The Link between Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices in Relation to Atmospheric Haze Pollution in Peninsular Malaysia.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura De Pretto

Full Text Available Transboundary haze episodes caused by seasonal forest fires have become a recurrent phenomenon in Southeast Asia, with serious environmental, economic, and public health implications. Here we present a cross-sectional survey conducted among people in Kuala Lumpur and surrounds to assess the links between knowledge, attitudes, and practices in relation to the transboundary haze episodes. Of 305 respondents, 125 were amateur athletes participating in a duathlon event and the remainder were surveyed in an inner-city shopping mall. Across the whole sample, people who possessed more factual information about the haze phenomenon showed significantly higher levels of concern. Duathletes were more knowledgeable than non-duathletes and also more concerned about the negative effects of haze, especially on health. For all people who regularly practice outdoor sports (including people interviewed at the shopping mall, higher levels of knowledge and concerned attitudes translated into a greater likelihood of engaging in protective practices, such as cancelling their outdoor training sessions, while those with greater knowledge were more likely to check the relevant air pollution index on a daily basis. Our results indicate that the provision of accurate and timely information about air quality to residents will translate into beneficial practices, at least among particularly exposed individuals, such as amateur athletes who regularly practice outdoor sports.

The Link between Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices in Relation to Atmospheric Haze Pollution in Peninsular Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

De Pretto, Laura; Acreman, Stephen; Ashfold, Matthew J; Mohankumar, Suresh K; Campos-Arceiz, Ahimsa

2015-01-01

Transboundary haze episodes caused by seasonal forest fires have become a recurrent phenomenon in Southeast Asia, with serious environmental, economic, and public health implications. Here we present a cross-sectional survey conducted among people in Kuala Lumpur and surrounds to assess the links between knowledge, attitudes, and practices in relation to the transboundary haze episodes. Of 305 respondents, 125 were amateur athletes participating in a duathlon event and the remainder were surveyed in an inner-city shopping mall. Across the whole sample, people who possessed more factual information about the haze phenomenon showed significantly higher levels of concern. Duathletes were more knowledgeable than non-duathletes and also more concerned about the negative effects of haze, especially on health. For all people who regularly practice outdoor sports (including people interviewed at the shopping mall), higher levels of knowledge and concerned attitudes translated into a greater likelihood of engaging in protective practices, such as cancelling their outdoor training sessions, while those with greater knowledge were more likely to check the relevant air pollution index on a daily basis. Our results indicate that the provision of accurate and timely information about air quality to residents will translate into beneficial practices, at least among particularly exposed individuals, such as amateur athletes who regularly practice outdoor sports.

LINKING CSR TO STRATEGY: A PRACTICAL VIEW

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Swiatkiewicz Olgierd

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to present a basic compendium of how companies can integrate social responsibility into their strategies. The paper analyzes and synthesizes ideas and proposals based on the literature review from different fields. It proposes a practical approach that does not highlight the differences but the positive and mutual synergy of social responsibility with firm’s strategy. There are many practical proposals in the literature and a lot of successful examples from business practice that show how organizations can or have made the implementation of social responsibility into their strategy to work efficiently, but their strategic, social, and environmental importance differs and is limited by many factors. The paper presents different means of connecting social responsibility with organizational strategy to make it work, which can be useful for practitioners, students, and wider public. The paper adds the praxiological or practical perspective to deal with a small but persisting organizational problem and a great social expectation, how to link efficiently social responsibility with organizational strategy into one coherent stream of purposes.

Democratic Schooling in Norway: Implications for Leadership in Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Moller, Jorunn

2006-01-01

This article explores the meaning of an education based on democratic values and the implications for school leadership in practice. Based on findings from a case study in a Norwegian upper secondary school, the study describes democratic school leadership in practice, with particular attention to the distribution of power and leadership in the…

Linking energy efficiency and innovation practices: Empirical evidence from the foundry sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cagno, Enrico; Ramirez-Portilla, Andres; Trianni, Andrea

2015-01-01

The Europe 2020 strategy currently promotes energy efficiency and innovation through disconnected targets focusing on either energy or R&D. Similar policies indicate that in practice, these two concepts are usually perceived as mutually exclusive. Furthermore, evidence in the literature regarding the relationship between R&D and energy efficiency is still highly limited. This exploratory study aims to address this gap by investigating the link between innovation practices and energy efficiency through a multiple case study of 30 foundries in Northern Italy. We analysed the firms' innovativeness, measured by internal R&D and Open Innovation practices (inbound and outbound), and energy efficiency, measured by specific energy consumption, level of adoption of energy-efficient technologies and barriers to energy efficiency. The results seem to show that those foundries complementing internal R&D with inbound practices have a higher level of energy efficiency, a higher level of adoption of available technologies, and a lower perception of barriers to efficiency improvements. This finding suggests that diversifying innovation practices could lead to better performance with respect to all three indicators of energy efficiency analysed. This study contributes to understanding how more innovative firms can be more energy efficient, providing interesting highlights for managers and policymakers. -- Highlights: •The relation between innovation practices and energy efficiency is articulated. •The link between innovation practices and energy efficiency is tested for foundries. •Energy efficiency is measured with three different indicators. •Analyses of the relations between these indicators support the link with innovation. •Concurrent adoption of internal R&D and inbound practices leads to higher efficiency

Reflective practice and its implications for pharmacy education.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsingos, Cherie; Bosnic-Anticevich, Sinthia; Smith, Lorraine

2014-02-12

Pharmacy students require critical-thinking and problem-solving skills to integrate theory learned in the classroom with the complexities of practice, yet many pharmacy students fall short of acquiring these skills.(1-2) Reflective practice activities encourage learning from the student's own experiences and those of others, and offer a possible solution for the integration of knowledge-based curricula with the ambiguities of practice, as well as enhance communication and collaboration within a multidisciplinary team. Although reflective practices have been embraced elsewhere in health professions education, their strengths and shortcomings need to be considered when implementing such practices into pharmacy curricula. This review provides an overview of the evolution of theories related to reflective practice, critically examines the use of reflective tools (such as portfolios and blogs), and discusses the implications of implementing reflective practices in pharmacy education.

Public health implications of post-harvest fish handling practices in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A wide range of handling practices for harvested fish exists and they have economic as well as public health implications. This paper is a review of the existing problems in fish handling technologies at post-harvest in Nigeria. The public health aspects with the associated implications are highlighted. Status of policy on fish ...

TEHORIES OF CONNECTIONS – PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS IN ACQUIRING MOTOR SKILLS

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Zoran Milošević

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Theories of learning which are classified in two broad schools as theories of connections and cognitive theories, differ among themselves according to specific interaction relationships between external stimulus (S, reaction and behavior and organism (R, i.e. particular learner (O. In relation to pedagogical practices, predominance of a certain school is not rare, often without any objective insight into their potentials related to age, sex, learning contents and other determinants. Supporters of the theories of connections treat behavior as a result of relations or associations, whereas learning occurs when these relations are strengthened by repetition or when new relations are formed. These theories are usually classified as theories of stimulus-reaction (S-R, whereas associating in this sense is used to stress the concept most theories usually agree upon: that learning consists of relations and link between stimuli (S-S, between stimuli and reactions (S-R, or between reaction and impulse (R-P. Well-known approaches within the theories of relations include classical Pavlov reflex, Guthry’s close conditioning, associating of Thorndyke, and Skinner’s efficient conditioning. Practical implications of these theories in acquiring motor skills are related to an active learner’s approach, significance of repetition – exercising, supporting, and rewarding correct answers, as well as strengthening a new behavior by imitation of a sample – modeling.

Implications of teacher educators' practices in assessment for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study presents findings on teacher educators' practices in assessment and their implications for student learning in Tanzania. Research on classroom assessment has been dichotomizing assessment and teaching-learning processes instead of viewing assessment as an integral part of the teachinglearning process.

(How) do we learn from errors? A prospective study of the link between the ward's learning practices and medication administration errors.

Science.gov (United States)

Drach-Zahavy, A; Somech, A; Admi, H; Peterfreund, I; Peker, H; Priente, O

2014-03-01

Attention in the ward should shift from preventing medication administration errors to managing them. Nevertheless, little is known in regard with the practices nursing wards apply to learn from medication administration errors as a means of limiting them. To test the effectiveness of four types of learning practices, namely, non-integrated, integrated, supervisory and patchy learning practices in limiting medication administration errors. Data were collected from a convenient sample of 4 hospitals in Israel by multiple methods (observations and self-report questionnaires) at two time points. The sample included 76 wards (360 nurses). Medication administration error was defined as any deviation from prescribed medication processes and measured by a validated structured observation sheet. Wards' use of medication administration technologies, location of the medication station, and workload were observed; learning practices and demographics were measured by validated questionnaires. Results of the mixed linear model analysis indicated that the use of technology and quiet location of the medication cabinet were significantly associated with reduced medication administration errors (estimate=.03, perrors (estimate=.04, plearning practices, supervisory learning was the only practice significantly linked to reduced medication administration errors (estimate=-.04, plearning were significantly linked to higher levels of medication administration errors (estimate=-.03, plearning was not associated with it (p>.05). How wards manage errors might have implications for medication administration errors beyond the effects of typical individual, organizational and technology risk factors. Head nurse can facilitate learning from errors by "management by walking around" and monitoring nurses' medication administration behaviors. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Linking research and practice through teacher communities: A place where formal and practical knowledge meet?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pareja Roblin, Natalie; Ormel, Bart; McKenney, Susan; Voogt, Joke; Pieters, Jules

2015-01-01

This study characterizes the links between research and practice across twelve projects concerned with the collaborative design of lesson plans by teacher communities. Analyses focused on sources of knowledge used to inform lesson design, participants’ roles, and knowledge generated by the teacher

The link between perceived human resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour : A moderated mediation model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Alfes, K.; Shantz, A.D.; Truss, C.; Soane, E.C.

2013-01-01

This study contributes to our understanding of the mediating and moderating processes through which human resource management (HRM) practices are linked with behavioural outcomes. We developed and tested a moderated mediation model linking perceived HRM practices to organisational citizenship

Mapping patterns of change in emotion-focused psychotherapy: Implications for theory, research, practice, and training.

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Watson, Jeanne C

2018-05-01

An important objective in humanistic-experiential psychotherapies and particularly emotion-focused psychotherapy (EFT) is to map patterns of change. Effective mapping of the processes and pathways of change requires that in-session processes be linked to in-session resolutions, immediate post-session changes, intermediate outcome, final therapy outcome, and longer-term change. This is a challenging and long-term endeavour. Fine-grained descriptions of in-session processes that lead to resolution of specific interpersonal and intrapersonal issues linked with longer-term outcomes are the foundation of EFT, the process-experiential approach. In this paper, evidence in support of EFT as a treatment approach will be reviewed along with research on two mechanisms of change, viewed as central to EFT, clients' emotional processing and the therapeutic relationship conditions. The implications for psychotherapy research are discussed. Given the methodological constraints, there is a need for more innovative methodologies and strategies to investigate specific psychotherapy processes within and across different approaches to map patterns and mechanisms of change to enhance theory, research, practice, and training.

Linking Strategy-As-Practice Knowledge and Multi-Stakeholder Brand Meaning Co-Creation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vallaster, Christine; von Wallpach, Sylvia

2014-01-01

In this paper, we adopt a strategy-as-practice perspective and establish a link to the practices of brand meaning cocreation. We contribute empirical insights gained in the context of a small, non-commercial institution. The results show that brand meaning co-creation is a fluid, social phenomenon...

Linking Research and Practice through Teacher Communities: A Place Where Formal and Practical Knowledge Meet?

Science.gov (United States)

Pareja Roblin, Natalie N.; Ormel, Bart J. B.; McKenney, Susan E.; Voogt, Joke M.; Pieters, Jules M.

2014-01-01

This study characterises the links between research and practice across 12 projects concerned with the collaborative design of lesson plans by teacher communities (TCs). Analyses focused on sources of knowledge used to inform lesson design, participants' roles and knowledge generated by the teacher community. Three patterns emerged pertaining…

Ideology and community social psychology: theoretical considerations and practical implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Montenegro, Marisela

2002-08-01

This paper addresses the importance of the concept of ideology in community work. The implications of a Marxist approach to ideology in community practice are analyzed in terms of the concepts of problematization (P. Freire, 1979) and consciousness-raising (J. Barreiro, 1976), illustrating the point with some examples. The traditional Marxist perspective is also examined in relation to the perspectives of social constructionism (I. Ibáñez, 1996), cultural studies (A. McRobbie, 1992), post-Marxism (E. Laclau & C. Mouffe, 1985), and feminism (D. Haraway, 1991). It is argued that the concepts of hegemony and habitus (P. Bourdieu, 1985) can be useful to community social psychology theory and practice. A "situated perspective"--in which it is possible to dialogue from different "subject positions," and articulate transformation and political action--is argued. The implications of this shifting in the concept of ideology by means of theoretical developments outside social communitypsychology can help to define the external (outside) agent's position in community practice.

Analytical Implications of Using Practice Theory in Workplace Information Literacy Research

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Moring, Camilla; Lloyd, Annemaree

2013-01-01

Introduction: This paper considers practice theory and the analytical implications of using this theoretical approach in information literacy research. More precisely the aim of the paper is to discuss the translation of practice theoretical assumptions into strategies that frame the analytical focus and interest when researching workplace…

Profiles of Maternal Parenting Practices: Exploring the Link With Maternal Delinquency, Offending, Mental Health, and Children's Physical Aggression.

Science.gov (United States)

Tzoumakis, Stacy; Lussier, Patrick; Corrado, Raymond R

2015-11-01

Studies have often linked parenting to children's subsequent antisocial behavior; however, the circumstances under which this might occur are less clear. The current study explores patterns in mothers' parenting practices, and associated correlates including maternal delinquency and offending, mental health, and children's physical aggression. This study is based on the first wave of the ongoing Vancouver Longitudinal Study; the objective of this prospective study is to identify the early risk and protective factors for aggression and violence from the earliest developmental periods. Parenting practices of 287 mothers with preschoolers are examined using a series of latent class analyses. Three different patterns of parenting emerged: Positive, Negative, and Intermittent. Patterns identified are associated with several key criminogenic, socio-demographic, historical, and developmental factors including current maternal adult offending, mothers' mental health, ethnicity, and frequency of children's physical aggression. Importantly, mothers who show parenting in line with the more negative classes also rely on a number of positive practices. Implications of the study suggest that parenting is influenced by mothers' immediate situations and contexts (e.g., current offending rather that past delinquency), which can be targeted for intervention. © The Author(s) 2014.

Supply chain management: New organisational practices for changing procurement realities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rask, Morten; Andersen, Poul Houman

2003-01-01

we use an analytical technique known as the degree-of-freedom analysis. It is suggested that new organisational practices such as key supply management, team based management and changing skill requirements of purchasing personnel may be an outcome of implementing SCM practices towards suppliers....... Theoretical and practical implications are derived. The main implications are that procurement officers must develop their communicative and boundary-spanning abilities in order to take on their new position as key supply purchaser linking actors both internal and external, to the lead firm....

Patients’ Online Access to Their Primary Care Electronic Health Records and Linked Online Services: Implications for Research and Practice

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Freda Mold

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Online access to medical records and linked services, including requesting repeat prescriptions and booking appointments, enables patients to personalize their access to care. However, online access creates opportunities and challenges for both health professionals and their patients, in practices and in research. The challenges for practice are the impact of online services on workload and the quality and safety of health care. Health professionals are concerned about the impact on workload, especially from email or other online enquiry systems, as well as risks to privacy. Patients report how online access provides a convenient means through which to access their health provider and may offer greater satisfaction if they get a timely response from a clinician. Online access and services may also result in unforeseen consequences and may change the nature of the patient-clinician interaction. Research challenges include: (1 Ensuring privacy, including how to control inappropriate carer and guardian access to medical records; (2 Whether online access to records improves patient safety and health outcomes; (3 Whether record access increases disparities across social classes and between genders; and (4 Improving efficiency. The challenges for practice are: (1 How to incorporate online access into clinical workflow; (2 The need for a business model to fund the additional time taken. Creating a sustainable business model for a safe, private, informative, more equitable online service is needed if online access to records is to be provided outside of pay-for-service systems.

Translating Nursing Philosophy for Practice and Healthcare Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, Pamela G

2017-07-01

This article introduces the feature article on policy implications of integrative nursing. It describes unitary ontology in nursing, highlighting the Rogerian view of holism. The importance of linking philosophy to practice policy is emphasized.

Computed tomographic practice and dosimetry: implications for nuclear medicine: editorial

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mountford, P.J.; Harding, L.K.

1992-01-01

This editorial briefly discusses the results of an NRPB survey of x-ray computed tomography practice and dosimetry in the UK. A wide variation in practice and patient doses was revealed. The implications for nuclear medicine are considered. The NRPB is to issue formal guidance on protection of the patient undergoing a CT investigation with the aim of achieving a more systematic approach to the justification and optimization of such exposures. (UK)

Implications of Nursing Clinical Practice to The Student’s Spiritual Health

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Bhandesa Asthadi Mahendra

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to clarify the implications of Nursing Clinical Practice (PLKK to the spiritual health of STIKES Bali students. This study employed purposive sampling method to determine the number of respondents. To conduct this study, the fourth grade of nursing students were recruited as the sample with total number 136 respondents. A questionnaire about spirituality from World Health Organization (WHO was used in this study as the instrument. In addition, the data were analysed by using quantitative descriptive technique. The result showed that 50.0% of students had a very good spiritual health, 42.6% had good spiritual health, 6.6% had moderate spiritual health, and 0.7 % had poor spiritual health. It can be interpreted that spiritual health of nursing students of STIKES Bali is good after conducting Nursing Clinical Practice. Thus, this study can be concluded that Nursing Clinical Practice has implication to the ability of students to love themselves and others meaningfully as the evidence of students’ spiritual health.

Evolutionary adaptations: theoretical and practical implications for visual ergonomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Fostervold, Knut Inge; Watten, Reidulf G; Volden, Frode

2014-01-01

The literature discussing visual ergonomics often mention that human vision is adapted to light emitted by the sun. However, theoretical and practical implications of this viewpoint is seldom discussed or taken into account. The paper discusses some of the main theoretical implications of an evolutionary approach to visual ergonomics. Based on interactional theory and ideas from ecological psychology an evolutionary stress model is proposed as a theoretical framework for future research in ergonomics and human factors. The model stresses the importance of developing work environments that fits with our evolutionary adaptations. In accordance with evolutionary psychology, the environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA) and evolutionarily-novel environments (EN) are used as key concepts. Using work with visual display units (VDU) as an example, the paper discusses how this knowledge can be utilized in an ergonomic analysis of risk factors in the work environment. The paper emphasises the importance of incorporating evolutionary theory in the field of ergonomics. Further, the paper encourages scientific practices that further our understanding of any phenomena beyond the borders of traditional proximal explanations.

Practices and health perception of preparation of Brassica vegetables: translating survey data to technological and nutritional implications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nugrahedi, P.Y.; Hantoro, I.; Verkerk, R.; Dekker, M.; Steenbekkers, L.P.A.

2015-01-01

Food preparation practices are known to have large nutritional implications on the final product. This article describes survey data on preparation practices of Brassica vegetables and the translation of these data into technological and nutritional implications using knowledge on the mechanisms of

Links between personality, time perspective, and intention to practice physical activity during cancer treatment: an exploratory study.

Science.gov (United States)

Villaron, Charlène; Marqueste, Tanguy; Eisinger, François; Cappiello, Maria-Antonietta; Therme, Pierre; Cury, François

2017-04-01

The purpose of the study was to analyze links between personality, time perspective, and intention to practice physical activity during cancer treatment. One hundred forty-three patients participated in survey by questionnaire. Intention to practice physical activity, time perspective using Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory, and personality with the Big Five Inventory were measured. Structural equation models using Lisrel were developed to examine hypothetical links between the variables. The adjusted model evidenced an excellent fit (comparative fit index = 0.92; root-mean-square error of approximation = 0.076; P = .014). Results showed that intention to practice exercise was positively linked with openness to experience and negatively with present fatalist time perspective. Moreover, conscientiousness and neuroticism were found to be linked with future time perspective, which was positively related with intention to practice physical activity. The present exploratory study with patients suffering from cancer underlined the importance of considering jointly time perspective dimensions and personality factors for health behavior recommendations. Based on our results, we propose some reflections on practice to help nurses and physicians increase patient's motivation to be physically active. Taking into account patients' personality and time perspective, we would be able to propose specific awareness messages and offer short interventions to have an impact on patients' motivation to practice. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Resource depletion promotes automatic processing: implications for distribution of practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Scheel, Matthew H

2010-12-01

Recent models of cognition include two processing systems: an automatic system that relies on associative learning, intuition, and heuristics, and a controlled system that relies on deliberate consideration. Automatic processing requires fewer resources and is more likely when resources are depleted. This study showed that prolonged practice on a resource-depleting mental arithmetic task promoted automatic processing on a subsequent problem-solving task, as evidenced by faster responding and more errors. Distribution of practice effects (0, 60, 120, or 180 sec. between problems) on rigidity also disappeared when groups had equal time on resource-depleting tasks. These results suggest that distribution of practice effects is reducible to resource availability. The discussion includes implications for interpreting discrepancies in the traditional distribution of practice effect.

Analytical implications of using practice theory in workplace information literacy research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Moring, Camilla Elisabeth; Lloyd, Annemaree

2013-01-01

Introduction: This paper considers practice theory and the analytical implications of using this theoretical approach in information literacy research. More precisely the aim of the paper is to discuss the translation of practice theoretical assumptions into strategies that frame the analytical...... focus and interest when researching workplace information literacy. Two practice theoretical perspectives are selected, one by Theodore Schatzki and one by Etienne Wenger, and their general commonalities and differences are analysed and discussed. Analysis: The two practice theories and their main ideas...... of what constitute practices, how practices frame social life and the central concepts used to explain this, are presented. Then the application of the theories within workplace information literacy research is briefly explored. Results and Conclusion: The two theoretical perspectives share some...

Citizen Science and Biomedical Research: Implications for Bioethics Theory and Practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chris W Callaghan

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Certain trends in scientific research have important relevance to bioethics theory and practice. A growing stream of literature relates to increasing transparency and inclusivity of populations (stakeholders in scientific research, from high volume data collection, synthesis, and analysis to verification and ethical scrutiny. The emergence of this stream of literature has implications for bioethics theory and practice. This paper seeks to make explicit these streams of literature and to relate these to bioethical issues, through consideration of certain extreme examples of scientific research where bioethical engagement is vital. Implications for theory and practice are derived, offering useful insights derived from multidisciplinary theory. Arguably, rapidly developing fields of citizen science such as informing science and others seeking to maximise stakeholder involvement in both research and bioethical engagement have emerged as a response to these types of issues; radically enhanced stakeholder engagement in science may herald a new maximally inclusive and transparent paradigm in bioethics based on lessons gained from exposure to increasingly uncertain ethical contexts of biomedical research.

Practical implications of incentive systems are utilized by dental franchises.

Science.gov (United States)

Yavner, S B

1989-01-01

The success of any dental practice depends, among other factors, on the critical role of staff employees. In order to encourage desired staff behaviors, incentive systems can be designed for employee dentists, assistants/hygienists and managers. A survey of dental franchises was conducted in 1987 for the purpose of examining their incentive control systems. The specific incentives employed by these dental franchises for their employees are analyzed. The implications of these incentive systems used by dental franchise organizations for all dental practices are then discussed.

Nurses' but not supervisors' safety practices are linked with job satisfaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Hurtado, David A; Kim, Seung-Sup; Subramanian, S V; Dennerlein, Jack T; Christiani, David C; Hashimoto, Dean M; Sorensen, Glorian

2017-10-01

To test the associations of safety practices as reported by nurses and their respective unit supervisors with job satisfaction. Psychosocial workplace factors are associated with job satisfaction; however, it is unknown whether nurses and supervisors accounts of safety practices are differentially linked to this outcome. Cross-sectional study design including nurses (n = 1052) nested in 94 units in two hospitals in Boston (MA, USA). Safety practices refer to the identification and control of occupational hazards at the unit. Safety practices were measured aggregating nurses' responses per unit, and supervisory levels. Individual's job satisfaction for each nurse was the response variable. Supervisors assessed safety practices more favourably than their unit nursing staff. Adjusted random intercept logistic regressions showed that the odds of higher job satisfaction were higher for nurses at units with better safety practices (OR: 1.67, 95% CI: 1.04, 2.68) compared with nurses at units that averaged lower safety practices. Supervisors' reports of safety practices were not correlated with the job satisfaction of their staff. Adequate safety practices might be a relevant managerial role that enhances job satisfaction among nurses. Nursing supervisors should calibrate their safety assessments with their nursing staff to improve nurses' job satisfaction. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Links between maternal feeding practices and children's eating difficulties. Validation of French tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Rigal, Natalie; Chabanet, Claire; Issanchou, Sylvie; Monnery-Patris, Sandrine

2012-04-01

The main objectives of the present study were to validate measures of young children's eating difficulties and maternal feeding practices in a French sample, as well as to assess the links between these practices and children's eating difficulties. Mothers (n=502) of French children aged 20-36 months completed four questionnaires that were validated using a Structural Equation Modelling approach. Links between children and maternal components were investigated using a PLS regression. The Children's Eating Difficulties Questionnaire yielded a 4-dimension solution: Neophobia, Pickiness, Low Appetite and Low Enjoyment in food. The Feeding Style Questionnaire assessed three dimensions: Authoritarian, Authoritative and Permissive Styles. The Feeding Strategy Questionnaire, designed to evaluate strategies used by mothers to make their child taste rejected foods, resulted in four factors: Coercion, Explanation, Contingency and Preference. The Questionnaire relating to Parental Motivations when buying food for children presented a 6-dimension solution: Convenience, Weight-control, Natural, Health-concern, Preference and Price. The factors associated positively with the four dimensions of the Children's Eating Difficulties Questionnaire were on the one hand Permissive Style and Practices to fulfil child's desires, and on the other hand Authoritarian Style, Contingent and Coercive Practices aimed at forcing children to taste rejected foods. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Safeguarding and Protecting Children in Maternity Services: Implications for Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Lazenbatt, Anne; Greer, Jean

2009-01-01

This article debates the issues involved in safeguarding and protecting children in maternity services and offers implications for professional practice. Midwives and other staff who work as members of the maternity team have a safeguarding role to play in the identification of babies and children who have been abused, or are at risk of abuse, and…

Leading Change in Tissue Viability Best Practice: An Action Learning Programme for Link Nurse Practitioners

Science.gov (United States)

Kellie, Jean; Henderson, Eileen; Milsom, Brian; Crawley, Hayley

2010-01-01

This account of practice reports on an action learning initiative designed and implemented in partnership between a regional NHS Acute Trust and a UK Business School. The central initiative was the implementation of an action learning programme entitled "Leading change in tissue viability best practice: a development programme for Link Nurse…

Dewey's Link with Daoism: Ideals of Nature, Cultivation Practices, and Applications in Lessons

Science.gov (United States)

Maki, Wilma J.

2016-01-01

This article explores the pedagogical implications of John Dewey's claim that his definition of experience is shared by Daoists. It compares characteristics of experience with those in Daoism, and then considers the similarities and differences between key cultivation practices each proposes, focusing on the roles of the teacher and sage. My main…

Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors Related to AIDS among Prisoners: Implications for Social Work Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Miah, M. Mizanur Rahman; Olivero, J. Michael

1995-01-01

A survey of 33 male and 5 female prisoners examined their knowledge of AIDS and HIV transmission modes, current sexual behavior and safe sex practices, and sources of AIDS information and degree of trust in these sources. Discusses implications for social work practices and development of AIDS education for prisoners. (SV)

Using LinkedIn for Continuing Community of Practice Among Hand Surgeons Worldwide.

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Chaoyan; Cheema, Mubashir; Samarasekera, Dujeepa; Rajaratnam, Vaikunthan

2015-01-01

Hand surgeons need continuing professional development due to rapid advancement in the field. Traditional approaches have proven to be challenging due to the nature of surgical practice and other demands. Social media sites have shown the potential to build an online community of practice. One of the authors (VR) started Hand Surgery International on LinkedIn in February 2011. The number of members increased from 38 in the beginning to 4106 members by August 13, 2015, with members from all over the world. Half of them are from plastic surgery, with 16.8% hand and 17.8% orthopedic surgery; 63.8% of them are consultants. There were 151 discussion topics, which generated 1238 comments at an average of 8.2 comments per discussion thread. The topics focused on management of difficult patients, seeking consensus, and searching information. The features participants found most useful included case-based discussion, polls/surveys, and network opportunity. Members perceived the LinkedIn community as user-friendly and easy to use. It does not require significant technical knowledge. For the question "How would you rate the overall ease of using this platform?" 42% answered "strongly agree" and 37% "agree". The LinkedIn group serves as an effective means for continuing professional development for hand surgeons. © 2015 The Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions, the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education, and the Council on Continuing Medical Education, Association for Hospital Medical Education.

ERRORS AND CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK IN WRITING: IMPLICATIONS TO OUR CLASSROOM PRACTICES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Corazon Saturnina A Castro

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Error correction is one of the most contentious and misunderstood issues in both foreign and second language teaching. Despite varying positions on the effectiveness of error correction or the lack of it, corrective feedback remains an institution in the writing classes. Given this context, this action research endeavors to survey prevalent attitudes of teachers and students toward corrective feedback and examine their implications to classroom practices.  This paper poses the major problem:  How do teachers’ perspectives on corrective feedback match the students’ views and expectations about error treatment in their writing? Professors of the University of the Philippines who teach composition classes and over a hundred students enrolled in their classes were surveyed.  Results showed that there are differing perceptions of teachers and students regarding corrective feedback. These oppositions must be addressed as they have implications to current pedagogical practices which include constructing and establishing appropriate lesson goals, using alternative corrective strategies, teaching grammar points in class even in the tertiary level, and further understanding the learning process.

Do financial incentives linked to ownership of specialty hospitals affect physicians' practice patterns?

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Jean M

2008-07-01

Although physician-owned specialty hospitals have become increasingly prevalent in recent years, little research has examined whether the financial incentives linked to ownership influence physicians' referral rates for services performed at the specialty hospital. We compared the practice patterns of physician owners of specialty hospitals in Oklahoma, before and after ownership, to the practice patterns of physician nonowners who treated similar cases over the same time period in Oklahoma markets without physician-owned specialty hospitals. We constructed episodes of care for injured workers with a primary diagnosis of back/spine disorders. We used pre-post comparisons and difference-in-differences analysis to evaluate changes in practice patterns for physician owners and nonowners over the time period spanned by the entry of the specialty hospital. Findings suggest the introduction of financial incentives linked to ownership coincided with a significant change in the practice patterns of physician owners, whereas such changes were not evident among physician nonowners. After physicians established ownership interests in a specialty hospital, the frequency of use of surgery, diagnostic, and ancillary services used in the treatment of injured workers with back/spine disorders increased significantly. Physician ownership of specialty hospitals altered the frequency of use for an array of procedures rendered to patients treated at these hospitals. Given the growth in physician-owned specialty hospitals, these findings suggest that health care expenditures will be substantially greater for patients treated at these institutions relative to persons who obtain care from nonself-referral providers.

Exploring accountability of clinical ethics consultants: practice and training implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Weise, Kathryn L; Daly, Barbara J

2014-01-01

Clinical ethics consultants represent a multidisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners with varied training backgrounds, who are integrated into a medical environment to assist in the provision of ethically supportable care. Little has been written about the degree to which such consultants are accountable for the patient care outcome of the advice given. We propose a model for examining degrees of internally motivated accountability that range from restricted to unbounded accountability, and support balanced accountability as a goal for practice. Finally, we explore implications of this model for training of clinical ethics consultants from diverse academic backgrounds, including those disciplines that do not have a formal code of ethics relating to clinical practice.

What can complexity do for diabetes management? Linking theory to practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Helen C; Geyer, Robert

2009-08-01

Diabetes presents a multifaceted picture with its rapidly rising prevalence associated with changing demographics and increasing levels of obesity in the developed world. Deaths from diabetes are predicted to rise by 25% over the next 10 years. The enormity of this public health challenge has been recognized the world over, but little attention has been paid to the theoretical frameworks underpinning practical management. This paper aims to introduce complexity theory and discuss its practical application to diabetes, focusing on a single 'tool' to provide an example of how theory can be linked to practice. Critics have questioned the all inclusive nature of complexity seeing it as an intangible concept that fails to offer anything new to health care. However, few have appraised its practical application to a chronic disease that is currently managed using an outdated, linear, reduce and resolve model which fails to address the multiple interacting systems inherent within this condition. This article proposes that complexity theory provides an interprofessional perspective for describing and understanding the processes involved, and provides working 'tools' for patients, carers and practitioners that capture the reality of managing this chronic disease in modern life.

Development of a Causal Framework linking High Perofrmance HRM Practices, Positive Psychological Capital, Creative Behaviours

OpenAIRE

Gupta, Vishal

2013-01-01

Synthesizing the ideas of high-performance Human Resource Management (HRM), positive psychological capital, and componential theory of creativity, the present study develops a multi-level causal framework linking high-performance work practices (HPWP), positive psychological capital, employee creative performance behaviors and creative performance. The paper argues that to provide a convincing explanation of the association between HRM practices and creativity, we need to improve our theoreti...

Practice implications and recommendations for managing codeine misuse and dependence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bergin Michael

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Codeine, a weak opiate, requires increased pharmacovigilance relating to availability, heterogeneous nature of misuse, dependence and associated harm. A scoping review of literature on codeine was conducted using Arksey & O’Malley’s framework (1. Databases searched included PubMed, EBSCO Host, Science Direct, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane library and Medline from 1994 to 2014. Follow-up search strategies involved hand searching and searching of pharmaceutical, health, medical and drug related websites. Initial zscreening identified 3,105 articles with 475 meeting the inclusion criteria. Eight broad categories organised the literature, data charting and qualitative synthesis. This paper presents implications for practice and makes recommendations to address these issues. Themes identified relate to raising public and practitioner awareness, risk management, dispensing practices and monitoring and surveillance of codeine. Evidence to inform law enforcement, drug surveillance, public health initiatives, harm reduction approaches, pharmacy, clinical and treatment practices is warranted.

Open Innovation or Innovation in the Open? An Exploration of the Strategy–Innovation Link in Five Scale-Intensive Services

OpenAIRE

Breunig, Karl Joachim; Aas, Tor Helge; Hydle, Katja Maria

2016-01-01

This chapter explores the strategy–innovation link in open service innovations. The increased attention to the role of the firm's external environment on innovation has important implications for strategy. However, our literature review reveals that the strategy–innovation link is ambiguously treated in extant theory, especially with respect to open- and service-innovations. Therefore, we inductively explore innovation practices in five large scale-intensive service firms to establish the lin...

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Clinical Trends of a Mindfulness-Informed Child Welfare Intervention: Implications for Trauma-Focused Practice

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Samantha M. Brown

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Exposure to stress and early life trauma have been linked to child maltreatment and parental substance misuse. These issues often co-occur, yet few child welfare services target their shared underlying causes in a single intervention. Teaching mindfulness-informed strategies to substance-misusing families in the child welfare system may be one promising trauma-informed approach. As part of a larger pilot study testing the initial efficacy of a mindfulness-informed intervention for parents in public child welfare, this study explored the feasibility, acceptability, and clinical trends of the intervention using weekly reports of stress, coping, and mindfulness. Findings show support for the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention as well as positive responses to the intervention on measures of stress and mindfulness. However, the impact of the intervention varied with regard to improving weekly coping among participants. Implications for the integration of mindfulness into child welfare practice as a trauma-informed approach are discussed.

Understanding Parental Grief as a Response to Mental Illness: Implications for Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Penzo, Jeanine A.; Harvey, Pat

2008-01-01

Parents who are raising children with mental illness struggle with feelings of grief and loss. Kubler-Ross' (1969) stages of grieving (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) are examined as experienced by parents raising children with chronic mental illness. Practice implications for social workers who are working with children and…

Youth Work Transitions: A Review with Implications for Counselling and Career Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Parada, Filomena; Young, Richard A.

2013-01-01

We critically review studies highlighting youth's work transitions and derive some implications for career and counselling theory and practice. We first discuss today's hypermodern world, specifically the meanings being conveyed by today's complex social realities and their impact on individuals' (work) lives. An overview of…

Addressing Cross-Cultural Teamwork Barriers: Implications for Industry Practice and Higher Education Curricula

Science.gov (United States)

Levitt, Steven R.

2016-01-01

This study explores cultural factors affecting international team dynamics and the implications for industry practice and higher education. Despite decades of studying and experience with cultural diversity, international work groups continue to be challenged by ethnocentrism and prejudices. Central to the context is that cultural differences in…

Women's self-perception and self-care practice: implications for health care delivery.

Science.gov (United States)

Mendias, E P; Clark, M C; Guevara, E B

2001-01-01

Mexican American women experience unique health care needs related to integration of Mexican and American cultures. To learn how to better promote self-care practices and service utilization in women of Mexican origin living in Texas, researchers used a qualitative approach to interview a convenience sample of 11 low-income women attending a health clinic. Researchers collected narrative data about the women's perceptions of health, wellness, and self-care. Using the matrix approach described by Miles and Huberman, we organized findings around women's roles, including participants' descriptions of themselves, their health and wellness awareness, self-care practices for health/illness and wellness/nonwellness, barriers to self-care, origin of self-care practices, and perceptions of life control. Implications for health planning and service delivery are presented.

Variability of CSF Alzheimer's disease biomarkers: implications for clinical practice.

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Stephanie J B Vos

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF biomarkers are increasingly being used for diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the influence of CSF intralaboratory and interlaboratory variability on diagnostic CSF-based AD classification of subjects and identified causes of this variation. METHODS: We measured CSF amyloid-β (Aβ 1-42, total tau (t-tau, and phosphorylated tau (p-tau by INNOTEST enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assays (ELISA in a memory clinic population (n = 126. Samples were measured twice in a single or two laboratories that served as reference labs for CSF analyses in the Netherlands. Predefined cut-offs were used to classify CSF biomarkers as normal or abnormal/AD pattern. RESULTS: CSF intralaboratory variability was higher for Aβ1-42 than for t-tau and p-tau. Reanalysis led to a change in biomarker classification (normal vs. abnormal of 26% of the subjects based on Aβ1-42, 10% based on t-tau, and 29% based on p-tau. The changes in absolute biomarker concentrations were paralleled by a similar change in levels of internal control samples between different assay lots. CSF interlaboratory variability was higher for p-tau than for Aβ1-42 and t-tau, and reanalysis led to a change in biomarker classification of 12% of the subjects based on Aβ1-42, 1% based on t-tau, and 22% based on p-tau. CONCLUSIONS: Intralaboratory and interlaboratory CSF variability frequently led to change in diagnostic CSF-based AD classification for Aβ1-42 and p-tau. Lot-to-lot variation was a major cause of intralaboratory variability. This will have implications for the use of these biomarkers in clinical practice.

Teacher Strategies for Effective Intervention with Students Presenting Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties: Implications for Policy and Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Paul

2011-01-01

In this paper some key practice and policy implications emerging from a review of literature on effective teacher strategies for social, emotional and behavioural difficulties are set out. Particular attention is given to implications in relation to the development of teachers' skills.

Screening for diabetes in unconventional locations: resource implications and economics of screening in optometry practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Howse, Jennifer H; Jones, Steve; Hungin, A Pali S

2011-10-01

Unconventional locations outwith general medical practice may prove opportunities for screening. The aim was to determine the resource implications and economics of a screening service using random capillary blood glucose (rCBG) tests to detect raised blood glucose levels in the "at risk" population attending high street optometry practices. A screening service was implemented in optometry practices in North East England: the cost of the service and the implication of different screening strategies was estimated. The cost of a screening test was £5.53-£11.20, depending on the screening strategy employed and who carried out the testing. Refining the screening strategy to target those ≥40 years with BMI of ≥25 kg/m(2) and/or family history of diabetes resulted in a cost per case referred to the GP of £14.38-£26.36. Implementing this strategy in half of optometric practices in England would have the potential to identify up to 150,000 new cases of diabetes and prediabetes a year. Optometry practices provide an effective way of identifying people who would benefit from further investigation for diabetes. Effectiveness could be improved further by improving cooperation and communication between optometrists and medical practitioners. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The down syndrome behavioral phenotype: implications for practice and research in occupational therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Daunhauer, Lisa A; Fidler, Deborah J

2011-01-01

ABSTRACT Down syndrome (DS) is the most common chromosomal cause of intellectual disability. The genetic causes of DS are associated with characteristic outcomes, such as relative strengths in visual-spatial skills and relative challenges in motor planning. This profile of outcomes, called the DS behavioral phenotype, may be a critical tool for intervention planning and research in this population. In this article, aspects of the DS behavioral phenotype potentially relevant to occupational therapy practice are reviewed. Implications and challenges for etiology-informed research and practice are discussed.

Contested Practice: Political Activism in Nursing and Implications for Nursing Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Buck-McFadyen, Ellen; MacDonnell, Judith

2017-07-27

Canadian nurses have a social mandate to address health inequities for the populations they serve, as well as to speak out on professional and broader social issues. Although Canadian nursing education supports the role of nurses as advocates for social justice and leadership for health care reform, little is known about how nurse educators understand activism and how this translates in the classroom. A comparative life history study using purposeful sampling and a critical feminist lens was undertaken to explore political activism in nursing and how nurse educators foster political practice among their students. Findings from interviews and focus groups with 26 Ontario nurse educators and nursing students suggested that neoliberal dynamics in both the practice setting and in higher education have constrained nurses' activist practice and favour a technical rational approach to nursing education. Implications and strategies to inspire political action in nursing education are discussed.

Reflecting on reflection in interprofessional education: implications for theory and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Phillip G

2009-05-01

Interprofessional education (IPE) involves learning, and learning requires reflection. Educators need to "reflect more on reflection" if they are to be effective teachers in ensuring the learning outcomes essential for teamwork and interprofessional practice (IPP), including incorporating both theory and practice into the development of educational interventions. First, this discussion surveys the IPE-relevant literature on reflection, and then defines and refines the multidimensional concept of reflection as it relates to IPE in developing and implementing teamwork learning programs and experiences. Second, specific methods to promote reflection are presented and explored, including self-assessments, journaling, and written papers. Actual samples from student journals and assignments provide examples of the impacts of using these methods on participant reflection and learning. Finally, implications for an expanded understanding and application of reflection for IPE will be discussed, and recommendations made for educational practice and research in this area.

The role of depression and dissociation in the link between childhood sexual abuse and later parental practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Collin-Vézina, Delphine; Cyr, Mireille; Pauzé, Robert; McDuff, Pierre

2005-01-01

Research has yielded contradictory results on the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and later parental functioning. This study was undertaken to specify the link between childhood sexual abuse and maternal parenting, while taking into account mothers' childhood physical and emotional traumas and current depressive and dissociative symptoms. Data were collected through self-report measures completed by 93 French-speaking Canadian mothers of children aged 6 to 11 years referred to Youth Protection Services. Parental behaviors examined included involvement with the child, use of positive reinforcement, lack of monitoring and supervision of the child, inconsistency in applying discipline, and use of corporal punishment. Mothers' perception of the quality of the relationship with her child was also assessed. In addition, history of abuse and neglect, depression and dissociation were respectively measured with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Diagnostic Interview Schedule Simplified, and the Dissociative Experiences Scale. The short-form of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale was used to control for respondent bias aimed at minimizing their problems. Mothers' current depressive symptoms were not found to predict any of the parental dimensions measured. Results from multiple hierarchical regressions pointed to dissociative symptoms as the key predictor of parental practices and attitudes. More specifically, dissociative symptoms predicted the use of positive reinforcement, lack of monitoring and supervision of the child, inconsistency in applying discipline, and use of corporal punishment. Dissociation also mediated the association between childhood maltreatment (physical and emotional abuse and neglect) and inconsistency in applying discipline. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Everyday Humanitarianism: Ethics, Affects and Practices

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Richey, Lisa Ann; Chouliaraki, Lillie

2017-01-01

Our starting point in this special issue is in opening up traditional understandings and practices of humanitarianism to bring multi-faceted approaches to a classical area of political inquiry. As the rhetoric and practice of humanitarian good-doing becomes increasingly widespread in our public...... life—from celebrity culture to Twitter messaging and from Christmas shopping to concert-going—key questions arise. What does humanitarianism look like in the age of market-driven, digital media-based action? What happens to traditional humanitarian ideals, at the time of increasing bureaucratization...... and celebrification of humanitarian practice? What are the implications of such practices for the ethics and politics of contemporary benevolence? Do we live in an age of “post-humanitarianism” where doing good for others is intrinsically linked with feelings of gratification for the self? Universal questions...

Corporate social responsibility practice of Malaysian public listed government-linked companies: A dimensional analysis

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Lim Boon Keong

2018-06-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the corporate social responsibility (CSR practices of the Malaysian public-listed government-linked companies (GLCs using a dimensional analysis. Four dimensions of CSR activities, namely community, employees, environment and governance, are investigated to study the latest CSR practice of GLCs in year 2016. Each dimension is divided into three subcategories to further examine the performance of GLCs on a particular CSR area. This is the first paper in Malaysia which uses CSR ratings (obtained from CSRHub database to proxy for CSR practice. None of the past literature has been found to adopt this approach. The findings show that Malay-sian public-listed GLCs performed better in community, employees and environment dimensions, whilst tend to underperform in governance dimension.

Medicine as a Community of Practice: Implications for Medical Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Cruess, Richard L; Cruess, Sylvia R; Steinert, Yvonne

2018-02-01

The presence of a variety of independent learning theories makes it difficult for medical educators to construct a comprehensive theoretical framework for medical education, resulting in numerous and often unrelated curricular, instructional, and assessment practices. Linked with an understanding of identity formation, the concept of communities of practice could provide such a framework, emphasizing the social nature of learning. Individuals wish to join the community, moving from legitimate peripheral to full participation, acquiring the identity of community members and accepting the community's norms.Having communities of practice as the theoretical basis of medical education does not diminish the value of other learning theories. Communities of practice can serve as the foundational theory, and other theories can provide a theoretical basis for the multiple educational activities that take place within the community, thus helping create an integrated theoretical approach.Communities of practice can guide the development of interventions to make medical education more effective and can help both learners and educators better cope with medical education's complexity. An initial step is to acknowledge the potential of communities of practice as the foundational theory. Educational initiatives that could result from this approach include adding communities of practice to the cognitive base; actively engaging students in joining the community; creating a welcoming community; expanding the emphasis on explicitly addressing role modeling, mentoring, experiential learning, and reflection; providing faculty development to support the program; and recognizing the necessity to chart progress toward membership in the community.

TEHORIES OF CONNECTIONS – PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS IN ACQUIRING MOTOR SKILLS

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Zoran Milošević

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Theories of learning which are classified in two broad schools as theories of connections and cognitive theories, differ among themselves according to specific interaction relationships between external stimulus (S, reaction and behavior and organism (R, i.e. particular learner (O. In relation to pedagogical practices, predominance of a certain school is not rare, often without any objective insight into their potentials related to age, sex, learning contents and other determinants. Well-known approaches within the theories of relations include classical Pavlov reflex, Guthry’s close conditioning, associating of Thorndyke, and Skinner’s efficient conditioning. Practical implications of these theories in acquiring motor skills are related to an active learner’s approach, significance of repetition – exercising, supporting, and rewarding correct answers, as well as strengthening a new behavior by imitation of a sample – modeling.

Re-wilding Europe's traditional agricultural landscapes: Values and the link between science and practice

Science.gov (United States)

Paul H. Gobster

2014-01-01

Landscape and Urban Planning encourages multiple perspectives and approaches to help understand landscapes as social-ecological systems, with the goal that by building a robust science of landscape we can provide sustainable solutions for guiding its change. But the link between science and practice, or more simply put, between knowledge and action, is not always clear...

Probability of causation tables and their possible implications for the practice of diagnostic radiology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gur, D.; Wald, N.

1986-01-01

In compliance with requirements in the Orphan Drug Act (97-414) of 1983, tables were recently constructed by an ad hoc committee of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in which the probabilities that certain specific cancers are caused by previous radiation exposure are estimated. The reports of the NIH committee and a National Academy of Science oversight committee may have broad implications for the future practice of diagnostic radiology. The basis on which the probability of causation tables were established and some of the possible implications for diagnostic radiology are discussed

Linking research to practice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pinto-Correia, T.; Kristensen, L.

2013-01-01

, questions on the changes affecting the rural, addressed by society to the scientific community, are of a, new character and require novel research approaches. This paper argues that landscape based, approaches can be useful basis for the required conceptual innovation. The paper presents and, discusses...... a set of examples of practice driven research developments, in contrasting regions of Europe. And it proposes a conceptual model which aims to contextualize empirical research driven by, problems set up in practice, and combining the ecological and structural dimensions with the socioeconomic...

Physician practice management companies: implications for hospital-based integrated delivery systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Burns, L R; Robinson, J C

1997-01-01

Physician practice management companies (PPMCs) are one of the most visible entrants into the industry of managing physician practices, and anywhere from 100-150 are already in operation. Although PPMCs and hospital-based integrated delivery systems (IDSs) differ from each other in many ways, they share a number of common features, including the pursuit of capitation contracts from payors. As a result, PPMCs pose a growing, direct threat to hospital systems in competing for managed care contracts that cover physician service. PPMCs also provide an alternative to hospital-based IDSs at the local market level for physician group consolidation. This article looks at the structure, operation, and strategy of PPMCs and examines what implications their growth will have for hospital-based IDSs.

Hospital administrative characteristics and volunteer resource management practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Intindola, Melissa; Rogers, Sean; Flinchbaugh, Carol; Della Pietra, Doug

2016-05-16

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the links between various characteristics of hospital administration and the utilization of classes of volunteer resource management (VRM) practices. Design/methodology/approach - This paper uses original data collected via surveys of volunteer directors in 122 hospitals in five Northeastern and Southern US states. Findings - Structural equation modeling results suggest that number of paid volunteer management staff, scope of responsibility of the primary volunteer administrator, and hospital size are positively associated with increased usage of certain VRM practices. Research limitations/implications - First, the authors begin the exploration of VRM antecedents, and encourage others to continue this line of inquiry; and second, the authors assess dimensionality of practices, allowing future researchers to consider whether specific dimensions have a differential impact on key individual and organizational outcomes. Practical implications - Based on the findings of a relationship between administrative characteristics and the on-the-ground execution of VRM practice, a baseline audit comparing current practices to those VRM practices presented here might be useful in determining what next steps may be taken to focus investments in VRM that can ultimately drive practice utilization. Originality/value - The exploration of the dimensionality of volunteer management adds a novel perspective to both the academic study, and practice, of volunteer management. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first empirical categorization of VRM practices.

Ancient Ethical Practices of Dualism and Ethical Implications for Future Paradigms in Nursing.

Science.gov (United States)

Milton, Constance L

2016-07-01

Paradigms contain theoretical structures to guide scientific disciplines. Since ancient times, Cartesian dualism has been a prominent philosophy incorporated in the practice of medicine. The discipline of nursing has continued the body-mind emphasis with similar paradigmatic thinking and theories of nursing that separate body and mind. Future trends for paradigm and nursing theory development are harkening to former ways of thinking. In this article the author discusses the origins of Cartesian dualism and implications for its current usage. The author shall illuminate what it potentially means to engage in dualism in nursing and discuss possible ethical implications for future paradigm and theory development in nursing. © The Author(s) 2016.

Survivor-Defined Practice in Domestic Violence Work: Measure Development and Preliminary Evidence of Link to Empowerment.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodman, Lisa A; Thomas, Kristie; Cattaneo, Lauren Bennett; Heimel, Deborah; Woulfe, Julie; Chong, Siu Kwan

2016-01-01

Survivor-defined practice, characterized by an emphasis on client choice, partnership, and sensitivity to the unique needs, contexts, and coping strategies of individual survivors, is an aspirational goal of the domestic violence (DV) movement, assumed to be a key contributor to empowerment and other positive outcomes among survivors. Despite its central role in DV program philosophy, training, and practice, however, our ability to assess its presence and its presumed link to well-being has been hampered by the absence of a way to measure it from survivors' perspectives. As part of a larger university-community collaboration, this study had two aims: (a) to develop a measure of survivor-defined practice from the perspective of participants, and (b) to assess its relationship to safety-related empowerment after controlling for other contributors to survivor well-being (e.g., financial stability and social support). Results supported the reliability and validity of the Survivor-Defined Practice Scale (SDPS), a nine-item measure that assesses participants' perception of the degree to which their advocates help them achieve goals they set for themselves, facilitate a spirit of partnership, and show sensitivity to their individual needs and styles. The items combined to form one factor indicating that the three theoretical aspects of survivor-defined practice may be different manifestations of one underlying construct. Results also support the hypothesized link between survivor-defined practice and safety-related empowerment. The SDPS offers DV programs a mechanism for process evaluation that is rigorous and rooted in the feminist empowerment philosophy that so many programs espouse. © The Author(s) 2014.

Commercial property loan valuations in the UK : implications of current trends in practice and liability

OpenAIRE

Crosby, Neil; Lavers, Anthony; Foster , Henry

1997-01-01

This paper is the second of two papers which aim to examine the major legal liability implications of changes to the commercial property loan valuation process caused by the recession in the UK property market and to make recommendations to valuers and their professional institutions to improve the quality of the process and the result. The objectives of this paper are to address a number of the practical implications of changes to the loan valuation process within the context of legal liabil...

Practical implications of neutron survey instrument performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanner, R. J.; Bartlett, D. T.; Hager, I. G.; Jones, I. N.; Molinos, C.; Roberts, N. J.; Taylor, G. C.; Thomas, D. J.

2004-01-01

Improvements have been made to the Monte Carlo modelling used to calculate the response of the neutron survey instruments most commonly used in the UK, for neutron energies up to 20 MeV. The improved modelling of the devices includes the electronics and battery pack, allowing better calculations of both the energy and angle dependence of response. These data are used to calculate the response of the instruments in rotationally and fully isotropic, as well as unidirectional fields. Experimental measurements with radionuclide sources and monoenergetic neutron fields have been, and continue to be made, to test the calculated response characteristics. The enhancements to the calculations have involved simulation of the sensitivity of the response to variations in instrument manufacture, and will include the influence of the user and floor during measurements. The practical implications of the energy and angle dependence of response, variations in manufacture, and the influence of the user are assessed by folding the response characteristics with workplace energy and direction distributions. (authors)

Substance and materiality? The archaeology of Talensi medicine shrines and medicinal practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Insoll, Timothy

2011-08-01

Talensi materia medica is varied, encompassing plant, mineral, and animal substances. Healing, medicines, and medicinal practices and knowledge can be shrine-based and linked with ritual practices. This is explored utilising ethnographic data and from an archaeological perspective with reference to future possibilities for research both on Talensi medicine and, by implication, more generally through considering the archaeology of Talensi medicine preparation, use, storage, spread, and disposal. It is suggested that configuring the archaeology of medicine shrines and practices more broadly in terms of health would increase archaeological visibility and research potential.

Science, practice and mythology: a definition and examination of the implications of scientism in medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Loughlin, Michael; Lewith, George; Falkenberg, Torkel

2013-06-01

Scientism is a philosophy which purports to define what the world 'really is'. It adopts what the philosopher Thomas Nagel called 'an epistemological criterion of reality', defining what is real as that which can be discovered by certain quite specific methods of investigation. As a consequence all features of experience not revealed by those methods are deemed 'subjective' in a way that suggests they are either not real, or lie beyond the scope of meaningful rational inquiry. This devalues capacities that (we argue) are in fact essential components of good reasoning and virtuous practice. Ultimately, the implications of scientism for statements of value undermine value-judgements essential for science itself to have a sound basis. Scientism has implications, therefore, for ontology, epistemology and also for which claims we can assert as objective truths about the world. Adopting scientism as a world view will have consequences for reasoning and decision-making in clinical and other contexts. We analyse the implications of this approach and conclude that we need to reject scientism if we are to avoid stifling virtuous practice and to develop richer conceptions of human reasoning.

Implications of applying solar industry best practice resource estimation on project financing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pacudan, Romeo

2016-01-01

Solar resource estimation risk is one of the main solar PV project risks that influences lender’s decision in providing financing and in determining the cost of capital. More recently, a number of measures have emerged to mitigate this risk. The study focuses on solar industry’s best practice energy resource estimation and assesses its financing implications to the 27 MWp solar PV project study in Brunei Darussalam. The best practice in resource estimation uses multiple data sources through the measure-correlate-predict (MCP) technique as compared with the standard practice that rely solely on modelled data source. The best practice case generates resource data with lower uncertainty and yields superior high-confidence energy production estimate than the standard practice case. Using project financial parameters in Brunei Darussalam for project financing and adopting the international debt-service coverage ratio (DSCR) benchmark rates, the best practice case yields DSCRs that surpass the target rates while those of standard practice case stay below the reference rates. The best practice case could also accommodate higher debt share and have lower levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) while the standard practice case would require a lower debt share but having a higher LCOE. - Highlights: •Best practice solar energy resource estimation uses multiple datasets. •Multiple datasets are combined through measure-correlate-predict technique. •Correlated data have lower uncertainty and yields superior high-confidence energy production. •Best practice case yields debt-service coverage ratios (DSCRs) that surpass the benchmark rates. •Best practice case accommodates high debt share and have low levelized cost of electricity.

What do computer scientists tweet? Analyzing the link-sharing practice on Twitter.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco Schmitt

Full Text Available Twitter communication has permeated every sphere of society. To highlight and share small pieces of information with possibly vast audiences or small circles of the interested has some value in almost any aspect of social life. But what is the value exactly for a scientific field? We perform a comprehensive study of computer scientists using Twitter and their tweeting behavior concerning the sharing of web links. Discerning the domains, hosts and individual web pages being tweeted and the differences between computer scientists and a Twitter sample enables us to look in depth at the Twitter-based information sharing practices of a scientific community. Additionally, we aim at providing a deeper understanding of the role and impact of altmetrics in computer science and give a glance at the publications mentioned on Twitter that are most relevant for the computer science community. Our results show a link sharing culture that concentrates more heavily on public and professional quality information than the Twitter sample does. The results also show a broad variety in linked sources and especially in linked publications with some publications clearly related to community-specific interests of computer scientists, while others with a strong relation to attention mechanisms in social media. This refers to the observation that Twitter is a hybrid form of social media between an information service and a social network service. Overall the computer scientists' style of usage seems to be more on the information-oriented side and to some degree also on professional usage. Therefore, altmetrics are of considerable use in analyzing computer science.

What do computer scientists tweet? Analyzing the link-sharing practice on Twitter.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitt, Marco; Jäschke, Robert

2017-01-01

Twitter communication has permeated every sphere of society. To highlight and share small pieces of information with possibly vast audiences or small circles of the interested has some value in almost any aspect of social life. But what is the value exactly for a scientific field? We perform a comprehensive study of computer scientists using Twitter and their tweeting behavior concerning the sharing of web links. Discerning the domains, hosts and individual web pages being tweeted and the differences between computer scientists and a Twitter sample enables us to look in depth at the Twitter-based information sharing practices of a scientific community. Additionally, we aim at providing a deeper understanding of the role and impact of altmetrics in computer science and give a glance at the publications mentioned on Twitter that are most relevant for the computer science community. Our results show a link sharing culture that concentrates more heavily on public and professional quality information than the Twitter sample does. The results also show a broad variety in linked sources and especially in linked publications with some publications clearly related to community-specific interests of computer scientists, while others with a strong relation to attention mechanisms in social media. This refers to the observation that Twitter is a hybrid form of social media between an information service and a social network service. Overall the computer scientists' style of usage seems to be more on the information-oriented side and to some degree also on professional usage. Therefore, altmetrics are of considerable use in analyzing computer science.

Linking science and decision making to promote an ecology for the city: practices and opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Morgan Grove; Daniel L. Childers; Michael Galvin; Sarah J. Hines; Tischa Munoz-Erickson; Erika S. Svendsen

2016-01-01

To promote urban sustainability and resilience, there is an increasing demand for actionable science that links science and decision making based on social–ecological knowledge. Approaches, frameworks, and practices for such actionable science are needed and have only begun to emerge. We propose that approaches based on the co- design and co- production of knowledge...

SOME IMPLICATIONS OF A CONCEPT OF GROWTH MOTIVATION FOR ADULT EDUCATION THEORY AND PRACTICE.

Science.gov (United States)

NOREEN, DAVID SHELDON

THIS STUDY EXAMINED GROWTH MOTIVATION AS A DEVELOPING CONCEPT AND AS A THEORETICAL CONSTRUCT, AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS THEORY FOR ADULT EDUCATION THEORY AND PRACTICE. SPECIAL ATTENTION WAS GIVEN TO THE THEORETICAL CONSTRUCTS OF ABRAHAM MASLOW, TO THE NATURE OF GROWTH MOTIVATION CONCEPTS IN GENERAL, AND TO FORMS OF SELF UNDERSTANDING AND…

Practical implications of the new risk perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aven, Terje

2013-01-01

In recent years several authors have argued for the adoption of certain new types of risk perspectives which highlight uncertainties rather than probabilities in the way risk is understood and measured. The theoretical rationale for these new perspectives is well established, but the practical implications have not been so clearly demonstrated. There is a need to show how the new perspectives change the way risk is described and communicated in real-life situations and in its turn the effects on risk management and decision making. The present paper aims at contributing to this end by considering two cases, related to a national risk level, and a specific analysis concerning an LNG plant. The paper concludes that the new risk perspectives influence the current regime in many ways, in particular the manner in which the knowledge dimension is described and dealt with. Two methods for characterising the strength of knowledge are presented, one of them based on a new concept, the “assumption deviation risk”, reflecting risks related to the deviations from the conditions/states defined by the assumption made

Australian general practitioner attitudes to clinical practice guidelines and some implications for translating osteoarthritis care into practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Basedow, Martin; Runciman, William B; Lipworth, Wendy; Esterman, Adrian

2016-11-01

Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have been shown to improve processes of care and health outcomes, but there is often a discrepancy between recommendations for care and clinical practice. This study sought to explore general practitioner (GP) attitudes towards CPGs, in general and specifically for osteoarthritis (OA), with the implications for translating OA care into practice. A self-administered questionnaire was conducted in January 2013 with a sample of 228 GPs in New South Wales and South Australia. Seventy-nine GPs returned questionnaires (response rate 35%). Nearly all GPs considered that CPGs support decision-making in practice (94%) and medical education (92%). Very few respondents regarded CPGs as a threat to clinical autonomy, and most recognised that individual patient circumstances must be taken into account. Shorter CPG formats were preferred over longer and more comprehensive formats, with preferences being evenly divided among respondents for short, 2-3-page summaries, flowcharts or algorithms and single page checklists. GPs considered accessibility to CPGs to be important, and electronic formats were popular. Familiarity and use of The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners OA Guideline was poor, with most respondents either not aware of it (30%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 27 - 41%), had never used it (19%; 95% CI 12 - 29%) or rarely used it (34%; 95% CI 25-45%). If CPGs are to assist with the translation of evidence into practice, they must be easily accessible and in a format that encourages use.

Insights On Education – Innovation Links And Impact

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihaela DIACONU

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes the characteristics of innovative enterprises in the EU in terms of education of employed personnel and its incidence on innovation output, given the key role of education in the innovation process. We use data from the Community Innovation Survey which allows the analysis of enterprises in a broader context of the objectives and strategies pursued by them. Our study identifies significant direct link between increasing the proportion of personnel with university studies employed by innovative firms and increasing turnover. The role of practices promoted by firms such as employment of qualified personnel is conducive for innovative output. These findings have important implications for policy makers and managers within the EU.

Linking Halal Food Certification and Business Performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ab Talib, Mohamed Syazwan; Chin, Thoo Ai; Fischer, Johan

2017-01-01

, operational performance mediates the relationship between HFC and financial performance. Altogether, this signifies that Halal food certificate implementation positively influences business performance. Practical implications By linking HFC and business performance, managers may be aware of the significant......Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between Halal food certification (HFC) and business performance. This study argues that Halal food certificate implementation positively influences business performance. Design/methodology/approach A total of 210 Halal certified food...... role of HFC in influencing operational and financial performance. It would entice more food companies to become Halal certified that opens up an opportunity to a lucrative Halal food industry. It also empirically justifies that a religion-based food certification has the ability to influence business...

Linking Halal Food Certification and Business Performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ab Talib, Mohamed Syazwan; Chin, Thoo Ai; Fischer, Johan

2017-01-01

role of HFC in influencing operational and financial performance. It would entice more food companies to become Halal certified that opens up an opportunity to a lucrative Halal food industry. It also empirically justifies that a religion-based food certification has the ability to influence business...... manufacturing companies in Malaysia participated in the study. Data were gathered through a structured questionnaire and were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling technique. Findings The study proved that HFC has a positive relationship with operational performance. Additionally......, operational performance mediates the relationship between HFC and financial performance. Altogether, this signifies that Halal food certificate implementation positively influences business performance. Practical implications By linking HFC and business performance, managers may be aware of the significant...

Interviewing children in custody cases: implications of research and policy for practice.

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Saywitz, Karen; Camparo, Lorinda B; Romanoff, Anna

2010-01-01

Research on child interviewing has burgeoned over the past 25 years as expectations about children's agency, competence, and participation in society have changed. This article identifies recent trends in research, policy, and theory with implications for the practice of interviewing children in cases of contested divorce and for the weight to be given the information children provide. A number of fields of relevant research are identified, including studies of families who have participated in the family law system, studies of child witnesses in the field, experimental studies of the effects of interview techniques on children's memory and suggestibility, and ethnographic methods that elicit children's views of their own experiences. Finally, a set of 10 principles for practice are delineated based on the best available science. Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Linked data for libraries, archives and museums how to clean, link and publish your metadata

CERN Document Server

Hooland, Seth van

2014-01-01

This highly practical handbook teaches you how to unlock the value of your existing metadata through cleaning, reconciliation, enrichment and linking and how to streamline the process of new metadata creation. Libraries, archives and museums are facing up to the challenge of providing access to fast growing collections whilst managing cuts to budgets. Key to this is the creation, linking and publishing of good quality metadata as Linked Data that will allow their collections to be discovered, accessed and disseminated in a sustainable manner. This highly practical handbook teaches you how to unlock the value of your existing metadata through cleaning, reconciliation, enrichment and linking and how to streamline the process of new metadata creation. Metadata experts Seth van Hooland and Ruben Verborgh introduce the key concepts of metadata standards and Linked Data and how they can be practically applied to existing metadata, giving readers the tools and understanding to achieve maximum results with limited re...

Implications of Derived Rule Following of Roulette Gambling for Clinical Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Alyssa N; Grant, Tara

2015-05-01

Problem gambling is a global concern, and behavior analytic attention has increasingly focused on reasons for why problem gambling occurs and conditions under which it is maintained. However, limited knowledge currently exists on the process to which self-generated rules maintain gambling behaviors. Therefore, the current study assessed six recreational gamblers on a roulette game before and after discrimination training to establish a self-rule to wager on red or black. Following discrimination training, all six participants altered their response allocation among red or black and consistently responded according to the newly derived self-rule. Results maintained during 1-week follow-up sessions across all participants. Implications for clinical application of self-awareness and self-generated rule following are discussed. Implications for practice • Demonstration of how stimuli such as color can alter gambling behavior • Procedures to assist clients with changing self-rules about gambling behavior • Using self-generated rule formulation for more contextually appropriate target behaviors • Highlights how self-generated rules can be altered to change clinical target behaviors.

On the Assessment of Paramedic Competence: A Narrative Review with Practice Implications.

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Tavares, W; Boet, S

2016-02-01

Paramedicine is experiencing significant growth in scope of practice, autonomy, and role in the health care system. Despite clinical governance models, the degree to which paramedicine ultimately can be safe and effective will be dependent on the individuals the profession deems suited to practice. This creates an imperative for those responsible for these decisions to ensure that assessments of paramedic competence are indeed accurate, trustworthy, and defensible. The purpose of this study was to explore and synthesize relevant theoretical foundations and literature informing best practices in performance-based assessment (PBA) of competence, as it might be applied to paramedicine, for design or evaluation of assessment programs. A narrative review methodology was applied to focus intentionally, but broadly, on purpose relevant, theoretically derived research that could inform assessment protocols in paramedicine. Primary and secondary studies from a number of health professions that contributed to and informed best practices related to the assessment of paramedic clinical competence were included and synthesized. Multiple conceptual frameworks, psychometric requirements, and emerging lines of research are forwarded. Seventeen practice implications are derived to promote understanding as well as best practices and evaluation criteria for educators, employers, and/or licensing/certifying bodies when considering the assessment of paramedic competence. The assessment of paramedic competence is a complex process requiring an understanding, appreciation for, and integration of conceptual and psychometric principles. The field of PBA is advancing rapidly with numerous opportunities for research.

Practical implications for RPV irradiation surveillance under long term operation based on latest research results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hein, H.; Keim, E.; Barthelmes, J.; Schnabel, H.

2015-01-01

The international programs CARISMA, CARINA and LONGLIFE belong to the research programs which have been performed during the last 10 years to study the irradiation behavior of RPV steels under long term operation of more than 60 years. Some characteristic but different irradiated RPV steels used in Pressurized Water Reactors have been extensively investigated in each of those three programs. Whereas the CARISMA and CARINA programs were mainly focused on material testing to study the irradiation-induced change of material properties in terms of fracture toughness, the main objective of LONGLIFE was to investigate the change of microstructure with various analysis techniques and to understand the mechanisms behind. In this way it was possible to get a comprehensive material characterization in terms of macro-physical properties and micro-structural features for a number of RPV steels which have been studied at different irradiation levels up to 8*10 19 cm -2 (E > 1 MeV). The essential macro-physical and micro-structural results are summarized, in particular regarding the impact of copper and nickel, and the neutron flux on the irradiation behavior and with respect to possible late irradiation effects under long term operation. Moreover, the change of material properties is linked with embrittlement mechanisms such as formation of element specific precipitations, segregations, and matrix defects. Well-known trend curves are also applied to the measured T 41 and T 0 data in order to assess their appropriateness for long term operation. Based on the comprehensive available data base, practical implications for RPV irradiation surveillance programs under long term operation are highlighted with respect to issues like material specific application of reference temperature concepts, data scattering, prediction of high fluence behavior and how to cope with possible late irradiation effects. Finally, best practices for RPV irradiation surveillance programs are suggested from

"Forest Grove School District v. T.A." Supreme Court Case: Implications for School Psychology Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Dixon, Shauna G.; Eusebio, Eleazar C.; Turton, William J.; Wright, Peter W. D.; Hale, James B.

2011-01-01

The 2009 "Forest Grove School District v. T.A." United States Supreme Court case could have significant implications for school psychology practice. The Court ruled that the parents of a student with a disability were entitled to private school tuition reimbursement even though T.A. had not been identified with a disability or previously…

Practical application of thermoreversibly Cross-linked rubber products

Science.gov (United States)

Polgar, L. M.; Picchioni, F.; de Ruiter, E.; van Duin, M.

2017-07-01

Currently, rubber products cannot simply be reprocessed after their product life, due to the irreversible cross-linking methods traditionally applied. The purpose of this work is to investigate how thermoreversible cross-linking of rubbers via Diels Alder chemistry can be used for the development of recyclable rubber products. Unfortunately, the applicability of the thermoreversible EPM-g-furan/BM system appears to be limited to room temperature applications, because of the rapid deterioration of the compression set at elevated temperatures compared to irreversibly cross-linked EPM. However, the use of EPM rubber modified with thiophene or cyclopentadiene moieties may extend the temperature application range and results in rubber products with acceptable properties. Finally, rubber products generally comprise fillers such as silica, carbon black or fibers. In this context, the reinforcing effect of short cut aramid fibers on the material properties of the newly developed thermoreversibly cross-linked EPM rubbers was also studied. The material properties of the resulting products were found to be comparable to those of a fiber reinforced, peroxide cured reference sample.

[A framework for evaluating ethical issues of public health initiatives: practical aspects and theoretical implications].

Science.gov (United States)

Petrini, Carlo

2015-01-01

The "Framework for the Ethical Conduct of Public Health Initiatives", developed by Public Health Ontario, is a practical guide for assessing the ethical implications of evidence-generating public health initiatives, whether research or non-research activities, involving people, their biological materials or their personal information. The Framework is useful not only to those responsible for determining the ethical acceptability of an initiative, but also to investigators planning new public health initiatives. It is informed by a theoretical approach that draws on widely shared bioethical principles. Two considerations emerge from both the theoretical framework and its practical application: the line between practice and research is often blurred; public health ethics and biomedical research ethics are based on the same common heritage of values.

How countries link REDD+ interventions to drivers in their readiness plans: implications for monitoring systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salvini, G; Herold, M; De Sy, V; Kissinger, G; Brockhaus, M; Skutsch, M

2014-01-01

Countries participating in the REDD+ scheme are in the readiness phase, designing policy interventions to address drivers of deforestation and forest degradation (DD). In order for REDD+ interventions to be effective, it is essential that they take into account the specific drivers that they aim to address. Moreover it is crucial to design systems that monitor the effectiveness of the planned interventions. In this article we provide a comprehensive and comparative assessment of interventions proposed by 43 REDD+ countries in 98 readiness documents. We summarize the types of interventions and assess if they are formulated referring to the drivers of DD that they are aiming to address. Based on this assessment we consider the implications for systems for monitoring effectiveness of proposed interventions. Most countries reviewed link proposed interventions to specific drivers of DD. The majority of the countries making this link have better driver data quality, in particularly those that present their data in ratio or ordinal terms. Proposed interventions focus not only on activities to reduce deforestation, but also on other forest related REDD+ activities such as sustainable forest management, which reduce forest degradation and enhance forest stocks. Moreover, driver-specific interventions often relate to drivers not only inside but also outside the forest sector. Hence we suggest that monitoring systems need to assess not only deforestation rates through remote sensing, but also degradation and other carbon stock changes within the forest, using more detailed ground level surveys and measurements. In addition, the performance of interventions outside the forest need to be monitored, even if the impacts of these cannot be linked to specific changes in forest carbon stock in specific locations. (paper)

A logic of “linking learning”: Leadership practices across schools, subject departments and classrooms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wayne Melville

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This article considers the roles of school leaders, a departmental-level leader and a teacher in implementing a reform within a school, and the nature of the relations between the groups and individuals that attended this process. Drawing upon Bourdieu’s “thinking tools”, the article analyses the nature of the leadership practices surrounding the implementation of a single-sex mathematics class from the perspective of key participants in the change process: two school-level leaders, one departmental chair, and the teacher charged with teaching the class. By considering a secondary school and one of its constituent departments as a field and sub-field, respectively, we argue that even as there is evidence of contestation over the nature of the practices that influence or potentially influence the leadership practices at play within the field and sub-field as a whole, there are also significant learnings in relation to student learning on the part of those involved which serve as “links” between the leadership practices at the school and department levels, and the leadership of learning of the teacher implementing the reform. In this way, a logic of “linking learning”, guided by an ethic of concern for students’ success, was evident across school, department and classroom.

Links between Conflict Management Research and Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Roloff, Michael E.

2009-01-01

This paper explicates the implications of my research on conflict management for self improvement and for practitioners who work to improve the conflict management of others. I also note how my experiences with practitioners have informed my research.

The practice and clinical implications of tablet splitting in international health

Science.gov (United States)

Elliott, Ivo; Mayxay, Mayfong; Yeuichaixong, Sengchanh; Lee, Sue J; Newton, Paul N

2014-01-01

Objective Tablet splitting is frequently performed to facilitate correct dosing, but the practice and implications in low-income settings have rarely been discussed. Methods We selected eight drugs, with narrow therapeutic indices or critical dosages, frequently divided in the Lao PDR (Laos). These were split, by common techniques used in Laos, by four nurses and four laypersons. The mean percentage deviation from the theoretical expected weight and weight loss of divided tablets/capsules were recorded. Results Five of eight study drugs failed, on splitting, to meet European Pharmacopoeia recommendations for tablet weight deviation from the expected weight of tablet/capsule halves with 10% deviating by more than 25%. There was a significant difference in splitting accuracy between nurses and laypersons (P = 0.027). Coated and unscored tablets were less accurately split than uncoated (P = 0.03 and 0.0019 for each half) and scored (0.0001 for both halves) tablets. Conclusion These findings have potential clinical implications on treatment outcome and the development of antimicrobial resistance. Investment by drug companies in a wider range of dosage units, particularly for narrow therapeutic index and critical dosage medicines, is strongly recommended. PMID:24702766

Nursing intellectual capital theory: implications for research and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Covell, Christine L; Sidani, Souraya

2013-05-31

Due to rising costs of healthcare, determining how registered nurses and knowledge resources influence the quality of patient care is critical. Studies that have investigated the relationship between nursing knowledge and outcomes have been plagued with conceptual and methodological issues. This has resulted in limited empirical evidence of the impact of nursing knowledge on patient or organizational outcomes. The nursing intellectual capital theory was developed to assist with this area of inquiry. Nursing intellectual capital theory conceptualizes the sources of nursing knowledge available within an organization and delineates its relationship to patient and organizational outcomes. In this article, we review the nursing intellectual capital theory and discuss its implications for research and practice. We explain why the theory shows promise for guiding research on quality work environments and how it may assist with administrative decision-making related to nursing human resource management and continuing professional development.

Managing Your Team's Weakest Link.

Science.gov (United States)

Hills, Laura

2015-01-01

Do you have a poor-performing employee on your medical practice team? If so, you're not alone. Unfortunately, this is a problem that many medical practice managers face. This article describes the best strategies for managing your team's weakest link. It explores common yet very difficult circumstances that cause low employee performance and that test the patience, heart, and skills of a practice manager. It guides readers through a process of self-discovery to determine whether their negative biases or grudges may be causing employees to perform poorly. It suggests several possible other reasons for weak employee performance, including problems with the job, practice, leadership, communication, and fit between the employee and the job. This article also suggests the best strategy for communicating concerns about performance to the weakest-link employee. It offers guidance to practice managers about protecting their time and energy when handling a poor performer. It provides a simple formula for calculating the cost of a low-performing employee, 10 possible personal reasons for the employee's poor work performance, specific questions to ask to uncover the reasons for poor performance, and an eight-rule strategy for confronting poor performance effectively. Finally, this article offers practice managers a practical strategy for handling resistance from their weakest link, illustrated with a sample dialogue.

Interactions In Online Education Implications For Theory & Practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Askim KURT

2007-04-01

Full Text Available This book was edited by, Charles Juwah, Senior EducationDevelopment Officer at Robert Gordon University, where heruns the postgraduate learning and teaching qualificationcourse. It was published by Routledge in 2006.Interaction is very important in open and flexible learning,and apparent at all levels of engagement, whether betweenstudents, students and tutors, online learning materials orinterfacing with the learning environment. A student whoactively engages with learning materials, interactions helpto improve learning by fortifying knowledge and providingcontext, encouraging reflection, questioning and deeplyunderstanding of a subject.This book provides international perspectives on key topics including analyzing and designing e-learning interactions, social and conceptual dimensions of learning, interactions in online discussions, interactions in pair learning, and professional development of online facilitators. In this book a collection of research and innovative case material drawn from practitioners and academicians and it covers the theory and the practical implications of related issues. It is essential reading for all those involved in the design,implementation, management and use of open and flexible learning.

Community of Practice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Busch-Jensen, Peter

2012-01-01

A clear and informative description of the theoretical and methodological content and implications of the concept of Community of Practice......A clear and informative description of the theoretical and methodological content and implications of the concept of Community of Practice...

Practical implications of pre-employment nurse assessments.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuthy, James E; Ramon, Cheree; Gonzalez, Ronald; Biddle, Dan A

2013-01-01

Hiring nurses is a difficult task that can have serious repercussions for medical facilities. If nurses without proper skills are hired, patients can suffer from insufficient quality of care and potentially life-threatening conditions. Nurse applicants' technical knowledge is extremely important to avoid negative outcomes; however, there are soft skills that factor into their success, such as bedside manner, personality, communication, and decision making. In order for medical facilities to select and maintain high-performing nurse staff, hiring managers must incorporate evaluations for these types of skills in their hiring process. The current study focused on using content/criterion-related validation design to create assessments by which nurse applicants can be evaluated for both technical knowledge/skills and soft skills. The study included participation of more than 876 nursing staff members. To rank applicants on divergent skills, 3 assessment types were investigated, resulting in the creation of an assessment with 3 components. The clinical, situational, and behavioral components that were created measure applicants' job knowledge, interpersonal competency in medical facility-related situations, and aspects of personality and behavior, respectively. Results indicate that using the assessment can predict 45% of a nurse applicant's future job performance. Practical implications include hiring and maintaining a higher quality of nurses and decreased hiring costs.

Some practical implications of source term reassessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1988-03-01

This report provides a brief summary of the current knowledge of severe accident source terms and suggests how this knowledge might be applied to a number of specific aspects of reactor safety. In preparing the report, consideration has been restricted to source term issues relating to light water reactors (LWRs). Consideration has also generally been restricted to the consequences of hypothetical severe accidents rather than their probability of occurrence, although it is recognized that, in the practical application of source term research, it is necessary to take account of probability as well as consequences. The specific areas identified were as follows: Exploration of the new insights that are available into the management of severe accidents; Investigating the impact of source term research on emergency planning and response; Assessing the possibilities which exist in present reactor designs for preventing or mitigating the consequences of severe accidents and how these might be used effectively; Exploring the need for backfitting and assessing the implications of source term research for future designs; and Improving the quantification of the radiological consequences of hypothetical severe accidents for probabilistic safety assessments (PSAs) and informing the public about the realistic risks associated with nuclear power plants. 7 refs

Defining the relationship between COPD and CVD: what are the implications for clinical practice?

Science.gov (United States)

Morgan, Ann D; Zakeri, Rosita; Quint, Jennifer K

2018-01-01

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are arguably the most important comorbidities in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). CVDs are common in people with COPD, and their presence is associated with increased risk for hospitalization, longer length of stay and all-cause and CVD-related mortality. The economic burden associated with CVD in this population is considerable and the cumulative cost of treating comorbidities may even exceed that of treating COPD itself. Our understanding of the biological mechanisms that link COPD and various forms of CVD has improved significantly over the past decade. But despite broad acceptance of the prognostic significance of CVDs in COPD, there remains widespread under-recognition and undertreatment of comorbid CVD in this population. The reasons for this are unclear; however institutional barriers and a lack of evidence-based guidelines for the management of CVD in people with COPD may be contributory factors. In this review, we summarize current knowledge relating to the prevalence and incidence of CVD in people with COPD and the mechanisms that underlie their coexistence. We discuss the implications for clinical practice and highlight opportunities for improved prevention and treatment of CVD in people with COPD. While we advocate more active assessment for signs of cardiovascular conditions across all age groups and all stages of COPD severity, we suggest targeting those aged under 65 years. Evidence indicates that the increased risks for CVD are particularly pronounced in COPD patients in mid-to-late-middle-age and thus it is in this age group that the benefits of early intervention may prove to be the most effective. PMID:29355081

Employment of people with disabilities: Implications for HR management practices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Gida

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to, firstly, present the findings of an empirical study in which the human resource management practices associated with the employment of people with disabilities were investigated. The human resource management challenges related to employment of people with disabilities were also identified in the empirical study and are presented in this paper. A further purpose of this paper is to propose a number of recommendations focused on human resource management practices and principles aimed at assisting managers and human resource management specialists in their endeavours to effectively deal with the employment of people with disabilities. Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper is based on an empirical study in which interviews were conducted with respondents from 19 different organisations identified in the Financial Mail's 'Top 100 Organisations in South Africa' list. Findings: The findings from the empirical study suggest that very few organisations are dealing with the employment of people with disabilities as a priority in their equity strategies. Where attention is being given to this issue, respondents seem to either address it as a legal compliance issue or a social responsibility 'project'. Furthermore, very little has been done to review current human resource management practices to determine whether they are discriminatory towards people with disabilities. Based on the insights gained from these findings and in line with best practice principles identified in the relevant literature, a number of recommendations focusing on human resource management practices and principles in relation to the employment of people with disabilities are proposed. Implications: This paper provides a number of practical steps to consider as part of an organisation's response to equity strategies related to the employment of people with disabilities. Originality/Value: In the Employment Equity Commission's Annual Report

Organizational climate in primary care settings: implications for nurse practitioner practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Poghosyan, Lusine; Nannini, Angela; Clarke, Sean

2013-03-01

The purpose of this review is to investigate literature related to organizational climate, define organizational climate, and identify its domains for nurse practitioner (NP) practice in primary care settings. A search was conducted using MEDLINE, PubMed, HealthSTAR/Ovid, ISI Web of Science, and several other health policy and nursingy databases. In primary care settings, organizational climate for NPs is a set of organizational attributes, which are perceived by NPs about their practice setting, emerge from the way the organization interacts with NPs, and affect NP behaviors and outcomes. Autonomy, NP-physician relations, and professional visibility were identified as organizational climate domains. NPs should be encouraged to assess organizational climate in their workplace and choose organizations that promote autonomy, collegiality between NPs and physicians, and encourage professional visibility. Organizational and NP awareness of qualities that foster NP practice will be a first step for developing strategies to creating an optimal organizational climate for NPs to deliver high-quality care. More research is needed to develop a comprehensive conceptual framework for organizational climate and develop new instruments to accurately measure organizational climate and link it to NP and patient outcomes. ©2012 The Author(s) Journal compilation ©2012 American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

Conservation and Sustainable Development: Linking Practice and ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2012-01-01

Jan 1, 2012 ... Book cover Conservation and Sustainable Development: Linking ... to have an influence on conservation and natural resource management. ... Call for new OWSD Fellowships for Early Career Women Scientists now open.

A systematic review of collaboration and network research in the public affairs literature: implications for public health practice and research.

Science.gov (United States)

Varda, Danielle; Shoup, Jo Ann; Miller, Sara

2012-03-01

We explored and analyzed how findings from public affairs research can inform public health research and practice, specifically in the area of interorganizational collaboration, one of the most promising practice-based approaches in the public health field. We conducted a systematic review of the public affairs literature by following a grounded theory approach. We coded 151 articles for demographics and empirical findings (n = 258). Three primary findings stand out in the public affairs literature: network structure affects governance, management strategies exist for administrators, and collaboration can be linked to outcomes. These findings are linked to priorities in public health practice. Overall, we found that public affairs has a long and rich history of research in collaborations that offers unique organizational theory and management tools to public health practitioners.

Linking fish tolerance to water quality criteria for the assessment of environmental flows: A practical method for streamflow regulation and pollution control.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Changsen; Yang, Shengtian; Liu, Junguo; Liu, Changming; Hao, Fanghua; Wang, Zhonggen; Zhang, Huitong; Song, Jinxi; Mitrovic, Simon M; Lim, Richard P

2018-05-15

The survival of aquatic biota in stream ecosystems depends on both water quantity and quality, and is particularly susceptible to degraded water quality in regulated rivers. Maintenance of environmental flows (e-flows) for aquatic biota with optimum water quantity and quality is essential for sustainable ecosystem services, especially in developing regions with insufficient stream monitoring of hydrology, water quality and aquatic biota. Few e-flow methods are available that closely link aquatic biota tolerances to pollutant concentrations in a simple and practical manner. In this paper a new method was proposed to assess e-flows that aimed to satisfy the requirements of aquatic biota for both the quantity and quality of the streamflow by linking fish tolerances to water quality criteria, or the allowable concentration of pollutants. For better operation of water projects and control of pollutants discharged into streams, this paper presented two coefficients for streamflow adjustment and pollutant control. Assessment of e-flows in the Wei River, the largest tributary of the Yellow River, shows that streamflow in dry seasons failed to meet e-flow requirements. Pollutant influx exerted a large pressure on the aquatic ecosystem, with pollutant concentrations much higher than that of the fish tolerance thresholds. We found that both flow velocity and water temperature exerted great influences on the pollutant degradation rate. Flow velocity had a much greater influence on pollutant degradation than did the standard deviation of flow velocity. This study provides new methods to closely link the tolerance of aquatic biota to water quality criteria for e-flow assessment. The recommended coefficients for streamflow adjustment and pollutant control, to dynamically regulate streamflow and control pollutant discharge, are helpful for river management and ecosystems rehabilitation. The relatively low data requirement also makes the method easy to use efficiently in developing

Determinism and Underdetermination in Genetics: Implications for Students' Engagement in Argumentation and Epistemic Practices

Science.gov (United States)

Jiménez-Aleixandre, María Pilar

2014-02-01

In the last two decades science studies and science education research have shifted from an interest in products (of science or of learning), to an interest in processes and practices. The focus of this paper is on students' engagement in epistemic practices (Kelly in Teaching scientific inquiry: Recommendations for research and implementation. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, pp 99-117, 2008), or on their practical epistemologies (Wickman in Sci Educ 88(3):325-344, 2004). In order to support these practices in genetics classrooms we need to take into account domain-specific features of the epistemology of genetics, in particular issues about determinism and underdetermination. I suggest that certain difficulties may be related to the specific nature of causality in genetics, and in particular to the correspondence between a given set of factors and a range of potential effects, rather than a single one. The paper seeks to bring together recent developments in the epistemology of biology and of genetics, on the one hand, with science education approaches about epistemic practices, on the other. The implications of these perspectives for current challenges in learning genetics are examined, focusing on students' engagement in epistemic practices, as argumentation, understood as using evidence to evaluate knowledge claims. Engaging in argumentation in genetics classrooms is intertwined with practices such as using genetics models to build explanations, or framing genetics issues in their social context. These challenges are illustrated with studies making part of our research program in the USC.

NICE guideline on antibiotic prophylaxis against infective endocarditis: attitudes to the guideline and implications for dental practice in Ireland.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

2009-03-28

To investigate attitudes of Irish dental practitioners, cardiologists and patients with cardiac lesions to the new NICE guideline for antibiotic prophylaxis against infective endocarditis and to determine the implications of this guideline for dental practice in Ireland.

Viruses as the causative agent related to 'dampness' and the missing link between allergen exposure and onset of allergic disease

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hersoug, Lars-Georg

2005-01-01

concentration and symptoms indicate a missing link between allergen exposure and onset of asthma. Respiratory viruses have been identified in up to 85% cases of asthma or exacerbations of asthma. The missing link between respiratory diseases and humid indoor climates could therefore be attributed to viruses....... The infectious effectiveness of respiratory viruses depends strongly on the environment where the viruses are spread. For respiratory viruses, survival and infectivity are dependent on temperature and relative humidity. A direct link between virus-induced inflammation and the asthmatogenic process has been...... subjects. Therefore, a humid indoor climate could also represent a higher risk for persons already sensitized to one or more allergens. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: In epidemiological studies where the relationship between moisture in the indoor climate, respiratory symptoms and exposure to allergens...

How the Government Defines "Rural" Has Implications for Education Policies and Practices. Issues & Answers. REL 2007-010

Science.gov (United States)

Arnold, Michael L.; Biscoe, Belinda; Farmer, Thomas W.; Robertson, Dylan L.; Shapley, Kathy L.

2007-01-01

Clearly defining what rural means has tangible implications for public policies and practices in education, from establishing resource needs to achieving the goals of No Child Left Behind in rural areas. The word "rural" has many meanings. It has been defined in reference to population density, geographic features, and level of economic…

Kindergartners' Mental Models of the Day and Night Cycle: Implications for Instructional Practices in Early Childhood Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Saçkes, Mesut

2015-01-01

This study aims to examine kindergarten children's mental models of the day and night cycle and provide implications for pedagogical practices targeting space science concepts in early childhood classrooms. A total of 46 kindergartners participated in the study, their age ranging from 60 to 75 months, including 22 boys and 24 girls.…

Implications of RDoC for the research and practice of psychotherapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hershenberg, Rachel; Goldfried, Marvin R

2015-03-01

The field of psychotherapy is at an important juncture. Recent changes in the field include (a) the skeptical reception of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual and (b) NIMH's prioritization of an alternative classification system to guide translational and intervention research. Moreover, (c) the field continues to be held accountable to governmental agencies and third-party payers to demonstrate its empirical basis. Thus, psychological research as it relates to the practice of psychotherapy is at a crossroads. In this article, we provide a brief overview of several generations of psychotherapy outcome research, including the consequences that followed in the 1980s as psychotherapy research moved toward randomized controlled trials for clinical disorders. We delineate the inherent strengths and limitations of this movement and address how the NIMH has recently responded with the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC). We then address philosophical and practical implications of the emphasis on a neuroscientific conceptualization of psychological problems. Finally, we discuss opportunities for a next generation of convergent science that incorporates, rather than replaces, psychosocial variables across stages of translational research and treatment development. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Optimal use of video for teaching the practical implications of studying business information systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fog, Benedikte; Ulfkjær, Jacob Kanneworff Stigsen; Schlichter, Bjarne Rerup

that video should be introduced early during a course to prevent students’ misconceptions of working with business information systems, as well as to increase motivation and comprehension within the academic area. It is also considered of importance to have a trustworthy person explaining the practical......The study of business information systems has become increasingly important in the Digital Economy. However, it has been found that students have difficulties understanding the practical implications thereof and this leads to a motivational decreases. This study aims to investigate how to optimize...... not sufficiently reflect the theoretical recommendations of using video optimally in a management education. It did not comply with the video learning sequence as introduced by Marx and Frost (1998). However, it questions if the level of cognitive orientation activities can become too extensive. It finds...

LinkED: A Novel Methodology for Publishing Linked Enterprise Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shreyas Suresh Rao

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Semantic Web technologies have redefined and strengthened the Enterprise-Web interoperability over the last decade. Linked Open Data (LOD refers to a set of best practices that empower enterprises to publish and interlink their data using existing ontologies on the World Wide Web. Current research in LOD focuses on expert search, the creation of unified information space and augmentation of core data from an enterprise context. However, existing approaches for publication of enterprise data as LOD are domain-specific, ad-hoc and suffer from lack of uniform representation across domains. The paper proposes a novel methodology called LinkED that contributes towards LOD literature in two ways: (a streamlines the publishing process through five stages of cleaning, triplification, interlinking, storage and visualization; (b addresses the latest challenges in LOD publication, namely: inadequate links, inconsistencies in the quality of the dataset and replicability of the LOD publication process. Further, the methodology is demonstrated via the publication of digital repository data as LOD in a university setting, which is evaluated based on two semantic standards: Five-Star model and data quality metrics. Overall, the paper provides a generic LOD publication process that is applicable across various domains such as healthcare, e-governance, banking, and tourism, to name a few.

Secondary Science Teachers' and Students' Involvement in a Primary School Community of Science Practice: How It Changed Their Practices and Interest in Science

Science.gov (United States)

Forbes, Anne; Skamp, Keith

2016-02-01

MyScience is a primary science education initiative in which being in a community of practice is integral to the learning process. In this initiative, stakeholder groups—primary teachers, primary students and mentors—interact around the `domain' of `investigating scientifically'. This paper builds on three earlier publications and interprets the findings of the views of four secondary science teachers and five year 9 secondary science students who were first-timer participants—as mentors—in MyScience. Perceptions of these mentors' interactions with primary students were analysed using attributes associated with both `communities of practice' and the `nature of science'. Findings reveal that participation in MyScience changed secondary science teachers' views and practices about how to approach the teaching of science in secondary school and fostered primary-secondary links. Year 9 students positively changed their views about secondary school science and confidence in science through participation as mentors. Implications for secondary science teaching and learning through participation in primary school community of science practice settings are discussed.

Practical implications of ICRP26 for recording and regulation of radiation exposure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ward, F.A.; Woodhouse, J.A.; Kennedy, J.W.

1982-01-01

The paper compares the system of dose limitation recommended in ICRP Publication 26 with that based upon previous ICRP Publications upon which the current United Kingdom Legislation is based. Particular attention is given to the implication of the place given to the concept of committed dose in the system of dose limitation. The present dosimetry procedures in use within British Nuclear Fuels Ltd are outlined together with their practical limitations, and attention is drawn to the particular technical problems associated with plutonium uptake assessments. A number of other practical issues are identified such as dose records and the supplementary dose information which would require recording and the need for the re-education of employees in the new control concepts. A proposal is presented for internal dose recording based initially upon environmental measurements but subject to subsequent modification by preferred assessments based upon in-vivo and urinalysis techniques. Finally an assessment and, where appropriate, suspension procedure is proposed to control long-term exposure arising from plutonium intakes based upon an averaging period of 15 years. (author)

Polymerization by DNA polymerase eta is blocked by cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) 1,3-d(GpTpG) cross-link: implications for cytotoxic effects in nucleotide excision repair-negative tumor cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Chijiwa, Shotaro; Masutani, Chikahide; Hanaoka, Fumio; Iwai, Shigenori; Kuraoka, Isao

2010-03-01

cis-Diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (cisplatin) forms DNA adducts that interfere with replication and transcription. The most common adducts formed in vivo are 1,2-intrastrand d(GpG) cross-links (Pt-GG) and d(ApG) cross-links (Pt-AG), with minor amounts of 1,3-d(GpNpG) cross-links (Pt-GNG), interstrand cross-links and monoadducts. Although the relative contribution of these different adducts to toxicity is not known, literature implicates that Pt-GG and Pt-AG adducts block replication. Thus, nucleotide excision repair (NER), by which platinum adducts are excised, and translesion DNA synthesis (TLS), which permits adduct bypass, are thought to be associated with cisplatin resistance. Recent studies have reported that the clinical benefit from platinum-based chemotherapy is high if tumor cells express low levels of NER factors. To investigate the role of platinum-DNA adducts in mediating tumor cell survival by TLS, we examined whether 1,3-intrastrand d(GpTpG) platinum cross-links (Pt-GTG), which probably exist in NER-negative tumor cells but not in NER-positive tumor cells, are bypassed by the translesion DNA polymerase eta (pol eta), which is known to bypass Pt-GG. We show that pol eta can incorporate the correct deoxycytidine triphosphate opposite the first 3'-cross-linked G of Pt-GTG but cannot insert any nucleotides opposite the second intact T or the third 5'-cross-linked G of the adducts, thereby suggesting that TLS does not facilitate replication past Pt-GTG adducts. Thus, our findings implicate Pt-GNG adducts as mediating the cytotoxicity of platinum-DNA adducts in NER-negative tumors in vivo.

Reflections on Klein's radical notion of phantasy and its implications for analytic practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Blass, Rachel B

2017-06-01

Analysts may incorporate many of Melanie Klein's important contributions (e.g., on preoedipal dynamics, envy, and projective identification) without transforming their basic analytic approach. In this paper I argue that adopting the Kleinian notion of unconscious phantasy is transformative. While it is grounded in Freud's thinking and draws out something essential to his work, this notion of phantasy introduces a radical change that defines Kleinian thinking and practice and significantly impacts the analyst's basic clinical approach. This impact and its technical implications in the analytic situation are illustrated and discussed. Copyright © 2017 Institute of Psychoanalysis.

Linking Theory with Practice in Basic Management

Science.gov (United States)

Carroll, Archie B.

1974-01-01

Instructors of management in higher education have not been cautious in explaining the relation between practice and theory in their basic courses. The author distinguished between the two in suggesting that management theory is based on observed practices and may or may not have broader application. (AG)

Implications of American Indian gambling for social work research and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Momper, Sandra L

2010-04-01

Since the 1988 passage of the Indian Gaming and Regulatory Act (IGRA), American Indian tribal communities have rapidly opened up casinos. American Indian participation in recreational gambling has increased, resulting in an increase in problem and pathological gambling. However, increased revenues from gaming have significantly benefited tribes. Background information on the Supreme Court case that led to passage of the IGRA and subsequently the opening of casinos on Indian reservations is provided. Data are presented on American Indian gambling studies that explore the impact of gambling on the development of problem or pathological gambling among American Indians. Reports and data are presented on the effects of gambling on the socioeconomic development of tribal communities. The implications of American Indian gaming for social work research and practice are discussed.

On some practical implications of the recent EU-directive on radiation protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tschurlovits, M

1998-01-01

The following practical implications of the EU 96 directive on radiation protection in Austria are discussed: Quantitative justification and optimization of the recent standards is needed. The reduction of the annual dose limit to 20 mSv will affect a very small percentage of the persons subject to monitoring. The reduction of dose limits in external exposure of the population will not be dramatic at all. The model used to set up limits for internal exposure was changed to single intake; this implies some changes in design and monitoring. The deletion of convenient figures for 'unknown' radionuclides will make environmental and release monitoring more complex without gaining a higher level of protection. (A.K.)

Implications of leading crop production practices on environmental quality and human health.

Science.gov (United States)

Udeigwe, Theophilus K; Teboh, Jasper M; Eze, Peter N; Stietiya, M Hashem; Kumar, Vipan; Hendrix, James; Mascagni, Henry J; Ying, Teng; Kandakji, Tarek

2015-03-15

Globally, much weight is currently being placed on agriculture to provide food for the growing population as well as feedstock for the bioenergy industry. Unfortunately, the intensification of agricultural operations to satisfy these growing needs has been associated with a number of environmental and human health risks. A review of publications on the subject was conducted and emphasis was placed on articles focusing on agriculture, environment, and public health as well as their interactions. Supporting information was also gathered from publications of various agricultural and environmental agencies. Agricultural practices with potential negative implications on the environment and human health were identified broadly as: (a) utilization of biosolids and animal manures, (b) use of agricultural chemicals, (c) management of post-harvest residue, (d) irrigation, and (e) tillage operations. Soil, water, and air contamination by nutrients, heavy metals, pathogens, and pesticides, as well as air contamination by particulate matters, noxious gases, and pathogens were among the leading environmental impacts. Some of the human-health impacts identified included neurological and reproductive defects, cardiovascular risks, cancers and other diseases (of kidney, liver, lung, and skin), skin allergies, gastroenteritis, and methemoglobinemia. Continual awareness on the impacts of the reviewed agricultural practices on environmental quality and human health and the implementation of experimentally-backed best management practices in agricultural systems remain indispensable. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In the "Best Interest" of the Student: Perceptions and Implications for Leadership Practices in Secondary Schools in Kenya

Science.gov (United States)

Jwan, Julius Ouma

2011-01-01

This paper discusses the contrasting views of what constitutes the "best interests" of students and the implications of such perceptions for leadership practices in secondary schools in Kenya. The paper is based on a study conducted to establish the students', teachers' and principals' perceptions of democratic school leadership--in line…

Links among high-performance work environment, service quality, and customer satisfaction: an extension to the healthcare sector.

Science.gov (United States)

Scotti, Dennis J; Harmon, Joel; Behson, Scott J

2007-01-01

Healthcare managers must deliver high-quality patient services that generate highly satisfied and loyal customers. In this article, we examine how a high-involvement approach to the work environment of healthcare employees may lead to exceptional service quality, satisfied patients, and ultimately to loyal customers. Specifically, we investigate the chain of events through which high-performance work systems (HPWS) and customer orientation influence employee and customer perceptions of service quality and patient satisfaction in a national sample of 113 Veterans Health Administration ambulatory care centers. We present a conceptual model for linking work environment to customer satisfaction and test this model using structural equations modeling. The results suggest that (1) HPWS is linked to employee perceptions of their ability to deliver high-quality customer service, both directly and through their perceptions of customer orientation; (2) employee perceptions of customer service are linked to customer perceptions of high-quality service; and (3) perceived service quality is linked with customer satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings, including suggestions of how healthcare managers can implement changes to their work environments, are discussed.

Searching for climate-conflict links

Science.gov (United States)

Hendrix, Cullen S.

2018-03-01

Environmental scarcity caused by climate change has been implicated as a driver of violent conflict. Now, research shows significant bias in the regions analysed for climate-conflict links. This may limit understanding of the socioeconomic and political conditions in which such conflict occurs, and how these conflicts could be prevented.

Impact of Packet Sampling on Link Dimensioning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schmidt, R.D.O.; Sadre, R.; Sperotto, A.; Berg, H. van den; Pras, A.

2015-01-01

Link dimensioning is used by network operators to properly provision the capacity of their network links. Proposed methods for link dimensioning often require statistics, such as traffic variance, that need to be calculated from packet-level measurements. In practice, due to increasing traffic

Impact of packet sampling on link dimensioning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Oliveira Schmidt, R.; Stadler, R.; Sadre, R.; Sperotto, Anna; van den Berg, Hans Leo; Pras, Aiko

Link dimensioning is used by network operators to properly provision the capacity of their network links. Proposed methods for link dimensioning often require statistics, such as traffic variance, that need to be calculated from packet-level measurements. In practice, due to increasing traffic

Revisiting the Link between Job Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Basic Psychological Needs

Science.gov (United States)

Unanue, Wenceslao; Gómez, Marcos E.; Cortez, Diego; Oyanedel, Juan C.; Mendiburo-Seguel, Andrés

2017-01-01

The link between job satisfaction and life satisfaction has been extensively explored in the relevant literature. However, the great majority of past research has been carried out using cross-sectional analyses, and almost exclusively in the Western world. Moreover, the underlying psychological mechanisms explaining the link are not yet completely understood. Thus, we report the first research to date which uses both cross-sectional and longitudinal data among workers in Chile—a fast-developing Latin American economy—and which aims to tackle previous limitations. Three studies consistently support a positive link between the constructs. Study 1 (N = 636) found that higher job satisfaction predicted higher life satisfaction both contemporaneously and longitudinally, and vice versa, above and beyond several key control variables. Study 2 (N = 725) and Study 3 (N = 703) replicated Study 1 results, but tested for the first time the role of satisfaction of basic psychological needs (as stated by self-determination theory) in the job–life satisfaction link. This is the most novel contribution of our paper. Key implications not only for individual quality of life, but also for companies' human resource practices emerge from our findings. PMID:28536541

Authority Control and Linked Bibliographic Databases.

Science.gov (United States)

Clack, Doris H.

1988-01-01

Explores issues related to bibliographic database authority control, including the nature of standards, quality control, library cooperation, centralized and decentralized databases and authority control systems, and economic considerations. The implications of authority control for linking large scale databases are discussed. (18 references)…

Do line managers’ have ‘linking pin’ in HR roles?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamed Ayyub Hassan

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The present article aims to identify the possible line managers’ involvement factors in human resource (HR initiatives and its ‘linking pin’ to the HR roles. In this regard, few factors have been considered pertinent to line managers’ involvement factors in HR initiatives which are desire, self-efficacy, and HR support. Whereas, the considered dimensions of HR roles reviewed are strategic partner, change agent, employee champion, and administrative expert. Design/methodology/approach: The paper intends to provide a conceptual review of the past literature in the areas of HR roles and line managers and further justify the proposed conceptual framework that will move this work further. Findings: The review also showed that HR devolution to line managers will boost line managers’ participation and responsibility to practice HR roles at the workplace. Research limitations/implications: The main limitation of this review is no empirical evidence provided by the authors to support the literature of the article. All the provided literature is written based on the findings gained from the previous studies. Practical implications: Line managers’ involvement in HR Initiatives can increase the competency diversity among line manager. This in turn can help the organization to operate at high efficiency. Originality/value: There is a notable lack of research conducted to identify line managers’ involvement in HR. Therefore, this article contributes to the literature on the relationship between line managers and HR roles.

Clinical neurofeedback: case studies, proposed mechanism, and implications for pediatric neurology practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Legarda, Stella B; McMahon, Doreen; Othmer, Siegfried; Othmer, Sue

2011-08-01

Trends in alternative medicine use by American health care consumers are rising substantially. Extensive literature exists reporting on the effectiveness of neurofeedback in the treatment of autism, closed head injury, insomnia, migraine, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, epilepsy, and posttraumatic stress disorder. We speculated that neurofeedback might serve as a therapeutic modality for patients with medically refractory neurological disorders and have begun referring patients to train with clinical neurofeedback practitioners. The modality is not always covered by insurance. Confident their child's medical and neurological needs would continue to be met, the parents of 3 children with epilepsy spectrum disorder decided to have their child train in the modality. The children's individual progress following neurofeedback are each presented here. A proposed mechanism and practice implications are discussed.

Influence of voluntary coffee certifications on cooperatives’ advisory services and agricultural practices of smallholder farmers in Costa Rica

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Snider, Anna; Kraus, Eva; Sibelet, Nicole

2016-01-01

level is adding new topics for group training, and certification issues are directly linked with practices such as maintaining a farm record book or wearing a mask when applying pesticides. Practices which compete with productivity are unlikely to change. Practical Implications: The results are useful......Purpose: This article explores how voluntary certifications influence the way cooperatives provide advisory services to their members and the influence of these services on agricultural practices. Design/Methodology/Approach: Case studies were conducted in four representative Costa Rican...... cooperatives interviewing twenty interviewed cooperative administrators and members to determine changes in advisory services and farming practices over the past twenty years and factors which influenced those changes. Findings: Certifications induce cooperatives to offer new services to support farmers...

Linked Data - the story so far

OpenAIRE

Bizer, Christian; Heath, Tom; Berners-Lee, Tim

2009-01-01

The term “Linked Data” refers to a set of best practices for publishing and connecting structured data on the Web. These best practices have been adopted by an increasing number of data providers over the last three years, leading to the creation of a global data space containing billions of assertions— the Web of Data. In this article, the authors present the concept and technical principles of Linked Data, and situate these within the broader context of related technological developments. T...

The relevance of social theory in the practice of environmental management

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Meissner, Richard

2015-09-01

Full Text Available as follows. In the first part I define the concepts ‘paradigm’, ‘theory’ and ‘ethics’. The purpose of this section is to show the difference between a paradigm and a theory and to lay the foundation for the rest of the article. I also illustrate the link... between paradigms and theories and ethics, and by implication practice. I follow this part with Rosenau’s (2003) argument that we are all theorists; the purpose of which is to highlight that environmental assessment practitioners use paradigms...

A systems approach identifies networks and genes linking sleep and stress: implications for neuropsychiatric disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Peng; Scarpa, Joseph R; Fitzpatrick, Karrie; Losic, Bojan; Gao, Vance D; Hao, Ke; Summa, Keith C; Yang, He S; Zhang, Bin; Allada, Ravi; Vitaterna, Martha H; Turek, Fred W; Kasarskis, Andrew

2015-05-05

Sleep dysfunction and stress susceptibility are comorbid complex traits that often precede and predispose patients to a variety of neuropsychiatric diseases. Here, we demonstrate multilevel organizations of genetic landscape, candidate genes, and molecular networks associated with 328 stress and sleep traits in a chronically stressed population of 338 (C57BL/6J × A/J) F2 mice. We constructed striatal gene co-expression networks, revealing functionally and cell-type-specific gene co-regulations important for stress and sleep. Using a composite ranking system, we identified network modules most relevant for 15 independent phenotypic categories, highlighting a mitochondria/synaptic module that links sleep and stress. The key network regulators of this module are overrepresented with genes implicated in neuropsychiatric diseases. Our work suggests that the interplay among sleep, stress, and neuropathology emerges from genetic influences on gene expression and their collective organization through complex molecular networks, providing a framework for interrogating the mechanisms underlying sleep, stress susceptibility, and related neuropsychiatric disorders. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Exploring Privilege in the Digital Divide: Implications for Theory, Policy, and Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Mei Lan; Canham, Sarah L; Battersby, Lupin; Sixsmith, Judith; Wada, Mineko; Sixsmith, Andrew

2018-05-10

The digital revolution has resulted in innovative solutions and technologies that can support the well-being, independence, and health of seniors. Yet, the notion of the "digital divide" presents significant inequities in terms of who accesses and benefits from the digital landscape. To better understand the social and structural inequities of the digital divide, a realist synthesis was conducted to inform theoretical understandings of information and communication technologies (ICTs); to understand the practicalities of access and use inequities; to uncover practices that facilitate digital literacy and participation; and to recommend policies to mitigate the digital divide. A systematic search yielded 55 articles published between 2006 and 2016. Synthesis of existing knowledge, combined with user-experience elicited through a deliberative dialogue session with community stakeholders (n = 35), made visible a pattern of privilege that determined individual agency in ICT access and use. Though age is consistently centralized as the key determinant of the digital divide, our analyses, which encompassed both van Dijk's resources and appropriation theory and intersectionality, appraised this notion and revealed that age is not the sole determinant. Findings highlight the role of other factors that contribute to digital inequity among community-dwelling middle-aged (45-64) and older (65+) adults, including education, income, gender, and generational status. Informed by results of a realist synthesis that was guided by intersectional perspectives, a conceptual framework was developed outlining implications for theory, policy, and practice to address the wicked problem that is the digital divide.

Cognitive load theory: Practical implications and an important challenge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jimmie Leppink, Ph.D.

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The field of medical education has adopted a wide variety of theories from other fields. A fairly recent example is cognitive load theory, which originated in educational psychology. Several empirical studies inspired by cognitive load theory and reviews of practical implications of cognitive load theory have contributed to guidelines for the design of medical education. Simultaneously, several research groups have developed instruments for the measurement of cognitive load in a medical education context. These developments notwithstanding, obtaining evidence for different types of cognitive load remains an important challenge. Therefore, the aim of this article is twofold: to provide medical educators with three key guidelines for the design of instruction and assessment and to discuss several fundamental issues in the remaining challenges presented by different types of cognitive load. The guidelines revolve around minimizing cognitive activity that does not contribute to learning, working with specific learning goals in mind, and appreciating the multifaceted relation between learning and assessment. Key issues around the types of cognitive load include the context in which learning occurs, the continued use of single-item mental effort ratings, and the timing of cognitive load and learning outcome measurements.

Prioritizing lean management practices in public and private hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Hussain, Matloub; Malik, Mohsin

2016-05-16

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to prioritize 21 healthcare wastes in public and private hospitals of United Arab Emirates (UAE). Design/methodology/approach - Seven healthcare wastes linked with lean management are further decomposed in to sub-criteria and to deal with this complexity of multi criteria decision-making process, analytical hierarchical process (AHP) method is used in this research. Findings - AHP framework for this study resulted in a ranking of 21 healthcare wastes in public and private hospitals of UAE. It has been found that management in private healthcare systems of UAE is putting more emphasis on the inventory waste. On the other hand, over processing waste has got highest weight in public hospitals of UAE. Research limitations/implications - The future directions of this research would be to apply a lean set of tools for the value stream optimization of the prioritized key improvement areas. Practical implications - This is a contribution to the continuing research into lean management, giving practitioners and designers a practical way for measuring and implementing lean practices across health organizations. Originality/value - The contribution of this research, through successive stages of data collection, measurement analysis and refinement, is a set of reliable and valid framework that can be subsequently used in conceptualization, prioritization of the waste reduction strategies in healthcare management.

Female science teacher beliefs and attitudes: implications in relation to gender and pedagogical practice

Science.gov (United States)

Zapata, Mara; Gallard, Alejandro J.

2007-10-01

Beliefs and attitudes resulting from the unique life experiences of teachers frame interactions with learners promoting gender equity or inequity and the reproduction of social views about knowledge and power as related to gender. This study examines the enactment of a female science teacher's pedagogy (Laura), seeking to understand the implications of her beliefs and attitudes, as framed by her interpretations and daily manifestations, as she interacts with students. Distinct influences inform the conceptual framework of this study: (a) the social organization of society at large, governed by understood and unspoken patriarchy, present both academically and socially; (b) the devaluing of women as "knowers" of scientific knowledge as defined by a western and male view of science; (c) the marginalization or "feminization" of education and pedagogical knowledge. The findings reflect tensions between attitudes and beliefs and actual teacher practice suggesting the need for awareness within existing or new teachers about their positions as social agents and the sociological implications related to issues of gender within which we live and work, inclusive of science teaching and learning.

How do astronomers share data? Reliability and persistence of datasets linked in AAS publications and a qualitative study of data practices among US astronomers.

Science.gov (United States)

Pepe, Alberto; Goodman, Alyssa; Muench, August; Crosas, Merce; Erdmann, Christopher

2014-01-01

We analyze data sharing practices of astronomers over the past fifteen years. An analysis of URL links embedded in papers published by the American Astronomical Society reveals that the total number of links included in the literature rose dramatically from 1997 until 2005, when it leveled off at around 1500 per year. The analysis also shows that the availability of linked material decays with time: in 2011, 44% of links published a decade earlier, in 2001, were broken. A rough analysis of link types reveals that links to data hosted on astronomers' personal websites become unreachable much faster than links to datasets on curated institutional sites. To gauge astronomers' current data sharing practices and preferences further, we performed in-depth interviews with 12 scientists and online surveys with 173 scientists, all at a large astrophysical research institute in the United States: the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in Cambridge, MA. Both the in-depth interviews and the online survey indicate that, in principle, there is no philosophical objection to data-sharing among astronomers at this institution. Key reasons that more data are not presently shared more efficiently in astronomy include: the difficulty of sharing large data sets; over reliance on non-robust, non-reproducible mechanisms for sharing data (e.g. emailing it); unfamiliarity with options that make data-sharing easier (faster) and/or more robust; and, lastly, a sense that other researchers would not want the data to be shared. We conclude with a short discussion of a new effort to implement an easy-to-use, robust, system for data sharing in astronomy, at theastrodata.org, and we analyze the uptake of that system to-date.

How Do Astronomers Share Data? Reliability and Persistence of Datasets Linked in AAS Publications and a Qualitative Study of Data Practices among US Astronomers

Science.gov (United States)

Pepe, Alberto; Goodman, Alyssa; Muench, August; Crosas, Merce; Erdmann, Christopher

2014-08-01

We analyze data sharing practices of astronomers over the past fifteen years. An analysis of URL links embedded in papers published by the American Astronomical Society reveals that the total number of links included in the literature rose dramatically from 1997 until 2005, when it leveled off at around 1500 per year. The analysis also shows that the availability of linked material decays with time: in 2011, 44% of links published a decade earlier, in 2001, were broken. A rough analysis of link types reveals that links to data hosted on astronomers' personal websites become unreachable much faster than links to datasets on curated institutional sites. To gauge astronomers' current data sharing practices and preferences further, we performed in-depth interviews with 12 scientists and online surveys with 173 scientists, all at a large astrophysical research institute in the United States: the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in Cambridge, MA. Both the in-depth interviews and the online survey indicate that, in principle, there is no philosophical objection to data-sharing among astronomers at this institution. Key reasons that more data are not presently shared more efficiently in astronomy include: the difficulty of sharing large data sets; over reliance on non-robust, non-reproducible mechanisms for sharing data (e.g. emailing it); unfamiliarity with options that make data-sharing easier (faster) and/or more robust; and, lastly, a sense that other researchers would not want the data to be shared. We conclude with a short discussion of a new effort to implement an easy-to-use, robust, system for data sharing in astronomy, at theastrodata.org, and we analyze the uptake of that system to-date.

How do astronomers share data? Reliability and persistence of datasets linked in AAS publications and a qualitative study of data practices among US astronomers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alberto Pepe

Full Text Available We analyze data sharing practices of astronomers over the past fifteen years. An analysis of URL links embedded in papers published by the American Astronomical Society reveals that the total number of links included in the literature rose dramatically from 1997 until 2005, when it leveled off at around 1500 per year. The analysis also shows that the availability of linked material decays with time: in 2011, 44% of links published a decade earlier, in 2001, were broken. A rough analysis of link types reveals that links to data hosted on astronomers' personal websites become unreachable much faster than links to datasets on curated institutional sites. To gauge astronomers' current data sharing practices and preferences further, we performed in-depth interviews with 12 scientists and online surveys with 173 scientists, all at a large astrophysical research institute in the United States: the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in Cambridge, MA. Both the in-depth interviews and the online survey indicate that, in principle, there is no philosophical objection to data-sharing among astronomers at this institution. Key reasons that more data are not presently shared more efficiently in astronomy include: the difficulty of sharing large data sets; over reliance on non-robust, non-reproducible mechanisms for sharing data (e.g. emailing it; unfamiliarity with options that make data-sharing easier (faster and/or more robust; and, lastly, a sense that other researchers would not want the data to be shared. We conclude with a short discussion of a new effort to implement an easy-to-use, robust, system for data sharing in astronomy, at theastrodata.org, and we analyze the uptake of that system to-date.

Using an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and a protein phosphatase inhibition assay (PPIA) for the detection of microcystins and nodularins.

Science.gov (United States)

Carmichael, W W; An, J

1999-01-01

Cyanotoxins produced by cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) include potent neurotoxins and hepatotoxins. The hepatotoxins include cyclic peptide microcystins and nodularins plus the alkaloid cylindrospermopsins. Among the cyanotoxins the microcystins have proven to be the most widespread, and are most often implicated in animal and human poisonings. This paper presents a practical guide to two widely used methods for detecting and quantifying microcystins and nodularins in environmental samples-the enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) and the protein phosphatase inhibition assay (PPIA).

Linking research to practice: the rise of evidence-based health sciences librarianship*

Science.gov (United States)

Marshall, Joanne Gard

2014-01-01

Purpose: The lecture explores the origins of evidence-based practice (EBP) in health sciences librarianship beginning with examples from the work of Janet Doe and past Doe lecturers. Additional sources of evidence are used to document the rise of research and EBP as integral components of our professional work. Methods: Four sources of evidence are used to examine the rise of EBP: (1) a publication by Doe and research-related content in past Doe lectures, (2) research-related word usage in articles in the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association and Journal of the Medical Library Association between 1961 and 2010, (3) Medical Library Association activities, and (4) EBP as an international movement. Results: These sources of evidence confirm the rise of EBP in health sciences librarianship. International initiatives sparked the rise of evidence-based librarianship and continue to characterize the movement. This review shows the emergence of a unique form of EBP that, although inspired by evidence-based medicine (EBM), has developed its own view of evidence and its application in library and information practice. Implications: Health sciences librarians have played a key role in initiating, nurturing, and spreading EBP in other branches of our profession. Our close association with EBM set the stage for developing our own EBP. While we relied on EBM as a model for our early efforts, we can observe the continuing evolution of our own unique approach to using, creating, and applying evidence from a variety of sources to improve the quality of health information services. PMID:24415915

Conservation and Sustainable Development: Linking Practice and ...

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Breaking bad news revisited: the push for negotiated disclosure and changing practice implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Arber, Anne; Gallagher, Ann

2003-04-01

This article revisits the ethical, legal, professional and emotional issues involved with disclosing bad news. The authors examine the push for disclosure that has come from a number of quarters in the UK, including ethical and legal challenges, in particular the Bristol Royal Inquiry Report, professional codes of conduct, health policy and the expectations of the public. The contribution of nurses to breaking bad news is not widely discussed in the literature. With the development of new nursing roles and evidence-based practice it is timely to consider the role of nurses in this process. The article highlights some limitations with current guidelines for breaking bad news, in particular, that these guidelines tend to be constructed from a professional standpoint and lack patient-centred evidence. The issue of emotional labour and how it relates to giving bad news is discussed with respect to professional staff and patients. The article concludes by raising some practice implications, including: the importance of context and continuity; the significance of information and support; the desirable qualities of the professional; and issues to consider in determining patient preferences.

Determinants of lesbian and gay affirmative practice among heterosexual therapists.

Science.gov (United States)

Alessi, Edward J; Dillon, Frank R; Kim, Hillary Mi-Sung

2015-09-01

The current study tested a conceptual model based on social-cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986), highlighting the influence of attitudes toward sexual minority individuals, training hours, affirmative counseling self-efficacy, and beliefs about affirmative practice on therapist engagement in lesbian and gay affirmative practice. We recruited via the Internet 443 heterosexual psychologists (n = 270), clinical social workers (n = 110), and marriage and family therapists (n = 63) residing in various parts of the United States. The majority of participants identified as female (70%) and White (88%). A path analysis indicated that beliefs and affirmative counseling self-efficacy mediated associations between attitudes and therapist engagement in affirmative practice. Furthermore, self-efficacy mediated the relation between training hours and engagement in affirmative practice. Results suggest that more affirmative attitudes are linked with higher levels of affirmative counseling self-efficacy and more positive beliefs, which in turn positively influences therapist engagement in affirmative practice. Additionally, more hours of training influence affirmative counseling self-efficacy, which in turn correlates with higher levels of therapist engagement in affirmative practice. The discussion includes implications for affirmative practice training. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

A Case Study with an Identified Bully: Policy and Practice Implications

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Huddleston, Lillie

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Objective: Bullying is a serious public health problem that may include verbal or physical injury as well as social isolation or exclusion. As a result, research is needed to establish a database for policies and interventions designed to prevent bullying and its negative effects. This paper presented a case study that contributed to the literature by describing an intervention for bullies that has implications for research, practice and related policies regarding bullying.Methods: An individualized intervention for an identified bully was implemented using the Participatory Culture-Specific Intervention Model (PCSIM; Nastasi, Moore, & Varjas, 2004 with a seventh-grade middle school student. Ecological and culture-specific perspectives were used to develop and implement the intervention that included psychoeducational sessions with the student and consultation with the parent and school personnel. A mixed methods intervention design was used with the following informants: the target student, the mother of the student, a teacher and the school counselor. Qualitative data included semi-structured interviews with the parent, teacher and student, narrative classroom observations and evaluation/feedback forms filled out by the student and interventionist. Quantitative data included the following quantitative surveys (i.e., Child Posttraumatic Stress Reaction Index [CPTS-RI] and the Behavior Assessment Scale for Children, 2nd Edition. Both qualitative and quantitative data were used to evaluate the acceptability, integrity and efficacy of this intervention.Results: The process of intervention design, implementation and evaluation are described through an illustrative case study. Qualitative and quantitative findings indicated a decrease in internalizing, externalizing and bullying behaviors as reported by the teacher and the mother, and a high degree of acceptability and treatment integrity as reported by multiple stakeholders.Conclusion: This case

Practical implications of 'postmodern philosophy'

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Savić Mile V.

2002-01-01

Full Text Available The article examines the implications of the discourse about postmodernity. Postmodernity is analyzed as a complex discursive figure. Within the discourse about postmodernity three levels are distinguished: the postmodern condition, postmodernism, and reflection of the postmodern condition. Special attention is paid to globalization and the problem of the enforcement of modern projects in East-European societies, particularly Serbia. These societies are termed object-societies, while their modification of modernity is called eastmodernity. The author's answer to the complexity of the postmodern condition is a conception of the politics of subsistence.

Mental representation for action in the elderly: implications for movement efficiency and injury risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Gabbard, Carl

2015-04-01

Recent research findings indicate that with older adulthood, there are functional decrements in spatial cognition and more specially, in the ability to mentally represent and effectively plan motor actions. A typical finding is a significant over- or underestimation of one's actual physical abilities with movement planning-planning that has implications for movement efficiency and physical safety. A practical, daily life example is estimation of reachability--a situation that for the elderly may be linked with fall incidence. A strategy used to mentally represent action is the use of motor imagery--an ability that also declines with advancing older age. This brief review highlights research findings on mental representation and motor imagery in the elderly and addresses the implications for improving movement efficiency and lowering the risk of movement-related injury. © The Author(s) 2013.

Development and early experience from an intervention to facilitate teamwork between general practices and allied health providers: the Team-link study.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Mark F; Chan, Bibiana C; Daniel, Christopher; Wan, Qing; Zwar, Nick; Davies, Gawaine Powell

2010-04-27

This paper describes the development and implementation of an intervention to facilitate teamwork between general practice and outside allied and community health services and providers. A review of organizational theory and a qualitative study of 9 practices was used to design an intervention which was applied in four Divisions of General Practice and 26 urban practices. Clinical record review and qualitative interviews with participants were used to determine the key lessons from its implementation. Facilitating teamwork across organizational boundaries was very challenging. The quality of the relationship between professionals was of key importance. This was enabled by joint education and direct communication between providers. Practice nurses were key links between general practices and allied and community health services. Current arrangements for Team Care planning provide increased opportunities for access to allied health. However the current paper based system is insufficient to build relationships or effectively share roles as part of a patient care team. Facilitation is feasible but constrained by barriers to communication and trust.

Teacher's reading comprehension: Implication for teaching practices

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Adriana Benevides Soares

2010-11-01

Full Text Available A question of interest for educational workers is the reading comprehension process, a fundamental ability for progress in more advanced years of schooling, and its effect on pedagogical practices. This is a study that explores this question. A reading comprehension instrument composed by four structural levels of text and a scale of pedagogical practice composed by four sub-scales involving: cognitive practices with linguistic focus, cognitive practices, affective and motor practices, continuous education, was used. The results of 53 children suggest a slight tendency of teacher to prioritize cognitive practices independently of their reading comprehension level.

State Definitions of Social Work Practice: Implications for our Professional Identity.

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Hill, Katharine; Fogel, Sondra; Plitt Donaldson, Linda; Erickson, Christina

2017-01-01

For over a century, the social work profession has been concerned with describing the unique and specific characteristics that define its core functions in society; however, the profession has yet to agree to a single definition of social work. In the absence of a unifying definition, 51 different statutory definitions of social work have been created by each state and the District of Columbia. Using qualitative methods, each statutory definition of social work was analyzed to gain an understanding of how social work is defined and understood across the United States. Findings indicate that 57% of the statutory language blend the full range of micro to macro social work practice skills into their definition. However, even within these and those remaining, there are vast differences in definitions. Implications for state licensing laws, are considered, along with how this impacts education, the work force, and professional identity.

Paradoxes in networks with zero emission links: implications for telecommunications versus transportation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nagurney, A. [University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (United States). Isenberg School of Management; June Dong [State University of New York, Oswego, NY (United States). School of Business

2001-07-01

In this paper, we consider networks in which a link is characterized by zero emissions as is typical of networks in which certain links correspond to telecommunication links. We identify three new and distinct paradoxical phenomena that can occur in such networks, which demonstrate that so-called improvements to the network may result in increases in total emissions generated. In particular, we illustrate, through specific examples, the following: (1) the addition of a link with zero emissions may result in an increase in total emissions with no change in travel demand; (2) the total emissions on a network with a zero emission link may increase with a decrease in travel demand; and (3) the addition of a path connecting an origin/destination (O/D) pair and consisting solely of a zero emission link may result in an increase in total emissions. We then propose an emission pricing policy which guarantees that such paradoxes do not occur. The pricing policy is shown to be equivalent to a particular weighting mechanism associated with the criterion of emission generation provided that the users are now multicriteria decision-makers who seek to minimize both the cost of their route choices as well as the emissions that they generate. (author)

Diversity in marketing practice

OpenAIRE

Torres, Ann Marie

2009-01-01

Theory development in marketing has received periodic debate. In the spirit of reappraisal, this thesis endeavours to explain the nature of diversity in marketing practice found among firms and the manner in which marketing practice is related to organisational performance. The specific research goals are to explore: the nature of diversity in marketing practice, as linked to strategic archetypes; whether there is evidence of order in the diversity of marketing practice that can be linked to ...

Implications of current resident work-hour guidelines on the future practice of surgery in Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Maruscak, Adam A; VanderBeek, Laura; Ott, Michael C; Kelly, Stephen; Forbes, Thomas L

2012-01-01

Work-hour restrictions have had a profound impact on surgical training. However, little is known of how work-hour restrictions may affect the future practice patterns of current surgical residents. The purpose of this study is to compare the anticipated career practice patterns of surgical residents who are training within an environment of work-hour restrictions with the current practice of faculty surgeons. An electronic survey was sent to all surgery residents and faculty at 2 Canadian university-affiliated medical centers. The survey consisted of questions regarding expected (residents) or current (faculty) practice patterns. A total of 149 residents and 125 faculty members completed the survey (50.3% and 52.3% response rates, respectively). A greater proportion of males were in the faculty cohort than in the resident group (77.6% vs 62.4%, p = 0.0003). More faculty than residents believed that work-hour restrictions have a negative impact on both residency education (40.8% vs 20.8%, p = 0.008) and preparation for a surgical career (56.8% vs 19.5%, p implications and might require larger surgical groups and reconsideration of resource allocation. Copyright © 2012 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A review of factors that affect contact angle and implications for flotation practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Chau, T T; Bruckard, W J; Koh, P T L; Nguyen, A V

2009-09-30

. Other advanced techniques and measures complementary to contact angle will be essential to establish the link between research and practice in flotation.

Learning Patterns in Music Practice: Links between Disposition, Practice Strategies and Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

StGeorge, Jennifer Mary; Holbrook, Allyson Patricia; Cantwell, Robert H.

2012-01-01

Research into musical practice has over recent decades focused on the technical and organisational strategies employed by novices and experts. What has been less studied are the background factors or influences on the quality of this music practice. Drawing on interview data collected from 66 children and adults from a mixed methods project, we…

Linking lab and field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cronje, P.B.

1988-01-01

The multitude of different supplements recommended for animals grazing natural pastures, which testifies to the need for a metabolic basis for supplementary feeding practices. The first approach to this problem was to simulate different feeding conditions in the laboratory, where the metabolic responses of body tissues to changes in the supply of purified nutrients could be studied using radioisotope techniques. The second step was to link these fundamental studies to field conditions. The results of these studies suggest that the efficiency of feed conversion and growth rates of ruminants grazing winter pastures in the highveld region of South Africa could be substantially improved by strategic supplementation with glucose precursors. Acetate clearance rate represents a valuable link in the process of applying information obtained from controlled laboratory experiments to field conditions. As this technique is inexpensive, quick and simple to carry out, it is ideally suited to application under field conditions where the use of isotopes is impractical. By providing a link with field conditions, it greatly extended the scope and practical application of isotope tracer techniques

Making the links between domestic violence and child safeguarding: an evidence-based pilot training for general practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Szilassy, Eszter; Drinkwater, Jess; Hester, Marianne; Larkins, Cath; Stanley, Nicky; Turner, William; Feder, Gene

2017-11-01

We describe the development of an evidence-based training intervention on domestic violence and child safeguarding for general practice teams. We aimed - in the context of a pilot study - to improve knowledge, skills, attitudes and self-efficacy of general practice clinicians caring for families affected by domestic violence. Our evidence sources included: a systematic review of training interventions aiming to improve professional responses to children affected by domestic violence; content mapping of relevant current training in England; qualitative assessment of general practice professionals' responses to domestic violence in families; and a two-stage consensus process with a multi-professional stakeholder group. Data were collected between January and December 2013. This paper reports key research findings and their implications for practice and policy; describes how the research findings informed the training development and outlines the principal features of the training intervention. We found lack of cohesion and co-ordination in the approach to domestic violence and child safeguarding. General practice clinicians have insufficient understanding of multi-agency work, a limited competence in gauging thresholds for child protection referral to children's services and little understanding of outcomes for children. While prioritising children's safety, they are more inclined to engage directly with abusive parents than with affected children. Our research reveals uncertainty and confusion surrounding the recording of domestic violence cases in families' medical records. These findings informed the design of the RESPONDS training, which was developed in 2014 to encourage general practice clinicians to overcome barriers and engage more extensively with adults experiencing abuse, as well as responding directly to the needs of children. We conclude that general practice clinicians need more support in managing the complexity of this area of practice. We need to

Future trends in health and health care: implications for social work practice in an aging society.

Science.gov (United States)

Spitzer, William J; Davidson, Kay W

2013-01-01

Major economic, political, demographic, social, and operational system factors are prompting evolutionary changes in health care delivery. Of particular significance, the "graying of America" promises new challenges and opportunities for health care social work. At the same time, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, evolution of Accountable Care Organizations, and an emphasis on integrated, transdisciplinary, person-centered care represent fundamental shifts in service delivery with implications for social work practice and education. This article identifies the aging shift in American demography, its impact on health policy legislation, factors influencing fundamentally new service delivery paradigms, and opportunities of the profession to address the health disparities and care needs of an aging population. It underscores the importance of social work inclusion in integrated health care delivery and offers recommendations for practice education.

Technological Implications of Supply Chain Practices in Agri-Food Sector: A Review

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Rahul Mor

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Today, the global business environment compels enterprises to consider rest of the world in their competitive strategy analysis where firms ignore external factors such as economic trends, competitive positions or technology advancement in other countries. While going truly global with supply chain management, a company develops product in the United States, produce in India and trade in Europe, and they have changed the traditional operation management & logistical activities. This change in trade and the modernization of transport infrastructures have elevated the importance of flow management to new levels. Manufacturers and researchers have noticed many problems concerning supply chain activities, and usually either a system or subcomponent in supply chains is discussed in the literature, but they fails to answer the rational (why, what, how behind them. This paper addresses a review of the principles, bottlenecks and strategies of supply chain practices for organizations with an emphasis on the implications of Indian agri-food sector. Findings of this review reveal that the human & environmental issues, improved product visibility, food safety/quality and the associated economic benefits in sustainable agri-food supply chains can be achieved through innovation, collaboration, elimination of uncertainties and introducing global SCM practices into green & lean initiatives.

Safer sexual practices among African American women: intersectional socialisation and sexual assertiveness.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Danice L; Blackmon, Sha'Kema; Shiflett, Alexandra

2018-06-01

Scholars have posited that childhood socialisation experiences may play a key role in influencing behaviours and attitudes that contribute to the acquisition of HIV. This study examined the links between past ethnic-racial and gender socialisation, sexual assertiveness and the safe sexual practices of African American college women utilising a cluster analytic approach. After identifying separate racial-gender and ethnic-gender socialisation profiles, results indicated that ethnic-gender socialisation cluster profiles were directly associated with sexual assertiveness and safer sex behaviour. Greater levels of ethnic socialisation and low traditional gender role socialisation were found to be associated with greater sexual assertiveness and safer sex behaviour. Further analysis showed that sexual assertiveness mediated the links between the identified ethnic-gender socialisation profiles and safer sex behaviour. Implications for policy and programme development are discussed.

Informal care and the self-management partnership: implications for Australian health policy and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Essue, Beverley M; Jowsey, Tanisha; Jeon, Yun-Hee; Mirzaei, Masoud; Pearce-Brown, Carmen L; Aspin, Clive; Usherwood, Tim P

2010-11-01

The Serious and Continuing Illness Policy and Practice Study (SCIPPS) aims to improve the care and support for patients with chronic illness and their family carers. Here we describe the carers' contribution to the self-management partnership and discuss the policy and practice implications that are relevant to improving the support available for informal care in Australia. A secondary analysis of SCIPPS data. Fourteen carers of patients between 45 and 85 years with chronic heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes were conveniently sampled from western Sydney and the Australian Capital Territory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Key roles that carers perform in the self-management partnership included: home helper; lifestyle coach; advocate; technical care manager; and health information interpreter. Two negative consequences of juggling these roles included: self-neglect and conflict. Rigid eligibility criteria limit carers' access to essential support programs which underestimates and undervalues their contributions to the self-management partnership. Support services should focus on the development of practical skills to perform the caregiving roles. In addition, health professionals require support to work more effectively with carers to minimise the conflict that can overshadow the care and self-management partnership.

The Implications of the National Minimum Wage for Training Practices and Skill Utilisation in the United Kingdom Hospitality Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Norris, Gill; Williams, Steve; Adam-Smith, Derek

2003-01-01

Two key issues thrown up by the 1999 introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) in the United Kingdom are its likely impact on employers' training practices in low paying sectors of the economy and the implications for skills. Based on a study of the hospitality industry, this article assesses the limited significance of the differential,…

Recent advances in corneal collagen cross-linking

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Gitansha Shreyas Sachdev

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Corneal collagen cross-linking has become the preferred modality of treatment for corneal ectasia since its inception in late 1990s. Numerous studies have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of the conventional protocol. Our understanding of the cross-linking process is ever evolving, with its wide implications in the form of accelerated and pulsed protocols. Newer advancements in technology include various riboflavin formulations and the ability to deliver higher fluence protocols with customised irradiation patterns. A greater degree of customisation is likely the path forward, which will aim at achieving refractive improvements along with disease stability. The use of cross-linking for myopic correction is another avenue under exploration. Combination of half fluence cross-linking with refractive correction for high errors to prevent post LASIK regression is gaining interest. This review aims to highlight the various advancements in the cross-linking technology and its clinical applications.

Developmental Trajectories of Social Skills during Early Childhood and Links to Parenting Practices in a Japanese Sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Takahashi, Yusuke; Okada, Kensuke; Hoshino, Takahiro; Anme, Tokie

2015-01-01

This study used data from a nationwide survey in Japan to model the developmental course of social skills during early childhood. The goals of this study were to identify longitudinal profiles of social skills between 2 and 5 years of age using a group-based trajectory approach, and to investigate whether and to what extent parenting practices at 2 years of age predicted developmental trajectories of social skills during the preschool period. A relatively large sample of boys and girls (N > 1,000) was assessed on three social skill dimensions (Cooperation, Self-control, and Assertion) at four time points (ages 2, 3, 4, and 5), and on four parenting practices (cognitive and emotional involvement, avoidance of restriction and punishment, social stimulation, and social support for parenting) at age 2. The results indicated that for each social skill dimension, group-based trajectory models identified three distinct trajectories: low, moderate, and high. Multinomial regression analysis revealed that parenting practice variables showed differential contributions to development of child social skills. Specifically, Cooperation and Assertion were promoted by cognitive and emotional involvement, Self-control by social stimulation, and Assertion by avoidance of restriction and punishment. Abundant social support for parenting was not associated with higher child social skills trajectories. We found heterogeneity in developmental profiles of social skills during the preschool ages, and we identified parenting practices that contributed to different patterns of social skills development. We discussed the implications of higher-quality parenting practices on the improvement of child social skills across early childhood.

Linking Resource-Based Strategies to Customer-Focused Performance for Professional Services: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming-Lu Wu

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This paper links professional service firms’ resource-based strategies to their customer-focused performance for formulating service quality improvement priorities. The research applies the structural equation modelling approach to survey data from Hong Kong construction consultants to test some hypotheses. The study validates the various measures of firms’ resource-based strategies and customer-focused performance and bridges the gaps in firms’ organizational learning, core competences and customer-focused performance mediated by their strategic flexibility. The research results have practical implications for professional service firms to deploy resources appropriately to first enhance different competences and then improve customerfocused performance using their different competences.

Position Statement on Motivations, Methodologies, and Practical Implications of Educational Neuroscience Research: fMRI Studies of the Neural Correlates of Creative Intelligence

Science.gov (United States)

Geake, John

2011-01-01

In this position statement it is argued that educational neuroscience must necessarily be relevant to, and therefore have implications for, both educational theory and practice. Consequently, educational neuroscientific research necessarily must embrace educational research questions in its remit.

Contemporary marketing practice : theoretical propositions and practical implications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lindgreen, A.; Palmer, R.; Vanhamme, J.

2004-01-01

Marketing has changed significantly since it first emerged as a distinct business and management phenomenon. We identify some of the major factors causing the observed change in marketing practice. We then describe a classification scheme that is based on transaction marketing and relationship

The Influence of Human Resource Practices on Internal Customer Satisfaction and Organizational Effectiveness

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Irfan Ullah

2013-08-01

Full Text Available It is generally believed that the impact of Human Resource Practices on internal customer satisfaction can create comparative advantage for the organizational performance. The main objective of this study was to find out the impact of Human Resource Practices on internal customer satisfaction and organizational effectiveness. The impact of human resource practices on the overall performance of organizations has been a leading subject of research and the results have been encouraging, indicative of positive relationship between Human Resource practices and organizational effectiveness. Data was collected through personally administered questionnaire-based survey from 290 banking personnel of Pakistan. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the anticipated model. The results showed that some Human Resource Practices appear to be linked to internal customer satisfaction and organizational effectiveness. The implications for practitioners were to modify and emphasize certain human resource practices, and to emphasize the role of internal customers for organizational effectiveness enhancement. These findings revealed the importance of internal customers in enhancing employee morale, organizational commitment, employee productivity, turnover rate and the organization’s ability to attract talent.

Food beliefs and practices in urban poor communities in Accra: implications for health interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Boatemaa, Sandra; Badasu, Delali Margaret; de-Graft Aikins, Ama

2018-04-02

Poor communities in low and middle income countries are reported to experience a higher burden of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and nutrition-related NCDs. Interventions that build on lay perspectives of risk are recommended. The objective of this study was to examine lay understanding of healthy and unhealthy food practices, factors that influence food choices and the implications for developing population health interventions in three urban poor communities in Accra, Ghana. Thirty lay adults were recruited and interviewed in two poor urban communities in Accra. The interviews were audio-taped, transcribed and analysed thematically. The analysis was guided by the socio-ecological model which focuses on the intrapersonal, interpersonal, community, structural and policy levels of social organisation. Food was perceived as an edible natural resource, and healthy in its raw state. A food item retained its natural, healthy properties or became unhealthy depending on how it was prepared (e.g. frying vs boiling) and consumed (e.g. early or late in the day). These food beliefs reflected broader social food norms in the community and incorporated ideas aligned with standard expert dietary guidelines. Healthy cooking was perceived as the ability to select good ingredients, use appropriate cooking methods, and maintain food hygiene. Healthy eating was defined in three ways: 1) eating the right meals; 2) eating the right quantity; and 3) eating at the right time. Factors that influenced food choice included finances, physical and psychological state, significant others and community resources. The findings suggest that beliefs about healthy and unhealthy food practices are rooted in multi-level factors, including individual experience, family dynamics and community factors. The factors influencing food choices are also multilevel. The implications of the findings for the design and content of dietary and health interventions are discussed.

General practice registrars' intentions for future practice: implications for rural medical workforce planning.

Science.gov (United States)

Harding, Catherine; Seal, Alexa; McGirr, Joe; Caton, Tim

2016-11-01

The models of practice that general practice registrars (GPRs) envisage undertaking will affect workforce supply. The aim of this research was to determine practice intentions of current GPRs in a regional general practice training program (Coast City Country General Practice Training). Questionnaires were circulated to 220 GPRs undertaking general practice placements to determine characteristics of ideal practice models and intentions for future practice. Responses were received for 99 participants (45%). Current GPRs intend to work an average of less than eight half-day sessions/week, with male participants intending to work more hours (t(91)=3.528, P=0.001). More than one-third of this regional cohort intends to practice in metropolitan centres. Proximity to family and friends was the most important factor influencing the choice of practice location. Men ranked remuneration for work as more important (t (88)=-4.280, Pmedical graduates intend to own their own practice compared with 52% of international medical graduates (χ 2 (1)=8.498, P=0.004). Future general practitioners (GPs) intend to work fewer hours than current GPs. Assumptions about lifestyle factors, practice models and possible professional roles should be carefully evaluated when developing strategies to recruit GPs and GPRs into rural practice.

Utilisation of evidence-based practices by ASD early intervention service providers.

Science.gov (United States)

Paynter, Jessica M; Ferguson, Sarah; Fordyce, Kathryn; Joosten, Annette; Paku, Sofia; Stephens, Miranda; Trembath, David; Keen, Deb

2017-02-01

A number of autism intervention practices have been demonstrated to be effective. However, the use of unsupported practices persists in community early intervention settings. Recent research has suggested that personal, professional and workplace factors may influence intervention choices. The aim of this research was to investigate knowledge and use of strategies, organisational culture, individual attitudes, sources of information and considerations informing intervention choices by early intervention providers. An online survey was completed by 72 early intervention providers from four organisations across Australia. Providers reported high levels of trust and access of information from internal professional development, therapists and external professional development. A range of considerations including child factors, family values and research were rated as important in informing intervention choices. Participants reported greater knowledge and use of evidence-based and emerging practices than unsupported. Levels of use were linked to levels of knowledge, as well as some organisational and attitudinal factors. Areas for future research and implications are discussed.

A systematic review of team formulation in clinical psychology practice: Definition, implementation, and outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Geach, Nicole; Moghaddam, Nima G; De Boos, Danielle

2017-10-03

Team formulation is promoted by professional practice guidelines for clinical psychologists. However, it is unclear whether team formulation is understood/implemented in consistent ways - or whether there is outcome evidence to support the promotion of this practice. This systematic review aimed to (1) synthesize how team formulation practice is defined and implemented by practitioner psychologists and (2) analyse the range of team formulation outcomes in the peer-reviewed literature. Seven electronic bibliographic databases were searched in June 2016. Eleven articles met inclusion criteria and were quality assessed. Extracted data were synthesized using content analysis. Descriptions of team formulation revealed three main forms of instantiation: (1) a structured, consultation approach; (2) semi-structured, reflective practice meetings; and (3) unstructured/informal sharing of ideas through routine interactions. Outcome evidence linked team formulation to a range of outcomes for staff teams and service users, including some negative outcomes. Quality appraisal identified significant issues with evaluation methods; such that, overall, outcomes were not well-supported. There is weak evidence to support the claimed beneficial outcomes of team formulation in practice. There is a need for greater specification and standardization of 'team formulation' practices, to enable a clearer understanding of any relationships with outcomes and implications for best-practice implementations. Under the umbrella term of 'team formulation', three types of practice are reported: (1) highly structured consultation; (2) reflective practice meetings; and (3) informal sharing of ideas. Outcomes linked to team formulation, including some negative outcomes, were not well evidenced. Research using robust study designs is required to investigate the process and outcomes of team formulation practice. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Contracting for safety with patients: clinical practice and forensic implications.

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Garvey, Keelin A; Penn, Joseph V; Campbell, Angela L; Esposito-Smythers, Christianne; Spirito, Anthony

2009-01-01

The contract for safety is a procedure used in the management of suicidal patients and has significant patient care, risk management, and medicolegal implications. We conducted a literature review to assess empirical support for this procedure and reviewed legal cases in which this practice was employed, to examine its effect on outcome. Studies obtained from a PubMed search were reviewed and consisted mainly of opinion-based surveys of clinicians and patients and retrospective reviews. Overall, empirically based evidence to support the use of the contract for safety in any population is very limited, particularly in adolescent populations. A legal review revealed that contracting for safety is never enough to protect against legal liability and may lead to adverse consequences for the clinician and the patient. Contracts should be considered for use only in patients who are deemed capable of giving informed consent and, even in these circumstances, should be used with caution. A contract should never replace a thorough assessment of a patient's suicide risk factors. Further empirical research is needed to determine whether contracting for safety merits consideration as a future component of the suicide risk assessment.

Emotion Regulation Feeding Practices Link Parents' Emotional Eating to Children's Emotional Eating: A Moderated Mediation Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Cin Cin; Holub, Shayla C

2015-08-01

Past research suggests an association between parents' and children's emotional eating, but research has yet to examine mechanisms underlying this association. The current study examined whether feeding for emotion regulation mediates the association between parents' and children's emotional eating, and whether this association is moderated by children's self-regulation in eating. 95 parents reported on their own and their children's emotional eating, their children's self-regulation in eating, as well as their feeding practices. Findings revealed that feeding for emotion regulation mediated the association between parents' and children's emotional eating when children's self-regulation in eating was low, but not when self-regulation in eating was high. The current findings demonstrate the complexity of the link between parents' and children's emotional eating, suggesting practitioners should consider both feeding practices and children's self-regulation in eating when designing intervention programs. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved.For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Exploring how Australian occupational therapists and physiotherapists understand each other's professional values: implications for interprofessional education and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Aguilar, Alejandra; Stupans, Ieva; Scutter, Sheila; King, Sharron

2014-01-01

This article provides insight into the values Australian occupational therapists and physiotherapists consider essential for their practice and the values that they perceive as important for each other. Findings from a study that employed the Delphi technique to identify the values occupational therapists and physiotherapists consider essential for their practice were compared with interview results that provide insight into how these professionals perceive one another's values. The results from this comparison indicate that occupational therapy and physiotherapy participants have limited knowledge of each other's values. This is evidenced by participants only identifying a minority of the values considered essential within the other profession and not identifying many of the values that guide daily practice within the other profession. The results hold implications for interprofessional education and practice, where knowledge of the values of other professions in the team is essential. To enable interprofessional collaboration, professions need to make their values explicit and provide their students, practitioners and educators with opportunities to learn about their own values and the values of other professions.

Threat Assessment and Targeted Violence at Institutions of Higher Education: Implications for Policy and Practice Including Unique Considerations for Community Colleges

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, Laura; Bates, Michael

2015-01-01

This article provides an overview of the research on targeted violence, including campus violence, and the implications for policy and practice at institutions of higher education. Unique challenges of threat assessment in the community college setting are explored, and an overview of an effective threat assessment policy and team at William…

Practice-level approaches for behavioral counseling and patient health behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Balasubramanian, Bijal A; Cohen, Deborah J; Clark, Elizabeth C; Isaacson, Nicole F; Hung, Dorothy Y; Dickinson, L Miriam; Fernald, Douglas H; Green, Larry A; Crabtree, Benjamin F

2008-11-01

There is little empirical evidence to show that a practice-level approach that includes identifying patients in need of health behavior advice and linking them to counseling resources either in the practice or in the community results in improvements in patients' behaviors. This study examined whether patients in primary care practices that had practice-level approaches for physical activity and healthy-diet counseling were more likely to have healthier behaviors than patients in practices without practice-level approaches. A cross-sectional study of 54 primary care practices was conducted from July 2005 to January 2007. Practices were categorized into four groups depending on whether they had both identification tools (health risk assessment, registry) and linking strategies (within practice or to community resources); identification tools but no linking strategies; linking strategies but no identification tools; or neither identification tools nor linking strategies. Controlling for patient and practice characteristics, practices that had both identification tools and linking strategies for physical activity counseling were 80% more likely (95% CI=1.25, 2.59) to have patients who reported exercising regularly compared to practices that lacked both. Also, practices that had either identification tools or linking strategies but not both were approximately 50% more likely to have patients who reported exercising regularly. The use of a greater number of practice-level approaches for physical activity counseling was associated with higher odds of patients' reporting exercising regularly (p for trend=0.0002). Use of identification tools and linking strategies for healthy-eating counseling was not associated with patients' reports of healthy diets. This study suggests that practice-level approaches may enable primary care practices to help patients improve physical activity. However, these approaches may have different effects on different behaviors, and merit further

Implications for research and practice of the biographic approach for storytelling.

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Ewens, Beverley; Hendricks, Joyce; Sundin, Deb

2017-01-23

Background Intensive care unit survivors face many physical and psychological difficulties during their recovery following discharge from hospital. These difficulties can significantly affect their quality of life. Healthcare providers and survivors' families often do not understand what recovery means in this population, which may affect the support provided. Aim To consider the potential of the biographical method in helping to create stories that illustrate recovery in intensive care survivors and other populations. Discussion This paper identifies how the biographical approach has provided survivors with a way to uncover the hidden parts of their lives through diaries and interviews, and reveal the hidden stories of intensive care survivorship and recovery. Conclusion The application of the biographical method enabled stories to be created that identified the disruption survivors encounter as they struggle to appear recovered. Implications for practice The biographical method can illuminate experiences uncaptured by other methods. This insight into recovery journeys can help healthcare practitioners and family members to understand and recognise the need for support during recovery.

Sociolegal and practice implications of caring for LGBT people with dementia.

Science.gov (United States)

Peel, Elizabeth; Taylor, Helen; Harding, Rosie

2016-11-30

The needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people with dementia are poorly recognised. This is due partly to assumptions that all older people are heterosexual or asexual. One quarter of gay or bisexual men and half of lesbian or bisexual women have children, compared with 90% of heterosexual women and men, which means LGBT older adults are more likely to reside in care homes. Older LGBT people may be unwilling to express their sexual identities in care settings and this can affect their care. Members of older people's informal care networks must be recognised to ensure their involvement in the lives of residents in care settings continues. However, healthcare professionals may not always realise that many LGBT people rely on their families of choice or wider social networks more than on their families of origin. This article explores sociolegal issues that can arise in the care of older LGBT people with dementia, including enabling autonomy, capacity and applying legal frameworks to support their identities and relationships. It also highlights implications for practice.

[Network clusters of symptoms as elementary syndromes of psychopathology: implications for clinical practice].

Science.gov (United States)

Goekoop, R; Goekoop, J G

2016-01-01

In a recent publication we reported the existence of around 11 (to 15) 'elementary syndromes' that may combine in various ways, rather like 'building blocks', to explain the wide range of psychiatric symptoms. 'Bridge symptoms' seem to be responsible both for combining large sets of symptoms into elementary syndromes and for combining the various elementary syndromes to form one globally connected network structure. To discuss the implication of these findings for clinical practice. We performed a network analysis of symptom scores. Elementary syndromes provide a massive simplification of the description of psychiatric disease. Instead of the more than 300 categories in DSM-5, we now need to consider only a handful of elementary syndromes and personality domains. This modular representation of psychiatric illnesses allows us to make a complete, systematic and efficient assessment of patients and a systematic review of treatment options. Clinicians, patients, managerial staff and insurance companies can verify whether symptom reduction is taking place in the most important domains of psychopathology. Unlike classic multidimensional methods of disease description, network models of psychopathology can be used to explain comorbidity patterns, predict the clinical course of psychopathology and to designate primary targets for therapeutic interventions. A network view on psychopathology could significantly improve everyday clinical practice.

Impact on local air quality of the planned fixed link across Oresund

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fenger, Jes; Vignati, Elisabetta; Berkowicz, Ruwim

1996-01-01

The planned combined bridge and tunnel link between Sweden and Denmark (the Oresund Link) is expected to be in operation around the turn of the century. So far the impacts of the Oresund Link on air pollution have been discussed mainly in terms of changes in emissions, taking into account...... implications of the link on traffic in the region. It appears that the influence on regional and global air pollution will be marginal. Concerning local effects however, the situation is different; the new link across the Oresund and the island Amager will result in significant changes in traffic pattern...

Characterization of the degree of cross-linking in radiation cross-linked low and high density polyethylenes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Posselt, K.; Haedrich, W.

1986-01-01

In practice the cross-linking of irradiated polyethylene is mostly characterized by solubility and thermomechanical data. The irradiation of samples of a LDPE and a HDPE yields very different gel-dose curves. But for a quantitative comparison the complicated connection between the gel values and the corresponding densities of cross-links, especially the dependence on the initial molecular size distribution, has to take into consideration. The analysis of the solubility data according to the statistical theory of cross-linking developed by Inokuti and Saito shows that at equal doses in both investigated PE types in spite of the different gel values nearly the same densities of cross-links are present. That result is confirmed by the densities of cross-links determined from stress-strain measurements at 423 K. (author)

Establishing a communications link between two different, incompatible, personal computers: with practical examples and illustrations and program code.

Science.gov (United States)

Davidson, R W

1985-01-01

The increasing need to communicate to exchange data can be handled by personal microcomputers. The necessity for the transference of information stored in one type of personal computer to another type of personal computer is often encountered in the process of integrating multiple sources of information stored in different and incompatible computers in Medical Research and Practice. A practical example is demonstrated with two relatively inexpensive commonly used computers, the IBM PC jr. and the Apple IIe. The basic input/output (I/O) interface chip for serial communication for each computer are joined together using a Null connector and cable to form a communications link. Using BASIC (Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) Computer Language and the Disk Operating System (DOS) the communications handshaking protocol and file transfer is established between the two computers. The BASIC programming languages used are Applesoft (Apple Personal Computer) and PC BASIC (IBM Personal computer).

Mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian settings: linking practice and research.

Science.gov (United States)

Tol, Wietse A; Barbui, Corrado; Galappatti, Ananda; Silove, Derrick; Betancourt, Theresa S; Souza, Renato; Golaz, Anne; van Ommeren, Mark

2011-10-29

This review links practice, funding, and evidence for interventions for mental health and psychosocial wellbeing in humanitarian settings. We studied practice by reviewing reports of mental health and psychosocial support activities (2007-10); funding by analysis of the financial tracking service and the creditor reporting system (2007-09); and interventions by systematic review and meta-analysis. In 160 reports, the five most commonly reported activities were basic counselling for individuals (39%); facilitation of community support of vulnerable individuals (23%); provision of child-friendly spaces (21%); support of community-initiated social support (21%); and basic counselling for groups and families (20%). Most interventions took place and were funded outside national mental health and protection systems. 32 controlled studies of interventions were identified, 13 of which were randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that met the criteria for meta-analysis. Two studies showed promising effects for strengthening community and family supports. Psychosocial wellbeing was not included as an outcome in the meta-analysis, because its definition varied across studies. In adults with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), meta-analysis of seven RCTs showed beneficial effects for several interventions (psychotherapy and psychosocial supports) compared with usual care or waiting list (standardised mean difference [SMD] -0·38, 95% CI -0·55 to -0·20). In children, meta-analysis of four RCTs failed to show an effect for symptoms of PTSD (-0·36, -0·83 to 0·10), but showed a beneficial effect of interventions (group psychotherapy, school-based support, and other psychosocial support) for internalising symptoms (six RCTs; SMD -0·24, -0·40 to -0·09). Overall, research and evidence focuses on interventions that are infrequently implemented, whereas the most commonly used interventions have had little rigorous scrutiny. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All

Mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian settings: linking practice and research

Science.gov (United States)

Tol, Wietse A; Barbui, Corrado; Galappatti, Ananda; Silove, Derrick; Betancourt, Theresa S; Souza, Renato; Golaz, Anne; van Ommeren, Mark

2014-01-01

This review links practice, funding, and evidence for interventions for mental health and psychosocial wellbeing in humanitarian settings. We studied practice by reviewing reports of mental health and psychosocial support activities (2007–10); funding by analysis of the financial tracking service and the creditor reporting system (2007–09); and interventions by systematic review and meta-analysis. In 160 reports, the five most commonly reported activities were basic counselling for individuals (39%); facilitation of community support of vulnerable individuals (23%); provision of child-friendly spaces (21%); support of community-initiated social support (21%); and basic counselling for groups and families (20%). Most interventions took place and were funded outside national mental health and protection systems. 32 controlled studies of interventions were identified, 13 of which were randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that met the criteria for meta-analysis. Two studies showed promising effects for strengthening community and family supports. Psychosocial wellbeing was not included as an outcome in the meta-analysis, because its definition varied across studies. In adults with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), meta-analysis of seven RCTs showed beneficial effects for several interventions (psychotherapy and psychosocial supports) compared with usual care or waiting list (standardised mean difference [SMD] −0.38, 95% CI −0.55 to −0.20). In children, meta-analysis of four RCTs failed to show an effect for symptoms of PTSD (−0.36, −0.83 to 0.10), but showed a beneficial effect of interventions (group psychotherapy, school-based support, and other psychosocial support) for internalising symptoms (six RCTs; SMD −0.24, −0.40 to −0.09). Overall, research and evidence focuses on interventions that are infrequently implemented, whereas the most commonly used interventions have had little rigorous scrutiny. PMID:22008428

Linking nurses' perceptions of patient care quality to job satisfaction: the role of authentic leadership and empowering professional practice environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Spence Laschinger, Heather K; Fida, Roberta

2015-05-01

A model linking authentic leadership, structural empowerment, and supportive professional practice environments to nurses' perceptions of patient care quality and job satisfaction was tested. Positive work environment characteristics are important for nurses' perceptions of patient care quality and job satisfaction (significant factors for retention). Few studies have examined the mechanism by which these characteristics operate to influence perceptions of patient care quality or job satisfaction. A cross-sectional provincial survey of 723 Canadian nurses was used to test the hypothesized models using structural equation modeling. The model was an acceptable fit and all paths were significant. Authentic leadership had a positive effect on structural empowerment, which had a positive effect on perceived support for professional practice and a negative effect on nurses' perceptions that inadequate unit staffing prevented them from providing high-quality patient care. These workplace conditions predicted job satisfaction. Authentic leaders play an important role in creating empowering professional practice environments that foster high-quality care and job satisfaction.

Patient acceptability and practical implications of pharmacokinetic studies in patients with advanced cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Dobbs, N A; Twelves, C J; Ramirez, A J; Towlson, K E; Gregory, W M; Richards, M A

1993-01-01

We have studied the practical implications and acceptability to patients of pharmacokinetic studies in 34 women receiving anthracyclines for advanced breast cancer. The following parameters were recorded: age, ECOG performance status, psychological state (Rotterdam Symptom Checklist), cytotoxic drug and dose, number of venepunctures for treatment and sampling, and time when the sampling cannula was removed. Immediately after finishing pharmacokinetic sampling, patients completed a questionnaire which revealed that (i) all patients understood sampling was for research, (ii) 35% of patients experienced problems with sampling, (iii) benefits from participation were perceived by 56% of patients. Of 20 patients later questioned after completion of their treatment course, 40% recalled difficulties with blood sampling. Factors identifying in advance those patients who tolerate pharmacokinetic studies poorly were not identified but the number of venepunctures should be minimised. Patients may also perceive benefits from 'non-therapeutic' research.

Linking theory to practice in learning technology research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cathy Gunn

2012-03-01

Full Text Available We present a case to reposition theory so that it plays a pivotal role in learning technology research and helps to build an ecology of learning. To support the case, we present a critique of current practice based on a review of articles published in two leading international journals from 2005 to 2010. Our study reveals that theory features only incidentally or not at all in many cases. We propose theory development as a unifying theme for learning technology research study design and reporting. The use of learning design as a strategy to develop and test theories in practice is integral to our argument. We conclude by supporting other researchers who recommend educational design research as a theory focused methodology to move the field forward in productive and consistent ways. The challenge of changing common practice will be involved. However, the potential to raise the profile of learning technology research and improve educational outcomes justifies the effort required.

Engaging diverse student audiences in contemporary blended learning environments in Australian higher business education: Implications for Design and Practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Graeme Pye

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This research reports on a student audience engaging in an Australian university’s undergraduate commerce program core unit that is offered across three separate geographic campus locations and online. The research extends upon work undertaken on student engagement in online settings and lies in the domain of blended learning design and practice in the Australian higher education business context. Findings, inter alia, are presented across six major student engagement dimensions as applied to the interplay between online and located/campus learning (i.e. Online Active Learning, Online Social Interaction, Online Collaboration, Online Teaching, Online Assessment, and Online Contact with Staff. Implications for blended learning design, eLearning and practice in such complex environments are examined.

Analysis of the solid waste management practices in Chinhoyi: bridging the missing link

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ishumael SANGO

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Over the years, there has been noticeable and steady mismatch between urban population growth and capacity for managing the corresponding increases in solid wastes. The local community is greatly concerned because it is aware of the clear link between poorly managed waste and the potential for the spread of diseases. This study was carried out to examine the solid waste management practices in Chinhoyi urban area and assess the impacts on the environment and human health. The study combined quantitative and qualitative data collected through fieldwork, questionnaires, interviews and document reviews. The population of Chinhoyi stands at about 60 000 generating more than 100 tons of waste per day. Results of the study include high percentage of uncollected waste, high levels of health and safety related problems such as lacerations, contusions, strain/sprains, and illness as well as noticeable deterioration of facilities and the environment. Issues affecting the effective management of waste are discussed. Recommendations based on the sustainable principle of integrated solid waste management are suggested. Sustainability requires the system to be environmentally effective, economically affordable, and socially acceptable.

Being out at school: the implications for school victimization and young adult adjustment.

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, Stephen T; Toomey, Russell B; Ryan, Caitlin; Diaz, Rafael M

2014-11-01

Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) adolescents disclose their sexual and/or gender identities to peers at school. Disclosure of LGBT status is linked with positive psychosocial adjustment for adults; however, for adolescents, "coming out" has been linked to school victimization, which in turn is associated with negative adjustment. This study investigates the associations among adolescent disclosure of LGBT status to others at school, school victimization, and young adult psychosocial adjustment using a sample of 245 LGBT young adults (aged 21-25 years, living in California). After accounting for the association between school victimization and later adjustment, being out at high school was associated with positive psychosocial adjustment in young adulthood. Results have significant implications for training of school-based health and mental health providers, education and guidance for parents and caregivers, fostering positive development of LGBT youth, and developing informed school policies and educational practices. (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Mind the gap: implementation challenges break the link between HIV/AIDS research and practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah MacCarthy

Full Text Available Abstract: Sampling strategies such as respondent-driven sampling (RDS and time-location sampling (TLS offer unique opportunities to access key populations such as men who have sex with men (MSM and transgender women. Limited work has assessed implementation challenges of these methods. Overcoming implementation challenges can improve research quality and increase uptake of HIV services among key populations. Drawing from studies using RDS in Brazil and TLS in Peru, we summarize challenges encountered in the field and potential strategies to address them. In Brazil, study site selection, cash incentives, and seed selection challenged RDS implementation with MSM. In Peru, expansive geography, safety concerns, and time required for study participation complicated TLS implementation with MSM and transgender women. Formative research, meaningful participation of key populations across stages of research, and transparency in study design are needed to link HIV/AIDS research and practice. Addressing implementation challenges can close gaps in accessing services among those most burdened by the epidemic.

Mind the gap: implementation challenges break the link between HIV/AIDS research and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

MacCarthy, Sarah; Reisner, Sari; Hoffmann, Michael; Perez-Brumer, Amaya; Silva-Santisteban, Alfonso; Nunn, Amy; Bastos, Leonardo; Vasconcellos, Mauricio Teixeira Leite de; Kerr, Ligia; Bastos, Francisco Inácio; Dourado, Inês

2016-11-03

Sampling strategies such as respondent-driven sampling (RDS) and time-location sampling (TLS) offer unique opportunities to access key populations such as men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women. Limited work has assessed implementation challenges of these methods. Overcoming implementation challenges can improve research quality and increase uptake of HIV services among key populations. Drawing from studies using RDS in Brazil and TLS in Peru, we summarize challenges encountered in the field and potential strategies to address them. In Brazil, study site selection, cash incentives, and seed selection challenged RDS implementation with MSM. In Peru, expansive geography, safety concerns, and time required for study participation complicated TLS implementation with MSM and transgender women. Formative research, meaningful participation of key populations across stages of research, and transparency in study design are needed to link HIV/AIDS research and practice. Addressing implementation challenges can close gaps in accessing services among those most burdened by the epidemic.

Mind the gap: implementation challenges break the link between HIV/AIDS research and practice

Science.gov (United States)

MacCarthy, Sarah; Reisner, Sari; Hoffmann, Michael; Perez-Brumer, Amaya; Silva-Santisteban, Alfonso; Nunn, Amy; Bastos, Leonardo; de Vasconcellos, Mauricio Teixeira Leite; Kerr, Ligia; Bastos, Francisco Inácio; Dourado, Inês

2018-01-01

Sampling strategies such as respondent-driven sampling (RDS) and time-location sampling (TLS) offer unique opportunities to access key populations such as men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women. Limited work has assessed implementation challenges of these methods. Overcoming implementation challenges can improve research quality and increase uptake of HIV services among key populations. Drawing from studies using RDS in Brazil and TLS in Peru, we summarize challenges encountered in the field and potential strategies to address them. In Brazil, study site selection, cash incentives, and seed selection challenged RDS implementation with MSM. In Peru, expansive geography, safety concerns, and time required for study participation complicated TLS implementation with MSM and transgender women. Formative research, meaningful participation of key populations across stages of research, and transparency in study design are needed to link HIV/AIDS research and practice. Addressing implementation challenges can close gaps in accessing services among those most burdened by the epidemic. PMID:27828609

The attitudes and beliefs of a female science teacher: Implications in relation to gender and pedagogical practice

Science.gov (United States)

Zapata, Mara

In this case study of a female science teacher named Laura, numerous observations, field notes, researcher interpretations, and assertions were developed. As meanings were negotiated, intent of actions was defined using significant statements, clustered to produce invariant meaning units. Both the participant's intents and how she interpreted her experiences were central to the understandings sought in this study. Whenever Laura planned for teaching science, taught, or otherwise interacted with students, the following four themes seemed to frame her actions: (1) Responsibility to Nurture/Mother/Mentor (2) Connecting to and Relating (3) Meeting Gender-Specific Expectations (4) Promoting the Fighter/Survivor Within. Each theme is examined in relation to attitudes and beliefs about teaching and learning science, and conclusions and assertions are expressed. The findings of this study point to the tensions between Laura's attitudes and beliefs and her pedagogical practices, disconfirming these as they pertain to gender in relation to teaching and learning science. It was not evident as part of her daily practice that student experiences were used in an attempt to create connections between their lives and science, although Laura always emphasized that science is a way of life. The findings support questioning the role of intentionality and a teacher's perceived ability to adhere to intentions while practicing within the norms established by the social institution of schools operating within the larger structures of society. The major findings and implications are relevant to the manner teachers are prepared and encouraged to enact their practice by departments and boards of education, prepared by institutions of higher education and subsequent participation in professional development. Specifically, calling attention to how these educational frameworks emphasize or de-emphasize the role of teachers and promote cognizance in terms of the culture of schools, reflective

The hypothesis of a continuum in suicidality: a discussion on its validity and practical implications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jerneja Sveticic

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The idea of a progression in suicide phenomena, from death wishes to suicide attempts and completed suicides, is quite old and widely present in literature. This model of interpreting suicidality has great relevance in preventative approaches, since it gives the opportunity of intercepting suicidal trajectories at several different stages. However, this may not be the case for many situations, and the hypothesis of a continuum can be true only in a limited number of cases, probably embedded with a specific psychopathological scenario (e.g. depression and with a frequency that should not permit generalisations. This paper reviews the available evidence about the existence and validity of this construct, and discusses its practical implications.

Pumps vs. airlifts: Theoretical and practical energy implications

Science.gov (United States)

In the design of a recirculating aquaculture system five life-supporting issues should be considered which include aeration, degasification, circulation, biofiltration, and clarification. The implications associated with choosing a pumped system versus an airlift system to address these issues was e...

Psychological variables potentially implicated in opioid-related mortality as observed in clinical practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Passik, Steven D; Lowery, Amy

2011-06-01

Opioid-related deaths in the United States have become a public health problem, with accidental and unintended overdoses being especially troubling. Screening for psychological risk factors is an important first step in safeguarding against nonadherence practices and identifying patients who may be vulnerable to the risks associated with opioid therapy. Validated screening instruments can aid in this attempt as a complementary tool to clinicians' assessments. A structured screening is imperative as part of an assessment, as clinician judgment is not the most reliable method of identifying nonadherence. As a complement to formal screening, we present for discussion and possible future study certain psychological variables observed during years of clinical practice that may be linked to medication nonadherence and accidental overdose. These variables include catastrophizing, fear, impulsivity, attention deficit disorders, existential distress, and certain personality disorders. In our experience, chronic pain patients with dual diagnoses may become "chemical copers" as a way of coping with their negative emotion. For these patients, times of stress could lead to accidental overdose. Behavioral, cognitive-behavioral (acceptance and commitment, dialectical behavior), existential (meaning-centered, dignity), and psychotropic therapies have been effective in treating these high-risk comorbidities, while managing expectations of pain relief appears key to preventing accidental overdose. Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Factors that affect general practice as a choice of medical speciality: implications for policy development.

Science.gov (United States)

Vohra, Amit; Ladyshewsky, Richard; Trumble, Stephen

2017-11-28

Objective This article critically appraises the range of personal, professional and social factors that affect the choice of speciality across medical students, prevocational doctors, general practice registrars and general practitioners. Methods This qualitative study applied constructs from the fields of decision theory and career theory to better understand the complex nature of choosing a speciality. In all, 47 in-depth interviews were conducted with participants at different stages of their career cycle. The data was codified and analysed using NVivo to identify key factors that influenced speciality choice. Results The research identified 77 individual findings influencing general practice as a choice of medical speciality. These were distilled into a matrix to show that factors such as money, prestige and peer interaction did not have a compelling effect, whereas clinical and academic role models, flexibility, work-life balance, scope of practice, connection with patients, training environment and practical opportunities did. Conclusion The findings indicate that the decision in relation to the choice of medical speciality is a complex cognitive process that is undertaken within a personal, social and professional context particular to each individual. What is known about the topic? Current literature aims to quantify changes in attitudes towards choice of speciality or the effect of particular variables in isolation while ignoring the complexity of this decision process and how the numerous variables compare with each other. What does this paper add? The present study is the first intergenerational research on this topic in the Australian context and the paper dismisses the role of prestige and remuneration as key drivers of choice in picking general practice as a speciality, noting that money is merely a 'hygiene factor'. What are the implications for policy makers? A policy framework outlining 10 key principles is presented to assist policy makers seeking

Human Resource Management Practices and Innovation

OpenAIRE

Laursen, Keld; Foss, Nicolai J.

2012-01-01

We survey, organize, and discuss the literature on the role of organizational practices for explaining innovation outcomes. We discuss how individual practices influence innovation, and how the clustering of specific practices matters for innovation outcomes. Relatedly, we discuss various possible mediators of the HRM/innovation link, such as knowledge sharing, social capital and network effects. We argue that the causal mechanisms underlying the HRM/innovation links are still ...

THE LINK BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES: A CASE OF IT COMPANIES FROM ROMANIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dobre Ovidiu Iliuta

2014-07-01

Taking into account the relation between these variables and organizational performance, it is important to retain key employees that are aware of the organizational goals and values. Therefore, the organization should implement practices that increase job security and career development. In this manner, the organization will not only decrease turnover rates, but it would also form a stronger organizational culture by keeping the employees that are already accustomed with the values, beliefs and norms of the corporation. In order to analyze the data collected from the employees working in IT field, regression and correlation statistical analysis have been used. The results show that adaptability is highly correlated to the mission. The implications of my research for the field of organizational behavior is that the models that were developed for developed economies also applies to developing economies, such as the one from Romania.

Interrogating the Contested Spaces of Rural Aging: Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Skinner, Mark W; Winterton, Rachel

2018-01-18

Informed by a critical turn underway in rural gerontology, this article explores how the intersection of global and local trends relating to population aging and rural change create contested spaces of rural aging. The aim is to build our understanding of rural as a dynamic context within which the processes, outcomes, and experiences of aging are created, confronted, and contested by older adults and their communities. A review of key developments within gerontology and rural studies reveals how competing policies, discourses, and practices relating to healthy aging and aging in place, rural citizenship and governmentality, and social inclusion and inequality combine in particular ways to empower or disempower a diverse range of older rural adults aging in a diverse range of rural communities. The article provides a contextually sensitive perspective on potential sources of conflict and exclusion for older adults in dynamic rural spaces and further enhances our understanding of how rural physical and social environments are constructed and experienced in older age. A framework for interrogating emergent questions about aging in rural contexts is developed and implications for advancing research, policy, and practice are discussed. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Learning from collaborative research on sustainably managing fresh water: implications for ethical research-practice engagement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Margaret L. Ayre

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Since the mid-2000s, there has been increasing recognition of the promise of collaborative research and management for addressing complex issues in sustainably managing fresh water. A large variety of collaborative freshwater research and management processes is now evident around the world. However, how collective knowledge development, coproduction, or cocreation is carried out in an ethical manner is less well known. From the literature and our experiences as applied, transdisciplinary researchers and natural resource management practitioners, we seek to describe and explore these aspects of empirical cases of collaborative freshwater research and management. Drawing on cases from Indigenous community-based natural resource management in northern Australia, flood and drought risk management in Bulgaria, water management and climate change adaptation in the Pacific, and regional catchment and estuary management in Victoria and New South Wales in Australia, we identify lessons to support improved collaborative sustainable freshwater management research and practice. Cocreation represents an emerging approach to participation and collaboration in freshwater management research-practice and can be seen to constitute four interlinked and iterative phases: coinitiation, codesign, coimplementation, and coevaluation. For freshwater researchers and managers and their collaborators, paying attention to these phases and the ethical dilemmas that arise within each phase will support the cocreation of more effective and ethical research-practice through: sensitizing collaborators to the need for reflexivity in research-practice, proposing action research codesign as a method for managing emergent questions and outcomes, and supporting more equitable outcomes for collaborators through an emphasis on coevaluation and collaborative articulation of the links between research outputs and practice outcomes.

Why should we publish Linked Data?

Science.gov (United States)

Blower, Jon; Riechert, Maik; Koubarakis, Manolis; Pace, Nino

2016-04-01

We use the Web every day to access information from all kinds of different sources. But the complexity and diversity of scientific data mean that discovering accessing and interpreting data remains a large challenge to researchers, decision-makers and other users. Different sources of useful information on data, algorithms, instruments and publications are scattered around the Web. How can we link all these things together to help users to better understand and exploit earth science data? How can we combine scientific data with other relevant data sources, when standards for describing and sharing data vary so widely between communities? "Linked Data" is a term that describes a set of standards and "best practices" for sharing data on the Web (http://www.w3.org/standards/semanticweb/data). These principles can be summarised as follows: 1. Create unique and persistent identifiers for the important "things" in a community (e.g. datasets, publications, algorithms, instruments). 2. Allow users to "look up" these identifiers on the web to find out more information about them. 3. Make this information machine-readable in a community-neutral format (such as RDF, Resource Description Framework). 4. Within this information, embed links to other things and concepts and say how these are related. 5. Optionally, provide web service interfaces to allow the user to perform sophisticated queries over this information (using a language such as SPARQL). The promise of Linked Data is that, through these techniques, data will be more discoverable, more comprehensible and more usable by different communities, not just the community that produced the data. As a result, many data providers (particularly public-sector institutions) are now publishing data in this way. However, this area is still in its infancy in terms of real-world applications. Data users need guidance and tools to help them use Linked Data. Data providers need reassurance that the investments they are making in

Orexin: a Missing Link Between Sleep Disorders and Heart Failure?

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Stephen; Cabral, Carolina S; Ashley, Euan A; Perez, Marco V

2017-04-01

Sleep disorders represent a significant comorbidity in the heart failure population, and there is mounting evidence that treatment of sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea can significantly improve cardiac function. However, the link between these two disorders is still not entirely clear. Recently, a novel neurohormonal pathway has been elucidated involving signaling molecules now collectively known as the orexins, which have been implicated in regulating autonomic function during sleep/wake cycles. Further evidence has mounted that orexin signaling is deeply perturbed in the setting of sleep disorders, and furthermore that abnormal orexin signaling may be implicated in the pathology of heart failure. The orexin signaling pathway represents an enticing novel target for both the treatment of sleep disorders as well as heart failure, and may represent one facet of the "missing link" between these two prevalent and often comorbid diseases.

Informal Theory: The Ignored Link in Theory-to-Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Love, Patrick

2012-01-01

Applying theory to practice in student affairs is dominated by the assumption that formal theory is directly applied to practice. Among the problems with this assumption is that many practitioners believe they must choose between their lived experiences and formal theory, and that graduate students are taught that their experience "does not…

"Hell no, they'll think you're mad as a hatter": Illness discourses and their implications for patients in mental health practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Ringer, Agnes; Holen, Mari

2016-03-01

This article examines how discourses on mental illness are negotiated in mental health practice and their implications for the subjective experiences of psychiatric patients. Based on a Foucauldian analysis of ethnographic data from two mental health institutions in Denmark--an outpatient clinic and an inpatient ward--this article identifies three discourses in the institutions: the instability discourse, the discourse of "really ill," and the lack of insight discourse. This article indicates that patients were required to develop a finely tuned and precise sense of the discourses and ways to appear in front of professionals if they wished to have a say in their treatment. We suggest that the extent to which an individual patient was positioned as ill seemed to rely more on his or her ability to navigate the discourses and the psychiatric setting than on any objective diagnostic criteria. Thus, we argue that illness discourses in mental health practice are not just materialized as static biomedical understandings, but are complex and diverse--and have implications for patients' possibilities to understand themselves and become understandable to professionals. © The Author(s) 2015.

Awareness of food nutritive value and eating practices among Nigerian bank workers: Implications for nutritional counseling and education.

Science.gov (United States)

Eze, Ngozi M; Maduabum, Felicia O; Onyeke, Nkechi G; Anyaegunam, Ngozi J; Ayogu, Chinwe A; Ezeanwu, Bibian Amaka; Eseadi, Chiedu

2017-03-01

Adequate nutrition is an important aspect of a healthy lifestyle for all individuals, including bank staff. The objective of this study was to investigate the awareness of food nutritive value and eating practices among bank workers in Lagos State, Nigeria.The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive survey design. A purposive sample of 250 bank workers took part in the study. Means and Student t tests were employed for data analysis.Results showed that bank workers were aware of the nutritive value of foods, and that eating practices commonly adopted included skipping breakfast, eating breakfast at work, buying food at work from the bank canteen, eating in between meals, buying snacks as lunch, and consuming soft drinks daily, among others. There were no significant differences between male and female bank workers in mean responses on food nutritive value or in eating practices adopted.Good eating habits will help bank workers not only to improve their nutritional well-being, but also to prevent nutrition-related diseases. The implications for nutritional counseling and education are discussed in the context of these findings.

What Is Linked Historical Data?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meroño-Peñuela, Albert; Hoekstra, Rinke; Janowicz, Krzysztof; Schlobach, Stefan; Lambrix, Patrick; Hyvönen, Eero

2014-01-01

Datasets that represent historical sources are relative new- comers in the Linked Open Data (LOD) cloud. Following the standard LOD practices for publishing historical sources raises several questions: how can we distinguish between RDF graphs of primary and secondary sources? Should we treat

Landscape care of urban vacant properties and implications for health and safety: Lessons from photovoice.

Science.gov (United States)

Sampson, Natalie; Nassauer, Joan; Schulz, Amy; Hurd, Kathleen; Dorman, Cynthia; Ligon, Khalil

2017-07-01

Care of vacant properties in urban environments is of particular interest to planners and residents alike. We report on a photovoice project completed by community leaders, researchers, and residents in two Detroit neighborhoods experiencing longtime systemic disinvestment. Participants photographed and discussed examples of care in a series of three focus groups in each neighborhood. Analyses highlight how acts of landscape care and visible cues to care contribute to changes in physical and social environments, and explore various links to health. We suggest theoretical and practical applications of residents' perspectives on landscape care and identify implications for well-being and neighborhood stability. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selecting for creativity and innovation potential: implications for practice in healthcare education.

Science.gov (United States)

Patterson, Fiona; Zibarras, Lara Dawn

2017-05-01

The ability to innovate is an important requirement in many organisations. Despite this pressing need, few selection systems in healthcare focus on identifying the potential for creativity and innovation and so this area has been vastly under-researched. As a first step towards understanding how we might select for creativity and innovation, this paper explores the use of a trait-based measure of creativity and innovation potential, and evaluates its efficacy for use in selection for healthcare education. This study uses a sample of 188 postgraduate physicians applying for education and training in UK General Practice. Participants completed two questionnaires (a trait-based measure of creativity and innovation, and a measure of the Big Five personality dimensions) and were also rated by assessors on creative problem solving measured during a selection centre. In exploring the construct validity of the trait-based measure of creativity and innovation, our research clarifies the associations between personality, and creativity and innovation. In particular, our study highlights the importance of motivation in the creativity and innovation process. Results also suggest that Openness to Experience is positively related to creativity and innovation whereas some aspects of Conscientiousness are negatively associated with creativity and innovation. Results broadly support the utility of using a trait-based measure of creativity and innovation in healthcare selection processes, although practically this may be best delivered as part of an interview process, rather than as a screening tool. Findings are discussed in relation to broader implications for placing more priority on creativity and innovation as selection criteria within healthcare education and training in future.

Work Practice Characteristics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pors, Jens Kaaber; Simonsen, Jesper

2003-01-01

and work practice. To understand these issues a framework of characteristics is identified and termed work practice characteristics to describe important aspects of the hybrid configuration of groupware and situated work practices. Drawing on concepts and work practice studies in the field of computer...... investigation of how groupware is employed to support new ways of working in a large European financial organisation are analysed to illustrate situations with high and low integration of groupware. The framework of work practice characteristics is discussed in the light of these findings and implications...

Factors linking childhood experiences to adult romantic relationships among African Americans.

Science.gov (United States)

Simons, Leslie Gordon; Simons, Ronald L; Landor, Antoinette M; Bryant, Chalandra M; Beach, Steven R H

2014-06-01

It is well known that a high-quality relationship with a romantic partner is related to a variety of positive outcomes associated with health and well-being. Establishing such relationships is an important developmental task for young adults, and past research indicates that there is a link between experiences in the family of origin and the success of later intimate relationships. It has been suggested that this association can be explained by the acquisition of social competencies (e.g., emotions, schemas, traits) that are acquired during childhood in the family of origin and, in turn, influence interaction with adult romantic partners. The current study builds on this foundation by identifying particular competencies expected to explain the association between childhood exposure to supportive and harsh parenting and later patterns of interaction with romantic partners. Specifically, we examine anger management, attachment style, hostile attribution bias, and self-control as potential mediators using prospective, longitudinal data from a sample of 345 African American young adults. Results from structural equation modeling indicate that each of the mediators in our study accounts for a significant portion of the effect of parenting on the quality of adult romantic relationships, although the constructs linking parenting to warm interactions with romantic partners are somewhat different from those that link parenting to hostile interactions with romantic partners. Even after accounting for the effect of the mediators, there is still a direct effect of parenting on both warm/loving and hostile/aggressive interactions with romantic partner. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

The impact of social media on recruitment: Are you LinkedIn?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tanja Koch

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Orientation: With many organisations vying for the same talent, it is important to ensure that the correct methods are utilised in identifying and attracting the best talent to an organisation. Research purpose: This research investigates the impact of social media on the recruitment process in South Africa. Motivation for the study: As the competition for qualified talent increases, organisations need to understand where to focus their resources to attract the best talent possible. The use of social media is growing daily and its use in the recruitment process seems to have grown exponentially. Research design, approach and method: The sample comprised 12 recruiters, spanning a wide range of industries in South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and a thematic analysis was utilised to identify themes and subthemes. Main findings: Despite still utilising some traditional methods of recruiting, South African recruiters follow their international counterparts, with LinkedIn being central to their respective recruitment processes. The use of Twitter and Facebook for recruitment was found to be substantially lower in South Africa than elsewhere. Without following a focused approach, the volume of work that emanates from using social media may overwhelm a recruiter. Practical and managerial implications: Recruiters cannot execute effective recruitment without applying social media tools such as LinkedIn. However, training in the optimal use of social media is essential. Contribution: This study indicates that LinkedIn has a major impact on recruitment in South Africa, but that social media is not a panacea for recruitment issues.

Factors Linking Childhood Experiences to Adult Romantic Relationships among African Americans

Science.gov (United States)

Simons, Leslie Gordon; Simons, Ronald L.; Landor, Antoinette M.; Bryant, Chalandra M.; Beach, Steven R.H.

2014-01-01

It is well known that a high quality relationship with a romantic partner is related to a variety of positive outcomes associated with health and well-being. Establishing such relationships is an important developmental task for young adults and past research indicates that there is a link between experiences in the family of origin and the success of later intimate relationships. It has been suggested that this association can be explained by the acquisition of social competencies (e.g., emotions, schemas, traits) that are acquired during childhood in the family of origin and, in turn, influence interaction with adult romantic partners. The current study builds on this foundation by identifying particular competencies expected to explain the association between childhood exposure to supportive and harsh parenting and later patterns of interaction with romantic partners. Specifically, we examine anger management, attachment style, hostile attribution bias, and self-control as potential mediators using prospective, longitudinal data from a sample of 345 African American young adults. Results from structural equation modeling indicate that each of the mediators in our study accounts for a significant portion of the effect of parenting on the quality of adult romantic relationships although the constructs linking parenting to warm interactions with romantic partners are somewhat different from those that link parenting to hostile interactions with romantic partners. Even after accounting for the effect of the mediators, there is still a direct effect of parenting on both warm/loving and hostile/aggressive interactions with romantic partner. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. PMID:24730381

Practice insights on patient care-management overview for chemoradiation toxic mucositis-guidelines, guideline-supported therapies and high potency polymerized cross-linked sucralfate (ProThelial).

Science.gov (United States)

McCullough, Ricky W

2018-01-01

Aim To offer a practice insight for the management of chemoradiation toxic mucositis. Method Review chemoradiation toxic mucositis, its pathobiology and breadth of symptom presentation. Review mucositis guidelines and guideline-supported anti-mucositis therapies. Offer guidance on guidelines and an abbreviated review of high potency cross-linked sucralfate for management of chemoradiation toxic mucositis. Result There are six major mucositis guidelines but only one that is current and regularly updated. Guidelines from the Multinational Association Supportive Cancer Care suggest 14 interventions gleaned from controlled trials, 12 of which are off-label uses of therapies that offer statistically significant but incrementally beneficial outcomes. Several evidence-based limitations of guidelines are discussed. Data on high potency polymerized cross-linked sucralfate confirming complete prevention and rapid (2-3 days) elimination, sustained throughout cancer treatment is verified as high quality evidence in accordance to standards adopted by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. A 96-97% reduction in mucositis duration qualifies as a positive Glasziou treatment effect, which is discussed as an additional measure of evidence-based medicine. Conclusion Statistically significant but fractional treatment effects of guideline-supported interventions are not likely to substantially alter the course of mucositis when it occurs nor completely prevent its onset. Complete prevention and rapid sustained elimination should be the goal, therefore high potency polymerized cross-linked sucralfate may be useful. Where guidelines fail, institution-based protocols led by oncology pharmacists could succeed. In an effort to eliminate toxic mucositis, enhance compliance to chemoradiation regimens, and improve survival, such protocols for practice may verify pharmacoeconomic benefits, if any, in using high potency polymerized cross-linked sucralfate to manage toxic mucositis.

Alaska Tundra Travel Modeling Project and implications for seismic best management practices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schultz, G. [Alaska Dept. of Natural Resources, Anchorage, AK (United States)

2007-07-01

Much of the oil and gas exploration in the Alaskan North Slope depends on winter off-road travel to gain access to remote exploration areas. A study was conducted to relate vehicular off-road travel to tundra disturbance. Four types of vehicles were driven on the tundra on specific plots at various times throughout early to mid winter in an effort to determine if travel could occur earlier than current practice without impacting tundra integrity. Variables were measured the summer before travel, at the time of travel and the summers following travel. The results were used to develop a management tool to determine when conditions are adequate to allow winter vehicular off-road travel. It was determined that the soil temperature should be 5 degrees C or colder at a depth of 30 cm, with snow depths of 15 cm in coastal sedge tundra or 23 cm in foothills tussock tundra. This presentation also discussed the implications for managing off-road travel associated with seismic operations and recent changes in the types of vehicles used for these operations. figs.

The 3T3 neutral red uptake phototoxicity test: Practical experience and implications for phototoxicity testing - The report of an ECVAM-EFPIA workshop

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ceridono, M.; Tellner, P.; Bauer, D.; Barroso, J.; Alépée, N.; Corvi, R.; Smedt, A. de; Fellows, M.D.; Gibbs, N.K.; Heisler, E.; Jacobs, A.; Jirova, D.; Jones, D.; Kandárová,H.; Kasper, P.; Akunda, J.K.; Krul, C.; Learn, D.; Liebsch, M.; Lynch, A.M.; Muster, W.; Nakamura, K.; Nash, J.F.; Pfannenbecker, U.; Phillips, G.; Robles, C.; Rogiers, V.; Water, F. van de; Liminga, U.W.; Vohr, H.W.; Wattrelos, O.; Woods, J.; Zuang, V.; Kreysa, J.; Wilcox, P.

2012-01-01

This is the report from the “ECVAM–EFPIA workshop on 3T3 NRU Phototoxicity Test: Practical Experience and Implications for Phototoxicity Testing”, jointly organized by ECVAM and EFPIA and held on the 25–27 October 2010 in Somma Lombardo, Italy. The European Centre for the Validation of Alternative

Implementing Comprehensive Reform: Implications for Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Stout, Karen A.

2016-01-01

This chapter describes the challenges and practical barriers community colleges face when implementing comprehensive reform, exploring how reforms are leading to some improvements but not often scaled improvements.

Continuing medical education revisited: theoretical assumptions and practical implications: a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Dionyssopoulos, Alexander; Karalis, Thanassis; Panitsides, Eugenia A

2014-12-31

Recent research has evidenced that although investment in Continuing Medical Education (CME), both in terms of participation as well as financial resources allocated to it, has been steadily increasing to catch up with accelerating advances in health information and technology, effectiveness of CME is reported to be rather limited. Poor and disproportional returns can be attributed to failure of CME courses to address and stimulate an adult audience. The present study initially drew on research findings and adult learning theories, providing the basis for comprehending adult learning, while entailing practical implications on fostering effectiveness in the design and delivery of CME. On a second level, a qualitative study was conducted with the aim to elucidate parameters accounting for effectiveness in educational interventions. Qualitative data was retrieved through 12 in-depth interviews, conducted with a random sample of participants in the 26th European Workshop of Advanced Plastic Surgery (EWAPS). The data underwent a three level qualitative analysis, following the "grounded theory" methodology, comprising 'open coding', 'axial coding' and 'selective coding'. Findings from the EWAPS study come in line with relevant literature, entailing significant implications for the necessity to apply a more effective and efficient paradigm in the design and delivery of educational interventions, advocating for implementing learner-centered schemata in CME and benefiting from a model that draws on the learning environment and social aspects of learning. What emerged as a pivotal parameter in designing educational interventions is to focus on small group educational events which could provide a supportive friendly context, enhance motivation through learner-centered approaches and allow interaction, experimentation and critical reflection. It should be outlined however that further research is required as the present study is limited in scope, having dealt with a limited

Propagation engineering in radio links design

CERN Document Server

Ghasemi, Abdollah; Ghasemi, Farshid

2013-01-01

Propagation Engineering in Radio Link Design covers the basic principles of radiowaves propagation in a practical manner.  This fundamental understanding enables the readers to design radio links efficiently. This book elaborates on new achievements as well as recently developed propagation models.  This is in addition to a comprehensive overview of fundamentals of propagation in various scenarios. It examines theoretical calculations, approaches and applied procedures needed for radio links design. The authors study and analysis of the main propagation phenomena and its mechanisms based on the recommendations of International Telecommunications Union, (ITU). The book has been organized in 9 chapters and examines the role of antennas and passive reflectors in radio services, propagation mechanisms related to radar, satellite, short distance, broadcasting and trans-horizon radio links, with two chapters devoted to radio noise and main  parameters of radio link design. The book presents some 278 illustration...

Teacher education policies, practices, and reform in Scotland: Implications in the Indian context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pradeep Kumar Misra

2015-12-01

Full Text Available India, a country of 1.27 billion, nowadays needs reforms, improvements, and new approaches in teacher education to cater to the demands of changing economy and society. This call to improve teacher education becomes more significant considering the fact that 50% of India’s current population is below the age of 25 and over 65% below 35. There are two ways to proceed in this direction. First, making an internal review and assessment of present scenario of teacher education and suggesting need-based measures. The second one is to learn from those countries that have recently reviewed their teacher education systems and are continuously working for the betterment of teacher education. Following second approach, present paper analyzes teacher education policies, practices, and reform in Scotland, argues that concerns and commitments to reform teacher education in India and Scotland are similar, and suggests implications of Scottish experiences in the Indian context.

The socio-materiality of learning practices and implications for the field of learning technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aditya Johri

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Although the use of digital information technologies in education has becomecommonplace, there are few, if any, central guiding frameworks or theories thatexplicate the relationship between technology and learning practices. In thispaper, I argue that such a theoretical framework can assist scholars and practitionersalike by working as a conduit to study and design learning technologies.Towards this goal, I propose socio-materiality as a key theoretical construct withvaluable insights and implications for the field of learning technology. Sociomaterialityhelps balance the disproportionate attention given to either the socialimplications of technology use or the material aspects of technology design.Furthermore, I forward ‘socio-material bricolage' as a useful analytical frameworkto examine and design technology-infused learning environments. I illustratethe value of the framework by applying it to three case studies of formaland informal technology-based learning.

Social workers as "experts" in the family court system: is evidence-based practice a missing link or host-created knowledge?

Science.gov (United States)

Prescott, Dana E

2013-10-01

The graduate school curriculum for social workers requires that students learn to critically distinguish between opinion-based knowledge and evidence-based practices, or empirically-supported interventions. Once graduated, licensed social workers are often called upon to offer diagnostic and predictive opinions as experts in a variety of macro-environments. When the family courts are that "host" environment, social workers proffer expert opinions that may categorize and label parents or children for purposes of a judge's allocation of physical or legal custody. In this article, it is suggested that the social work profession, within all three domains of education, practice, and research, should more precisely link the design and fidelity of an evidence-based practice (EBP) with its potential misapplication or warping when proffered as science in "host" environments like family courts. As Foucault and other scholars warn, the failure to verify that an intervention is applied correctly may actually enhance the risk of social injustice by interpreting and translating EBP knowledge in the non-empirical form of authority-by-license. This article, therefore, proposes that the social work profession, from the classroom to the field, has an obligation to thoroughly understand and engage interdisciplinary practices that assure respect for the strengths and limits of social work knowledge.

Understanding partnership practice in primary health as pedagogic work: what can Vygotsky's theory of learning offer?

Science.gov (United States)

Hopwood, Nick

2015-01-01

Primary health policy in Australia has followed international trends in promoting models of care based on partnership between professionals and health service users. This reform agenda has significant practice implications, and has been widely adopted in areas of primary health that involve supporting families with children. Existing research shows that achieving partnership in practice is associated with three specific challenges: uncertainty regarding the role of professional expertise, tension between immediate needs and longer-term capacity development in families, and the need for challenge while maintaining relationships based on trust. Recently, pedagogic or learning-focussed elements of partnership practice have been identified, but there have been no systematic attempts to link theories of learning with the practices and challenges of primary health-care professionals working with families in a pedagogic role. This paper explores key concepts of Vygotsky's theory of learning (including mediation, the zone of proximal development, internalisation, and double stimulation), showing how pedagogic concepts can provide a bridge between the policy rhetoric of partnership and primary health practice. The use of this theory to address the three key challenges is explicitly discussed.

One unhealthy commodities industry? Understanding links across tobacco, alcohol and ultra-processed food manufacturers and their implications for tobacco control and the SDGS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeff Collin

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Background FCTC Article 5.3 requires protection against tobacco industry interference in policy-making. By contrast, manufacturers of alcohol and ultra-processed food and drink products are often identified as potential partners in multi-sectoral health initiatives, including via the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs. This divergence has been questioned given evidence of strategic similarities across sectors, to which this presentation adds an examination of structural links and their implications for health policy. This focuses on an analysis of 'interlocking directorates', via which directors of one organisation also occupy positions on different boards, widely as the principal indicator of network ties across corporations. Methods Using data from corporate websites, annual reports and business databases, we employ UCINET social network analysis software to examine interlocks in the top six transnational companies of each sector within and across tobacco, alcohol and food companies, with political elites, and with health and development agencies. Results We present findings via (i profiles of individual tobacco industry directors, highlighting strategically valuable links to other actors; (ii a quantitative comparison of interlocks across the three sectors, with no direct links between tobacco and food companies but with alcohol companies providing several bridges between them, and with food companies more extensively linked to political elites and health agencies; (iii a case study of the board of brewing giant SAB Miller at the time of its mega-merger with AB InBev to highlight the significance to tobacco control of wider interactions enabled by interlocks. Conclusions This account of linkages across tobacco, alcohol and ultra-processed food companies calls into question regulatory approaches that treat the tobacco industry as an exceptional case. Neglecting conflicts of interest with other unhealthy commodity producers is potentially

Medical humanities and their discontents: definitions, critiques, and implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Shapiro, Johanna; Coulehan, Jack; Wear, Delese; Montello, Martha

2009-02-01

The humanities offer great potential for enhancing professional and humanistic development in medical education. Yet, although many students report benefit from exposure to the humanities in their medical education, they also offer consistent complaints and skepticism. The authors offer a pedagogical definition of the medical humanities, linking it to medicine as a practice profession. They then explore three student critiques of medical humanities curricula: (1) the content critique, examining issues of perceived relevance and intellectual bait-and-switch, (2) the teaching critique, which examines instructor trustworthiness and perceived personal intrusiveness, and (3) the structural/placement critique, or how and when medical humanities appear in the curriculum. Next, ways are suggested to tailor medical humanities to better acknowledge and reframe the needs of medical students. These include ongoing cross-disciplinary reflective practices in which intellectual tools of the humanities are incorporated into educational activities to help students examine and, at times, contest the process, values, and goals of medical practice. This systematic, pervasive reflection will organically lead to meaningful contributions from the medical humanities in three specific areas of great interest to medical educators: professionalism, "narrativity," and educational competencies. Regarding pedagogy, the implications of this approach are an integrated required curriculum and innovative concepts such as "applied humanities scholars." In turn, systematic integration of humanities perspectives and ways of thinking into clinical training will usefully expand the range of metaphors and narratives available to reflect on medical practice and offer possibilities for deepening and strengthening professional education.

Medical Malpractice Implications of Clinical Practice Guidelines.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruhl, Douglas S; Siegal, Gil

2017-08-01

Clinical practice guidelines aim to improve medical care by clarifying and making useful recommendations to providers. Although providers should account for patients' unique characteristics when determining a treatment plan, it is generally perceived as good practice to follow guidelines when applicable. This is of interest in malpractice litigation, where it is essential to establish a standard of care to evaluate the performances of providers. Although the opinions of expert witnesses are used to determine standards of care, guidelines are expected to play a leading role. Guidelines alone should not establish a legal standard but may help inform this discussion in the courtroom. Therefore, it is incumbent that excellent, practical, and timely guidelines are continually created and updated in a transparent way. These guidelines must be very clear and underscore the various strengths of recommendation based on the quality of available evidence.

A qualitative study of intimate partner violence universal screening by family therapy interns: implications for practice, research, training, and supervision.

Science.gov (United States)

Todahl, Jeffrey L; Linville, Deanna; Chou, Liang-Ying; Maher-Cosenza, Patricia

2008-01-01

Although a few family therapy researchers and clinicians have urged universal screening for intimate partner violence (IPV), how screening is implemented-and, in particular, client and therapist response to screening-is vaguely defined and largely untested. This qualitative study examined the dilemmas experienced by couples and family therapy interns when implementing universal screening for IPV in an outpatient clinic setting. Twenty-two graduate students in a COAMFTE-accredited program were interviewed using qualitative research methods grounded in phenomenology. Three domains, 7 main themes, and 26 subthemes were identified. The three domains that emerged in this study include (a) therapist practice of universal screening, (b) client response to universal screening, and (c) therapist response to universal screening. Implications for practice, research, training, and supervision are discussed.

grlc Makes GitHub Taste Like Linked Data APIs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meroño-Peñuela, A.; Hoekstra, Rinke; Sack, H; Rizzo, G; Steinmetz, N; Mladenić, D; Auer, S; Lange, C

2016-01-01

Building Web APIs on top of SPARQL endpoints is becoming a common practice to enable universal access to the integration favorable dataspace of Linked Data. However, the Linked Data community cannot expect users to learn SPARQL to query this dataspace, and Web APIs are the most extended way of

grlc Makes GitHub Taste Like Linked Data APIs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meroño-Peñuela, A.; Hoekstra, R.

2016-01-01

Building Web APIs on top of SPARQL endpoints is becoming a common practice to enable universal access to the integration favorable dataspace of Linked Data. However, the Linked Data community cannot expect users to learn SPARQL to query this dataspace, and Web APIs are the most common way of

TECHNICAL AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS OF SHORT SELLING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Radu BORES

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This paper aims at providing insight into some of the implication of short selling for markets, investors as well as regulators. Findings show that capital flows are adversely affected by strict regulation and bans of short sales, while market liquidity, and bid-ask spread can be improved by allowing short selling. Additionally portfolios that incorporate short selling strategies can have lower volatility in returns. The informational content of short sales can provide important feedback for informed investors and lead to better price discovery.

Automated external defibrillation as part BLS: implications for education and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Moule, Pam; Albarran, John W

2002-09-01

The latest Adult Basic Life Support (BLS) guidelines support the inclusion of the use of the automated external defibrillator (AED), as part of basic life support (BLS). Emphasis on the provision of early defibrillation as part of BLS acknowledges the importance of this manoeuvre in the successful termination of ventricular fibrillation. The ramifications of such changes for both first responders and organisations implementing the guidelines should not be underestimated. Issues relating to resourcing, content and duration of training and retraining, auditing and evaluation require further exploration. To consider these issues now seems particularly pertinent, given the recent launch of the UK Government's paper on public health, 'Saving Lives-Our Healthier Nation' which seeks to deploy AEDs in busy public places for use by trained members of the lay public. Additionally, defibrillation has been identified as one of the key competencies that all trained nurses and other health care providers should be able to undertake. This paper will consider the background to the current guideline changes, analyse the wider implications of translating the recommendations into practice, and offer possible solutions to address the issues raised. Whilst the analysis is particularly pertinent to the United Kingdom, many of the issues raised have international importance.

Caffeine's implications for women's health and survey of obstetrician-gynecologists' caffeine knowledge and assessment practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Britta L; Juliano, Laura M; Schulkin, Jay

2009-09-01

Caffeine has relevance for women's health and pregnancy, including significant associations with spontaneous abortion and low birth weight. According to scientific data, pregnant women and women of reproductive age should be advised to limit their caffeine consumption. This article reviews the implications of caffeine for women's psychological and physical health, and presents data on obstetrician-gynecologists' (ob-gyns) knowledge and practices pertaining to caffeine. Ob-gyns (N = 386) who are members of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Collaborative Ambulatory Research Network responded to a 21-item survey about caffeine. Although most knew that caffeine is passed through breast milk, only 24.8% were aware that caffeine metabolism significantly slows as pregnancy progresses. Many respondents were not aware of the caffeine content of commonly used products, such as espresso and Diet Coke, with 14.3% and 57.8% indicating amounts within an accurate range, respectively. Furthermore, ob-gyns did not take into account large differences in caffeine content across different caffeinated beverages with most recommending one to two servings of coffee or tea or soft drinks per day. There was substantial inconsistency in what was considered to be "high levels" of maternal caffeine consumption, with only 31.6% providing a response. When asked to indicate the risk that high levels of caffeine have on various pregnancy outcomes, responses were not consistent with scientific data. For example, respondents overestimated the relative risk of stillbirths and underestimated the relative risk of spontaneous abortion. There was great variability in assessment and advice practices pertaining to caffeine. More than half advise their pregnant patients to consume caffeine under certain circumstances, most commonly to alleviate headache and caffeine withdrawal. The data suggest that ob-gyns could benefit from information about caffeine and its relevance to their

Privacy Practices of Health Social Networking Sites: Implications for Privacy and Data Security in Online Cancer Communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Charbonneau, Deborah H

2016-08-01

While online communities for social support continue to grow, little is known about the state of privacy practices of health social networking sites. This article reports on a structured content analysis of privacy policies and disclosure practices for 25 online ovarian cancer communities. All of the health social networking sites in the study sample provided privacy statements to users, yet privacy practices varied considerably across the sites. The majority of sites informed users that personal information was collected about participants and shared with third parties (96%, n = 24). Furthermore, more than half of the sites (56%, n = 14) stated that cookies technology was used to track user behaviors. Despite these disclosures, only 36% (n = 9) offered opt-out choices for sharing data with third parties. In addition, very few of the sites (28%, n = 7) allowed individuals to delete their personal information. Discussions about specific security measures used to protect personal information were largely missing. Implications for privacy, confidentiality, consumer choice, and data safety in online environments are discussed. Overall, nurses and other health professionals can utilize these findings to encourage individuals seeking online support and participating in social networking sites to build awareness of privacy risks to better protect their personal health information in the digital age.

Variable links within perceived police legitimacy?: fairness and effectiveness across races and places.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Ralph B; Wyant, Brian R; Lockwood, Brian

2015-01-01

This work examines connections between two threads of community residents' perceptions of local police legitimacy, effectiveness and procedural fairness, and how those links depend on race, place, and race/place combinations. Previous works have connected these two threads, but have failed (a) to explore the variability of that connection by race, place, and race/place combinations across communities spanning the urban to suburban to rural continuum or (b) to model mutual influence. An extension of the group position thesis and work on minority views of police practices suggest how these variations might be patterned. Data were derived from a 2003 probability-based sampling survey of household respondents across Pennsylvania (n=1289). Generalized confirmatory factor analysis models built procedural fairness and effectiveness indices for four groups: whites in urban core counties, non-whites in urban core counties, whites in non-urban core counties, and non-whites in non-urban core counties. Non-recursive structural equation models revealed variable impacts of perceived police effectiveness on perceived police fairness and, to a lesser extent, of fairness on effectiveness. Implications for a more structurally and contextually aware understanding of links in police legitimacy models are developed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Quantitative linking hypotheses for infant eye movements.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Yurovsky

Full Text Available The study of cognitive development hinges, largely, on the analysis of infant looking. But analyses of eye gaze data require the adoption of linking hypotheses: assumptions about the relationship between observed eye movements and underlying cognitive processes. We develop a general framework for constructing, testing, and comparing these hypotheses, and thus for producing new insights into early cognitive development. We first introduce the general framework--applicable to any infant gaze experiment--and then demonstrate its utility by analyzing data from a set of experiments investigating the role of attentional cues in infant learning. The new analysis uncovers significantly more structure in these data, finding evidence of learning that was not found in standard analyses and showing an unexpected relationship between cue use and learning rate. Finally, we discuss general implications for the construction and testing of quantitative linking hypotheses. MATLAB code for sample linking hypotheses can be found on the first author's website.

Shuttle Planning for Link Closures in Urban Public Transport Networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Hurk, E.; Koutsopoulos, H.; Wilson, N.H.M.; Kroon, L.G.; Maroti, G.

2016-01-01

Urban public transport systems must periodically close certain links for maintenance, which can have significant effects on the service provided to passengers. In practice, the effects of closures are mitigated by replacing the closed links with a simple shuttle service. However, alternative shuttle

Enabling cross-disciplinary research by linking data to Open Access publications

Science.gov (United States)

Rettberg, N.

2012-04-01

OpenAIREplus focuses on the linking of research data to associated publications. The interlinking of research objects has implications for optimising the research process, allowing the sharing, enrichment and reuse of data, and ultimately serving to make open data an essential part of first class research. The growing call for more concrete data management and sharing plans, apparent at funder and national level, is complemented by the increasing support for a scientific infrastructure that supports the seamless access to a range of research materials. This paper will describe the recently launched OpenAIREplus and will detail how it plans to achieve its goals of developing an Open Access participatory infrastructure for scientific information. OpenAIREplus extends the current collaborative OpenAIRE project, which provides European researchers with a service network for the deposit of peer-reviewed FP7 grant-funded Open Access publications. This new project will focus on opening up the infrastructure to data sources from subject-specific communities to provide metadata about research data and publications, facilitating the linking between these objects. The ability to link within a publication out to a citable database, or other research data material, is fairly innovative and this project will enable users to search, browse, view, and create relationships between different information objects. In this regard, OpenAIREplus will build on prototypes of so-called "Enhanced Publications", originally conceived in the DRIVER-II project. OpenAIREplus recognizes the importance of representing the context of publications and datasets, thus linking to resources about the authors, their affiliation, location, project data and funding. The project will explore how links between text-based publications and research data are managed in different scientific fields. This complements a previous study in OpenAIRE on current disciplinary practices and future needs for infrastructural

Design methods as discourse on practice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cohn, Marisa

2010-01-01

In this paper, we present a view of design methods as discourse on practice. We consider how the deployment of a particular set of design methods enables and constrains not only practical action but also discursive action within the design practice. A case study of agile software development meth...... of practices. We then discuss implications of this view on methods for CSCW research on the relationship between methods and practice as well as implications for participation in the design process.......In this paper, we present a view of design methods as discourse on practice. We consider how the deployment of a particular set of design methods enables and constrains not only practical action but also discursive action within the design practice. A case study of agile software development...... methods illustrates the ways that methods establish conditions for who can speak in the design process and how. We indentify three main kinds of discourse work performed in the invoking of design methods. These are the establishing of ontologies, the authorizing of voices, and the legitimizing...

How to Limit Discrimination? Analyzing the Effects of Innovative Workplace Practices on Intra-Firm Gender Wage Gaps Using Linked Employer-Employee Data

OpenAIRE

Wolf, Elke; Heinze, Anja

2007-01-01

This paper provides a new approach to assess the impact of organisational changes fostering employee involvement, performance related pay schemes and other relevant trends in personnel policy on the gender wage gap. Our results indicate that innovative human resource practices tend to limit the wage differential between men and women. The innovation of this study is that we use linked employer-employee data to look at within-firm gender wage differentials. To investigate the theoretical hypot...

A population-based audit of ethnicity and breast cancer risk in one general practice catchment area in North London, UK: implications for practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ferris Michelle

2007-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Objectives To conduct a pilot population-based study within a general practice catchment area to determine whether the incidence of breast cancer was increased in the Ashkenazi population. Design Population-based cohort study. Setting A single general practice catchment area in North London. Participants 1947 women over the age of 16 who responded to a questionnaire about ethnicity and breast cancer. Main outcome measures Incidence of breast cancer, ethnicity. Results This study showed a 1.5-fold (95% CI 0.93–2.39 increase in breast cancer risk in the Ashkenazim compared with the non-Ashkenazi white population. The increased incidence was for both premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer (expected incidence pre:post is 1:4 whereas in the Ashkenazim it was 1:1; 51 and 52% of cases respectively. This increase was not shown in the Sephardim. Asians had a reduction in incidence (OR = 0.44; 95% CI 0.10–1.89. Results were adjusted for other risk factors for breast cancer. Conclusion This study showed a 1.5-fold increase in breast cancer rates in Ashkenazim compared with the non-Jewish white population when adjusted for age (i.e. corrections were made to allow comparison of age groups and this is not observed in the Sephardic population. The proportion of premenopausal breast cancer was just over double that of the general population. This is the first general practice population-based study in the UK to address this issue and has implications for general practitioners who care for patients from the Ashkenazi community.

Somatic mosaicism underlies X-linked acrogigantism syndrome in sporadic male subjects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

A.F. Daly (Adrian); B. Yuan (Bo); Fina, F. (Frederic); J.-H. Caberg (Jean-Hubert); G. Trivellin (Giampaolo); L. Rostomyan (Liliya); W.W. de Herder (Wouter); L.A. Naves (Lucianna); D. Metzger (Daniel); T. Cuny (Thomas); Rabl, W. (Wolfgang); N.S. Shah (Nalini Samir); M-L. Jaffrain-Rea (Marie-Lise); Chiara Zatelli, M. (Maria); F.R. Faucz (Fabio R.); E. Castermans (Emilie); Nanni-Metellus, I. (Isabelle); Lodish, M. (Maya); A. Muhammad (Ammar); Palmeira, L. (Leonor); Potorac, I. (Iulia); G. Mantovani (Giovanna); S.J.C.M.M. Neggers (Bas); Klein, M. (Marc); A. Barlier (Anne); P. Liu (Pengfei); Ouafik, L. (L'houcine); V. Bours (Vincent); Lupski, J.R. (James R.); C.A. Stratakis (Constantine); A. Beckers (Albert)

2016-01-01

textabstractSomatic mosaicism has been implicated as a causative mechanism in a number of genetic and genomic disorders. X-linked acrogigantism (XLAG)syndrome is a recently characterized genomic form of pediatric gigantism due to aggressive pituitary tumors that is caused by submicroscopic

Toward an Ontology of Practices in Educational Administration: Theoretical Implications for Research and Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Newton, Paul; Riveros, Augusto

2015-01-01

In this article, we argue for a study of educational administration centered on an "ontology of practices." This is an initial proposal for thinking about and conceptualizing practices in educational administration. To do this, first, we explore how practices are constituted and how they configure the social realities of practitioners.…

Embedded or linked learning objects: Implications for content development, course design and classroom use

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gail Kopp

2007-06-01

Full Text Available This research explores the idea of embedding and linking to existing content in learning object repositories and investigates teacher-designer use of learning objects within one high school mathematics course in an online school. This qualitative case study supports and extends the learning object literature, and brings forward context-specific examples of issues around repository design, autonomy and self-containment, technical support and granularity. Moreover, these findings have implications for building learning objects and repositories that could better support teachers in their instructional design and pedagogical decision-making. Résumé : La présente recherche étudie la possibilité d’effectuer un emboîtement et d’établir des liens avec le contenu existant dans les référentiels sur les objets d’apprentissage et explore l’utilisation par les enseignants-concepteurs des objets d’apprentissage au sein d’un cours de mathématique du secondaire donné dans une école en ligne. Cette étude de cas qualitative appuie et vise la littérature sur les objets d’apprentissage et met en avant plan des exemples de questions touchant la conception de référentiels, l’autonomie et l’indépendance, le soutien technique et la granularité propres au contexte. De plus, ces conclusions ont des répercussions sur l’élaboration d’objets et de référentiels d’apprentissage qui pourraient mieux appuyer les enseignants dans le cadre de leur conception pédagogique et de leur prise de décision touchant l’enseignement.

Narrative in interprofessional education and practice: implications for professional identity, provider-patient communication and teamwork.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Phillip G

2014-01-01

Health and social care professionals increasingly use narrative approaches to focus on the patient and to communicate with each other. Both effective interprofessional education (IPE) and practice (IPP) require recognizing the various values and voices of different professions, how they relate to the patient's life story, and how they interact with each other at the level of the healthcare team. This article analyzes and integrates the literature on narrative to explore: self-narrative as an expression of one's professional identity; the co-creation of the patient's narrative by the professional and the patient; and the interprofessional multi-vocal narrative discourse as co-constructed by members of the healthcare team. Using a narrative approach to thinking about professional identity, provider-patient communication, and interprofessional teamwork expands our thinking about both IPE and IPP by providing new insights into the nature of professional practice based on relationships to oneself, the patient, and others on the team. How professionals define themselves, gather and present information from the patient, and communicate as members of a clinical team all have important dimensions that can be revealed by a narrative approach. Implications and conclusions for the further development of the narrative approach in IPE and IPP are offered.

Linking School and Work. Promising Practices from a National Demonstration.

Science.gov (United States)

Pressman, Harvey

This book describes experimental demonstration programs in the United States on different ways to link school and work more meaningfully for disadvantaged teenagers. The programs are sponsored by Youthwork, Incorporated, a public-private partnership concerned with youth unemployment and the transition from school to work. The book provides…

Relational Aggression, Victimization, and Language Development: Implications for Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Ostrov, Jamie M.; Godleski, Stephanie A.

2007-01-01

This review explores the development of relational aggression and relational victimization among peers, with specific emphasis on clinical implications for speech-language pathologists. Developmental manifestations of relational aggression and victimization are reviewed from early childhood through emerging adulthood. The concurrent and…

The Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: The Case of Malaysian Government-Linked Companies in Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baba Hanim Norza

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The implementation of Government-Linked Company (GLC Transformation Program 2005/06 by government is one effort to promote Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR disclosures among its government-linked companies (GLCs. CSR issues are being stressed in the Silver Book included in the GLC Transformation Manual under the GLC Transformation Program 2005/06. It is questionable as to whether the introduction of the Silver Book really reflects goods prospects for government-linked companies to disclose their CSR, and whether there are any other factors that will influence the GLCs in Malaysia to disclose their CSR. Thus, the objective of this study is to examine whether the introduction of the Silver Book affect the CSR disclosure among Malaysian GLCs as well as to examine the determinants of CSR disclosure, focusing on the profitability, board size and board independence. Multiple linear regression analysis is being used to examine the relationship between all the independent variables and dependent variable. Findings show that there is an increasing trend in CSR disclosure among Malaysian GLCs from year 2011 until 2015. Two variables i.e. board size and board independence has been found to have a significant positive relationship with the CSR disclosure. This study gives implications to various parties such as Malaysian Government, Bursa Malaysia, Security Commission and other relevant parties in to improve CSR awareness, practices, disclosures and quality in GLCs.

Accounting for eXentricities: analysis of the X chromosome in GWAS reveals X-linked genes implicated in autoimmune diseases.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diana Chang

Full Text Available Many complex human diseases are highly sexually dimorphic, suggesting a potential contribution of the X chromosome to disease risk. However, the X chromosome has been neglected or incorrectly analyzed in most genome-wide association studies (GWAS. We present tailored analytical methods and software that facilitate X-wide association studies (XWAS, which we further applied to reanalyze data from 16 GWAS of different autoimmune and related diseases (AID. We associated several X-linked genes with disease risk, among which (1 ARHGEF6 is associated with Crohn's disease and replicated in a study of ulcerative colitis, another inflammatory bowel disease (IBD. Indeed, ARHGEF6 interacts with a gastric bacterium that has been implicated in IBD. (2 CENPI is associated with three different AID, which is compelling in light of known associations with AID of autosomal genes encoding centromere proteins, as well as established autosomal evidence of pleiotropy between autoimmune diseases. (3 We replicated a previous association of FOXP3, a transcription factor that regulates T-cell development and function, with vitiligo; and (4 we discovered that C1GALT1C1 exhibits sex-specific effect on disease risk in both IBDs. These and other X-linked genes that we associated with AID tend to be highly expressed in tissues related to immune response, participate in major immune pathways, and display differential gene expression between males and females. Combined, the results demonstrate the importance of the X chromosome in autoimmunity, reveal the potential of extensive XWAS, even based on existing data, and provide the tools and incentive to properly include the X chromosome in future studies.

Child abuse and neglect in Cambodian refugee families: characteristics and implications for practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Janet; Rhee, Siyon; Berthold, S Megan

2008-01-01

This study examines the characteristics and patterns of child maltreatment among Cambodian refugee families in Los Angeles and assesses the implications for child welfare practice with Cambodian refugee families. Data were extracted from 243 active Cambodian case files maintained by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (LAC-DCFS). Some of the major findings include (1) Cambodian child maltreatment cases were most frequently reported to the LAC-DCFS among various Asian Pacific ethnic groups; (2) Cambodian refugee families were more likely to be charged with neglect, while their Asian Pacific counterparts were more likely charged with physical abuse; (3) the circumstances under which maltreatment occurred most frequently were parental substance abuse and mental illness; and (4) while fathers who maltreated their child were likely to use alcohol, mothers were also more likely to have a mental health problem such as depression. This study suggests the importance of collaboration between Child Protective Service agencies, substance abuse programs, traditional healers, mental health services, and other social service agencies for effective child abuse prevention and intervention efforts.

Practicing Multicultural Education through Religiously Affiliated Schools and Its Implications for Social Change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miftahur Rohman

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Having varied ethnics, cultures, religions, or faiths, Indonesia is considered a multicultural nation in today’s world. This equity can be dangerous; but also can be advantageous if myriad interests of citizens are able to be nurtured through education, including religious schools. The research was conducted to explore multicultural practices in the State-owned Islamic High School (MAN 3 and the Catholic High School (SMA Stella Duce 2 in Yogyakarta Indonesia. Data was gathered via qualitative method by means of comparative study, aiming at seeking similarities and differences on promoting multicultural education values. Findings show similarities of teachers’ attitudes and characteristics as facilitator, accommodator, or assimilator whereas the differences include their leadership role in intrareligious dialog at MAN 3 and dialog leaders at SMA Stella Duce 2. Other issues include diverse understandings of religion and its perceived violence. The research formulates two categories of teacher as being multicultural-intrareligious pluralist and multicultural-intrareligious humanist. It also discusses implications on social change as a result of cultural interchange at those schools.

Analytical Methods for Quantification of Vitamin D and Implications for Research and Clinical Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Stokes, Caroline S; Lammert, Frank; Volmer, Dietrich A

2018-02-01

A plethora of contradictory research surrounds vitamin D and its influence on health and disease. This may, in part, result from analytical difficulties with regard to measuring vitamin D metabolites in serum. Indeed, variation exists between analytical techniques and assays used for the determination of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Research studies into the effects of vitamin D on clinical endpoints rely heavily on the accurate assessment of vitamin D status. This has important implications, as findings from vitamin D-related studies to date may potentially have been hampered by the quantification techniques used. Likewise, healthcare professionals are increasingly incorporating vitamin D testing and supplementation regimens into their practice, and measurement errors may be also confounding the clinical decisions. Importantly, the Vitamin D Standardisation Programme is an initiative that aims to standardise the measurement of vitamin D metabolites. Such a programme is anticipated to eliminate the inaccuracies surrounding vitamin D quantification. Copyright© 2018, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.

Practical implications of empirically studying moral decision making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heinzelmann, N.; Ugazio, G.; Tobler, P.N.

2012-01-01

This paper considers the practical question of why people do not behave in the way they ought to behave. This question is a practical one, reaching both into the normative and descriptive domains of morality. That is, it concerns moral norms as well as empirical facts. We argue that two main

Standardised patient-simulated practice learning

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Teaching strategies must link theory to practice, foster critical thinking, be relevant and stimulate ... Standardised patient-simulated practice learning: A rich pedagogical .... relationship for them to grow and develop from novice to expert. They.

English in the multilingual classroom: implications for research, policy and practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janina Brutt-Griffler

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Purpose – The shift in the function of English as a medium of instruction together with its use in knowledge construction and dissemination among scholars continue to fuel the global demand for high-level proficiency in the language. These components of the global knowledge economy mean that the ability of nations to produce multilinguals with advanced English proficiency alongside their mastery of other languages has become a key to global competitiveness. That need is helping to drive one of the greatest language learning experiments the world has ever known. It carries significant implications for new research agendas and teacher preparation in applied linguistics. Design/methodology/approach – Evidence-based decision-making, whether it pertains to language policy decisions, instructional practices, teacher professional development or curricula/program building, needs to be based on a rigorous and systematically pursued program of research and assessment. Findings – This paper seeks to advance these objectives by identifying new research foci that underscore a student-centered approach. Originality/value – It introduces a new theoretical construct – multilingual proficiency – to underscore the knowledge that the learner develops in the process of language learning that makes for the surest route to the desired high levels of language proficiency. The paper highlights the advantages of a student-centered approach that focuses on multilingual proficiency for teachers and explores the concomitant conclusions for teacher development.

EDUCATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR CHILDREN WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY IN REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksandra Karovska Ristovska

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Educational policy for children with intellectual disability in Republic of Macedonia is not always consistent with the practical implications. The subject of this research was to gain an insight into the current condition of the persons with intellectual disabilities in Macedonia, before all an insight into the barriers that they are facing in their attempts to access educational information and services. This was done through conducting a qualitative (desk-top analyses of the national legislations; semi-structured interviews with parents of persons with intellectual disabilities and focus groups with relevant stakeholders and a quantitative research (quality of life research for the disabled persons. In the research a total number of 213 examinees were included. As in many other cases, and in many other countries, policy and practice are not always coherent. Legislation in the area of education in our country has to be modified and accommodated to the needs of the persons with disabilities and their parents or care-givers. The final conclusion from our research is that the persons with ID are still on the margins of society, and they lead everyday battles to prove that their needs must be taken into consideration in context of their human rights. Although awareness for the importance of the rightful treatment of this problem is not on a satisfactory level, still we can notice a shift in perception and liberation of prejudice.

Scope of Cooperative Learning (CL Strategies in Teaching English to Saudi Adult EFL Learners: A Study of Practical Barriers and Possible Implications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Ishtiaq

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This study aims at investigating the teachers’ practices and perceptions in teaching English in Saudi Arabia by viewing their stance on Cooperative Learning (CL — an innovative teaching approach proposed to raise the language proficiency level of adult EFL learners. The study has been conducted in Qassim University, Saudi Arabia—a vibrant and flourishing EFL context. A quantitative tool (a questionnaire has been used to collect data and to serve qualitative purposes. It reports 80 EFL teachers’ (40 males and 40 females perceptions about CL using a 17-items comprehensive survey covering all the possible barriers in the way of implementing CL strategies in EFL classes. The survey items also explore how the EFL teachers in Saudi Arabia foresee the implications of making such an innovative move in their classes. The responses have been analyzed on a 5-point Likert scale which ranges from strongly disagree-disagree-neutral-agree-strongly agree. Major findings are that CL strategies have practical barriers but their implications are far more positive. The barriers are mainly due to the wrong learning habits of the adult EFL learners in Qassim University and lack of will and vision of the educational administration. The study recommends that CL strategies need to be given due consideration and support by the administrators and policy makers to raise the proficiency level of adult EFL learners. The study also allays the misconception that majority of the practitioners in English language teaching field are not ready to practice and implement CL strategies in their classes.

Anatomy meets dentistry! Linking anatomy and clinical practice in the preclinical dental curriculum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicole Rafai

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Establishing a strong link early on between preclinical coursework and the clinical context is necessary for students to be able to recognize the practical relevance of the curriculum during their preclinical anatomical courses and to transfer knowledge more easily. Our objective was to enhance the clinical relevance of a preclinical anatomy course for second-year medical students of dentistry by implementing an interdisciplinary skills training course on “Palpation of the Head and Neck Muscles” and to measure the learning outcomes. Methods For the curricular development of the expanded course module, Kern’s 6-step approach was applied including subjective evaluation. We used a peer-teaching format supported by an e-learning application. A randomized control study measured effects of the two components (skills training, e-module on learning outcomes. Four learning methods were compared: (1 lecture, (2 lecture + e-module, (3 lecture + skills training, (4 lecture + skills training + e-module. An objective structured clinical examination (OSCE was used to measure and compare learning outcomes. Results The two-way variance analysis demonstrated that participation in the skills training had a statistically significant effect on the OSCE results (p = 0.0007. Students who participated in the skills training did better (φ 107.4 ± 14.4 points than students who only attended the lecture (φ 88.8 ± 26.2 points. Students who used the e-module but did not attend the skills training earned a slightly but not significantly higher average number of points (φ 91.8 ± 31.3 points than those who only attended the lecture. The learning outcomes of the skills training were again significantly increased when the training was combined with the e-module (φ 121.8 ± 21.8 points, thus making it the ideal method for achieving the learning objectives defined in this study. Conclusions The “Palpation of

Linked Ocean Data

Science.gov (United States)

Leadbetter, Adam; Arko, Robert; Chandler, Cynthia; Shepherd, Adam

2014-05-01

Data repositories. The benefits of this approach include: increased interoperability between the metadata created by projects; improved data discovery as users of SeaDataNet, R2R and BCO-DMO terms can find data using labels with which they are familiar both standard tools and newly developed custom tools may be used to explore the data; and using standards means the custom tools are easier to develop Linked Data is a concept which has been in existence for nearly a decade, and has a simple set of formal best practices associated with it. Linked Data is increasingly being seen as a driver of the next generation of "community science" activities. While many data providers in the oceanographic domain may be unaware of Linked Data, they may also be providing it at one of its lower levels. Here we have shown that it is possible to deliver the highest standard of Linked Oceanographic Data, and some of the benefits of the approach.

Earth Science Informatics Community Requirements for Improving Sustainable Science Software Practices: User Perspectives and Implications for Organizational Action

Science.gov (United States)

Downs, R. R.; Lenhardt, W. C.; Robinson, E.

2014-12-01

Science software is integral to the scientific process and must be developed and managed in a sustainable manner to ensure future access to scientific data and related resources. Organizations that are part of the scientific enterprise, as well as members of the scientific community who work within these entities, can contribute to the sustainability of science software and to practices that improve scientific community capabilities for science software sustainability. As science becomes increasingly digital and therefore, dependent on software, improving community practices for sustainable science software will contribute to the sustainability of science. Members of the Earth science informatics community, including scientific data producers and distributers, end-user scientists, system and application developers, and data center managers, use science software regularly and face the challenges and the opportunities that science software presents for the sustainability of science. To gain insight on practices needed for the sustainability of science software from the science software experiences of the Earth science informatics community, an interdisciplinary group of 300 community members were asked to engage in simultaneous roundtable discussions and report on their answers to questions about the requirements for improving scientific software sustainability. This paper will present an analysis of the issues reported and the conclusions offered by the participants. These results provide perspectives for science software sustainability practices and have implications for actions that organizations and their leadership can initiate to improve the sustainability of science software.

Nursing practice implications of the year of ethics.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Karen T

2015-01-01

e 2015 ANA Code of Ethics is foundational to professional nursing practice and is aligned with AWHONN’s core values, standards of care and position statement on ethical decision-making in the clinical setting. Understanding the roles and responsibilities of nurses to ensure an ethical practice environment is critical to perinatal health outcomes and sta engagement and to the prevention of moral distress.

Linking HRM Practices and Institutional Setting to Collective Turnover: An Empirical Exploration

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Dirk Van Dierendonck

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The present study addresses the relationship between human resources management (HRM practices and employee turnover by taking into account the influence of socioeconomic environment. Data was collected at company level with an international sample of 830 companies from 12 countries (Netherlands, Belgium, United Kingdom, Brazil, Switzerland, China, France, Italy, Poland, Germany, South Africa, and Spain. A division into four bundles of human resources (HR practices is introduced: remunerative, communication, developmental, and well-being practices. The influence of the socioeconomic environment was factored in by including the institutional setting in terms of the level of coordination as a country-level variable. The results showed that collective turnover is related to both a country’s institutional determinants and to company HR practices. Remunerative HR practices may have a negative influence in terms of enhancing turnover, particularly within countries high in coordination. HR well-being practices are the most beneficial practices in terms of reducing employee turnover. Our study adds to our knowledge on the relation between HR practices and turnover from an international perspective. It complements the empirical knowledge on the effectiveness of HRM practices in a cross-national setting and supports the notion that the institutional context should be given more attention when studying HR effectiveness.

Practical and Scholarly Implications of Information Behaviour Research: A Pilot Study of Research Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Koh, Kyungwon; Rubenstein, Ellen; White, Kelvin

2015-01-01

Introduction: This pilot study examined how current information behaviour research addresses the implications and potential impacts of its findings. The goal was to understand what implications and contributions the field has made and how effectively authors communicate implications of their findings. Methods: We conducted a content analysis of 30…

Linking Theory to Practice in Learning Technology Research

Science.gov (United States)

Gunn, Cathy; Steel, Caroline

2012-01-01

We present a case to reposition theory so that it plays a pivotal role in learning technology research and helps to build an ecology of learning. To support the case, we present a critique of current practice based on a review of articles published in two leading international journals from 2005 to 2010. Our study reveals that theory features only…

The political dimension of "linking social capital"

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rubin, Olivier

2016-01-01

. Through an analysis of existing analytical practices, the article concludes that linking social capital is often subordinated to the two related social capital concepts of bonding and bridging, and that linking social capital is often exclusively defined and operationalized based on expressions...... of organizational trust and participation. The article proposes a recalibration to encompass the political dynamics, and political survival theory is recommended as a way to address the hitherto underexplored governance dimension. Rather than using trust as the analytical pivot, this analytical entry point may...

Linking Data and Publications: Towards a Cross-Disciplinary Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maarten Hoogerwerf

2013-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we tackle the challenge of linking scholarly information in multi-disciplinary research infrastructures. There is a trend towards linking publications with research data and other information, but, as it is still emerging, this is handled differently by various initiatives and disciplines. For OpenAIRE, a European cross-disciplinary publication infrastructure, this poses the challenge of supporting these heterogeneous practices. Hence, OpenAIRE wants to contribute to the development of a common approach for discipline-independent linking practices between publications, data, project information and researchers. To this end, we constructed two demonstrators to identify commonalities and differences. The results show the importance of stable and unique identifiers, and support a ‘by reference’ approach of interlinking research results. This approach allows discipline-specific research information to be managed independently in distributed systems and avoids redundant maintenance. Furthermore, it allows these disciplinary systems to manage the specialized structures of their contents themselves.

Yarning/Aboriginal storytelling: towards an understanding of an Indigenous perspective and its implications for research practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Geia, Lynore K; Hayes, Barbara; Usher, Kim

2013-12-01

There is increasing recognition of Indigenous perspectives from various parts of the world in relation to storytelling, research and its effects on practice. The recent emergence of storytelling or yarning as a research method in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island studies and other Indigenous peoples of the world is gaining momentum. Narratives, stories, storytelling and yarning are emerging methods in research and has wide ranging potential to shape conventional research discourse making research more meaningful and accessible for researchers. In this paper we argue for the importance of Indigenous research methods and Indigenous method(ology), within collaborative respectful partnerships with non-Indigenous researchers. It is imperative to take these challenging steps together towards better outcomes for Indigenous people and their communities. In the Australian context we as researchers cannot afford to allow the gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and mainstream Australia health outcomes to grow even wider. One such pathway is the inclusion of Aboriginal storytelling or yarning from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait perspective within Indigenous and non-Indigenous research paradigms. Utilising Aboriginal storytelling or yarning will provide deeper understanding; complementing a two-way research paradigm for collaborative research. Furthermore, it has significant social implications for research and clinical practice amongst Indigenous populations; thus complementing the biomedical medical paradigm.

PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICE WAY OF CONNECTING PEDAGOGICAL THEORY AND PRACTICE

OpenAIRE

Božo Obradović

2013-01-01

The issue of linking educational theory to educational practice (educational work with young people) is highly topical and important issue for the science of pedagogy. One way of achieving this task is a pedagogical practice (PP) students. In paper we deal with identifying, comparing, and analyzing the curricula of vocational (Curriculum for Preschool Teacher (2007) and academic (Curriculum for Educators (2007). Studies Teacher Training in Serbia, as well as educational disciplines and areas ...

DNA interstrand cross-link repair: understanding role of Fanconi anemia pathway and therapeutic implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Shukla, Pallavi; Solanki, Avani; Ghosh, Kanjaksha; Vundinti, Babu Rao

2013-11-01

Interstrand cross-links (ICLs) are extremely toxic DNA lesions that prevent DNA double-helix separation due to the irreversible covalent linkage binding of some agents on DNA strands. Agents that induce these ICLs are thus widely used as chemotherapeutic drugs but may also lead to tumor growth. Fanconi anemia (FA) is a rare genetic disorder that leads to ICL sensitivity. This review provides update on current understanding of the role of FA proteins in repairing ICLs at various stages of cell cycle. We also discuss link between DNA cross-link genotoxicity caused by aldehydes in FA pathway. Besides this, we summarize various ICL agents that act as drugs to treat different types of tumors and highlight strategies for modulating ICL sensitivity for therapeutic interventions that may be helpful in controlling cancer and life-threatening disease, FA. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Integrating virtual reality video games into practice: clinicians' experiences.

Science.gov (United States)

Levac, Danielle E; Miller, Patricia A

2013-10-01

The Nintendo Wii is a popular virtual reality (VR) video gaming system in rehabilitation practice and research. As evidence emerges related to its effectiveness as a physical therapy training method, clinicians require information about the pragmatics of its use in practice. The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study is to explore observations and insights from a sample of physical therapists (PTs) working with children with acquired brain injury regarding practical implications of using the Wii as a physical therapy intervention. Six PTs employed at a children's rehabilitation center participated in semi-structured interviews, which were transcribed and analyzed using content analysis. Two themes summarize the practical implications of Wii use: 1) technology meets clinical practice; and 2) onus is on the therapist. Therapists described both beneficial and challenging implications arising from the intersection of technology and practice, and reported the personal commitment required to orient oneself to the gaming system and capably implement this intervention. Findings include issues that may be relevant to professional development in a broader rehabilitation context, including suggestions for the content of educational initiatives and the need for institutional support from managers in the form of physical resources for VR implementation.

A review of linked health data in Australian nephrology.

Science.gov (United States)

Kotwal, Sradha; Webster, Angela C; Cass, Alan; Gallagher, Martin

2016-06-01

Linked health data bring together data about one person from varying sources such as administrative health datasets, death registries and clinical registries using a process that maintains patient privacy. Linked health data have been used for burden of disease estimates and health-care planning and is being increasingly use as a research methodology to study health service utilisation and patient outcomes. Within Australian nephrology, there has been limited understanding and use of linked health data so far, but we expect that with the increasing availability of data and the growing complexity of health care, the use of such data will expand. This is especially pertinent for the growing elderly population with advanced kidney disease, who are poorly represented in other types of research studies. This article summarizes the history of linked health data in Australia, the nature of available datasets in Australia, the methods of access to these data, privacy and ethical issues, along with strengths, limitations and implications for the future. © 2016 Asian Pacific Society of Nephrology.

Dual-earner couples' weekend recovery support, state of recovery, and work engagement: Work-linked relationship as a moderator.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, YoungAh; Haun, Verena C

2017-10-01

Despite growing recovery research, little is known about couple-dyadic processes of recovery from work. Given that dual-earner couples experience most of their recovery opportunities during nonwork times when they are together, partners in a couple relationship may substantially affect recovery and work engagement. In this study, we propose a couple-dyadic model in which weekend partner recovery support (reported by the recipient partner) is positively related to the recipient partner's state of recovery after the weekend which, in turn, increases the recipient's work engagement the following week (actor-actor mediation effect). We also test the effect of one's state of recovery on the partner's subsequent work engagement (partner effect). Additionally, work-linked relationship status is tested as a moderator of the partner effect. Actor-partner interdependence mediation modeling is used to analyze the data from 167 dual-earner couples who answered surveys on 4 measurement occasions. The results support the indirect effect of partner recovery support on work engagement through the postweekend state of recovery. Multigroup analysis results reveal that the partner effect of state of recovery on work engagement is significant for work-linked couples only and is absent for non-work-linked couples. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Effect of digital scrambling on satellite communication links

Science.gov (United States)

Dessouky, K.

1985-01-01

Digital data scrambling has been considered for communication systems using NRZ symbol formats. The purpose is to increase the number of transitions in the data to improve the performance of the symbol synchronizer. This is accomplished without expanding the bandwidth but at the expense of increasing the data bit error rate (BER). Models for the scramblers/descramblers of practical interest are presented together with the appropriate link model. The effects of scrambling on the performance of coded and uncoded links are studied. The results are illustrated by application to the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) links. Conclusions regarding the usefulness of scrambling are also given.

The future of community pharmacy practice in South Africa in the light of the proposed new qualification for pharmacists: implications and challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Malangu, Ntambwe

2014-08-15

Community or retail pharmacies are regarded as one of the most common sources of health services throughout the world. In South Africa, community pharmacies have been providing some primary health care services to clients who could afford to pay. These services included screening, family planning, and emergency care for minor ailments. With the introduction of the new qualification, community pharmacies are poised to become providers of expanded services.  This paper describes the contents, the implications and challenges of the new qualification in light with future directions for community pharmacy practice in South Africa. Its purpose is to inform relevant stakeholders in South Africa and those outside South Africa that may pursue similar offerings. Published papers were identified through searches in MEDLINE and Google Scholar using a combination of search terms, namely: 'community, retail pharmacy, pharmacist/non-medical prescribing, South Africa'. Only articles published in English were considered. In addition, documents from the Ministry of Health of South Africa, the South African Pharmacy Council and curricula materials from schools of pharmacy were also reviewed. Laureates of the new qualification will essentially have the right to examine, diagnose, prescribe and monitor the treatment of their clients or patients. In doing so, this expanded function of prescribing for primary healthcare will imply several practice and infrastructural adjustments; and with many challenges laying ahead in need to be addressed. In conclusion, the authorized pharmacist prescriber qualification augurs a new era for community pharmacy practice in South Africa. This has many implications and some challenges that need to be managed. The pharmacy profession, academia, legislators and political decision-makers need to work together to resolve outstanding issues in a constructive manner.

Identification, assessment and intervention--Implications of an audit on dyslexia policy and practice in Scotland.

Science.gov (United States)

Reid, Gavin; Deponio, Pamela; Davidson Petch, Louise

2005-08-01

This article reports on research commissioned by the Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED). It aimed to establish the range and extent of policy and provision in the area of specific learning difficulties (SpLD) and dyslexia throughout Scotland. The research was conducted between January and June 2004 by a team from the University of Edinburgh. The information was gathered from a questionnaire sent to all education authorities (100% response rate was achieved). Additional information was also obtained from supplementary interviews and additional materials provided by education authorities. The results indicated that nine education authorities in Scotland (out of 32) have explicit policies on dyslexia and eight authorities have policies on SpLD. It was noted however that most authorities catered for dyslexia and SpLD within a more generic policy framework covering aspects of Special Educational Needs or within documentation on 'effective learning'. In relation to identification thirty-six specific tests, or procedures, were mentioned. Classroom observation, as a procedure was rated high by most authorities. Eleven authorities operated a formal staged process combining identification and intervention. Generally, authorities supported a broader understanding of the role of identification and assessment and the use of standardized tests was only part of a wider assessment process. It was however noted that good practice in identification and intervention was not necessarily dependent on the existence of a dedicated policy on SpLD/dyslexia. Over fifty different intervention strategies/programmes were noted in the responses. Twenty-four authorities indicated that they had developed examples of good practice. The results have implications for teachers and parents as well as those involved in staff development. Pointers are provided for effective practice and the results reflect some of the issues on the current debate on dyslexia particularly relating to early

Donor cross-linking for keratoplasty: a laboratory evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Mukherjee, Achyut; Hayes, Sally; Aslanides, Ioannis; Lanchares, Elena; Meek, Keith M

2015-12-01

This laboratory-based investigation compares the topographic outcomes of conventional penetrating keratoplasty with that of a novel procedure in which donor corneas are cross-linked prior to keratoplasty. Penetrating keratoplasty procedures with continuous running sutures were carried out in a porcine whole globe model. Sixty eyes were randomly paired as 'donor' and 'host' tissue before being assigned to one of two groups. In the cross-linked group, donor corneas underwent riboflavin/UVA cross-linking prior to being trephined and sutured to untreated hosts. In the conventional keratoplasty group, both host and donor corneas remained untreated prior to keratoplasty. Topographic and corneal wavefront measurements were performed following surgery, and technical aspects of the procedure evaluated. Mean keratometric astigmatism was significantly lower in the cross-linked donor group at 3.67D (SD 1.8 D), vs. 8.43 D (SD 2.4 D) in the conventional keratoplasty group (p < 0.005). Mean wavefront astigmatism was also significantly reduced in the cross-linked donor group 4.71 D (SD 2.1) vs. 8.29D (SD 3.6) in the conventional keratoplasty group (p < 0.005). Mean RMS higher order aberration was significantly lower in the cross-linked donor group at 1.79 um (SD 0.98), vs. 3.05 um (SD 1.9) in the conventional keratoplasty group (P = 0.02). Qualitative analysis revealed less tissue distortion at the graft-host junction in the cross-linked group. Cross-linking of donor corneas prior to keratoplasty reduces intraoperative induced astigmatism and aberrations in an animal model. Further studies are indicated to evaluate the implications of this potential modification of keratoplasty surgery.

Factors Influencing Mini-CEX Rater Judgments and Their Practical Implications: A Systematic Literature Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Victor; Brain, Keira; Martin, Jenepher

2017-06-01

At present, little is known about how mini-clinical evaluation exercise (mini-CEX) raters translate their observations into judgments and ratings. The authors of this systematic literature review aim both to identify the factors influencing mini-CEX rater judgments in the medical education setting and to translate these findings into practical implications for clinician assessors. The authors searched for internal and external factors influencing mini-CEX rater judgments in the medical education setting from 1980 to 2015 using the Ovid MEDLINE, PsycINFO, ERIC, PubMed, and Scopus databases. They extracted the following information from each study: country of origin, educational level, study design and setting, type of observation, occurrence of rater training, provision of feedback to the trainee, research question, and identified factors influencing rater judgments. The authors also conducted a quality assessment for each study. Seventeen articles met the inclusion criteria. The authors identified both internal and external factors that influence mini-CEX rater judgments. They subcategorized the internal factors into intrinsic rater factors, judgment-making factors (conceptualization, interpretation, attention, and impressions), and scoring factors (scoring integration and domain differentiation). The current theories of rater-based judgment have not helped clinicians resolve the issues of rater idiosyncrasy, bias, gestalt, and conflicting contextual factors; therefore, the authors believe the most important solution is to increase the justification of rater judgments through the use of specific narrative and contextual comments, which are more informative for trainees. Finally, more real-world research is required to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of rater cognition.

Quantum and classical optics–emerging links

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eberly, J H; Qian, Xiao-Feng; Qasimi, Asma Al; Ali, Hazrat; Alonso, M A; Gutiérrez-Cuevas, R; Little, Bethany J; Howell, John C; Malhotra, Tanya; Vamivakas, A N

2016-01-01

Quantum optics and classical optics are linked in ways that are becoming apparent as a result of numerous recent detailed examinations of the relationships that elementary notions of optics have with each other. These elementary notions include interference, polarization, coherence, complementarity and entanglement. All of them are present in both quantum and classical optics. They have historic origins, and at least partly for this reason not all of them have quantitative definitions that are universally accepted. This makes further investigation into their engagement in optics very desirable. We pay particular attention to effects that arise from the mere co-existence of separately identifiable and readily available vector spaces. Exploitation of these vector-space relationships are shown to have unfamiliar theoretical implications and new options for observation. It is our goal to bring emerging quantum–classical links into wider view and to indicate directions in which forthcoming and future work will promote discussion and lead to unified understanding. (invited comment)

Evidence behind FDA alerts for drugs with adverse cardiovascular effects: implications for clinical practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Rackham, Daniel M; C Herink, Megan; Stevens, Ian G; Cardoza, Natalie M; Singh, Harleen

2014-01-01

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) periodically publishes Drug Safety Communications and Drug Alerts notifying health care practitioners and the general public of important information regarding drug therapies following FDA approval. These alerts can result in both positive and negative effects on patient care. Most clinical trials are not designed to detect long-term safety end points, and postmarketing surveillance along with patient reported events are often instrumental in signaling the potential harmful effect of a drug. Recently, many cardiovascular (CV) safety announcements have been released for FDA-approved drugs. Because a premature warning could discourage a much needed treatment or prompt a sudden discontinuation, it is essential to evaluate the evidence supporting these FDA alerts to provide effective patient care and to avoid unwarranted changes in therapy. Conversely, paying attention to these warnings in cases involving high-risk patients can prevent adverse effects and litigation. This article reviews the evidence behind recent FDA alerts for drugs with adverse CV effects and discusses the clinical practice implications. © 2013 Pharmacotherapy Publications, Inc.

Exploring the implications of social change for human development: perspectives, issues and future directions.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Xinyin

2015-02-01

Researchers have investigated the implications of social change for human development from different perspectives. The studies published in this special section were conducted within Greenfield's theoretical framework (2009). The findings concerning links between specific sociodemographic features (e.g., commercial activities, schooling) and individual cognition and social behaviour are particularly interesting because they tap the underlying forces that drive human development. To further understand the issues in these studies and in the field, a pluralist-constructive perspective is discussed, which emphasises the integration of diverse values and practices in both Western and non-Western societies and its effects on the development of sophisticated competencies in individual adaptation to the changing global community. In addition, several issues are highlighted and some suggestions are provided for future explorations in this field. © 2014 International Union of Psychological Science.

Action Learning as Relational Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Boydell, Tom; Blantern, Chris

2007-01-01

In this paper we propose that all knowledge is made through social processes and is political (of the people involved). If one invests in a relational or historical ontology (a philosophical choice) there are implications for the way action learning is practiced. We illuminate some of these "relational practices". We purport that action learning…

The direct and immediate link test regarding deduction of input VAT

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Dennis Ramsdahl; Stensgaard, Henrik

2014-01-01

It follows explicitly from the EC VAT Directive that the deduction of input VAT depends on a positive link between on the one hand the incurred expenses and on the other hand the planned or actually completed taxed output transactions. In theory and in practice the deeper nature of this link...

Modelling the Implications of Quality Management Elements on Strategic Flexibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Belén Escrig-Tena

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of the implications of a quality management (QM initiative on strategic flexibility. Our study defines flexibility from a strategic approach and examines the extent to which, why, and how the triggering factors of strategic flexibility are related to QM elements. The hypotheses put forward are tested in an empirical study carried out on a sample of Spanish firms, using structural equation models. The results demonstrate the positive effect of adopting an integral QM initiative on enhancing strategic flexibility. QM enhances strategic flexibility more effectively when it is introduced comprehensively rather than in a piecemeal fashion. A series of practices linked to the application of a QM initiative are outlined, which managers can use to improve strategic flexibility. The approach used in the study can be applied to analyse other antecedents of flexibility and to propose possible studies that consider QM as an antecedent of other organisational variables.

Cross-linked structure of network evolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bassett, Danielle S.; Wymbs, Nicholas F.; Grafton, Scott T.; Porter, Mason A.; Mucha, Peter J.

2014-01-01

We study the temporal co-variation of network co-evolution via the cross-link structure of networks, for which we take advantage of the formalism of hypergraphs to map cross-link structures back to network nodes. We investigate two sets of temporal network data in detail. In a network of coupled nonlinear oscillators, hyperedges that consist of network edges with temporally co-varying weights uncover the driving co-evolution patterns of edge weight dynamics both within and between oscillator communities. In the human brain, networks that represent temporal changes in brain activity during learning exhibit early co-evolution that then settles down with practice. Subsequent decreases in hyperedge size are consistent with emergence of an autonomous subgraph whose dynamics no longer depends on other parts of the network. Our results on real and synthetic networks give a poignant demonstration of the ability of cross-link structure to uncover unexpected co-evolution attributes in both real and synthetic dynamical systems. This, in turn, illustrates the utility of analyzing cross-links for investigating the structure of temporal networks

Cross-linked structure of network evolution

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bassett, Danielle S., E-mail: dsb@seas.upenn.edu [Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 (United States); Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106 (United States); Sage Center for the Study of the Mind, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106 (United States); Wymbs, Nicholas F.; Grafton, Scott T. [Department of Psychology and UCSB Brain Imaging Center, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106 (United States); Porter, Mason A. [Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG (United Kingdom); CABDyN Complexity Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 1HP (United Kingdom); Mucha, Peter J. [Carolina Center for Interdisciplinary Applied Mathematics, Department of Mathematics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599 (United States); Department of Applied Physical Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599 (United States)

2014-03-15

We study the temporal co-variation of network co-evolution via the cross-link structure of networks, for which we take advantage of the formalism of hypergraphs to map cross-link structures back to network nodes. We investigate two sets of temporal network data in detail. In a network of coupled nonlinear oscillators, hyperedges that consist of network edges with temporally co-varying weights uncover the driving co-evolution patterns of edge weight dynamics both within and between oscillator communities. In the human brain, networks that represent temporal changes in brain activity during learning exhibit early co-evolution that then settles down with practice. Subsequent decreases in hyperedge size are consistent with emergence of an autonomous subgraph whose dynamics no longer depends on other parts of the network. Our results on real and synthetic networks give a poignant demonstration of the ability of cross-link structure to uncover unexpected co-evolution attributes in both real and synthetic dynamical systems. This, in turn, illustrates the utility of analyzing cross-links for investigating the structure of temporal networks.

Analysis Links Zoning Policies and Disparities

Science.gov (United States)

Shah, Nirvi

2012-01-01

Location, location, location. This mantra of real estate agents and their clients alike is now the target of a new report from the Brookings Institution linking housing prices and zoning practices to effectively depriving low-income students of high-quality schools. Using test scores from schools in the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the…

Links between astroparticle physics and the LHC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinfold, James L

2005-01-01

Research into the fundamental nature of matter at the high energy frontier takes place in three main areas: accelerator-based particle physics, high energy astrophysics, and the cosmology of the early universe. As a consequence the study of astroparticle physics can have significant implications for collider physics at the LHC. Likewise, the LHC project provides the laboratory to perform measurements of great importance for cosmic ray astrophysics and cosmology. This paper reviews some of the important synergistic links between astroparticle and LHC physics. (topical review)

Improving statistical reasoning theoretical models and practical implications

CERN Document Server

Sedlmeier, Peter

1999-01-01

This book focuses on how statistical reasoning works and on training programs that can exploit people''s natural cognitive capabilities to improve their statistical reasoning. Training programs that take into account findings from evolutionary psychology and instructional theory are shown to have substantially larger effects that are more stable over time than previous training regimens. The theoretical implications are traced in a neural network model of human performance on statistical reasoning problems. This book apppeals to judgment and decision making researchers and other cognitive scientists, as well as to teachers of statistics and probabilistic reasoning.

Linking Theory and Practice: Teacher Research in History and Geography Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Admiraal, Wilfried; Buijs, Maartje; Claessens, Wout; Honing, Terence; Karkdijk, Jan

2017-01-01

The impact of scholarly research in education on the educational practice in secondary school is low. Academics examine problems that teachers in school perceive as irrelevant, want to publish in peer-reviewed journals instead of disseminate their work, and aim at generalizing insights rather than improving school practice. Teacher research might…

A multi-disciplinary approach to medication safety and the implication for nursing education and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Adhikari, Radha; Tocher, Jennifer; Smith, Pam; Corcoran, Janet; MacArthur, Juliet

2014-02-01

Medication management is a complex multi-stage and multi-disciplinary process, involving doctors, pharmacists, nurses and patients. Errors can occur at any stage from prescribing, dispensing and administering, to recording and reporting. There are a number of safety mechanisms built into the medication management system and it is recognised that nurses are the final stage of defence. However, medication error still remains a major challenge to patient safety globally. This paper aims to illustrate two main aspects of medication safety practices that have been elicited from an action research study in a Scottish Health Board and three local Higher Education Institutions: firstly current medication safety practices in two clinical settings; and secondly pre and post-registration nursing education and teaching on medication safety. This paper is based on Phase One and Two of an Action Research project. An ethnography-style observational method, influenced by an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) approach was adapted to study the everyday medication management systems and practices of two hospital wards. This was supplemented by seven in-depth interviews with nursing staff, numerous informal discussions with healthcare professionals, two focus-groups, one peer-interview and two in-depth individual interviews with final year nursing students from three Higher Education Institutions in Scotland. This paper highlights the current positive practical efforts in medication safety practices in the chosen clinical areas. Nursing staff do employ the traditional 'five right' principles - right patient, right medication, right dose, right route and right time - for safe administration. Nursing students are taught these principles in their pre-registration nursing education. However, there are some other challenges remaining: these include the establishment of a complete medication history (reconciliation) when patients come to hospital, the provision of an in-depth training in

Trends in dermatology practices and the implications for the workforce.

Science.gov (United States)

Ehrlich, Alison; Kostecki, James; Olkaba, Helen

2017-10-01

The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) practice profile surveys have been conducted for more than a decade to gauge trends in our workforce supply and demand. To update the trends and current workforce issues for the field of dermatology. The AAD Practice Profile Survey is sent by both e-mail and postal mail to a random sample of practicing dermatologists who are AAD members. Shifts are noted in the primary practice setting; fewer dermatologists are in solo practice and more are in group practices than in previous years. Teledermatology use trended upward from 7% to 11% between 2012 and 2014. The implementation of electronic health records increased from 51% in 2011 to 70% in 2014. There is potential for response bias and inaccurate self-reporting. Survey responses collected may not be representative of all geographic areas. The demand for dermatology services remains strong. Shifts in the practice setting may be related to increases in overhead costs that are partially associated with the implementation of technology-based medical records. Integration of electronic health records and utilization of telemedicine are increasing. Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Dermatology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Hop, step, jump! : Building social capital by learning through bridging, bonding and linking

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sluis, van der E.C. (Lidewey); Jong, de T

2009-01-01

Studies on social capital have produced major evidence for the contention that a firm's social capital has an important implication on organisational performance and innovation (Leana and Van Buren, 1999). More recently, there is research that suggest that there are highly significant links between

Youth with Behavioral Health Disorders Aging Out of Foster Care: a Systematic Review and Implications for Policy, Research, and Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang-Yi, Christina D; Adams, Danielle R

2017-01-01

This systematic review aimed to (1) identify and summarize empirical studies on youth with behavioral health disorders aging out of foster care and (2) address implications for behavioral health policy, research, and practice. We identified previous studies by searching PubMed, PsycINFO, EBSCO, and ISI Citation Indexes and obtaining references from key experts in the child welfare field. A total of 28 full articles published between 1991 and 2014 were reviewed and summarized into the key areas including systems of care, disability type, transition practice area, study methods, study sample, transition outcome measures, study analysis, and study findings. Considering how fast youth who have behavioral health disorders fall through the crack as they exit foster care, one cannot understate the importance of incorporating timely and appropriate transition planning and care coordination for youth who have behavioral health disorders aging out of foster care into the usual case management performed by behavioral health systems and service providers.

Enhancing links between visual short term memory, visual attention and cognitive control processes through practice: An electrophysiological insight.

Science.gov (United States)

Fuggetta, Giorgio; Duke, Philip A

2017-05-01

The operation of attention on visible objects involves a sequence of cognitive processes. The current study firstly aimed to elucidate the effects of practice on neural mechanisms underlying attentional processes as measured with both behavioural and electrophysiological measures. Secondly, it aimed to identify any pattern in the relationship between Event-Related Potential (ERP) components which play a role in the operation of attention in vision. Twenty-seven participants took part in two recording sessions one week apart, performing an experimental paradigm which combined a match-to-sample task with a memory-guided efficient visual-search task within one trial sequence. Overall, practice decreased behavioural response times, increased accuracy, and modulated several ERP components that represent cognitive and neural processing stages. This neuromodulation through practice was also associated with an enhanced link between behavioural measures and ERP components and with an enhanced cortico-cortical interaction of functionally interconnected ERP components. Principal component analysis (PCA) of the ERP amplitude data revealed three components, having different rostro-caudal topographic representations. The first component included both the centro-parietal and parieto-occipital mismatch triggered negativity - involved in integration of visual representations of the target with current task-relevant representations stored in visual working memory - loaded with second negative posterior-bilateral (N2pb) component, involved in categorising specific pop-out target features. The second component comprised the amplitude of bilateral anterior P2 - related to detection of a specific pop-out feature - loaded with bilateral anterior N2, related to detection of conflicting features, and fronto-central mismatch triggered negativity. The third component included the parieto-occipital N1 - related to early neural responses to the stimulus array - which loaded with the second

Mena–GRASP65 interaction couples actin polymerization to Golgi ribbon linking

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Danming; Zhang, Xiaoyan; Huang, Shijiao; Yuan, Hebao; Li, Jie; Wang, Yanzhuang

2016-01-01

In mammalian cells, the Golgi reassembly stacking protein 65 (GRASP65) has been implicated in both Golgi stacking and ribbon linking by forming trans-oligomers through the N-terminal GRASP domain. Because the GRASP domain is globular and relatively small, but the gaps between stacks are large and heterogeneous, it remains puzzling how GRASP65 physically links Golgi stacks into a ribbon. To explore the possibility that other proteins may help GRASP65 in ribbon linking, we used biochemical methods and identified the actin elongation factor Mena as a novel GRASP65-binding protein. Mena is recruited onto the Golgi membranes through interaction with GRASP65. Depleting Mena or disrupting actin polymerization resulted in Golgi fragmentation. In cells, Mena and actin were required for Golgi ribbon formation after nocodazole washout; in vitro, Mena and microfilaments enhanced GRASP65 oligomerization and Golgi membrane fusion. Thus Mena interacts with GRASP65 to promote local actin polymerization, which facilitates Golgi ribbon linking. PMID:26538023

Working with previously anonymous gamete donors and donor-conceived adults: recent practice experiences of running the DNA-based voluntary information exchange and contact register, UK DonorLink.

Science.gov (United States)

Crawshaw, Marilyn; Gunter, Christine; Tidy, Christine; Atherton, Freda

2013-03-01

This article describes recent practice experiences with donor conceived adults, donors, non-donor-conceived adult children of donors using the voluntary DNA-based register, UK DonorLink. It highlights additional complexities faced when using DNA rather than paper records for searching, in particular from the risk of false positives, low chances of success and potential inclusion of biological parents' DNA. Professionals' experiences in supporting those being "linked" suggest challenges as well as rewards. Registration carries the potential to be therapeutic for donor-conceived adults and donors and to enhance their political awareness regardless of links being made. Registrants value both peer and professional support, providing the latter can respond flexibly and be delivered by staff experienced in intermediary work. Given that the majority of those affected by donor conception internationally come from anonymous donation systems, these findings are highly pertinent and argue the need for political and moral debate about such service provision.

SLT Beliefs about Collaborative Practice: Implications for Education and Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Jago, Suzanne; Radford, Julie

2017-01-01

Effective collaborative practice is expected of newly qualified speech and language therapists (SLTs) in order to achieve the best outcomes for clients. Research into collaborative practice has identified a number of barriers to and facilitators of collaborative practice, but there has been limited research into how well prepared newly qualified…

Cultural relativism and cultural diversity: implications for nursing practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, C

1997-09-01

This article examines the doctrine of cultural relativism in nursing practice. To introduce the issue, an overview of the intellectual history of cultural relativism is presented. The academic themes of the debate surrounding cultural relativism are illustrated with an example of the social controversy in France involving cultural relativism as used to defend the practice of female genital excision among immigrant communities. The dilemma faced by nursing in making cross-cultural judgments is then examined in the light of the academic and social debates. The article concludes with a theoretical resolution of the issue of cultural relativism for nursing practice that is based on hermeneutic philosophy.

Procedural confidence in hospital based practitioners: implications for the training and practice of doctors at all grades

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tsagkaraki Petroula A

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Medical doctors routinely undertake a number of practical procedures and these should be performed competently. The UK Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB curriculum lists the procedures trainees should be competent in. We aimed to describe medical practitioner's confidence in their procedural skills, and to define which practical procedures are important in current medical practice. Methods A cross sectional observational study was performed measuring procedural confidence in 181 hospital practitioners at all grades from 2 centres in East Anglia, England. Results Both trainees and consultants provide significant service provision. SpR level doctors perform the widest range and the highest median number of procedures per year. Most consultants perform few if any procedures, however some perform a narrow range at high volume. Cumulative confidence for the procedures tested peaks in the SpR grade. Five key procedures (central line insertion, lumbar puncture, pleural aspiration, ascitic aspiration, and intercostal drain insertion are the most commonly performed, are seen as important generic skills, and correspond to the total number of procedures for which confidence can be maintained. Key determinants of confidence are gender, number of procedures performed in the previous year and total number of procedures performed. Conclusion The highest volume of service requirement is for six procedures. The procedural confidence is dependent upon gender, number of procedures performed in the previous year and total number of procedures performed. This has implications for those designing the training curriculum and with regards the move to shorten the duration of training.

Physician-Rating Web Sites: Ethical Implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Samora, Julie Balch; Lifchez, Scott D; Blazar, Philip E

2016-01-01

To understand the ethical and professional implications of physician behavior changes secondary to online physician-rating Web sites (PRWs). The American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) Ethics and Professionalism Committee surveyed the ASSH membership regarding PRWs. We sent a 14-item questionnaire to 2,664 active ASSH members who practice in both private and academic settings in the United States. We received 312 responses, a 12% response incidence. More than 65% of the respondents had a slightly or highly unfavorable impression of these Web sites. Only 34% of respondents had ever updated or created a profile for PRWs, although 62% had observed inaccuracies in their profile. Almost 90% of respondents had not made any changes in their practice owing to comments or reviews. One-third of respondents had solicited favorable reviews from patients, and 3% of respondents have paid to improve their ratings. PRWs are going to become more prevalent, and more research is needed to fully understand the implications. There are several ethical implications that PRWs pose to practicing physicians. We contend that it is morally unsound to pay for good reviews. The recourse for physicians when an inaccurate and potentially libelous review has been written is unclear. Some physicians have required patients to sign a waiver preventing them from posting negative comments online. We propose the development of a task force to assess the professional, ethical, and legal implications of PRWs, including working with companies to improve accuracy of information, oversight, and feedback opportunities. It is expected that PRWs will play an increasing role in the future; it is unclear whether there will be a uniform reporting system, or whether these online ratings will influence referral patterns and/or quality improvement. Copyright © 2016 American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Linking theory to practice in learning technology research

OpenAIRE

Cathy Gunn; Caroline Steel

2012-01-01

We present a case to reposition theory so that it plays a pivotal role in learning technology research and helps to build an ecology of learning. To support the case, we present a critique of current practice based on a review of articles published in two leading international journals from 2005 to 2010. Our study reveals that theory features only incidentally or not at all in many cases. We propose theory development as a unifying theme for learning technology research study design and repor...

Environmental health implications of global climate change

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Watson, Robert T.; Patz, Jonathan; Gubler, Duane J.; Parson, Edward A.; Vincent, James H.

2005-07-01

This paper reviews the background that has led to the now almost-universally held opinion in the scientific community that global climate change is occurring and is inescapably linked with anthropogenic activity. The potential implications to human health are considerable and very diverse. These include, for example, the increased direct impacts of heat and of rises in sea level, exacerbated air and water-borne harmful agents, and - associated with all the preceding - the emergence of environmental refugees. Vector-borne diseases, in particular those associated with blood-sucking arthropods such as mosquitoes, may be significantly impacted, including redistribution of some of those diseases to areas not previously affected. Responses to possible impending environmental and public health crises must involve political and socio-economic considerations, adding even greater complexity to what is already a difficult challenge. In some areas, adjustments to national and international public health practices and policies may be effective, at least in the short and medium terms. But in others, more drastic measures will be required. Environmental monitoring, in its widest sense, will play a significant role in the future management of the problem. (Author)

Socioeconomic status, infant feeding practices and early childhood obesity.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibbs, B G; Forste, R

2014-04-01

Children from low socioeconomic households are at greater risk of obesity. As breastfeeding can protect against child obesity, disadvantaged infants are less likely to breastfeed relative to more advantaged children. Whether infant feeding patterns, as well as other maternal characteristics mediate the association between social class and obesity has not been established in available research. Examine the impact of infant feeding practices on child obesity and identify the mechanisms that link socioeconomic status (SES) with child obesity. Based on a nationally representative longitudinal survey (ECLS-B) of early childhood (n = 8030), we examine how breastfeeding practices, the early introduction of solid foods and putting an infant to bed with a bottle mediate the relationship between social class and early childhood obesity relative to the mediating influence of other maternal characteristics (BMI, age at birth, smoking, depression and daycare use). Infants predominantly fed formula for the first 6 months were about 2.5 times more likely to be obese at 24 months of age relative to infants predominantly fed breast milk. The early introduction of solid foods (obesity. Unhealthy infant feeding practices were the primary mechanism mediating the relationship between SES and early childhood obesity. Results are consistent across measures of child obesity although the effect size of infant feeding practices varies. The encouragement and support of breastfeeding and other healthy feeding practices are especially important for low socioeconomic children who are at increased risk of early childhood obesity. Targeting socioeconomically disadvantaged mothers for breastfeeding support and for infant-led feeding strategies may reduce the negative association between SES and child obesity. The implications are discussed in terms of policy and practice. © 2013 The Authors. Pediatric Obesity © 2013 International Association for the Study of Obesity.

Black Truffle Harvesting in Spanish Forests: Trends, Current Policies and Practices, and Implications on its Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia-Barreda, Sergi; Forcadell, Ricardo; Sánchez, Sergio; Martín-Santafé, María; Marco, Pedro; Camarero, J. Julio; Reyna, Santiago

2018-04-01

The European black truffle is a mycorrhizal fungus native to Spanish Mediterranean forests. In most Spanish regions it was originally commercially harvested in the second half of the 20th century. Experts agree that wild truffle yields suffered a sharp decline during the 1970s and 1980s. However, official statistics for Spanish harvest are scarce and seemingly conflicting, and little attention has been paid to the regime for the exploitation of truffle-producing forests and its implications on the sustainability of this resource. Trends in harvest from 1969 to 2013 and current harvesting practices were analyzed as a case study, taking into account that Spain is a major truffle producer worldwide, but at the same time truffles have only recently been exploited. The available statistical sources, which include an increasing proportion of cultivated truffles since the mid-1990s, were explored, with estimates from Truffle Harvesters Federation showing higher consistency. Statistical sources were then compared with proxies for wild harvest (rents from truffle leases in public forests) to corroborate time trends in wild harvesting. Results suggest that black truffle production is recovering in recent years thanks to plantations, whereas wild harvest is still declining. The implications of Spanish legal and institutional framework on sustainability of wild truffle use are reviewed. In the current scenario, the decline of wild harvest is likely to continue and eventually make commercial harvesting economically unattractive, thus aggravating sustainability issues. Strengthening of property rights, rationalization of harvesting pressure, forest planning and involvement of public stakeholders are proposed as corrective measures.

Practice Location Characteristics of Non-Traditional Dental Practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Solomon, Eric S; Jones, Daniel L

2016-04-01

Current and future dental school graduates are increasingly likely to choose a non-traditional dental practice-a group practice managed by a dental service organization or a corporate practice with employed dentists-for their initial practice experience. In addition, the growth of non-traditional practices, which are located primarily in major urban areas, could accelerate the movement of dentists to those areas and contribute to geographic disparities in the distribution of dental services. To help the profession understand the implications of these developments, the aim of this study was to compare the location characteristics of non-traditional practices and traditional dental practices. After identifying non-traditional practices across the United States, the authors located those practices and traditional dental practices geographically by zip code. Non-traditional dental practices were found to represent about 3.1% of all dental practices, but they had a greater impact on the marketplace with almost twice the average number of staff and annual revenue. Virtually all non-traditional dental practices were located in zip codes that also had a traditional dental practice. Zip codes with non-traditional practices had significant differences from zip codes with only a traditional dental practice: the populations in areas with non-traditional practices had higher income levels and higher education and were slightly younger and proportionally more Hispanic; those practices also had a much higher likelihood of being located in a major metropolitan area. Dental educators and leaders need to understand the impact of these trends in the practice environment in order to both prepare graduates for practice and make decisions about planning for the workforce of the future.

The Enduring Significance of Skin Tone: Linking Skin Tone, Attitudes Toward Marriage and Cohabitation, and Sexual Behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Landor, Antoinette M; Halpern, Carolyn Tucker

2016-05-01

Past evidence has documented that attitudes toward marriage and cohabitation are related to sexual behavior in adolescence and young adulthood. This study extends prior research by longitudinally testing these associations across racial/ethnic groups and investigating whether culturally relevant variations within racial/ethnic minority groups, such as skin tone (i.e., lightness/darkness of skin color), are linked to attitudes toward marriage and cohabitation and sex. Drawing on family and public health literatures and theories, as well as burgeoning skin tone literature, it was hypothesized that more positive attitudes toward marriage and negative attitudes toward cohabitation would be associated with less risky sex, and that links differed for lighter and darker skin individuals. The sample included 6872 respondents (49.6 % female; 70.0 % White; 15.8 % African American; 3.3 % Asian; 10.9 % Hispanic) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. The results revealed that marital attitudes had a significantly stronger dampening effect on risky sexual behavior of lighter skin African Americans and Asians compared with their darker skin counterparts. Skin tone also directly predicted number of partners and concurrent partners among African American males and Asian females. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of these findings for adolescence and young adulthood.

The Enduring Significance of Skin Tone: Linking Skin Tone, Attitudes Toward Marriage and Cohabitation, and Sexual Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Landor, Antoinette M.; Halpern, Carolyn Tucker

2016-01-01

Past evidence has documented that attitudes toward marriage and cohabitation are related to sexual behavior in adolescence and young adulthood. This study extends prior research by longitudinally testing these associations across racial/ethnic groups and investigating whether culturally relevant variations within racial/ethnic minority groups, such as skin tone (i.e., lightness/darkness of skin color), are linked to attitudes toward marriage and cohabitation and sex. Drawing on family and public health literatures and theories, as well as burgeoning skin tone literature, it was hypothesized that more positive attitudes toward marriage and negative attitudes toward cohabitation would be associated with less risky sex, and that links differed for lighter and darker skin individuals. The sample included 6872 respondents (49.6 % female; 70.0 % White; 15.8 % African American; 3.3 % Asian; 10.9 % Hispanic) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. The results revealed that marital attitudes had a significantly stronger dampening effect on risky sexual behavior of lighter skin African Americans and Asians compared with their darker skin counterparts. Skin tone also directly predicted number of partners and concurrent partners among African American males and Asian females. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of these findings for adolescence and young adulthood. PMID:26979445

Non-coding RNAs enter mitosis: functions, conservation and implications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kai Toshie

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Nuage (or commonly known as chromatoid body in mammals is a conserved germline-specific organelle that has been linked to the Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA pathway. piRNAs are a class of gonadal-specific RNAs that are ~23-29 nucleotides in length and protect genome stability by repressing the expression of deleterious retrotransposons. More recent studies in Drosophila have implicated the piRNA pathway in other functions including canalization of embryonic development, regulation of maternal gene expression and telomere protection. We have recently shown that Vasa (known as Mouse Vasa Homolog in mouse, a nuage component, plays a mitotic role in promoting chromosome condensation and segregation by facilitating robust chromosomal localization of condensin I in the Drosophila germline. Vasa functions together with Aubergine (a PIWI family protein and Spindle-E/mouse TDRD-9, two other nuage components that are involved in the piRNA pathway, therefore providing a link between the piRNA pathway and mitotic chromosome condensation. Here, we propose and discuss possible models for the role of Vasa and the piRNA pathway during mitosis. We also highlight relevant studies implicating mitotic roles for RNAs and/or nuage in other model systems and their implications for cancer development.

Usage of LinkedIn in the labour market

OpenAIRE

Dušenka, Tomáš

2017-01-01

This Master thesis looks into the usage of the social network LinkedIn in the labour market by university students and graduates. In the theory, there is aim at explanation of the relationship between human and work, and also how the recruitment process looks like. In the practical part, there is explained how LinkedIn works and then analyzed the process of using it by university students and graduates when searching for a job. At the end, based on the analysis, there is a suggestion how to u...

THE ACTUAL IMPLICATIONS OF INFLATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Murăriţa Ilie

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The authors have started from the idea that inflationary phenomenon is a companion, the cause and the effect of the globalization of poverty in the broader context of world economy globalization. Therefore, starting from a common definition of inflation, the first objective was to identify causal relationships that singularize contemporary inflationary process. After that, attention was focused on the implications of inflation in the current stage, bearing in mind that monetary financial theory and practice are operating with perfectly anticipated inflation or imperfectly anticipated inflation. Inflation has great implications on the long-term contracts and wage contracts.

On the estimation of the volatility-growth link

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Launov, Andrey; Posch, Olaf; Wälde, Klaus

It is common practice to estimate the volatility-growth link by specifying a standard growth equation such that the variance of the error term appears as an explanatory variable in this growth equation. The variance in turn is modelled by a second equation. Hardly any of existing applications...... of this framework includes exogenous controls in this second variance equation. Our theoretical …ndings suggest that the absence of relevant explanatory variables in the variance equation leads to a biased and inconsistent estimate of the volatility-growth link. Our simulations show that this effect is large. Once...... the appropriate controls are included in the variance equation consistency is restored. In short, we suggest that the variance equation must include relevant control variables to estimate the volatility-growth link....

Coronary heart disease in South Asian immigrants: synthesis of research and implications for health promotion and prevention in nursing practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Mathews, Rahel; Zachariah, Rachel

2008-07-01

Although the literature reflects that Asian Indians in the United States and globally have the highest rates of morbidity and mortality because of coronary heart disease (CHD) and diabetes, few studies have described the clinical implications in the United States. Traditional risk factors dictate practice, yet these risk factors do not fully explain the rates. Central obesity, lipoprotein (a), and insulin resistance may have a strong role. The literature suggests that proactive nursing using culturally specific clinical measures are necessary to reduce risk factors for CHD and diabetes in South Asians. Additional research and prevention strategies focused on immigrant South Asians in the United States are recommended.

Linked data: un nuovo alfabeto del web semantico

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauro Guerrini

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The paper defines the linked data as a set of best practices that are used to publish data on the web using a machine; the technology (or mode of realization of linked data is associated with the concept of the semantic web. It is the area of the semantic web, or web of data, as defined by Tim Berners-Lee "A web of things in the world, described by data on the web". The paper highlights the continuities and differences between semantic web and web traditional, or web documents. The analysis of linked data takes place within the world of libraries, archives and museums, traditionally committed to high standards for structuring and sharing of data. The data, in fact, assume the role of generating quality information for the network. The production of linked data requires compliance with rules and the use of specific technologies and languages, especially in the case of publication of linked data in open mode. The production cycle of linked data may be the track, or a guideline, for institutions that wish to join projects to publish their data. Data quality is assessed through a rating system designed by Tim Berners-Lee.

Implications of radiation risk for practical dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dennis, J.A.

1984-01-01

Radiobiological experiments with animals and cells have led to an expectation that the risks of cancer and hereditary effects are reduced at low doses and low dose rates of low LET radiation. Risk estimates derived from human exposures at high doses and dose rates usually contain an allowance for low dose effects in comparison with high dose effects, but no allowance may have been made for low dose rate effects. Although there are reasons for thinking that leukaemia risks may possibly have been underestimated, the total cancer risk assumed by ICRP for occupational exposures is reasonably realistic. For practical dosimetry the primary dose concepts and limits have to be translated into secondary quantities that are capable of practical realisation and measurement, and which will provide a stable and robust system of metrology. If the ICRP risk assumptions are approximately correct, it is extremely unlikely that epidemiological studies of occupational exposures will detect the influence of radiation. Elaboration of dosimetry and dose recording for epidemiological purposes is therefore unjustified except possibly in relation to differences between high and low LET radiations. (author)

Advancing knowledge on practice change: linking facilitation to the senses framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Julie; Meyer, Julienne; Holman, Cheryl

2013-06-01

To explore the facilitating factors that enabled staff on a rehabilitation ward for older people engage in change activities. The importance of facilitation in practice change is widely acknowledged; however, little nursing research has taken place in relation to its nature. Following identification in the early phases of an action research study that learned helplessness states and the use of socially structured defence techniques were preventing staff on a rehabilitation ward for older people from engaging in practice development, some change was achieved. What facilitated this to take place needed to be explored. An action research approach was used. Data gained from 13 in-depth interviews with staff and managers together with three years of researcher field notes were analysed using thematic analysis. The continuous presence and neutrality of the researcher who worked together with staff on their issues of concern using a flexible ward-based approach, combined with giving staff the opportunity to explore what it was like for them working in this area, were considered key in helping staff to engage with change. Analysis of findings suggests that the senses framework presents a theoretical approach to facilitation that can help staff move out of learned helplessness states and reduce the need for the use of socially structured defence techniques. This study identifies a facilitation approach that enabled staff to engage with practice change. Although carried out in the UK, its findings have wider relevance through the application of a theoretical perspective for practice change facilitation that has not before been considered in this literature, and which is likely to be of interest to those involved in practice change internationally. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Depression And The Link With Cardiovascular Disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arup Kumar Dhar

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This review provides an outline of the association between major depressive disorder (MDD and coronary heart disease (CHD. Much is known about the two individual clinical conditions; however it is not until recently, that biological mechanisms have been uncovered that link both MDD and CHD. The activation of stress pathways have been implicated as a neurochemical mechanism that links MDD and CHD. Depression is known to be associated with poorer outcomes of CHD. Psychological factors such as major depression and stress are now known as risk factors for developing CHD which is as important and is independent of classic risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus and cigarette smoking. Both conditions have great socioeconomic importance given that depression and CHD are likely to be two of the three leading causes of global burden of disease. Better understanding of the common causal pathways will help us delineate more appropriate treatments.

Dissecting the links between cerebellum and dystonia.

Science.gov (United States)

Malone, Ailish; Manto, Mario; Hass, Chris

2014-12-01

Dystonia is a common movement disorder characterized by sustained muscle contractions. These contractions generate twisting and repetitive movements or typical abnormal postures, often exacerbated by voluntary movement. Dystonia can affect almost all the voluntary muscles. For several decades, the discussion on the pathogenesis has been focused on basal ganglia circuits, especially striatal networks. So far, although dystonia has been observed in some forms of ataxia such as dominant ataxias, the link between the cerebellum and dystonia has remained unclear. Recent human studies and experimental data mainly in rodents show that the cerebellum circuitry could also be a key player in the pathogenesis of some forms of dystonia. In particular, studies based on behavioral adaptation paradigm shed light on the links between dystonia and cerebellum. The spectrum of movement disorders in which the cerebellum is implicated is continuously expanding, and manipulation of cerebellar circuits might even emerge as a candidate therapy in the coming years.

The practice of marketing by dentists.

Science.gov (United States)

Chandler, E W; Weller, R B

1994-01-01

The attitudes and practices of dentists regarding the implementation of all the strategic variables in the marketing mix is examined. Factor analysis is used to reduce the data to five factors which are used to describe the attitudes and practices of dentists. The importance of using other marketing variables besides promotion is pointed out along with the implications for influencing dentists to take a broader strategic perspective in the development of their practice.

Molecular Dynamics Insights into Polyamine-DNA Binding Modes: Implications for Cross-Link Selectivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Bignon, Emmanuelle; Chan, Chen-Hui; Morell, Christophe; Monari, Antonio; Ravanat, Jean-Luc; Dumont, Elise

2017-09-18

Biogenic polyamines, which play a role in DNA condensation and stabilization, are ubiquitous and are found at millimolar concentration in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells. The interaction modes of three polyamines-putrescine (Put), spermine (Spm), and spermidine (Spd)-with a self-complementary 16 base pair (bp) duplex, are investigated by all-atom explicit-solvent molecular dynamics. The length of the amine aliphatic chain leads to a change of the interaction mode from minor groove binding to major groove binding. Through all-atom dynamics, noncovalent interactions that stabilize the polyamine-DNA complex and prefigure the reactivity, leading to the low-barrier formation of deleterious DNA-polyamine cross-links, after one-electron oxidation of a guanine nucleobase, are unraveled. The binding strength is quantified from the obtained trajectories by molecular mechanics generalized Born surface area post-processing (MM-GBSA). The values of binding free energies provide the same affinity order, Putlink formation through the extraction of average approaching distances between the C8 atom of guanines and the ammonium group. These results imply that the formation of DNA-polyamine cross-links involves deprotonation of the guanine radical cation to attack the polyamines, which must be positively charged to lie in the vicinity of the B-helix. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Harm mediates the disgust-immorality link.

Science.gov (United States)

Schein, Chelsea; Ritter, Ryan S; Gray, Kurt

2016-09-01

Many acts are disgusting, but only some of these acts are immoral. Dyadic morality predicts that disgusting acts should be judged as immoral to the extent that they seem harmful. Consistent with this prediction, 3 studies reveal that perceived harm mediates the link between feelings of disgust and moral condemnation-even for ostensibly harmless "purity" violations. In many cases, accounting for perceived harm completely eliminates the link between disgust and moral condemnation. Analyses also reveal the predictive power of anger and typicality/weirdness in moral judgments of disgusting acts. The mediation of disgust by harm holds across diverse acts including gay marriage, sex acts, and religious blasphemy. Revealing the endogenous presence and moral relevance of harm within disgusting-but-ostensibly harmless acts argues against modular accounts of moral cognition such as moral foundations theory. Instead, these data support pluralistic conceptions of harm and constructionist accounts of morality and emotion. Implications for moral cognition and the concept of "purity" are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Identification of incident poisoning, fracture and burn events using linked primary care, secondary care and mortality data from England: implications for research and surveillance.

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Ruth; Tata, Laila J; Kendrick, Denise; Orton, Elizabeth

2016-02-01

English national injury data collection systems are restricted to hospitalisations and deaths. With recent linkage of a large primary care database, the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), with secondary care and mortality data, we aimed to assess the utility of linked data for injury research and surveillance by examining recording patterns and comparing incidence of common injuries across data sources. The incidence of poisonings, fractures and burns was estimated for a cohort of 2 147 853 0-24 year olds using CPRD linked to Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and Office for National Statistics (ONS) mortality data between 1997 and 2012. Time-based algorithms were developed to identify incident events, distinguishing between repeat follow-up records for the same injury and those for a new event. We identified 42 985 poisoning, 185 517 fracture and 36 719 burn events in linked CPRD-HES-ONS data; incidence rates were 41.9 per 10 000 person-years (95% CI 41.4 to 42.4), 180.8 (179.8-181.7) and 35.8 (35.4-36.1), respectively. Of the injuries, 22 628 (53%) poisonings, 139 662 (75%) fractures and 33 462 (91%) burns were only recorded within CPRD. Only 16% of deaths from poisoning (n=106) or fracture (n=58) recorded in ONS were recorded within CPRD and/or HES records. None of the 10 deaths from burns were recorded in CPRD or HES records. It is essential to use linked primary care, hospitalisation and deaths data to estimate injury burden, as many injury events are only captured within a single data source. Linked routinely collected data offer an immediate and affordable mechanism for injury surveillance and analyses of population-based injury epidemiology in England. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Making the link between work-life balance practices and organizational performance

OpenAIRE

T. Alexandra Beauregard; Lesley C. Henry

2009-01-01

The business case for work-life balance practices, as espoused by many organizations, rests on attracting better applicants and reducing work-life conflict among existing employees in order to enhance organizational performance. This review of the literature provides some evidence for the claim regarding recruitment, but there is insufficient evidence to support the notion that work-life practices enhance performance by means of reduced work-life conflict. We suggest that the business case ma...

The effects of human resource practices on firm growth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vlachos, I.

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Although the connection between firm growth and labour is well documented in economics literature, only recently the link between human resources (HR and firm growth has attracted the interest of researchers. This study aims to assess the extent, if any, to which, specific HR practices may contribute to firm growth. We review a rich literature on the links between firm performance and the following HR practices: (1 job security (2 selective hiring, (3 self-managed teams (4 compensation policy, (5 extensive training, and (6 information sharing. We surveyed HR managers and recorded their perceptions about the links between HR practices and firm growth. Results demonstrated that compensation policy was the strongest predictor of sales growth. Results provide overall support for all HR practices except of job security. Eventually, selecting, training, and rewarding employees as well as giving them the power to decide for the benefit of their firm, contribute significantly to firm growth.

Informal Online Learning Practices: Implications for Distance Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fawn Winterwood

2010-02-01

Full Text Available This qualitative ethnographic study examines five American teenagers’ historical and current digitally-mediated multiliteracy practices within digital popular culture. The participants included three male and two female students of a private high school in the Midwestern United States. The study is framed by the notion that literacy is a socially, culturally, and historically situated discursive construct rather than a purely individualized cognitive endeavor. This social constructivist theory of literacy emphasizes the social conditions necessary to navigate the economic, social, and political worlds of the 21st century. The purpose of the study was to explore the students’ multiliteracy practices that they enact through their activities within digital popular culture. Data collection methods included synchronous interviews facilitated by video conferencing tools as well as observation of the participants’ online activities and member checks conducted via email and instant messaging. The analytic strategy employed during this study was informed by Clarke’s (2005 situational analysis method. The study’s findings indicate that literacy practices in which the study participants have engaged through informal learning activities within digital youth culture have had a much greater impact on enabling them to cultivate the multimodal literacies necessary within a postmodern digital era than have their formal educational experiences

The secure base script and the task of caring for elderly parents: implications for attachment theory and clinical practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Cory K; Waters, Harriet Salatas; Hartman, Marilyn; Zimmerman, Sheryl; Miklowitz, David J; Waters, Everett

2013-01-01

This study explores links between adults' attachment representations and the task of caring for elderly parents with dementia. Participants were 87 adults serving as primary caregivers of a parent or parent-in-law with dementia. Waters and Waters' ( 2006 ) Attachment Script Assessment was adapted to assess script-like attachment representation in the context of caring for their elderly parent. The quality of adult-elderly parent interactions was assessed using the Level of Expressed Emotions Scale (Cole & Kazarian, 1988 ) and self-report measures of caregivers' perception of caregiving as difficult. Caregivers' secure base script knowledge predicted lower levels of negative expressed emotion. This effect was moderated by the extent to which participants experienced caring for elderly parents as difficult. Attachment representations played a greater role in caregiving when caregiving tasks were perceived as more difficult. These results support the hypothesis that attachment representations influence the quality of care that adults provide their elderly parents. Clinical implications are discussed.

The gamification and the enrichment of innovation practices in the firm: an analysis of experiences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina Gallego Gomez

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Description of gamification practices in the company and the analysis of its influence on firm’s results by comparing experiences. Design/methodology: Analysis of experiences from different firm’s experiences. Findings: To show through real examples that the gamification leads to the achievement of better results in the organizations. Research limitations/implications: Access to the information of the few cases that we can find in our context. It is a quite new a yet unusual practice for most organizations. Practical implications: Reformulation of business communication strategies from best practices, where the gaming industry is an interesting precedent, which proofs that these practices improve business results. Social implications: Socialization of the innovation process at firms Originality/value: Provide an overview of the gamification as a practice that helps to pursue the strategy of collaboration with the client to improve results.

Cross-linking of streptomycin to the 16S ribosomal RNA of Escherichia coli

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gravel, M.; Melancon, P.; Barkier-Gingras, L.

1987-01-01

[ 3 H]Dihydrostreptomycin was cross-linked to the 30S ribosomal subunit from Escherichia coli with the bifunctional reagent nitrogen mustard. The cross-linking primarily involved the 16S RNA. To localize the site of cross-linking of streptomycin to the 16S RNA, the authors hybridized RNA labeled with streptomycin to restriction fragments of the 16S RNA gene. Labeled RNA hybridized to DNA fragments corresponding to bases 892-917 and bases 1394-1415. These two segments of the ribosomal RNA must by juxtaposed in the ribosome, since there is a single binding site for streptomycin. This region has been implicated both in the decoding site and in the binding of initiation factor IF-3, indicating its functional importance

The Challenges of Clinical Practice as Experienced by First Year ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

UNISWA Research Journal of Agriculture, Science and Technology ... Nursing students internalise the art of nursing through clinical practice. ... These findings have implications for nursing education, practice, administration and research.

Correspondence analysis theory, practice and new strategies

CERN Document Server

Beh, Eric J

2014-01-01

A comprehensive overview of the internationalisation of correspondence analysis Correspondence Analysis: Theory, Practice and New Strategies examines the key issues of correspondence analysis, and discusses the new advances that have been made over the last 20 years. The main focus of this book is to provide a comprehensive discussion of some of the key technical and practical aspects of correspondence analysis, and to demonstrate how they may be put to use.  Particular attention is given to the history and mathematical links of the developments made. These links include not just those majo

Preparation of qualified specialists for the field of it from D-Link

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Pavel V. Romasevich

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to the consideration of D-Link's experience in the development and implementation of educational programs for the training of qualified specialists for the field of IT. To remain competitive, a specialist needs to be constantly trained, especially in such a rapidly changing field as IT. The training programs developed by D-Link for IT professionals help to gain knowledge about new technologies and their application in industrial conditions. You can confirm the high level of professionalism by getting the D-Link certificate. To obtain a certificate, you must pass one or two certification exams, depending on the chosen training course. Training of specialists engaged in the development, implementation and support of solutions based on D-Link solutions, in addition to the company's specialists, is carried out by authorized training centers and academic partners of D-Link. On the D-Link’s distance learning and certification portal, distance learning courses are available for studying. The article focuses on various forms of cooperation between D-Link and higher education institutions: the development of original teaching materials, the organization of distance learning and its integration into the learning process, the creation of laboratories to support practical classes and research activities, the management of course and diploma work, the organization of industrial practice.

Concoction of harmful substances in homemade alcoholic beverages in rural areas of Mopani district in Limpopo province-RSA: implications for social work practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Makhubele, J C

2013-10-01

The primary aim of this article is to explore and describe the production and consumption of homemade alcohol and its associated challenges in relation to implications for social work practice. Qualitative, explorative, descriptive, and contextual design was ideal and purposive and snowball sampling methods were used in this research. Data was collected through interviews with brewers and consumers of homemade alcoholic beverages. It was found that foreign substances are put into homemade alcoholic beverages for commercial reasons in an attempt to address social exclusion.

Professional knowledge and interprofessional practice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milburn, Peter C.; Colyer, Hazel

2008-01-01

Interprofessional education (IPE) is well-established in the professional discipline of radiography and other health and social care professions, driven by central government policies promoting interprofessional, collaborative working. The development of an appropriate knowledge base for interprofessional work is therefore important and, as a starting point, the article investigates the concept and significance of professional knowledge as a means to unravel and shed light on the potential emergence of a new body of knowledge, 'interprofessional knowledge'. The paper discusses whether the term 'interprofessional knowledge' (IPK) is meaningful and its utility for interprofessional practice, arguing that such knowledge is located within the discourse of interprofessional learning and practice. As such it is fluid and contextualised. The implications of this for all health and social care professionals, including radiographers, are elaborated to assist in future curriculum development and enhance understanding of the knowledge that underpins effective, collaborative, interprofessional practice. The paper concludes by suggesting there are a number of key implications for professional practice namely, IPE cannot teach interprofessional knowledge, rather it should facilitate interprofessional practice, through which such knowledge is construed, and person-centred care can be more effectively achieved. Second, interprofessional practice is highly contextualised by practice setting and point of service delivery. Any attempt to decontextualise it for the purpose of curriculum development would be illogical; interprofessional knowledge is in a symbiotic relationship with its prior professional knowledge. Third, the organisation of IPE would be better driven by alliances of complementary professions in order to maximise its potential effectiveness and credibility with practitioners

Experimenting with practice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Hanne; Adriansen, Hanne Kirstine

2016-01-01

Abstract Purpose Teaching executive courses always raises the challenge of how to deal with the tension between theory and practice. The present chapter analyses the use of experiments in practice as a pedagogical approach to deal with this tension in Master’s programmes. Design/methodology/appro......Abstract Purpose Teaching executive courses always raises the challenge of how to deal with the tension between theory and practice. The present chapter analyses the use of experiments in practice as a pedagogical approach to deal with this tension in Master’s programmes. Design...... that it is important to observe the distinction between the role of the manager and the role of the student in order to meet ethical challenges, inevitably raised by experimenting with practice. Finally we argue that the experimental teaching practice can be conceptualised as a monstrous pedagogy, as the pedagogy...... pedagogy they use fort dealing with this tension. Practical implications Many Master’s programmes draw empirical data from the students’ own practice into the teaching. We argue that using experiments is highly useful to identify some of the general challenges inherent in analyses of one’s own practice...

Adaptive practices in heart failure care teams: implications for patient-centered care in the context of complexity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tait GR

2015-08-01

member and could extend to other settings. Conclusion: Adaptive practices emerged unpredictably and were variably experienced by team members. Our study offers an empirically grounded explanation of how HF care teams self-organize and how adaptive practices emerge from nonlinear interdependencies among diverse agents. We use these insights to reframe the question of palliative care integration, to ask how best to foster palliative care-aligned adaptive practices in HF care. This work has implications for health care’s growing challenge of providing care to those with chronic medical illness in complex, team-based settings. Keywords: palliative care, qualitative, complex adaptive system, multimorbidity, health care teams

Developing critical reflection for professional practice through problem-based learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, B

2001-04-01

To explore the influence of current learning traditions in nursing on the development of reflection and critical reflection as professional practice skills and to offer suggestions for nursing education that will specifically facilitate the development of critical reflection. ORGANIZATIONAL CONSTRUCTS: Mezirow's transformative learning theory, Barrows conceptualization of problem-based learning (PBL). Integrative literature review of published literature related to nursing, health science education and professional education from 1983-2000. Professional education scholars concur that specialized knowledge is clearly essential for professional practice, however, they also suggest that self-consciousness (reflection) and continual self-critique (critical reflection) are crucial to continued competence. While strategies to facilitate reflection have been outlined in the literature, specific strategies to facilitate the development of critical reflection and implications for nursing education are much less clear. Advocates of reflective and critically reflective practice suggest that the development of these abilities should be inextricably linked to professional development and can be developed through active repeated guided practice. In health care, PBL based on constructivism, has been identified as one way to facilitate the development of these skills. Nursing learners exposed to PBL develop the ability to be reflective and critically reflective in their learning and acquire the knowledge and skill within the discipline of nursing by encountering key professional practice situations as the stimulus and focus of their classroom learning. The learners' ability to be both reflective and critically reflective in their learning is developed by critical questioning of the faculty tutor during situational analysis, learning need determination, application of knowledge, critique of resources and personal problem-solving processes, and summarization of what was learned.

Loss of Function Studies in Mice and Genetic Association Link Receptor Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase a to Schizophrenia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Takahashi, Nagahide; Nielsen, Karin Sandager; Aleksic, Branko

2011-01-01

Solid evidence links schizophrenia (SZ) susceptibility to neurodevelopmental processes involving tyrosine phosphorylation-mediated signaling. Mouse studies implicate the Ptpra gene, encoding protein tyrosine phosphatase RPTPa, in the control of radial neuronal migration, cortical cytoarchitecture...

From Thoughts To Action - Linking Practice, Science, Policy And Decision Making: Dissemination Activities Of The Global Risk Forum, GRF Davos

Science.gov (United States)

Stal, Marc; Sutter, Corina; Ammann, Walter

2010-05-01

The world's growing population in combination with expanding urbanisation, globalisation and climate change has greatly aggravated the risk potential to all communities and nations. These increasing risks imply the intensification of worldwide disasters, hence collaborations and worldwide knowledge exchange to mitigate these negative impacts is mandatory. How can these exchange and collaboration activities take place? The Global Risk Forum, GRF Davos addresses the variety of risks that face communities with a special focus on climate change, natural hazards, environmental degradation as well as technical, biological risks, pandemics and terrorism - all across different political institutions, national and international organisations, countries and business sectors. One of GRF's main goals is to bridge the gap between science and practice and to promote and accelerate the worldwide exchange of know-how and experience. GRF Davos aims at targeting solutions and promoting good practice in integral risk management and climate change adaptation.. The Forum also provides and manages a network for decision-makers, practitioners and experts from politics, government, IGOs, business, science, NGOs, media and the public and works on maintaining and expanding these networks constantly to enable the dissemination of disaster and risk reduction techniques. In order to link practice, science, policy and decision making, GRF Davos has three pillars, the Risk Academy, the International Disaster and Risk Conferences and Workshops (IDRC) as well as the online Platform for Networks. With its pillars, the GRFs aims at reducing vulnerability for all types of risks and disasters to protect life, property, environment, critical infrastructure and all means of business for the worldwide community on a sustainable basis.

Best practices in road transport: An exploratory study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mar Fernández Vázquez-Noguerol

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Road transport aspects are becoming increasingly important due to their high impact on economic, environmental and social sustainability. Considering the triple bottom line approach, best practices play a fundamental role within organisations. The purpose of this paper is to analyse several sustainable initiatives in road transport adopted by companies. Design/methodology/approach: The findings were developed and evaluated based on empirical data captured through a survey of 98 professionals involved in logistics and transport activities. Additionally, key literature on transport initiatives was reviewed to supplement the framework for the implementation of best practices in road transport. Findings: The exploratory study shows the importance of each best practice and determines the level of implementation of each initiative, comparing the results among different dealers (retailers, wholesalers, carriers and manufacturers, type of transport fleet and companies’ revenues. Research limitations/implications: The sample of 98 companies was based on simple search filters and the group is not wholly representative of all sectors. Respondents were mainly managers from Spain involved in logistics and transport activities. Surveyed companies included manufacturing, retailers, wholesalers and third-party logistics providers. Practical implications: The most common best practices in road transport are identified, including initiatives related to: efficiency, reusability, safety, optimization, emissions, waste and recycling. Initiatives that influence road transport are ranked by their degree of implementation in the companies analysed.  Social implications: Implementation of some of these best practices may help lessen negative impacts of road transport on society and the environment. Originality/value: The study results indicate which practices are most frequently used and their level of implementation depending on companies’ roles in the

Image, measure, figure: a critical discourse analysis of nursing practices that develop children.

Science.gov (United States)

Einboden, Rochelle; Rudge, Trudy; Varcoe, Colleen

2013-07-01

Motivated by discourses that link early child development and health, nurses engage in seemingly benign surveillance of children. These practices are based on knowledge claims and technologies of developmental science, which remain anchored in assumptions of the child body as an incomplete form with a universal developmental trajectory and inherent potentiality. This paper engages in a critical discursive analysis, drawing on Donna Haraway's conceptualizations of technoscience and figuration. Using a contemporary developmental screening tool from nursing practice, this analysis traces the effects of this tool through production, transformation, distribution, and consumption. It reveals how the techniques of imaging, abstraction, and measurement collide to fix the open, transformative child body in a figuration of the developing child. This analysis also demonstrates how technobiopower infuses nurses' understandings of children and structures developmentally appropriate expectations for children, parents, and nurses. Furthermore, it describes how practices that claim to facilitate healthy child development may inversely deprive children of agency and foster the production of normal or ideal children. An alternative ontological perspective is offered as a challenge to the individualism of developmental models and other dominant ideologies of development, as well as practices associated with these ideologies. In summary, this analysis argues that nurses must pay closer attention to how technobiopower infuses practices that monitor and promote child development. Fostering a critical understanding of the harmful implications of these practices is warranted and offers the space to conceive of human development in alternate and exciting ways. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Infant and Young Child Feeding Behavior among Working Mothers in India: Implications for Global Health Policy and Practice

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Vinay Kumar, MD, MPH

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Background: The National Guidelines on Infant and Young Child Feeding introduced in 2006 recommended the initiation of breastfeeding immediately after birth, preferably within one hour; exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months; appropriate and adequate complementary feeding from six months of age while continuing breastfeeding; and continued breastfeeding up to the age of two years or beyond. Working women in India constitute a dominant and expanding pool of mothers. There is paucity of research focused on feeding behavior within this group. Method: One hundred and fifty working women answered a structured questionnaire about their demographics, birth history, levels of awareness and practice of feeding guidelines, and perceptions about breastfeeding and counseling. Data analysis was carried out using Microsoft Excel and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Results: Majority of participants belonged to 21-39 years age group, had nuclear families, received college education, and delivered in institutional setups. Gaps were observed between the mother’s levels of awareness and practice for different tenets of national guidelines. Higher education, longer maternity leave, higher income, and utilization of counseling services facilitated adoption of optimal feeding behavior. Most women perceived breast milk to be superior to any alternative and favored provision of counseling during last trimester. Conclusions and Global Health Implications: Counseling women on optimal feeding behavior is a potential intervention to convert its awareness into actual practice. The lessons learned from this study can help refine both national and global Mother and Child Health policies and programs.

Costing Practices in Healthcare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chapman, Christopher; Kern, Anja; Laguecir, Aziza

2014-01-01

.e., Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) systems, and costing practices. DRG-based payment systems strongly influence costing practices in multiple ways. In particular, setting DRG tariffs requires highly standardized costing practices linked with specific skill sets from management accountants and brings other...... jurisdictions (e.g., clinical coding) to bear on costing practice. These factors contribute to the fragmentation of the jurisdiction of management accounting.......The rising cost of healthcare is a globally pressing concern. This makes detailed attention to the way in which costing is carried out of central importance. This article offers a framework for considering the interdependencies between a dominant element of the contemporary healthcare context, i...

Rational decision making in medicine: Implications for overuse and underuse.

Science.gov (United States)

Djulbegovic, Benjamin; Elqayam, Shira; Dale, William

2018-06-01

In spite of substantial spending and resource utilization, today's health care remains characterized by poor outcomes, largely due to overuse (overtesting/overtreatment) or underuse (undertesting/undertreatment) of health services. To a significant extent, this is a consequence of low-quality decision making that appears to violate various rationality criteria. Such suboptimal decision making is considered a leading cause of death and is responsible for more than 80% of health expenses. In this paper, we address the issue of overuse or underuse of health care interventions from the perspective of rational choice theory. We show that what is considered rational under one decision theory may not be considered rational under a different theory. We posit that the questions and concerns regarding both underuse and overuse have to be addressed within a specific theoretical framework. The applicable rationality criterion, and thus the "appropriateness" of health care delivery choices, depends on theory selection that is appropriate to specific clinical situations. We provide a number of illustrations showing how the choice of theoretical framework influences both our policy and individual decision making. We also highlight the practical implications of our analysis for the current efforts to measure the quality of care and link such measurements to the financing of health care services. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A brief historicity of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Issues and implications for the future of psychiatric canon and practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kawa Shadia

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM of the American Psychiatric Association, currently in its fourth edition and considered the reference for the characterization and diagnosis of mental disorders, has undergone various developments since its inception in the mid-twentieth century. With the fifth edition of the DSM presently in field trials for release in 2013, there is renewed discussion and debate over the extent of its relative successes - and shortcomings - at iteratively incorporating scientific evidence on the often ambiguous nature and etiology of mental illness. Given the power that the DSM has exerted both within psychiatry and society at large, this essay seeks to analyze variations in content and context of various editions of the DSM, address contributory influences and repercussion of such variations on the evolving landscape of psychiatry as discipline and practice over the past sixty years. Specifically, we document major modifications in the definition, characterization, and classification of mental disorders throughout successive editions of the DSM, in light of shifting trends in the conceptualization of psychopathology within evolving schools of thought in psychiatry, and in the context of progress in behavioral and psychopharmacological therapeutics over time. We touch upon the social, political, and financial environments in which these changes took places, address the significance of these changes with respect to the legitimacy (and legitimization of what constitutes mental illness and health, and examine the impact and implications of these changes on psychiatric practice, research, and teaching. We argue that problematic issues in psychiatry, arguably reflecting the large-scale adoption of the DSM, may be linked to difficulties in formulating a standardized nosology of psychopathology. In this light, we highlight 1 issues relating to attempts to align the DSM with the medical model, with regard to

A brief historicity of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: issues and implications for the future of psychiatric canon and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Kawa, Shadia; Giordano, James

2012-01-13

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association, currently in its fourth edition and considered the reference for the characterization and diagnosis of mental disorders, has undergone various developments since its inception in the mid-twentieth century. With the fifth edition of the DSM presently in field trials for release in 2013, there is renewed discussion and debate over the extent of its relative successes - and shortcomings - at iteratively incorporating scientific evidence on the often ambiguous nature and etiology of mental illness. Given the power that the DSM has exerted both within psychiatry and society at large, this essay seeks to analyze variations in content and context of various editions of the DSM, address contributory influences and repercussion of such variations on the evolving landscape of psychiatry as discipline and practice over the past sixty years. Specifically, we document major modifications in the definition, characterization, and classification of mental disorders throughout successive editions of the DSM, in light of shifting trends in the conceptualization of psychopathology within evolving schools of thought in psychiatry, and in the context of progress in behavioral and psychopharmacological therapeutics over time. We touch upon the social, political, and financial environments in which these changes took places, address the significance of these changes with respect to the legitimacy (and legitimization) of what constitutes mental illness and health, and examine the impact and implications of these changes on psychiatric practice, research, and teaching. We argue that problematic issues in psychiatry, arguably reflecting the large-scale adoption of the DSM, may be linked to difficulties in formulating a standardized nosology of psychopathology. In this light, we highlight 1) issues relating to attempts to align the DSM with the medical model, with regard to increasing specificity in the

Social welfare and restorative justice

OpenAIRE

Fox, Darrell

2009-01-01

"This paper explores the links and connections between social work and restorative justice. After a brief description of social work, restorative justice and family group conferencing, I will explore some the complementary theoretical links and practice applications, critically examining the potential implications and opportunities for social work practitioners and academics in relation to practice." [author's abstract

Implications of dark matter free streaming in the early Universe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Diamanti, R.

2017-01-01

In this thesis, we link astrophysics and particle physics aspects in order to study the implications of the nature and properties of different types of dark matter candidates on the observable Universe. The main property which connects the different works on which this manuscript is based is

Making health information meaningful: Children's health literacy practices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hannah Fairbrother

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Children's health and wellbeing is high on the research and policy agenda of many nations. There is a wealth of epidemiological research linking childhood circumstances and health practices with adult health. However, echoing a broader picture within child health research where children have typically been viewed as objects rather than subjects of enquiry, we know very little of how, in their everyday lives, children make sense of health-relevant information.This paper reports key findings from a qualitative study exploring how children understand food in everyday life and their ideas about the relationship between food and health. 53 children aged 9-10, attending two socio-economically contrasting schools in Northern England, participated during 2010 and 2011. Data were generated in schools through interviews and debates in small friendship groups and in the home through individual interviews. Data were analysed thematically using cross-sectional, categorical indexing.Moving beyond a focus on what children know the paper mobilises the concept of health literacy (Nutbeam, 2000, explored very little in relation to children, to conceptualise how children actively construct meaning from health information through their own embodied experiences. It draws on insights from the Social Studies of Childhood (James and Prout, 2015, which emphasise children's active participation in their everyday lives as well as New Literacy Studies (Pahl and Rowsell, 2012, which focus on literacy as a social practice. Recognising children as active health literacy practitioners has important implications for policy and practice geared towards improving child health. Keywords: Children, Health literacy, Qualitative, UK

Composition of 298 Baptistina: Implications for the K/T impactor link

Science.gov (United States)

Reddy, V.; Emery, J. P.; Gaffey, M. J.; Bottke, W. F.; Cramer, A.; Kelley, M. S.

2009-01-01

Bottke et al. (2007) suggested that the breakup of the Baptistina asteroid family (BAF) 160+30 /-20 Myr ago produced an “asteroid shower” that increased by a factor of 2-3 the impact flux of kilometer-sized and larger asteroids striking the Earth over the last ~120 Myr. This result led them to propose that the impactor that produced the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) mass extinction event 65 Myr ago also may have come from the BAF. This putative link was based both on collisional/dynamical modeling work and on physical evidence. For the latter, the available broadband color and spectroscopic data on BAF members indicate many are likely to be dark, low albedo asteroids. This is consistent with the carbonaceous chondrite-like nature of a 65 Myr old fossil meteorite (Kyte 1998)and with chromium from K/T boundary sediments with an isotopic signature similar to that from CM2 carbonaceous chondrites. To test elements of this scenario, we obtained near-IR and thermal IR spectroscopic data of asteroid 298 Baptistina using the NASA IRTF in order to determine surface mineralogy and estimate its albedo. We found that the asteroid has moderately strong absorption features due to the presence of olivine and pyroxene, and a moderately high albedo (~20%). These combined properties strongly suggest that the asteroid is more like an S-type rather than Xc-type (Mothé-Diniz et al. 2005). This weakens the case for 298 Baptistina being a CM2 carbonaceous chondrite and its link to the K/T impactor. We also observed several bright (V Mag. ≤16.8) BAF members to determine their composition.

Male Body Practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Lefkowich, Maya; Oliffe, John L; Hurd Clarke, Laura; Hannan-Leith, Madeline

2017-03-01

The pressure on boys and men to engage in extensive body practices (e.g., closely monitored eating and exercise habits) and achieve ideal male bodies has grown significantly over the past 20 years. Central to the depiction of ideal male bodies and body practices are both the pursuit and achievement of lean and well-defined muscles. The labels "pitches," "purchases," and "performativities" were inductively derived from the literature, and used to describe the multifaceted connections between masculinities, muscularity, and idealized male body practices. "Pitches" distil how popular culture posture norms of masculinity, and manly bodies and behaviors attainable and necessary. "Purchases" refer to men's diverse buy-in to dominant discourses about acceptable male bodies and practices. "Performativities" chronicle how men embody and navigate gender norms as they evaluate their own bodies, behaviors, and eating habits and those of their peers. Based on findings from the current scoping review, future research could benefit from fully linking masculinities with the drive for muscularity to address health and social risks associated with the pursuit of the idealized male body. In highlighting the plurality of masculinities and the complexity of men's diverse identities, health care providers can better reach and support men. Focusing on, and celebrating, a wider range of male bodies could help recenter dominant discourses about how and whose bodies and experiences are idealized. The current scoping review article offers an overview of how masculinities and muscularity have been linked to male body practices, and recommendations to advance this emergent field.

Digital scrambling for shuttle communication links: Do drawbacks outweigh advantages?

Science.gov (United States)

Dessouky, K.

1985-01-01

Digital data scrambling has been considered for communication systems using NRZ (non-return to zero) symbol formats. The purpose is to increase the number of transitions in the data to improve the performance of the symbol synchronizer. This is accomplished without expanding the bandwidth but at the expense of increasing the data bit error rate (BER). Models for the scramblers/descramblers of practical interest are presented together with the appropriate link model. The effects of scrambling on the performance of coded and uncoded links are studied. The results are illustrated by application to the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System links. Conclusions regarding the usefulness of scrambling are also given.

Perspectives on academic misconduct: implications for education and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Klainberg, Marilyn B; McCrink, Andrea; Eckardt, Patricia; Schecter, Rose; Bongiorno, Anne; Sedhom, Laila

2014-01-01

From Harvard to high school, concern related to academic misconduct, specifically cheating and its impact on societal issues, has become a great concern for educational communities. While a significant number of studies on ethical behaviors in practice in other professions such as business have been published, little research exists on registered nurses in practice. Even fewer studies have, for registered nurses, addressed if there is an association between perceived academic misconduct as students and perceived unethical behaviors in the workplace. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between perceptions of registered professional nurses' (RNs) current workplace behaviors and the RNs' retrospective perceptions of their academic misconduct as students. A convenience sample of 1 66 RNs enrolled in master's degree programs at four university schools of nursing completed questionnaires regarding their beliefs and behaviors. The outcome of this study was significant. Results revealed a strong relationship between unethical behaviors of the RN in practice and their prior academic misconduct when they were students.

Ballet as a movement-based contemplative practice? Implications for neuroscientific studies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Vugt, Marieke

2014-01-01

There is a rising scientific interest in the neuroscience behind contemplative practices (see e.g., Vago and Silbersweig, 2012 for a review), including movement-based practices such as yoga and tai chi. Given that, it becomes important to ask how such contemplative practices differ from Western

Implications of domestic food practices for the presence of bioactive components in meats with special reference to meat-based functional foods.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiménez-Colmenero, Francisco; Cofrades, Susana; Herrero, Ana M; Ruiz-Capillas, Claudia

2017-06-14

Although an essential component of the diet, the consumption of meat is in question. Meat is a major source of beneficial compounds but it also contains other substances with negative health implications. Functional foods, which are leading trends in the food industry, constitute an excellent opportunity for the meat sector to improve healthier meat options. Most studies on meat-based functional foods have focused mainly on the application of different strategies (animal production practices and meat transformation systems) to improve (increase/reduce) the presence of bioactive (healthy/unhealthy) compounds; these have led to the development of numerous products, many of them by the meat industry. However, like other foods, after purchase meats undergo certain processes before they are consumed, and these affect their composition. Although domestic handling practices can significantly alter the make-up of the marketed product in terms of healthy/unhealthy compounds, there are very few studies on their consequences. This paper provides an overview of the influence of different domestic practices (from shopping to eating) habitually followed by consumers on the presence of, and consequently on the levels of exposure to, (healthy and unhealthy) food components associated with the consumption of meats, with special reference to meat-based functional foods.

Analysis of HR consultants and French recruiters activity on LinkedIn. In between work resource and quest of identity development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hélène HOBLINGRE

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This article investigates usage of LinkedIn by HR professionals. Based on twelve HR consultants and recruiters interviews, LinkedIn usage analysis highlights that this tool is used in a mix of private and professional practices. It sheds a light on the tension of using LinkedIn as a business tool versus LinkedIn as a tool to develop personal projects. Using LinkedIn in a professional context implies following norms and guidelines that impact user freedom. As a consequence, this prevents user from benefiting from all LinkedIn developmental capabilities. Eventually, our results stress the need for an individual to use LinkedIn as a reflective practitioner. This should be done in the light of building purpose to professional activities and accommodating functional usage with strategic practices.

Assessing Students' Use of LinkedIn in a Business and Professional Communication Course

Science.gov (United States)

Slone, Amanda Ruth; Gaffney, Amy L. H.

2016-01-01

This paper examined the practice of using LinkedIn as a tool for teaching students how to create a professional online presence. A descriptive analysis of student LinkedIn profiles revealed that students included some basic requirements, but many students still neglected to fully complete the profile, thereby leaving out some important information…

Recapitalization, Implications for Educational Policy and Practice and Future Research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scheerens, Jaap; Scheerens, Jaap

2017-01-01

In this concluding chapter conclusions are drawn, and the relevance of the results for educational science and policy and practice are discussed. Illustrations are provided that were drawn from the exploration of policy and practices in the Netherlands. Synthetic answers to the three research

PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICE WAY OF CONNECTING PEDAGOGICAL THEORY AND PRACTICE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Božo Obradović

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The issue of linking educational theory to educational practice (educational work with young people is highly topical and important issue for the science of pedagogy. One way of achieving this task is a pedagogical practice (PP students. In paper we deal with identifying, comparing, and analyzing the curricula of vocational (Curriculum for Preschool Teacher (2007 and academic (Curriculum for Educators (2007. Studies Teacher Training in Serbia, as well as educational disciplines and areas of pedagogical science derived from them. The results showed many similarities, but also differences when it comes to educational disciplines that are taught, the name of pedagogical practice, the number of classes to implement, ECTS (European Credit Transfer System, which affect the quality and coherence of educational theory and educational practice. In order to identify similarities and overcome weaknesses that accompany the pedagogical practice analysis, we came to know about the specifics of each of the six pedagogical practice. For each pedagogical practice defined specific goals and tasks arising from the curriculum, and in particular pedagogical disciplines taught at university. Each of these pedagogical practices is the ability to connect educational theory and educational practice and direct way to increase the quality of training and competence of future teachers for direct work with children.

Practical Application of Fundamental Concepts in Exercise Physiology

Science.gov (United States)

Ramsbottom R.; Kinch, R. F. T.; Morris, M. G.; Dennis, A. M.

2007-01-01

The collection of primary data in laboratory classes enhances undergraduate practical and critical thinking skills. The present article describes the use of a lecture program, running in parallel with a series of linked practical classes, that emphasizes classical or standard concepts in exercise physiology. The academic and practical program ran…

Amenable to reason: Aristotle's rhetoric and the moral psychology of practical ethics.

Science.gov (United States)

London, A J

2000-12-01

An Aristotelian conception of practical ethics can be derived from the account of practical reasoning that Aristotle articulates in is Rhetoric and this has important implications for the way we understand the nature and limits of practical ethics. an important feature of this conception of practical ethics is its responsiveness to the complex ways in which agents form and maintain moral commitments, and this has important implications for the debate concerning methods of ethics in applied ethics. In particular, this feature enables us to understand casuistry, narrative, and principlism as mutually supportive modes of moral inquiry, rather than divergent and mutually exclusive methods of ethics. As a result, an Aristotelian conception of practical ethics clears the conceptual common ground upon which practical ethicists can forge a stable and realistic self-understanding.

Implications of the "My School" Website for Disadvantaged Communities: A Bourdieuian Analysis

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Mills, Carmen

2015-01-01

Drawing on the theoretical constructs of Pierre Bourdieu, this article explores implications of the Australian "My School" website for schools located in disadvantaged communities. These implications flow from the legitimisation of certain cultural practices through the hidden linkages between scholastic aptitude and cultural heritage…

Formal-informal economy linkages: What implications for poverty in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The findings have implications for poverty analysis in South Africa. Policy which views poverty as being located outside the mainstream of the economy – in the so-called 'second' economy – is misleading. Instead, an integrated approach which views poverty as linked to and a product of the trajectory and growth patterns of ...

"Suffering" in palliative sedation: Conceptual Analysis and Implications for Decision-Making in Clinical Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Bozzaro, Claudia; Schildmann, Jan

2018-04-21

Palliative sedation is an increasingly used and, simultaneously, challenging practice at the end of life. Many controversies associated with this therapy are rooted in implicit differences regarding the understanding of "suffering" as prerequisite for palliative sedation. The aim of this paper is to inform the current debates by a conceptual analysis of two different philosophical accounts of suffering, (1) the subjective and holistic concept and (2) the objective and gradual concept and by a clinical-ethical analysis of the implications of each account for decisions about palliative sedation. We will show that while the subjective and holistic account of suffering fits well with the holistic approach of palliative care, there are considerable challenges to justify limits to requests for palliative sedation. By contrast, the objective and gradual account fits well with the need for an objective basis for clinical decisions in the context of palliative sedation, but runs the risk of falling short when considering the individual and subjective experience of suffering at the end of life. We will conclude with a plea for the necessity of further combined conceptual and empirical research to develop a sound and feasible understanding of suffering which can contribute to consistent decision-making about palliative sedation. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Predicting the unpredictable: Critical analysis and practical implications of predictive anticipatory activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julia eMossbridge

2014-03-01

Full Text Available A recent meta-analysis of experiments from seven independent laboratories (n=26 published since 1978 indicates that the human body can apparently detect randomly delivered stimuli occurring 1-10 seconds in the future (Mossbridge, Tressoldi, & Utts, 2012. The key observation in these studies is that human physiology appears to be able to distinguish between unpredictable dichotomous future stimuli, such as emotional vs. neutral images or sound vs. silence. This phenomenon has been called presentiment (as in feeling the future. In this paper we call it predictive anticipatory activity or PAA. The phenomenon is predictive because it can distinguish between upcoming stimuli; it is anticipatory because the physiological changes occur before a future event; and it is an activity because it involves changes in the cardiopulmonary, skin, and/or nervous systems. PAA is an unconscious phenomenon that seems to be a time-reversed reflection of the usual physiological response to a stimulus. It appears to resemble precognition (consciously knowing something is going to happen before it does, but PAA specifically refers to unconscious physiological reactions as opposed to conscious premonitions. Though it is possible that PAA underlies the conscious experience of precognition, experiments testing this idea have not produced clear results. The first part of this paper reviews the evidence for PAA and examines the two most difficult challenges for obtaining valid evidence for it: expectation bias and multiple analyses. The second part speculates on possible mechanisms and the theoretical implications of PAA for understanding physiology and consciousness. The third part examines potential practical applications.

Information behaviour and practice

CERN Document Server

Rafferty, Pauline; Baker, David

2015-01-01

This special issue explores information behaviour and practice in general, and specifically focuses on the implications for library and information services. Information seeking behaviour and information practice remain areas of importance in information science and librarianship, perhaps even more so in the digital age. This special issue is an opportunity to share ideas and scholarship and to explore models and methods. The papers chosen for inclusion cover a range of topics and approach them from a number of different epistemological and methodological positions demonstrating the liveliness

Inter-personal violence and abuse in adolescent intimate relationships: mental health impact and implications for practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Barter, Christine; Stanley, Nicky

2016-10-01

This paper provides a narrative review of the knowledge on inter-personal violence and abuse (IPVA) in adolescents' intimate relationships. It draws on the authors' own research, published reviews, and a rapid review on IPVA victimization and mental health outcomes for adolescents. The research reviewed identified associations between adolescent IPVA and substance misuse, depressive symptoms and PTSD, eating disorders and suicidal thinking, and behaviour in young people. Generally, girls appeared more likely to report severe mental health outcomes than boys. Adolescents rarely disclose IPVA to adults and delivering preventative programmes that promote knowledge and help seeking may offer a means of building on young people's tendency to seek help from friends. These preventative interventions, usually delivered in schools, need to be closely linked to support services for adolescents who disclose abuse. While there are some practice examples of emerging interventions for both victims and perpetrators of adolescent IPVA, there is as yet little robust evidence regarding their effectiveness.

A coherent free space optical link for long distance clock comparison, navigation, and communication: The Mini-Doll project

Science.gov (United States)

Djerroud, K.; Samain, E.; Clairon, A.; Acef, O.; Man, N.; Lemonde, P.; Wolf, P.

2017-11-01

We describe the realization of a 5 km free space coherent optical link through the turbulent atmosphere between a telescope and a ground target. We present the phase noise of the link, limited mainly by atmospheric turbulence and mechanical vibrations of the telescope and the target. We discuss the implications of our results for applications, with particular emphasis on optical Doppler ranging to satellites and long distance frequency transfer.

Integrating Practice Guidelines into Professional Training: Implications for Diversity Competence

Science.gov (United States)

Miville, Marie L.; Duan, Changming; Nutt, Roberta L.; Waehler, Charles A.; Suzuki, Lisa; Pistole, M. Carole; Arredondo, Patricia; Duffy, Michael; Mejia, Brenda X.; Corpus, Melissa

2009-01-01

The authors present the findings of a special task group (STG) organized to explore effective training strategies for the practice guidelines focused on diverse populations. They provide a brief literature review and summarize survey data from academic training directors regarding current use of practice guidelines. The authors then describe the…

Neurological and Psychiatric Diseases and Their Unique Cognitive Profiles: Implications for Nursing Practice and Research

Science.gov (United States)

Vance, David E.; Dodson, Joan E.; Watkins, Jason; Kennedy, Bridgett H.; Keltner, Norman L.

2013-01-01

To successfully negotiate and interact with one’s environment, optimal cognitive functioning is needed. Unfortunately, many neurological and psychiatric diseases impede certain cognitive abilities such as executive functioning or speed of processing; this can produce a poor fit between the patient and the cognitive demands of his or her environment. Such non-dementia diseases include bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression, and anxiety disorders, just to name a few. Each of these diseases negatively affects particular areas of the brain, resulting in distinct cognitive profiles (e.g., deficits in executive functioning but normal speed of processing as seen in schizophrenia). In fact, it is from these cognitive deficits in which such behavioral and emotional symptoms may manifest (e.g., delusions, paranoia). This article highlights the distinct cognitive profiles of such common neurological and psychiatric diseases. An understanding of such disease-specific cognitive profiles can assist nurses in providing care to patients by knowing what cognitive deficits are associated with each disease and how these cognitive deficits impact everyday functioning and social interactions. Implications for nursing practice and research are posited within the framework of cognitive reserve and neuroplasticity. PMID:23422693

Exploring science teachers' perceptions of experimentation: implications for restructuring school practical work

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Bing; Li, Xiaoxiao

2017-09-01

It is commonly recognised that practical work has a distinctive and central role in science teaching and learning. Although a large number of studies have addressed the definitions, typologies, and purposes of practical work, few have consulted practicing science teachers. This study explored science teachers' perceptions of experimentation for the purpose of restructuring school practical work in view of science practice. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 87 science teachers at the secondary school level. In the interviews, science teachers were asked to make a comparison between students' experiments and scientific experiments. Eight dimensions of experimentation were generated from the qualitative data analysis, and the distributions of these eight dimensions between the two types of experiments were compared and analysed. An ideal model of practical work was suggested for restructuring practical work at the secondary school level, and some issues related to the effective enactment of practical work were discussed.

Governance implications of nanomaterials companies’ inconsistent risk perceptions and safety practices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Engeman, Cassandra D.; Baumgartner, Lynn; Carr, Benjamin M.; Fish, Allison M.; Meyerhofer, John D.; Satterfield, Terre A.; Holden, Patricia A.; Harthorn, Barbara Herr

2012-01-01

Current research on the nanotechnology industry indicates its downstream expansion at a rapid pace, while toxicological research and best practices for environmental health and safety are still being developed. Companies that use and/or produce engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have enormous potential to influence safe-handling practices for ENMs across the product life cycle. Knowledge of both industry practices and leaders’ perceptions of risk is vital for understanding how companies will act to control potential environmental and health risks. This article reports results from a new international survey of nanomaterials companies in 14 countries. In this survey, company participants reported relatively high levels of uncertainty and/or perceived risk with regard to ENMs. However, these perspectives were not accompanied by expected risk-avoidant practices or preferences for regulatory oversight. A majority of companies indicated “lack of information” as a significant impediment to implementing nano-specific safety practices, but they also reported practices that were inconsistent with widely available guidance. Additionally, in the absence of safe-handling regulations, companies reported nano-specific health and safety programs that were narrow in scope. Taken together, these findings indicate that health and safety guidance is not reaching industry. While industry leaders’ reluctance toward regulation might be expected, their own reported unsafe practices and recognition of possible risks suggest a more top-down approach from regulators is needed to protect workers and the environment.

Governance implications of nanomaterials companies' inconsistent risk perceptions and safety practices

Science.gov (United States)

Engeman, Cassandra D.; Baumgartner, Lynn; Carr, Benjamin M.; Fish, Allison M.; Meyerhofer, John D.; Satterfield, Terre A.; Holden, Patricia A.; Harthorn, Barbara Herr

2012-03-01

Current research on the nanotechnology industry indicates its downstream expansion at a rapid pace, while toxicological research and best practices for environmental health and safety are still being developed. Companies that use and/or produce engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have enormous potential to influence safe-handling practices for ENMs across the product life cycle. Knowledge of both industry practices and leaders' perceptions of risk is vital for understanding how companies will act to control potential environmental and health risks. This article reports results from a new international survey of nanomaterials companies in 14 countries. In this survey, company participants reported relatively high levels of uncertainty and/or perceived risk with regard to ENMs. However, these perspectives were not accompanied by expected risk-avoidant practices or preferences for regulatory oversight. A majority of companies indicated "lack of information" as a significant impediment to implementing nano-specific safety practices, but they also reported practices that were inconsistent with widely available guidance. Additionally, in the absence of safe-handling regulations, companies reported nano-specific health and safety programs that were narrow in scope. Taken together, these findings indicate that health and safety guidance is not reaching industry. While industry leaders' reluctance toward regulation might be expected, their own reported unsafe practices and recognition of possible risks suggest a more top-down approach from regulators is needed to protect workers and the environment.

The national occupational therapy practice analysis: findings and implications for competence.

Science.gov (United States)

Dunn, W; Cada, E

1998-10-01

This article reports some of the findings from a national study of occupational therapy practice conducted by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) as part of its fiduciary responsibility to ensure that its entry-level certification examination is formulated on the basis of current practice. The NBCOT developed a survey with input from approximately 200 occupational therapy leaders and then used it to solicit information about current practice from 4,000 occupational therapists and 3,000 occupational therapy assistants. The sample included geographical location, experience level, and practice area distributions. Approximately 50% of the sample responded to the survey. Data indicate similarities and differences in occupational therapist and occupational therapy assistant practice (e.g., occupational therapists spend more time conducting evaluations, planning interventions, and supervising, whereas occupational therapy assistants spend more time providing interventions), an increased emphasis on population-based services (e.g., serving a business or industry rather than an individual worker), and an emphasis on occupation as a core knowledge base for practice. From a continuing competency perspective, the data can be useful to the profession; we can plan continuing education to address topics that practitioners have indicated are critical to their practice. The findings will be useful for revising the entry-level certification examination and may guide thinking about the parameters of continuing competence because the responses represent a cross-section of the profession.

Redefining the WISC-R: Implications for Professional Practice and Public Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Macmann, Gregg M.; Barnett, David W.

1992-01-01

The factor structure of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Revised) was examined in the standardization sample using new methods of factor analysis. The substantial overlap across factors was most parsimoniously represented by a single general factor. Implications for public policy regarding the purposes and outcomes of special…

The Energy-Water Nexus: Managing the Links between Energy and Water for a Sustainable Future

Science.gov (United States)

Hussey, Karen; Petit, Carine

2010-05-01

Water and energy are both indispensable inputs to modern economies but currently both resources are under threat owing to the impacts of an ever-increasing population and associated demand, unsustainable practices in agriculture and manufacturing, and the implications of a changing climate. However, it is where water and energy rely on each other that pose the most complex challenges for policy-makers. Water is needed for mining coal, drilling oil, refining gasoline, and generating and distributing electricity; and, conversely, vast amounts of energy are needed to pump, transport, treat and distribute water, particularly in the production of potable water through the use of desalination plants and waste water treatment plants. Despite the links, and the urgency in both sectors for security of supply, in existing policy frameworks energy and water policies are developed largely in isolation from one another. Worse still, some policies designed to encourage alternative energy supplies give little thought to the resultant consequences on water resources, and, similarly, policies designed to secure water supplies pay little attention to the resultant consequences on energy use. The development of new technologies presents both opportunities and challenges for managing the energy-water nexus but a better understanding of the links between energy and water is essential in any attempt to formulate policies for more resilient and adaptable societies. The energy-water nexus must be adequately integrated into policy and decision-making or governments run the risk of contradicting their efforts, and therefore failing in their objectives, in both sectors. A series of COST Exploratory Workshops, drawing on on-going research in the energy-water nexus from a number of international teams, identified the implications of the energy-water nexus on the development of (i) energy policies (ii) water resource management policies and (iii) climate adaptation and mitigation policies. A

Practice Alignment and intent as distinctions for understanding cross-boundary knowledge creation practices in knowledge ecosystems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aaen, Mathias

This paper explores how practice alignment and intent across organizational boundaries may serve as an explanation for collaborative knowledge creation in a knowledge ecosystem. The paper is based on a longitudinal case study of a large multinational knowledge ecosystem consisting of many...... communities of practices and organisations. By applying a practice theory approach to five data sets collected over a five-year period, the study investigates how two distinctions may serve as a potential gateway into understanding knowledge creation across boundaries. The two distinctions – practice...... are identified and discussed. Potential implications for organisational and knowledge ecosystem conceptions are identified and discussed for further research....

The ethics of social media in dental practice: challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Peltier, Bruce; Curley, Arthur

2013-07-01

This is the first of two essays written to consider several important trends in dental practice that result from innovations in digital and social media. This essay reviews ethical and legal implications of the use of websites, Facebook, review sites, email and other digital innovations in dental practice. The second essay provides ethical tools for analysis, illuminates areas of ethical concern in today's practice environment and offers recommendations for future practice.

In vitro cross-linking of bovine lens proteins photosensitized by promazines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Merville, M.P.; Decuyper, J.; Piette, J.; Calberg-Bacq, C.M.; Van de Vorst, A.

1984-01-01

Promazine derivatives induce cross-linking of bovine lens crystallins in vitro by irradiation with near-ultraviolet (UV) light in the presence of O 2 , as revealed by electrophoresis after denaturation. With the five derivatives tested (promazine [PZ], chlorpromazine [CPZ], triflupromazine [TFPZ], methoxypromazine [MTPZ], and acepromazine [ACPZ]), single-hit kinetics are observed. Evidence implicating the cation radicals of the PZ derivatives as the causative agent of this in vitro effect is presented. Hydroxyl radicals do not appear to be involved in the photo-cross-linking reaction. Sodium ascorbate protects against damage induced either by PZ derivatives plus light or by PZ cation radicals in the dark. These findings are discussed with respect to development of cataracts induced by these drugs in vivo

Strategy as Performative Practice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kornberger, Martin; Clegg, Stewart

2011-01-01

is it based upon? And what are its power effects? Based on a detailed empirical analysis of the strategy-making process, the article charts how strategy rendered the city knowable and how performative effects of strategizing mobilized the public and legitimized outcomes of the process while silencing other...... (traditionally the domain of science) and values (the realm of politics); third, and consequently, that strategy is a sociopolitical practice that aims at mobilizing people, marshalling political will and legitimizing decisions. The article concludes with reflections on five practical implications of the study....

"Learning to Listen": Boys' Gender Narratives--Implications for Theory and Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Farrell, Francis

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to critically investigate year 6 and year 9 boys' constructions of masculinity in the light of theories of inclusive masculinity and to consider the implications of the findings for critical masculinities scholarship in educational research. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative data was collected through…

Practical implications of empirically studying moral decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Heinzelmann, Nora; Ugazio, Giuseppe; Tobler, Philippe N

2012-01-01

This paper considers the practical question of why people do not behave in the way they ought to behave. This question is a practical one, reaching both into the normative and descriptive domains of morality. That is, it concerns moral norms as well as empirical facts. We argue that two main problems usually keep us form acting and judging in a morally decent way: firstly, we make mistakes in moral reasoning. Secondly, even when we know how to act and judge, we still fail to meet the requirements due to personal weaknesses. This discussion naturally leads us to another question: can we narrow the gap between what people are morally required to do and what they actually do? We discuss findings from neuroscience, economics, and psychology, considering how we might bring our moral behavior better in line with moral theory. Potentially fruitful means include nudging, training, pharmacological enhancement, and brain stimulation. We conclude by raising the question of whether such methods could and should be implemented.

Soil conservation practices among Arable Crop Farmers In Enugu ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Soil conservation practices among Arable Crop Farmers In Enugu – North Agricultural Zone, Nigeria: Implications for Climate Change. ... The paper recommends concerted efforts to promote among farmers the conservation practices that aid mitigation and adaptation to climate change and at the same time enhance ...

Transforming the Medical Subject Headings into Linked Data: Creating the Authorized Version of MeSH in RDF.

Science.gov (United States)

Bushman, Barbara; Anderson, David; Fu, Gang

In February 2014 the National Library of Medicine formed the Linked Data Infrastructure Working Group to investigate the potential for publishing linked data, determine best practices for publishing linked data, and prioritize linked data projects, beginning with transforming the Medical Subject Headings as a linked data pilot. This article will review the pilot project to convert the Medical Subject Headings from XML to RDF. It will discuss the collaborative process, the technical and organizational issues tackled, and the future of linked data at the library.

Linking Consumer Rights with Citizen Roles: An Opportunity for Consumer Educators.

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Georgia L.

1994-01-01

Consumer educators can help students develop consumer/citizen roles through curricula linking consumer rights with citizen responsibilities. Dialogue about issues, community needs assessment, and community volunteer service enable students to practice citizen roles. (SK)

The Institutional Implications of the Unfair Terms Directive in Poland

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mańko, R.

2012-01-01

In this paper I focus on the institutional implications of the EU Unfair Terms Directive (93/13) in Poland in the broader context of the welfare state model prevalent in that post-socialist EU Member State. I depart from the assumption that there is, in principle, a link between the intensity of the

Ancient Athenian Democratic Knowledge and Citizenship: Connectivity and Intercultural Implications

Science.gov (United States)

Gundara, Jagdish S.

2011-01-01

This paper explores the implications that ancient Athens had for modern representative democracies and the links that can be made to the philosophical principles that form the essence of intercultural education. Such an exploration shows that modern democratic societies have ignored many key aspects of the important legacy left to us by these…

Internet use by physicians and its impact on medical practice-an exploratory study.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Ik-Whan G; Xie, Henry Yu

2003-01-01

Internet use by physicians has played a vital role in medical practices for many years. A number of related studies have emerged to examine the impact of Internet use on medical practice. However, there is yet to be a comprehensive study on the impact of Internet use by physicians on their medical practice. This study examines a preliminary step to explore the major implications of physicians' Internet use on the traditional areas, such as health education and learning, physician-patient relationship, and medical marketing. Barriers to Internet use are also investigated. Implication of use of the Internet in the medical practice and limitations of this study are discussed as well.

Shuttle Planning for Link Closures in Urban Public Transport Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

van der Hurk, Evelien; Koutsopoulos, Haris N.; Wilson, Nigel

2016-01-01

Urban public transport systems must periodically close certain links for maintenance, which can have significant effects on the service provided to passengers. In practice, the effects of closures are mitigated by replacing the closed links with a simple shuttle service. However, alternative...... cost, which includes transfers and frequency-dependent waiting time costs. This model is applied to a shuttle design problem based on a real-world case study of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority network of Boston, Massachusetts. The results show that additional shuttle routes can reduce...

Ethical dilemmas among nurses as they transition to hospital case management: implications for organizational ethics, part I.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Donnell, Lolita T

2007-01-01

To describe the experiences of ethical concerns by clinical nurses as they transitioned into their new role in hospital case management. Through this study, an attempt was made to explore experiences of ethical concerns and identify the implications for organizational ethics. In this study, nurse case managers practicing in the acute hospital setting, military, not-for-profit community, and teaching hospitals were interviewed. The majority of the nurse case manager participants were engaged in hospital discharge planning and utilization review activities. An interpretive phenomenological approach was used to identify the themes inherent in ethical concerns and articulate them within the context of hospital nurse case management. Fifteen participants were interviewed to obtain a qualitative description of the nurse case managers' lived experiences of ethical dilemmas and how they were resolved. Nurse case managers' perceptions of solutions/options to resolve such ethical dilemmas were explored. As nurses transition into the expanded role of case management in the present healthcare delivery system, they frequently face situations demanding ethical choices and judgments to accommodate diverse patient interests and needs. These ethical decisions required in daily practice in case management represent ethical dilemmas to nurses. The insights derived from the analysis of the interviews have implications for nursing practice, education, policy, ethics, and research; recommendations for organizations employing nurse case managers in terms of recruitment, orientation, training, and continued need for educational support are identified. 1. The clinical decisions required in daily practice of case management represented challenges to the nurses. This highlights the critical role of adequate educational orientation to case management for beginning case managers. 2. Nurse case managers should be cognizant of the "disconnect" that could occur between their obligations to the

Ethical dilemmas among nurses as they transition to hospital case management: implications for organizational ethics, part II.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Donnell, Lolita T

2007-01-01

The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of ethical concerns by clinical nurses as they transitioned into their new role in hospital case management. Through this study, an attempt was made to explore experiences of ethical concerns and identify the implications for organizational ethics. In this study, nurse case managers practicing in the acute care setting, military, not-for-profit community, and teaching hospitals were interviewed. The majority of the nurse case manager participants were engaged in hospital discharge planning and utilization review activities. An interpretive phenomenological approach was used to identify the themes inherent in ethical concerns and articulate them within the context of hospital nurse case management. Fifteen participants were interviewed to obtain a qualitative description of the nurse case managers' lived experiences of ethical dilemmas and how they were resolved. Nurse case managers' perceptions of solutions/options to resolve such ethical dilemmas were explored. As nurses transition into the expanded role of case management in the present healthcare delivery system, they frequently face situations demanding ethical choices and judgments to accommodate diverse patient interests and needs. These ethical decisions required in daily practice of case management represent ethical dilemmas to nurses. The insights derived from the analysis of the interviews have implications for nursing practice, education, policy, ethics, and research; recommendations for organizations employing nurse case managers in terms of recruitment, orientation, training, and continued need for educational support are identified. 1. The clinical decisions required in daily practice of case management represented challenges to the nurses. This highlights the critical role of adequate educational orientation to case management for beginning case managers. 2. Nurse case managers should be cognizant of the "disconnect" that could occur between

Cumulative complexity: a functional, patient-centered model of patient complexity can improve research and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Shippee, Nathan D; Shah, Nilay D; May, Carl R; Mair, Frances S; Montori, Victor M

2012-10-01

To design a functional, patient-centered model of patient complexity with practical applicability to analytic design and clinical practice. Existing literature on patient complexity has mainly identified its components descriptively and in isolation, lacking clarity as to their combined functions in disrupting care or to how complexity changes over time. The authors developed a cumulative complexity model, which integrates existing literature and emphasizes how clinical and social factors accumulate and interact to complicate patient care. A narrative literature review is used to explicate the model. The model emphasizes a core, patient-level mechanism whereby complicating factors impact care and outcomes: the balance between patient workload of demands and patient capacity to address demands. Workload encompasses the demands on the patient's time and energy, including demands of treatment, self-care, and life in general. Capacity concerns ability to handle work (e.g., functional morbidity, financial/social resources, literacy). Workload-capacity imbalances comprise the mechanism driving patient complexity. Treatment and illness burdens serve as feedback loops, linking negative outcomes to further imbalances, such that complexity may accumulate over time. With its components largely supported by existing literature, the model has implications for analytic design, clinical epidemiology, and clinical practice. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Educational Implications of Michael Fishbane's "Sacred Attunement: A Jewish Theology"

Science.gov (United States)

Marom, Daniel

2008-01-01

This article posits Michael Fishbane's Judaic scholarship as a prime resource for Jewish education. The link between the two fields can be made through a translation of the theological underpinnings of Fishbane's insights into Judaism to educational purposes and practices. Initial work with Jewish educators on establishing this link encouraged…

Health and safety implications of recruitment payments in migrant construction workers

Science.gov (United States)

Hassan, H. A.

2014-01-01

Background The Middle East construction sector is heavily reliant on a migrant workforce that predominantly originates from South Asia. It is common practice for migrant construction workers to pay a local labour recruiter the equivalent of one or more years’ prospective overseas salary to secure employment, work and travel permits and transportation. The occupational health and safety implications of these financial arrangements remain unexplored. Aims To examine associations between payment to a labour recruiter, perceived general health and worksite accidents among migrant construction workers in the Middle East. Methods A questionnaire was completed by a convenience sample of predominantly Indian migrant construction workers drawn from a large construction project. The relationship between payment and risk of poor health and workplace accidents was assessed using multivariate logistic regression models (crude and adjusted for socio-demographic and occupational factors). Results There were 651 participants. The majority (58%) of migrant construction workers had paid a labour recruiter and ~40% had experienced a worksite accident. Between 3% (labourers) and 9% (foremen) perceived their health to be poor. Labourers and skilled workers who had paid a labour recruiter were significantly more likely to have experienced a worksite accident in the previous 12 months. Skilled workers, but not labourers and foremen, who had paid a labour recruiter were at increased risk of poor health. Conclusions The mechanisms linking labour recruiter payments to adverse safety and health outcomes warrant investigation with a view to developing interventions to erode these links. PMID:24668316

Linking Federal Administrative Records to Respondents and Nonrespondents in Household Surveys: A Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseph Sakshaug

2017-04-01

We conclude with a general discussion of the practical implications of this work for survey organizations considering performing similar linkages and highlight some opportunities for future linkage research.

Systematic review of the links between human resource management practices and performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Patterson, M; Rick, J; Wood, S; Carroll, C; Balain, S; Booth, A

2010-10-01

In recent years human resource management (HRM) has been seen as an important factor in the successful realisation of organisational change programmes. The UK NHS is undergoing substantial organisational change and there is a need to establish which human resource (HR) initiatives may be most effective. To assess the results from a wide-ranging series of systematic reviews of the evidence on HRM and performance. The first part assesses evidence on use of HRM in the UK and fidelity of practice implemented. The second part considers evidence for the impact of HRM practices on intermediate outcomes, which can impact on final outcomes, such as organisational performance or patient care. The following databases were searched: Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA), British Nursing Index (BNI), Business Source Premier, Campbell Collaboration, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE), DH-Data, EMBASE, Health Management Information Consortium (HMIC), International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), King's Fund database, MEDLINE, NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED), National Research Register (NRR), PREMEDLINE, PsycINFO, ReFeR, Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and Science Citation Index (SCI). The searches were conducted in May/June 2006. Broad categories of HRM interventions and intermediate outcomes were generated: 10 HRM categories and 12 intermediate outcome categories. Seven patient final outcomes were derived from the NHS Performance Indicators and the NHS Improvement Plan. The quality criteria used to select papers incorporated a longitudinal study design filter to provide evidence of the causal direction of relationships between HRM and relevant outcomes. Single HRM practices were considered. Within the health-specific literature, focus was on the

Health effects of radiation and the implications for radiation safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gonzalez, A.J.; Anderer, J.

1991-01-01

In this Paper two elements of a multiphase analysis of radiation exposures in the living environment - the human health effects of ionizing radiation and the implications for radiation safety policy and practices - are presented. Part 1 draws together the current state of scientific knowledge and insight about the human health effects of radiation, describing these in terms of known cause-related deterministic effects and of the estimated incidence of stochastic effects as defined by biostatistics and biological models. The 1988 UNSCEAR report provides an authoritative basis for such an examination. Part 2 explores some of the major implications that the state-of-the-art of radiation biology has - or should have - for radiation safety policy and practices. (author)

Bariatric surgery and the changing current scope of general surgery practice: implications for general surgery residency training.

Science.gov (United States)

Mostaedi, Rouzbeh; Ali, Mohamed R; Pierce, Jonathan L; Scherer, Lynette A; Galante, Joseph M

2015-02-01

The scope of general surgery practice has evolved tremendously in the last 20 years. However, clinical experience in general surgery residency training has undergone relatively little change. To evaluate the current scope of academic general surgery and its implications on surgical residency. The University HealthSystem Consortium and Association of American Medical Colleges established the Faculty Practice Solution Center (FPSC) to characterize physician productivity. The FPSC is a benchmarking tool for academic medical centers created from revenue data collected from more than 90,000 physicians who practice at 95 institutions across the United States. The FPSC database was queried to evaluate the annual mean procedure frequency per surgeon (PFS) in each calendar year from 2006 through 2011. The associated work relative value units (wRVUs) were also examined to measure physician effort and skill. During the 6-year period, 146 distinct Current Procedural Terminology codes were among the top 100 procedures, and 16 of these procedures ranked in the top 10 procedures in at least 1 year. The top 10 procedures accounted for more than half (range, 52.5%-57.2%) of the total 100 PFS evaluated for each year. Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass was consistently among the top 10 procedures in each year (PFS, 18.2-24.6). The other most frequently performed procedures included laparoscopic cholecystectomy (PFS, 30.3-43.5), upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy (PFS, 26.5-34.3), mastectomy (PFS, 16.5-35.0), inguinal hernia repair (PFS, 15.5-22.1), and abdominal wall hernia repair (PFS, 21.6-26.1). In all years, laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass generated the highest number of wRVUs (wRVUs, 491.0-618.2), and laparoscopic cholecystectomy was regularly the next highest (wRVUs, 335.8-498.7). A significant proportion of academic general surgery is composed of bariatric surgery, yet surgical training does not sufficiently emphasize the necessary exposure to technical expertise

Frontal responses during learning predict vulnerability to the psychotogenic effects of ketamine : Linking cognition, brain activity, and psychosis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Corlett, Philip R.; Honey, Garry D.; Aitken, Michael R. F.; Dickinson, Anthony; Shanks, David R.; Absalom, Anthony R.; Lee, Michael; Pomarol-Clotet, Edith; Murray, Graham K.; McKenna, Peter J.; Robbins, Trevor W.; Bullmore, Edward T.; Fletcher, Paul C.

Context: Establishing a neurobiological account of delusion formation that links cognitive processes, brain activity, and symptoms is important to furthering our understanding of psychosis. Objective: To explore a theoretical model of delusion formation that implicates prediction error - dependent

Linking Hospital and Tax data to support research on the economic impacts of hospitalization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudia Sanmartin

2017-04-01

This project has created a unique linked database that will support research on the economic consequences of ‘health shocks’ for individuals and their families, and the implications for income, labour and health policies. This database represents a new and unique resource that will fill an important national data gap, and enable a wide range of relevant research.

Alternative Families and Children: Implications for Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, Jannette; Eiduson, Bernice T.

1980-01-01

Since 1973, the UCLA Family Styles Project has studied a sample of nontraditional Caucasian families (single mothers, social contract families, communal families) plus a comparison group of conventional nuclear families. Findings are reported on parents' personal/social values and changes in childrearing practices. Implications for education are…

Teachers’ Perceptions of Inclusion in a Pilot Inclusive Education Program: Implications for Instructional Leadership

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zachary Y. Mngo

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The opinions of general education secondary school teachers in seven select schools involved in a pilot inclusive education program in the Northwest Region of Cameroon were sought. The findings reveal that most teachers in Cameroon still prefer separate special education institutions to inclusive ones. These conclusions contradict earlier research which showed that resistance to integrated classrooms was emanating from beliefs and customs. Teachers with some training on teaching students with disabilities and more experienced and highly educated teachers were more supportive of inclusive education indicating that resistance to the practice is linked to inadequate or complete lack of teachers’ preparedness. Younger, less experienced teachers with no training in special education indicated less enthusiasm regarding the benefits of inclusion, their ability to manage integrated classrooms, and teach students with disabilities. The implication of these findings for future research, institutional support systems, institutional policies, and overall instructional leadership is discussed in this article.

Theoretical and practical issues in the definition of health: insights from Aboriginal Australia.

Science.gov (United States)

Boddington, Paula; Räisänen, Ulla

2009-02-01

This paper discusses attempts to define health within a public policy arena and practical and conceptual difficulties that arise. An Australian Aboriginal definition of health is examined. Although there are certain difficulties of translation, this definition is prominent in current Australian health policy and discourse about health. The definition can be seen as broadly holistic in comparison to other holistic definitions such as that of the World Health Organization. The nature of this holism and its grounding within the context of Aboriginal Australia is discussed. In particular, its implications for the phenomenon of medicalization, which may be associated with a holistic notion of health, is critically explored, as is the link of notions of health to culture and the question of the possibility of a universal definition of health. The question of to what extent a definition of health is inspirational or operational is also raised.

Practical Implications of Empirically Studying Moral Decision-Making

Science.gov (United States)

Heinzelmann, Nora; Ugazio, Giuseppe; Tobler, Philippe N.

2012-01-01

This paper considers the practical question of why people do not behave in the way they ought to behave. This question is a practical one, reaching both into the normative and descriptive domains of morality. That is, it concerns moral norms as well as empirical facts. We argue that two main problems usually keep us form acting and judging in a morally decent way: firstly, we make mistakes in moral reasoning. Secondly, even when we know how to act and judge, we still fail to meet the requirements due to personal weaknesses. This discussion naturally leads us to another question: can we narrow the gap between what people are morally required to do and what they actually do? We discuss findings from neuroscience, economics, and psychology, considering how we might bring our moral behavior better in line with moral theory. Potentially fruitful means include nudging, training, pharmacological enhancement, and brain stimulation. We conclude by raising the question of whether such methods could and should be implemented. PMID:22783157

Networking activism: implications for Greece

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pantelis Vatikiotis

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The outbreak of December 2008 against police brutality through a wave of demonstrations and street protests in Athens, which was strongly advocated by protest activities and practices across the world, addresses several issues in relation to the transformative potentials of mediated collective action. The paper critically evaluates different accounts of December events, probing then into thevery networking of that movement. From this perspective, it points out another aspect of the local-global interplay in protest culture along new mediating practices (beyond the creation of transnational publics, that of the implications of transnational networking for local social activism and identification, addressing relevant questions in the Greek context.

Assessing health in an urban neighborhood: community process, data results and implications for practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Idali Torres, M

1998-06-01

This article examines the community process and data results of a health assessment conducted in an urban neighborhood of a middle-size city in Western Massachusetts. It describes the four-stage development process of the Health Assessment Project (HAP), a collaboration of the UMASS School of Public Health faculty and students, community based organizations and youth residents: (1) planning with a contemporary participatory approach, (2) implementing the data collection with traditional survey methodology, (3) tailoring the data analysis for a presentation at a community forum and report, and (4) incorporating the community's reaction to data results. In addition, it presents selected data results on health conditions of individual household members and perceived community health concerns and resources. Salient data results include high rates of chronic health conditions such as asthma and other respiratory problems among residents 0-18, back pain and other musculoskeletal among younger adults 19-54, and high blood pressure and other cardi-circulatory problems among older adults age 55 and older. The three most prevalent perceived community concerns are substance abuse, gangs and drug dealing. Identified community resources include sources of (1) providers of primary care, (2) health information as family/friends and Spanish media, (3) social activity such as churches and schools. Finally, this paper concludes by discussing implications for community health practice.

Accuracy of flash glucose monitoring and continuous glucose monitoring technologies: Implications for clinical practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Ajjan, Ramzi A; Cummings, Michael H; Jennings, Peter; Leelarathna, Lalantha; Rayman, Gerry; Wilmot, Emma G

2018-02-01

Continuous glucose monitoring and flash glucose monitoring technologies measure glucose in the interstitial fluid and are increasingly used in diabetes care. Their accuracy, key to effective glycaemic management, is usually measured using the mean absolute relative difference of the interstitial fluid sensor compared to reference blood glucose readings. However, mean absolute relative difference is not standardised and has limitations. This review aims to provide a consensus opinion on assessing accuracy of interstitial fluid glucose sensing technologies. Mean absolute relative difference is influenced by glucose distribution and rate of change; hence, we express caution on the reliability of comparing mean absolute relative difference data from different study systems and conditions. We also review the pitfalls associated with mean absolute relative difference at different glucose levels and explore additional ways of assessing accuracy of interstitial fluid devices. Importantly, much data indicate that current practice of assessing accuracy of different systems based on individualised mean absolute relative difference results has limitations, which have potential clinical implications. Healthcare professionals must understand the factors that influence mean absolute relative difference as a metric for accuracy and look at additional assessments, such as consensus error grid analysis, when evaluating continuous glucose monitoring and flash glucose monitoring systems in diabetes care. This in turn will ensure that management decisions based on interstitial fluid sensor data are both effective and safe.

Primary Care Practice: Uncertainty and Surprise

Science.gov (United States)

Crabtree, Benjamin F.

I will focus my comments on uncertainty and surprise in primary care practices. I am a medical anthropologist by training, and have been a full-time researcher in family medicine for close to twenty years. In this talk I want to look at primary care practices as complex systems, particularly taking the perspective of translating evidence into practice. I am going to discuss briefly the challenges we have in primary care, and in medicine in general, of translating new evidence into the everyday care of patients. To do this, I will look at two studies that we have conducted on family practices, then think about how practices can be best characterized as complex adaptive systems. Finally, I will focus on the implications of this portrayal for disseminating new knowledge into practice.

Implementation of baby boomer hepatitis C screening and linking to care in gastroenterology practices: a multi-center pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

Younossi, Zobair M; LaLuna, Louis L; Santoro, John J; Mendes, Flavia; Araya, Victor; Ravendhran, Natarajan; Pedicone, Lisa; Lio, Idania; Nader, Fatema; Hunt, Sharon; Racila, Andrei; Stepanova, Maria

2016-04-04

Estimates suggest that only 20 % of HCV-infected patients have been identified and gastroenterology practices in patients previously unscreened for HCV. After obtaining patient informed consent, demographics, clinical and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) data were collected. A blood sample was screened for HCV antibody (HCV AB) using the OraQuick HCV Rapid Antibody Test. HCV AB-positive patients were tested for presence of HCV RNA and, if HCV RNA positive, patients underwent treatment discussions. We screened 2,000 individuals in 5 gastroenterology centers located close to large metropolitan areas on the East Coast (3 Northeast, 1 Mid-Atlantic and 1 Southeast). Of the screened population, 10 individuals (0.5 %) were HCV AB-positive. HCV RNA testing was performed in 90 % (9/10) of HCV AB-positive individuals. Of those, 44.4 % (4/9) were HCV RNA-positive, and all 4 (100 %) were linked to caregiver. Compared to HCV AB negative subjects, HCV AB-positive individuals tended to be black (20.0 vs. 5.2 %, p = 0.09) and reported significantly higher rates of depression: 60.0 vs. 21.5 %, p = 0.009. These individuals also reported a significantly lower HRQOL citing having more fatigue, poorer concentration, and a decreased level of energy (p gastroenterology centers, the linkage to care was very high. The sample of patients used in this study may be biased, so further studies are needed to assess the effectiveness of the CDC screening recommendations. Implementation of the Baby Boomer Screening for HCV requires identifying screening environement with high prevalence of HCV+ individuals as well as an efficient process of linking them to care.

Implications of the law on video recording in clinical practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Henken, Kirsten R; Jansen, Frank Willem; Klein, Jan; Stassen, Laurents P S; Dankelman, Jenny; van den Dobbelsteen, John J

2012-10-01

Technological developments allow for a variety of applications of video recording in health care, including endoscopic procedures. Although the value of video registration is recognized, medicolegal concerns regarding the privacy of patients and professionals are growing. A clear understanding of the legal framework is lacking. Therefore, this research aims to provide insight into the juridical position of patients and professionals regarding video recording in health care practice. Jurisprudence was searched to exemplify legislation on video recording in health care. In addition, legislation was translated for different applications of video in health care found in the literature. Three principles in Western law are relevant for video recording in health care practice: (1) regulations on privacy regarding personal data, which apply to the gathering and processing of video data in health care settings; (2) the patient record, in which video data can be stored; and (3) professional secrecy, which protects the privacy of patients including video data. Practical implementation of these principles in video recording in health care does not exist. Practical regulations on video recording in health care for different specifically defined purposes are needed. Innovations in video capture technology that enable video data to be made anonymous automatically can contribute to protection for the privacy of all the people involved.

Social skills and behavior problems of urban, African American preschoolers: role of parenting practices, family conflict, and maternal depression.

Science.gov (United States)

Koblinsky, Sally A; Kuvalanka, Katherine A; Randolph, Suzanne M

2006-10-01

This study examined the role of parenting, family routines, family conflict, and maternal depression in predicting the social skills and behavior problems of low-income African American preschoolers. A sample of 184 African American mothers of Head Start children completed participant and child measures in a structured interview. Results of regression analyses revealed that mothers who utilized more positive parenting practices and engaged in more family routines had children who displayed higher levels of total prosocial skills. Positive parenting and lower levels of maternal depressive symptoms were predictive of fewer externalizing and internalizing child behavior problems. Lower family conflict was linked with fewer externalizing problems. Implications of the study for future research and intervention are discussed. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved

Investigating a new material Practice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tamke, Martin; Nicholas, Paul; Ayres, Phil

2013-01-01

Investigating ways of integrating material performance as a design parameter, four presented projects employ the ability to model force and flow to parameterize and calculate material properties. According to Beylerian and Ritter material performance is today regarded as one of the richest sources...... of innovation. By understanding materials not as static or inanimate, but as engaged by complex behaviours and performances, a new dimension of design potentials can be unleashed. The notion of a new digital-material practice, in which the design and detailing of materials are directly linked to the design...... and detailing of buildings, provides the framework for an emerging field of architectural research. Aiming to innovate structural thinking and create better and more sustainable material usage, these new material practices rely on the ability to compute complex inter-scalar dependencies and link these directly...

From Many Records to One Graph: Heterogeneity Conflicts in the Linked Data Restructuring Cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Tallerås, Kim

2013-01-01

Introduction: During the last couple of years the library community has developed a number of comprehensive metadata standardization projects inspired by the idea of linked data, such as the BIBFRAME model. Linked data is a set of best practice principles of publishing and exposing data on the Web utilizing a graph based data model powered with…

Teaching Engineering Practices

Science.gov (United States)

Cunningham, Christine M.; Carlsen, William S.

2014-03-01

Engineering is featured prominently in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and related reform documents, but how its nature and methods are described is problematic. This paper is a systematic review and critique of that representation, and proposes that the disciplinary core ideas of engineering (as described in the NGSS) can be disregarded safely if the practices of engineering are better articulated and modeled through student engagement in engineering projects. A clearer distinction between science and engineering practices is outlined, and prior research is described that suggests that precollege engineering design can strengthen children's understandings about scientific concepts. However, a piecemeal approach to teaching engineering practices is unlikely to result in students understanding engineering as a discipline. The implications for science teacher education are supplemented with lessons learned from a number of engineering education professional development projects.

Climate Change, Climate Justice, and Environmental Health: Implications for the Nursing Profession.

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholas, Patrice K; Breakey, Suellen

2017-11-01

Climate change is an emerging challenge linked to negative outcomes for the environment and human health. Since the 1960s, there has been a growing recognition of the need to address climate change and the impact of greenhouse gas emissions implicated in the warming of our planet. There are also deleterious health outcomes linked to complex climate changes that are emerging in the 21st century. This article addresses the social justice issues associated with climate change and human health and discussion of climate justice. Discussion paper. A literature search of electronic databases was conducted for articles, texts, and documents related to climate change, climate justice, and human health. The literature suggests that those who contribute least to global warming are those who will disproportionately be affected by the negative health outcomes of climate change. The concept of climate justice and the role of the Mary Robinson Foundation-Climate Justice are discussed within a framework of nursing's professional responsibility and the importance of social justice for the world's people. The nursing profession must take a leadership role in engaging in policy and advocacy discussions in addressing the looming problems associated with climate change. Nursing organizations have adopted resolutions and engaged in leadership roles to address climate change at the local, regional, national, and global level. It is essential that nurses embrace concepts related to social justice and engage in the policy debate regarding the deleterious effects on human health related to global warming and climate change. Nursing's commitment to social justice offers an opportunity to offer significant global leadership in addressing the health implications related to climate change. Recognizing the negative impacts of climate change on well-being and the underlying socioeconomic reasons for their disproportionate and inequitable distribution can expand and optimize the profession's role

The timing of maternal depressive symptoms and mothers' parenting practices with young children: implications for pediatric practice.

Science.gov (United States)

McLearn, Kathryn Taaffe; Minkovitz, Cynthia S; Strobino, Donna M; Marks, Elisabeth; Hou, William

2006-07-01

The prevalence of maternal depressive symptoms and its associated consequences on parental behaviors, child health, and development are well documented. Researchers have called for additional work to investigate the effects of the timing of maternal depressive symptoms at various stages in the development of the young child on the emergence of developmentally appropriate parenting practices. For clinicians, data are limited about when or how often to screen for maternal depressive symptoms or how to target anticipatory guidance to address parental needs. We sought to determine whether concurrent maternal depressive symptoms have a greater effect than earlier depressive symptoms on the emergence of maternal parenting practices at 30 to 33 months in 3 important domains of child safety, development, and discipline. Secondary analyses from the Healthy Steps National Evaluation were conducted for this study. Data sources included a self-administered enrollment questionnaire and computer-assisted telephone interviews with the mother when the Healthy Steps children were 2 to 4 and 30 to 33 months of age. The 30- to 33-month interview provided information about 4 safety practices (ie, always uses car seat, has electric outlet covers, has safety latches on cabinets, and lowered temperature on the water heater), 6 child development practices (ie, talks daily to child while working, plays daily with child, reads daily to child, limits child television and video watching to or = 3 daily routines, and being more nurturing), and 3 discipline practices (ie, uses more reasoning, uses more harsh punishment, and ever slapped child on the face or spanked the child with an object). The parenting practices were selected based on evidence of their importance for child health and development, near complete data, and sample variability. The discipline practices were constructed from the Parental Response to Misbehavior Scale. Maternal depressive symptoms were assessed using a 14-item

grlc Makes GitHub Taste Like Linked Data APIs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Merono Penuela, A.; Hoekstra, R.J.

2016-01-01

Building Web APIs on top of SPARQL endpoints is becoming common practice. It enables universal access to the integration favorable data space of Linked Data. In the majority of use cases, users cannot be expected to learn SPARQL to query this data space. Web APIs are the most common way to enable

Mainstreaming academic literacy teaching: Implications for how ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article draws on research into the role of academic literacies within a range of disciplines and its implications for academic literacy teaching in Higher Education. The study explored ways of transforming current academic literacy teaching practices with a view to developing better synergy between the academic ...

Discovering determinants influencing faith community nursing practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Ziebarth, Deborah Jean

2014-01-01

Faith community nursing (FCN) is an important healthcare delivery system for individuals, families, and communities. Determinants are factors that might influence FCN care. A literature review isolated eight determinants that influence practice; however, there are no clear causal relationships linking specific determinants to specific practice changes. Research is needed to assess how determinants influence practice and outcomes, and provide evidence-based solutions to isolate and manage determinants. A Conceptual Model of FCN, Theoretical Definitions and a Diagram of Determinants of FCN Practice are provided.

Beaconless Georouting Under The Spotlight: Practical Link Models and Application Scenarios

KAUST Repository

Bader, Ahmed; Abed-Meraim, Karim; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2015-01-01

practical application scenarios. Furthermore, beaconless georouting protocols have been studied in literature assuming equal communication ranges for the data and control packets. In reality, this is not true since the communication range is actually a

Practical tips for managing LinkedIn and Facebook (on top of everything else).

Science.gov (United States)

Meerschaert, Carol

2012-01-01

Time-saving steps and strategies to help you make room for social media in your crowded day. I bet you've never thought to yourself, "I'd like more work to do". So how can you possibly accomplish everything and manage your association's LinkedIn group and Facebook page as well?

Weaning at Anglo-Saxon Raunds: Implications for changing breastfeeding practice in Britain over two millennia.

Science.gov (United States)

Haydock, Hannah; Clarke, Leon; Craig-Atkins, Elizabeth; Howcroft, Rachel; Buckberry, Jo

2013-08-01

This study investigated stable-isotope ratio evidence of weaning for the late Anglo-Saxon population of Raunds Furnells, Northamptonshire, UK. δ(15)N and δ(13)C values in rib collagen were obtained for individuals of different ages to assess the weaning age of infants within the population. A peak in δ(15) N values at about 2-year-old, followed by a decline in δ(15) N values until age three, indicates a change in diet at that age. This change in nitrogen isotope ratios corresponds with the mortality profile from the site, as well as with archaeological and documentary evidence on attitudes towards juveniles in the Anglo-Saxon period. The pattern of δ(13) C values was less clear. Comparison of the predicted age of weaning to published data from sites dating from the Iron Age to the 19th century in Britain reveals a pattern of changing weaning practices over time, with increasingly earlier commencement and shorter periods of complementary feeding in more recent periods. Such a change has implications for the interpretation of socioeconomic changes during this period of British history, since earlier weaning is associated with decreased birth spacing, and could thus have contributed to population growth. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Market Orientation Practices and Effects on Organizational Performance

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Haim Hilman

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Today’s organizations need market orientation practices to strive and generate superior performance and competitive advantage in the modern turbulent marketplace. Thus, this research inspects the respective links between the dimensions of (a competitor orientation and (b customer orientation and performance in the context of hotels in Malaysia. Data were gathered through self-administrated mail questionnaires directed to the top- and middle-level managers of three- to five-star-rated hotels in Malaysia. The findings indicated that hotels in Malaysia practiced competitor orientation and customer orientation as their core marketing strategy. Specifically, both competitor orientation and customer orientation positively linked to organizational performance. Few studies have investigated the practices and effects of market orientation on performance in the Malaysian hotel setting. Therefore, this study provided new insights into the understanding of market orientation practices in the hotel industry, particularly in Malaysia. In addition, the significance of this study, potential limitations, and future examination directions are highlighted.

If We Build It, They Will Come: Exploring Policy and Practice Implications of Public Support for Couple and Relationship Education for Lower Income and Relationally Distressed Couples.

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Bradford, Angela B; Hawkins, Alan J; Acker, Jennifer

2015-12-01

Over the past decade, public funding for Couple and Relationship Education programs has expanded. As program administrators have been able to extend their reach to low-income individuals and couples using this support, it has become apparent that greater numbers of relationally distressed couples are attending classes than previously anticipated. Because psychoeducational programs for couples have traditionally served less distressed couples, this dynamic highlights the need to examine the policy and practice implications of more distressed couples accessing these services. This paper reviews some of the most immediate issues, including screening for domestic violence and couple needs, pedagogical considerations, and the potential integration of therapy and education services. We also make suggestions for future research that can inform policy and practice efforts. © 2015 Family Process Institute.

Research and clinical practice: constructing theoretical links / Pesquisa e prática clínica: construindo articulações teóricas

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Terezinha Féres-Carneiro

2008-01-01

Full Text Available In this text, which was presented at the Inaugural Lecture from the Graduate Program of Developmental Psychology at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS on March 03, 2008, are discussed the links constructed by this author in the academic work as well as in the clinical practice. The history of a 36-year journey as both a professor-researcher and also as a clinical psychologist is reported here, with emphasis on the inseparable way of conceiving such functions. In this account it is explained and discussed the possibilities of articulating different theoretical-technical approaches in the clinic. The proposal for family and couple psychological assistance is a tripartite key of reading which takes into consideration the intra-psychological, the interactional and the social aspects of the aforementioned ones.

Disrupting the Dissertation: Linked Data, Enhanced Publication and Algorithmic Culture

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Tracy, Frances; Carmichael, Patrick

2017-01-01

This article explores how the three aspects of Striphas' notion of algorithmic culture (information, crowds and algorithms) might influence and potentially disrupt established educational practices. We draw on our experience of introducing semantic web and linked data technologies into higher education settings, focussing on extended student…

Observations of a Working Class Family: Implications for Self-Regulated Learning Development

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Vassallo, Stephen

2012-01-01

Guardians have been implicated in the development of children's academic self-regulation. In this case study, which involved naturalistic observations and interviews, the everyday practices of a working class family were considered in the context of self-regulated learning development. The family's practices, beliefs, dispositions and home…

Benchmarking Professional Development Practices across Youth-Serving Organizations: Implications for Extension

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Garst, Barry A.; Baughman, Sarah; Franz, Nancy

2014-01-01

Examining traditional and contemporary professional development practices of youth-serving organizations can inform practices across Extension, particularly in light of the barriers that have been noted for effectively developing the professional competencies of Extension educators. With professional development systems changing quickly,…

Terror management theory applied clinically: implications for existential-integrative psychotherapy.

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Lewis, Adam M

2014-01-01

Existential psychotherapy and Terror Management Theory (TMT) offer explanations for the potential psychological effects of death awareness, although their respective literatures bases differ in clarity, research, and implications for treating psychopathology. Existential therapy is often opaque to many therapists, in part due to the lack of consensus on what constitutes its practice, limited published practical examples, and few empirical studies examining its efficacy. By contrast, TMT has an extensive empirical literature base, both within social psychology and spanning multiple disciplines, although previously unexplored within clinical and counseling psychology. This article explores the implications of a proposed TMT integrated existential therapy (TIE), bridging the gap between disciplines in order to meet the needs of the aging population and current challenges facing existential therapists.

Translating person-centered care into practice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zoffmann, Vibeke; Hörnsten, Åsa; Storbækken, Solveig

2016-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Person-centred care [PCC] can engage people in living well with a chronic condition. However, translating PCC into practice is challenging. We aimed to compare the translational potentials of three approaches: motivational interviewing [MI], illness integration support [IIS] and guided...... tools. CONCLUSION: Each approach has a primary application: MI, when ambivalence threatens positive change; IIS, when integrating newly diagnosed chronic conditions; and GSD, when problem solving is difficult, or deadlocked. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Professionals must critically consider the context...

Simulation as a vehicle for enhancing collaborative practice models.

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Jeffries, Pamela R; McNelis, Angela M; Wheeler, Corinne A

2008-12-01

Clinical simulation used in a collaborative practice approach is a powerful tool to prepare health care providers for shared responsibility for patient care. Clinical simulations are being used increasingly in professional curricula to prepare providers for quality practice. Little is known, however, about how these simulations can be used to foster collaborative practice across disciplines. This article provides an overview of what simulation is, what collaborative practice models are, and how to set up a model using simulations. An example of a collaborative practice model is presented, and nursing implications of using a collaborative practice model in simulations are discussed.

Link between rheumatoid arthritis and chronic periodontitis

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Tomasz Kaczyński

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Chronic periodontitis is an infectious disease associated with the progressive destruction of periodontal tissues. In recent years, more and more data indicate an existing relationship between periodontal disease and rheumatoid arthritis. The link between both diseases has been confirmed in multiple studies. Despite the fact that this association might be based on shared environmental and genetic risk factors, a possible causal relation was advocated by experimental, epidemiological and interventional studies, with the leading role of Porphyromonas gingivalis. Individuals with chronic periodontitis are at an increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, as well as rheumatoid arthritis patients are at an increased risk of chronic periodontitis and more severe forms of periodontitis. Furthermore, there is a correlation between the activity in both diseases – patients with more severe periodontitis suffer from more active rheumatoid arthritis. Intervention attempts were also performed, which demonstrated that eliminating periodontal infection and inflammation can affect the severity of rheumatoid arthritis. In this paper, we review the current knowledge about the link between both diseases, focusing on its clinical implications. Will periodontal treatment become a part of standard therapy for rheumatoid arthritis?

Instagram use is linked to increased symptoms of orthorexia nervosa.

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Turner, Pixie G; Lefevre, Carmen E

2017-06-01

Social media use is ever increasing amongst young adults and has previously been shown to have negative effects on body image, depression, social comparison, and disordered eating. One eating disorder of interest in this context is orthorexia nervosa, an obsession with eating healthily. High orthorexia nervosa prevalence has been found in populations who take an active interest in their health and body and is frequently comorbid with anorexia nervosa. Here, we investigate links between social media use, in particularly Instagram and orthorexia nervosa symptoms. We conducted an online survey of social media users (N = 680) following health food accounts. We assessed their social media use, eating behaviours, and orthorexia nervosa symptoms using the ORTO-15 inventory. Higher Instagram use was associated with a greater tendency towards orthorexia nervosa, with no other social media channel having this effect. In exploratory analyses Twitter showed a small positive association with orthorexia symptoms. BMI and age had no association with orthorexia nervosa. The prevalence of orthorexia nervosa among the study population was 49%, which is significantly higher than the general population (Instagram has a high prevalence of orthorexia symptoms, with higher Instagram use being linked to increased symptoms. These findings highlight the implications social media can have on psychological wellbeing, and the influence social media 'celebrities' may have over hundreds of thousands of individuals. These results may also have clinical implications for eating disorder development and recovery.

Translating research into practice: the role of provider-based research networks in the diffusion of an evidence-based colon cancer treatment innovation.

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Carpenter, William R; Meyer, Anne-Marie; Wu, Yang; Qaqish, Bahjat; Sanoff, Hanna K; Goldberg, Richard M; Weiner, Bryan J

2012-08-01

Provider-based research networks (PBRNs)--collaborative research partnerships between academic centers and community-based practitioners--are a promising model for accelerating the translation of research into practice; however, empirical evidence of accelerated translation is limited. Oxaliplatin in adjuvant combination chemotherapy is an innovation with clinical trial-proven survival benefit compared with prior therapies. The goal of this study is to examine the diffusion of oxaliplatin into community practice, and whether affiliation with the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP)--a nationwide cancer-focused PBRN--is associated with accelerated innovation adoption. This retrospective observational study used linked Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare and NCI CCOP data to examine Medicare participants with stage III colon cancer initiating treatment in 2003 through 2006, the years surrounding oxaliplatin's Food and Drug Administration approval. A fixed-effects analysis examined chemotherapy use among patients treated outside academic centers at CCOP-affiliated practices compared with non-CCOP practices. Two-group modeling controlled for multiple levels of clustering, year of chemotherapy initiation, tumor characteristics, patient age, race, comorbidity, Medicaid dual-eligibility status, and education. Of 4055 community patients, 35% received 5-fluoruracil, 20% received oxaliplatin, 7% received another chemotherapy, and 38% received no chemotherapy. Twenty-five percent of CCOP patients received oxaliplatin, compared with 19% of non-CCOP patients. In multivariable analysis, CCOP exposure was associated with higher odds of receiving guideline-concordant treatment in general, and oxaliplatin specifically. These findings contribute to a growing set of evidence linking PBRNs with a greater probability of receiving treatment innovations and high-quality cancer care, with implications for clinical and research

Mena-GRASP65 interaction couples actin polymerization to Golgi ribbon linking.

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Tang, Danming; Zhang, Xiaoyan; Huang, Shijiao; Yuan, Hebao; Li, Jie; Wang, Yanzhuang

2016-01-01

In mammalian cells, the Golgi reassembly stacking protein 65 (GRASP65) has been implicated in both Golgi stacking and ribbon linking by forming trans-oligomers through the N-terminal GRASP domain. Because the GRASP domain is globular and relatively small, but the gaps between stacks are large and heterogeneous, it remains puzzling how GRASP65 physically links Golgi stacks into a ribbon. To explore the possibility that other proteins may help GRASP65 in ribbon linking, we used biochemical methods and identified the actin elongation factor Mena as a novel GRASP65-binding protein. Mena is recruited onto the Golgi membranes through interaction with GRASP65. Depleting Mena or disrupting actin polymerization resulted in Golgi fragmentation. In cells, Mena and actin were required for Golgi ribbon formation after nocodazole washout; in vitro, Mena and microfilaments enhanced GRASP65 oligomerization and Golgi membrane fusion. Thus Mena interacts with GRASP65 to promote local actin polymerization, which facilitates Golgi ribbon linking. © 2016 Tang et al. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). Two months after publication it is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Defining neuromarketing: practices and professional challenges.

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Fisher, Carl Erik; Chin, Lisa; Klitzman, Robert

2010-01-01

Neuromarketing has recently generated controversies concerning the involvement of medical professionals, and many key questions remain-ones that have potentially important implications for the field of psychiatry. Conflicting definitions of neuromarketing have been proposed, and little is known about the actual practices of companies, physicians, and scientists involved in its practice. This article reviews the history of neuromarketing and uses an exploratory survey of neuromarketing Web sites to illustrate ethical issues raised by this new field. Neuromarketing, as currently practiced, is heterogeneous, as companies are offering a variety of technologies. Many companies employ academicians and professionals, but few list their clients or fees. Media coverage of neuromarketing appears disproportionately high compared to the paucity of peer-reviewed reports in the field. Companies may be making premature claims about the power of neuroscience to predict consumer behavior. Overall, neuromarketing has important implications for academic-industrial partnerships, the responsible conduct of research, and the public understanding of the brain. We explore these themes to uncover issues relevant to professional ethics, research, and policy. Of particular relevance to psychiatry, neuromarketing may be seen as an extension of the search for quantification and certainty in previously indefinite aspects of human behavior.

Biological variation in musculoskeletal injuries: current knowledge, future research and practical implications.

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Collins, Malcolm; September, Alison V; Posthumus, Michael

2015-12-01

Evidence from familial and genetic association studies have reported that DNA sequence variants play an important role, together with non-genetic factors, in the aetiology of both exercise-associated and occupational-associated acute and chronic musculoskeletal soft tissue injuries. The associated variants, which have been identified to date, may contribute to the interindividual variation in the structure and, by implication, mechanical properties of the collagen fibril and surrounding matrix within musculoskeletal soft tissues, as well as their response to mechanical loading and other stimuli. Future work should focus on the establishment of multidisciplinary international consortia for the identification of biologically relevant variants involved in modulating injury risk. These consortia will improve the limitations of the published hypothesis-driven genetic association studies, since they will allow resources to be pooled in recruiting large well-characterised cohorts required for whole-genome screening. Finally, clinicians and coaches need to be aware that many direct-to-consumer companies are currently marketing genetic tests directly to athletes without it being requested by an appropriately qualified healthcare professional, and without interpretation alongside other clinical indicators or lifestyle factors. These specific genetic tests are premature and are not necessarily required to evaluate susceptibility to musculoskeletal soft tissue injury. Current practice should rather consider susceptibility through known risk factors such as a positive family history of a specific injury, a history of other tendon and/or ligament injuries and participation in activities associated with the specific musculoskeletal injuries. Potential susceptible athletes may then be individually managed to reduce their risk profile. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Prevalence of supporting limb laminitis in a UK equine practice and referral hospital setting between 2005 and 2013: implications for future epidemiological studies.

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Wylie, C E; Newton, J R; Bathe, A P; Payne, R J

2015-01-17

The electronic patient records of all equine patients of Rossdales Equine Practice between January 1, 2005 and November 1, 2013 were reviewed to determine the number of cases of supporting limb laminitis (SLL) in a large equine practice and referral hospital setting in the UK and to discuss the implications for future epidemiological studies. The clinical notes were searched electronically for a combination of 'laminitis AND (contralateral OR supporting OR overload OR weight bearing)'. The prevalence of SLL within each identified denominator population and the corresponding 95% CI were calculated. SLL developed in nine horses, one donkey and one pony. Thoroughbreds were the most commonly affected breed (72.7 per cent, CI 46.4 to 99.1 per cent), aged 2-14 years (median six years), and only mares (n=9) and stallions (n=2) were represented. SLL was not restricted to horses that were non-weightbearing lame, it developed within 4-100 days after injury (median 14.5 days) and occurred most commonly in a forelimb (54.6 per cent, CI 25.1 to 84.0 per cent). During the same time frame, a total of 65,327 horses were registered with Rossdales Equine Practice, resulting in an overall practice prevalence of SLL of 0.02 per cent (CI 0.01 to 0.03 per cent). Future epidemiological studies to investigate risk factors for SLL prevention will, therefore, be a logistical challenge. British Veterinary Association.

Eucharist – a social practice?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rønkilde, Jette Bendixen; Petersen, Laura Bjørg Serup; Thomsen, Johanne Nørtoft

2018-01-01

This article examines the inherent social imagery in Martin Luther’s liturgical writings An Order of Mass and The German Mass from a practice theoretical and liturgical theological approach. How can the liturgical writings be apprehended as images both of and for social life in the specific...... communities where they are enacted as concrete liturgical practice? The article aims at presenting a thorough reading of the actual texts with emphasis on the social implications of the liturgical reflections and recommendations, and of material and performative specifications. The underlying thesis...

Social Media, Open Science, and Data Science Are Inextricably Linked.

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Voytek, Bradley

2017-12-20

Should scientists use social media? Why practice open science? What is data science? Ten years ago, these phrases hardly existed. Now they are ubiquitous. Here I argue that these phenomena are inextricably linked and reflect similar underlying social and technological transformations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Miscommunication between patients and general practitioners: implications for clinical practice

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Morgan S

2013-06-01

Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: Effective communication is integral to the general practice consultation, yet it is acknowledged that problems commonly occur. Previous research has shown that misunderstandings with potentially significant consequences occur frequently, but does not provide a clear picture of how and why miscommunication occurs, or how such problems can be prevented or resolved. This study explored the occurrence and management of specific examples of miscommunication in two routine general practice consultations. METHODS: A multi-method case study approach was used. The primary data collected for each case included a video-recorded consultation and post-consultation interviews with each general practitioner (GP and patient. Instances of communication mismatch were examined using in-depth interaction analysis techniques. FINDINGS: GPs and patients may not be aware when misunderstandings have occurred. In-depth analysis of the case studies revealed the complexity of miscommunication: it was not a straightforward matter to locate when or why instances of communication mismatch had occurred, and each of the mismatches was quite distinctive: (1 they were identified in different ways; (2 they occurred at different points in the communication process; (3 they arose because of problems occurring at different levels of the communication, and (4 they had different consequences. CONCLUSION: Given the frequency and complexity of miscommunication in general practice consultations, GPs need to consider adopting various strategies, at both the practice/systems level and the level of the consultation interaction to minimise the risk of communication problems.

Social Inclusion and Metrolingual Practices

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Otsuji, Emi; Pennycook, Alastair

2011-01-01

In this paper, we explore the implications of metrolingual language practices for how we understand social inclusion. A vision of social inclusion that includes bi- and multilingual capacities may comprise an appreciation of a diversity of languages other than English, and the skills and capabilities of multilingual language users, yet it is all…

Integrating Mechanisms for Insulin Resistance: Common Threads and Missing Links

Science.gov (United States)

Samuel, Varman T.; Shulman, Gerald I.

2012-01-01

Insulin resistance is a complex metabolic disorder that defies a single etiological pathway. Accumulation of ectopic lipid metabolites, activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway and innate immune pathways have all been implicated in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance. However, these pathways are also closely linked to changes in fatty acid uptake, lipogenesis, and energy expenditure that can impact ectopic lipid deposition. Ultimately, accumulation of specific lipid metabolites (diacylglycerols and/or ceramides) in liver and skeletal muscle, may be a common pathway leading to impaired insulin signaling and insulin resistance. PMID:22385956

X‐linked retinoschisis: an update

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Sikkink, Stephen K; Biswas, Susmito; Parry, Neil R A; Stanga, Paulo E; Trump, Dorothy

2007-01-01

X‐linked retinoschisis is the leading cause of macular degeneration in males and leads to splitting within the inner retinal layers leading to visual deterioration. Many missense and protein truncating mutations have now been identified in the causative retinoschisis gene (RS1) which encodes a 224 amino acid secreting retinal protein, retinoschisin. Retinoschisin octamerises is implicated in cell–cell interactions and cell adhesion perhaps by interacting with β2 laminin. Mutations cause loss of retinoschisin function by one of the three mechanisms: by interfering with protein secretion, by preventing its octamerisation or by reducing function in the secreted octamerised protein. The development of retinoschisis mouse models have provided a model system that closely resembles the human disease. Recent reports of RS1 gene transfer to these models and the sustained restoration of some retinal function and morphology suggest gene replacement may be a possible future therapy for patients. PMID:17172462

Collateral Optimization : Liquidity & Funding Value Adjustments, - Best Practices -

OpenAIRE

Genest, Benoit; Rego, David; Freon, Helene

2013-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to understand how the current financial landscape shaped by the crises and new regulations impacts Investment Banking’s business model. We will focus on quantitative implications, i.e. valuation, modeling and pricing issues, as well as qualitative implications, i.e. best practices to manage quantitative aspects and handle these functions to the current Investment Banking organization. We considered two pillars to shape our vision of collateral optimization: ...

Psychological capital mediates the association between nurses' practice environment and work engagement among Chinese male nurses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaokang Pan

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Objectives: This study aims to investigate the environmental and individual factors contributing to male nurses' psychological well-being and to explore the psychological mechanisms that may explain the links between nurses' practice environment and work engagement, thereby presenting the implications for nurse managers. Methods: A total of 161 male nurses from three tertiary first-class hospitals in Changsha City in China participated in the study. We collected the data using the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index, the Psychological Capital Questionnaire, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Results: Scores of male nurses' practice environment (2.88 ± 0.31, psychological capital (4.42 ± 0.62, and work engagement (3.17 ± 1.39 were all above the midpoint; however, the subscales “the nursing staffing and resources adequacy” (2.72 ± 0.48, “hope” (4.33 ± 0.72, and “dedication” (2.96 ± 1.61scored lowest. Nurses' practice environment and psychological capital positively predicted nurses' work engagement; psychological capital fully mediated the influence of nurses' practice environment on work engagement. Conclusions: Creating a supportive nursing practice environment can increase male nurses' work engagement by developing their psychological capital. Nurse managers can then provide reasonable workload and pathways for male nurses to achieve goals, thereby fostering their hope. Keywords: Male nurses, Nurses' practice environment, Psychological capital, Work engagement

Childhood Adversities and Substance Misuse Among the Incarcerated: Implications for Treatment and Practice in Correctional Settings.

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Marotta, Phillip L

2017-05-12

Incarcerated populations have high rates of childhood adversities and substance use problems. Moreover, childhood adversities are well-documented predictors of substance misuse. To investigate the impact of childhood sexual and physical abuse, caregiver abuse of drugs or alcohol, and time spent in foster care on several substance misuse outcomes. Data comes from a sample of 16,043 incarcerated men and women in the United States Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Facilities. Bivariate analyses revealed differences by sex in childhood adversities and socioeconomic characteristics. Logistic regression analyses assessed the data for a link between childhood adversities and substance misuse after adjusting for other variables. Analyses were stratified by sex to show differences in predictors of substance misuse between men and women. Childhood adversities increased the risk of many substance misuse outcomes. The prevalence of physical abuse, sexual abuse, foster care, and caretaker abuse of drugs or alcohol were greatest for inmates who reported injecting and sharing drugs. Growing up with a caregiver that used drugs or alcohol was a consistent predictor of increased risk of substance misuse for men and women. However, childhood sexual abuse increased risk for only women. Inmates who experience physical abuse, sexual abuse, foster care involvement and caretakers who use drugs and alcohol are at an increased risk of substance misuse, injecting drug use and syringe sharing. Implications suggest correctional HIV prevention and substance misuse programs must address unresolved trauma and important gender differences.

A VGI data integration framework based on linked data model

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Wan, Lin; Ren, Rongrong

2015-12-01

This paper aims at the geographic data integration and sharing method for multiple online VGI data sets. We propose a semantic-enabled framework for online VGI sources cooperative application environment to solve a target class of geospatial problems. Based on linked data technologies - which is one of core components of semantic web, we can construct the relationship link among geographic features distributed in diverse VGI platform by using linked data modeling methods, then deploy these semantic-enabled entities on the web, and eventually form an interconnected geographic data network to support geospatial information cooperative application across multiple VGI data sources. The mapping and transformation from VGI sources to RDF linked data model is presented to guarantee the unique data represent model among different online social geographic data sources. We propose a mixed strategy which combined spatial distance similarity and feature name attribute similarity as the measure standard to compare and match different geographic features in various VGI data sets. And our work focuses on how to apply Markov logic networks to achieve interlinks of the same linked data in different VGI-based linked data sets. In our method, the automatic generating method of co-reference object identification model according to geographic linked data is discussed in more detail. It finally built a huge geographic linked data network across loosely-coupled VGI web sites. The results of the experiment built on our framework and the evaluation of our method shows the framework is reasonable and practicable.

Selling and Building Linked Data: Drive Value and Gain Momentum

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Kristen

Data inside enterprises is exploding. Routinely key decision makers state, "one of the most valuable assets of our organization is actionable information." Paradoxically, it is often challenging to gather the necessary metrics to build a business case to justify a Linked Data initiative for improved data quality in the face of the well-documented shortcomings of traditional enterprise approaches to data management. Internet standards have matured considerably in the last decade. The number of linked data sets is growing daily and already exceeds well in excess of ten thousand data sets, over 400 of which are published via the US Government at gov as of April 2010. Many of these linked data sets are high quality. Best practices for linking data within the enterprise are increasingly being published in articles, blogs and technical books. One of the pioneering linked enterprise data projects was undertaken by a Fortune 500 company in the early 2000 timeframe. The lessons learned about how to navigate the management and organizational dynamics are relevant today. This chapter outlines the successful strategies for a linked enterprise data initiative, including a consistent metadata management strategy across lines of business, definition and documentation of data ownership and the value of cross-functional teams in the definition, development and deployment of the project.

Advancing general practice nursing in Australia: roles and responsibilities of primary healthcare organisations.

Science.gov (United States)

Lane, Riki; Halcomb, Elizabeth; McKenna, Lisa; Zwar, Nicholas; Naccarella, Lucio; Davies, Gawaine Powell; Russell, Grant

2017-05-01

Objectives Given increased numbers and enhanced responsibilities of Australian general practice nurses, we aimed to delineate appropriate roles for primary health care organisations (PHCOs) to support this workforce. Methods A two-round online Delphi consensus process was undertaken between January and June 2012, informed by literature review and key informant interviews. Participants were purposively selected and included decision makers from government and professional organisations, educators, researchers and clinicians from five Australian states and territories Results Of 56 invited respondents, 35 (62%) and 31 (55%) responded to the first and second invitation respectively. Participants reached consensus on five key roles for PHCOs in optimising nursing in general practice: (1) matching workforce size and skills to population needs; (2) facilitating leadership opportunities; (3) providing education and educational access; (4) facilitating integration of general practice with other primary care services to support interdisciplinary care; and (5) promoting advanced nursing roles. National concerns, such as limited opportunities for postgraduate education and career progression, were deemed best addressed by national nursing organisations, universities and peak bodies. Conclusions Advancement of nursing in general practice requires system-level support from a range of organisations. PHCOs play a significant role in education and leadership development for nurses and linking national nursing organisations with general practices. What is known about the topic? The role of nurses in Australian general practice has grown in the last decade, yet they face limited career pathways and opportunities for career advancement. Some nations have forged interprofessional primary care teams that use nurses' skills to the full extent of their scope of practice. PHCOs have played important roles in the development of general practice nursing in Australia and internationally

Investigating Variations in Gameplay: Cognitive Implications

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Kamran Sedig

2015-01-01

Full Text Available There is increasing interest in creating computer games for learning, problem solving, and other high-level cognitive activities. When investigating whether gameplay is conducive to such activities, gameplay is often studied as a whole. As a result, cognitive implications can be linked to the game but not to its structural elements. Given that gameplay arises from interaction between the player and the game, it is the structural components of interaction that should be investigated to better understand the design of gameplay. Furthermore, minor variations in the components of interaction can have significant cognitive implications. However, such variation has not been studied yet. Thus, to gain a better understanding of how we can study the effect of interaction on the cognitive aspect of gameplay, we conducted an exploratory investigation of two computer games. These games were isomorphic at a deep level and only had one minor difference in the structure of their interaction. Volunteers played these games and discussed the cognitive processes that emerged. In one game, they primarily engaged in planning, but in the other game they primarily engaged in visualizing. This paper discusses the results of our investigation as well as its implications for the design of computer games.

Too Many Links in the Horizon; What is Next? Linked Views and Linked History

NARCIS (Netherlands)

E. Liarou (Erietta); S. Idreos (Stratos)

2011-01-01

textabstractThe trend for more online linked data becomes stronger. Foreseeing a future where ``everything" will be online and linked, we ask the critical question; what is next? We envision that managing, querying and storing large amounts of links and data is far from yet another query

Parental feeding practices predict authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles.

Science.gov (United States)

Hubbs-Tait, Laura; Kennedy, Tay Seacord; Page, Melanie C; Topham, Glade L; Harrist, Amanda W

2008-07-01

Our goal was to identify how parental feeding practices from the nutrition literature link to general parenting styles from the child development literature to understand how to target parenting practices to increase effectiveness of interventions. Stand-alone parental feeding practices could be targeted independently. However, parental feeding practices linked to parenting styles require interventions treating underlying family dynamics as a whole. To predict parenting styles from feeding practices and to test three hypotheses: restriction and pressure to eat are positively related whereas responsibility, monitoring, modeling, and encouraging are negatively related to an authoritarian parenting style; responsibility, monitoring, modeling, and encouraging are positively related whereas restriction and pressure to eat are negatively related to an authoritative parenting style; a permissive parenting style is negatively linked with all six feeding practices. Baseline data of a randomized-controlled intervention study. Two hundred thirty-nine parents (93.5% mothers) of first-grade children (134 boys, 105 girls) enrolled in rural public schools. Parental responses to encouraging and modeling questionnaires and the Child Feeding Questionnaire, as well as parenting styles measured by the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire. Correlation and regression analyses. Feeding practices explained 21%, 15%, and 8% of the variance in authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting, respectively. Restriction, pressure to eat, and monitoring (negative) significantly predicted an authoritarian style (Hypothesis 1); responsibility, restriction (negative), monitoring, and modeling predicted an authoritative style (Hypothesis 2); and modeling (negative) and restriction significantly predicted a permissive style (Hypothesis 3). Parental feeding practices with young children predict general parenting styles. Interventions that fail to address underlying parenting styles

Shifting the Focus: Children's Image-Making Practices and Their Implications for Analysis

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Lomax, Helen Jayne

2012-01-01

This paper provides analytic focus on the productive and editorial contexts of children and young people's image-making, making visible its implications for the analysis of photographs. Drawing on participatory research in which children and young people worked alongside researchers to create a visual narrative of their lived experiences of…

From Idea to Organizational Practice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Meyer, Renate E.; Jancsary, Dennis; Höllerer, Markus A.

How do visualization and visual forms of communication influence the process of transforming a novel idea into established organizational practice? In this paper, we build theory with regard to the role of visuals in manifesting and giving form to an innovative idea as it proceeds through various...... stages of institutionalization. Ideas become institutionalized not merely through widespread diffusion in a cognitive-discursive form but eventually through their translation into concrete activities and transformation into specific patterns of organizational practice. We argue that visualization plays...... organizational practice with legitimacy – and thus solidify the coupling of innovative ideas and organizational practice. Extending existing research, we develop a set of propositions linking dimensions of visuality and visualization to the different stages of institutionalization in order to explain...

A new mutually reinforcing network node and link ranking algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhenghua; Dueñas-Osorio, Leonardo; Padgett, Jamie E

2015-10-23

This study proposes a novel Normalized Wide network Ranking algorithm (NWRank) that has the advantage of ranking nodes and links of a network simultaneously. This algorithm combines the mutual reinforcement feature of Hypertext Induced Topic Selection (HITS) and the weight normalization feature of PageRank. Relative weights are assigned to links based on the degree of the adjacent neighbors and the Betweenness Centrality instead of assigning the same weight to every link as assumed in PageRank. Numerical experiment results show that NWRank performs consistently better than HITS, PageRank, eigenvector centrality, and edge betweenness from the perspective of network connectivity and approximate network flow, which is also supported by comparisons with the expensive N-1 benchmark removal criteria based on network efficiency. Furthermore, it can avoid some problems, such as the Tightly Knit Community effect, which exists in HITS. NWRank provides a new inexpensive way to rank nodes and links of a network, which has practical applications, particularly to prioritize resource allocation for upgrade of hierarchical and distributed networks, as well as to support decision making in the design of networks, where node and link importance depend on a balance of local and global integrity.

A new mutually reinforcing network node and link ranking algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhenghua; Dueñas-Osorio, Leonardo; Padgett, Jamie E.

2015-10-01

This study proposes a novel Normalized Wide network Ranking algorithm (NWRank) that has the advantage of ranking nodes and links of a network simultaneously. This algorithm combines the mutual reinforcement feature of Hypertext Induced Topic Selection (HITS) and the weight normalization feature of PageRank. Relative weights are assigned to links based on the degree of the adjacent neighbors and the Betweenness Centrality instead of assigning the same weight to every link as assumed in PageRank. Numerical experiment results show that NWRank performs consistently better than HITS, PageRank, eigenvector centrality, and edge betweenness from the perspective of network connectivity and approximate network flow, which is also supported by comparisons with the expensive N-1 benchmark removal criteria based on network efficiency. Furthermore, it can avoid some problems, such as the Tightly Knit Community effect, which exists in HITS. NWRank provides a new inexpensive way to rank nodes and links of a network, which has practical applications, particularly to prioritize resource allocation for upgrade of hierarchical and distributed networks, as well as to support decision making in the design of networks, where node and link importance depend on a balance of local and global integrity.

A new mutually reinforcing network node and link ranking algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhenghua; Dueñas-Osorio, Leonardo; Padgett, Jamie E.

2015-01-01

This study proposes a novel Normalized Wide network Ranking algorithm (NWRank) that has the advantage of ranking nodes and links of a network simultaneously. This algorithm combines the mutual reinforcement feature of Hypertext Induced Topic Selection (HITS) and the weight normalization feature of PageRank. Relative weights are assigned to links based on the degree of the adjacent neighbors and the Betweenness Centrality instead of assigning the same weight to every link as assumed in PageRank. Numerical experiment results show that NWRank performs consistently better than HITS, PageRank, eigenvector centrality, and edge betweenness from the perspective of network connectivity and approximate network flow, which is also supported by comparisons with the expensive N-1 benchmark removal criteria based on network efficiency. Furthermore, it can avoid some problems, such as the Tightly Knit Community effect, which exists in HITS. NWRank provides a new inexpensive way to rank nodes and links of a network, which has practical applications, particularly to prioritize resource allocation for upgrade of hierarchical and distributed networks, as well as to support decision making in the design of networks, where node and link importance depend on a balance of local and global integrity. PMID:26492958