Background and ObjectiveConcerns about delivery complications, birth outcomes, and child growth patterns have risen with the increasing prevalence of obesity among pregnant women. The purpose of this study was to assess weight‐related counseling knowledge and practices among a sample of currently practicing women's health providers (WHPs) with a goal of identifying potential areas of opportunity for strengthening and supporting their efforts.MethodsA self‐administered survey to assess current knowledge, perceptions, and practices was completed by a convenience sample of 86 WHPs (36 OB/GYNs, 11 Midwives/NPs, and 39 registered nurses).ResultsAmong the WHP's surveyed to date, 58%(%) reported that they discussed weight gain recommendations with women during their initial prenatal visit. Approximately one‐half (46%) reported that they assess patients' diet and physical activity (PA) habits, 33% help them set nutrition and PA goals and 29% document them in the chart. Most (65%) reported that they have never completed coursework or continuing education on either: nutrition, PA, or weight management; motivational interviewing; or behavior change. Less than half (46%) knew the IOM weight gain guideline for obese pregnant women. The top barrier cited by WHPs to their evaluating and/or effectively managing their patients' nutrition, PA, and weight was not having enough time (62.7%); 45% reported lack of training as one of their top two barriers.ConclusionsThese results suggest that while many WHPs provide weight‐related counseling during pregnancy, evidence‐based best practices are not consistently being used. Many WHPs appear to lack critical training needed to provide effective weight management counseling and care.
Challenges and complications of hydrographic and marine surveys in the last mile between sea and shore are compounded in the Arctic by remoteness, lack of infrastructure facilities, difficult transport, and environmental hazards. Without safe, cost-effective, and technologically fit-for-purpose survey solutions, these last-mile surveys are often neglected or inadequate for their design purposes. These special challenges pose similar difficulties to littoral marine and freshwater surveys in temperate New Zealand. To meet these challenges, experienced surveyors from the New Zealand branch of a global survey company partnered with a New Zealand-based naval architect to design and build a seaworthy class unmanned surface vehicle (USVs) for work in remote and isolated environments. The new nearshore class USV is easy to transport by any commercial means, inexpensive, safe for a two-person crew to operate, and has a customizable payload with large capacity for its size. The ability to work safely in harsh, remote environments at a reasonable cost make the new nearshore class USV an attractive and cost-effective option for surveying in the Arctic. This paper presents information on this survey solution and discusses advantages to USVs as a survey platform in Arctic environments.
Public acceptance of offshore wind development projects is critical to successfully advancing and accelerating the US energy transition. A newly developed geo-data engagement platform has been designed to help operators and regulators manage the rapidly growing volumes of complex geo-data needed to plan, design, and construct offshore wind farms; this same platform can also be used to build public consensus for mutually beneficial outcomes of the triple bottom line: people, planet, and profit. The web-based platform was developed through a pilot project to help project owners, operators, their contractors, and regulatory agencies increase collaboration and streamline decision-making. Providing a single source for information, the platform integrates public datasets and historical project data with real-time field data, making it possible to track the ongoing site characterization effort while continually evolving the ground model. The ability to access a singular, authoritative source for project geo-data successfully increased collaboration and efficiency among project owners and their teams. Specifically, it supported and tightened critical project timeline decisions, such as adjusting the survey approach during early acquisition, delivering preliminary access to acquired survey data and geotechnical parameters, and integrating final interpreted geophysical data and geotechnical parameters into a ground model. The platform was also used to support the operator’s Construction and Operations Plan (COP) submission to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), enabling interactive geo-data engagement with government stakeholders, streamlining review, and encouraging feedback on future assessment approaches. There is significant potential to further improve project outcomes by expanding access to public stakeholder groups. From a public perspective, understanding the proposed outcomes and participating in qualifying discussions can be challenging, as access to information and opportunities to engage with decision-makers is limited. In addition, interdependencies and complex feedback loops influence perspectives that can’t be fully understood without a systems thinking approach. This approach involves introducing innovative technology in a larger interconnected organization to kickstart a pressing social challenge. In this case, unifying all stakeholders—including the public—across a collaborative geo-data engagement platform that provides users access to non-proprietary information from the earliest stages mutually benefits the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit (Elkington):- Social value (People) – A shared geo-data platform can enable meaningful engagement by balancing effective advocacy and inquiry. Citizen perspective stimulates awareness, acceptance, and alternatives with a shared sense of direction.- Environmental value (Planet) – The geo-data acquired in support of a wind farm can also serve as a range of measures to aid habitat preservation, mitigation, and restoration activities. Digital information-sharing platforms enable citizen science approaches to the targeted protection of marine natural capital.- Economic value (Profit) – Transparent, efficient, and collaborative data sharing via the web-based geo-data platform enables collective decision-making, which expedites project milestones, reduces permitting risk and operational costs, and thus makes energy more affordable to consumers. As the global offshore wind market expands, solutions that support 1) the evolving project and geo-data life cycle, 2) multiple internal and external stakeholders, and 3) engagement towards mutually beneficial outcomes are vital to advancing the energy transition. This is one paper in a collaborative series that demonstrates the value of an integrated geoscience approach considering regulatory requirements and project design essentials.
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