation between HCPs. Also, positive individual attitudes reported in a survey might not suffice to implement SDM behaviors in routine care. Future research could incorporate stakeholder engagement and participatory research ( , e.g., co-design of implementation strategies) as well as performance feedback ( , e.g., direct patient-reported feedback for HCPs regarding SDM) as potential means to foster the translation into routine SDM behavior.
Regarding patient decision aids and information material, it was not part of this trial to develop new decision aids as other implementation studies or studies with hybrid effectiveness-implementation designs  do (e.g. ,). When systematically screening for evidence-based decision aids in German language for cancer-related decisions within this trial, the lack of such material became apparent. Instead we distributed a generic patient decision aid [66, 67]. Thus, this strategy has probably not developed its full strength. Furthermore, while we were able to document the amount of material distributed, we were not able to assess reach of this strategy as well as of the ASK3Q strategy.
Despite being seen as important in the pre-implementation study [30,31,32], our implementation strategy targeting MDTMs did not lead to structural changes on the organizational level. Limited capacities, resources, and stakeholder engagement within the departments that prioritize such changes might explain the lack of effects on MDTMs. Yet, in light of recent literature on barriers to SDM implementation [36, 69], it can be assumed that SDM implementation at the department level is not possible without a range of organizational changes that eventually—together with changes on the individual level—lead to a culture or paradigm shift. The revision of quality management documents alone was most probably not enough. Organizational changes could include mandatory documentation of psychosocial patient information and patient preferences in the electronic medical record as well as standardized integration of these aspects in MDTMs. While a range of strategies to foster SDM on the organizational level have been suggested in the literature , the lack of evidence of their effectiveness limits leverage to convince the highest level leadership to support such changes. A long-term US implementation project has shown that developing an organizational culture receptive to SDM uptake can take years . Thus, the length of our program, limited by the total funding period of three years, could have been too short. Also, factors that have been found to influence SDM implementation at the level of health systems (e.g., payment models, medical education , cannot be changed by an implementation program like ours.
Although we did not find convincing evidence of an average positive effect of the implementation program in the whole study population, it is possible that considerable positive (or negative) effects are present in certain subgroups (e.g., physicians vs. nurses), contexts, or settings. The distal evaluation of effects at the department level (instead of individual HCP level) was not designed to detect potential changes of SDM behavior of individual HCPs. In further analyses, we will explore whether a heterogeneity of effects exists and, if so, how it can be explained .
The results of this study can be compared to several other very recent SDM implementation studies. Another German study evaluating a large-scale SDM implementation program found statistically significant effects for their multi-component implementation program in an interim analysis with data from a single department . This trial used an uncontrolled before-and-after design and a different primary outcome measure to assess uptake of SDM . The difference in results could be attributed to a much higher reach with over 90% of physicians from that department participating in an SDM training. It can also be explained by the strong involvement of the clinical team in the creation of new decision aids for their department and the temporary allocation of workforce resources to the study . An SDM implementation trial for breast cancer care in the Netherlands found effects on observer-assessed SDM (assessed with OPTION5), but not with regards to the patient-assessed SDM (assessed with the SDM-Q-9) . This study used an unpaired before-and-after study design and only included patients with breast cancer facing a treatment decision. Furthermore, the Dutch implementation program was co-designed with each participating clinic, allowing for major adaptations regarding focus and content of the implementation efforts . This might have increased stakeholder engagement. The comparison of these recent implementation studies might bring valuable insights into what works and what does not work regarding the implementation of SDM in routine care.
Strengths and limitations
A central strength of this trial is its high ecological validity. We managed to investigate a largely unselected population of patients, HCPs, clinical encounters, and MDTMs, which were representative of routine care in three departments of a German comprehensive cancer center. The study was informed by a pre-implementation pilot study and theoretically grounded in a conceptual framework. Also, the thorough execution of the study protocol including an extensive process evaluation is a major strength of this trial. Its further advantages include its large sample size and statistical power, the investigation of a wide range of outcomes from several perspectives, and a careful examination of the robustness of the findings.
As this study was a single-center trial, caution is necessary regarding generalizability of its results. Furthermore, only three clusters were included, which might limit the applicability of the stepped wedge cluster randomized design. Additionally, while the study was carried out according to schedule until the last measurement wave, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic led to a delay in completing the final measurement wave. The pandemic situation had a considerable impact on routine healthcare (e.g., more remote consultations, restrictions to MDTMs, time constraints of HCPs [78, 79],) and might have impacted several of our implementation strategies (e.g., no training to apply SDM in remote consultations). Hence, the pandemic situation was incorporated as a covariate in the data analyses.
In the present study, we did not find a statistically significant increase in the average level of SDM as perceived by the patients by applying an empirically and theoretically grounded multi-component implementation program to foster SDM in cancer care. Limited reach and considerable adaptations might explain the lack of change. As prior work suggested , there “are many miles to go” to fully implement SDM in routine practice. Future work should investigate other or more intensive approaches for successful department-wide implementation of SDM in routine cancer care and further assess factors influencing implementation of SDM in cancer care.
Availability of data and materials
Deidentified data that support the findings of this study are available on reasonable request. Investigators who propose to use the data have to provide a methodologically sound proposal directed to the corresponding author. Signing a data use/sharing agreement will be necessary, and data security regulations both in Germany and in the country of the investigator who proposes to use the data must be complied with. Preparing the data set for use by other investigators requires substantial work and is thus linked to available or provided resources.
Ask 3 Questions
Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research
Control Preference Scale
Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale
Health care professionals
Making good decisions in collaboration
Metric of the Observation of Decision Making in Multidisciplinary Team Meetings
Multidisciplinary team meetings
Organizational Readiness for Implementing Change
Patient decision aids
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
9-item Shared Decision Making Questionnaire
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We thank all patients and HCPs who participated in this study. We are also thankful to all research associates, student research assistants and research interns who contributed to the study: Lisa Bußenius, Eva Christalle, Lara Dreyer, Marie-Kristin Eilert, Nina Elpers, Merisa Ferati, Rabea Friedrich, Teresa Greiter, Sophie Hachmeister, Hendrik Hagen, Stefanie Heger, Fatima Hussein, Anastasia Izotova, Joy Kukemüller, Finja Mäueler, Sophia Neumann, Nicolai Pergande, Martin Reemts, Greta Rose, Sophia Schulte, Cheyenne Topf, Marie-Luise Ude, Ayse Yilmaz, Stefan Zeh. Furthermore, we thank all non-author collaboration partners at the University Cancer Center Hamburg and the University Medical Center Hamburg, especially Marcus Freytag, Volkmar Müller, and Mia Carlotta Peters. Last but not least, we are thankful to the members of the advisory board, Glyn Elwyn, Dominick Frosch, Mirjam Körner, Heather Shepherd, Monica Taljaard, and Michel Wensing.
The study was funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, grant number 232160533). Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
Ethics approval and consent to participate
The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Medical Association Hamburg (Germany, study ID PV5368). It was conducted in accordance with the latest version of the Helsinki Declaration of the World Medical Association. We respected principles of good scientific practice and met requirements of data protection. We obtained written informed consent from all patients participating in the study. We obtained a waiver of consent for HCPs from the Ethics Committee. Study participation was voluntary.
Consent for publication
AL, WF, JZ, HC, CB, AC, BS, RS, TV, IW, and LK declare that they have no competing interests. IS, PH, and MH declare that they currently are (PH, MH) or have been (IS) members of the executive board of the International Shared Decision Making Society, which has the mission to foster SDM implementation. PH, MH, and IS have no further competing interests.
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Completed Standards for Reporting Implementation Studies (StaRI) checklist.
Completed checklist of information to include when reporting a stepped wedge cluster randomised trial (SW-CRT).
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Scholl, I., Hahlweg, P., Lindig, A. et al. Evaluation of a program for routine implementation of shared decision-making in cancer care: results of a stepped wedge cluster randomized trial. Implementation Sci 16, 106 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-021-01174-4

domain: medical


text:
Think about the KOSAquences
July 17, 2023
We live in an exciting age of expansive and fast-growing technology. With new technology, though, comes new concerns about the online safety and user privacy of minors. Concerns that the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) attempts to address. While well-intentioned, KOSA is too big of a bill. It attempts to regulate too much, ultimately allowing marginalized groups to slip through the cracks. We’ve already seen how censorial Meta can be when dealing with sex workers, and KOSA could make things worse. The broad language used in KOSA has the potential to censor information that is not harmful, like sex education, LGBTQ information, and abortion content. Woodhull strongly opposes KOSA as it violates our fundamental human rights, including the right to freedom of expression.
Proponents of the bill claim to act in the “best interest” of minors to mitigate potential harms surrounding mental health, addiction, violence, sexual exploitation and abuse that occur online. Who can argue with that? The problem with KOSA lies in its loose definition of these harms. In the bill’s “Duty of Care” provision, KOSA provides murky and highly subjective definitions of these potential threats to minors. Words like “grooming”, which has been weaponised against LGBTQ people and those seeking gender-affirming care, would allow this legislation to be exploited by groups looking to censure information they deem “harmful” .
Yes, broad descriptions are needed when writing bills of this scope, but KOSA gives legislators an invitation to censor anything they deem harmful. In fact, several anti-LGBTQ organizations have already pledged to use online safety legislation, such as KOSA, to ban trans content for minors.
Additionally, KOSA proposes stricter online safeguards for minors and parents. Section 4A of the bill explains that platforms will establish a default safeguard for minors that “provides the most protective level of control”. Existing algorithms designed to block explicit content are unreliable. KOSA will encourage platforms to over-moderate content which will lead to the censoring of important and educational material.
This, to Woodhull, is the most dangerous aspect of the Kids Online Safety Act. Not only would KOSA lead to the widespread censorship of sexual content, but of sexual expression, a right protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 of the UDHR states:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
While Woodhull opposes KOSA as a bill, it brings to light many important issues surrounding the censorship of sexual freedom and expression. We look forward to legislation that can increase safety online without compromising our free speech rights.

domain: sociology


text:
I have always been passionate about stories and traditions surrounding Italian regional cuisine. Since I was a child I have travelled across my country from North to South, exploring and soaking in local flavours and culture as an essential part of my heritage.
The global popularity of Italian food led to an inevitable trivialisation, reducing the huge variety of one of the richest cuisine in the world to a handful of stereotyped dishes that are often far from the real thing.
One of the aims of my cooking is to combine modern and elegant Italian fine dining with the true meaning and essence of authentic recipes. My cuisine is simple and not overly elaborate, always allowing to grasp the quality of the ingredients. I do not believe in surprising with food just for the sake of aesthetics. I want my food to be tasty and beautiful but also healthy and nutritious.

domain: food


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text:
Buenos Aires, Apr 12 (EFE).- The family of 21-year-old trans Argentinian man Tehuel de la Torre, who disappeared a month ago, waited Monday for news on the police search as demonstrations demanded the government take more action on the case.
On Mar. 11 de la Torre went to a job interview and hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
“We live crying, depression seizes us minute by minute. For a while we are, despite everything, well, trying to make him appear, and after a while you feel like crying,” de la Torre’s sister and family spokesperson Verónica Elisabet Alarcón told Efe.
The relatives met Monday with Buenos Aires province’s minister of security, Sergio Berni, who leads the police force investigating the case, as De la Torre disappeared in San Vicente.
“This is all very sad, I hope it never happens to anybody (else). It is a very ugly situation,” Alarcón said.
In recent weeks, the case of de la Torre has been taken up by different groups, which some say is a sign that the justice system is not acting the same in the search for trans people as it does for others.
Alarcón asked that the people stand up “for a human being,” her brother, but stressed that she does not agree with political mobilizations such as those that took place Monday in places like the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires.
“This is about a human being, a person, and I do not like politics, I do not like political flags being raised. What I am talking about is finding a person,” says Alarcón.
Asked about the actions of the authorities, she said that the family has received help “from the beginning” and that at present “information is being verified” about her brother.
At the Plaza de Mayo rally, which was attended by around 100 people, Workers’ Socialist Movement member Jeanette Cisneros, one of the organizers of the march, told Efe that “the State is responsible” for de la Torre being missing due to the late institutional response.
“We are asking for the intervention of the State, denouncing the role of the security ministry that has dedicated itself to going out to do reports when it does not seek all the resources,” said Cisneros.
According to Cisneros, the alleged police neglect “reflects the structural violence experienced by the trans community.”
Likewise, the organizer of the gathering considered that the minister of gender and diversity “is not seeing the relevance nor making the political pressure that she could.” EFE

domain: politics


text:
Unlisted Hong Kong International Airport reported the following traffic highlights in Jul-2010 on Friday (13-Aug-2010):
- Passenger numbers: 4.7 million, +17.5% year-on-year;
- Cargo volume: 363,000 tonnes, +24.5%;
- Aircraft movements: 26,720, +14.7%.
Malaysia Airports (-1.1%) shares dropped the same day Kuala Lumpur International Airport reported a 16.2% rise in passenger traffic for Jun-2010:
- Passenger numbers: 2.9 million, +16.2% year-on-year;
- International: 2.0 million, +23%:
- Domestic: 950,439, +4.3%;
- Cargo volume: 57,698 tonnes, +18.4%;
- Aircraft movements: 20,002, +7.9%.
See related CAPA profile: Traffic and capacity
Other Asia Pacific airport operators that gained yesterday included Shenzhen Airport (+0.3%), Hainan Meilan (+0.9%) and Australian Infra Fund (+1.4%). Meanwhile, Japan Airport Terminal (-2.1%) and Beijing (-0.3%) lost ground.
Selected airports daily share price movements (% change): 13-Aug-2010
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domain: travel


text:
|First tests to use gene therapy for rheumatoid arthritis
show it to be safe
April 16, 2001
Initial trials using gene therapy for arthritic joints have been successful, researchers reported at a recent meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in San Francisco. This first test of gene therapy for a non-lethal disease has shown the technique to be safe, and more prolonged studies of the engineered cells are planned, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine investigator Paul D. Robbins said. The initial tests showed high levels of expression of therapeutic genes in the patients' synovial cellsthe cells that nurture the joint with cushioning fluid, Robbins said. The findings are being prepared for publication.
The gene, which was delivered directly to the patients' finger joints, codes for a interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, a protein that prevents this particular inflammatory mediator from latching onto its cellular target. Amgen, of Thousand Oaks, California, has been testing the protein in patients in whom too many inflammatory agents are released. Due to these tests by Amgen, the Pittsburgh team knew that the toxicity profile of the receptor antagonist appears to be very good, Robbins said, so they colonized the synovial lining with cells bearing the gene for the antagonist.
The patients who were having surgery to replace severely arthritic knuckle joints agreed to have injections of the genetically modified cells to see if the procedure is safe. The joints' diseased knuckles were then surgically removed and examined, and the patients' cells were banked "Some of these patients have now discussed the option of putting the cells back in and allowing them to reside there for extended periods of time," said Robbins. "That is where our Phase II study is going to go," he added, once the US Food and Drug Administration gives approval.
Nine patients were tested with a total of three different doses of cells with the inserted gene: a million, five million and ten million, three patients at each dose. No adverse effects resulted from the gene therapy, and physiologic responses to the boosted gene supply matched the investigators' expectations that interleukin-1 would act as a mediator of inflammation. In cells isolated from the treated joints, the cytokines expected to go down did so, and those expected to increase in response to the supply of the receptor antagonist did so as well.
The joints that were tested were highly diseased, so no therapeutic response was expected, Robbins said. "What this does mean, is that [the therapy] appears to be well tolerated...this was the proof of principle," he added.
. . .

domain: biology


Warehouse execution software and warehouse control systems enable new methods of wave releasing to increase throughput and keep workloads balanced. By Roberto Michel | Supply Chain 247
For decades, many warehouses and distribution centers have filled orders on the basis of “waves” of orders grouped together as a set for processing by a DC’s labor and equipment resources.
While wave-based fulfillment can be productive and effective, for DCs with multiple automated materials handling systems, keeping all the automated zones in sync – and workloads balanced – can be problematic and lead to throughput issues.
The root cause of these problems, according to providers of warehouse execution system (WES) and warehouse control system (WCS) solutions, is a lack of real-time awareness of what is happening on the DC floor.
Since waves traditionally are devised based on rules managed by higher-level software such as warehouse management system (WMS) solutions that aren’t directly tied into automation, the system responsible for the wave management lacks a real-time awareness of the status of equipment and material flow on the DC floor.
Even if a WMS is integrated with a WCS or conveyor controls for processing waves, if the WCS layer isn’t aware of real-time conditions across all zones and lacks its own logic for releasing work to the floor in a dynamic fashion, it can be difficult to avoid bottlenecks, some suppliers say.
“Tier 1 WMS solutions simply don’t have tight interfaces [to materials handling equipment] as part of their offerings to provide the type of real-time integration with the whole facility,” saysJohn Harrell, director of software solutions for SI Systems, a WES supplier.
WES providers have emerged over the last few years to address the complexities of order fulfillment in today’s DCs. Their suites typically are built on a WCS core, which is combined with some higher-level inventory control and order fulfillment applications. These higher-level apps may have configurable rules that make use of real-time insight to enable processes such as waveless fulfillment.
The WES vendors walk a fine line in their relationship to best-of-breed WMS vendors. Most WES solutions are modular – meaning they can have their higher-level order processing functions turned off to serve a more conventional WCS role in conjunction with a WMS. But when it comes to newer approaches to releasing work to the floor that are more dynamic, WES vendors contend end user organizations need a solution that tightly combines WES’s order processing logic with WCS-based visibility into what’s happening on the floor.
WMS solutions carry out many functions extremely well, but as Harrell explains, “it can’t have the same type of real-time intelligence as a system that is completely integrated with the low-level controllers and can also be responsible for wave management as well as all of the directing and orchestrating that involves.”
Other WES vendors agree this real-time awareness, which comes from WCS, is a key ingredient to continuous order releasing. WMS on its own lacks this situational awareness, says Mike Howes, vice president of software engineering and services with Forte Industries.
“So if we are talking automated conveyor systems, for example, the WCS knows the utilization of pick areas or zones,” he says. “It knows the amount of containers on the system at any moment and where they are destined to go. Traditionally, a WMS would not know that type of information. It wouldn’t have had that real knowledge of the overall system and how it’s actually performing.”
Waves vs. Waveless
Just what does waveless mean, though, and how does it differ from traditional wave releasing? Essentially, a wave is a grouping of orders or groups of orders that are preselected based on characteristics that would make them easier to pick and process as a set. For instance, a wave may group orders based on customer promise date, similar sized SKUs, rack locations, or some other logical grouping that makes the orders easier to fill because of less travel for pickers or other factors.
A couple of key trends have made processing of waves a lot tougher over the last several years. For one thing, e-commerce and multichannel fulfillment have driven the need to process a greater number of smaller orders, often at the item level. Meanwhile, to keep DCs efficient at item picking and material flow, DCs have added more automated systems such as pick-to-light systems, carousels, automated storage and retrieval systems, and more packing stations and automated conveyor to support the greater output enabled by additional automation.
The trouble is, orchestrating all of these islands of automation to smoothly process static waves can be difficult when conditions start changing on the floor, such as accumulation conveyor getting overloaded or pack stations that lack enough work. Additionally, when waves are planned overnight and need to be completed as a set that means less flexibility in meeting the tighter fulfillment windows that come with e-commerce.
A different way of handling order releasing is to release orders and tasks on a more dynamic, continuous basis. To accomplish that, say WES vendors, end user organizations need order processing functionality paired with WCS’s near-real-time insight into the status of equipment and material flow. “To be 100% waveless, every time a unit of work has made it to its next destination, you should be able to automatically induct a new unit of work into the system,” says Harrell.
A WES solution for waveless, says Harrell, should have configurable rules that manage this sort of continuous release of work to the floor, so that, “the very next item that gets released and inducted into the system must be the absolute best candidate to start being processed at that precise moment, based on the conditions with your automated systems and based on where every other unit of work being processed happens to be.”
Other WES providers agree that waveless is best thought of as dynamically releasing tasks to the DC floor continuously, based on real-time conditions. This has driven providers of WCS to morph into WES vendors with order-release logic.
“WCS is getting smarter because warehouses are expected to do more,” says Chris Castaldi, manager of business development with W&H Systems. “Now, the connections are more real time. The WMS will constantly send down order information to the WCS layer and [WCS] will decide how to shuffle the work.”
For some DCs, says Castaldi, traditional waves still make sense. For example, in beverage distribution where trucks are being loaded for direct store delivery, there needs to be some preset grouping of how orders will be processed so that the delivery trucks are loaded in the correct sequence for unloading at each store destination. WCS and WES functionality can bring more precision to managing waves as well, adds Castaldi, so its benefits aren’t just about waveless.
“There are some cases where those waves are important,” Castaldi says. “You have to make sure your environment is suited to waveless.”
While there are companies that express interest in waveless operations, the most common reason companies are looking into WES is that they aren’t getting optimal throughput from their materials handling system investments, says Nancy Malone, software business development manager for viastore. “It’s really more about throughput concerns than about waveless,” says Malone.
Viastore offers a software suite that combines WMS and WCS functionality in an integrated way so that order releasing and the scheduling of picks and tasks can be synchronized with the status of materials handling systems and labor resources.
The suite can manage waveless, says Malone, or a more conventional approach with waves. The key thing, says Malone, is to have a system that is aware of equipment status and resource availability and can use that real-time insight to break down order information into tasks and picking operations that keeps the pace of work balanced.
“When orders come into the system, we release tasks to the downstream work centers, whether that’s a pack station or some other type of operation, in a way that keeps the level of work balanced across all the areas, and that keeps the workers busy. That’s really what we are after: A way to keep the work balanced and keep workers constantly busy, while meeting customer requirements.”
Viastore’s WCS can be used with a best-of-breed WMS, says Malone, but exactly how the duties are split between WMS and WCS, and the amount of data that needs to be shared, can vary by customer deployment. In some instances, the WCS/WES solution may have higher-level inventory management duties, in which case it needs to have more WMS-level information such as warehouse slotting.
Productivity Is The Goal
For many DCs, the issue isn’t really waveless versus waves, but rather, how to keep operations level and productive, says Jeff Ross, vice president of consulting with Forte Industries. New styles of order releasing, which are continuous, are often driven by this need to keep the workload steady. “If we can balance the workload between zones, and keep everyone with an even flow of work, then the true capacity and performance of the distribution center can be achieved,” Ross says.
The need to keep throughput high and workloads balanced drove a client of Forte’s to recently implement a waveless operation, says Ross. The client, a pharmaceuticals industry company, uses Forte’s WES solution to dynamically release individual orders to the floor and process them based on real-time conditions. The DC uses a WMS to handle receiving, putaway and replenishment, but order information is passed to Forte’s solution to manage order releasing.
The WCS module of the system uses scans of totes to track material flow in real time, while its ties to equipment such as an automated tote stacker, automated conveyor, and pack stations add to its real-time understanding of utilization rates in each area, and how previously released work is progressing through the DC and out to packing and manifesting areas. “We are balancing the capacity of the overall system so that a flood of work – bottlenecks – does not occur,” says Ross.
The waveless approach enabled by WES, adds Ross, drives high, steady utilization for the DC’s systems and also gives management a better foundation for assessing worker productivity. If workers in picking or packing areas are left starved for work, or are constantly being shifted from one zone or another to alleviate bottlenecks, it’s unfair to blame them for poor productivity, says Ross. “It’s hard to hold employees to a performance expectation when you don’t manage to keep work in front of them,” he says.
From the view of WES vendors, the need to keep workloads smoothed and balanced in increasingly complex environments is a good fit with WES’s functional footprint, which combines order processing and wave management functions with WCS’s up-to-the-second grasp of conditions. As SI Systems’ Harrell sums up WES capabilities when it comes to waveless: “it’s the perfect marriage of knowing what order components should start into the process and complete the process, with knowing the exact materials handling conditions.”


Gallery: Laura Tepper
Road Ecology: Wildlife Habitat and Highway Design
Near Oslo, Norway, expressway with wildlife crossing. [Photo by Laura Tepper]
High-speed rail may get the flashy headlines, but most U.S. transportation dollars go to building, widening and maintaining roads. President Obama's 2012 budget proposal called for substantially increased spending on rail and public transit, but nonetheless allocates 55 percent of transportation funds to the Federal Highway Administration
.  The United States adds 32,000 lane miles annually to the 4 million miles of public roads already crisscrossing the country.  For more than a century, we have allowed expressways, arterials and rural roads to define our landscapes without seriously considering how we might redefine the road. Engineers have rarely attempted to incorporate ecological functions, let alone artistry, into a design practice historically dominated by concerns for speed and efficiency.
In the last decade, the emerging field of road ecology has galvanized scholars and practitioners eager to address this problem. Road ecologists investigate the complex interactions between roads and the natural environment: how roads act as barriers inhibiting the movement of plants, animals, water and soils; how traffic run-off contaminates surface and underground water; and how particulate emissions and noise pollution affect habitats. They also help develop and test solutions to these pervasive problems.
The practice of road ecology began in Europe in the 1970s and later spread to the U.S. by way of the annual International Conference on Ecology and Transportation
. In 2003, the seminal text Road Ecology
, written by Richard T.T. Forman
and Daniel Sperling
along with twelve co-authors, helped to formalize the movement. As Forman explains, the book "pulled the diverse scientific and planning threads of the field together and added distinctive synergisms, resulting in a distinct field which researchers and planners can and do hang their hat on, and push important frontiers." Major research centers now include the Road Ecology Center
at UC Davis, the Center for Transportation and the Environment
at North Carolina State University, and the Western Transportation Institute’s Road Ecology Program
at Montana State University. The WTI organized last year’s ARC International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design Competition
, which brought new momentum and attention to the practice, particularly from architects and landscape architects. In the long term, Forman and many colleagues advocate reducing automobile dependence and removing roads. In the near term, the focus is on innovative design and renovation. As long as we remain politically and financially committed to the highway system, road ecologists say, we must consider not only if, but how we design roads.
Several European countries — notably France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany — mandate an intensive highway design process that integrates environmental factors in the earliest phases of project design and makes extensive use of wildlife crossings
and other ecological mitigation infrastructure. The scope of this investment manifests in large-scale systems like the 108 water treatment basins lining France’s new "eco-motorway" and the nine ecoducts (Europe's equivalent to wildlife overpasses) currently under construction in the Netherlands as part of a national landscape connectivity initiative working towards the creation of a National Ecological Network
In North America, such large-scale projects are less common; yet the most iconic works of ecological road infrastructure in the world are the six massive wildlife overpasses lining the Trans-Canada Highway in Banff National Park. The overpasses are part of a larger system of ecological infrastructure that Parks Canada began developing in the early 1980s to address concerns about increased traffic and collisions between vehicles and large mammals. The expansion of the crossing system coincides with the phased "twinning" or widening of the Trans-Canada Highway
. Ongoing, year-round monitoring by the Banff Wildlife Crossings Project has proven the crossings' effectiveness at reducing wildlife mortality, and it is also informing the implementation for future phases of the highway expansion.
Unfortunately, the monumental overpasses come with an outsized price tag. Parks Canada constructed the first two overpasses at Banff in 1997 for roughly $2.5 million USD each, but the cost for the four additional overpasses last year shot up to between $4.5 and $5 million USD each. The high cost has hindered widespread use. Nonetheless, cost-benefit analyses increasingly include potential financial savings from the $8 billion in property damage that, according to the Federal Highway Administration, results annually from animal-vehicle collisions in the U.S.
Banff wildlife ecologist Tony Clevenger sees the high cost of wildlife crossings as a design problem and initiated the ARC Competition as a response. His colleagues at the Western Transportation Institute, together with the Woodcock Foundation
, invited interdisciplinary teams to design wildlife overpasses for West Vail Pass, which is along a stretch of I-70 passing through the Rockies 100 miles west of Denver, and to compete for a $40,000 honorarium. The crossings would serve populations of black bear, bighorn sheep, lynx, bobcat, elk, coyote and deer inhabiting the national forests divided by the freeway. Five finalist teams — chosen from a pool of 36 — developed solutions that were not only materially and functionally innovative, but also cost-effective. Finalists included teams led by Balmori Associates, the Olin Studio, Janet Rosenberg & Associates, Zwarts & Jansma Architects; the winner was the team of HNTB and Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates.
The ARC competition generated a store of viable design ideas
that add to the substantial body of research the U.S. has already contributed to road ecology; yet Clevenger noted that presently the nation is behind the curve in translating its research into infrastructure, particularly relative to European countries. This photo essay
looks at two of the proposals from ARC as well as existing ecological road infrastructure in the U.S. and Europe. The projects, both built and proposed, underscore the promise of road ecology to enhance habitat connectivity and reduce wildlife mortality, and also to ameliorate the broader conflicts between human infrastructure and natural ecosystems.


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Don Cherry has decided to wade into the fallout over 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's decision to sit down during the U.S. anthem in his team's preseason games.
After brushing by several adorably curious seal pups, they spot a mom humpback whale and her calf way off in the distance.
An Alberta man who murdered his family when he was 15 years old has been granted full parole.
Spruce Grove’s Strongest Man Competition is back for another year of keg lifting, chain dragging and truck pulling. The field for the second annual
Through two years and four playoff games, the Stony Plain Senior AA Mets had just one run to show for it.
The defending champ chipped his way to the top of the leaderboard in the second half of Aug. 23’s single round PGA of Alberta Championship at the Edmo
The Spruce Grove Saints may have lost the majority of their roster over the offseason, but the squad has now ballooned to four teams for the next few
It’s a muggy Saturday evening and West Central’s Special Olympics golf team is making their way through the front nine holes of the Stony Plain Golf C
Earlier this month, Zumba instructor Tasha Laurie challenged Spruce Grove Mayor Stuart Houston and Stony Plain Mayor William Choy to raise the most Pa

domain: sports


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Hair Follicle Drug Test
There are certainly many different options available for medication tests, and one choice might seem a lot better than all of the others. Tresses follicle drug screening is a superb option to recognize medicine utilize over a prolonged period, but it may possibly not be the best option in almost every single case. It's important to go over their questions completely with whomever you organize screening to enable them to help make sure you are receiving the examination you need.
Among the areas or groups in society anywhere medication evaluation is really a must is in the sports groups, from the cheapest degree up to the specialist levels. Its carried out for many causes, but in general, it is designed to decide whether an athlete is actually abusing medications or otherwise not if they truly are, to make certain that they stop mistreating them not just for his or her very own good however for her teams's and adversary's safety and health.
Medicine screening for athletes has a stricter principle and factor than other kinds of drug assessment. It is because into the sporting world, an athlete being on drugs can really influence his / her abilities. It might never be reasonable to people if an athlete victories mostly because they're under the influence of medications that will boost abilities in football. Creating an athlete on pills will disqualify her or him and certainly will potentially end his / her athletic profession based on the gravity of this offense.
To learn even more about look at this site and this page, please go to the website detox pills for drug test.
The main known reasons for medicine screening in professional athletes are appropriate:
1. To be able to prevent and, at the same time, limit, the usage any sort of medications or unlawful compounds.
2. To ensure that an environment of reasonable competition are kept all of the time. Simply because an athlete who is intoxicated by medicines would have a tendency to execute better than an athlete who is maybe not.
3. are able to stay away from athlete medicine abusers from affecting his or her teammates and, in addition, secure her lovers from imitating all of them. That is to also make sure the activities field is held neat and reputable all of the time.
4. To make sure that athletes remain naturally healthy since abusing pills tend to be harmful to the wellness. This will, in change, help them reside a healthy lifestyle that will be conducive their are professional athletes.
As of today, locks follicle drug testing is quick becoming popular as a trusted medicine screening method for sports athletes. This is because it is non-invasive and is relevant to virtually any types of human body hair, therefore whether or not the jock is actually bald, it is still feasible having tresses follicle drug testing conducted. Additionally, it has a window of discovery as high as 12 months or a year, unlike the urine test which only has about seventy-two (72) hrs. The tresses sample drug test can also identify a brief history of drug use of an athlete, and a one-time drug test is sufficient to recognize anything.

domain: health


“Lighting isn’t just lighting anymore.”
That statement from Darlene Pope, Global Head of Smart Buildings and Digital Workplace at WeWork, was an overriding theme of the “Lighting and the Smart Building” panel at the DLC’s 2019 Annual Stakeholder Meeting in St. Louis.
Conference attendees learned that the number of smart buildings is projected to grow by 30 to 34 percent by 2024, with networked lighting controls (NLC) playing an important role in that increase. Meanwhile, Internet of Things (IoT) device shipments in North America are increasing by about 11 percent annually, said panelist Ron Zimmer, President and CEO of the Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA), and lighting controls comprise one of the largest segments of that growth.
Listen to the full Lighting and the Smart Building panel audio, recorded at the 2019 DLC Stakeholder Meeting in St. Louis.
Arranged in regular patterns throughout a building and equipped with sensors designed to collect a variety of data, NLCs are hiding in plain sight as the gateway to more connected, smarter workplaces, health care facilities, schools and other buildings. Panelist Michael Skurla, Director of Digital Strategy for BitBox USA, noted that lighting is uniquely positioned to provide the infrastructure for a smart building, and contended that “it can and should do more.”
While a 2017 DLC study showed that adding NLCs to LED projects can boost energy savings by up to 47 percent, LumiFi Founder and Creative/Product Director Beatrice Witzgall, another DLC panelist, told the audience that “looking at just energy savings is limiting; it doesn’t unlock the smart building potential.” As Pope noted, with companies spending $300 per square foot on their employees versus $1 per square foot on energy, energy savings are no longer the main driver for corporations looking at lighting projects. This point is especially cogent considering recent research showing that giving buildings a “brain” can lead to happier building occupants, fewer complaints to facility managers, better work performance and staff retention rates, and lower absenteeism.
The importance of the data side of lighting “can’t be overstated,” Pope said. Panelists and conference participants discussed how NLCs allow communication with building managers and occupants and with other building systems to enable functions ranging from adjusting the temperature in individual employee work spaces, parking elevators on the most occupied floors, and navigating to available meeting rooms, to providing real-time data that lets first responders know where people are in case of an emergency.
Panelists concluded that lack of awareness and understanding is the biggest barrier to wider, quicker adoption of smart building-enabling NLC technology. Producing and disseminating case studies documenting the technology’s ROI was one recommendation for increasing adoption.
The DLC revises its NLC requirements annually to keep up with quickly evolving technology and standards. The second draft of the DLC’s V4.0 Networked Lighting Controls specification is currently out for stakeholder comment and expected to be finalized in June. V4.0 focuses on strengthening the value of NLC technology while addressing important issues for market acceptance such as cybersecurity, energy monitoring, and interoperability.


Teasdale: Tell legislators to make education funding a priority
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently shared his latest vision of the state's upcoming budget called the "May Revision." This version of the budget outlines his ideas for funding and the best idea of potential tax revenues for the coming fiscal year.
As we know, the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic shutdown have devastated the economy and unemployment has skyrocketed. People's business and livelihoods have been disrupted if not put at risk. Lower income and high unemployment mean lower tax revenues for our state and tough decisions for our political representatives.
These lower tax revenues have put immense pressure on the state and our schools to provide services for our children. In the May Revision, funding for education is cut by 10%. This means a drop of $1,230 in spending per student, layoffs for up to 60,000 teachers and an increase of 20% in class size.
These cuts come at a time when spending for K-12 education in California is well below the national average and our class sizes are some of the largest in the nation. It also comes when schools are spending more to conduct online learning and to ensure schools can be safe when they reopen. In addition, these cuts happen at a time when most school districts were already facing deficits and potential teacher layoffs with the governor’s initial budget in January.
These COVID-19 budget cuts will negatively impact the education of children. Bigger class sizes mean less learning and retention. Career Technical Education funding could be reduced by over 40%, meaning less skill building for our children directly entering the workforce. Further erosion in the quality of our education system will hamper the future of our children and the quality of our workforce and jobs for our children.
Now is the time to reach out to our state and federal representatives to ensure funding education is a priority. Our kids' future is at stake. We need to ensure their education puts them into the workforce with the skills they need to succeed. Online learning has filled a gap but is not a long-term replacement for the learning and socialization our schools provide.
There is no reopening without investing in safe schools. Larger class sizes is not the way to go. We need to find a safe way to reopen our society, our economy and our schools. Cutting funding to schools will put our children and their families at risk and slow our return to a more normal life, as many parents do not have affordable childcare options.
In the past two months we have all come to realize the importance of schools and teachers in our lives and our children's lives. Parents at home have realized the challenges of teaching their kids and the limits of distance learning. For many, going to work with children at home is impossible. We need to ensure this crisis does not have a permanent impact on our children education or our economy. Keep the educational budget at a level where this will not happen.
Support your schools, your teachers, and most of all, your kids. Talk to your state and federal representatives. Make education a priority.
Mike Teasdale, of Newbury Park, is a trustee on the Ventura County Board of Education.


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I'm super excited to announce that Redeeming the Darkness will be available for purchase on JULY 20th!!!!
You will be able to get your copy through Amazon!
Paperback will be $15.00
eBook will be $2.99 (also available through Kindle Unlimited)
The week after the release, tune into my Facebook page for a chance to be a part of a few fun competitions with FREE prizes I might add!
Thanks to all of you who have been so extremely patient with me this year! I hope you enjoy Zane and Ivy's story. <3

domain: literature


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Alphabet Blast is a fun and challenging game that lets kids learn the alphabet and the order of the letters!
This is a perfect educational game for grade school kids this summer!
The top of the screen has 3 letters showing and three missing letters. The bottom of the screen has 18 random letters. The goal is to pick the letters at the bottom that are missing at the top.

domain: game