Query: Technostructural intervention

title: Technostructural intervention of the tax ombudsman unit in Indonesia A study on Taxation Oversight Committee
abstract: Integrity, accountability, and fairness are crucial attributes for public service pro vision, especially for government agencies with strategic role of collecting tax revenue. To ensure those principles prevail, Indonesian Parliament and Govern ment, represented by the Minister of Finance, agreed to establish Taxation Over sight Committee (TOC) as a check and balance unit similar to tax ombudsman to oversee Directorate General of Taxation (DGT) and Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DGCE) two units who carry the mandate. In addition to the ombudsman ish tasks to prevent fraudulent behaviour and power abuse from DGT and DGCE officials, the Minister also demands TOC to produce technostructural interventions, i.e. conducting study and analysis to recommend ways to improve their performance. However, since its formation in 2010, a comprehensive evaluation of TOC's impact on tax administration has yet to be seen. For that reason, this research aimed to qualitatively measure TOC's effectiveness in performing its tasks and functions, along with its determining factors. To achieve the objective, this study was conducted by two sequential qualitative research methods. The secondary data analysis was used to assess TOC's recommendation monitoring data from 2015 to June 2018, and it was followed by the in depth semi structured interviews that sought confirmation, explanation, and the reasoning behind the analysis result. This research finds that the intervention provided by TOC has yet been influential and valued. The assessment indicates the pseudo independence performed, inadequate organisational and institutional capacities, reduced budget, ineffective human resource management, and a policy that discourages democratic control contribute to TOC's ineffectual performance. However, the positive perception from the taxpayers and the liaison officers, and the initiative to align its interest with DGT's and DGCE's programs could be seen as encouraging attempts towards more effective interventions.

title: Ever Failed, Try Again, Succeed Better: Results from a Randomized Educational Intervention on Grit
abstract: We show that grit, a non cognitive skill that has been shown to be highly predictive of achievement, is malleable in the childhood period and can be fostered in the classroom environment. Our evidence comes from an evaluation of a randomized educational intervention implemented in elementary schools in Istanbul. Outcomes are measured via a novel incentivized real effort task and actual school grades on core subjects. We find that treated students are 1) more likely to choose to undertake a more challenging and more rewarding task against an easier but less rewarding alternative, 2) less likely to give up after failure, 3) more likely to exert effort to accumulate task specific ability, and consequently, 4) more likely to succeed and collect higher payoffs. The intervention also has a significant impact on school grades: We find that treated students are about 3 percentage points more likely to receive top grades in core academic subjects.

title: Technostructural Interventions and Performance of Commercial Banks in Kenya
abstract: A Thesis Submitted to the School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration (Human Resource Management Option) of Kenyatta University, April 2019

title: What Really Matters in Response to Intervention: Research based Designs
abstract: 2.

title: Defining high bleeding risk in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: a consensus document from the Academic Research Consortium for High Bleeding Risk
abstract: Identification and management of patients at high bleeding risk undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention are of major importance, but a lack of standardization in defining this population limits trial design, data interpretation, and clinical decision making. The Academic Research Consortium for High Bleeding Risk (ARC HBR) is a collaboration among leading research organizations, regulatory authorities, and physician scientists from the United States, Asia, and Europe focusing on percutaneous coronary intervention related bleeding. Two meetings of the 31 member consortium were held in Washington, DC, in April 2018 and in Paris, France, in October 2018. These meetings were organized by the Cardiovascular European Research Center on behalf of the ARC HBR group and included representatives of the US Food and Drug Administration and the Japanese Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency, as well as observers from the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. A consensus definition of patients at high bleeding risk was developed that was based on review of the available evidence. The definition is intended to provide consistency in defining this population for clinical trials and to complement clinical decision making and regulatory review. The proposed ARC HBR consensus document represents the first pragmatic approach to a consistent definition of high bleeding risk in clinical trials evaluating the safety and effectiveness of devices and drug regimens for patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

title: A Systematic Review of Methods, Study Quality, and Results of Economic Evaluation for Childhood and Adolescent Obesity Intervention
abstract: Many suggested policy interventions for childhood and adolescent obesity have costs and effects that fall outside the health care sector. These cross sectorial costs and consequences have implications for how economic evaluation is applied and although previous systematic reviews have provided a summary of cost effectiveness, very few have conducted a review of methods applied. We undertook this comprehensive review of economic evaluations, appraising the methods used, assessing the quality of the economic evaluations, and summarising cost effectiveness. Nine electronic databases were searched for full economic evaluation studies published between January 2001 and April 2017 with no language or country restrictions. 39 economic evaluation studies were reviewed and quality assessed. Almost all the studies were from Western countries and methods were found to vary by country, setting and type of intervention. The majority, particularly "behavioural and policy" preventive interventions, were cost effective, even cost saving. Only four interventions were not cost effective. This systematic review suggests that economic evaluation of obesity interventions is an expanding area of research. However, methodological heterogeneity makes evidence synthesis challenging. Whilst upstream interventions show promise, an expanded and consistent approach to evaluate cost effectiveness is needed to capture health and non health costs and consequences.

title: An internet supported school physical activity intervention in low socioeconomic status communities: results from the Activity and Motivation in Physical Education (AMPED) cluster randomised controlled trial
abstract: Quality physical education (PE) is the cornerstone of comprehensive school physical activity (PA) promotion programmes. We tested the efficacy of a teacher professional learning intervention, delivered partially via the internet, designed to maximise opportunities for students to be active during PE lessons and enhance adolescents' motivation towards PE and PA.  A two arm cluster randomised controlled trial with teachers and Grade 8 students from secondary schools in low socioeconomic areas of Western Sydney, Australia. The Activity and Motivation in Physical Education (AMPED) intervention for secondary school PE teachers included workshops, online learning, implementation tasks and mentoring sessions. The primary outcome was the proportion of PE lesson time that students spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) measured by accelerometers at baseline, postintervention (7 8 months after baseline) and maintenance (14 15 months) Secondary outcomes included observed PE teachers' behaviour during lessons, students' leisure time PA and students' motivation.  Students (n=1421) from 14 schools completed baseline assessments and were included in linear mixed model analyses. The intervention had positive effects on students' MVPA during lessons. At postintervention, the adjusted mean difference in the proportion of lesson time spent in MVPA was 5.58% (p<0.001, approximately 4 min/lesson) During the maintenance phase, this effect was 2.64% (p<0.001, approximately 2 min/lesson) The intervention had positive effects on teachers' behaviour, but did not impact students' motivation.  AMPED produced modest improvements in MVPA and compares favourably with previous interventions delivered exclusively face to face. Online teacher training could help facilitate widespread dissemination of professional learning interventions.

title: When Is Foreign Exchange Intervention Effective? Evidence from 33 Countries
abstract: This study examines foreign exchange intervention based on novel daily data covering 33 countries from 1995 to 2011. We find that intervention is widely used and an effective policy tool, with a success rate in excess of 80 percent under some criteria. The policy works well in terms of smoothing the path of exchange rates, and in stabilizing the exchange rate in countries with narrow band regimes. Moving the level of the exchange rate in flexible regimes requires that some conditions are met, including the use of large volumes and that intervention is made public and supported via communication.

title: Carotenoids and Markers of Oxidative Stress in Human Observational Studies and Intervention Trials: Implications for Chronic Diseases
abstract: Carotenoids include C30, C40 and C50 terpenoid based molecules, many of which constitute coloured pigments. However, >1100 of these are known to occur in nature and only about a dozen are known to play a role in our daily diet. Carotenoids have received much attention due to their proposed health benefits, including reducing the incidence of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Many of these diseases are characterized by chronic inflammation co occurring with oxidative stress, characterized by, for example, enhanced plasma F2 isoprostane concentrations, malondialdehyde, and 8 hydroxyguanosine. Though carotenoids can act as direct antioxidants, quenching, for example, singlet oxygen and peroxide radicals, an important biological function appears to rest also in the activation of the body's own antioxidant defence system, related to superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase expression, likely due to the interaction with transcription factors, such as nuclear factor erythroid 2 related factor 2 (Nrf 2) Though mostly based on small scale and observational studies which do not allow for drawing conclusions regarding causality, several supplementation trials with isolated carotenoids or food items suggest positive health effects. However, negative effects have also been reported, especially regarding beta carotene for smokers. This review is aimed at summarizing the results from human observational studies/intervention trials targeting carotenoids in relation to chronic diseases characterized by oxidative stress and markers thereof.

title: Impacts of an opioid overdose prevention intervention delivered subsequent to acute care
abstract: Opioid overdose is a major and increasing cause of injury and death. There is an urgent need for interventions to reduce overdose events among high risk persons.  Adults at elevated risk for opioid overdose involving heroin or pharmaceutical opioids who had been cared for in an emergency department (ED) were randomised to overdose education combined with a brief behavioural intervention and take home naloxone or usual care.  time to first opioid overdose related event resulting in medical attention or death using competing risks survival analysis; and (2) ED visit and hospitalisation rates, using negative binomial regression and adjusting for time at risk.  During the follow up period, 24% of the 241 participants had at least one overdose event, 85% had one or more ED visits and 55% had at least one hospitalisation, with no significant differences between intervention and comparison groups. The instantaneous risk of an overdose event was not significantly lower for the intervention group (sub HR: 0.83; 95% CI 0.49 to 1.40)  These null findings may be due in part to the severity of the population in terms of housing insecurity (70% impermanently housed) drug use, unemployment and acute healthcare issues. Given the high overdose and healthcare utilisation rates, more intensive interventions, such as direct referral and provision of housing and opioid agonist treatment medications, may be necessary to have a substantial impact on opioid overdoses for this high acuity population in acute care settings.