The Role of Knowledge and Innovation in Organic Farming Systems: A Systematic Literature Review

Organic agriculture is a complex, knowledge-intensive system, deeply aligned with sustainability goals. While the field has seen promising growth and innovation, it still grapples with significant challenges, particularly in how knowledge is shared, applied, and supported structurally within sustainability-oriented frameworks. To fill this gap, a systematic review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework, screening publications from the Web of Science and Scopus databases. A total of 39 scientific studies were analysed using content analysis and a bibliometric methodological approach. Findings reveal a balanced geographical distribution of studies and a dominance of qualitative methodologies. While farmers, advisors, and researchers are frequently involved in data collection, broader stakeholder engagement is limited. Key actors—research institutions, advisory services, and sectoral organisations—emerge as central to driving innovation and enhancing farmers’ access to actionable knowledge. However, the analysis identifies three core challenges: tailoring knowledge and innovation to diverse farming contexts; strengthening the intermediary role of advisors to bridge science and practice; and integrating organic agriculture more explicitly within the frameworks of sustainability and agroecology. Future research should focus on improving participatory dissemination strategies and strengthening intermediary roles to advance sustainability-driven innovation in organic agriculture

A Comparison of the Empathy of Registered Nurses Practicing Primary Nursing as Compared to that of Registered Nurses Practicing Team Nursing

Historically the most outstanding feature of the nursing profession has been its genuine concern for the human being, and quality care of the sick has been its manifestation. However, technology with its high level of development and pervasiveness in the culture of the United States has threatened not only our society at large but also the nursing profession. Depersonalized and nursing are contradictory terms, and if used together certainly cannot denote a high quality of nursing care. In order to meet this threat, concerned health care professionals are studying ways to increase the empathetic element in nursing care in order to ensure delivery of quality health care. In certain modalities of nursing care, such as functional nursing, the nurse\u27s focus is on the task rather than the patient. In team nursing, the main focus is on the personnel supervised by the nurse. The registered nurse has little patient contact in these modalities to effectively personalize care. The indirect opportunity to assess, plan, implement, and evaluate patient care often leads to fragmentation of nursing care delivery, which not only is unfair to the patient, but also lowers the quality of nursing care. Patients have been documented as experiencing dissatisfaction with team nursing, doubtless because fragmentation of care is ineffective in meeting the patient\u27s total needs. While team nursing may be effective in terms of efficiency and and utilization of personnel, it does not take into account the human element in patient care. Nurses practicing this modality have been documented as exhibiting less caring attitudes than those practicing other modalities of care. Primary nursing, developed to met the total needs of the patient by diminishing fragmentation of care, has as its objective established of an effective interpersonal relationship with the patient in order to more accurately determine and meet his needs. The primary nurse\u27s role includes assessment of the patient\u27s needs, involvement of the patient in the planning of care, and responsible implementation and evaluation of care. This modality of making the patient the major focus is a return to the concept of my patient, my nurse. From admission to discharge the registered nurse assumes responsibility for the patient for twenty-four hours a day. The primary nurse works one eight-hour shift and two associate nurses cover the two remaining shifts. They collaborate with the patient in planning and implementing care. Patients have been documented as starting that in primary nursing, the nurse is more concerned, interested, and understanding than in other nursing care modalities. Thirty female registered nurses participated in this study, the purpose of which was to determine empathy levels of nursing practicing primary and team nursing. One problem was to determine whether there is a difference in empathy levels among nurses practicing these two modalities of care. Since the concept of field dependence may be related to empathy capacity, this relationship was investigated to determine whether there is a difference in field dependence between primary and team nurses. Investigation of relationships between empathy levels and field dependence of the total group of primary and team nurses was also completed to determine whether a correlation exists between these two concepts. The three hypotheses formulated were as followed: There will be no significant difference between the empathy scores of registered nurses practicing primary nursing as compared to that of nurses practicing team nurses. (α=.05) There will be no significant difference in the field dependence of registered nurses practicing primary nursing as compared to that of nurses practicing team nursing (α=.05) There will not be a positive correlation between the empathy scores and field dependence of total group of primary and team nurses (α=.05). The study was pre-experimental. The setting was four nursing units in a 546-bed medical center (Unit A, a primary surgical nursing unit; Unit B, a team surgical nursing unit; Unit C, a primary medical oncological nursing unit; Unit D, a team surgical oncological nursing unit). The criteria for selection of the subjects were that they be female registered nurses and that they had completed an orientation to their respective units. Consents were obtained from the nurses participating in the study, which was conducted over a six-week period in 1979. The data were analyzed by use of Mann-Whitney and Spearman’s Rho tests. The difference between the primary and team nurses’ rank scores on Hogan’s Empathy Scale and Group Embedded Figures Test was measured for the two groups of nurses. Spearman’s Rho determined the correlation coefficient on the basis of rank scores of the total group of nurses on both Hogan’s Empathy Scale and the Embedded Figures Test to correlate empathy levels with field dependence. The results of these analyses are included in the following paragraphs. At the end of the study, Hypothesis one (on difference in empathy levels between primary and team nurses) was supported, by the fact that scores on the Mann-Whitey test showed no significant difference. Hypothesis two (on difference in field dependence between primary and team nurses) also was supported by the absence of any statistically significant difference between field dependence of primary and of team nurses. Hypothesis three (on correlation of empathy levels and field dependence) likewise was sustained by the absence of correlation of levels for the two group of nurses as tested by Spearman’s Rho. Since the test scores revealed no significant differences between primary and team nurses in the areas of empathy levels and field dependence and showed no correlation of empathy levels with field dependence, the results demonstrate that regardless of the modality of nursing care practiced, nurses have similar empathy levels. Primary nurses, it is true, expressed more interest in the emotional aspects of the nurse-patient relationship and had more contact with their patients; however, further studies are necessary to determine the relationship between these qualities and empathy. The nonconclusive correlation between the cognitive style of field dependence and empathy capacity demonstrates the need for further studies to determine if a relation does indeed exist between these two concepts

New speakers: Challenges and opportunities for variationist sociolinguistics

While the field of variationist sociolinguistics has advanced rapidly since Labov (1966), it remains the case that a socially informed theory of language change continues to be influenced by only very few languages, typically English and a handful other dominant European languages. This article considers recent work on the emergence of new speakers in (severely) endangered or minority language communities, and what they might have to offer variationist theory. Although definitions can vary, it has become convention to describe new speakers as individuals ‘with little or no home or community exposure to a minority language but who instead acquire it through immersion or bilingual education programs, revitalization projects or as adult language learners’ (O'Rourke, Pujolar, & Ramallo, 2015: 1). There is now a wealth of literature available on new speakers in typologically dissimilar language contexts, though, so far, very little work has adopted the variationist paradigm. This article will argue that new speakers can figure prominently in variationist models of diffusion and change, taking the classic sociolinguistic factor of social networks as an example. The article ends by proposing a manifesto of potential research trajectories, based on current gaps in the literature

Identifying Damage-Sensitive Spatial Vibration Characteristics of Bridges from Widespread Smartphone Data

The knowledge gap in the expected and actual conditions of bridges has created worldwide deficits in infrastructure service and funding challenges. Despite rapid advances over the past four decades, sensing technology is still not a part of bridge inspection protocols. Every time a vehicle with a mobile device passes over a bridge, there is an opportunity to capture potentially important structural response information at a very low cost. Prior work has shown how bridge modal frequencies can be accurately determined with crowdsourced smartphone-vehicle trip (SVT) data in real-world settings. However, modal frequencies provide very limited insight on the structural health conditions of the bridge. Here, we present a novel method to extract spatial vibration characteristics of real bridges, namely, absolute mode shapes, from crowdsourced SVT data. These characteristics have a demonstrable sensitivity to structural damage and provide superior, yet complementary, indicators of bridge condition. Furthermore, they are useful in the development of accurate mathematical models of the structural system and help reconcile the differences between models and real systems. We demonstrate successful applications on four very different bridges, with span lengths ranging from about 30 to 1300 meters, collectively representing about one quarter of bridges in the US. Supplementary work applies this computational approach to accurately detect simulated bridge damage entirely from crowdsourced SVT data in an unprecedentedly timely fashion. The results presented in this article open the way towards large-scale crowdsourced monitoring of bridge infrastructure

Ezetimibe/simvastatin 10/40 mg versus atorvastatin 40 mg in high cardiovascular risk patients with primary hypercholesterolemia: a randomized, double-blind, active-controlled, multicenter study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A considerable number of patients with severely elevated LDL-C do not achieve recommended treatment targets, despite treatment with statins. Adults at high cardiovascular risk with hypercholesterolemia and LDL-C ≥ 2.59 and ≤ 4.14 mmol/L (N = 250), pretreated with atorvastatin 20 mg were randomized to ezetimibe/simvastatin 10/40 mg or atorvastatin 40 mg for 6 weeks. The percent change in LDL-C and other lipids was assessed using a constrained longitudinal data analysis method with terms for treatment, time, time-by-treatment interaction, stratum, and time-by-stratum interaction. Percentage of subjects achieving LDL-C < 1.81 mmol/L, < 2.00 mmol/L, or < 2.59 mmol/L was assessed using a logistic regression model with terms for treatment and stratum. Tolerability was assessed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Switching to ezetimibe/simvastatin resulted in significantly greater changes in LDL-C (-26.81% vs.-11.81%), total cholesterol (-15.97% vs.-7.73%), non-HDL-C (-22.50% vs.-10.88%), Apo B (-17.23% vs.-9.53%), and Apo A-I (2.56% vs.-2.69%) vs. doubling the atorvastatin dose (all <it>p </it>≤ 0.002), but not HDL-C, triglycerides, or hs-CRP. Significantly more subjects achieved LDL-C < 1.81 mmol/L (29% vs. 5%), < 2.00 mmol/L (38% vs. 9%) or < 2.59 mmol/L (69% vs. 41%) after switching to ezetimibe/simvastatin vs. doubling the atorvastatin dose (all <it>p </it>< 0.001). The overall safety profile appeared generally comparable between treatment groups.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In high cardiovascular risk subjects with hypercholesterolemia already treated with atorvastatin 20 mg but not at LDL-C < 2.59 mmol/L, switching to combination ezetimibe/simvastatin 10/40 mg provided significantly greater LDL-C lowering and greater achievement of LDL-C targets compared with doubling the atorvastatin dose to 40 mg. Both treatments were generally well-tolerated.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Registered at clinicaltrials.gov: <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00782184">NCT00782184</a></p

Family, Friends, and Personal Communities: Changing Models-in-the-Mind

Models-in-the-minds about the proper and right way to be a true friend or to do family behaviour may not necessarily fit lived experience, especially in cases where relationships become fused and distinctions between family and friend become blurred.. We suggest the idea of a personal community the micro-social world of significant others for any given individual as a practical schema for capturing the set of relationships in which people are actually embedded