Framing systematic reviews commissioned by policymakers as a hermeneutic process: A methodological commentary

From peril to promise? Local mitigation and adaptation policy decisions after extreme weather

Background A Health Research Board (HRB) four-year research study, which commenced in January 2023, seeks to explore the process of carrying out Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) with a view embedding the approach as normal practice in local and national policy development in Ireland. Methods A theoretical framework has been constructed to develop an HIA implementation model. The framework is based on the all-island Institute of Public Health Ireland's HIA guidance. The theoretical framework will examine factors affecting HIA implementation, using both the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) and Normalisation Process Theory (NPT). An action research methodological approach will be used to gather data on the experiences that participants will reflect on while doing the HIA. Participants included in the study will be the members of the two HIA Steering Groups created for each HIA (12 participants in each HIA) and policy end-users of the HIA evidence from the city council and government ministries (20 participants for each HIA). Results The theoretical framework will be applied to two HIAs, in order to generate data in creating the HIA implementation model. HIA 1, commencing October 2023, will be conducted on the local government Cork City Development Plan. HIA 2, commencing January 2025, will be carried out on the Irish Government's Climate Action Plan. Preliminary results on the application of the theoretical framework to HIA 1 will be presented, as well as reflections for the planned HIA 2. Conclusions For the first time in Ireland and beyond, a theoretical framework has been developed employing innovative methodological approaches to building a contextualised HIA implementation model. Using action research in assessing the implementation of HIA, with a view to analysing the lived experience of Steering Group members as they conduct the HIAs, and policy end-users, will ensure an enhanced HIA implementation model. Key messages • The development of an innovative theoretical framework for the study of HIA. • The building of HIA capacity in Ireland using the newly revised Institute of Public Health guidance.

Though Donald Trump popularized the phrase “Build the Wall” during the 2016 presidential election, Sarah R. Coleman's The Walls Within: The Politics of Immigration in Modern America reminds us that immigration has historically taken the forefront of political campaigns, especially during the second half of the twentieth century. Asserting that immigration scholars have primarily focused on external (international) borders, Coleman turns to internal domestic borders to examine federal, state, and local policies that sought to restrict non-citizen rights. Coleman argues, “With the passage of the Hart-Celler Act in 1965 and the corresponding shifts in immigration patterns, efforts to restrict immigrants’ access to social welfare programs began to solidify during the 1970s” (p. 106). In this vein, the author sets out to trace the “struggle of politicians, interest groups, courts, activists, and communities to define the rights of immigrants in the United States after the passage of the historic Hart-Celler Act of 1965” (p. 2). Coleman focuses on immigrants’ access to education, employment, and welfare to examine the nation's internal borders.This political history is organized into an introduction, six chapters, and an epilogue. The first chapter, “The Rose's Sharp Thorn: Texas and the Rise of Unauthorized Immigrant Education,” traces the 1982 landmark Supreme court case Plyler v. Doe, which decided that a Texas statute that charged tuition to non-citizen students violated the Fourteenth Amendment. Chapter 2, “‘A Subclass of Illiterates’: The Presidential Politics of Unauthorized Immigrant Education,” successfully demonstrates how pressures of an impending presidential election influenced the Carter administration's lack of response to Plyler v. Doe and Governor Ronald Reagan's pressure to woo Texas voters.Coleman then examines employment issues in the third chapter, “‘Heading into Uncharted Waters’: Congress, Employer Sanctions, and Labor Rights,” through which she explores how political alliances and parties became divided over employer sanctions. Chapter 4, “‘A Riverboat Gamble’: The Passage of Employer Sanctions,” relies on the passage of employer sanctions to emphasize one of Coleman's core arguments: “policies emerged not out of clear, ideologically coherent policy positions, but instead through tangled political compromises, sometimes crafted to address complex policy questions and, at other times, merely for the sake of incremental political gains” (p. 82).Following conservative fears that immigrants would soon have access to all civic liberties, Coleman examines welfare rights in the fifth chapter, “‘To Reward the Wrong Way Is Not the American Way’: Welfare and the Battle Over Immigrants’ Benefits.” This chapter effectively demonstrates another central premise of the book: “the removal of authorized immigrants from welfare is significant as it highlights the hardening of citizenship as the essential element in determining the relationship between the individual and the welfare state” (p. 108). In this chapter, Coleman most clearly outlines the origins of present-day local and state immigration policy. In regard to the monumental transfer of immigration authority from federal to state, Coleman argues, “Beyond the immediate restrictions, the changes made in the 1990s established a new policy framework that would ultimately reshape immigration policy over the next two decades,” (p. 141). Further illuminating the origins of today's immigration restrictions, Chapter 6, “From the Border to the Heartland: Local Immigration Enforcement and Immigrants’ Rights,” relies on an Iowa court case and the implementation of the 287(g) program to demonstrate how “federal inability to address some of the complicated issues of immigration control opened the window for state efforts at policymaking” (p. 142).The book's strengths lie in effectively detailing how political figures, institutions, grassroots organizations, and federal and state governments treated each court case as a high-stakes entryway into allowing non-citizens access to other civil liberties. Coleman convincingly traces and demonstrates how landmark immigration court cases are never treated as stand-alone issues; politicians are particularly concerned about how one policy could affect others or how their approval for a policy could alienate key constituencies. Sources are another strength, as Coleman balances materials from the Carter, Reagan, and Clinton administrations, as well as immigration and civil rights organizations. Although the reliance on a wide array of polls is informative, Coleman does not address pollsters’ demographics. Details such as pollsters’ national origins and socio-economic statuses could strengthen Coleman's argument. The first and last chapters that rely primarily on one court case could be strengthened by further discussing other cases that are mentioned but not used to complicate the evidence.Coleman set out to accomplish the significant feat of detailing restrictions imposed on non-citizens in the United States. The book successfully contributes to the field of immigration studies through its focus on internal borders. Audiences that would benefit from The Walls Within include those seeking to learn about the legislative policy process through history. Coleman puts it best: “This study looks at the entire scale of policymaking that is pertinent to immigrants, showing how local, state, and federal actions shaped policy implementation and politics in distinct ways” (p. 5).

This thesis provides an assessment of language policy (Spolsky, 2004) in Alicante, one of three provinces in the Valencian Community in the south east of Spain. The Valencian Community was founded in 1982 during Spain’s transition to democracy. Its Statute of Autonomy (Corts Valencianes, 1982), which was created in the same year, declares Castilian (the language of the state) and Valencian (a geographic variety of Catalan) as co-official in the autonomous community. Prior to this, Franco’s regime (1939-1975) had prohibited the public use of regional varieties such as Valencian. Yet, whilst the two languages now share equal official status, there is disparity between official language statements and de facto language policy (Shohamy, 2006). This project contributes to the growing research areas of language policy and language revitalisation. The findings of this study are positioned in the context of Catalan-speaking territories, Spain, and the wider European setting. This thesis provides a localised view of language policy in Alicante and uncovers the complexity of the current sociolinguistic setting. In order to present such a nuanced view of local language policy, this project draws upon qualitative and quantitative data collected during the administration of fieldwork questionnaires in 2014 in the towns of Sant Vicent del Raspeig and La Vila Joiosa. Both towns are in the province of Alicante; Sant Vicent del Raspeig is in the comarca (county) of L’Alacanti whilst La Vila Joiosa is in La Marina Baixa. This thesis examines a number of themes that emerged from the data, including the evolution of the composition of linguistic repertoires and the perception and construction of Valencian identities. This project also discusses the closure of the Valencian public broadcaster Radio Televisio Valenciana (RTVV) and examines how external factors, in addition to internal components, contribute to language policy. Data revealed that there is not one clearly identifiable language policy in Alicante; rather multiple layers of language practices, language management and language beliefs operate and intersect at various levels to contribute to a complex local language policy. This complexity is due in part to the social, linguistic, cultural and historical change experienced since the transition to democracy. Of particular significance is the increased access to Valencian which has resulted from the introduction of language legislation and the inclusion of Valencian in the education system (Blas Arroyo, 2002). As such, more language users are able to acquire standard Valencian, and its surrounding ideologies (Milroy, 2001; 2007), and also literacy. Consequently, language policy continues to evolve to reflect such changes as more language users are exposed to Valencian. However, data suggest that previous conditions and consolidated ideologies inherited from the past also continue to be influential and contribute to current language policy. This range of language practices, management and beliefs informs a complex and dynamic language policy. This project presents the case of language policy in Alicante and contributes to current research in Hispanic Studies and Sociolinguistics. The findings of this study further our understanding of language policy and its development in response to changing sociolinguistic conditions, such as increased access to minority languages in the present European context as a result of language revitalisation efforts. The findings presented here should encourage further research and debate, not only in the context of Spain, but also in other European contexts where a minority language has undergone language revitalisation, which has resulted in a change to traditional sociolinguistic order.

Elections are important for determining broad political direction, but they cannot by themselves effectively draw out voters’ preferences and interests in order to inform and influence the wide range of policy decisions required for the functioning of a modern economy. Engaging small, representative groups of the public in complex and controversial policy decisions can be one way to build a better understanding of the interests and preferences of the public about specific policy decisions. This chapter explores approaches that have been used across the world, from the Danish Board of Technology’s Consensus Conferences, the Brazilian experiments in Participatory Budgeting, to AmericaSpeaks’ 21st Century Town Hall events, and the UK Government’s Sciencewise programme. It explains why, when run well, such deliberative processes can have a profound impact on policy and its resulting acceptance by the public. However, it also points out they need much wider institutional adoption and increased deliberative capacity and sets out what both national and local government need to do more to address these obstacles.

All public policy faces general and domain-specific challenges. General challenges are key tasks, such as mobilising support for an agenda, or transforming policy goals into policy design, that need to be adhered to to realize a policy. In addition we distinguish five domain-specific challenges in prostitution. These are: The pervasive stigma and the urge to control and restrict prostitution that follows from that. Prostitution is morality politics, which results in an ideologically charged, emotive debate about prostitution and a tendency toward symbolic politics. Prostitution policy gets mixed up with immigration policy. Precise, reliable data on prostitution are generally unavailable. And, local policy making is essential for understanding the process and outcomes of prostitution policy. Local policy often deviates from, and is more repressive than national policy making. In our analysis we use concepts and theories of the policymaking process as formulated in the academic policy literature. But above all, by putting the domain-specific challenges central in describing and analysing prostitution policy, we consistently reason from the perspective of the elected official and public administrator.

Objective: To investigate how cooperation between Watershed Committees (CBHs) and the municipal executive and legislative branches in Southern Santa Catarina can strengthen water governance and support the formulation of local public policies aimed at water security and climate adaptation. Theoretical Framework: Water security requires integrated and resilient management in the face of the climate emergency and ecosystem pressures (UN, 2013; ANA, 2021). In Brazil, the decentralization established by Law No. 9,433/1997 strengthened the role of Watershed Committees (CBHs), whose effectiveness depends on interinstitutional coordination and social participation (Brasil, 1997; Castro, 2022). Adaptive governance is considered essential for incorporating flexibility, continuous learning, and cooperation among diverse actors (Adger; Vincent, 2005; Folke et al., 2005). In this context, the integration between CBHs and municipalities is key to implementing effective public policies and promoting water resilience (Nicollier et al., 2023). Method: Case study with a qualitative approach, grounded in action research. The study was conducted in nine municipalities within the Southern Grouping of Santa Catarina’s Watershed Committees. Data collection involved field diaries from in-person and virtual meetings, and documentary analysis of legislation and environmental diagnostics. Results and Discussion: Advances include the development of municipal water security laws and stronger articulation between CBHs and municipalities. Key challenges include administrative discontinuity, shortage of technical staff, and the influence of the electoral context. Interinstitutional cooperation proved essential for strengthening decentralized water governance. Research Implications: This study provides insights to support the formulation of more resilient and adaptive local public policies. It is relevant for managers, researchers, and decision-makers interested in integrating environmental planning, water management, and climate adaptation. Originality/Value: The research contributes to the field of water management and decentralized water governance by presenting an empirical and replicable experience of cooperation between CBHs and municipalities. The study outlines viable pathways for institutionalizing water management at the municipal level, integrating scientific knowledge and social participation.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has recently piloted the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)-based Test for Schools in the USA. In this paper, I contend that by connecting directly with local school boards this new initiative has the potential to further promote the OECD's educational agenda in local policy debates. I begin to develop this argument by providing an overview of the OECD and its work. I then lay out a theoretical framework around global governance and knowledge production within the context of the OECD. Next, I provide a brief overview of the traditional PISA study and compare it to the new PISA-based Test for Schools initiative. This context provides the foundation for a discussion of the ways in which a school-based international assessment can operate as a governance tool, allowing international organizations to have greater influence in the formation and implementation of local educational policies.

Abstract. If Robinson (1952, 4) suggested that the essential task of the cartographer was “to make the data intelligible for the reader”, perhaps the essential problem for those of us that teach cartography is to make information learnable for students. As a design problem, teaching has three main components: we present instructional materials to students, we create environments for students to engage with what we present, and we provide feedback that aims to measure and motivate learning. This paper aims to help cartography educators design effective instruction in two ways: (1) by defining principles and patterns for effective instructional design that are gleaned from empirical studies of cognitive theories of learning and from pedagogical patterns of reflective practice; (2) by illustrating how these principles and patterns can inform cartography education with specific examples from an undergraduate course on cartographic design.Cognitive theories of learning can inform instructional design based on the premise that “designs that are consistent with the way the human mind works are more effective in fostering learning than those that are not” (Mayer 2009, 13). They provide three key insights (Mayer 2005). First, working memory has a limited capacity to process information at one time. Second, we have two separate channels for processing visual and auditory information (both with limited capacities). Third, we don’t acquire knowledge passively but rather we actively engage in learning. This active engagement involves three key tasks: (1) figuring out or selecting the key information that we should pay attention to, (2) organizing this information into models, and (3) relating these models with previous knowledge. Within this theoretical framework, empirical studies have identified principles for instructional design that deal largely with presentation methods. In addition, they offer some helpful prescriptions for designing task environments that support learning by solving problems, for assessing learning, and for promoting learning through reflection.Pedagogical patterns aim “to offer a format and a process for sharing successful practices in a way that allows each practice to be used by a variety of people in many different ways” (Bergin 2012, iii). A pedagogical pattern is a template for instructional design that identifies a recurring problem and offers a general strategy for solving the problem. They do not originate from controlled experiments of theory, but rather they are discovered through the practice of teaching and by reflecting on these experiences. As such, they are similar to advice a junior colleague might receive from a senior mentor. They complement cognitive-based principles because they deal with aspects of teaching that are often missing from the controlled laboratory environments of empirical research. This includes strategies for designing social learning environments and active learning environments, and for providing constructive feedback.From these two sources, I compile a list of strategies organized by each design component. For designing presentations, strategies deal with questions of substance (what should you include in a presentation?), arrangement (how should you arrange or sequence elements of a presentation?), and modality (what should be the mode or form of a presentation?). For designing environments, strategies deal with questions of social environments (how should students interact with each other and with the instructor?) and task environments (how should students engage in activities or problems?). For feedback design, strategies deal with questions of assessment (how should you measure meaningful learning?), motivation (how should you deliver feedback to motivate learning?), and reflection (how should students reflect on their learning outcomes?).Because empirical principles and pedagogical patterns were developed for instruction in other domains, this article illustrates them with specific examples of instructional materials that I have developed for teaching cartographic design to undergraduate students. Examples include lecture activities, software tutorials, task scaffolding, and feedback methods.The main contribution of this article is to illustrate a framework that makes two important connections. First, it bridges principles from theory with patterns from practice. Second it links general principles/patterns with specific examples of their implementations. For experienced teachers, the principles, patterns, and examples described here may appear obvious or old hat, but for educators with little previous experience teaching, they may be especially helpful. In the future, it would be helpful if experienced educators contributed towards a resource for principles, patterns, and examples in cartography that young educators could draw from as they learn how to teach cartography.

Bisulfite sequencing (BS-seq) technology measures DNA methylation at single nucleotide resolution. A key task in BS-seq data analysis is to identify differentially methylation (DM) under different conditions. Here we provide a tutorial for BS-seq DM analysis using Bioconductor package DSS. DSS uses a beta-binomial model to characterize the sequence counts from BS-seq, and implements rigorous statistical method for hypothesis testing. It provides flexible functionalities for a variety of DM analyses.

Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) is prevalent among survivors. However, a comprehensive and universally accepted theoretical framework of FCR to guide intervention is lacking. This paper reviews theoretical frameworks previously used to explain FCR and describes the formulation of a novel theoretical framework for FCR. A systematic review of the literature was undertaken to identify conceptual frameworks or theories applied to FCR. MEDLINE, PubMED, CINAHL, AMED, PsycINFO and Web of Science were searched. Identified conceptual frameworks were reviewed for strength of evidence supporting their validity. Of 558 papers initially identified, 16 made reference to six different conceptual frameworks relating to FCR. The most comprehensive and evidence-based theoretical approach is the Common Sense Model (CSM). Other approaches have limited evidence supporting their application to FCR. Two theoretical approaches developed in the context of emotional disorders that appear to be highly relevant to FCR: the Self-Regulatory Executive Function (S-REF) model and Relational Frame Theory were combined with the CSM to produce a novel cognitive processing account of FCR. Few conceptual frameworks have been used consistently to guide FCR research, and not all frameworks are empirically well supported, suggesting that further discussion regarding the conceptualisation of FCR is needed. The novel theoretical framework for FCR presented highlights the multidimensional nature of FCR and the importance of cognitive processing and metacognitions in the development and maintenance of FCR. The novel theoretical formulation of FCR outlined here provides a much-needed comprehensive framework to further investigate and address FCR in cancer survivors.

Software architecture reconstruction is essentially the process of creating a set of architectural views with the information recovered from the actual implementation of a software system. While recovering the basic facts about the implementation can be automated with source code analyzers, mapping them to logical concepts is mainly a conceptual activity. We investigate the problem of how to bridge the logical and concrete domains for the purpose of creating architectural views. Our conclusion is that there is still a considerable gap between the theoretical framework and the practical experiences. This hinders the possibility of developing a general, rigorous and effective architecture reconstruction method.

This article reviews literature fromthe health field investigating the characteristics of environments that support or hinder physical activity. This literature shows that physical activity is associated with objective and subjective measures of accessibility to recreational facilities and local destinations, as well as with neighborhood safety and visual quality. Walking and biking emerge as prominent forms of physical activity and occur primarily in neighborhood streets and public facilities, suggesting that building walkable and bikable communities can address health as well as transportation concerns. The studies help advance environment-behavior research related to urban and transportation planning. They identify behavioral and environmental determinants of physical activity and employ rigorous data collection methods and theoretical frameworks that are new to the planning field. The article concludes that multidisciplinary research will likely yield promising results in identifying the aspects of environments that can be modified to encourage physical activity and physically active travel.

Although a positive relationship between tourism and quality of life is the premise of using tourism to support biodiversity conservation, tourism scholars rarely assess the relationship between tourism and community livelihoods with rigorous empirical methods, even less so in African contexts. Focusing on communities in the Greater Virunga Landscape in Rwanda and Uganda, we conducted a household survey to acquire empirical data to test novel hypotheses about tourism’s influence on capital assets, household resiliency, and subjective wellbeing. Using inferential statistical analyses (e.g., analysis of variance, chi-square difference test, and independent sample t-tests), we compared the responses from 346 residents who have direct access to tourism livelihoods with responses collected from 224 residents not engaged in tourism. Contrary to expectations, our findings suggest that tourism may not lead to dramatic differences in access to capital assets. However, we did discover moderate influences on household resiliency and subjective wellbeing. These intangible and subjective wellbeing outcomes of tourism-based livelihood programs are challenging to assess empirically. Yet, they may be among some of the most important from a human development standpoint. As a first effort to integrate three theoretical frameworks that have, to date, seen limited application in tourism research, this study has opened the door to further work at the intersections of capital assets, family resilience, and wellbeing theories. In conclusion, we argue that incentivizing the protection of local environments through tourism must be extended to other forms of capital, while also considering more nuanced manifestations of intangible wellbeing outcomes. As such, this paper makes a significant empirical contribution to the ongoing theoretical and practical debates about the tourism-conservation relationship.

Incentive policies from 2006 to 2016 and new energy vehicle adoption in 2010–2020 in China