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Sample records for preliminary priority scores

  1. A Pulmonary Rehabilitation Decisional Score to Define Priority Access for COPD Patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michele Vitacca

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This retrospective study aimed to evaluate, through an ad hoc 17-item tool, the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Decisional Score (PRDS, the priority access to PR prescription by respiratory specialists. The PRDS, scoring functional, clinical, disability, frailty, and participation parameters from 0 = low priority to 34 = very high priority for PR access, was retrospectively calculated on 124 specialist reports sent to the GP of subjects (aged 71±11 years, FEV1%  51±17 consecutively admitted to our respiratory outpatient clinic. From the specialist’s report the final subject’s allocation could be low priority (LP (>60 days, high priority (HP (30–60 days, or very high priority (VHP (<30 days to rehabilitation. The PRDS calculation showed scores significantly higher in VHP versus LP (p<0.001 and significantly different between HP and VHP (p<0.001. Comparing the specialist’s allocation decision and priority choice based on PRDS cut-offs, PR prescription was significantly more appropriate in VHP than in HP (p=0.016. Specialists underprescribed PR in 49% of LP cases and overprescribed it in 46% and 30% of the HP and VHP prescriptions, respectively. A multicomprehensive score is feasible being useful for staging the clinical priorities for PR prescription and facilitating sustainability of the health system.

  2. Preliminary concept for statewide intercity bus and rail transit system : priority corridor ranking and analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-03-01

    This product summarizes the preliminary concept and priority corridors for development of a potential : statewide intercity bus and rail network. The concept is based upon the results of Tasks 1 through 5 of Texas : Department of Transportation Proje...

  3. Different hip and knee priority score systems: are they good for the same thing?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Escobar, Antonio; Quintana, Jose Maria; Espallargues, Mireia; Allepuz, Alejandro; Ibañez, Berta

    2010-10-01

    The aim of the present study was to compare two priority tools used for joint replacement for patients on waiting lists, which use two different methods. Two prioritization tools developed and validated by different methodologies were used on the same cohort of patients. The first, an IRYSS hip and knee priority score (IHKPS) developed by RAND method, was applied while patients were on the waiting list. The other, a Catalonia hip-knee priority score (CHKPS) developed by conjoint analysis, was adapted and applied retrospectively. In addition, all patients fulfilled pre-intervention the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). Correlation between them was studied by Pearson correlation coefficient (r). Agreement was analysed by means of intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), Kendall coefficient and Cohern kappa. The relationship between IHKPS, CHKPS and baseline WOMAC scores by r coefficient was studied. The sample consisted of 774 consecutive patients. Pearson correlation coefficient between IHKPS and CHKPS was 0.79. The agreement study showed that ICC was 0.74, Kendall coefficient 0.86 and kappa 0.66. Finally, correlation between CHKPS and baseline WOMAC ranged from 0.43 to 0.64. The results according to the relationship between IHKPS and WOMAC ranged from 0.50 to 0.74. Results support the hypothesis that if the final objective of the prioritization tools is to organize and sort patients on the waiting list, although they use different methodologies, the results are similar. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  4. North Korean refugee doctors' preliminary examination scores

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sung Uk Chae

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Purpose Although there have been studies emphasizing the re-education of North Korean (NK doctors for post-unification of the Korean Peninsula, study on the content and scope of such re-education has yet to be conducted. Researchers intended to set the content and scope of re-education by a comparative analysis for the scores of the preliminary examination, which is comparable to the Korean Medical Licensing Examination (KMLE. Methods The scores of the first and second preliminary exams were analyzed by subject using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. The passing status of the group of NK doctors for KMLE in recent 3 years were investigated. The multiple-choice-question (MCQ items of which difficulty indexes of NK doctors were lower than those of South Korean (SK medical students by two times of the standard deviation of the scores of SK medical students were selected to investigate the relevant reasons. Results The average scores of nearly all subjects were improved in the second exam compared with the first exam. The passing rate of the group of NK doctors was 75%. The number of MCQ items of which difficulty indexes of NK doctors were lower than those of SK medical students was 51 (6.38%. NK doctors’ lack of understandings for Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures, Therapeutics, Prenatal Care, and Managed Care Programs was suggested as the possible reason. Conclusion The education of integrated courses focusing on Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures and Therapeutics, and apprenticeship-style training for clinical practice of core subjects are needed. Special lectures on the Preventive Medicine are likely to be required also.

  5. Development and Reliability of a Preliminary Foot Osteoarthritis Magnetic Resonance Imaging Score.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halstead, Jill; Martín-Hervás, Carmen; Hensor, Elizabeth M A; McGonagle, Dennis; Keenan, Anne-Maree; Redmond, Anthony C; Conaghan, Philip G

    2017-08-01

    Foot osteoarthritis (OA) is very common but underinvestigated musculoskeletal condition and there is little consensus as to common magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features. The aim of this study was to develop a preliminary foot OA MRI score (FOAMRIS) and evaluate its reliability. This preliminary semiquantitative score included the hindfoot, midfoot, and metatarsophalangeal joints. Joints were scored for joint space narrowing (JSN; 0-3), osteophytes (0-3), joint effusion/synovitis, and bone cysts (present/absent). Erosions and bone marrow lesions (BML) were scored (0-3) and BML were evaluated adjacent to entheses and at sub-tendon sites (present/absent). Additionally, tenosynovitis (0-3) and midfoot ligament pathology (present/absent) were scored. Reliability was evaluated in 15 people with foot pain and MRI-detected OA using 3.0T MRI multi-sequence protocols, and assessed using ICC as an overall score and per anatomical site. Intrareader agreement (ICC) was generally good to excellent across the foot in joint features (JSN 0.90, osteophytes 0.90, effusion/synovitis 0.46, cysts 0.87), bone features (BML 0.83, erosion 0.66, BML entheses 0.66, BML sub-tendon 0.60) and soft tissue features (tenosynovitis 0.83, ligaments 0.77). Interreader agreement was lower for joint features (JSN 0.43, osteophytes 0.27, effusion/synovitis 0.02, cysts 0.48), bone features (BML 0.68, erosion 0.00, BML entheses 0.34, BML sub-tendon 0.13), and soft tissue features (tenosynovitis 0.35, ligaments 0.33). This preliminary FOAMRIS demonstrated good intrareader reliability and fair interreader reliability when assessing the total feature scores. Further development is required in cohorts with a range of pathologies and to assess the psychometric measurement properties.

  6. 77 FR 12280 - FFP Missouri 17, LLC BOST2 Hydroelectric, LLC; Notice Announcing Filing Priority for Preliminary...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-29

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project Nos. 13824-000, 13826-000] FFP Missouri 17, LLC BOST2 Hydroelectric, LLC; Notice Announcing Filing Priority for Preliminary Permit... Hydroelectric, LLC, Project No. 13826-000. 2. FFP Missouri 17, LLC, Project No. 13824-000. Dated: February 22...

  7. The development of a preliminary ultrasonographic scoring system for features of hand osteoarthritis.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Keen, H I

    2008-05-01

    Painful osteoarthritis (OA) of the hand is common and a validated ultrasound (US) scoring system would be valuable for epidemiological and therapeutic outcome studies. US is increasingly used to assess peripheral joints, though most of the US focus in rheumatic diseases has been on rheumatoid arthritis. We aimed to develop a preliminary US hand OA scoring system, initially focusing on relevant pathological features with potentially high reliability.

  8. Priority to organ donors: Personal responsibility, equal access and the priority rule in organ procurement

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Albertsen, Andreas

    2017-01-01

    recently and the preliminary reports indicate increased donation rates. How should we evaluate such initiatives from an ethical perspective? Luck egalitarianism, a responsibility-sensitive approach to distributive justice, provides one possible justification: Those who decide against being organ donors...... limit the health care resources available to others. As such, a priority rule can be justified by a luck egalitarian approach to distributive justice. Furthermore, a priority rule inspired by luck egalitarianism is well equipped to avoid prominent criticisms of such a procurement system. Luck...

  9. Preliminary report of the Hepatic Encephalopathy Assessment Driving Simulator (HEADS) score.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baskin-Bey, Edwina S; Stewart, Charmaine A; Mitchell, Mary M; Bida, John P; Rosenthal, Theodore J; Nyberg, Scott L

    2008-01-01

    Audiovisual simulations of real-life driving (ie, driving simulators) have been used to assess neurologic dysfunction in a variety of medical applications. However, the use of simulated driving to assess neurologic impairment in the setting of liver disease (ie, hepatic encephalopathy) is limited. The aim of this analysis was to develop a scoring system based on simulated driving performance to assess mild cognitive impairment in cirrhotic patients with hepatic encephalopathy. This preliminary analysis was conducted as part of the Hepatic Encephalopathy Assessment Driving Simulator (HEADS) pilot study. Cirrhotic volunteers initially underwent a battery of neuropsychological tests to identify those cirrhotic patients with mild cognitive impairment. Performance during an audiovisually simulated course of on-road driving was then compared between mildly impaired cirrhotic patients and healthy volunteers. A scoring system was developed to quantify the likelihood of cognitive impairment on the basis of data from the simulated on-road driving. Mildly impaired cirrhotic patients performed below the level of healthy volunteers on the driving simulator. Univariate logistic regression and correlation models indicated that several driving simulator variables were significant predictors of cognitive impairment. Five variables (run time, total map performance, number of collisions, visual divided attention response, and average lane position) were incorporated into a quantitative model, the HEADS scoring system. The HEADS score (0-9 points) showed a strong correlation with cognitive impairment as measured by area under the receiver-operator curve (.89). The HEADS system appears to be a promising new tool for the assessment of mild hepatic encephalopathy.

  10. RAPID3 scores and hand outcome measurements in RA patients: a preliminary study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qorolli, Merita; Hundozi-Hysenaj, Hajrije; Rexhepi, Sylejman; Rehxepi, Blerta; Grazio, Simeon

    2017-06-01

    The Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data 3 (RAPID3) is a patient-reported disease activity measure used to assess physical function, pain, and global health in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) without formal joint counts. Since hand involvement and its decreased function are hallmarks of RA, the aim of our study was to investigate the performance of RAPID3 scores with regard to hand function and to confirm previous findings that the RAPID3 score as a disease activity measure is strongly correlated with the DAS28 score. Sixty-eight consecutive patients with RA (85% female), aged 18-75 years, were included in the study and were recruited during their outpatient visit. Apart from demographic and clinical data, the obtained parameters of interest included RAPID3 scores and assessments of the function of the hand, namely, the signal of functional impairment (SOFI)-hand, grip strength, and pulp-to-palm distance, as well the Health Assessment Questionnaire- Disability Index (HAQ-DI) and DAS28 scores. Pearson's correlation coefficient, Student's t test and linear regression were used in the statistical analysis of the results. The significance was set to p < 0.05. A positive correlation was found between RAPID3 scores and HAQ-DI scores, SOFI-hand scores, and pulp-to-palm distance, and negative correlation was observed between RAPID3 scores and grip strength. The order regarding the strength of correlations between RAPID3 scores and other variables (from the strongest to the weakest) was as follows: HAQ-DI, grip strength, SOFI-hand and pulp-to-palm distance. The hand assessment variables had stronger correlations with RAPID3 scores than with DAS28 scores. Our preliminary study showed that RAPID3 scores were strongly correlated with measurements of the functional ability of the hand, demonstrating that RAPID3 can be used as a measure of disease activity in clinical practice and to characterize hand function. Further studies are needed to confirm this result.

  11. Preliminary result on trabecular bone score (TBS in lumbar vertebrae with experimentally altered microarchitecture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Di Stefano

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this preliminary research is to investigate the reliability of a new qualitative parameter, called Trabecular Bone Score (TBS, recently proposed for evaluating the microarchitectural arrangement of cancellous bone in scans carried out by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA. Vertebral bodies of 15 fresh samples of lumbar spines of adult pig were analysed either in basal conditions and with altered microarchitecture of the cancellous bone obtained by progressive drilling. The examined bony areas do not show changes in bone mineral density (BMD, whereas TBS values decrease with the increasing alteration of the vertebral microtrabecular structure. Our preliminary data seem to confirm the reliability of TBS as a qualitative parameter useful for evaluating the microarchitectural strength in bony areas quantitatively analysed by DXA.

  12. Research priorities by professional background - A detailed analysis of the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arulkumaran, Nishkantha; Reay, Hannah; Brett, Stephen J

    2016-05-01

    The Intensive Care Foundation, in partnership with the James Lind Alliance, has supported a national project to identify and prioritise unanswered questions about adult intensive care that are important to people who have been critically ill, their families, and the health professionals who care for them. We conducted a secondary analysis to explore differences in priorities determined by different respondent groups in order to identify different groups' perceptions of gaps in knowledge. There were two surveys conducted as part of the original project. Survey 1 comprised a single open question to identify important research topics; survey 2 aimed to prioritise these topics using a 10-point Likert scale. In survey 1, despite clear differences in suggestions amongst the respondent groups, themes of comfort/communication and post-ICU rehabilitation were the within the top 2 suggestions across all groups. Patients and relatives suggested research topics to which they could easily relate, whereas there was a greater breadth of suggestions from clinicians. In survey 2, the number of research priorities that received a mode score of 10 varied from 1 to 36. Patients scored 36 out of the 37 topics with a mode score of 10. All other groups scored topics with more discrimination, with the number of topics with a mode score of 10 ranging from 1 to 20. Differences in the proportions of the representative groups are therefore unlikely to have translated to an impartial conclusion. Clinicians, patients, and family members have jointly identified the research priorities for UK ICM practice.

  13. The OMERACT psoriatic arthritis magnetic resonance imaging scoring system (PsAMRIS): definitions of key pathologies, suggested MRI sequences, and preliminary scoring system for PsA Hands

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Østergaard, Mikkel; McQueen, Fiona; Wiell, Charlotte

    2009-01-01

    This article describes a preliminary OMERACT psoriatic arthritis magnetic resonance image scoring system (PsAMRIS) for evaluation of inflammatory and destructive changes in PsA hands, which was developed by the international OMERACT MRI in inflammatory arthritis group. MRI definitions of important...... pathologies in peripheral PsA and suggestions concerning appropriate MRI sequences for use in PsA hands are also provided....

  14. Global conservation priorities for marine turtles.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bryan P Wallace

    Full Text Available Where conservation resources are limited and conservation targets are diverse, robust yet flexible priority-setting frameworks are vital. Priority-setting is especially important for geographically widespread species with distinct populations subject to multiple threats that operate on different spatial and temporal scales. Marine turtles are widely distributed and exhibit intra-specific variations in population sizes and trends, as well as reproduction and morphology. However, current global extinction risk assessment frameworks do not assess conservation status of spatially and biologically distinct marine turtle Regional Management Units (RMUs, and thus do not capture variations in population trends, impacts of threats, or necessary conservation actions across individual populations. To address this issue, we developed a new assessment framework that allowed us to evaluate, compare and organize marine turtle RMUs according to status and threats criteria. Because conservation priorities can vary widely (i.e. from avoiding imminent extinction to maintaining long-term monitoring efforts we developed a "conservation priorities portfolio" system using categories of paired risk and threats scores for all RMUs (n = 58. We performed these assessments and rankings globally, by species, by ocean basin, and by recognized geopolitical bodies to identify patterns in risk, threats, and data gaps at different scales. This process resulted in characterization of risk and threats to all marine turtle RMUs, including identification of the world's 11 most endangered marine turtle RMUs based on highest risk and threats scores. This system also highlighted important gaps in available information that is crucial for accurate conservation assessments. Overall, this priority-setting framework can provide guidance for research and conservation priorities at multiple relevant scales, and should serve as a model for conservation status assessments and priority

  15. Setting priorities for research in medical nutrition education: an international approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ball, Lauren; Barnes, Katelyn; Laur, Celia; Crowley, Jennifer; Ray, Sumantra

    2016-12-14

    To identify the research priorities for medical nutrition education worldwide. A 5-step stakeholder engagement process based on methodological guidelines for identifying research priorities in health. 277 individuals were identified as representatives for 30 different stakeholder organisations across 86 countries. The stakeholder organisations represented the views of medical educators, medical students, doctors, patients and researchers in medical education. Each stakeholder representative was asked to provide up to three research questions that should be deemed as a priority for medical nutrition education. Research questions were critically appraised for answerability, sustainability, effectiveness, potential for translation and potential to impact on disease burden. A blinded scoring system was used to rank the appraised questions, with higher scores indicating higher priority (range of scores possible 36-108). 37 submissions were received, of which 25 were unique research questions. Submitted questions received a range of scores from 62 to 106 points. The highest scoring questions focused on (1) increasing the confidence of medical students and doctors in providing nutrition care to patients, (2) clarifying the essential nutrition skills doctors should acquire, (3) understanding the effectiveness of doctors at influencing dietary behaviours and (4) improving medical students' attitudes towards the importance of nutrition. These research questions can be used to ensure future projects in medical nutrition education directly align with the needs and preferences of research stakeholders. Funders should consider these priorities in their commissioning of research. 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/.

  16. What are the macro-social health research priorities?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Narges Tabrizchi

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available   Background: Setting research priorities is a scientific process to allocate resources to the best use. In low- and middle-income countries, allocation of limited resources to fundamental issues is more important. So, the present study was conducted to determine social health research priorities.  Methods: In the first step, important issues and research topics of social health were extracted from documents and studies conducted at the national level.In qualitative phase, reciprocating questionnaires were sent and interviews were conducted with experts and stakeholders, social health issues (as members of Delphi. In the next step, the research topics extracted were discussed in small groups (suggested by Council on Health Research for Development to score the proposed priority topics by Delphi members. Finally, the list of priorities (titles that acquired more than 80% of the total score was sent to Delphi members for final approval.  Results: During the study, 220 topics were obtained in four research domains: “description of the problem and its consequences”, “cause finding”, “intervention to eliminate or reduce problems”, and “Management-Policymaking”. Finally, 30 of these topics remained as priority topics. High priority research topics in social health were equity, happiness, economics, and ethics, respectively.  Conclusion: The findings provide a list of research priorities that help researchers carrying out studies that will have the greatest social health impact. Some targeting areas such as happiness and ethics were identified as less attended subjects that need more investment in research policies, management, and governance.

  17. Plutonium Immobilization Can Loading Preliminary Specifications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kriikku, E.

    1998-11-25

    This report discusses the Plutonium Immobilization can loading preliminary equipment specifications and includes a process block diagram, process description, equipment list, preliminary equipment specifications, plan and elevation sketches, and some commercial catalogs. This report identifies loading pucks into cans and backfilling cans with helium as the top priority can loading development areas.

  18. 77 FR 10739 - SV Hydro, LLC, Coffeeville, LLC, FFP Project 99, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-23

    ... Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing . The Commission has received three preliminary permit applications... Commission, or her designee, will conduct a random drawing to determine the filing priority of the applicants... section 4.37 of its regulations.\\3\\ The priority established by this drawing will be used to determine...

  19. Setting Priorities in Global Child Health Research Investments: Guidelines for Implementation of the CHNRI Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudan, Igor; Gibson, Jennifer L.; Ameratunga, Shanthi; El Arifeen, Shams; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.; Black, Maureen; Black, Robert E.; Brown, Kenneth H.; Campbell, Harry; Carneiro, Ilona; Chan, Kit Yee; Chandramohan, Daniel; Chopra, Mickey; Cousens, Simon; Darmstadt, Gary L.; Gardner, Julie Meeks; Hess, Sonja Y.; Hyder, Adnan A.; Kapiriri, Lydia; Kosek, Margaret; Lanata, Claudio F.; Lansang, Mary Ann; Lawn, Joy; Tomlinson, Mark; Tsai, Alexander C.; Webster, Jayne

    2008-01-01

    This article provides detailed guidelines for the implementation of systematic method for setting priorities in health research investments that was recently developed by Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI). The target audience for the proposed method are international agencies, large research funding donors, and national governments and policy-makers. The process has the following steps: (i) selecting the managers of the process; (ii) specifying the context and risk management preferences; (iii) discussing criteria for setting health research priorities; (iv) choosing a limited set of the most useful and important criteria; (v) developing means to assess the likelihood that proposed health research options will satisfy the selected criteria; (vi) systematic listing of a large number of proposed health research options; (vii) pre-scoring check of all competing health research options; (viii) scoring of health research options using the chosen set of criteria; (ix) calculating intermediate scores for each health research option; (x) obtaining further input from the stakeholders; (xi) adjusting intermediate scores taking into account the values of stakeholders; (xii) calculating overall priority scores and assigning ranks; (xiii) performing an analysis of agreement between the scorers; (xiv) linking computed research priority scores with investment decisions; (xv) feedback and revision. The CHNRI method is a flexible process that enables prioritizing health research investments at any level: institutional, regional, national, international, or global. PMID:19090596

  20. Research priorities in medical education: A national study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tootoonchi, Mina; Yamani, Nikoo; Changiz, Tahereh; Yousefy, Alireza

    2012-01-01

    One preliminary step to strengthen medical education research would be determining the research priorities. The aim of this study was to determine the research priorities of medical education in Iran in 2007-2008. This descriptive study was carried out in two phases. Phase one was performed in 3 stages and used Delphi technique among academic staffs of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The three stages included a brainstorming workshop for 140 faculty members and educational experts resulting in a list of research priorities, then, in the second and third stages 99 and 76 questionnaires were distributed among faculty members. In the second phase, the final questionnaires were mailed to educational research center managers of universities type I, II and III, and were distributed among 311 academic members and educational experts to rate the items on a numerical scale ranging from 1 to 10. The most important research priorities included faculty members' development methods, faculty members' motives, satisfaction and welfare, criteria and procedures of faculty members' promotion, teaching methods and learning techniques, job descriptions and professional skills of graduates, quality management in education, second language, clinical education, science production in medicine, faculty evaluation and information technology. This study shows the medial education research priorities in national level and in different types of medical universities in Iran. It is recommended that faculty members and research administrators consider the needs and requirements of education and plan the researches in education according to these priorities.

  1. Ethics education: a priority for general practitioners in occupational medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alavi, S Shohreh; Makarem, Jalil; Mehrdad, Ramin

    2015-01-01

    General practitioners (GPs) who work in occupational medicine (OM) should be trained continuously. However, it seems that ethical issues have been neglected. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine educational priorities for GPs working in OM. A total of 410 GPs who participated in OM seminars were asked to answer a number of questions related to items that they usually come across in their work. The respondents were given scores on 15 items, which pertained to their frequency of experience in OM, their felt needs regarding education in the field, and their knowledge and skills. Ethical issues were the most frequently utilised item and the area in which the felt need for education was the greatest. The knowledge of and skills in ethical issues and matters were the poorest. Ethical principles and confidentiality had the highest calculated educational priority scores. It is necessary to consider ethical issues as an educational priority for GPs working in the field of OM.

  2. Visual Assessment on Coastal Cruise Tourism: A Preliminary Planning Using Importance Performance Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trisutomo, S.

    2017-07-01

    Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) has been widely applied in many cases. In this research, IPA was applied to measure perceive on coastal tourism objects and its possibility to be developed as coastal cruise tourism in Makassar. Three objects, i.e. Akkarena recreational site, Losari public space at waterfront, and Paotere traditional Phinisi ships port, were selected and assessed visually from water area by a group of purposive resource persons. The importance and performance of 10 attributes of each site were scored using Likert scale from 1 to 5. Data were processed by SPSS-21 than resulted Cartesian graph which the scores were divided in four quadrants: Quadrant I concentric here, Quadrant II keep up the good work, Quadrant III low priority, and Quadrant IV possible overkill. The attributes in each quadrant could be considered as the platform for preliminary planning of coastal cruise tour in Makassar

  3. Research priorities in medical education: A national study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mina Tootoonchi

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: One preliminary step to strengthen medical education research would be determining the research prior-ities. The aim of this study was to determine the research priorities of medical education in Iran in 2007-2008. Methods: This descriptive study was carried out in two phases. Phase one was performed in 3 stages and used Delphi technique among academic staffs of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The three stages included a brainstorming workshop for 140 faculty members and educational experts resulting in a list of research priorities, then, in the second and third stages 99 and 76 questionnaires were distributed among faculty members. In the second phase, the final ques-tionnaires were mailed to educational research center managers of universities type I, II and III, and were distributed among 311 academic members and educational experts to rate the items on a numerical scale ranging from 1 to 10. Results: The most important research priorities included faculty members′ development methods, faculty members′ motives, satisfaction and welfare, criteria and procedures of faculty members′ promotion, teaching methods and learning techniques, job descriptions and professional skills of graduates, quality management in education, second language, clinical education, science production in medicine, faculty evaluation and information technology. Conclusions: This study shows the medial education research priorities in national level and in different types of medical universities in Iran. It is recommended that faculty members and research administrators consider the needs and requirements of education and plan the researches in education according to these priorities.

  4. Research priorities in medical education at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences: categories and subcategories in the Iranian context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    PARISA NABEIEI

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Research in education is a globally significant issue without a long history. Due to the importance of the issue in Health System Development programs, this study intended to determine research priorities in medical education, considering their details and functions. By determining barriers existing in research in education progress, it is tried to make research priorities more functional by recommending acceptable strategies. Methods: This is a qualitative-descriptive study in two descriptive phases. The goal of these phases was to determine research priorities subcategories in medical education by Nominal Group Technique (NGT and two rounds of Delphi method. Through the first phase, subcategories of research priorities were determined, using Nominal Group Technique under medical education experts’ supervision. Through two rounds of Delphi, a questionnaire was constructed based on the subcategories. Eventually, research priorities were determined based on their highest score (scores more than 7 out of 10. Results: In the first phase (NGT, 35 priorities in 5 major fields of medical education were presented. In the second phase, priorities were scored, using Delphi method. Medical Ethics and professionalism gained the highest scores (7.63±1.26 and educational evaluation the lowest (7.28±1.52. In this stage, 7 items were omitted but 2 of them were added again after experts’ revision in the third round of Delphi. Conclusion: According to the results of the present study and based on previous studies, it really seems that the fields of “Learning and Teaching Approaches” and “Medical Ethics and Professionalism” were more important. Because of financial and resource limitations in our country and the importance of research priorities, it is recommended to frequently study “research priorities determination program” at universities.

  5. Mammals on the EDGE: conservation priorities based on threat and phylogeny.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nick J B Isaac

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available Conservation priority setting based on phylogenetic diversity has frequently been proposed but rarely implemented. Here, we define a simple index that measures the contribution made by different species to phylogenetic diversity and show how the index might contribute towards species-based conservation priorities. We describe procedures to control for missing species, incomplete phylogenetic resolution and uncertainty in node ages that make it possible to apply the method in poorly known clades. We also show that the index is independent of clade size in phylogenies of more than 100 species, indicating that scores from unrelated taxonomic groups are likely to be comparable. Similar scores are returned under two different species concepts, suggesting that the index is robust to taxonomic changes. The approach is applied to a near-complete species-level phylogeny of the Mammalia to generate a global priority list incorporating both phylogenetic diversity and extinction risk. The 100 highest-ranking species represent a high proportion of total mammalian diversity and include many species not usually recognised as conservation priorities. Many species that are both evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered (EDGE species do not benefit from existing conservation projects or protected areas. The results suggest that global conservation priorities may have to be reassessed in order to prevent a disproportionately large amount of mammalian evolutionary history becoming extinct in the near future.

  6. Preliminary design of a priority system for DOE environmental restoration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Longo, T.P.; Whitfield, R.P.; Cotton, T.A.; Merkhofer, M.W.

    1990-01-01

    For over 40 yr, the US Department of Energy (DOE) and predecessor agencies have managed the production of nuclear materials and weapons for national defense. Operations at facilities in ∼20 states have produced hundreds, perhaps thousands, of contaminated sites. The DOE is committed to cleaning up these sites over a 30-yr period. The cleanup will cost tens of billions of dollars. To assist in the process of formulating and allocating the budget for cleaning up these sites, DOE is developing a risk-based priority system. The system will be a formal decision-aiding tool addressing health and safety risks as well as social, technical, economic, and policy issues. It will ensure that funding decisions reflect the primary goals of protecting public health and the environment and complying with regulatory requirements and agreements. The system also will ensure that decisions are made in a technically defensible and even-handed manner. The primary purpose of the system is to provide information useful for two types of DOE budgetary decisions. One is identifying desirable budget levels and formulating DOE's annual budget request. The other is allocating in the most effective way the funds appropriated by Congress. The priority system will initially apply to DOE's environmental restoration (ER) program, which involves assessing, cleaning up, and closing inactive waste sites and surplus facilities

  7. Defining Priorities for Future Research: Results of the UK Kidney Transplant Priority Setting Partnership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knight, Simon R; Metcalfe, Leanne; O'Donoghue, Katriona; Ball, Simon T; Beale, Angela; Beale, William; Hilton, Rachel; Hodkinson, Keith; Lipkin, Graham W; Loud, Fiona; Marson, Lorna P; Morris, Peter J

    2016-01-01

    It has been suggested that the research priorities of those funding and performing research in transplantation may differ from those of end service users such as patients, carers and healthcare professionals involved in day-to-day care. The Kidney Transplant Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) was established with the aim of involving all stakeholders in prioritising future research in the field. The PSP methodology is as outlined by the James Lind Alliance. An initial survey collected unanswered research questions from patients, carers and clinicians. Duplicate and out-of-scope topics were excluded and the existing literature searched to identify topics answered by current evidence. An interim prioritisation survey asked patients and professionals to score the importance of the remaining questions to create a ranked long-list. These were considered at a final consensus workshop using a modified nominal group technique to agree a final top ten. The initial survey identified 497 questions from 183 respondents, covering all aspects of transplantation from assessment through to long-term follow-up. These were grouped into 90 unanswered "indicative" questions. The interim prioritisation survey received 256 responses (34.8% patients/carers, 10.9% donors and 54.3% professionals), resulting in a ranked list of 25 questions that were considered during the final workshop. Participants agreed a top ten priorities for future research that included optimisation of immunosuppression (improved monitoring, choice of regimen, personalisation), prevention of sensitisation and transplanting the sensitised patient, management of antibody-mediated rejection, long-term risks to live donors, methods of organ preservation, induction of tolerance and bioengineering of organs. There was evidence that patient and carer involvement had a significant impact on shaping the final priorities. The final list of priorities relates to all stages of the transplant process, including access to

  8. Setting research priorities to improve global newborn health and prevent stillbirths by 2025

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yoshida, Sachiyo; Martines, José; Lawn, Joy E

    2016-01-01

    for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015, there was a need to set the new research priorities on newborns and stillbirth with a focus not only on survival but also on health, growth and development. We therefore carried out a systematic exercise to set newborn health research priorities...... for 2013-2025. METHODS: We used adapted Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) methods for this prioritization exercise. We identified and approached the 200 most productive researchers and 400 program experts, and 132 of them submitted research questions online. These were collated...... into a set of 205 research questions, sent for scoring to the 600 identified experts, and were assessed and scored by 91 experts. RESULTS: Nine out of top ten identified priorities were in the domain of research on improving delivery of known interventions, with simplified neonatal resuscitation program...

  9. Preliminary assessment report for National Guard Training Center, Georgia Army National Guard, Fort Stewart, Georgia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1993-07-01

    This report presents the results of the preliminary assessment (PA) conducted by Argonne National Laboratory at the Georgia Army National Guard (GAARNG) facility near Hinesville, Georgia, known as the National Guard Training Center (NGTC). Preliminary assessments of federal facilities are being conducted to compile the information necessary for completing preremedial activities and to provide a priority basis for completing corrective actions (where necessary) in response to releases of hazardous substances. The principal objective of the PA is to characterize the site accurately and determine the need for further action by examining previous site activities, types and quantities of hazardous substances utilized, and potential pathways by which contamination could affect public health and the environment. The scope of this assessment is limited to the facilities and past activities contained within the NGTC. Preliminary assessment site score sheet information is also provided for the NGTC. However, this assessment report is intended to be read in conjunction with a previous IRP assessment of Fort Stewart completed in 1992 (USATHAMA 1992) and to provide comprehensive information on the NGTC area for incorporation with information contained in that previous assessment for the entirety of Fort Stewart

  10. Preliminary data summary for the hospitals point-source category

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strassler, E.; Hund, F.H.

    1989-09-01

    The summaries were prepared in order to allow EPA to respond to the mandate of Section 304(m) of the Clean Water Act. Summaries for categories already subject to rulemaking were developed for comparison purposes, and contain only the minimum amount of data needed to provide some perspective on the relative magnitude of the pollution problems created across the categories. The document summarizes the most current information available regarding the discharge of wastewater and solid wastes containing priority and hazardous non-priority pollutants by hospitals. The document provides a technical basis for determining whether additional national regulations should be developed pursuant to the Clean Water Act (CWA), and makes available preliminary information regarding the discharge of priority and hazardous non-priority pollutants by the hospital industry

  11. Guidance for performing preliminary assessments under CERCLA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1991-09-01

    EPA headquarters and a national site assessment workgroup produced this guidance for Regional, State, and contractor staff who manage or perform preliminary assessments (PAs). EPA has focused this guidance on the types of sites and site conditions most commonly encountered. The PA approach described in this guidance is generally applicable to a wide variety of sites. However, because of the variability among sites, the amount of information available, and the level of investigative effort required, it is not possible to provide guidance that is equally applicable to all sites. PA investigators should recognize this and be aware that variation from this guidance may be necessary for some sites, particularly for PAs performed at Federal facilities, PAs conducted under EPA`s Environmental Priorities Initiative (EPI), and PAs at sites that have previously been extensively investigated by EPA or others. The purpose of this guidance is to provide instructions for conducting a PA and reporting results. This guidance discusses the information required to evaluate a site and how to obtain it, how to score a site, and reporting requirements. This document also provides guidelines and instruction on PA evaluation, scoring, and the use of standard PA scoresheets. The overall goal of this guidance is to assist PA investigators in conducting high-quality assessments that result in correct site screening or further action recommendations on a nationally consistent basis.

  12. Range-wide network of priority areas for greater sage-grouse - a design for conserving connected distributions or isolating individual zoos?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crist, Michele R.; Knick, Steven T.; Hanser, Steven E.

    2015-09-08

    The network of areas delineated in 11 Western States for prioritizing management of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) represents a grand experiment in conservation biology and reserve design. We used centrality metrics from social network theory to gain insights into how this priority area network might function. The network was highly centralized. Twenty of 188 priority areas accounted for 80 percent of the total centrality scores. These priority areas, characterized by large size and a central location in the range-wide distribution, are strongholds for greater sage-grouse populations and also might function as sources. Mid-ranking priority areas may serve as stepping stones because of their location between large central and smaller peripheral priority areas. The current network design and conservation strategy has risks. The contribution of almost one-half (n = 93) of the priority areas combined for less than 1 percent of the cumulative centrality scores for the network. These priority areas individually are likely too small to support viable sage-grouse populations within their boundary. Without habitat corridors to connect small priority areas either to larger priority areas or as a clustered group within the network, their isolation could lead to loss of sage-grouse within these regions of the network. 

  13. The OMERACT ultrasound task force -- Advances and priorities.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    D'Agostino, Maria-Antonietta

    2009-08-01

    This article reports the most recent work of the OMERACT Ultrasound Task Force (post OMERACT 8) and highlights of future research priorities discussed at the OMERACT 9 meeting, Kananaskis, Canada, May 2008. Results of 3 studies were presented: (1) assessing intermachine reliability; (2) applying the scoring system developed in the hand to other joints most commonly affected in rheumatoid arthritis (RA); and (3) assessing interobserver reliability on a deep target joint (shoulder). Results demonstrated good intermachine reliability between multiple examiners, and good applicability of the scoring system for the hand on other joints (including shoulder). Study conclusions were discussed and a future research agenda was generated, notably the further development of a Global OMERACT Sonography Scoring (GLOSS) system in RA, emphasizing the importance of testing feasibility and added value over standard clinical variables. Future disease areas of importance to develop include a scoring system for enthesitis and osteoarthritis.

  14. The OMERACT ultrasound task force -- Advances and priorities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    D'Agostino, Maria-Antonietta; Conaghan, Philip G; Naredo, Esperanza

    2009-01-01

    This article reports the most recent work of the OMERACT Ultrasound Task Force (post OMERACT 8) and highlights of future research priorities discussed at the OMERACT 9 meeting, Kananaskis, Canada, May 2008. Results of 3 studies were presented: (1) assessing intermachine reliability; (2) applying...... system for the hand on other joints (including shoulder). Study conclusions were discussed and a future research agenda was generated, notably the further development of a Global OMERACT Sonography Scoring (GLOSS) system in RA, emphasizing the importance of testing feasibility and added value over...... standard clinical variables. Future disease areas of importance to develop include a scoring system for enthesitis and osteoarthritis....

  15. Research Priorities for the Intersection of Alcohol and HIV/AIDS in Low and Middle Income Countries: A Priority Setting Exercise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordon, Sara; Rotheram-Borus, Mary Jane; Skeen, Sarah; Perry, Charles; Bryant, Kendall; Tomlinson, Mark

    2017-11-01

    The harmful use of alcohol is a component cause for more than 200 diseases. The association between alcohol consumption, risk taking behavior and a range of infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS is well established. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS as well as harmful alcohol use in low and middle income countries is high. Alcohol has been identified as a modifiable risk factor in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. The objective of this paper is to define research priorities for the interaction of alcohol and HIV/AIDS in low and middle income countries. The Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) priority setting methodology was applied in order to assess research priorities of the interaction of alcohol and HIV/AIDS. A group of 171 global and local experts in the field of alcohol and or HIV/AIDS related research were identified and invited to generate research questions. This resulted in 205 research questions which have been categorized and refined by senior researchers into 48 research questions to be evaluated using five criteria: answerability, effectiveness, feasibility, applicability and impact, as well as equity. A total of 59 experts participated independently in the voluntary scoring exercise (a 34% response rate). There was substantial consensus among experts on priorities for research on alcohol and HIV. These tended to break down into two categories, those focusing on better understanding the nexus between alcohol and HIV and those directed towards informing practical interventions to reduce the impact of alcohol use on HIV treatment outcomes, which replicates what Bryant (Subst Use Misuse 41:1465-1507, 2006) and Parry et al. (Addiction 108:1-2, 2012) found. Responses from experts were stratified by location in order to determine any differences between groups. On average experts in the LMIC gave higher scores than the HIC experts. Recent research has shown the causal link between alcohol consumption and the incidence of HIV

  16. 77 FR 10740 - Riverbank Hydro No. 22, LLC; FFP Project 93, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-23

    ...] Riverbank Hydro No. 22, LLC; FFP Project 93, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing The..., will conduct a random drawing to determine the filing priority of the applicants identified in this... regulations.\\2\\ The priority established by this drawing will be used to determine which applicant, among...

  17. 77 FR 9231 - FFP Missouri 17, LLC; BOST2 Hydroelectric, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-16

    .... 13826-000] FFP Missouri 17, LLC; BOST2 Hydroelectric, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing... of the Commission, or her designee, will conduct a random drawing to determine the filing priority of... applications as provided in section 4.37 of its regulations.\\2\\ The priority established by this drawing will...

  18. 77 FR 9231 - Lock+ Hydro Friends Fund XXVIII; FFP Project 59, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-16

    ...+ Hydro Friends Fund XXVIII; FFP Project 59, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing The... of the Commission, or her designee, will conduct a random drawing to determine the filing priority of... applications as provided in section 4.37 of its regulations.\\2\\ The priority established by this drawing will...

  19. 77 FR 9231 - Lock+ Hydro Friends Fund XL; FFP Project 56, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-16

    ...+ Hydro Friends Fund XL; FFP Project 56, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing The Commission..., or her designee, will conduct a random drawing to determine the filing priority of the applicants... section 4.37 of its regulations.\\2\\ The priority established by this drawing will be used to determine...

  20. 77 FR 9230 - Lock+ Hydro Friends Fund XLV; FFP Project 2, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-16

    ...+ Hydro Friends Fund XLV; FFP Project 2, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing The Commission... her designee, will conduct a random drawing to determine the filing priority of the applicants... section 4.37 of its regulations.\\2\\ The priority established by this drawing will be used to determine...

  1. 77 FR 9230 - Lock+ Hydro Friends Fund XLIII; FFP Project 53, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-16

    ...+ Hydro Friends Fund XLIII; FFP Project 53, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing The... Commission, or her designee, will conduct a random drawing to determine the filing priority of the applicants... section 4.37 of its regulations.\\2\\ The priority established by this drawing will be used to determine...

  2. 77 FR 9232 - Lock+ Hydro Friends Fund XXXVIII; FFP Project 1, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-16

    ...+ Hydro Friends Fund XXXVIII; FFP Project 1, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing The..., or her designee, will conduct a random drawing to determine the filing priority of the applicants... section 4.37 of its regulations.\\2\\ The priority established by this drawing will be used to determine...

  3. 77 FR 9231 - Lock+ Hydro Friends Fund IV; FFP Project 55, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-16

    ...+ Hydro Friends Fund IV; FFP Project 55, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing The Commission... of the Commission, or her designee, will conduct a random drawing to determine the filing priority of... applications as provided in section 4.37 of its regulations.\\2\\ The priority established by this drawing will...

  4. The microcirculation image quality score: development and preliminary evaluation of a proposed approach to grading quality of image acquisition for bedside videomicroscopy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Massey, Michael J; Larochelle, Ethan; Najarro, Gabriel; Karmacharla, Adarsh; Arnold, Ryan; Trzeciak, Stephen; Angus, Derek C; Shapiro, Nathan I

    2013-12-01

    Side-stream dark-field microscopy is currently used to directly visualize sublingual microcirculation at the bedside. Our experience has found inherent technical challenges in the image acquisition process. This article presents and assesses a quality assurance method to rate image acquisition quality before analysis. We identified 6 common image capture and analysis problem areas in sublingual side-stream dark-field videos: illumination, duration, focus, content, stability, and pressure. We created the "Microcirculation Image Quality Score" by assigning a score of optimal (0 points), suboptimal but acceptable (1 point), or unacceptable (10 points) to each category (for further details, go to http://www.MicroscanAnalysis.blogspot.com). We evaluated 59 videos from a convenience sample of 34 unselected, noncritically ill emergency department patients to create a test set. Two raters, blinded to each other, implemented the score. Any video with a cumulative score of 10 or higher (range, 0-60) was considered unacceptable for further analysis. We created the Microcirculation Image Quality Score and applied it to 59 videos. For this particular set of 59 videos, the mean (SD) passing quality score was 1.68 (0.90), and the mean (SD) failing quality score was 15.74 (6.19), with 27 of 59 passing the quality score less than 10. Highest failure occurred from pressure artifact. The interrater agreement for acceptability was assessed using Cohen κ for each category: illumination (κ = 1.0), duration (κ = 1.0), focus (κ = 0.91), content (κ = 0.76), stability (κ = 0.71), and pressure (κ = 0.82) and overall pass-fail rates (score >10) (κ = 0.66). Our Microcirculation Image Quality Score addresses many of the common areas where video quality can degrade. The criteria introduced are an objective way to assess the quality of image acquisition, with the goal of selecting videos of adequate quality for analysis. The interrater reliability results in our preliminary study suggest

  5. Rhinology-specific priority setting for quality improvement: a modified Delphi study from the Quality Improvement Committee of the American Rhinologic Society.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudmik, Luke; Mattos, Jose L; Stokken, Janalee K; Soler, Zachary M; Manes, R Peter; Higgins, Thomas S; Setzen, Michael; Lee, Jivianne; Schneider, John

    2017-10-01

    Improving the quality of healthcare is a complex and resource intensive process. To optimize the allocation of scarce resources, quality improvement (QI) should focus on high-value diseases that will produce the largest improvement in health system performance. Given the breadth and multidisciplinary nature of sinonasal disease management, the purpose of this study was to transparently develop a prioritized list of sinonasal diseases for QI from the perspective of the specialty of rhinology and the American Rhinologic Society (ARS). The RAND modified Delphi methodology was used to rank the priority of nine sinonasal disease categories from 1 (lowest priority) to 9 (highest priority). Two rounds of ranking along with a teleconference meeting was performed by a panel of 9 experts from the ARS Quality Improvement Committee. The final QI-prioritized list of sinonasal diseases are as follows: chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) (mean score = 8.9), recurrent acute rhinosinusitis (RARS) (mean score = 7.9), sinonasal neoplasms (mean score = 7.0), anatomic nasal obstruction (mean score = 5.9), refractory epistaxis (mean score = 5.2), complicated acute rhinosinusitis (mean score = 5.2), chronic nonallergic rhinitis (mean score = 4.4), orbital disease (mean score = 4.3), uncomplicated acute rhinosinusitis (mean score = 4.1), and allergy/allergic rhinitis (mean score = 3.7). The three most important disease categories for QI from the perspective of the specialty of rhinology were CRS, RARS, and sinonasal neoplasms. Future studies need to define and validate quality metrics for each of these important disease categories in order to facilitate appropriate measurement and improvement initiatives. © 2017 ARS-AAOA, LLC.

  6. 77 FR 9230 - Lock+ Hydro Friends Fund XLVII; FFP Project 52, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-16

    ... Drawing The Commission has received two preliminary permit applications deemed filed on May 3, 2011, at 8... Secretary of the Commission, or her designee, will conduct a random drawing to determine the filing priority... applications as provided in section 4.37 of its regulations.\\2\\ The priority established by this drawing will...

  7. 77 FR 9232 - Lock+ Hydro Friends Fund XXXIV; FFP Project 58, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-16

    ... Drawing The Commission has received two preliminary permit applications deemed filed on May 3, 2011, at 8... Secretary of the Commission, or her designee, will conduct a random drawing to determine the filing priority... applications as provided in section 4.37 of its regulations.\\2\\ The priority established by this drawing will...

  8. 77 FR 9915 - Lock+ Hydro Friends Fund XLIV; FFP Project 51, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-21

    ... Drawing The Commission has received two preliminary permit applications deemed filed on May 3, 2011, at 8... of the Commission, or her designee, will conduct a random drawing to determine the filing priority of... applications as provided in section 4.37 of its regulations.\\2\\ The priority established by this drawing will...

  9. 77 FR 12281 - Lock+ Hydro Friends Fund IV; FFP Project 55, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-29

    ... Drawing The Commission has received two preliminary permit applications deemed filed on May 3, 2011, at 8... Secretary of the Commission, or her designee, will conduct a random drawing to determine the filing priority... applications as provided in section 4.37 of its regulations.\\3\\ The priority established by this drawing will...

  10. 77 FR 9232 - Lock+ Hydro Friends Fund XXXV; FFP Project 57, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-16

    ... Drawing The Commission has received two preliminary permit applications deemed filed on May 3, 2011, at 8... of the Commission, or her designee, will conduct a random drawing to determine the filing priority of... applications as provided in section 4.37 of its regulations.\\2\\ The priority established by this drawing will...

  11. Priority Determination of Underwater Tourism Site Development in Gorontalo Province using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rohandi, M.; Tuloli, M. Y.; Jassin, R. T.

    2018-02-01

    This research aims to determine the development of priority of underwater tourism in Gorontalo province using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method which is one of DSS methods applying Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM). This method used 5 criteria and 28 alternatives to determine the best priority of underwater tourism site development in Gorontalo province. Based on the AHP calculation it appeared that the best priority development of underwater tourism site is Pulau Cinta whose total AHP score is 0.489 or 48.9%. This DSS produced a reliable result, faster solution, time-saving, and low cost for the decision makers to obtain the best underwater tourism site to be developed.

  12. Setting priorities for zinc-related health research to reduce children's disease burden worldwide: an application of the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative's research priority-setting method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Kenneth H; Hess, Sonja Y; Boy, Erick; Gibson, Rosalind S; Horton, Susan; Osendarp, Saskia J; Sempertegui, Fernando; Shrimpton, Roger; Rudan, Igor

    2009-03-01

    To make the best use of limited resources for supporting health-related research to reduce child mortality, it is necessary to apply a suitable method to rank competing research options. The Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) developed a new methodology for setting health research priorities. To broaden experience with this priority-setting technique, we applied the method to rank possible research priorities concerning the control of Zn deficiency. Although Zn deficiency is not generally recognized as a direct cause of child mortality, recent research indicates that it predisposes children to an increased incidence and severity of several of the major direct causes of morbidity and mortality. Leading experts in the field of Zn research in child health were identified and invited to participate in a technical working group (TWG) to establish research priorities. The individuals were chosen to represent a wide range of expertise in Zn nutrition. The seven TWG members submitted a total of ninety research options, which were then consolidated into a final list of thirty-one research options categorized by the type of resulting intervention. The identified priorities were dominated by research investment options targeting Zn supplementation, and were followed by research on Zn fortification, general aspects of Zn nutrition, dietary modification and other new interventions. In general, research options that aim to improve the efficiency of an already existing intervention strategy received higher priority scores. Challenges identified during the implementation of the methodology and suggestions to modify the priority-setting procedures are discussed.

  13. Identifying Priority Areas for Conservation: A Global Assessment for Forest-Dependent Birds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buchanan, Graeme M.; Donald, Paul F.; Butchart, Stuart H. M.

    2011-01-01

    Limited resources are available to address the world's growing environmental problems, requiring conservationists to identify priority sites for action. Using new distribution maps for all of the world's forest-dependent birds (60.6% of all bird species), we quantify the contribution of remaining forest to conserving global avian biodiversity. For each of the world's partly or wholly forested 5-km cells, we estimated an impact score of its contribution to the distribution of all the forest bird species estimated to occur within it, and so is proportional to the impact on the conservation status of the world's forest-dependent birds were the forest it contains lost. The distribution of scores was highly skewed, a very small proportion of cells having scores several orders of magnitude above the global mean. Ecoregions containing the highest values of this score included relatively species-poor islands such as Hawaii and Palau, the relatively species-rich islands of Indonesia and the Philippines, and the megadiverse Atlantic Forests and northern Andes of South America. Ecoregions with high impact scores and high deforestation rates (2000–2005) included montane forests in Cameroon and the Eastern Arc of Tanzania, although deforestation data were not available for all ecoregions. Ecoregions with high impact scores, high rates of recent deforestation and low coverage by the protected area network included Indonesia's Seram rain forests and the moist forests of Trinidad and Tobago. Key sites in these ecoregions represent some of the most urgent priorities for expansion of the global protected areas network to meet Convention on Biological Diversity targets to increase the proportion of land formally protected to 17% by 2020. Areas with high impact scores, rapid deforestation, low protection and high carbon storage values may represent significant opportunities for both biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation, for example through Reducing Emissions from

  14. Tetrapods on the EDGE: Overcoming data limitations to identify phylogenetic conservation priorities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gray, Claudia L.; Wearn, Oliver R.; Owen, Nisha R.

    2018-01-01

    The scale of the ongoing biodiversity crisis requires both effective conservation prioritisation and urgent action. As extinction is non-random across the tree of life, it is important to prioritise threatened species which represent large amounts of evolutionary history. The EDGE metric prioritises species based on their Evolutionary Distinctiveness (ED), which measures the relative contribution of a species to the total evolutionary history of their taxonomic group, and Global Endangerment (GE), or extinction risk. EDGE prioritisations rely on adequate phylogenetic and extinction risk data to generate meaningful priorities for conservation. However, comprehensive phylogenetic trees of large taxonomic groups are extremely rare and, even when available, become quickly out-of-date due to the rapid rate of species descriptions and taxonomic revisions. Thus, it is important that conservationists can use the available data to incorporate evolutionary history into conservation prioritisation. We compared published and new methods to estimate missing ED scores for species absent from a phylogenetic tree whilst simultaneously correcting the ED scores of their close taxonomic relatives. We found that following artificial removal of species from a phylogenetic tree, the new method provided the closest estimates of their “true” ED score, differing from the true ED score by an average of less than 1%, compared to the 31% and 38% difference of the previous methods. The previous methods also substantially under- and over-estimated scores as more species were artificially removed from a phylogenetic tree. We therefore used the new method to estimate ED scores for all tetrapods. From these scores we updated EDGE prioritisation rankings for all tetrapod species with IUCN Red List assessments, including the first EDGE prioritisation for reptiles. Further, we identified criteria to identify robust priority species in an effort to further inform conservation action whilst

  15. Identifying priority areas for conservation: a global assessment for forest-dependent birds.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Graeme M Buchanan

    Full Text Available Limited resources are available to address the world's growing environmental problems, requiring conservationists to identify priority sites for action. Using new distribution maps for all of the world's forest-dependent birds (60.6% of all bird species, we quantify the contribution of remaining forest to conserving global avian biodiversity. For each of the world's partly or wholly forested 5-km cells, we estimated an impact score of its contribution to the distribution of all the forest bird species estimated to occur within it, and so is proportional to the impact on the conservation status of the world's forest-dependent birds were the forest it contains lost. The distribution of scores was highly skewed, a very small proportion of cells having scores several orders of magnitude above the global mean. Ecoregions containing the highest values of this score included relatively species-poor islands such as Hawaii and Palau, the relatively species-rich islands of Indonesia and the Philippines, and the megadiverse Atlantic Forests and northern Andes of South America. Ecoregions with high impact scores and high deforestation rates (2000-2005 included montane forests in Cameroon and the Eastern Arc of Tanzania, although deforestation data were not available for all ecoregions. Ecoregions with high impact scores, high rates of recent deforestation and low coverage by the protected area network included Indonesia's Seram rain forests and the moist forests of Trinidad and Tobago. Key sites in these ecoregions represent some of the most urgent priorities for expansion of the global protected areas network to meet Convention on Biological Diversity targets to increase the proportion of land formally protected to 17% by 2020. Areas with high impact scores, rapid deforestation, low protection and high carbon storage values may represent significant opportunities for both biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation, for example through Reducing

  16. Identifying priority areas for conservation: a global assessment for forest-dependent birds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buchanan, Graeme M; Donald, Paul F; Butchart, Stuart H M

    2011-01-01

    Limited resources are available to address the world's growing environmental problems, requiring conservationists to identify priority sites for action. Using new distribution maps for all of the world's forest-dependent birds (60.6% of all bird species), we quantify the contribution of remaining forest to conserving global avian biodiversity. For each of the world's partly or wholly forested 5-km cells, we estimated an impact score of its contribution to the distribution of all the forest bird species estimated to occur within it, and so is proportional to the impact on the conservation status of the world's forest-dependent birds were the forest it contains lost. The distribution of scores was highly skewed, a very small proportion of cells having scores several orders of magnitude above the global mean. Ecoregions containing the highest values of this score included relatively species-poor islands such as Hawaii and Palau, the relatively species-rich islands of Indonesia and the Philippines, and the megadiverse Atlantic Forests and northern Andes of South America. Ecoregions with high impact scores and high deforestation rates (2000-2005) included montane forests in Cameroon and the Eastern Arc of Tanzania, although deforestation data were not available for all ecoregions. Ecoregions with high impact scores, high rates of recent deforestation and low coverage by the protected area network included Indonesia's Seram rain forests and the moist forests of Trinidad and Tobago. Key sites in these ecoregions represent some of the most urgent priorities for expansion of the global protected areas network to meet Convention on Biological Diversity targets to increase the proportion of land formally protected to 17% by 2020. Areas with high impact scores, rapid deforestation, low protection and high carbon storage values may represent significant opportunities for both biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation, for example through Reducing Emissions from

  17. Setting research priorities to improve global newborn health and prevent stillbirths by 2025.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoshida, Sachiyo; Martines, José; Lawn, Joy E; Wall, Stephen; Souza, Joăo Paulo; Rudan, Igor; Cousens, Simon; Aaby, Peter; Adam, Ishag; Adhikari, Ramesh Kant; Ambalavanan, Namasivayam; Arifeen, Shams Ei; Aryal, Dhana Raj; Asiruddin, Sk; Baqui, Abdullah; Barros, Aluisio Jd; Benn, Christine S; Bhandari, Vineet; Bhatnagar, Shinjini; Bhattacharya, Sohinee; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A; Black, Robert E; Blencowe, Hannah; Bose, Carl; Brown, Justin; Bührer, Christoph; Carlo, Wally; Cecatti, Jose Guilherme; Cheung, Po-Yin; Clark, Robert; Colbourn, Tim; Conde-Agudelo, Agustin; Corbett, Erica; Czeizel, Andrew E; Das, Abhik; Day, Louise Tina; Deal, Carolyn; Deorari, Ashok; Dilmen, Uğur; English, Mike; Engmann, Cyril; Esamai, Fabian; Fall, Caroline; Ferriero, Donna M; Gisore, Peter; Hazir, Tabish; Higgins, Rosemary D; Homer, Caroline Se; Hoque, D E; Irgens, Lorentz; Islam, M T; de Graft-Johnson, Joseph; Joshua, Martias Alice; Keenan, William; Khatoon, Soofia; Kieler, Helle; Kramer, Michael S; Lackritz, Eve M; Lavender, Tina; Lawintono, Laurensia; Luhanga, Richard; Marsh, David; McMillan, Douglas; McNamara, Patrick J; Mol, Ben Willem J; Molyneux, Elizabeth; Mukasa, G K; Mutabazi, Miriam; Nacul, Luis Carlos; Nakakeeto, Margaret; Narayanan, Indira; Olusanya, Bolajoko; Osrin, David; Paul, Vinod; Poets, Christian; Reddy, Uma M; Santosham, Mathuram; Sayed, Rubayet; Schlabritz-Loutsevitch, Natalia E; Singhal, Nalini; Smith, Mary Alice; Smith, Peter G; Soofi, Sajid; Spong, Catherine Y; Sultana, Shahin; Tshefu, Antoinette; van Bel, Frank; Gray, Lauren Vestewig; Waiswa, Peter; Wang, Wei; Williams, Sarah LA; Wright, Linda; Zaidi, Anita; Zhang, Yanfeng; Zhong, Nanbert; Zuniga, Isabel; Bahl, Rajiv

    2016-06-01

    In 2013, an estimated 2.8 million newborns died and 2.7 million were stillborn. A much greater number suffer from long term impairment associated with preterm birth, intrauterine growth restriction, congenital anomalies, and perinatal or infectious causes. With the approaching deadline for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015, there was a need to set the new research priorities on newborns and stillbirth with a focus not only on survival but also on health, growth and development. We therefore carried out a systematic exercise to set newborn health research priorities for 2013-2025. We used adapted Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) methods for this prioritization exercise. We identified and approached the 200 most productive researchers and 400 program experts, and 132 of them submitted research questions online. These were collated into a set of 205 research questions, sent for scoring to the 600 identified experts, and were assessed and scored by 91 experts. Nine out of top ten identified priorities were in the domain of research on improving delivery of known interventions, with simplified neonatal resuscitation program and clinical algorithms and improved skills of community health workers leading the list. The top 10 priorities in the domain of development were led by ideas on improved Kangaroo Mother Care at community level, how to improve the accuracy of diagnosis by community health workers, and perinatal audits. The 10 leading priorities for discovery research focused on stable surfactant with novel modes of administration for preterm babies, ability to diagnose fetal distress and novel tocolytic agents to delay or stop preterm labour. These findings will assist both donors and researchers in supporting and conducting research to close the knowledge gaps for reducing neonatal mortality, morbidity and long term impairment. WHO, SNL and other partners will work to generate interest among key national

  18. The unfunded priorities: an evaluation of priority setting for noncommunicable disease control in Uganda.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Essue, Beverley M; Kapiriri, Lydia

    2018-02-20

    The double burden of infectious diseases coupled with noncommunicable diseases poses unique challenges for priority setting and for achieving equitable action to address the major causes of disease burden in health systems already impacted by limited resources. Noncommunicable disease control is an important global health and development priority. However, there are challenges for translating this global priority into local priorities and action. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of national, sub-national and global factors on priority setting for noncommunicable disease control in Uganda and examine the extent to which priority setting was successful. A mixed methods design that used the Kapiriri & Martin framework for evaluating priority setting in low income countries. The evaluation period was 2005-2015. Data collection included a document review (policy documents (n = 19); meeting minutes (n = 28)), media analysis (n = 114) and stakeholder interviews (n = 9). Data were analysed according to the Kapiriri & Martin (2010) framework. Priority setting for noncommunicable diseases was not entirely fair nor successful. While there were explicit processes that incorporated relevant criteria, evidence and wide stakeholder involvement, these criteria were not used systematically or consistently in the contemplation of noncommunicable diseases. There were insufficient resources for noncommunicable diseases, despite being a priority area. There were weaknesses in the priority setting institutions, and insufficient mechanisms to ensure accountability for decision-making. Priority setting was influenced by the priorities of major stakeholders (i.e. development assistance partners) which were not always aligned with national priorities. There were major delays in the implementation of noncommunicable disease-related priorities and in many cases, a failure to implement. This evaluation revealed the challenges that low income countries are

  19. Priority setting: what constitutes success? A conceptual framework for successful priority setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sibbald, Shannon L; Singer, Peter A; Upshur, Ross; Martin, Douglas K

    2009-03-05

    The sustainability of healthcare systems worldwide is threatened by a growing demand for services and expensive innovative technologies. Decision makers struggle in this environment to set priorities appropriately, particularly because they lack consensus about which values should guide their decisions. One way to approach this problem is to determine what all relevant stakeholders understand successful priority setting to mean. The goal of this research was to develop a conceptual framework for successful priority setting. Three separate empirical studies were completed using qualitative data collection methods (one-on-one interviews with healthcare decision makers from across Canada; focus groups with representation of patients, caregivers and policy makers; and Delphi study including scholars and decision makers from five countries). This paper synthesizes the findings from three studies into a framework of ten separate but interconnected elements germane to successful priority setting: stakeholder understanding, shifted priorities/reallocation of resources, decision making quality, stakeholder acceptance and satisfaction, positive externalities, stakeholder engagement, use of explicit process, information management, consideration of values and context, and revision or appeals mechanism. The ten elements specify both quantitative and qualitative dimensions of priority setting and relate to both process and outcome components. To our knowledge, this is the first framework that describes successful priority setting. The ten elements identified in this research provide guidance for decision makers and a common language to discuss priority setting success and work toward improving priority setting efforts.

  20. Typology of end-of-life priorities in Saudi females: averaging analysis and Q-methodology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hammami MM

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Muhammad M Hammami,1,2 Safa Hammami,1 Hala A Amer,1 Nesrine A Khodr1 1Clinical Studies and Empirical Ethics Department, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, 2College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Background: Understanding culture-and sex-related end-of-life preferences is essential to provide quality end-of-life care. We have previously explored end-of-life choices in Saudi males and found important culture-related differences and that Q-methodology is useful in identifying intraculture, opinion-based groups. Here, we explore Saudi females’ end-of-life choices.Methods: A volunteer sample of 68 females rank-ordered 47 opinion statements on end-of-life issues into a nine-category symmetrical distribution. The ranking scores of the statements were analyzed by averaging analysis and Q-methodology.Results: The mean age of the females in the sample was 30.3 years (range, 19–55 years. Among them, 51% reported average religiosity, 78% reported very good health, 79% reported very good life quality, and 100% reported high-school education or more. The extreme five overall priorities were to be able to say the statement of faith, be at peace with God, die without having the body exposed, maintain dignity, and resolve all conflicts. The extreme five overall dis-priorities were to die in the hospital, die well dressed, be informed about impending death by family/friends rather than doctor, die at peak of life, and not know if one has a fatal illness. Q-methodology identified five opinion-based groups with qualitatively different characteristics: “physical and emotional privacy concerned, family caring” (younger, lower religiosity, “whole person” (higher religiosity, “pain and informational privacy concerned” (lower life quality, “decisional privacy concerned” (older, higher life quality, and “life quantity concerned, family dependent” (high life quality, low life satisfaction. Out of the

  1. Reactor units for power supply to the Russian Arctic regions: Priority assessment of nuclear energy sources

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mel'nikov N. N.

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Under conditions of competitiveness of small nuclear power plants (SNPP and feasibility of their use to supply power to remote and inaccessible regions the competition occurs between nuclear energy sources, which is caused by a wide range of proposals for solving the problem of power supply to different consumers in the decentralized area of the Russian Arctic power complex. The paper suggests a methodological approach for expert assessment of the priority of small power reactor units based on the application of the point system. The priority types of the reactor units have been determined based on evaluation of the unit's conformity to the following criteria: the level of referentiality and readiness degree of reactor units to implementation; duration of the fuel cycle, which largely determines an autonomy level of the nuclear energy source; the possibility of creating a modular block structure of SNPP; the maximum weight of a transported single equipment for the reactor unit; service life of the main equipment. Within the proposed methodological approach the authors have performed a preliminary ranking of the reactor units according to various criteria, which allows quantitatively determining relative difference and priority of the small nuclear power plants projects aimed at energy supply to the Russian Arctic. To assess the sensitivity of the ranking results to the parameters of the point system the authors have observed the five-point and ten-point scales under variations of importance (weights of different criteria. The paper presents the results of preliminary ranking, which have allowed distinguishing the following types of the reactor units in order of their priority: ABV-6E (ABV-6M, "Uniterm" and SVBR-10 in the energy range up to 20 MW; RITM-200 (RITM-200M, KLT-40S and SVBR-100 in the energy range above 20 MW.

  2. Setting conservation priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Kerrie A; Carwardine, Josie; Possingham, Hugh P

    2009-04-01

    A generic framework for setting conservation priorities based on the principles of classic decision theory is provided. This framework encapsulates the key elements of any problem, including the objective, the constraints, and knowledge of the system. Within the context of this framework the broad array of approaches for setting conservation priorities are reviewed. While some approaches prioritize assets or locations for conservation investment, it is concluded here that prioritization is incomplete without consideration of the conservation actions required to conserve the assets at particular locations. The challenges associated with prioritizing investments through time in the face of threats (and also spatially and temporally heterogeneous costs) can be aided by proper problem definition. Using the authors' general framework for setting conservation priorities, multiple criteria can be rationally integrated and where, how, and when to invest conservation resources can be scheduled. Trade-offs are unavoidable in priority setting when there are multiple considerations, and budgets are almost always finite. The authors discuss how trade-offs, risks, uncertainty, feedbacks, and learning can be explicitly evaluated within their generic framework for setting conservation priorities. Finally, they suggest ways that current priority-setting approaches may be improved.

  3. Global mapping of ecosystem services and conservation priorities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naidoo, R.; Balmford, A.; Costanza, R.; Fisher, B.; Green, R. E.; Lehner, B.; Malcolm, T. R.; Ricketts, T. H.

    2008-01-01

    Global efforts to conserve biodiversity have the potential to deliver economic benefits to people (i.e., “ecosystem services”). However, regions for which conservation benefits both biodiversity and ecosystem services cannot be identified unless ecosystem services can be quantified and valued and their areas of production mapped. Here we review the theory, data, and analyses needed to produce such maps and find that data availability allows us to quantify imperfect global proxies for only four ecosystem services. Using this incomplete set as an illustration, we compare ecosystem service maps with the global distributions of conventional targets for biodiversity conservation. Our preliminary results show that regions selected to maximize biodiversity provide no more ecosystem services than regions chosen randomly. Furthermore, spatial concordance among different services, and between ecosystem services and established conservation priorities, varies widely. Despite this lack of general concordance, “win–win” areas—regions important for both ecosystem services and biodiversity—can be usefully identified, both among ecoregions and at finer scales within them. An ambitious interdisciplinary research effort is needed to move beyond these preliminary and illustrative analyses to fully assess synergies and trade-offs in conserving biodiversity and ecosystem services. PMID:18621701

  4. Factors influencing the priority of access to food and their effects on the carcass traits for Japanese Black (Wagyu) cattle.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takanishi, N; Oishi, K; Kumagai, H; Uemura, M; Hirooka, H

    2015-12-01

    The factors influencing the priority of access to food and the effects of the priority of access to food on their carcass traits were analyzed for Japanese Black (Wagyu) cattle in a semi-intensive fattening production system. The records of 96 clinically healthy steers and heifers were analyzed. The calves at ∼3 to 4 months of age were allocated to pens with four animals per pen; all four animals in the same pen were of the same sex and of similar body size. The ranking of the animals' priority of access to food (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th), which was determined by the farm manager, was used as an indicator of social dominance in the present study. Four models including sire line, maternal grandsire line and the difference in the animals' birth dates as fixed effects were used to analyze factors influencing the priority of access to food. Ranking was represented by ordinal scores (highest=4, lowest=1) in Model 1, and the binary scores were assigned in Model 2 (highest=1; 2nd, 3rd and 4th=0), Model 3 (1st and 2nd=1; 3rd and 4th=0) and Model 4 (1st, 2nd and 3rd=1; lowest=0). The results showed that the difference in the animals' birth dates had a significant effect on the establishment of the priority of access to food in Model 3 (Panimals born earlier may become more dominant in the pen. The maternal grandsire line tended to affect the social rank score in Models 2 and 3 (Pcarcass weight (P=0.09). The highest BMS was observed for animals with the first rank of the priority of access to food (Panimals had the tendency to be heavier carcass than the lower-ranking animals. Our findings emphasized the importance of information about the priority of access to food determined by farmers' own observation on implementing best management practices in small-scaled semi-intensive beef cattle production systems.

  5. Identifying priorities in methodological research using ICD-9-CM and ICD-10 administrative data: report from an international consortium

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ma Jin

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Health administrative data are frequently used for health services and population health research. Comparative research using these data has been facilitated by the use of a standard system for coding diagnoses, the International Classification of Diseases (ICD. Research using the data must deal with data quality and validity limitations which arise because the data are not created for research purposes. This paper presents a list of high-priority methodological areas for researchers using health administrative data. Methods A group of researchers and users of health administrative data from Canada, the United States, Switzerland, Australia, China and the United Kingdom came together in June 2005 in Banff, Canada to discuss and identify high-priority methodological research areas. The generation of ideas for research focussed not only on matters relating to the use of administrative data in health services and population health research, but also on the challenges created in transitioning from ICD-9 to ICD-10. After the brain-storming session, voting took place to rank-order the suggested projects. Participants were asked to rate the importance of each project from 1 (low priority to 10 (high priority. Average ranks were computed to prioritise the projects. Results Thirteen potential areas of research were identified, some of which represented preparatory work rather than research per se. The three most highly ranked priorities were the documentation of data fields in each country's hospital administrative data (average score 8.4, the translation of patient safety indicators from ICD-9 to ICD-10 (average score 8.0, and the development and validation of algorithms to verify the logic and internal consistency of coding in hospital abstract data (average score 7.0. Conclusion The group discussions resulted in a list of expert views on critical international priorities for future methodological research relating to health

  6. The OMERACT MRI in Arthritis Working Group - Update on Status and Future Research Priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Østergaard, Mikkel; Bird, Paul; Gandjbakhch, Frédérique; Eshed, Iris; Haugen, Ida K; Haavardsholm, Espen A; Lillegraven, Siri; Foltz, Violaine; Glinatsi, Daniel; Peterfy, Charles; Ejbjerg, Bo; Bøyesen, Pernille; Mease, Philip J; Hermann, Kay-Geert; Emery, Paul; Genant, Harry K; Conaghan, Philip G

    2015-12-01

    To provide an update on the status and future research priorities of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in arthritis working group. A summary is provided of the activities of the group within rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and osteoarthritis (OA), and its research priorities. The OMERACT RA MRI score (RAMRIS) evaluating bone erosion, bone edema (osteitis), and synovitis is now the standard method of quantifying articular pathology in RA trials. Cartilage loss is another important part of joint damage, and at the OMERACT 12 conference, we provided longitudinal data demonstrating reliability and sensitivity to change of the RAMRIS JSN component score, supporting its use in future clinical trials. The MRI group has previously developed a PsA MRI score (PsAMRIS). At OMERACT 12, PsAMRIS was evaluated in a randomized placebo-controlled trial of patients with PsA, demonstrating the responsiveness and discriminatory ability of applying the PsAMRIS to hands and feet. A hand OA MRI score (HOAMRIS) was introduced at OMERACT 11, and has subsequently been further validated. At OMERACT 12, good cross-sectional interreader reliability, but variable reliability of change scores, were reported. Potential future research areas were identified at the MRI session at OMERACT 12 including assessment of tenosynovitis in RA and enthesitis in PsA and focusing on alternative MRI techniques. MRI has been further developed and validated as an outcome measure in RA, PsA, and OA. The group will continue its efforts to optimize the value of MRI as a robust biomarker in rheumatology clinical trials.

  7. Priority in Process Algebras

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cleaveland, Rance; Luettgen, Gerald; Natarajan, V.

    1999-01-01

    This paper surveys the semantic ramifications of extending traditional process algebras with notions of priority that allow for some transitions to be given precedence over others. These enriched formalisms allow one to model system features such as interrupts, prioritized choice, or real-time behavior. Approaches to priority in process algebras can be classified according to whether the induced notion of preemption on transitions is global or local and whether priorities are static or dynamic. Early work in the area concentrated on global pre-emption and static priorities and led to formalisms for modeling interrupts and aspects of real-time, such as maximal progress, in centralized computing environments. More recent research has investigated localized notions of pre-emption in which the distribution of systems is taken into account, as well as dynamic priority approaches, i.e., those where priority values may change as systems evolve. The latter allows one to model behavioral phenomena such as scheduling algorithms and also enables the efficient encoding of real-time semantics. Technically, this paper studies the different models of priorities by presenting extensions of Milner's Calculus of Communicating Systems (CCS) with static and dynamic priority as well as with notions of global and local pre- emption. In each case the operational semantics of CCS is modified appropriately, behavioral theories based on strong and weak bisimulation are given, and related approaches for different process-algebraic settings are discussed.

  8. Setting priorities for surveillance, prevention, and control of zoonoses in Bogotá, Colombia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cediel, Natalia; Villamil, Luis Carlos; Romero, Jaime; Renteria, Libardo; De Meneghi, Daniele

    2013-05-01

    To establish priorities for zoonoses surveillance, prevention, and control in Bogotá, Colombia. A Delphi panel of experts in veterinary and human medicine was conducted using a validated prioritization method to assess the importance of 32 selected zoonoses. This exercise was complemented by a questionnaire survey, using the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) methodology, administered in 19 districts of Bogotá from September 2009 to April 2010 to an at-risk population (workers at veterinary clinics; pet shops; butcher shops; and traditional food markets that sell poultry, meat, cheese, and eggs). A risk indicator based on level of knowledge about zoonoses was constructed using categorical principal component and logistic regression analyses. Twelve experts participated in the Delphi panel. The diseases scored as highest priority were: influenza A(H1N1), salmonellosis, Escherichia coli infection, leptospirosis, and rabies. The diseases scored as lowest priority were: ancylostomiasis, scabies, ringworm, and trichinellosis. A total of 535 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Respondents claimed to have had scabies (21%), fungi (8%), brucellosis (8%), and pulicosis (8%). Workers with the most limited knowledge on zoonoses and therefore the highest health risk were those who 1) did not have a professional education, 2) had limited or no zoonoses prevention training, and 3) worked in Usme, Bosa, or Ciudad Bolívar districts. According to the experts, influenza A(H1N1) was the most important zoonoses. Rabies, leptospirosis, brucellosis, and toxoplasmosis were identified as priority diseases by both the experts and the exposed workers. This is the first prioritization exercise focused on zoonoses surveillance, prevention, and control in Colombia. These results could be used to guide decision-making for resource allocation in public health.

  9. Delphi Study to Determine Rehabilitation Research Priorities for Older Adults With Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyons, Kathleen Doyle; Radomski, Mary Vining; Alfano, Catherine M; Finkelstein, Marsha; Sleight, Alix G; Marshall, Timothy F; McKenna, Raymond; Fu, Jack B

    2017-05-01

    To solicit expert opinions and develop consensus around the research that is needed to improve cancer rehabilitation for older adults. Delphi methods provided a structured process to elicit and prioritize research questions from national experts. National, Web-based survey. Members (N=32) of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine completed at least 1 of 3 investigator-developed surveys. Not applicable. In the first survey, participants identified up to 5 research questions that needed to be answered to improve cancer rehabilitation for older adults. In 2 subsequent surveys, participants viewed the compilation of questions, rated the importance of each question, and identified the 5 most important questions. This generated priority scores for each question. Consensus scores were created to describe the degree of agreement around the priority of each question. Highest priority research concerns the epidemiology and measurement of function and disability in older adult cancer survivors; the effects of cancer rehabilitation interventions on falls, disability, participation, survival, costs, quality of care, and health care utilization; and testing models of care that facilitate referrals from oncology to rehabilitation providers as part of coordinated, multicomponent care. A multipronged approach is needed to fill these gaps, including targeted funding opportunities developed with an advisory panel of cancer rehabilitation experts, development of a research network to facilitate novel collaborations and grant proposals, and coordinated efforts of clinical groups to advocate for funding, practice change, and policy change. Copyright © 2016 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Priority setting and economic appraisal: whose priorities--the community or the economist?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, A; Barker, C

    1988-01-01

    Scarce resources for health require a process for setting priorities. The exact mechanism chosen has important implications for the type of priorities and plans set, and in particular their relationship to the principles of primary health care. One technique increasingly advocated as an aid to priority setting is economic appraisal. It is argued however that economic appraisal is likely to reinforce a selective primary health care approach through its espousal of a technocratic medical model and through its hidden but implicit value judgements. It is suggested that urgent attention is needed to develop approaches to priority setting that incorporate the strengths of economic appraisal, but that are consistent with comprehensive primary health care.

  11. 45 CFR 2531.20 - Funding priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... priorities. The Corporation may choose to set priorities (and to periodically revise such priorities) that... given fiscal year. In setting these priorities, the Corporation will seek to concentrate funds on those... 45 Public Welfare 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Funding priorities. 2531.20 Section 2531.20 Public...

  12. Research priority setting for integrated early child development and violence prevention (ECD+) in low and middle income countries: An expert opinion exercise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomlinson, Mark; Jordans, Mark; MacMillan, Harriet; Betancourt, Theresa; Hunt, Xanthe; Mikton, Christopher

    2017-10-01

    Child development in low and middle income countries (LMIC) is compromised by multiple risk factors. Reducing children's exposure to harmful events is essential for early childhood development (ECD). In particular, preventing violence against children - a highly prevalent risk factor that negatively affects optimal child development - should be an intervention priority. We used the Child Health and Nutrition Initiative (CHNRI) method for the setting of research priorities in integrated Early Childhood Development and violence prevention programs (ECD+). An expert group was identified and invited to systematically list and score research questions. A total of 186 stakeholders were asked to contribute five research questions each, and contributions were received from 81 respondents. These were subsequently evaluated using a set of five criteria: answerability; effectiveness; feasibility and/or affordability; applicability and impact; and equity. Of the 400 questions generated, a composite group of 50 were scored by 55 respondents. The highest scoring research questions related to the training of Community Health Workers (CHW's) to deliver ECD+ interventions effectively and whether ECD+ interventions could be integrated within existing delivery platforms such as HIV, nutrition or mental health platforms. The priority research questions can direct new research initiatives, mainly in focusing on the effectiveness of an ECD+ approach, as well as on service delivery questions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic exercise of its kind in the field of ECD+. The findings from this research priority setting exercise can help guide donors and other development actors towards funding priorities for important future research related to ECD and violence prevention. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  13. Research priorities for respiratory nursing: a UK-wide Delphi study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pilkington, Melissa; Hodson, Matthew; Welch, Lindsay; Yorke, Janelle

    2018-01-01

    Respiratory nurses make a significant contribution to the delivery of respiratory healthcare, but there is a dearth of nurse-led, practice-focused, published research. Using a modified three-round Delphi, this study sought to identify research priorities for respiratory nursing to inform a national research strategy. Study information and the survey link were sent electronically to members of UK professional respiratory organisations. Round 1 had 78 items across 16 topics, informed by a systematic literature review. Respondents suggested additional items which were content analysed to inform Round 2. Respondents rated all items and ranked the topics in all rounds. To ensure rigour, rounds had an explicit focus with pre-determined criteria for consensus (70%). In total, 363 responses were received across Rounds 1, 2 and 3 (n=183, 95 and 85, respectively). The top five research priorities were: 1) “Patient understanding of asthma control”; 2) “The clinical and cost-effectiveness of respiratory nurse interventions”; 3) “The impact of nurse-led clinics on patient care”; 4) “Inhaler technique”; and 5) two topics jointly scored: “Prevention of exacerbations” and “Symptom management”. With potential international significance, this is the first UK study to identify research priorities for respiratory nursing, providing direction for those planning or undertaking research. PMID:29692999

  14. Supporting the Co-operative Organisation of Rational Energy Use (SCORE). Bulgaria Country Document

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-12-01

    SCORE stands for Supporting the Co-operative Organisation of Rational Energy Use. It aims at assisting the social transformation in the Central and Eastern European countries by creating self-supporting structures that are able to stimulate the efficient use of energy in end-user sectors. This document aims at presenting an in-depth institutional analysis of the energy efficiency situation in Bulgaria, including the current situation with regard to energy supply, consumption and environmental aspects, as well as an analysis of energy efficiency policies, instruments and organisations. Also, the document identifies problems related to energy efficiency in Bulgaria and indicates the areas of actions for an integrated SCORE programme in Bulgaria. The input for this process was provided by a survey among the main actors in the field, consisting of a questionnaire and interviews and a review of available information. The results were discussed in a workshop attended by the main stakeholders. The main characteristics of the Bulgarian energy sector are summarised in chapter 2. They indicate a high dependency on imported resources, a low quality of domestic fuels, a relatively high energy intensity of production and a low efficiency at supply and demand side with consider able potential for improvement. The restructuring of the sector has started but the process is far from completed. In the main towns heat is mainly supplied by district heating generated partly in co-generation plants. Gas distribution for public and residential buildings is quickly developing. In Chapter 3 the existing policies and actors are described and a 'roadmap' for energy efficiency actors is given. This provides the basis for defining the priorities for energy efficiency improvements presented in Chapter 4, by analysing the tools, policy instruments and organisations. Barriers and priority actions were defined in relation to the national policy level, the institutional structure, financial and

  15. Priorities for Extension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayward, J. A.

    Agricultural extension is one component in an array including research, training, education, marketing, international trade, etc. which develop together to bring about growth, and sustained growth determines the priorities for extension. These priorities depend inevitably on the stage of development of a country or region, and on the current…

  16. The Priorities of Iranian Male Adolescents Health Needs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zare, Elham; Simbar, Masoumeh; Shahhosseini, Zohreh; Alavi Majd, Hamid

    2017-07-01

    Health in the adolescence period guarantees the next generation's health. The assessment of health needs is the first stage for the implementation of health promotion interventions. This study aimed to assess the priorities of male adolescent's health needs in Tehran, Iran, in year 2015. This cross-sectional correlational study was conducted with 1,200 male adolescents aged between 13 and 18 years. Single male adolescents studying in public guidance and high schools in Tehran, Iran, in year 2015 were chosen using a random multistage sampling method. Data were collected using the male adolescent health need assessment scale. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. It was found that while the lowest score was for the domain of sexual health, other domains had average or higher than average scores. More attention should be paid to the sexual health needs of male adolescents. Policy makers need to design strategies that help meet the health needs of male adolescents.

  17. Attracting and retaining GPs: a stakeholder survey of priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lorant, Vincent; Geerts, Charlotte; Duchesnes, Christiane; Goedhuys, Jo; Ryssaert, Lynn; Remmen, Roy; D'hoore, William

    2011-07-01

    Despite being a key player in the healthcare system, training and practising general practice has become less attractive in many countries and is in need of reform. To identify political priorities for improving GPs' attraction to the profession and their retention within it. Stakeholder face-to-face survey in Belgium, 2008. A total of 102 key stakeholders were recruited from policymakers, professional groups, academia, GP leaders, and the media. All interviewees were asked to score 23 policies on four criteria: effectiveness in attracting and retaining GPs, cost to society, acceptance by other health professionals, and accessibility of care. An overall performance score was computed (from -3 to +3) for each type of policy - training, financing, work-life balance, practice organisation, and governance - and for innovative versus conservative policies. Practice organisation policies and training policies received the highest scores (mean score ≥ 1.11). Financing policies, governance, and work-life balance policies scored poorly (mean score ≤ 0.65) because they had negative effects, particularly in relation to cost, acceptance, and accessibility of care. Stakeholders were keen on moving GPs towards team work, improving their role as care coordinator, and helping them to offload administrative tasks (score ≥ 1.4). They also favoured moves to increase the early and integrated exposure of all medical students to general practice. Overall, conservative policies were better scored than innovative ones (beta = -0.16, 95% confidence interval = -0.28 to -0.03). The reforming of general practice is made difficult by the small-step approach, as well as the importance of decision criteria related to cost, acceptance, and access.

  18. Priorities of statutory claimants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pawluck, B.K.; Prowse, J.T.

    1996-01-01

    The statutory rights that unpaid creditors have when an oil or gas operator is placed in bankruptcy, were evaluated. Those statutory rights may give priority to their claims against the operator. Fifteen topics dealing with statutory priorities were examined, focusing on the change in priorities which would occur if the insolvent operator were placed in bankruptcy. The topics were: (1) Summary of statutory federal and provincial priorities, (2) Revenue Canada - source deductions/deemed trust, (3) Revenue Canada - source deductions/enhanced requirement to pay, (4) Revenue Canada - goods and service tax (GST)/deemed trust, (5) Revenue Canada - GST/enhanced requirement to pay, (6) Federal income taxes, (7) Validity of provincially legislated priority provisions in bankruptcy, (8) Provincially authorized municipal taxes - real property, (9) Provincial workers' compensation board, (10) Provincially legislated wages, overtime pay and holiday pay, (11) Provincially legislated severance/termination pay, (12) Provincially legislated successor employer obligations, (13) Provincially legislated private employment pension plans, (14) Provincial health care insurance premiums, and (15) Provincial freehold mineral rights tax

  19. Optimized spatial priorities for biodiversity conservation in China: a systematic conservation planning perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Ruidong; Long, Yongcheng; Malanson, George P; Garber, Paul A; Zhang, Shuang; Li, Diqiang; Zhao, Peng; Wang, Longzhu; Duo, Hairui

    2014-01-01

    By addressing several key features overlooked in previous studies, i.e. human disturbance, integration of ecosystem- and species-level conservation features, and principles of complementarity and representativeness, we present the first national-scale systematic conservation planning for China to determine the optimized spatial priorities for biodiversity conservation. We compiled a spatial database on the distributions of ecosystem- and species-level conservation features, and modeled a human disturbance index (HDI) by aggregating information using several socioeconomic proxies. We ran Marxan with two scenarios (HDI-ignored and HDI-considered) to investigate the effects of human disturbance, and explored the geographic patterns of the optimized spatial conservation priorities. Compared to when HDI was ignored, the HDI-considered scenario resulted in (1) a marked reduction (∼9%) in the total HDI score and a slight increase (∼7%) in the total area of the portfolio of priority units, (2) a significant increase (∼43%) in the total irreplaceable area and (3) more irreplaceable units being identified in almost all environmental zones and highly-disturbed provinces. Thus the inclusion of human disturbance is essential for cost-effective priority-setting. Attention should be targeted to the areas that are characterized as moderately-disturbed, conservation. We delineated 23 primary large-scale priority areas that are significant for conserving China's biodiversity, but those isolated priority units in disturbed regions are in more urgent need of conservation actions so as to prevent immediate and severe biodiversity loss. This study presents a spatially optimized national-scale portfolio of conservation priorities--effectively representing the overall biodiversity of China while minimizing conflicts with economic development. Our results offer critical insights for current conservation and strategic land-use planning in China. The approach is transferable and easy

  20. Setting priorities for EU healthcare workforce IT skills competence improvement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Sisi; Bamidis, Panagiotis D; Konstantinidis, Stathis Th; Traver, Vicente; Car, Josip; Zary, Nabil

    2017-04-01

    A major challenge for healthcare quality improvement is the lack of IT skills and knowledge of healthcare workforce, as well as their ambivalent attitudes toward IT. This article identifies and prioritizes actions needed to improve the IT skills of healthcare workforce across the EU. A total of 46 experts, representing different fields of expertise in healthcare and geolocations, systematically listed and scored actions that would improve IT skills among healthcare workforce. The Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative methodology was used for research priority-setting. The participants evaluated the actions using the following criteria: feasibility, effectiveness, deliverability, and maximum impact on IT skills improvement. The leading priority actions were related to appropriate training, integrating eHealth in curricula, involving healthcare workforce in the eHealth solution development, improving awareness of eHealth, and learning arrangement. As the different professionals' needs are prioritized, healthcare workforce should be actively and continuously included in the development of eHealth solutions.

  1. Final priority; Rehabilitation Services Administration--Assistive Technology Alternative Financing Program. Final priority.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-08-14

    The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services announces a priority under the Assistive Technology Alternative Financing Program administered by the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA). The Assistant Secretary may use this priority for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2014 and later years. This priority is designed to ensure that the Department funds high-quality assistive technology (AT) alternative financing programs (AFPs) that meet rigorous standards in order to enable individuals with disabilities to access and acquire assistive technology devices and services necessary to achieve education, community living, and employment goals.

  2. QUEUEING DISCIPLINES BASED ON PRIORITY MATRIX

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taufik I. Aliev

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with queueing disciplines for demands of general type in queueing systems with multivendor load. A priority matrix is proposed to be used for the purpose of mathematical description of such disciplines, which represents the priority type (preemptive priority, not preemptive priority or no priority between any two demands classes. Having an intuitive and simple way of priority assignment, such description gives mathematical dependencies of system operation characteristics on its parameters. Requirements for priority matrix construction are formulated and the notion of canonical priority matrix is given. It is shown that not every matrix, constructed in accordance with such requirements, is correct. The notion of incorrect priority matrix is illustrated by an example, and it is shown that such matrixes do not ensure any unambiguousness and determinacy in design of algorithm, which realizes corresponding queueing discipline. Rules governing construction of correct matrixes are given for canonical priority matrixes. Residence time for demands of different classes in system, which is the sum of waiting time and service time, is considered as one of the most important characteristics. By introducing extra event method Laplace transforms for these characteristics are obtained, and mathematical dependencies are derived on their basis for calculation of two first moments for corresponding characteristics of demands queueing

  3. Decreasing scoring errors on Wechsler Scale Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Similarities subtests: a preliminary study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Linger, Michele L; Ray, Glen E; Zachar, Peter; Underhill, Andrea T; LoBello, Steven G

    2007-10-01

    Studies of graduate students learning to administer the Wechsler scales have generally shown that training is not associated with the development of scoring proficiency. Many studies report on the reduction of aggregated administration and scoring errors, a strategy that does not highlight the reduction of errors on subtests identified as most prone to error. This study evaluated the development of scoring proficiency specifically on the Wechsler (WISC-IV and WAIS-III) Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Similarities subtests during training by comparing a set of 'early test administrations' to 'later test administrations.' Twelve graduate students enrolled in an intelligence-testing course participated in the study. Scoring errors (e.g., incorrect point assignment) were evaluated on the students' actual practice administration test protocols. Errors on all three subtests declined significantly when scoring errors on 'early' sets of Wechsler scales were compared to those made on 'later' sets. However, correcting these subtest scoring errors did not cause significant changes in subtest scaled scores. Implications for clinical instruction and future research are discussed.

  4. International Occupational Therapy Research Priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mackenzie, Lynette; Coppola, Susan; Alvarez, Liliana; Cibule, Lolita; Maltsev, Sergey; Loh, Siew Yim; Mlambo, Tecla; Ikiugu, Moses N; Pihlar, Zdenka; Sriphetcharawut, Sarinya; Baptiste, Sue; Ledgerd, Richard

    2017-04-01

    Occupational therapy is a global profession represented by the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT). International research priorities are needed for strategic guidance on global occupational therapy practice. The objective of this study was to develop international research priorities to reflect global occupational therapy practice. A Delphi study using three rounds of electronic surveys, distributed to WFOT member organizations and WFOT accredited universities, was conducted. Data were analyzed after each round, and priorities were presented for rating and ranking in order of importance. Forty-six (53%) out of 87 WFOT member countries participated in the Delphi process. Eight research priorities were confirmed by the final electronic survey round. Differences were observed in rankings given by member organizations and university respondents. Despite attrition at Round 3, the final research priorities will help to focus research efforts in occupational therapy globally. Follow-up research is needed to determine how the research priorities are being adopted internationally.

  5. A Survey on Priority Queues

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brodal, Gerth Stølting

    2013-01-01

    Back in 1964 Williams introduced the binary heap as a basic priority queue data structure supporting the operations Insert and ExtractMin in logarithmic time. Since then numerous papers have been published on priority queues. This paper tries to list some of the directions research on priority qu...

  6. Defining priorities

    CERN Multimedia

    2013-01-01

    Last week the European Strategy Group met in Erice (Italy) to distil reams of input and months of discussion into a concise document outlining an updated Strategy for European Particle Physics. The result is a document that will be presented to the Council for feedback next month, before final approval by the Council at a special meeting in Brussels on 29 May. The Strategy process was important when it began in 2005, and is even more so today with important discoveries behind us and a changing global landscape for particle physics ahead.   The draft update, it’s fair to say, contains few surprises, but there are nevertheless some weighty issues for the Council to deliberate. The top priority is, of course, the full exploitation of the LHC, but the Strategy goes further, stating unambiguously that Europe’s top priority should be the high-luminosity upgrade of the machine. Other high-priority items are accelerator R&D to ensure the long-term global future of the field. O...

  7. Preliminary testing of the reliability and feasibility of SAGE: a system to measure and score engagement with and use of research in health policies and programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Makkar, Steve R; Williamson, Anna; D'Este, Catherine; Redman, Sally

    2017-12-19

    Few measures of research use in health policymaking are available, and the reliability of such measures has yet to be evaluated. A new measure called the Staff Assessment of Engagement with Evidence (SAGE) incorporates an interview that explores policymakers' research use within discrete policy documents and a scoring tool that quantifies the extent of policymakers' research use based on the interview transcript and analysis of the policy document itself. We aimed to conduct a preliminary investigation of the usability, sensitivity, and reliability of the scoring tool in measuring research use by policymakers. Nine experts in health policy research and two independent coders were recruited. Each expert used the scoring tool to rate a random selection of 20 interview transcripts, and each independent coder rated 60 transcripts. The distribution of scores among experts was examined, and then, interrater reliability was tested within and between the experts and independent coders. Average- and single-measure reliability coefficients were computed for each SAGE subscales. Experts' scores ranged from the limited to extensive scoring bracket for all subscales. Experts as a group also exhibited at least a fair level of interrater agreement across all subscales. Single-measure reliability was at least fair except for three subscales: Relevance Appraisal, Conceptual Use, and Instrumental Use. Average- and single-measure reliability among independent coders was good to excellent for all subscales. Finally, reliability between experts and independent coders was fair to excellent for all subscales. Among experts, the scoring tool was comprehensible, usable, and sensitive to discriminate between documents with varying degrees of research use. Secondly, the scoring tool yielded scores with good reliability among the independent coders. There was greater variability among experts, although as a group, the tool was fairly reliable. The alignment between experts' and independent

  8. Living with Parkinson's disease: priorities for research suggested by patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schipper, K; Dauwerse, L; Hendrikx, A; Leedekerken, J W; Abma, T A

    2014-08-01

    To describe a study in which patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) were engaged to list priorities for research to complement the professionals' research agenda. The study was conducted by researchers and people with PD or relatives. Interviews and focus groups were held to develop a research agenda from patients' perspectives. A questionnaire was completed by patients to prioritize the research topics. Voiceover group meetings and meetings with the advisory group were organized to obtain feedback on the research process and to deliberate the preliminary findings. Finally, dialog meetings were organized with stakeholders to discuss the agenda and to achieve a shared research agenda. Patients prioritized 18 research themes. Top priorities included fundamental research, research on medication, coping, family & relations and good care. Patients asked for applied and multidisciplinary research. Professionals and charitable funding bodies acknowledged the importance of such research but did not feel capable of judging such proposals. Patients furthermore asked for more attention to be paid to living with the illness in the here-and-now to complement fundamental research. The patients' research agenda can be used to match research with patients' needs and to adapt the clinical support of professionals to patients' wishes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Data fusion of priority information using a dempster combination rule

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Seong Ho; Kim, Tae Woon; Ha, Jae Joo

    2005-01-01

    As a case study, a multiple criteria decision-making problem, a ranking of radionuclide release scenarios in a low and intermediate radioactive waste repository is taken into account. The ranking in terms of a relative degree of priority of scenario alternatives enables us to incorporate more effective safety measure in a design stage of the repository. To illustrate a proposed methodology for updating ranking priority of release scenarios, priority information from three individual methods as well as the combined Dempster method is compared. Three types of methods to be combined are as follows: 1) the weighted arithmetic mean (WAM) method, a linear aggregation of a preference score matrix and a weighting vector is based on the no-interaction among criteria. The weighting vector is viewed as additive probability measures. The WAM method is bound to be equivalent to an AHP model; 2) the belief-based Choquet integral (BCI) method represents the pessimistic attitude towards aggregation using the synergistic interaction among criteria; 3) the plausibility-based Choquet integral (PCI) method leads to the optimistic assessment along with the inhibitory interaction among criteria. The finite frame of discernment, all the possible states of the problem under consideration, is ={WAM, BCI, PCI}. The framework of the Dempster combination rule is depicted in Figure 1 for three sources of evidence such as the WAM model {WAM}, the belief model {BCI}, and the plausibility model {PCI}

  10. 15 CFR 700.11 - Priority ratings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... OF INDUSTRY AND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NATIONAL SECURITY INDUSTRIAL BASE REGULATIONS DEFENSE PRIORITIES AND ALLOCATIONS SYSTEM Industrial Priorities § 700.11 Priority ratings. (a) Levels of...

  11. Demographic monitoring of wild muriqui populations: Criteria for defining priority areas and monitoring intensity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strier, Karen B; Possamai, Carla B; Tabacow, Fernanda P; Pissinatti, Alcides; Lanna, Andre M; Rodrigues de Melo, Fabiano; Moreira, Leandro; Talebi, Maurício; Breves, Paula; Mendes, Sérgio L; Jerusalinsky, Leandro

    2017-01-01

    Demographic data are essential to assessments of the status of endangered species. However, establishing an integrated monitoring program to obtain useful data on contemporary and future population trends requires both the identification of priority areas and populations and realistic evaluations of the kinds of data that can be obtained under different monitoring regimes. We analyzed all known populations of a critically endangered primate, the muriqui (genus: Brachyteles) using population size, genetic uniqueness, geographic importance (including potential importance in corridor programs) and implementability scores to define monitoring priorities. Our analyses revealed nine priority populations for the northern muriqui (B. hypoxanthus) and nine for the southern muriqui (B. arachnoides). In addition, we employed knowledge of muriqui developmental and life history characteristics to define the minimum monitoring intensity needed to evaluate demographic trends along a continuum ranging from simple descriptive changes in population size to predictions of population changes derived from individual based life histories. Our study, stimulated by the Brazilian government's National Action Plan for the Conservation of Muriquis, is fundamental to meeting the conservation goals for this genus, and also provides a model for defining priorities and methods for the implementation of integrated demographic monitoring programs for other endangered and critically endangered species of primates.

  12. Demographic monitoring of wild muriqui populations: Criteria for defining priority areas and monitoring intensity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karen B Strier

    Full Text Available Demographic data are essential to assessments of the status of endangered species. However, establishing an integrated monitoring program to obtain useful data on contemporary and future population trends requires both the identification of priority areas and populations and realistic evaluations of the kinds of data that can be obtained under different monitoring regimes. We analyzed all known populations of a critically endangered primate, the muriqui (genus: Brachyteles using population size, genetic uniqueness, geographic importance (including potential importance in corridor programs and implementability scores to define monitoring priorities. Our analyses revealed nine priority populations for the northern muriqui (B. hypoxanthus and nine for the southern muriqui (B. arachnoides. In addition, we employed knowledge of muriqui developmental and life history characteristics to define the minimum monitoring intensity needed to evaluate demographic trends along a continuum ranging from simple descriptive changes in population size to predictions of population changes derived from individual based life histories. Our study, stimulated by the Brazilian government's National Action Plan for the Conservation of Muriquis, is fundamental to meeting the conservation goals for this genus, and also provides a model for defining priorities and methods for the implementation of integrated demographic monitoring programs for other endangered and critically endangered species of primates.

  13. Healthcare priority setting in Kenya

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bukachi, Salome A.; Onyango-Ouma, Washington; Siso, Jared Maaka

    2014-01-01

    In resource-poor settings, the accountability for reasonableness (A4R) has been identified as an important advance in priority setting that helps to operationalize fair priority setting in specific contexts. The four conditions of A4R are backed by theory, not evidence, that conformance with them...... improves the priority setting decisions. This paper describes the healthcare priority setting processes in Malindi district, Kenya, prior to the implementation of A4R in 2008 and evaluates the process for its conformance with the conditions for A4R. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions with key...... players in the Malindi district health system and a review of key policy documents and national guidelines show that the priority setting process in the district relies heavily on guidelines from the national level, making it more of a vertical, top-down orientation. Multilateral and donor agencies...

  14. Politicians’ priorities and the determinants of priorities in the Swedish social services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marie Wörlén

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available The setting of priorities is an integrated part of social-work politics in Sweden as well as internationally. This article explores Swedish social services and how politicians on the political boards wish to make priorities and what these priorities involve. The use of regression analyses also reveals which circumstances are of importance for allocative precedence and the impact different distributive principles have. It is hard to detect clear-cut patterns of circumstances that guide the judgements in any one direction. The results show that political affiliation overall is not a determining factor for attitudes towards how priorities are made. Another result is a manifest area bias, suggesting that respondents tend to see to the interests of their own professional domain, a result most visible among the politicians involved with Care for the Elderly and Disabled (CED. Yet, with regard to allocative principles, political colour seems to matter. Conservative politicians, as expected, agree with the principles of economy and of capacity to benefit, while the socialist block, less expectedly, seems to embrace the principle of deservingness.

  15. 76 FR 4893 - FFP Missouri 13, LLC, Grays Hydro, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-27

    .... 13772-000] FFP Missouri 13, LLC, Grays Hydro, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing January... Commission, or her designee, will, by random drawing, determine the filing priority for the two applicants identified in this notice. The drawing is open to the public and will be held in room 2C, the Commission...

  16. Basic priority rating model 2.0: current applications for priority setting in health promotion practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neiger, Brad L; Thackeray, Rosemary; Fagen, Michael C

    2011-03-01

    Priority setting is an important component of systematic planning in health promotion and also factors into the development of a comprehensive evaluation plan. The basic priority rating (BPR) model was introduced more than 50 years ago and includes criteria that should be considered in any priority setting approach (i.e., use of predetermined criteria, standardized comparisons, and a rubric that controls bias). Although the BPR model has provided basic direction in priority setting, it does not represent the broad array of data currently available to decision makers. Elements in the model also give more weight to the impact of communicable diseases compared with chronic diseases. For these reasons, several modifications are recommended to improve the BPR model and to better assist health promotion practitioners in the priority setting process. The authors also suggest a new name, BPR 2.0, to represent this revised model.

  17. Priority for sustainability. Final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2007-12-01

    The Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs (EZ) has been asked to realize priority in connection to the grid for sustainable production capacity. Currently there are waiting lists for connection of new production capacity to the grid in some areas, due to a shortage in transport capacity. The Dutch connection policy (first come, first serve) may possibly lead to delays in connecting sustainable production capacity, which is not desirable in view of the incentivisation of sustainability. EZ and TenneT have asked Booz Allen to examine the options for giving priority to sustainability (wind and CHP). Priority in connection applies only to new sustainable production capacity, but priority in transport also applies to existing sustainable production capacity. [mk] [nl

  18. Research priorities about stoma-related quality of life from the perspective of people with a stoma: A pilot survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hubbard, Gill; Taylor, Claire; Beeken, Becca; Campbell, Anna; Gracey, Jackie; Grimmett, Chloe; Fisher, Abi; Ozakinci, Gozde; Slater, Sarah; Gorely, Trish

    2017-12-01

    There is a recognized need to include patients in setting research priorities. Research priorities identified by people with a stoma are rarely elicited. To improve the quality of life of people with a stoma through use of evidence-based practice based on research priorities set by patients. Online pilot survey publicized in 2016 via United Kingdom stoma charities. People ranked nine stoma-related quality of life topics in order of research priority. People 16 years of age and over who currently have or have had a stoma for treatment for any medical condition. Distributions of the priority scores for each of the nine research topics were examined. Group differences were explored using either the Mann-Whitney U-test or the Kruskal-Wallis test depending on the number of groups. In total, 225 people completed the survey. The most important research priority was pouch leak problems and stoma bag/appliance problems followed by hernia risk. There were statistically significant differences in ranking research priorities between males and females, age, underlying disease that led to a stoma, stoma type and length of time with a stoma. People with a stoma are willing to engage in and set research priorities. The results should contribute towards future research about setting the research agenda for the study of stoma-related concerns that impact quality of life. © 2017 The Authors Health Expectations Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  19. Priority Queues Resilient to Memory Faults

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Allan Grønlund; Moruz, Gabriel; Mølhave, Thomas

    2007-01-01

    In the faulty-memory RAM model, the content of memory cells can get corrupted at any time during the execution of an algorithm, and a constant number of uncorruptible registers are available. A resilient data structure in this model works correctly on the set of uncorrupted values. In this paper we...... introduce a resilient priority queue. The deletemin operation of a resilient priority queue returns either the minimum uncorrupted element or some corrupted element. Our resilient priority queue uses $O(n)$ space to store $n$ elements. Both insert and deletemin operations are performed in $O(\\log n......+\\delta)$ time amortized, where $\\delta$ is the maximum amount of corruptions tolerated. Our priority queue matches the performance of classical optimal priority queues in the RAM model when the number of corruptions tolerated is $O(\\log n)$. We prove matching worst case lower bounds for resilient priority...

  20. Development of a novel scoring system for identifying emerging chemical risks in the food chain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oltmanns, J; Licht, O; Bitsch, A; Bohlen, M-L; Escher, S E; Silano, V; MacLeod, M; Serafimova, R; Kass, G E N; Merten, C

    2018-02-21

    The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is responsible for risk assessment of all aspects of food safety, including the establishment of procedures aimed at the identification of emerging risks to food safety. Here, a scoring system was developed for identifying chemicals registered under the European REACH Regulation that could be of potential concern in the food chain using the following parameters: (i) environmental release based on maximum aggregated tonnages and environmental release categories; (ii) biodegradation in the environment; (iii) bioaccumulation and in vivo and in vitro toxicity. The screening approach was tested on 100 data-rich chemicals registered under the REACH Regulation at aggregated volumes of at least 1000 tonnes per annum. The results show that substance-specific data generated under the REACH Regulation can be used to identify potential emerging risks in the food chain. After application of the screening procedure, priority chemicals can be identified as potentially emerging risk chemicals through the integration of exposure, environmental fate and toxicity. The default approach is to generate a single total score for each substance using a predefined weighting scenario. However, it is also possible to use a pivot table approach to combine the individual scores in different ways that reflect user-defined priorities, which enables a very flexible, iterative definition of screening criteria. Possible applications of the approaches are discussed using illustrative examples. Either approach can then be followed by in-depth evaluation of priority substances to ensure the identification of substances that present a real emerging chemical risk in the food chain.

  1. Setting health research priorities using the CHNRI method: IV. Key conceptual advances.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudan, Igor

    2016-06-01

    Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) started as an initiative of the Global Forum for Health Research in Geneva, Switzerland. Its aim was to develop a method that could assist priority setting in health research investments. The first version of the CHNRI method was published in 2007-2008. The aim of this paper was to summarize the history of the development of the CHNRI method and its key conceptual advances. The guiding principle of the CHNRI method is to expose the potential of many competing health research ideas to reduce disease burden and inequities that exist in the population in a feasible and cost-effective way. The CHNRI method introduced three key conceptual advances that led to its increased popularity in comparison to other priority-setting methods and processes. First, it proposed a systematic approach to listing a large number of possible research ideas, using the "4D" framework (description, delivery, development and discovery research) and a well-defined "depth" of proposed research ideas (research instruments, avenues, options and questions). Second, it proposed a systematic approach for discriminating between many proposed research ideas based on a well-defined context and criteria. The five "standard" components of the context are the population of interest, the disease burden of interest, geographic limits, time scale and the preferred style of investing with respect to risk. The five "standard" criteria proposed for prioritization between research ideas are answerability, effectiveness, deliverability, maximum potential for disease burden reduction and the effect on equity. However, both the context and the criteria can be flexibly changed to meet the specific needs of each priority-setting exercise. Third, it facilitated consensus development through measuring collective optimism on each component of each research idea among a larger group of experts using a simple scoring system. This enabled the use of the knowledge of

  2. 49 CFR 260.7 - Priority consideration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Priority consideration. 260.7 Section 260.7... REHABILITATION AND IMPROVEMENT FINANCING PROGRAM Overview § 260.7 Priority consideration. When evaluating applications, the Administrator will give priority consideration (but not necessarily in the following order...

  3. Final priority; National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research--Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers. Final priority.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-07-09

    The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services announces a priority under the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects and Centers Program administered by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). Specifically, we announce a priority for a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Improving the Accessibility, Usability, and Performance of Technology for Individuals who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. The Assistant Secretary may use this priority for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2014 and later years. We take this action to focus research attention on an area of national need. We intend the priority to contribute to improving the accessibility, usability, and performance of technology for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.

  4. Benchmarking and gap analysis of faculty mentorship priorities and how well they are met.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruner, Deborah Watkins; Dunbar, Sandra; Higgins, Melinda; Martyn, Kristy

    2016-01-01

    package (61.5%), guidance on test writing (60%), and utilizing technology in the classroom (60%). Priorities varied by faculty track. In terms of the gap between mentorship priorities and how well they were being met, the highest gaps overall were for test writing, using technology in the classroom, curriculum development, lecturing, and developing and managing a research team. As with priorities, the gaps between priorities and how well they were being met varied by track. The priorities and gap analysis were used to guide career development program activities and to develop a plan for future mentor-mentee training and activities. The survey tool demonstrated face validity, variability, and preliminary utility as one method for assessing and guiding improvements in faculty mentorship. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  5. Risk characterization data manual for Category D inactive liquid low-level waste tank systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1993-09-01

    This manual reports the results of a risk characterization of Category D inactive liquid low-level radioactive waste (LLLW) underground storage tanks (Uses) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The risk characterization is required by the Federal Facility Agreement between the Department of Energy-Oak Ridge Operations Office, the Environmental Protection Agency-Region IV, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. The intent of the risk characterization is to determine relative priorities for assessment and remediation. A total of 55 FFA Category D inactive LLLW tanks are discussed in this manual. Of the 39 tanks at ORNL that have been accepted into the Environmental Restoration (ER) Program, all have been sampled for preliminary characterization, except for 5 tanks that were found to be empty plus I that was found not to exist. The remaining 16 tanks are in the Waste Management (WM) Program. Twelve were sampled for preliminary characterization, and four were found empty. Each sampled tank was scored on a scale of I to 5 on the basis of three criteria: (1) leak characteristics, (2) location, and (3) toxicological characteristics of residual sludges and liquids. Each criterion was assigned a weighing factor based on perceived importance. The criterion score multiplied by the weighting factor equaled the tank's total score for that criterion. The three weighted criterion scores for each tank were then summed for a total score for that tank. When the scores for all tanks had been weighted and summed, the tanks were ranked in descending order on the basis of their total scores. The highest possible score for a tank is 30. The descending rank order represents the recommended priorities for evaluation: the higher the score, the higher the priority for evaluation. Of the 54 tanks sampled in the risk characterization, 23 tanks scored 16 or higher, 11 scored between 10 and 15, 5 scored between 4 and 9, and 15 scored 3 or less

  6. Risk characterization data manual for Category D inactive liquid low-level waste tank systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1993-07-01

    This manual reports the results of a risk characterization of Category D inactive liquid low-level radioactive waste (LLLW) underground storage tanks (USTs) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The risk characterization is required by the Federal Facility Agreement between the Department of Energy-Oak Ridge Operations Office, the Environmental Protection Agency-Region IV, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. The intent of the risk characterization is to determine relative priorities for assessment and remediation. A total of 55 FFA Category D inactive LLLW tanks are discussed in this manual. Of the 39 tanks at ORNL that have been accepted into the Environmental Restoration (ER) Pregrain, all have been sampled for preliminary characterization, except for 5 tanks that were found to be empty plus 1 that was found not to exist. The remaining 16 tanks are in the Waste Management (WM) Program. Twelve were sampled for preliminary characterization, and four were found empty. Each sampled tank was scored on a scale of I to 5 on the basis of three criteria: (1) leak characteristics, (2) location, and (3) toxicological characteristics of residual sludges and liquids. Each criterion was assigned a weighing factor based on perceived importance. The criterion score multiplied by the weighting factor equaled the tank's total score for that criterion. The three weighted criterion scores for each tank were then summed for a total score for that tank. When the scores for all tanks had been weighted and summed, the tanks were ranked in descending order on the basis of their total scores. The highest possible score for a tank is 30. The descending rank order represents the recommended priorities for evaluation: the higher the score, the higher the priority for evaluation. Of the 54 tanks sampled in the risk characterization, 23 tanks scored 16 or higher, 11 scored between 10 and 15, 5 scored between 4 and 9, and 15 scored 3 or less

  7. Patient needs and research priorities in the enteral nutrition market - a quantitative prioritization analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weenen, T C; Jentink, A; Pronker, E S; Commandeur, H R; Claassen, E; Boirie, Y; Singer, P

    2014-10-01

    A quantitative systematic identification and prioritization of unmet needs and research opportunities in relation to enteral nutrition was conducted by means of a tailor-made health research prioritization process. The research objectives were reached by conducting qualitative interviews followed by quantitative questionnaires targeting enteral nutrition key opinion leaders (KOLs). (1) Define disease areas that deserve more research attention; (2) Rank importance of product characteristics of tube feeding (TF) and oral nutritional supplements (ONS); (3) Assess involvement of KOLs in enteral nutrition R&D process. KOLs ranked three product characteristics and three disease areas that deserve additional research attention. From these, overall priority scores were calculated by multiplying ranks for both product characteristics and disease areas. 17 qualitative interviews were conducted and 77 questionnaires (response rate 35%) were completed and returned. (1) Disease areas in ONS and TF with highest priorities are: ONS: general malnutrition & geriatrics, TF: intensive care. (2) TF product characteristics with highest priorities are: composition and clinical evidence from a KOL perspective; tolerance and ease of use from a patient perspective. ONS product characteristics with highest priorities are: composition, clinical evidence and taste from a KOL perspective; taste from a patient perspective. We find a high discrepancy between product characteristic prioritization from a KOL and patient perspective. (3) Although 62% of all KOLs give advice to enteral nutrition companies on patient needs, they under-influence the setting of research priorities by enteral nutrition companies. This study provides a systematic approach to achieve research prioritization in enteral nutrition. In addition to providing new directions for enteral nutrition research and development, this study highlights the relevance of involving KOLs in the identification of research priorities as they

  8. Stakeholder Engagement to Identify Priorities for Improving the Quality and Value of Critical Care.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Henry T Stelfox

    Full Text Available Large amounts of scientific evidence are generated, but not implemented into patient care (the 'knowledge-to-care' gap. We identified and prioritized knowledge-to-care gaps in critical care as opportunities to improve the quality and value of healthcare.We used a multi-method community-based participatory research approach to engage a Network of all adult (n = 14 and pediatric (n = 2 medical-surgical intensive care units (ICUs in a fully integrated geographically defined healthcare system serving 4 million residents. Participants included Network oversight committee members (n = 38 and frontline providers (n = 1,790. Network committee members used a modified RAND/University of California Appropriateness Methodology, to serially propose, rate (validated 9 point scale and revise potential knowledge-to-care gaps as priorities for improvement. The priorities were sent to frontline providers for evaluation. Results were relayed back to all frontline providers for feedback.Initially, 68 knowledge-to-care gaps were proposed, rated and revised by the committee (n = 32 participants over 3 rounds of review and resulted in 13 proposed priorities for improvement. Then, 1,103 providers (62% response rate evaluated the priorities, and rated 9 as 'necessary' (median score 7-9. Several factors were associated with rating priorities as necessary in multivariable logistic regression, related to the provider (experience, teaching status of ICU and topic (strength of supporting evidence, potential to benefit the patient, potential to improve patient/family experience, potential to decrease costs.A community-based participatory research approach engaged a diverse group of stakeholders to identify 9 priorities for improving the quality and value of critical care. The approach was time and cost efficient and could serve as a model to prioritize areas for research quality improvement across other settings.

  9. Stakeholder Engagement to Identify Priorities for Improving the Quality and Value of Critical Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stelfox, Henry T; Niven, Daniel J; Clement, Fiona M; Bagshaw, Sean M; Cook, Deborah J; McKenzie, Emily; Potestio, Melissa L; Doig, Christopher J; O'Neill, Barbara; Zygun, David

    2015-01-01

    Large amounts of scientific evidence are generated, but not implemented into patient care (the 'knowledge-to-care' gap). We identified and prioritized knowledge-to-care gaps in critical care as opportunities to improve the quality and value of healthcare. We used a multi-method community-based participatory research approach to engage a Network of all adult (n = 14) and pediatric (n = 2) medical-surgical intensive care units (ICUs) in a fully integrated geographically defined healthcare system serving 4 million residents. Participants included Network oversight committee members (n = 38) and frontline providers (n = 1,790). Network committee members used a modified RAND/University of California Appropriateness Methodology, to serially propose, rate (validated 9 point scale) and revise potential knowledge-to-care gaps as priorities for improvement. The priorities were sent to frontline providers for evaluation. Results were relayed back to all frontline providers for feedback. Initially, 68 knowledge-to-care gaps were proposed, rated and revised by the committee (n = 32 participants) over 3 rounds of review and resulted in 13 proposed priorities for improvement. Then, 1,103 providers (62% response rate) evaluated the priorities, and rated 9 as 'necessary' (median score 7-9). Several factors were associated with rating priorities as necessary in multivariable logistic regression, related to the provider (experience, teaching status of ICU) and topic (strength of supporting evidence, potential to benefit the patient, potential to improve patient/family experience, potential to decrease costs). A community-based participatory research approach engaged a diverse group of stakeholders to identify 9 priorities for improving the quality and value of critical care. The approach was time and cost efficient and could serve as a model to prioritize areas for research quality improvement across other settings.

  10. Priority of VHS Development Based in Potential Area using Principal Component Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meirawan, D.; Ana, A.; Saripudin, S.

    2018-02-01

    The current condition of VHS is still inadequate in quality, quantity and relevance. The purpose of this research is to analyse the development of VHS based on the development of regional potential by using principal component analysis (PCA) in Bandung, Indonesia. This study used descriptive qualitative data analysis using the principle of secondary data reduction component. The method used is Principal Component Analysis (PCA) analysis with Minitab Statistics Software tool. The results of this study indicate the value of the lowest requirement is a priority of the construction of development VHS with a program of majors in accordance with the development of regional potential. Based on the PCA score found that the main priority in the development of VHS in Bandung is in Saguling, which has the lowest PCA value of 416.92 in area 1, Cihampelas with the lowest PCA value in region 2 and Padalarang with the lowest PCA value.

  11. Priority actions (Environmental protection in Macedonia)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-01-01

    The priority actions were based on environmental needs in the short to medium term, keeping in mind that there are severe budgetary constraints and the environmental institutions are still being developed. The private sector will be encouraged to participate, wherever possible in implementing the priority actions.Based on the evaluation of all the environmental priorities, the following are considered priority actions which should be addressed within the next five years: air quality improvement; water quality improvement; solid waste management; biodiversity conservation; renewal and preservation of forests; technical assistance. (author)

  12. The TSCA interagency testing committee`s approaches to screening and scoring chemicals and chemical groups: 1977-1983

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Walker, J.D. [Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC (United States)

    1990-12-31

    This paper describes the TSCA interagency testing committee`s (ITC) approaches to screening and scoring chemicals and chemical groups between 1977 and 1983. During this time the ITC conducted five scoring exercises to select chemicals and chemical groups for detailed review and to determine which of these chemicals and chemical groups should be added to the TSCA Section 4(e) Priority Testing List. 29 refs., 1 fig., 2 tabs.

  13. Discovery, research, and development of new antibiotics: the WHO priority list of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and tuberculosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tacconelli, Evelina; Carrara, Elena; Savoldi, Alessia; Harbarth, Stephan; Mendelson, Marc; Monnet, Dominique L; Pulcini, Céline; Kahlmeter, Gunnar; Kluytmans, Jan; Carmeli, Yehuda; Ouellette, Marc; Outterson, Kevin; Patel, Jean; Cavaleri, Marco; Cox, Edward M; Houchens, Chris R; Grayson, M Lindsay; Hansen, Paul; Singh, Nalini; Theuretzbacher, Ursula; Magrini, Nicola

    2018-03-01

    The spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria poses a substantial threat to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Due to its large public health and societal implications, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis has been long regarded by WHO as a global priority for investment in new drugs. In 2016, WHO was requested by member states to create a priority list of other antibiotic-resistant bacteria to support research and development of effective drugs. We used a multicriteria decision analysis method to prioritise antibiotic-resistant bacteria; this method involved the identification of relevant criteria to assess priority against which each antibiotic-resistant bacterium was rated. The final priority ranking of the antibiotic-resistant bacteria was established after a preference-based survey was used to obtain expert weighting of criteria. We selected 20 bacterial species with 25 patterns of acquired resistance and ten criteria to assess priority: mortality, health-care burden, community burden, prevalence of resistance, 10-year trend of resistance, transmissibility, preventability in the community setting, preventability in the health-care setting, treatability, and pipeline. We stratified the priority list into three tiers (critical, high, and medium priority), using the 33rd percentile of the bacterium's total scores as the cutoff. Critical-priority bacteria included carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and carbapenem-resistant and third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. The highest ranked Gram-positive bacteria (high priority) were vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium and meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Of the bacteria typically responsible for community-acquired infections, clarithromycin-resistant Helicobacter pylori, and fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter spp, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Salmonella typhi were included in the high-priority tier. Future development strategies should focus on

  14. Final priority. Rehabilitation Training: Job-Driven Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center. Final priority.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-08-19

    The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services announces a priority under the Rehabilitation Training program to establish a Job-Driven Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center (JDVRTAC). The Assistant Secretary may use this priority for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2014 and later years. We take this action to focus on training in an area of national need. Specifically, this priority responds to the Presidential Memorandum to Federal agencies directing them to take action to address job-driven training for the Nation's workers. The JDVRTAC will provide technical assistance (TA) to State vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies to help them develop for individuals with disabilities training and employment opportunities that meet the needs of today's employers.

  15. Community views and public health priority setting: how do health department priorities, community views, and health indicator data compare?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Earle-Richardson, Giulia; Scribani, Melissa; Wyckoff, Lynae; Strogatz, David; May, John; Jenkins, Paul

    2015-01-01

    New York, like many other states, provides county-level health statistics for use in local priority settings but does not provide any data on public views about priority health issues. This study assessed whether health department priorities are notably different from community concerns about health, and how both groups' priorities compare with local health statistics. Data from a 2009 rural survey on community health concerns were compared to priorities named by the seven area county health departments, and to local health indicator data. Health care/insurance cost (60%), obesity (53%), and prescription cost (41%) were leading community concerns, regardless of age, education, sex, or Internet in the home. Six of seven county health departments selected access to quality health care (which includes health care/insurance cost) as a leading public health priority, but only three identified obesity. The following leading local health issues were suggested by health indicators: Physical activity and nutrition, Smoking, and Unintentional injury. Health departments diverged from community priorities, from health indicator data, and from one another in choosing priorities. Adding a question about community health priorities to existing state telephone surveys on health behavior and lifestyle would provide an important tool to local health departments. © 2014 Society for Public Health Education.

  16. Development and preliminary validation of a screen for ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Development and preliminary validation of a screen for interpersonal childhood trauma experiences among school-going youth in Durban, South Africa. ... validity in the sense that all scales were significantly correlated with scores on clinical measures of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or complex PTSD.

  17. Setting priorities for safeguards upgrades

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al-Ayat, R.A.; Judd, B.R.; Patenaude, C.J.; Sicherman, A.

    1987-01-01

    This paper describes an analytic approach and a computer program for setting priorities among safeguards upgrades. The approach provides safeguards decision makers with a systematic method for allocating their limited upgrade resources. The priorities are set based on the upgrades cost and their contribution to safeguards effectiveness. Safeguards effectiveness is measured by the probability of defeat for a spectrum of potential insider and outsider adversaries. The computer program, MI$ER, can be used alone or as a companion to ET and SAVI, programs designed to evaluate safeguards effectiveness against insider and outsider threats, respectively. Setting the priority required judgments about the relative importance (threat likelihoods and consequences) of insider and outsider threats. Although these judgments are inherently subjective, MI$ER can analyze the sensitivity of the upgrade priorities to these weights and determine whether or not they are critical to the priority ranking. MI$ER produces tabular and graphical results for comparing benefits and identifying the most cost-effective upgrades for a given expenditure. This framework provides decision makers with an explicit and consistent analysis to support their upgrades decisions and to allocate the safeguards resources in a cost-effective manner

  18. Typology of end-of-life priorities in Saudi females: averaging analysis and Q-methodology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammami, Muhammad M; Hammami, Safa; Amer, Hala A; Khodr, Nesrine A

    2016-01-01

    Background Understanding culture-and sex-related end-of-life preferences is essential to provide quality end-of-life care. We have previously explored end-of-life choices in Saudi males and found important culture-related differences and that Q-methodology is useful in identifying intraculture, opinion-based groups. Here, we explore Saudi females’ end-of-life choices. Methods A volunteer sample of 68 females rank-ordered 47 opinion statements on end-of-life issues into a nine-category symmetrical distribution. The ranking scores of the statements were analyzed by averaging analysis and Q-methodology. Results The mean age of the females in the sample was 30.3 years (range, 19–55 years). Among them, 51% reported average religiosity, 78% reported very good health, 79% reported very good life quality, and 100% reported high-school education or more. The extreme five overall priorities were to be able to say the statement of faith, be at peace with God, die without having the body exposed, maintain dignity, and resolve all conflicts. The extreme five overall dis-priorities were to die in the hospital, die well dressed, be informed about impending death by family/friends rather than doctor, die at peak of life, and not know if one has a fatal illness. Q-methodology identified five opinion-based groups with qualitatively different characteristics: “physical and emotional privacy concerned, family caring” (younger, lower religiosity), “whole person” (higher religiosity), “pain and informational privacy concerned” (lower life quality), “decisional privacy concerned” (older, higher life quality), and “life quantity concerned, family dependent” (high life quality, low life satisfaction). Out of the extreme 14 priorities/dis-priorities for each group, 21%–50% were not represented among the extreme 20 priorities/dis-priorities for the entire sample. Conclusion Consistent with the previously reported findings in Saudi males, transcendence and dying in

  19. Typology of end-of-life priorities in Saudi females: averaging analysis and Q-methodology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammami, Muhammad M; Hammami, Safa; Amer, Hala A; Khodr, Nesrine A

    2016-01-01

    Understanding culture-and sex-related end-of-life preferences is essential to provide quality end-of-life care. We have previously explored end-of-life choices in Saudi males and found important culture-related differences and that Q-methodology is useful in identifying intraculture, opinion-based groups. Here, we explore Saudi females' end-of-life choices. A volunteer sample of 68 females rank-ordered 47 opinion statements on end-of-life issues into a nine-category symmetrical distribution. The ranking scores of the statements were analyzed by averaging analysis and Q-methodology. The mean age of the females in the sample was 30.3 years (range, 19-55 years). Among them, 51% reported average religiosity, 78% reported very good health, 79% reported very good life quality, and 100% reported high-school education or more. The extreme five overall priorities were to be able to say the statement of faith, be at peace with God, die without having the body exposed, maintain dignity, and resolve all conflicts. The extreme five overall dis-priorities were to die in the hospital, die well dressed, be informed about impending death by family/friends rather than doctor, die at peak of life, and not know if one has a fatal illness. Q-methodology identified five opinion-based groups with qualitatively different characteristics: "physical and emotional privacy concerned, family caring" (younger, lower religiosity), "whole person" (higher religiosity), "pain and informational privacy concerned" (lower life quality), "decisional privacy concerned" (older, higher life quality), and "life quantity concerned, family dependent" (high life quality, low life satisfaction). Out of the extreme 14 priorities/dis-priorities for each group, 21%-50% were not represented among the extreme 20 priorities/dis-priorities for the entire sample. Consistent with the previously reported findings in Saudi males, transcendence and dying in the hospital were the extreme end-of-life priority and dis-priority

  20. Revised Risk Priority Number in Failure Mode and Effects Analysis Model from the Perspective of Healthcare System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rezaei, Fatemeh; Yarmohammadian, Mohmmad H.; Haghshenas, Abbas; Fallah, Ali; Ferdosi, Masoud

    2018-01-01

    Background: Methodology of Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is known as an important risk assessment tool and accreditation requirement by many organizations. For prioritizing failures, the index of “risk priority number (RPN)” is used, especially for its ease and subjective evaluations of occurrence, the severity and the detectability of each failure. In this study, we have tried to apply FMEA model more compatible with health-care systems by redefining RPN index to be closer to reality. Methods: We used a quantitative and qualitative approach in this research. In the qualitative domain, focused groups discussion was used to collect data. A quantitative approach was used to calculate RPN score. Results: We have studied patient's journey in surgery ward from holding area to the operating room. The highest priority failures determined based on (1) defining inclusion criteria as severity of incident (clinical effect, claim consequence, waste of time and financial loss), occurrence of incident (time - unit occurrence and degree of exposure to risk) and preventability (degree of preventability and defensive barriers) then, (2) risks priority criteria quantified by using RPN index (361 for the highest rate failure). The ability of improved RPN scores reassessed by root cause analysis showed some variations. Conclusions: We concluded that standard criteria should be developed inconsistent with clinical linguistic and special scientific fields. Therefore, cooperation and partnership of technical and clinical groups are necessary to modify these models. PMID:29441184

  1. Revised risk priority number in failure mode and effects analysis model from the perspective of healthcare system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatemeh Rezaei

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Methodology of Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA is known as an important risk assessment tool and accreditation requirement by many organizations. For prioritizing failures, the index of “risk priority number (RPN” is used, especially for its ease and subjective evaluations of occurrence, the severity and the detectability of each failure. In this study, we have tried to apply FMEA model more compatible with health-care systems by redefining RPN index to be closer to reality. Methods: We used a quantitative and qualitative approach in this research. In the qualitative domain, focused groups discussion was used to collect data. A quantitative approach was used to calculate RPN score. Results: We have studied patient's journey in surgery ward from holding area to the operating room. The highest priority failures determined based on (1 defining inclusion criteria as severity of incident (clinical effect, claim consequence, waste of time and financial loss, occurrence of incident (time - unit occurrence and degree of exposure to risk and preventability (degree of preventability and defensive barriers then, (2 risks priority criteria quantified by using RPN index (361 for the highest rate failure. The ability of improved RPN scores reassessed by root cause analysis showed some variations. Conclusions: We concluded that standard criteria should be developed inconsistent with clinical linguistic and special scientific fields. Therefore, cooperation and partnership of technical and clinical groups are necessary to modify these models.

  2. Research priorities for public mental health in Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Forsman, Anna K; Wahlbeck, Kristian; Aarø, Leif Edvard

    2015-01-01

    experts were involved in the priority setting process. RESULTS: Twenty priorities for public mental health research were identified through the consensus process. The research priorities were divided into summary principles-encompassing overall recommendations for future public mental health research...... field. METHODS: Experts were invited to compile and discuss research priorities in a series of topic-based scientific workshops. In addition, a Delphi process was carried out to reach consensus on the list of research priorities and their rank order. Three web-based surveys were conducted. Nearly 60...... in Europe-and thematic research priorities, including area-specific top priorities on research topics and methods. The priorities represent three overarching goals mirroring societal challenges, that is, to identify causes, risk and protective factors for mental health across the lifespan; to advance...

  3. Community Priority Index: utility, applicability and validation for priority setting in community-based participatory research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hamisu M. Salihu

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Background. Providing practitioners with an intuitive measure for priority setting that can be combined with diverse data collection methods is a necessary step to foster accountability of the decision-making process in community settings. Yet, there is a lack of easy-to-use, but methodologically robust measures, that can be feasibly implemented for reliable decision-making in community settings. To address this important gap in community based participatory research (CBPR, the purpose of this study was to demonstrate the utility, applicability, and validation of a community priority index in a community-based participatory research setting. Design and Methods. Mixed-method study that combined focus groups findings, nominal group technique with six key informants, and the generation of a Community Priority Index (CPI that integrated community importance, changeability, and target populations. Bootstrapping and simulation were performed for validation. Results. For pregnant mothers, the top three highly important and highly changeable priorities were: stress (CPI=0.85; 95%CI: 0.70, 1.00, lack of affection (CPI=0.87; 95%CI: 0.69, 1.00, and nutritional issues (CPI=0.78; 95%CI: 0.48, 1.00. For non-pregnant women, top priorities were: low health literacy (CPI=0.87; 95%CI: 0.69, 1.00, low educational attainment (CPI=0.78; 95%CI: 0.48, 1.00, and lack of self-esteem (CPI=0.72; 95%CI: 0.44, 1.00. For children and adolescents, the top three priorities were: obesity (CPI=0.88; 95%CI: 0.69, 1.00, low self-esteem (CPI=0.81; 95%CI: 0.69, 0.94, and negative attitudes toward education (CPI=0.75; 95%CI: 0.50, 0.94. Conclusions. This study demonstrates the applicability of the CPI as a simple and intuitive measure for priority setting in CBPR.

  4. Health care priority setting in Norway a multicriteria decision analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Defechereux Thierry

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Priority setting in population health is increasingly based on explicitly formulated values. The Patients Rights Act of the Norwegian tax-based health service guaranties all citizens health care in case of a severe illness, a proven health benefit, and proportionality between need and treatment. This study compares the values of the country's health policy makers with these three official principles. Methods In total 34 policy makers participated in a discrete choice experiment, weighting the relative value of six policy criteria. We used multi-variate logistic regression with selection as dependent valuable to derive odds ratios for each criterion. Next, we constructed a composite league table - based on the sum score for the probability of selection - to rank potential interventions in five major disease areas. Results The group considered cost effectiveness, large individual benefits and severity of disease as the most important criteria in decision making. Priority interventions are those related to cardiovascular diseases and respiratory diseases. Less attractive interventions rank those related to mental health. Conclusions Norwegian policy makers' values are in agreement with principles formulated in national health laws. Multi-criteria decision approaches may provide a tool to support explicit allocation decisions.

  5. Health care priority setting in Norway a multicriteria decision analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Defechereux, Thierry; Paolucci, Francesco; Mirelman, Andrew; Youngkong, Sitaporn; Botten, Grete; Hagen, Terje P; Niessen, Louis W

    2012-02-15

    Priority setting in population health is increasingly based on explicitly formulated values. The Patients Rights Act of the Norwegian tax-based health service guaranties all citizens health care in case of a severe illness, a proven health benefit, and proportionality between need and treatment. This study compares the values of the country's health policy makers with these three official principles. In total 34 policy makers participated in a discrete choice experiment, weighting the relative value of six policy criteria. We used multi-variate logistic regression with selection as dependent valuable to derive odds ratios for each criterion. Next, we constructed a composite league table - based on the sum score for the probability of selection - to rank potential interventions in five major disease areas. The group considered cost effectiveness, large individual benefits and severity of disease as the most important criteria in decision making. Priority interventions are those related to cardiovascular diseases and respiratory diseases. Less attractive interventions rank those related to mental health. Norwegian policy makers' values are in agreement with principles formulated in national health laws. Multi-criteria decision approaches may provide a tool to support explicit allocation decisions.

  6. Priority Setting for Occupational Cancer Prevention

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cheryl E. Peters

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: Selecting priority occupational carcinogens is important for cancer prevention efforts; however, standardized selection methods are not available. The objective of this paper was to describe the methods used by CAREX Canada in 2015 to establish priorities for preventing occupational cancer, with a focus on exposure estimation and descriptive profiles. Methods: Four criteria were used in an expert assessment process to guide carcinogen prioritization: (1 the likelihood of presence and/or use in Canadian workplaces; (2 toxicity of the substance (strength of evidence for carcinogenicity and other health effects; (3 feasibility of producing a carcinogen profile and/or an occupational estimate; and (4 special interest from the public/scientific community. Carcinogens were ranked as high, medium or low priority based on specific conditions regarding these criteria, and stakeholder input was incorporated. Priorities were set separately for the creation of new carcinogen profiles and for new occupational exposure estimates. Results: Overall, 246 agents were reviewed for inclusion in the occupational priorities list. For carcinogen profile generation, 103 were prioritized (11 high, 33 medium, and 59 low priority, and 36 carcinogens were deemed priorities for occupational exposure estimation (13 high, 17 medium, and 6 low priority. Conclusion: Prioritizing and ranking occupational carcinogens is required for a variety of purposes, including research, resource allocation at different jurisdictional levels, calculations of occupational cancer burden, and planning of CAREX-type projects in different countries. This paper outlines how this process was achieved in Canada; this may provide a model for other countries and jurisdictions as a part of occupational cancer prevention efforts. Keywords: cancer prevention, carcinogen exposure, occupational health

  7. Optimal Priority Structure, Capital Structure, and Investment

    OpenAIRE

    Dirk Hackbarth; David C. Mauer

    2012-01-01

    We study the interaction between financing and investment decisions in a dynamic model, where the firm has multiple debt issues and equityholders choose the timing of investment. Jointly optimal capital and priority structures can virtually eliminate investment distortions because debt priority serves as a dynamically optimal contract. Examining the relative efficiency of priority rules observed in practice, we develop several predictions about how firms adjust their priority structure in res...

  8. Setting priorities for a research agenda to combat drug-resistant tuberculosis in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Velayutham, B; Nair, D; Ramalingam, S; Perez-Velez, C M; Becerra, M C; Swaminathan, S

    2015-12-21

    Numerous knowledge gaps hamper the prevention and treatment of childhood drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Identifying research priorities is vital to inform and develop strategies to address this neglected problem. To systematically identify and rank research priorities in childhood drug-resistant TB. Adapting the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) methodology, we compiled 53 research questions in four research areas, then classified the questions into three research types. We invited experts in childhood drug-resistant TB to score these questions through an online survey. A total of 81 respondents participated in the survey. The top-ranked research question was to identify the best combination of existing diagnostic tools for early diagnosis. Highly ranked treatment-related questions centred on the reasons for and interventions to improve treatment outcomes, adverse effects of drugs and optimal treatment duration. The prevalence of drug-resistant TB was the highest-ranked question in the epidemiology area. The development type questions that ranked highest focused on interventions for optimal diagnosis, treatment and modalities for treatment delivery. This is the first effort to identify and rank research priorities for childhood drug-resistant TB. The result is a resource to guide research to improve prevention and treatment of drug-resistant TB in children.

  9. Use of the KineSpring system in the treatment of medial knee osteoarthritis: preliminary results.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madonna, Vincenzo; Condello, Vincenzo; Piovan, Gianluca; Screpis, Daniele; Zorzi, Claudio

    2015-01-01

    the purpose of this study was to analyze our preliminary results obtained with the KineSpring system in patients suffering from medial compartment knee osteoarthritis (OA). between September 2012 and May 2014, 53 patients underwent treatment with the KineSpring system. Patient self-assessment was performed pre-operatively and at 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively, and included the KOOS, Tegner activity score, Lysholm functional knee score, VAS knee pain score, and IKDC score. Device- and procedure-related adverse events were recorded. mean KOOS subscales, except for the Sport/Recreation subscale at six months, improved over time. Mean WOMAC Pain and Function domains, Lysholm score, IKDC score and VAS knee pain score improved over the follow-up period and were significantly improved at 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively compared to baseline. Mean Tegner score improved slightly over time. In 5 of the 53 (9.4%) patients re-operation was necessary. In 3 patients the device was removed due to infection (one case) or persistent knee pain (two cases). Surgical arthrolysis was performed in two patients. in our preliminary experience, the KineSpring system gave good short-term clinical results. Level IV, therapeutic case series.

  10. Priority setting in practice: participants opinions on vertical and horizontal priority setting for reallocation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waldau, Susanne; Lindholm, Lars; Wiechel, Anna Helena

    2010-08-01

    In the Västerbotten County Council in Sweden a priority setting process was undertaken to reallocate existing resources for funding of new methods and activities. Resources were created by limiting low priority services. A procedure for priority setting was constructed and fully tested by engaging the entire organisation. The procedure included priority setting within and between departments and political decision making. Participants' views and experiences were collected as a basis for future improvement of the process. Results indicate that participants appreciated the overall approach and methodology and wished to engage in their improvement. Among the improvement proposals is prolongation of the process in order to improve the knowledge base quality. The procedure for identification of new items for funding also needs to be revised. The priority setting process was considered an overall success because it fulfilled its political goals. Factors considered crucial for success are a wish among managers for an economic strategy that addresses existing internal resource allocation; process management characterized by goal orientation and clear leadership; an elaborate communications strategy integrated early in the process and its management; political unity in support of the procedure, and a strong political commitment throughout the process. Generalizability has already been demonstrated by several health care organisations that performed processes founded on this working model. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Dreissenid mussel research priorities workshop

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sytsma, Mark; Phillips, Stephen; Counihan, Timothy D.

    2015-01-01

    Currently, dreissenid mussels have yet to be detected in the northwestern part of the United States and western Canada. Infestation of one of the jurisdictions within the mussel-free Pacific Northwest would likely have significant economic, soci­etal and environmental implications for the entire region. Understanding the biology and environmental tolerances of dreissenid mussels, and effectiveness of various man­agement strategies, is key to prevention.On November 4-5, 2015, the Aquatic Bioinvasion Research and Policy Institute and the Center for Lakes and Reservoirs at Portland State University, the US Geological Survey, and the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, convened a Dreissenid Mussel Research Priorities Workshop funded by the Great Northern Landscape Conservation Cooperative. The purpose of the workshop was to review dreissenid research priorities in the 2010 Quagga-Zebra Mussel Action Plan for Western U.S. Waters, reassess those priorities, incorporate new information and emerging trends, and develop priorities to strategically focus research efforts on zebra and quagga mussels in the Pacific Northwest and ensure that future research is focused on the highest priorities. It is important to note that there is some repetition among dreissenid research priority categories (e.g., prevention, detection, control, monitoring, and biology).Workshop participants with research experience in dreissenid mussel biology and management were identified by a literature review. State and federal agency managers were also invited to the workshop to ensure relevancy and practicality of the work­shop outcomes. A total of 28 experts (see sidebar) in mussel biology, ecology, and management attended the workshop.

  12. Research priorities in Maternal, Newborn, & Child Health & Nutrition for India: An Indian Council of Medical Research-INCLEN Initiative

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Narendra K Arora

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In India, research prioritization in Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health and Nutrition (MNCHN themes has traditionally involved only a handful of experts mostly from major cities. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR-INCLEN collaboration undertook a nationwide exercise engaging faculty from 256 institutions to identify top research priorities in the MNCHN themes for 2016-2025. The Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative method of priority setting was adapted. The context of the exercise was defined by a National Steering Group (NSG and guided by four Thematic Research Subcommittees. Research ideas were pooled from 498 experts located in different parts of India, iteratively consolidated into research options, scored by 893 experts against five pre-defined criteria (answerability, relevance, equity, investment and innovation and weighed by a larger reference group. Ranked lists of priorities were generated for each of the four themes at national and three subnational (regional levels [Empowered Action Group & North-Eastern States, Southern and Western States, & Northern States (including West Bengal]. Research priorities differed between regions and from overall national priorities. Delivery domain of research which included implementation research constituted about 70 per cent of the top ten research options under all four themes. The results were endorsed in the NSG meeting. There was unanimity that the research priorities should be considered by different governmental and non-governmental agencies for investment with prioritization on implementation research and issues cutting across themes.

  13. A strategy to improve priority setting in developing countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kapiriri, Lydia; Martin, Douglas K

    2007-09-01

    Because the demand for health services outstrips the available resources, priority setting is one of the most difficult issues faced by health policy makers, particularly those in developing countries. Priority setting in developing countries is fraught with uncertainty due to lack of credible information, weak priority setting institutions, and unclear priority setting processes. Efforts to improve priority setting in these contexts have focused on providing information and tools. In this paper we argue that priority setting is a value laden and political process, and although important, the available information and tools are not sufficient to address the priority setting challenges in developing countries. Additional complementary efforts are required. Hence, a strategy to improve priority setting in developing countries should also include: (i) capturing current priority setting practices, (ii) improving the legitimacy and capacity of institutions that set priorities, and (iii) developing fair priority setting processes.

  14. Clicker Score Trajectories and Concept Inventory Scores as Predictors for Early Warning Systems for Large STEM Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Un Jung; Sbeglia, Gena C.; Ha, Minsu; Finch, Stephen J.; Nehm, Ross H.

    2015-12-01

    Increasing the retention of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) majors has recently emerged as a national priority in undergraduate education. Since poor performance in large introductory science and math courses is one significant factor in STEM dropout, early detection of struggling students is needed. Technology-supported "early warning systems" (EWSs) are being developed to meet these needs. Our study explores the utility of two commonly collected data sources—pre-course concept inventory scores and longitudinal clicker scores—for use in EWS, specifically, in determining the time points at which robust predictions of student success can first be established. The pre-course diagnostic assessments, administered to 287 students, included two concept inventories and one attitude assessment. Clicker question scores were also obtained for each of the 37 class sessions. Additionally, student characteristics (sex, ethnicity, and English facility) were gathered in a survey. Our analyses revealed that all variables were predictive of final grades. The correlation of the first 3 weeks of clicker scores with final grades was 0.53, suggesting that this set of variables could be used in an EWS starting at the third week. We also used group-based trajectory models to assess whether trajectory patterns were homogeneous in the class. The trajectory analysis identified three distinct clicker performance patterns that were also significant predictors of final grade. Trajectory analyses of clicker scores, student characteristics, and pre-course diagnostic assessment appear to be valuable data sources for EWS, although further studies in a diversity of instructional contexts are warranted.

  15. Setting research priorities for Type 1 diabetes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gadsby, R; Snow, R; Daly, A C; Crowe, S; Matyka, K; Hall, B; Petrie, J

    2012-10-01

    Research priorities are often set by academic researchers or the pharmaceutical industry. The interests of patients, carers and clinicians may therefore be overlooked and research questions that matter may be neglected. The aims of this study were to collect uncertainties about the treatment of Type 1 diabetes from patients, carers and health professionals, and to collate and prioritize these uncertainties to develop a top 10 list of research priorities, using a structured priority-setting partnership of patients, carers, health professionals and diabetes organizations, as described by the James Lind Alliance. A partnership of interested organizations was set up, and from this a steering committee of 10 individuals was formed. An online and paper survey was used to identify uncertainties. These were collated, and the steering group carried out an interim priority-setting exercise with partner organizations. This group of uncertainties was then voted on to give a smaller list that went forward to the final priority-setting workshop. At this meeting, a final list of the top 10 research priorities was agreed. An initial 1141 uncertainties were described. These were reduced to 88 indicative questions, 47 of which went out for voting. Twenty-four were then taken forward to a final priority-setting workshop. This workshop resulted in a list of top 10 research priorities in Type 1 diabetes. We have shown that it is possible using the James Lind Alliance process to develop an agreed top 10 list of research priorities for Type 1 diabetes from health professionals, patients and carers. © 2012 The Authors. Diabetic Medicine © 2012 Diabetes UK.

  16. Setting Priorities Personal Values, Organizational Results

    CERN Document Server

    (CCL), Center for Creative Leadership

    2011-01-01

    To be a successful leader, you need to get results. To get results, you need to set priorities. This book can help you do a better job of setting priorities, recognizing the personal values that motivate your decision making, the probable trade-offs and consequences of your decisions, and the importance of aligning your priorities with your organization's expectations. In this way you can successfully meet organizational objectives and consistently produce results.

  17. Preliminary design of a coffee harvester

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raphael Magalhães Gomes Moreira

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Design of an agricultural machine is a highly complex process due to interactions between the operator, machine, and environment. Mountain coffee plantations constitute an economic sector that requires huge investments for the development of agricultural machinery to improve the harvesting and post-harvesting processes and to overcome the scarcity of work forces in the fields. The aim of this study was to develop a preliminary design for a virtual prototype of a coffee fruit harvester. In this study, a project methodology was applied and adapted for the development of the following steps: project planning, informational design, conceptual design, and preliminary design. The construction of a morphological matrix made it possible to obtain a list of different mechanisms with specific functions. The union between these mechanisms resulted in variants, which were weighed to attribute scores for each selected criterion. From each designated proposal, two variants with the best scores were selected and this permitted the preparation of the preliminary design of both variants. The archetype was divided in two parts, namely the hydraulically articulated arms and the harvesting system that consisted of the vibration mechanism and the detachment mechanism. The proposed innovation involves the use of parallel rods, which were fixed in a plane and rectangular metal sheet. In this step, dimensions including a maximum length of 4.7 m, a minimum length of 3.3 m, and a total height of 2.15 m were identified based on the functioning of the harvester in relation to the coupling point of the tractor.

  18. Safety training priorities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, N. A.; Ruck, H. W.

    1984-04-01

    The Air Force is interested in identifying potentially hazardous tasks and prevention of accidents. This effort proposes four methods for determining safety training priorities for job tasks in three enlisted specialties. These methods can be used to design training aimed at avoiding loss of people, time, materials, and money associated with on-the-job accidents. Job tasks performed by airmen were measured using task and job factor ratings. Combining accident reports and job inventories, subject-matter experts identified tasks associated with accidents over a 3-year period. Applying correlational, multiple regression, and cost-benefit analysis, four methods were developed for ordering hazardous tasks to determine safety training priorities.

  19. 7 CFR 1775.11 - Priority.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... management problems. (j) Cash or in kind support of project from non-federal sources. (k) Ability to... program. (a) Projects proposing to give priority for available services to rural communities having a population less than 5,500 and/or below 2,500. (b) Projects proposing to give priority for available services...

  20. 76 FR 3626 - Lock+ Hydro Friends Fund XLIX; FFP Missouri 14, LLC; Notice Announcing Preliminary Permit Drawing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-20

    ... Drawing January 12, 2011. On July 12, 2010, at 8:30 a.m., the Commission received two preliminary permit... Commission, or her designee, will, by random drawing, determine the filing priority for the two applicants identified in this notice. The drawing is open to the public and will be held in room 2C, the Commission...

  1. 40 CFR 35.925-3 - Priority determination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Priority determination. 35.925-3 Section 35.925-3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GRANTS AND OTHER FEDERAL... Priority determination. That such works are entitled to priority in accordance with § 35.915, and that the...

  2. Decentralized health care priority-setting in Tanzania

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Maluka, Stephen; Kamuzora, Peter; Sebastiån, Miguel San

    2010-01-01

    Priority-setting has become one of the biggest challenges faced by health decision-makers worldwide. Fairness is a key goal of priority-setting and Accountability for Reasonableness has emerged as a guiding framework for fair priority-setting. This paper describes the processes of setting health...... care priorities in Mbarali district, Tanzania, and evaluates the descriptions against Accountability for Reasonableness. Key informant interviews were conducted with district health managers, local government officials and other stakeholders using a semi-structured interview guide. Relevant documents...... no formal mechanisms in place to ensure that this information reached the public. There were neither formal mechanisms for challenging decisions nor an adequate enforcement mechanism to ensure that decisions were made in a fair and equitable manner. Therefore, priority-setting in Mbarali district did...

  3. The C.L.E.A.R. Score: a new comprehensive assessment method for academic physicians in military medical centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buller, Jerome L; Tetteh, Hassan A

    2012-07-01

    Evaluation of medical officer performance is a critical leadership role. This study offers a comprehensive evaluation system for military physicians. The Comprehensive Assessment equation (COMPASS equation), a modified Cobb-Douglas equation, was developed to evaluate academic physicians. The COMPASS equation assesses military physicians within five comprehensive dimensions: (1) Clinical (2) Leadership, (3) Educational (4) Administrative, and (5) Research productivity excellence to yield a composite "C.L.E.A.R. Score." The COMPASS equation's fidelity was tested with a cohort of military physicians within the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Capital District Region and a C.L.E.A.R. score was calculated for individual physicians. Mean C.L.E.A.R score was 53.6 +/- 28.8 (range 10.1-98.5). The responsiveness of the model was tested using two hypothetical physician models: "low-performing-faculty" and "super-faculty," and calculated C.L.E.A.R. scores were 6.3 and 153.4, respectively. The C.L.E.A.R. score appears to recognize and assess the performance excellence of military physicians. Weighting measured characteristics of the COMPASS equation can be used to promote organizational priorities. Thus, leaders of military medicine can communicate institutional priorities and inculcate them through use of the COMPASS equation to reward and recognize the activities of military medical officers that are commensurate with institutional goals.

  4. 7 CFR 632.12 - Funding priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... AGRICULTURE LONG TERM CONTRACTING RURAL ABANDONED MINE PROGRAM Qualifications § 632.12 Funding priorities. (a... extreme danger. (3) Priority 3. Restoration of the land and water resources and the environment where...

  5. 14 CFR 250.3 - Boarding priority rules.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Boarding priority rules. 250.3 Section 250...) ECONOMIC REGULATIONS OVERSALES § 250.3 Boarding priority rules. (a) Every carrier shall establish priority... boarding on an oversold flight in the event that an insufficient number of volunteers come forward. Such...

  6. 15 CFR 700.15 - Extension of priority ratings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ...) BUREAU OF INDUSTRY AND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NATIONAL SECURITY INDUSTRIAL BASE REGULATIONS DEFENSE PRIORITIES AND ALLOCATIONS SYSTEM Industrial Priorities § 700.15 Extension of priority ratings. (a...

  7. Functional priorities reported by parents of children with cerebral palsy: contribution to the pediatric rehabilitation process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marina B. Brandão

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: Collaborative actions between family and therapist are essential to the rehabilitation process, and they can be a catalyst mechanism to the positive outcomes in children with cerebral palsy (CP. Objectives: To describe functional priorities established by caregivers of CP children by level of severity and age, and to assess changes on performance and satisfaction on functional priorities reported by caregivers, in 6-month interval. Method: 75 CP children, weekly assisted at Associação Mineira de Reabilitação, on physical and occupational therapy services. The following information was collected: gross motor function (Gross Motor Function Classification System-GMFCS and functional priorities established by caregivers (Canadian Occupational Performance Measure-COPM. Data were collected in two moments, with a 6-month interval. Results: The main functional demands presented by caregivers were related to self-care activities (48.2%. Parents of children with severe motor impairment (GMFCS V pointed higher number of demands related to play (p=0.0036, compared to the other severity levels. Parents of younger children reported higher number of demands in mobility (p=0.025 and play (p=0.007, compared to other age groups. After 6 months, there were significant increase on COPM performance (p=0.0001 and satisfaction scores (p=0.0001. Conclusions: Parents of CP children identified functional priorities in similar performance domains, by level of severity and age. Orienting the pediatric rehabilitation process to promote changes in functional priorities indentified by caregivers can contribute to the reinforcement of the parent-therapist collaboration.

  8. Consumer design priorities for upper limb prosthetics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biddiss, Elaine; Beaton, Dorcas; Chau, Tom

    2007-11-01

    To measure consumer satisfaction with upper limb prosthetics and provide an enumerated list of design priorities for future developments. A self-administered, anonymous survey collected information on participant demographics, history of and goals for prosthesis use, satisfaction, and design priorities. The questionnaire was available online and in paper format and was distributed through healthcare providers, community support groups, and one prosthesis manufacturer; 242 participants of all ages and levels of upper limb absence completed the survey. Rates of rejection for myoelectric hands, passive hands, and body-powered hooks were 39%, 53%, and 50%, respectively. Prosthesis wearers were generally satisfied with their devices while prosthesis rejecters were dissatisfied. Reduced prosthesis weight emerged as the highest priority design concern of consumers. Lower cost ranked within the top five design priorities for adult wearers of all device types. Life-like appearance is a priority for passive/cosmetic prostheses, while improved harness comfort, wrist movement, grip control and strength are required for body-powered devices. Glove durability, lack of sensory feedback, and poor dexterity were also identified as design priorities for electric devices. Design priorities reflect consumer goals for prosthesis use and vary depending on the type of prosthesis used and age. Future design efforts should focus on the development of more light-weight, comfortable prostheses.

  9. Developing a Physiotherapy-Specific Preliminary Clinical Decision-Making Tool for Oxygen Titration: A Modified Delphi Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duong, Michelle; Bertin, Kendra; Henry, Renee; Singh, Deepti; Timmins, Nolla; Brooks, Dina; Mathur, Sunita

    2014-01-01

    ABSTRACT Purpose: To develop and evaluate a preliminary clinical decision-making tool (CDMT) to assist physiotherapists in titrating oxygen for acutely ill adults in Ontario. Methods: A panel of 14 experienced cardiorespiratory physiotherapists was recruited. Factors relating to oxygen titration were identified using a modified Delphi technique. Four rounds of questionnaires were conducted, during which the goals were to (1) generate factors, (2) reduce factors and debate contentious factors, (3) finalize factors and develop the preliminary CDMT, and (4) evaluate the usability of the tool in a clinical context. Results: The panel reached consensus on a total of 89 factors, which were compiled to create the preliminary CDMT. The global tool reached consensus for sensibility, receiving a mean score of 6/7 on a 7-point Likert-type scale (1=unacceptable; 7=excellent). Five of the nine individual components of evaluation of the tool achieved scores ≥6.0; the remaining four had mean scores between 5.4 and 5.9. Conclusion: This study produced a preliminary CDMT for oxygen titration, which the panel agreed was highly comprehensible and globally sensible. Further research is necessary to evaluate the sensibility and applicability of the tool in a clinical setting. PMID:25125782

  10. Technical Analysis of Scores on the "Self-Efficacy Self-Report Scale"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erford, Bradley T.; Schein, Hallie; Duncan, Kelly

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to provide preliminary analysis of reliability and validity of scores on the "Self-Efficacy Self-Report Scale", which was designed to assess general self-efficacy in students aged 10 to 17 years. Confirmatory factor analysis on cross-validated samples was conducted revealing a marginal fit of the data to the…

  11. Selecting a pharmacy layout design using a weighted scoring system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDowell, Alissa L; Huang, Yu-Li

    2012-05-01

    A weighted scoring system was used to select a pharmacy layout redesign. Facilities layout design techniques were applied at a local hospital pharmacy using a step-by-step design process. The process involved observing and analyzing the current situation, observing the current available space, completing activity flow charts of the pharmacy processes, completing communication and material relationship charts to detail which areas in the pharmacy were related to one another and how they were related, researching applications in other pharmacies or in scholarly works that could be beneficial, numerically defining space requirements for areas within the pharmacy, measuring the available space within the pharmacy, developing a set of preliminary designs, and modifying preliminary designs so they were all acceptable to the pharmacy staff. To select a final layout that could be implemented in the pharmacy, those layouts were compared via a weighted scoring system. The weighted aspect further allowed additional emphasis on categories based on their effect on pharmacy performance. The results produced a beneficial layout design as determined through simulated models of the pharmacy operation that more effectively allocated and strategically located space to improve transportation distances and materials handling, employee utilization, and ergonomics. Facilities layout designs for a hospital pharmacy were evaluated using a weighted scoring system to identify a design that was superior to both the current layout and alternative layouts in terms of feasibility, cost, patient safety, employee safety, flexibility, robustness, transportation distance, employee utilization, objective adherence, maintainability, usability, and environmental impact.

  12. Final priorities; National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research--Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects and Centers Program--Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers. Final priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-06-11

    The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services announces priorities under the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects and Centers Program administered by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). Specifically, we announce priorities for a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Rehabilitation Strategies, Techniques, and Interventions (Priority 1), Information and Communication Technologies Access (Priority 2), Individual Mobility and Manipulation (Priority 3), and Physical Access and Transportation (Priority 4). The Assistant Secretary may use one or more of these priorities for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2013 and later years. We take this action to focus research attention on areas of national need. We intend these priorities to improve community living and participation, health and function, and employment outcomes of individuals with disabilities.

  13. Priority setting and health policy and systems research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bennett Sara C

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Health policy and systems research (HPSR has been identified as critical to scaling-up interventions to achieve the millennium development goals, but research priority setting exercises often do not address HPSR well. This paper aims to (i assess current priority setting methods and the extent to which they adequately include HPSR and (ii draw lessons regarding how HPSR priority setting can be enhanced to promote relevant HPSR, and to strengthen developing country leadership of research agendas. Priority setting processes can be distinguished by the level at which they occur, their degree of comprehensiveness in terms of the topic addressed, the balance between technical versus interpretive approaches and the stakeholders involved. When HPSR is considered through technical, disease-driven priority setting processes it is systematically under-valued. More successful approaches for considering HPSR are typically nationally-driven, interpretive and engage a range of stakeholders. There is still a need however for better defined approaches to enable research funders to determine the relative weight to assign to disease specific research versus HPSR and other forms of cross-cutting health research. While country-level research priority setting is key, there is likely to be a continued need for the identification of global research priorities for HPSR. The paper argues that such global priorities can and should be driven by country level priorities.

  14. Setting Research Priorities for Kidney Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Jennifer M; Bhatt, Jaimin; Avery, Jonathan; Laupacis, Andreas; Cowan, Katherine; Basappa, Naveen S; Basiuk, Joan; Canil, Christina; Al-Asaaed, Sohaib; Heng, Daniel Y C; Wood, Lori; Stacey, Dawn; Kollmannsberger, Christian; Jewett, Michael A S

    2017-12-01

    Defining disease-specific research priorities in cancer can facilitate better allocation of limited resources. Involving patients and caregivers as well as expert clinicians in this process is of value. We undertook this approach for kidney cancer as an example. The Kidney Cancer Research Network of Canada sponsored a collaborative consensus-based priority-setting partnership that identified ten research priorities in the management of kidney cancer. These are discussed in the context of current initiatives and gaps in knowledge. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Identification of priorities for improvement of medication safety in primary care: a PRIORITIZE study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tudor Car, Lorainne; Papachristou, Nikolaos; Gallagher, Joseph; Samra, Rajvinder; Wazny, Kerri; El-Khatib, Mona; Bull, Adrian; Majeed, Azeem; Aylin, Paul; Atun, Rifat; Rudan, Igor; Car, Josip; Bell, Helen; Vincent, Charles; Franklin, Bryony Dean

    2016-11-16

    Medication error is a frequent, harmful and costly patient safety incident. Research to date has mostly focused on medication errors in hospitals. In this study, we aimed to identify the main causes of, and solutions to, medication error in primary care. We used a novel priority-setting method for identifying and ranking patient safety problems and solutions called PRIORITIZE. We invited 500 North West London primary care clinicians to complete an open-ended questionnaire to identify three main problems and solutions relating to medication error in primary care. 113 clinicians submitted responses, which we thematically synthesized into a composite list of 48 distinct problems and 45 solutions. A group of 57 clinicians randomly selected from the initial cohort scored these and an overall ranking was derived. The agreement between the clinicians' scores was presented using the average expert agreement (AEA). The study was conducted between September 2013 and November 2014. The top three problems were incomplete reconciliation of medication during patient 'hand-overs', inadequate patient education about their medication use and poor discharge summaries. The highest ranked solutions included development of a standardized discharge summary template, reduction of unnecessary prescribing, and minimisation of polypharmacy. Overall, better communication between the healthcare provider and patient, quality assurance approaches during medication prescribing and monitoring, and patient education on how to use their medication were considered the top priorities. The highest ranked suggestions received the strongest agreement among the clinicians, i.e. the highest AEA score. Clinicians identified a range of suggestions for better medication management, quality assurance procedures and patient education. According to clinicians, medication errors can be largely prevented with feasible and affordable interventions. PRIORITIZE is a new, convenient, systematic, and replicable method

  16. Priority setting in clinical nursing practice: literature review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hendry, Charles; Walker, Anne

    2004-08-01

    Time is a valuable resource. When nurses experience demands on their services which exceed their available time, then 'rationing' must occur. In clinical practice such rationing requires practitioners to set priorities for care. The aim of this paper is establish what is currently known about priority setting in nursing, including how nurses set priorities and what factors influence this. CINAHL, Medline, ASSIA, and PsychLit databases for the years 1982-2002 were searched, using the terms (clinical decision-making or problem-solving or planning) and (setting priorities or prioriti*). The publications found were used in a selective, descriptive review. Priority setting is an important skill in nursing, and a skill deficit can have serious consequences for patients. Recent studies have suggested that it is a difficult skill for newly qualified nurses to acquire and may not be given sufficient attention in nurse education. Priority setting can be defined as the ordering of nursing problems using notions of urgency and/or importance, in order to establish a preferential order for nursing actions. A number of factors that may impact on priority setting have been identified in the literature. These include: the expertise of the nurse; the patient's condition; the availability of resources; ward organization; philosophies and models of care; the nurse-patient relationship; and the cognitive strategy used by the nurse to set priorities. However, very little empirical work has been conducted in this area. Further study of priority setting in a range of clinical practice settings is necessary. This could inform both practice and education, promote better use of limited resources and maximize patient outcomes.

  17. The conservation of native priority medicinal plants in a Caatinga area in Ceará, northeastern Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MARIA O. SANTOS

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Much of the Brazilian semiarid region faces a considerable process of degradation of natural resources, and ethnobotanical studies have collaborated with important information about the use and traditional knowledge, serving as a tool to design conservation strategies of native plant species. Thus, this study aimed to determine medicinal species meriting conservation priorities in a “Caatinga” area in the northeastern of Brazilian territory. The ethnobotanical data were collected through semi-structured interviews with key subjects selected through the “snowball” technique. The availability and species conservation priority was verified by relative density, risk of collection, local use and use of diversity in the forest fragment sampled. It was recorded 42 native medicinal plants and conservation priority score was calculated for seven species, including Mimosa tenuiflora, Hymenaea courbaril, Ximenia americana and Amburana cearensis need immediate conservation and attention, since their collection does not occur in a sustainable way. In order to ensure the perpetuation of the species and the sustainability of traditional therapeutic practice there needs to be a development of conservation practices of caatinga remaining to better conserve the species of the biome.

  18. 40 CFR 146.9 - Criteria for establishing permitting priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ....9 Criteria for establishing permitting priorities. In determining priorities for setting times for... priorities. 146.9 Section 146.9 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) WATER... (a), (c), (g) or § 144.22(f), the Director shall base these priorities upon consideration of the...

  19. 10 CFR 580.03 - Curtailment priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (CONTINUED) NATURAL GAS (ECONOMIC REGULATORY ADMINISTRATION) CURTAILMENT PRIORITIES FOR ESSENTIAL AGRICULTURAL USES § 580.03 Curtailment priorities. (a) Notwithstanding any provision of law other... curtailment of deliveries of natural gas for any essential agricultural use, unless: (1) Such curtailment does...

  20. Effects of gaps in priorities between ideal and real lives on psychological burnout among academic faculty members at a medical university in Japan: a cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chatani, Yuki; Nomura, Kyoko; Horie, Saki; Takemoto, Keisuke; Takeuchi, Masumi; Sasamori, Yukifumi; Takenoshita, Shinichi; Murakami, Aya; Hiraike, Haruko; Okinaga, Hiroko; Smith, Derek

    2017-04-04

    Accumulating evidence from medical workforce research indicates that poor work/life balance and increased work/home conflict induce psychological distress. In this study we aim to examine the existence of a priority gap between ideal and real lives, and its association with psychological burnout among academic professionals. This cross-sectional survey, conducted in 2014, included faculty members (228 men, 102 women) at a single medical university in Tokyo, Japan. The outcome of interest was psychological burnout, measured with a validated inventory. Discordance between ideal- and real-life priorities, based on participants' responses (work, family, individual life, combinations thereof), was defined as a priority gap. The majority (64%) of participants chose "work" as the greatest priority in real life, but only 28% chose "work" as the greatest priority in their conception of an ideal life. Priority gaps were identified in 59.5% of respondents. A stepwise multivariable general linear model demonstrated that burnout scores were associated positively with respondents' current position (P life was associated with an increased risk of burnout, and the presence of children, which is a type of "family" social support, had a mitigating effect on burnout among those reporting priority gaps.

  1. Assessment of energy research, development, and demonstration priorities for New York State. Interim report. Volume I

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Allentuck, J; Appleman, J; Carroll, T O; Palmedo, P F; Nathans, R

    1977-11-01

    In compliance with its mandate to accelerate the development and use of energy technologies in furtherance of the state's economic growth and the best interests of its population, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) initiated, in March 1977, an assessment of energy research and development priorities. This report presents a view of the energy supply-demand future of the state, and the ways in which this future can be affected by external contingencies and concerted policies. That view takes into consideration energy supplies that may be available to the state as well as energy demands as they are affected by demographic and economic changes within the state. Also included are the effects of national energy policies and technological developments as they modify both supplies and demands in New York State. Finally, this report proceeds to identify those general technological areas in which the Authority's program can be of greatest potential benefit to the state's social and economic well being. This effort aims at a cost/benefit analysis determination of RD and D priorities. The preliminary analysis thus far indicates these areas as being of highest priority: energy conservation in buildings (promotion and execution of RD and D) and industry; district heating; fuel cell demonstration;solar heating and cooling (analysis, demonstration, and information dissemination); energy-environment interaction (analysis); energy information services; and, in general, the attraction of Federal RD and D programs to the state.

  2. 40 CFR 35.2103 - Priority determination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Priority determination. 35.2103 Section 35.2103 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GRANTS AND OTHER FEDERAL ASSISTANCE STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE Grants for Construction of Treatment Works § 35.2103 Priority determination...

  3. Setting stroke research priorities: The consumer perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sangvatanakul, Pukkaporn; Hillege, Sharon; Lalor, Erin; Levi, Christopher; Hill, Kelvin; Middleton, Sandy

    2010-12-01

    To test a method of engaging consumers in research priority-setting using a quantitative approach and to determine consumer views on stroke research priorities for clinical practice recommendations with lower levels of evidence (Level III and Level IV) and expert consensus opinion as published in the Australian stroke clinical practice guidelines. Survey Urban community Eighteen stroke survivors (n = 12) and carers (n = 6) who were members of the "Working Aged Group - Stroke" (WAGS) consumer support group. Phase I: Participants were asked whether recommendations were "worth" researching ("yes" or "no"); and, if researched, what potential impact they likely would have on patient outcomes. Phase II: Participants were asked to rank recommendations rated by more than 75% of participants in Phase I as "worth" researching and "highly likely" or "likely" to generate research with a significant effect on patient outcomes (n = 13) in order of priority for future stroke research. All recommendations were rated by at least half (n = 9, 50%) of participants as "worth" researching. The majority (67% to 100%) rated all recommendations as "highly likely" or "likely" that research would have a significant effect on patient outcomes. Thirteen out of 20 recommendations were ranked for their research priorities. Recommendations under the topic heading Getting to hospital were ranked highest and Organization of care and Living with stroke were ranked as a lower priority for research. This study provided an example of how to involve consumers in research priority setting successfully using a quantitative approach. Stroke research priorities from the consumer perspective were different from those of health professionals, as published in the literature; thus, consumer opinion should be considered when setting research priorities. Copyright © 2010 Society for Vascular Nursing, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Setting research priorities by applying the combined approach matrix.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghaffar, Abdul

    2009-04-01

    Priority setting in health research is a dynamic process. Different organizations and institutes have been working in the field of research priority setting for many years. In 1999 the Global Forum for Health Research presented a research priority setting tool called the Combined Approach Matrix or CAM. Since its development, the CAM has been successfully applied to set research priorities for diseases, conditions and programmes at global, regional and national levels. This paper briefly explains the CAM methodology and how it could be applied in different settings, giving examples and describing challenges encountered in the process of setting research priorities and providing recommendations for further work in this field. The construct and design of the CAM is explained along with different steps needed, including planning and organization of a priority-setting exercise and how it could be applied in different settings. The application of the CAM are described by using three examples. The first concerns setting research priorities for a global programme, the second describes application at the country level and the third setting research priorities for diseases. Effective application of the CAM in different and diverse environments proves its utility as a tool for setting research priorities. Potential challenges encountered in the process of research priority setting are discussed and some recommendations for further work in this field are provided.

  5. On Setting Priorities among Human Rights

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Philips, Jos

    2014-01-01

    Should conflicts among human rights be dealt with by including general principles for priority setting at some prominent place in the practice of human rights? This essay argues that neither setting prominent and principled priorities nor a case-by-case approach are likely to be defensible as

  6. Setting priorities for ambient air quality objectives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2004-10-01

    Alberta has ambient air quality objectives in place for several pollutants, toxic substances and other air quality parameters. A process is in place to determine if additional air quality objectives are required or if existing objectives should be changed. In order to identify the highest priority substances that may require an ambient air quality objective to protect ecosystems and public health, a rigorous, transparent and cost effective priority setting methodology is required. This study reviewed, analyzed and assessed successful priority setting techniques used by other jurisdictions. It proposed an approach for setting ambient air quality objective priorities that integrates the concerns of stakeholders with Alberta Environment requirements. A literature and expert review were used to examine existing priority-setting techniques used by other jurisdictions. An analysis process was developed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of various techniques and their ability to take into account the complete pathway between chemical emissions and damage to human health or the environment. The key strengths and weaknesses of each technique were identified. Based on the analysis, the most promising technique was the tool for the reduction and assessment of chemical and other environmental impacts (TRACI). Several considerations for using TRACI to help set priorities for ambient air quality objectives were also presented. 26 refs, 8 tabs., 4 appendices

  7. Phylogenetically-informed priorities for amphibian conservation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isaac, Nick J B; Redding, David W; Meredith, Helen M; Safi, Kamran

    2012-01-01

    The amphibian decline and extinction crisis demands urgent action to prevent further large numbers of species extinctions. Lists of priority species for conservation, based on a combination of species' threat status and unique contribution to phylogenetic diversity, are one tool for the direction and catalyzation of conservation action. We describe the construction of a near-complete species-level phylogeny of 5713 amphibian species, which we use to create a list of evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered species (EDGE list) for the entire class Amphibia. We present sensitivity analyses to test the robustness of our priority list to uncertainty in species' phylogenetic position and threat status. We find that both sources of uncertainty have only minor impacts on our 'top 100' list of priority species, indicating the robustness of the approach. By contrast, our analyses suggest that a large number of Data Deficient species are likely to be high priorities for conservation action from the perspective of their contribution to the evolutionary history.

  8. Phylogenetically-informed priorities for amphibian conservation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nick J B Isaac

    Full Text Available The amphibian decline and extinction crisis demands urgent action to prevent further large numbers of species extinctions. Lists of priority species for conservation, based on a combination of species' threat status and unique contribution to phylogenetic diversity, are one tool for the direction and catalyzation of conservation action. We describe the construction of a near-complete species-level phylogeny of 5713 amphibian species, which we use to create a list of evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered species (EDGE list for the entire class Amphibia. We present sensitivity analyses to test the robustness of our priority list to uncertainty in species' phylogenetic position and threat status. We find that both sources of uncertainty have only minor impacts on our 'top 100' list of priority species, indicating the robustness of the approach. By contrast, our analyses suggest that a large number of Data Deficient species are likely to be high priorities for conservation action from the perspective of their contribution to the evolutionary history.

  9. Rapid research and implementation priority setting for wound care uncertainties.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Trish A Gray

    Full Text Available People with complex wounds are more likely to be elderly, living with multimorbidity and wound related symptoms. A variety of products are available for managing complex wounds and a range of healthcare professionals are involved in wound care, yet there is a lack of good evidence to guide practice and services. These factors create uncertainty for those who deliver and those who manage wound care. Formal priority setting for research and implementation topics is needed to more accurately target the gaps in treatment and services. We solicited practitioner and manager uncertainties in wound care and held a priority setting workshop to facilitate a collaborative approach to prioritising wound care-related uncertainties.We recruited healthcare professionals who regularly cared for patients with complex wounds, were wound care specialists or managed wound care services. Participants submitted up to five wound care uncertainties in consultation with their colleagues, via an on-line survey and attended a priority setting workshop. Submitted uncertainties were collated, sorted and categorised according professional group. On the day of the workshop, participants were divided into four groups depending on their profession. Uncertainties submitted by their professional group were viewed, discussed and amended, prior to the first of three individual voting rounds. Participants cast up to ten votes for the uncertainties they judged as being high priority. Continuing in the professional groups, the top 10 uncertainties from each group were displayed, and the process was repeated. Groups were then brought together for a plenary session in which the final priorities were individually scored on a scale of 0-10 by participants. Priorities were ranked and results presented. Nominal group technique was used for generating the final uncertainties, voting and discussions.Thirty-three participants attended the workshop comprising; 10 specialist nurses, 10 district

  10. Rapid research and implementation priority setting for wound care uncertainties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dumville, Jo C.; Christie, Janice; Cullum, Nicky A.

    2017-01-01

    Introduction People with complex wounds are more likely to be elderly, living with multimorbidity and wound related symptoms. A variety of products are available for managing complex wounds and a range of healthcare professionals are involved in wound care, yet there is a lack of good evidence to guide practice and services. These factors create uncertainty for those who deliver and those who manage wound care. Formal priority setting for research and implementation topics is needed to more accurately target the gaps in treatment and services. We solicited practitioner and manager uncertainties in wound care and held a priority setting workshop to facilitate a collaborative approach to prioritising wound care-related uncertainties. Methods We recruited healthcare professionals who regularly cared for patients with complex wounds, were wound care specialists or managed wound care services. Participants submitted up to five wound care uncertainties in consultation with their colleagues, via an on-line survey and attended a priority setting workshop. Submitted uncertainties were collated, sorted and categorised according professional group. On the day of the workshop, participants were divided into four groups depending on their profession. Uncertainties submitted by their professional group were viewed, discussed and amended, prior to the first of three individual voting rounds. Participants cast up to ten votes for the uncertainties they judged as being high priority. Continuing in the professional groups, the top 10 uncertainties from each group were displayed, and the process was repeated. Groups were then brought together for a plenary session in which the final priorities were individually scored on a scale of 0–10 by participants. Priorities were ranked and results presented. Nominal group technique was used for generating the final uncertainties, voting and discussions. Results Thirty-three participants attended the workshop comprising; 10 specialist nurses

  11. Priority for sustainability. Study of the effects on investment climate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2007-12-01

    The Dutch cabinet has been asked to make sure that sustainable electricity plants can be connected to the grid with high priority. By request of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, the effects on the investment climate have been examined (both for sustainable and conventional) if priority (with regard to connection and transport) is given to sustainable generated electricity. Five models for priority for sustainable have been defined, i.e. (1) Sustainable is only given priority on the waiting list for connection; (2) Connect sustainable immediately, but no priority for transport; (3) Connect sustainable immediately and priority granted in transport; (4) Connect sustainable and conventional immediately, no priority for transport; (5) Connect sustainable and conventional immediately and give priority in transport to sustainable. [mk] [nl

  12. Problems of use of preliminary information technology in maritime passes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena I. Antonova

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The technology of preliminary informing is the priority direction of development of information technologies in the customs authorities. Russian model prior information on Maritime transport contains a number of features that distinguish it from world practice. The studied is the possibility of creating a unified information system of state regulatory bodies in the Maritime checkpoints. The article considers one of directions of automation of information interaction between Maritime stakeholders in the conduct of customs and other types of state control with the use of a single information space, based on the then-experimental solutions. Analysis of experience of implementation and operation of the software complex "Portal port" in the region of the Vladivostok customs have helped to identify problems in the application of the technology of preliminary information on Maritime transport. The proposed solutions to these problems provide an opportunity to work on improvement of this technology and to introduce mandatory preliminary notification in all sea checkpoints on the territory of the Russian Federation, will allow to optimize the performance of customs and other state Supervisory authorities at the seaport, us-blame the turnover and will contribute to the development of the far Eastern region as a whole.

  13. Priority Queues Resilient to Memory Faults

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Allan Grønlund; Moruz, Gabriel; Mølhave, Thomas

    2007-01-01

    In the faulty-memory RAM model, the content of memory cells can get corrupted at any time during the execution of an algorithm, and a constant number of uncorruptible registers are available. A resilient data structure in this model works correctly on the set of uncorrupted values. In this paper we...... introduce a resilient priority queue. The deletemin operation of a resilient priority queue returns either the minimum uncorrupted element or some corrupted element. Our resilient priority queue uses $O(n)$ space to store $n$ elements. Both insert and deletemin operations are performed in $O(\\log n...... queues storing only structural information in the uncorruptible registers between operations....

  14. Priority ranking of safety-related systems for structural assessment at Savannah River Site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kao, G.C.; Daugherty, W.L.; Barnes, D.M.

    1993-01-01

    In order to extend the service life of safety related structures and systems in a logical manner, a Structural Enhancement Program was initiated to evaluate the structural integrity of eight systems, namely: cooling water system, emergency cooling system, moderator recovery system, supplementary safety system, water removal system, service raw water system, service clarified water system, and river water system. Since the level of importance of each system to reactor operations varies from one system to another, the scope of structural integrity evaluation for each system should be prioritized accordingly. This paper presents the assessment of system priority for structural evaluation based on a ranking methodology and specifies the level of structural evaluation consistent with the established priority. The effort was undertaken by a five-member panel representing four major disciplines, including: structures, reactor engineering/operations, risk management, and materials. The above systems were divided into a total of thirty-five subsystems. These subsystems were then ranked with six attributes, namely: safety classification, degradation mechanisms, difficulty of replacement, failure mode, radiation dose to workers, and consequence of failure. Each attribute was assigned a set of consequences or events with corresponding weighting scores. The results of the ranking process yielded two groups of subsystems, categorized as Priority I and II subsystems. The level of structural assessment was then formulated accordingly. The prioritized approach will allow more efficient allocation of resources, so that the Structural Enhancement Program can be implemented in a cost-effective and efficient manner

  15. Final priority; Technical Assistance on State Data Collection--IDEA Data Management Center. Final priority.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-08-05

    The Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) announces a priority under the Technical Assistance on State Data Collection program. The Assistant Secretary may use this priority for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2014 and later years. We take this action to fund a cooperative agreement to establish and operate an IDEA Data Management Center (Center) that will provide technical assistance (TA) to improve the capacity of States to meet the data collection requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

  16. Leadership and priority setting: the perspective of hospital CEOs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reeleder, David; Goel, Vivek; Singer, Peter A; Martin, Douglas K

    2006-11-01

    The role of leadership in health care priority setting remains largely unexplored. While the management leadership literature has grown rapidly, the growing literature on priority setting in health care has looked in other directions to improve priority setting practices--to health economics and ethical approaches. Consequently, potential for improvement in hospital priority setting practices may be overlooked. A qualitative study involving interviews with 46 Ontario hospital CEOs was done to describe the role of leadership in priority setting through the perspective of hospital leaders. For the first time, we report a framework of leadership domains including vision, alignment, relationships, values and process to facilitate priority setting practices in health services' organizations. We believe this fledgling framework forms the basis for the sharing of good leadership practices for health reform. It also provides a leadership guide for decision makers to improve the quality of their leadership, and in so doing, we believe, the fairness of their priority setting.

  17. 10 CFR 216.7 - Conflict in priority orders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conflict in priority orders. 216.7 Section 216.7 Energy... DOMESTIC ENERGY SUPPLIES § 216.7 Conflict in priority orders. If it appears that the use of assistance pursuant to DPA section 101(c) creates or threatens to create a conflict with priorities and allocation...

  18. Research Priority Setting for Social Determinants of Health Research Center of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in 2013

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad-Reza Sohrabi

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Background and objective: It is obvious that, because of the lack of resources, we should devote our limited resources to priorities in order to reach an acceptable level of health. The objective of this study was to research priority setting for Pediatric Surgery Research Center; with the participation of all stakeholders.Material and Methods: This is a Health System Research (HSR project in order to apply governance and leadership issues with the participation of 41 people including faculty members in Pediatric Surgery Research Center, Shahid Beheshti Medical University and the other pediatric specialists and health system stakeholders as well as the people associated with health system inside & outside the university. This was performed in 2010 using the Council on Health Research for Development COHRED( model with little change. Based on the model, at first the stakeholders were identified and the field situation of Pediatric Surgery was analyzed. Then, research areas and titles were specified and research priorities were set out by giving scores according to the criteria.Results: The seven obtained research areas in priority order are included pediatric trauma, pediatric cancers, pediatric urology diseases, undescended testicles in children, developmental genetics & congenital defects, emergency in children and application of laparoscopic surgery in children. Because each of the research areas is composed of multiple subareas, we managed to finally specify 43 research subareas as research priorities. These subareas included epidemiology, risk factors, prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment. They also included follow-up, complications, knowledge & attitudes of parents, quality of life, economy aspects and data bank for further research.Conclusion: In this project, research priorities were set out for Pediatric Surgery Research Center of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, with the participation of all the stakeholders

  19. The priorities for ANSTO

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garnett, H.M.

    1999-01-01

    As Australia's major centre of expertise in nuclear science, technology and its applications, ANSTO's priorities take account of the stated strategic and tactical needs of its various stakeholders, which in turn are considered as the Government (as owner), industry - including the health sector, the academic and research community and the public at large. Its priorities also take account of the opportunities perceived by its own staff in the light of the organisation's strengths, the activities of the international scientific, technology and industry community and a rapidly changing socioeconomic environment where environmental management and social accountability are becoming as important as fiscal responsibility and accountability

  20. Gas priority users consultation : government response

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2007-01-01

    This consultation document presents the results of an updated analysis of gas priority users comments on the UK government's proposals for updating the current priority lists, amending the eligibility criteria for priority user status, and simplifying the administration of the scheme. The extension of Category C priority users to include sites where interruption of gas supplies would lead to damage exceeding fifty million pounds to a plant at another site is discussed. It is acknowledged that there is a preference for a reduction of gas demand as opposed to a cessation in the case of an emergency gas supply deficit and details are given of a Task Group set up to examine options for reducing demand rather than cessation for large industrial gas users. The role of the Network Emergency Co-ordinator, support for a more flexible approach, pre-agreed rota interruption, a long-duration emergency, demand reduction, and the establishment of a Government/Industry Gas/Electricity Task Group are discussed, and the raising of the load shedding threshold of 25,000 therms/yr is considered

  1. Economics and Security: Resourcing National Priorities

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-21

    Papers Number 5 N um ber 5 Econom ics and Security: R esourcing N ational Priorities http://www.usnwc.edu Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No...2010 William B. Ruger Chair of National Security Economics Papers Number 5 N um ber 5 Econom ics and Security: R esourcing N ational Priorities http://www.usnwc.edu

  2. Priority setting partnership to identify the top 10 research priorities for the management of Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deane, Katherine H O; Flaherty, Helen; Daley, David J; Pascoe, Roland; Penhale, Bridget; Clarke, Carl E; Sackley, Catherine; Storey, Stacey

    2014-12-14

    This priority setting partnership was commissioned by Parkinson's UK to encourage people with direct and personal experience of the condition to work together to identify and prioritise the top 10 evidential uncertainties that impact on everyday clinical practice for the management of Parkinson's disease (PD). The UK. Anyone with experience of PD including: people with Parkinson's (PwP), carers, family and friends, healthcare and social care professionals. Non-clinical researchers and employees of pharmaceutical or medical devices companies were excluded. 1000 participants (60% PwP) provided ideas on research uncertainties, 475 (72% PwP) initially prioritised them and 27 (37% PwP) stakeholders agreed a final top 10. Using a modified nominal group technique, participants were surveyed to identify what issues for the management of PD needed research. Unique research questions unanswered by current evidence were identified and participants were asked to identify their top 10 research priorities from this list. The top 26 uncertainties were presented to a consensus meeting with key stakeholders to agree the top 10 research priorities. 1000 participants provided 4100 responses, which contained 94 unique unanswered research questions that were initially prioritised by 475 participants. A consensus meeting with 27 stakeholders agreed the top 10 research priorities. The overarching research aspiration was an effective cure for PD. The top 10 research priorities for PD management included the need to address motor symptoms (balance and falls, and fine motor control), non-motor symptoms (sleep and urinary dysfunction), mental health issues (stress and anxiety, dementia and mild cognitive impairments), side effects of medications (dyskinesia) and the need to develop interventions specific to the phenotypes of PD and better monitoring methods. These research priorities identify crucial gaps in the existing evidence to address everyday practicalities in the management of the

  3. Competing priorities in treatment decision-making: a US national survey of individuals with depression and clinicians who treat depression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barr, Paul J; Forcino, Rachel C; Mishra, Manish; Blitzer, Rachel; Elwyn, Glyn

    2016-01-08

    To identify information priorities for consumers and clinicians making depression treatment decisions and assess shared decision-making (SDM) in routine depression care. 20 questions related to common features of depression treatments were provided. Participants were initially asked to select which features were important, and in a second stage they were asked to rank their top 5 'important features' in order of importance. Clinicians were asked to provide rankings according to both consumer and clinician perspectives. Consumers completed CollaboRATE, a measure of SDM. Multiple logistic regression analysis identified consumer characteristics associated with CollaboRATE scores. Online cross-sectional surveys fielded in September to December 2014. We administered surveys to convenience samples of US adults with depression and clinicians who treat depression. Consumer sampling was targeted to reflect age, gender and educational attainment of adults with depression in the USA. Information priority rankings; CollaboRATE, a 3-item consumer-reported measure of SDM. 972 consumers and 244 clinicians completed the surveys. The highest ranked question for both consumers and clinicians was 'Will the treatment work?' Clinicians were aware of consumers' priorities, yet did not always prioritise that information themselves, particularly insurance coverage and cost of treatment. Only 18% of consumers reported high levels of SDM. Working with a psychiatrist (OR 1.87; 95% CI 1.07 to 3.26) and female gender (OR 2.04; 95% CI 1.25 to 3.34) were associated with top CollaboRATE scores. While clinicians know what information is important to consumers making depression treatment decisions, they do not always address these concerns. This mismatch, coupled with low SDM, adversely affects the quality of depression care. Development of a decision support intervention based on our findings can improve levels of SDM and provide clinicians and consumers with a tool to address the existing

  4. The kidney cancer research priority-setting partnership: Identifying the top 10 research priorities as defined by patients, caregivers, and expert clinicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Jennifer; Bhatt, Jaimin; Avery, Jonathan; Laupacis, Andreas; Cowan, Katherine; Basappa, Naveen; Basiuk, Joan; Canil, Christina; Al-Asaaed, Sohaib; Heng, Daniel; Wood, Lori; Stacey, Dawn; Kollmannsberger, Christian; Jewett, Michael A S

    2017-12-01

    It is critically important to define disease-specific research priorities to better allocate limited resources. There is growing recognition of the value of involving patients and caregivers, as well as expert clinicians in this process. To our knowledge, this has not been done this way for kidney cancer. Using the transparent and inclusive process established by the James Lind Alliance, the Kidney Cancer Research Network of Canada (KCRNC) sponsored a collaborative consensus-based priority-setting partnership (PSP) to identify research priorities in the management of kidney cancer. The final result was identification of 10 research priorities for kidney cancer, which are discussed in the context of current initiatives and gaps in knowledge. This process provided a systematic and effective way to collaboratively establish research priorities with patients, caregivers, and clinicians, and provides a valuable resource for researchers and funding agencies.

  5. Polling, production & priorities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Winands, E.M.M.

    2007-01-01

    Polling, Production & Priorities The present monograph focuses on the so-called stochastic economic lot scheduling problem (SELSP), which deals with the make-to-stock production of multiple standardized products on a single machine with limited capacity under random demands, possibly random setup

  6. Optimal purely functional priority queues

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brodal, Gerth Stølting; Okasaki, Chris

    1996-01-01

    Brodal recently introduced the first implementation of imperative priority queues to support findMin, insert and meld in O(1) worst-case time, and deleteMin in O(log n) worst-case time. These bounds are asymptotically optimal among all comparison-based priority queues. In this paper, we adapt...... Brodal's data structure to a purely functional setting. In doing so, we both simplify the data structure and clarify its relationship to the binomial queues of Vuillemin, which support all four operations in O(log n) time. Specifically, we derive our implementation from binomial queues in three steps......: first, we reduce the running time of insert to O(1) by eliminating the possibility of cascading links; second, we reduce the running time of findMin to O(1) by adding a global root to hold the minimum element; and finally, we reduce the running time of meld to O(1) by allowing priority queues to contain...

  7. Incorporating public priorities in the Ocean Health Index: Canada as a case study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rémi M Daigle

    Full Text Available The Ocean Health Index (OHI is a framework to assess ocean health by considering many benefits (called 'goals' provided by the ocean provides to humans, such as food provision, tourism opportunities, and coastal protection. The OHI framework can be used to assess marine areas at global or regional scales, but how various OHI goals should be weighted to reflect priorities at those scales remains unclear. In this study, we adapted the framework in two ways for application to Canada as a case study. First, we customized the OHI goals to create a national Canadian Ocean Health Index (COHI. In particular, we altered the list of iconic species assessed, added methane clathrates and subsea permafrost as carbon storage habitats, and developed a new goal, 'Aboriginal Needs', to measure access of Aboriginal people to traditional marine hunting and fishing grounds. Second, we evaluated various goal weighting schemes based on preferences elicited from the general public in online surveys. We quantified these public preferences in three ways: using Likert scores, simple ranks from a best-worst choice experiment, and model coefficients from the analysis of elicited choice experiment. The latter provided the clearest statistical discrimination among goals, and we recommend their use because they can more accurately reflect both public opinion and the trade-offs faced by policy-makers. This initial iteration of the COHI can be used as a baseline against which future COHI scores can be compared, and could potentially be used as a management tool to prioritise actions on a national scale and predict public support for these actions given that the goal weights are based on public priorities.

  8. A Mathematical Analysis of Air Traffic Priority Rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakawicz, Anthony J.; Munoz, Cesar A.; Maddalon, Jeffrey M.

    2012-01-01

    This paper analyzes priority rules, such as those in Part 91.113 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. Such rules determine which of two aircraft should maneuver in a given conflict scenario. While the rules in 91.113 are well accepted, other concepts of operation for NextGen, such as self separation, may allow for different priority rules. A mathematical framework is presented that can be used to analyze a general set of priority rules and enables proofs of important properties. Specific properties considered in this paper include safety, effectiveness, and stability. A set of rules is said to be safe if it ensures that it is never the case that both aircraft have priority. They are effective if exactly one aircraft has priority in every situation. Finally, a set of rules is called stable if it produces compatible results even under small changes to input data.

  9. Egypt--United States cooperative energy assessment: report on preliminary discussions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1978-04-01

    Egyptian and U.S. Government representatives met in Cairo during the period of February 14-22, 1978 to discuss a cooperative Egypt-U.S. assessment of the energy demand and supply options available to Egypt. This report summarizes those preliminary discussions. The discussions accomplished the following: the background and objectives of the U.S. initiative for a cooperative energy assessment with Egypt were explained; Egyptian electric energy activities and their priorities were presented; methods under consideration for the systematic identification and assessment of energy options available to Egypt were explained; the cooperation of Egyptian energy resource and planning organizations was assured; and arrangements to carry out the cooperative assessment were planned.

  10. Priority setting in general practice: health priorities of older patients differ from treatment priorities of their physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voigt, Isabel; Wrede, Jennifer; Diederichs-Egidi, Heike; Dierks, Marie-Luise; Junius-Walker, Ulrike

    2010-12-01

    To ascertain health priorities of older patients and treatment priorities of their general practitioners (GP) on the basis of a geriatric assessment and to determine the agreement between these priorities. The study included a sample of 9 general practitioners in Hannover, Germany, and a stratified sample of 35 patients (2-5 patients per practice, 18 female, average age 77.7 years). Patients were given a geriatric assessment using the Standardized Assessment for Elderly Patients in Primary Care (STEP) to gain an overview of their health and everyday problems. On the basis of these results, patients and their physicians independently rated the importance of each problem disclosed by the assessment. Whereas patients assessed the importance for their everyday lives, physicians assessed the importance for patients' medical care and patients' everyday lives. Each patient had a mean ± standard deviation of 18 ± 9.2 health problems. Thirty five patients disclosed a total of 634 problems; 537 (85%) were rated by patients and physicians. Of these 537 problems, 332 (62%) were rated by patients and 334 (62%) by physicians as important for patients' everyday lives. In addition, 294 (55%) were rated by physicians as important for patients' medical care. Although these proportions of important problems were similar between patients and physicians, there was little overlap in the specific problems that each group considered important. The chance-corrected agreement (Cohen κ) between patients and physicians on the importance of problems for patients' lives was low (κ=0.23). Likewise, patients and physicians disagreed on the problems that physicians considered important for patients' medical care (κ=0.18, Ppriorities between patients and physicians necessitates better communication between the two parties to strengthen mutual understanding.

  11. Top ten research priorities for spinal cord injury: the methodology and results of a British priority setting partnership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Middendorp, J J; Allison, H C; Ahuja, S; Bracher, D; Dyson, C; Fairbank, J; Gall, A; Glover, A; Gray, L; Masri, W El; Uttridge, A; Cowan, K

    2016-05-01

    This is a mixed-method consensus development project. The objective of this study was to identify a top ten list of priorities for future research into spinal cord injury (SCI). The British Spinal Cord Injury Priority Setting Partnership was established in 2013 and completed in 2014. Stakeholders included consumer organisations, healthcare professional societies and caregivers. This partnership involved the following four key stages: (i) gathering of research questions, (ii) checking of existing research evidence, (iii) interim prioritisation and (iv) a final consensus meeting to reach agreement on the top ten research priorities. Adult individuals with spinal cord dysfunction because of trauma or non-traumatic causes, including transverse myelitis, and individuals with a cauda equina syndrome (henceforth grouped and referred to as SCI) were invited to participate in this priority setting partnership. We collected 784 questions from 403 survey respondents (290 individuals with SCI), which, after merging duplicate questions and checking systematic reviews for evidence, were reduced to 109 unique unanswered research questions. A total of 293 people (211 individuals with SCI) participated in the interim prioritisation process, leading to the identification of 25 priorities. At a final consensus meeting, a representative group of individuals with SCI, caregivers and health professionals agreed on their top ten research priorities. Following a comprehensive, rigorous and inclusive process, with participation from individuals with SCI, caregivers and health professionals, the SCI research agenda has been defined by people to whom it matters most and should inform the scope and future activities of funders and researchers for the years to come. The NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre provided core funding for this project.

  12. New tests of cumulative prospect theory and the priority heuristic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael H. Birnbaum

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Previous tests of cumulative prospect theory (CPT and of the priority heuristic (PH found evidence contradicting these two models of risky decision making. However, those tests were criticized because they had characteristics that might ``trigger'' use of other heuristics. This paper presents new tests that avoid those characteristics. Expected values of the gambles are nearly equal in each choice. In addition, if a person followed expected value (EV, expected utility (EU, CPT, or PH in these tests, she would shift her preferences in the same direction as shifts in EV or EU. In contrast, the transfer of attention exchange model (TAX and a similarity model predict that people will reverse preferences in the opposite direction. Results contradict the PH, even when PH is modified to include a preliminary similarity evaluation using the PH parameters. New tests of probability-consequence interaction were also conducted. Strong interactions were observed, contrary to PH. These results add to the growing bodies of evidence showing that neither CPT nor PH is an accurate description of risky decision making.

  13. Global Priorities for Marine Biodiversity Conservation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Selig, Elizabeth R.; Turner, Will R.; Troëng, Sebastian; Wallace, Bryan P.; Halpern, Benjamin S.; Kaschner, Kristin; Lascelles, Ben G.; Carpenter, Kent E.; Mittermeier, Russell A.

    2014-01-01

    In recent decades, many marine populations have experienced major declines in abundance, but we still know little about where management interventions may help protect the highest levels of marine biodiversity. We used modeled spatial distribution data for nearly 12,500 species to quantify global patterns of species richness and two measures of endemism. By combining these data with spatial information on cumulative human impacts, we identified priority areas where marine biodiversity is most and least impacted by human activities, both within Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) and Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ). Our analyses highlighted places that are both accepted priorities for marine conservation like the Coral Triangle, as well as less well-known locations in the southwest Indian Ocean, western Pacific Ocean, Arctic and Antarctic Oceans, and within semi-enclosed seas like the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas. Within highly impacted priority areas, climate and fishing were the biggest stressors. Although new priorities may arise as we continue to improve marine species range datasets, results from this work are an essential first step in guiding limited resources to regions where investment could best sustain marine biodiversity. PMID:24416151

  14. Global priorities for marine biodiversity conservation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth R Selig

    Full Text Available In recent decades, many marine populations have experienced major declines in abundance, but we still know little about where management interventions may help protect the highest levels of marine biodiversity. We used modeled spatial distribution data for nearly 12,500 species to quantify global patterns of species richness and two measures of endemism. By combining these data with spatial information on cumulative human impacts, we identified priority areas where marine biodiversity is most and least impacted by human activities, both within Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs and Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ. Our analyses highlighted places that are both accepted priorities for marine conservation like the Coral Triangle, as well as less well-known locations in the southwest Indian Ocean, western Pacific Ocean, Arctic and Antarctic Oceans, and within semi-enclosed seas like the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas. Within highly impacted priority areas, climate and fishing were the biggest stressors. Although new priorities may arise as we continue to improve marine species range datasets, results from this work are an essential first step in guiding limited resources to regions where investment could best sustain marine biodiversity.

  15. Appraisal of Priority Sector Lending by Commercial Banks in India

    OpenAIRE

    C Bhujanga Rao

    2014-01-01

    This report provides an overview of the performance of priority sector lending by commercial banks in India. The review captures the changing contours of Reserve Bank of India policy on priority sector advances. The paper analyses the trends in priority sector lending for the period 1995-2011, the burden of non-performing assets of commercial bank in priority sector lending and the extent to which priority sector targets are achieved by individual banks. It is observed that the scheduled comm...

  16. Phylogenetic relatedness predicts priority effects in nectar yeast communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peay, Kabir G.; Belisle, Melinda; Fukami, Tadashi

    2012-01-01

    Priority effects, in which the outcome of species interactions depends on the order of their arrival, are a key component of many models of community assembly. Yet, much remains unknown about how priority effects vary in strength among species in a community and what factors explain this variation. We experimented with a model natural community in laboratory microcosms that allowed us to quantify the strength of priority effects for most of the yeast species found in the floral nectar of a hummingbird-pollinated shrub at a biological preserve in northern California. We found that priority effects were widespread, with late-arriving species experiencing strong negative effects from early-arriving species. However, the magnitude of priority effects varied across species pairs. This variation was phylogenetically non-random, with priority effects stronger between closer relatives. Analysis of carbon and amino acid consumption profiles indicated that competition between closer relatives was more intense owing to higher ecological similarity, consistent with Darwin's naturalization hypothesis. These results suggest that phylogenetic relatedness between potential colonists may explain the strength of priority effects and, as a consequence, the degree to which community assembly is historically contingent. PMID:21775330

  17. Priority setting for existing chemicals : automated data selection routine

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Haelst, A.G. van; Hansen, B.G.

    2000-01-01

    One of the four steps within Council Regulation 793/93/EEC on the evaluation and control of existing chemicals is the priority setting step. The priority setting step is concerned with selecting high-priority substances from a large number of substances, initially starting with 2,474

  18. NRPC ServCat priorities

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of the Interior — This document lists the Natural Resource Program Center’s priority ServCat documents. It is recommended that these documents- which include annual narrative reports,...

  19. Priority Systems

    OpenAIRE

    Gössler , Gregor; Sifakis , Joseph

    2004-01-01

    Projet POP_ART; We present a framework for the incremental construction of deadlock-free systems meeting given safety properties. The framework borrows concepts and basic results from the controller synthesis paradigm by considering a step in the construction process as a controller synthesis problem. We show that priorities are expressive enough to represent restrictions induced by deadlock-free controllers preserving safety properties. We define a correspondence between such restrictions an...

  20. New directions in research priority-setting

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Morten Velsing

    2017-01-01

    The way governments set priorities for research and innovation in Europe is changing. The new focus on responsible research and innovation (RRI) emphasises broader inclusion, increased dialogue, and a focus on societal challenges. The case of RESEARCH2015 in Denmark is one of the first European...... priority-setting processes to incorporate such criteria. This paper develops a theoretical model to explore how RESEARCH2015 contributes to mutual responsiveness among actors, a main objective of RRI. Studying mutual responsiveness means going beyond the often-stated focus on policy impact to look...... at the creation of trust, interdependence and mutual understanding among participants. The study finds that mutual responsiveness is an important precondition for priority-setting, but that the process's contribution to mutual responsiveness is limited, due to the limited attention to social impacts. Still...

  1. Shared research priorities for pessary use in women with prolapse: results from a James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lough, Kate; Hagen, Suzanne; McClurg, Doreen; Pollock, Alex

    2018-04-28

    To identify the shared priorities for future research of women affected by and clinicians involved with pessary use for the management of prolapse. A priority setting project using a consensus method. A James Lind Alliance Pessary use for prolapse Priority Setting Partnership (JLA Pessary PSP) conducted from May 2016 to September 2017 in the UK. The PSP was run by a Steering Group of three women with experience of pessary use, three experienced clinicians involved with management of prolapse, two researchers with relevant experience, a JLA adviser and a PSP leader. Two surveys were conducted in 2016 and 2017. The first gathered questions about pessaries, and the second asked respondents to prioritise a list of questions. A final workshop was held on 8 September 2017 involving 10 women and 13 clinician representatives with prolapse and pessary experience. A top 10 list of priorities for future research in pessary use for prolapse was agreed by consensus. Women with experience of pessary use and clinicians involved with prolapse management have worked together to determine shared priorities for future research. Aligning the top 10 results with existing research findings will highlight the gaps in current evidence and signpost future research to areas of priority. Effective dissemination of the results will enable research funding bodies to focus on gathering the evidence to answer the questions that matter most to those who will be affected. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  2. 15 CFR 700.20 - Use of priority ratings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ...) BUREAU OF INDUSTRY AND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NATIONAL SECURITY INDUSTRIAL BASE REGULATIONS DEFENSE PRIORITIES AND ALLOCATIONS SYSTEM Industrial Priorities for Energy Programs § 700.20 Use of...

  3. Occupational health research priorities in Malaysia: a Delphi study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sadhra, S; Beach, J R; Aw, T C; Sheikh-Ahmed, K

    2001-07-01

    As part of a consultancy project on occupational health, the Delphi method was used to identify research priorities in occupational health in Malaysia. Participation was sought from government ministries, industry, and professional organisations, and university departments with an interest in occupational and public health. Two rounds of questionnaires resulted in a final list of priorities, with noticeable differences between participants depending on whether they worked in industry or were from government organisations. The participation rate of 71% (55 of 78) was obtained for the first questionnaire and 76% (72 of 95) for the second questionnaire. The participants identified occupational health problems for specific groups and industries as the top research priority area (ranked as top priority by 25% of participants). Ministry of Health participants placed emphasis on healthcare workers (52% ranking it as top priority), whereas those from industry identified construction and plantation workers as groups, which should be accorded the highest priority. Evaluation of research and services was given a low priority. The priorities for occupational health determined with the Delphi approach showed differences between Malaysia, a developing country, and findings from similar European studies. This may be expected, as differences exist in stages of economic development, types of industries, occupational activities, and cultural attitudes to occupational health and safety. Chemical poisonings and workplace accidents were accorded a high priority. By contrast with findings from western countries, workplace psychosocial problems and musculoskeletal injuries were deemed less important. There also seemed to be greater emphasis on adopting interventions for identified problems based on experience in other countries rather than the need to evaluate local occupational health provisions.

  4. Health literacy is associated with healthy eating index scores and sugar-sweetened beverage intake: findings from the rural lower Mississippi delta

    Science.gov (United States)

    Although health literacy has been a public health priority area for more than a decade, the relationship between health literacy and dietary quality has not been thoroughly explored. This study, evaluates health literacy skills in relation to Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores and sugar-sweetened bev...

  5. Worst-case efficient external-memory priority queues

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brodal, Gerth Stølting; Katajainen, Jyrki

    1998-01-01

    A priority queue Q is a data structure that maintains a collection of elements, each element having an associated priority drawn from a totally ordered universe, under the operations Insert, which inserts an element into Q, and DeleteMin, which deletes an element with the minimum priority from Q....... In this paper a priority-queue implementation is given which is efficient with respect to the number of block transfers or I/Os performed between the internal and external memories of a computer. Let B and M denote the respective capacity of a block and the internal memory measured in elements. The developed...... data structure handles any intermixed sequence of Insert and DeleteMin operations such that in every disjoint interval of B consecutive priorityqueue operations at most clogM/B N/M I/Os are performed, for some positive constant c. These I/Os are divided evenly among the operations: if B ≥ clogM/B N...

  6. Research Priorities in Spasmodic Dysphonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ludlow, Christy L.; Adler, Charles H.; Berke, Gerald S.; Bielamowicz, Steven A.; Blitzer, Andrew; Bressman, Susan B.; Hallett, Mark; Jinnah, H. A.; Juergens, Uwe; Martin, Sandra B.; Perlmutter, Joel S.; Sapienza, Christine; Singleton, Andrew; Tanner, Caroline M.; Woodson, Gayle E.

    2009-01-01

    OBJECTIVE To identify research priorities for increasing understanding of the pathogenesis, diagnosis and improved treatment of spasmodic dysphonia. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING A multidisciplinary working group was formed including both scientists and clinicians from multiple disciplines, otolaryngology, neurology, speech pathology, genetics and neuroscience, to review currently available information on spasmodic dysphonia and to identify research priorities. RESULTS Operational definitions for spasmodic dysphonia at different levels of certainty were recommended for diagnosis and recommendations made for a multi-center multidisciplinary validation study. CONCLUSIONS The highest priority is to characterize the disorder and identify risk factors that may contribute to its onset. Future research should compare and contrast spasmodic dysphonia with other forms of focal dystonia. Development of animal models is recommended to explore hypotheses related to pathogenesis. Improved understanding of the pathophysiology of SD should provide the basis for developing new treatment options and exploratory clinical trials. SIGNIFICANCE This document should foster future research to improve the care of patients with this chronic debilitating voice and speech disorder by otolaryngology, neurology, and speech pathology. PMID:18922334

  7. Patients' self-interested preferences: empirical evidence from a priority setting experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alvarez, Begoña; Rodríguez-Míguez, Eva

    2011-04-01

    This paper explores whether patients act according to self-interest in priority setting experiments. The analysis is based on a ranking experiment, conducted in Galicia (Spain), to elicit preferences regarding the prioritization of patients on a waiting list for an elective surgical intervention (prostatectomy for benign prostatic hyperplasia). Participants were patients awaiting a similar intervention and members of the general populations. All of them were asked to rank hypothetical patients on a waiting list. A rank-ordered logit was then applied to their responses in order to obtain a prioritization scoring system. Using these estimations, we first test for differences in preferences between patients and general population. Second, we implement a procedure based on the similarity between respondents (true patients) and the hypothetical scenarios they evaluate (hypothetical patients) to analyze whether patients provide self-interested rankings. Our results show that patient preferences differ significantly from general population preferences. The findings also indicate that, when patients rank the hypothetical scenarios on the waiting list, they consider not only the explicit attributes but also the similarity of each scenario to their own. In particular, they assign a higher priority to scenarios that more closely match their own states. We also find that such a preference structure increases their likelihood of reporting "irrational" answers. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Using repair priorities in systems with redundacies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sleptchenko, A.V.; Adan, I.J.B.F.; Van Houtum, G.-J.

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we present and analyze a mathematical model for the computation of the system availability for a system of parallel machines with redundancies and repair priorities. Using the presented models, we show that the repair priorities have a strong effect on the performance of the system.

  9. Scientists’ perspectives on global ocean research priorities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Murray Alan Rudd

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Diverse natural and social science research is needed to support policies to recover and sustain healthy oceans. While a wide variety of expert-led prioritization initiatives have identified research themes and priorities at national and regional scale, over the past several years there has also been a surge in the number of scanning exercises that have identified important environmental research questions and issues ‘from the bottom-up’. From those questions, winnowed from thousands of contributions by scientists and policy-makers around the world who participated in terrestrial, aquatic and domain-specific horizon scanning and big question exercises, I identified 657 research questions potentially important for informing decisions regarding ocean governance and sustainability. These were distilled to a short list of 67 distinctive research questions that, in an internet survey, were ranked by 2179 scientists from 94 countries. Five of the top 10 research priorities were shared by respondents globally. Despite significant differences between physical and ecological scientists’ priorities regarding specific research questions, they shared seven common priorities among their top 10. Social scientists’ priorities were, however, much different, highlighting their research focus on managerial solutions to ocean challenges and questions regarding the role of human behavior and values in attaining ocean sustainability. The results from this survey provide a comprehensive and timely assessment of current ocean research priorities among research-active scientists but highlight potential challenges in stimulating crossdisciplinary research. As ocean and coastal research necessarily becomes more transdisciplinary to address complex ocean challenges, it will be critical for scientists and research funders to understand how scientists from different disciplines and regions might collaborate and strengthen the overall evidence base for ocean

  10. Collateral Information for Equating in Small Samples: A Preliminary Investigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Sooyeon; Livingston, Samuel A.; Lewis, Charles

    2011-01-01

    This article describes a preliminary investigation of an empirical Bayes (EB) procedure for using collateral information to improve equating of scores on test forms taken by small numbers of examinees. Resampling studies were done on two different forms of the same test. In each study, EB and non-EB versions of two equating methods--chained linear…

  11. Multiprocessor Priority Ceiling Emulation for Safety-Critical Java

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Strøm, Torur Biskopstø; Schoeberl, Martin

    2015-01-01

    Priority ceiling emulation has preferable properties on uniprocessor systems, such as avoiding priority inversion and being deadlock free. This has made it a popular locking protocol. According to the safety-critical Java specication, priority ceiling emulation is a requirement for implementations....... However, implementing the protocol for multiprocessor systemsis more complex so implementations might perform worse than non-preemptive implementations. In this paper we compare two multiprocessor lock implementations with hardware support for the Java optimized processor: non-preemptive locking...

  12. Emotion strengthens high-priority memory traces but weakens low-priority memory traces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakaki, Michiko; Fryer, Kellie; Mather, Mara

    2014-02-01

    When people encounter emotional events, their memory for those events is typically enhanced. But it has been unclear how emotionally arousing events influence memory for preceding information. Does emotional arousal induce retrograde amnesia or retrograde enhancement? The current study revealed that this depends on the top-down goal relevance of the preceding information. Across three studies, we found that emotional arousal induced by one image facilitated memory for the preceding neutral item when people prioritized that neutral item. In contrast, an emotionally arousing image impaired memory for the preceding neutral item when people did not prioritize that neutral item. Emotional arousal elicited by both negative and positive pictures showed this pattern of enhancing or impairing memory for the preceding stimulus depending on its priority. These results indicate that emotional arousal amplifies the effects of top-down priority in memory formation.

  13. Setting priorities for space research: An experiment in methodology

    Science.gov (United States)

    1995-01-01

    In 1989, the Space Studies Board created the Task Group on Priorities in Space Research to determine whether scientists should take a role in recommending priorities for long-term space research initiatives and, if so, to analyze the priority-setting problem in this context and develop a method by which such priorities could be established. After answering the first question in the affirmative in a previous report, the task group set out to accomplish the second task. The basic assumption in developing a priority-setting process is that a reasoned and structured approach for ordering competing initiatives will yield better results than other ways of proceeding. The task group proceeded from the principle that the central criterion for evaluating a research initiative must be its scientific merit -- the value of the initiative to the proposing discipline and to science generally. The group developed a two-stage methodology for priority setting and constructed a procedure and format to support the methodology. The first of two instruments developed was a standard format for structuring proposals for space research initiatives. The second instrument was a formal, semiquantitative appraisal procedure for evaluating competing proposals. This report makes available complete templates for the methodology, including the advocacy statement and evaluation forms, as well as an 11-step schema for a priority-setting process. From the beginning of its work, the task group was mindful that the issue of priority setting increasingly pervades all of federally supported science and that its work would have implications extending beyond space research. Thus, although the present report makes no recommendations for action by NASA or other government agencies, it provides the results of the task group's work for the use of others who may study priority-setting procedures or take up the challenge of implementing them in the future.

  14. THE MECHANISMS OF FORMATION OF STRATEGIC SOCIO-ECONOMIC PRIORITIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Klimanov V. V.

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to definition of methods and techniques to identify priorities of socioeconomic development, applicable at the Federal level. The initial data for the study was strategic planning documents, as well as the decrees, resolutions and orders of the Executive authorities of the Russian Federation and of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, defining the strategic priorities of socio-economic development in the 20-year period. The article presents the defining the term ‘priorities of economic and development’ and the approaches to their formation, which are represented at Russia’s normative acts and other federal documents. The content analysis of priorities in the strategic planning documents has allowed drawing the typology of economic and social development priorities of the Russian Federation. The authors determined the mechanism of creating the priorities under the influence of main endogenous (foreign trade, foreign policy, macro, etc. and exogenous (the interests of business, communities, regional authorities factors which could be recommended for consideration at the strategy developing process at federal level.

  15. Regulating a Monopoly Offering Priority Service

    OpenAIRE

    Matsukawa, Isamu

    2006-01-01

    This paper investigates the effects of alternative forms of regulation on the market penetration and capacity, which are determined by a profit-maximizing monopolist providing priority service to consumers. For continuous priority service, a minimum reliability standard, price cap and rate of return regulation lead to larger capacity than in the absence of regulation. A minimum reliability standard reduces the market penetration while price cap and rate of return regulation increase it. T...

  16. [The Danish Debate on Priority Setting in Medicine--An Update].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pornak, S C; Raspe, H

    2015-09-01

    In the last years, the Danish debate about priority setting in medicine has gained new strength. This paper shows the main focuses of the current discussion based on a research of Danish primary literature. For the first time since the 1990s the Danish Council of Ethics has been involved with priority setting in medicine in a project running from 2011 to 2013. The Council emphasises the importance of legitimate processes and calls for visible values and criteria. A focus of the debate is how to deal with new expensive drugs. Politicians, physicians, health economists and the Council of Ethics have called for a national institution for priority setting in medicine. They have mainly looked to the Norwegian National Council for Priority Setting in Health Care and the British National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for inspiration. The Danish Government considered establishing a national institute for priority setting, but the plans were not put into practice. In the year 2012 a new national project was launched to create clinical guidelines. Danish doctors welcome the guidelines as a good basis for priority setting. Just like in earlier Danish priority setting debates, a coordinating institution is lacking to bundle the discussion and keep it going. The debate seems to have come to an end once again. The fact that it was seriously considered to establish an institute for priority setting is a new development. It can be expected that the discussion will be resumed in the near future, possibly the idea of an institute for priority setting will be readopted. The general conditions for priority setting in health care have improved. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  17. NEW MULTIANUAL FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK: PRIORITIES FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION, PRIORITIES FOR ROMANIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ROXANA-DANIELA PĂUN

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available This article proposes a brief foray into the situation of the European economy, but especially of the banking system of the Member States affected differently by the current world economic crisis, or recession, but especially for a detailed analysis of the New Multiannual Financial Framework for the period 2014-2020, with the priorities which appear to be distinct for the EU and for Romania. After a comparative analysis of European regulations on the agreements of the previous financial negotiated for the period 2014-2020, and Delors I (1988-1992, Delors II (1993-1999, the Agenda 2000 (2000-2006 and multiannual financial framework (2007- 2013 and ultimately the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon (which convert multiannual financial framework in an essential act from a legal point of view; express personal opinions on Romania’s priorities and on the challenges and perspectives in the actual European and global context.

  18. Key Nuclear Verification Priorities: Safeguards and Beyond

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlson, J.

    2010-01-01

    In addressing nuclear verification priorities, we should look beyond the current safeguards system. Non-proliferation, which the safeguards system underpins, is not an end in itself, but an essential condition for achieving and maintaining nuclear disarmament. Effective safeguards are essential for advancing disarmament, and safeguards issues, approaches and techniques are directly relevant to the development of future verification missions. The extent to which safeguards challenges are successfully addressed - or otherwise - will impact not only on confidence in the safeguards system, but on the effectiveness of, and confidence in, disarmament verification. To identify the key nuclear verification priorities, we need to consider the objectives of verification, and the challenges to achieving these. The strategic objective of IAEA safeguards might be expressed as: To support the global nuclear non-proliferation regime by: - Providing credible assurance that states are honouring their safeguards commitments - thereby removing a potential motivation to proliferate; and - Early detection of misuse of nuclear material and technology - thereby deterring proliferation by the risk of early detection, enabling timely intervention by the international community. Or to summarise - confidence-building, detection capability, and deterrence. These will also be essential objectives for future verification missions. The challenges to achieving these involve a mix of political, technical and institutional dimensions. Confidence is largely a political matter, reflecting the qualitative judgment of governments. Clearly assessments of detection capability and deterrence have a major impact on confidence. Detection capability is largely thought of as 'technical', but also involves issues of legal authority, as well as institutional issues. Deterrence has both political and institutional aspects - including judgments on risk of detection and risk of enforcement action being taken. The

  19. Key Nuclear Verification Priorities - Safeguards and Beyond

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlson, J.

    2010-01-01

    In addressing nuclear verification priorities, we should look beyond the current safeguards system. Non-proliferation, which the safeguards system underpins, is not an end in itself, but an essential condition for achieving and maintaining nuclear disarmament. Effective safeguards are essential for advancing disarmament, and safeguards issues, approaches and techniques are directly relevant to the development of future verification missions. The extent to which safeguards challenges are successfully addressed - or otherwise - will impact not only on confidence in the safeguards system, but on the effectiveness of, and confidence in, disarmament verification. To identify the key nuclear verification priorities, we need to consider the objectives of verification, and the challenges to achieving these. The strategic objective of IAEA safeguards might be expressed as: To support the global nuclear non-proliferation regime by: - Providing credible assurance that states are honouring their safeguards commitments - thereby removing a potential motivation to proliferate; and - Early detection of misuse of nuclear material and technology - thereby deterring proliferation by the risk of early detection, enabling timely intervention by the international community. Or to summarise - confidence-building, detection capability, and deterrence. These will also be essential objectives for future verification missions. The challenges to achieving these involve a mix of political, technical and institutional dimensions. Confidence is largely a political matter, reflecting the qualitative judgment of governments. Clearly assessments of detection capability and deterrence have a major impact on confidence. Detection capability is largely thought of as 'technical', but also involves issues of legal authority, as well as institutional issues. Deterrence has both political and institutional aspects - including judgments on risk of detection and risk of enforcement action being taken. The

  20. Priority ranking of safety-related systems for structural enhancement assessment at Savannah River Site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kao, G.C.; Daugherty, W.L.; Barnes, D.M.

    1992-09-01

    In order to extend the service life of safety related structures and systems in a logical manner, a Structural Enhancement Program was initiated to evaluate the structural integrity of eight (8) systems, namely: Cooling Water System, Emergency Cooling System, Moderator Recovery System supplementary Safety System, Water Removal System, Service Raw Water System, Service Clarified Water System, and River Water System. Since the level of importance of each system to reactor operations varies from one system to another, the scope of structural integrity evaluation for each system should be prioritized accordingly. This paper presents the assessment of system priority for structural evaluation based on a ranking methodology and specifies the level of structural evaluation consistent with the established priority. The effort was undertaken by a five-member panel representing four (4) major disciplines, including. structures, reactor engineering/operations, risk management and materials. The above systems were divided into a total of thirty-five (35) subsystem. These subsystems were then ranked with six (6) attributes, namely: Safety Classification, Degradation Mechanisms, Difficulty of Replacement, Failure Mode, Radiation Dose to Workers and Consequence of Failure. Each attribute was assigned a set of consequences or events with corresponding weighting scores. The results of the ranking process yielded two groups of subsystems, categorized as Priority I and II subsystems. The level of structural assessment was then formulated accordingly. The prioritized approach will allow more efficient allocation of resources, so that the Structural Enhancement Program can be implemented in a cost-effective and efficient manner

  1. Conservation Priority Index for Estuarine Fish (COPIEF)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Branco, Paulo; Costa, José Lino; Raposo de Almeida, Pedro

    2008-12-01

    Public awareness regarding environmental issues has increased in recent decades. The increasing number of impact assessment studies, management and conservation plans, as well as ecological monitoring studies, demand new and more efficient techniques. Indices are an important tool to aid biologists in these studies and should allow an easier comprehension of the data by managers, decision-makers and the general public. This study presents the first multi-metrical index able to establish a hierarchical ordination of the conservation priority of the estuarine fish species using 72 species from 16 estuarine systems (W and S coasts of Portugal). The index is composed of 10 metrics, comprising species life traits, distribution and population trends. The information needed to score each metric was gathered from the published literature and the index validation was done by external means. This methodology allowed the definition of those fish species most in need of conservation planning, and those less prone to extinction in Portuguese estuarine systems. The proposed index fills a gap in our knowledge and provides a useful tool to the scientific community and to the decision-makers, being a breakthrough in the field of conservation planning of estuarine fish species.

  2. Utilization Bound of Non-preemptive Fixed Priority Schedulers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Moonju; Chae, Jinseok

    It is known that the schedulability of a non-preemptive task set with fixed priority can be determined in pseudo-polynomial time. However, since Rate Monotonic scheduling is not optimal for non-preemptive scheduling, the applicability of existing polynomial time tests that provide sufficient schedulability conditions, such as Liu and Layland's bound, is limited. This letter proposes a new sufficient condition for non-preemptive fixed priority scheduling that can be used for any fixed priority assignment scheme. It is also shown that the proposed schedulability test has a tighter utilization bound than existing test methods.

  3. VT Priority Stream/River

    Data.gov (United States)

    Vermont Center for Geographic Information — Vermont List of Priority Surface Waters outside CWA Section 303(d) is divided in to 4 parts; Parts B, D, E and F. The four-part list has managed by the Vermont...

  4. VT Priority Lake/Pond

    Data.gov (United States)

    Vermont Center for Geographic Information — Vermont List of Priority Surface Waters outside CWA Section 303(d) is divided in to 4 parts; Parts B, D, E and F. The four-part list has managed by the Vermont...

  5. SDS, a structural disruption score for assessment of missense variant deleteriousness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thanawadee ePreeprem

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available We have developed a novel structure-based evaluation for missense variants that explicitly models protein structure and amino acid properties to predict the likelihood that a variant disrupts protein function. A structural disruption score (SDS is introduced as a measure to depict the likelihood that a case variant is functional. The score is constructed using characteristics that distinguish between causal and neutral variants within a group of proteins. The SDS score is correlated with standard sequence-based deleteriousness, but shows promise for improving discrimination between neutral and causal variants at less conserved sites.The prediction was performed on 3-dimentional structures of 57 gene products whose homozygous SNPs were identified as case-exclusive variants in an exome sequencing study of epilepsy disorders. We contrasted the candidate epilepsy variants with scores for likely benign variants found in the EVS database, and for positive control variants in the same genes that are suspected to promote a range of diseases. To derive a characteristic profile of damaging SNPs, we transformed continuous scores into categorical variables based on the score distribution of each measurement, collected from all possible SNPs in this protein set, where extreme measures were assumed to be deleterious. A second epilepsy dataset was used to replicate the findings. Causal variants tend to receive higher sequence-based deleterious scores, induce larger physico-chemical changes between amino acid pairs, locate in protein domains, buried sites or on conserved protein surface clusters, and cause protein destabilization, relative to negative controls. These measures were agglomerated for each variant. A list of nine high-priority putative functional variants for epilepsy was generated. Our newly developed SDS protocol facilitates SNP prioritization for experimental validation.

  6. Extending RTA/Linux with fixed-priority scheduling with deferred preemption

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bergsma, M.; Holenderski, M.J.; Bril, R.J.; Lukkien, J.J.; Petters, S.M.; Zijlstra, P.

    2009-01-01

    Fixed-Priority Scheduling with Deferred Preemption (FPDS) is a middle ground between Fixed-Priority Pre-emptive Scheduling and Fixed-Priority Non-preemptive Scheduling, and offers advantages with respect to context switch overhead and resource access control. In this paper we present our work on

  7. Setting global research priorities for integrated community case management (iCCM: Results from a CHNRI (Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative exercise

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kerri Wazny

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Aims: to systematically identify global research gaps and resource priorities for integrated community case management (iCCM. Methods: an iCCM Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI Advisory Group, in collaboration with the Community Case Management Operational Research Group (CCM ORG identified experts to participate in a CHNRI research priority setting exercise. These experts generated and systematically ranked research questions for iCCM. Research questions were ranked using a “Research Priority Score” (RPS and the “Average Expert Agreement” (AEA was calculated for every question. Our groups of experts were comprised of both individuals working in Ministries of Health or Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs in low– and middle–income countries (LMICs and individuals working in high–income countries (HICs in academia or NGO headquarters. A Spearman's Rho was calculated to determine the correlation between the two groups' research questions' ranks. Results: The overall RPS ranged from 64.58 to 89.31, with a median score of 81.43. AEA scores ranged from 0.54 to 0.86. Research questions involving increasing the uptake of iCCM services, research questions concerning the motivation, retention, training and supervision of Community Health Workers (CHWs and concerning adding additional responsibilities including counselling for infant and young child feeding (IYCF and treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM ranked highly. There was weak to moderate, statistically significant, correlation between scores by representatives of high–income countries and those working in–country or regionally (Spearman's ρ = 0.35034, P < 0.01. Conclusions: Operational research to determine optimal training, supervision and modes of motivation and retention for the CHW is vital for improving iCCM, globally, as is research to motivate caregivers to take advantage of iCCM services. Experts working in–country or regionally in

  8. Comprehensive framework for preventive maintenance priority of medical equipment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saleh, Neven; Balestra, Gabriella

    2015-08-01

    Throughout the medical equipment life cycle, preventive maintenance is considered one of the most important stages that should be managed properly. However, the need for better management and control by giving a reasonable prioritization for preventive maintenance becomes essential. The purpose of this study is to develop a comprehensive framework for preventive maintenance priority of medical equipment using Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Fuzzy Logic (FL). The quality function deployment is proposed in order to identify the most important criteria that could impact preventive maintenance priority decision; meanwhile the role of the fuzzy logic is to generate a priority index of the list of equipment considering those criteria. The model validation was carried out on 140 pieces of medical equipment belonging to two hospitals. In application, we propose to classify the priority index into five classes. The results indicate that the strong correlation existence between risk-based criteria and preventive maintenance priority decision.

  9. The badness of death and priorities in health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solberg, Carl Tollef; Gamlund, Espen

    2016-04-14

    The state of the world is one with scarce medical resources where longevity is not equally distributed. Given such facts, setting priorities in health entails making difficult yet unavoidable decisions about which lives to save. The business of saving lives works on the assumption that longevity is valuable and that an early death is worse than a late death. There is a vast literature on health priorities and badness of death, separately. Surprisingly, there has been little cross-fertilisation between the academic fields of priority setting and badness of death. Our aim is to connect philosophical discussions on the badness of death to contemporary debates in health priorities. Two questions regarding death are especially relevant to health priorities. The first question is why death is bad. Death is clearly bad for others, such as family, friends and society. Many philosophers also argue that death can be bad for those who die. This distinction is important for health priorities, because it concerns our fundamental reasons for saving lives. The second question is, 'When is the worst time to die?' A premature death is commonly considered worse than a late death. Thus, the number of good life years lost seems to matter to the badness of death. Concerning young individuals, some think the death of infants is worse than the death of adolescents, while others have contrary intuitions. Our claim is that to prioritise between age groups, we must consider the question of when it is worst to die. Deprivationism provides a more plausible approach to health priorities than Epicureanism. If Deprivationism is accepted, we will have a firmer basis for claiming that individuals, in addition to having a health loss caused by morbidity, will have a loss of good life years due to mortality. Additionally, Deprivationism highlights the importance of age and values for health priorities. Regarding age, both variants of Deprivationism imply that stillbirths are included in the Global

  10. Near-optimal downlink precoding for two-tier priority-based wireless networks

    KAUST Repository

    Park, Kihong; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, we study a two-tier priority-based wireless cellular network in which the primary base station (BS) has multiple antennas and the other terminals have a single antenna. We assume that we have two classes of users: high priority users and low priority users. We consider a rate maximization problem of the low priority users under signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio constraints on the high priority user to guarantee a certain quality-of-service for the high priority user. Since the interference due to the low priority users which communicate with each other via direct transmission may severely degrade the performance of the high priority user, we propose a BS-aided two-way relaying approach in which the BS helps relay the low priority users' signals instead of allowing them to communicate with each other via a direct path between them. In addition, an algorithm to find a near-optimal beamforming solution at the BS is proposed. The asymptotic results in the high power regime are derived to verify the average sum rate performance in the proposed scheme. Finally, based on some selected numerical results, we show that the proposed scheme outperforms the direct transmission scheme over a wide transmit power range.

  11. Near-optimal downlink precoding for two-tier priority-based wireless networks

    KAUST Repository

    Park, Kihong

    2015-02-01

    In this paper, we study a two-tier priority-based wireless cellular network in which the primary base station (BS) has multiple antennas and the other terminals have a single antenna. We assume that we have two classes of users: high priority users and low priority users. We consider a rate maximization problem of the low priority users under signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio constraints on the high priority user to guarantee a certain quality-of-service for the high priority user. Since the interference due to the low priority users which communicate with each other via direct transmission may severely degrade the performance of the high priority user, we propose a BS-aided two-way relaying approach in which the BS helps relay the low priority users\\' signals instead of allowing them to communicate with each other via a direct path between them. In addition, an algorithm to find a near-optimal beamforming solution at the BS is proposed. The asymptotic results in the high power regime are derived to verify the average sum rate performance in the proposed scheme. Finally, based on some selected numerical results, we show that the proposed scheme outperforms the direct transmission scheme over a wide transmit power range.

  12. Hypertension management research priorities from patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers: A report from the Hypertension Canada Priority Setting Partnership Group.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, Nadia; Bacon, Simon L; Khan, Samia; Perlmutter, Sara; Gerlinsky, Carline; Dermer, Mark; Johnson, Lonni; Alves, Finderson; McLean, Donna; Laupacis, Andreas; Pui, Mandy; Berg, Angelique; Flowitt, Felicia

    2017-11-01

    Patient- and stakeholder-oriented research is vital to improving the relevance of research. The authors aimed to identify the 10 most important research priorities of patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers (family physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and dietitians) for hypertension management. Using the James Lind Alliance approach, a national web-based survey asked patients, caregivers, and care providers to submit their unanswered questions on hypertension management. Questions already answered from randomized controlled trial evidence were removed. A priority setting process of patient, caregiver, and healthcare providers then ranked the final top 10 research priorities in an in-person meeting. There were 386 respondents who submitted 598 questions after exclusions. Of the respondents, 78% were patients or caregivers, 29% lived in rural areas, 78% were aged 50 to 80 years, and 75% were women. The 598 questions were distilled to 42 unique questions and from this list, the top 10 research questions prioritized included determining the combinations of healthy lifestyle modifications to reduce the need for antihypertensive medications, stress management interventions, evaluating treatment strategies based on out-of-office blood pressure compared with conventional (office) blood pressure, education tools and technologies to improve patient motivation and health behavior change, management strategies for ethnic groups, evaluating natural and alternative treatments, and the optimal role of different healthcare providers and caregivers in supporting patients with hypertension. These priorities can be used to guide clinicians, researchers, and funding bodies on areas that are a high priority for hypertension management research for patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers. This also highlights priority areas for improved knowledge translation and delivering patient-centered care. ©2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  13. A unifying property for distribution-sensitive priority queues

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Elmasry, Amr Ahmed Abd Elmoneim; Farzan, Arash; Iacono, John

    2011-01-01

    , before) the last access of x and are still in the priority queue at the time when the corresponding operation is performed. Our priority queue then has both the working-set and the queueish properties; and, more strongly, it satisfies these properties in the worst-case sense. We also argue...... that these bounds are the best possible with respect to the considered measures. Moreover, we modify our priority queue to satisfy a new unifying property - the time-finger property - which encapsulates both the working-set and the queueish properties. In addition, we prove that the working-set bound......We present a priority queue that supports the operations: insert in worst-case constant time, and delete, delete-min, find-min and decrease-key on an element x in worst-case O(lg(min{wx, qx} + 2)) time, where wx (respectively, qx) is the number of elements that were accessed after (respectively...

  14. Setting priorities in health care organizations: criteria, processes, and parameters of success.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibson, Jennifer L; Martin, Douglas K; Singer, Peter A

    2004-09-08

    Hospitals and regional health authorities must set priorities in the face of resource constraints. Decision-makers seek practical ways to set priorities fairly in strategic planning, but find limited guidance from the literature. Very little has been reported from the perspective of Board members and senior managers about what criteria, processes and parameters of success they would use to set priorities fairly. We facilitated workshops for board members and senior leadership at three health care organizations to assist them in developing a strategy for fair priority setting. Workshop participants identified 8 priority setting criteria, 10 key priority setting process elements, and 6 parameters of success that they would use to set priorities in their organizations. Decision-makers in other organizations can draw lessons from these findings to enhance the fairness of their priority setting decision-making. Lessons learned in three workshops fill an important gap in the literature about what criteria, processes, and parameters of success Board members and senior managers would use to set priorities fairly.

  15. Priority Setting, Cost-Effectiveness, and the Affordable Care Act.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Persad, Govind

    2015-01-01

    The Affordable Care Act (ACA) may be the most important health law statute in American history, yet much of the most prominent legal scholarship examining it has focused on the merits of the court challenges it has faced rather than delving into the details of its priority-setting provisions. In addition to providing an overview of the ACA's provisions concerning priority setting and their developing interpretations, this Article attempts to defend three substantive propositions. First, I argue that the ACA is neither uniformly hostile nor uniformly friendly to efforts to set priorities in ways that promote cost and quality. Second, I argue that the ACA does not take a single, unified approach to priority setting; rather, its guidance varies depending on the aspect of the healthcare system at issue (Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, Medicare, essential health benefits) and the factors being excluded from priority setting (age, disability, life expectancy). Third, I argue that cost-effectiveness can be achieved within the ACA's constraints, but that doing so will require adopting new approaches to cost-effectiveness and priority setting. By limiting the use of standard cost-effectiveness analysis, the ACA makes the need for workable rivals to cost-effectiveness analysis a pressing practical concern rather than a mere theoretical worry.

  16. Differences between patients' and clinicians' research priorities from the Anaesthesia and Peri-operative Care Priority Setting Partnership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boney, O; Nathanson, M H; Grocott, M P W; Metcalf, L

    2017-09-01

    The James Lind Alliance Anaesthesia and Peri-operative Care Priority Setting Partnership was a recent collaborative venture bringing approximately 2000 patients, carers and clinicians together to agree priorities for future research into anaesthesia and critical care. This secondary analysis compares the research priorities of 303 service users, 1068 clinicians and 325 clinicians with experience as service users. All three groups prioritised research to improve patient safety. Service users prioritised research about improving patient experience, whereas clinicians prioritised research about clinical effectiveness. Clinicians who had experience as service users consistently prioritised research more like clinicians than like service users. Individual research questions about patient experience were more popular with patients and carers than with clinicians in all but one case. We conclude that patients, carers and clinicians prioritise research questions differently. All groups prioritise research into patient safety, but service users also favour research into patient experience, whereas clinicians favour research into clinical effectiveness. © 2017 The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland.

  17. Preliminary validation of 2 magnetic resonance image scoring systems for osteoarthritis of the hip according to the OMERACT filter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maksymowych, Walter P; Cibere, Jolanda; Loeuille, Damien; Weber, Ulrich; Zubler, Veronika; Roemer, Frank W; Jaremko, Jacob L; Sayre, Eric C; Lambert, Robert G W

    2014-02-01

    Development of a validated magnetic resonance image (MRI) scoring system is essential in hip OA because radiographs are insensitive to change. We assessed the feasibility and reliability of 2 previously developed scoring methods: (1) the Hip Inflammation MRI Scoring System (HIMRISS) and (2) the Hip Osteoarthritis MRI Scoring System (HOAMS). Six readers (3 radiologists, 3 rheumatologists) participated in 2 reading exercises. In Reading Exercise 1, MRI of the hip of 20 subjects were read at a single time point followed by further standardization of methodology. In Reading Exercise 2, MRI of the hip of 18 subjects from a randomized controlled trial, assessed at 2 timepoints, and 27 subjects from a cross-sectional study were read for HIMRISS and HOAMS bone marrow lesions (BML) and synovitis. Reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and kappa statistics. Both methods were considered feasible. For Reading 1, HIMRISS ICC were 0.52, 0.61, 0.70, and 0.58 for femoral BML, acetabular BML, effusion, and total scores, respectively; and for HOAMS, summed BML and synovitis ICC were 0.52 and 0.46, respectively. For Reading 2, HIMRISS and HOAMS ICC for BML and synovitis-effusion improved substantially. Interobserver reliability for change scores was 0.81 and 0.71 for HIMRISS femoral and HOAMS summed BML, respectively. Responsiveness and discrimination was moderate to high for synovitis-effusion. Significant associations were noted between BML or synovitis scores and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index pain scores for baseline values (p ≤ 0.001). The BML and synovitis-effusion components of both HIMRISS and HOAMS scoring systems are feasible and reliable, and should be validated further.

  18. Priority issues affecting operators' and suppliers' liens: the Alberta perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Corbett, W.T.

    1996-01-01

    Selected aspects of priority issues in contractual obligations in the petroleum industry were discussed, focusing on the priority issues claimed by suppliers and operators with respect to Alberta properties. Discussions touched upon suppliers' lien rights in Alberta, operators' set-off rights, and on some of the priority issues involving operators' liens

  19. Using evaluation theory in priority setting and resource allocation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Neale; Mitton, Craig; Cornelissen, Evelyn; Gibson, Jennifer; Peacock, Stuart

    2012-01-01

    Public sector interest in methods for priority setting and program or policy evaluation has grown considerably over the last several decades, given increased expectations for accountable and efficient use of resources and emphasis on evidence-based decision making as a component of good management practice. While there has been some occasional effort to conduct evaluation of priority setting projects, the literatures around priority setting and evaluation have largely evolved separately. In this paper, the aim is to bring them together. The contention is that evaluation theory is a means by which evaluators reflect upon what it is they are doing when they do evaluation work. Theories help to organize thinking, sort out relevant from irrelevant information, provide transparent grounds for particular implementation choices, and can help resolve problematic issues which may arise in the conduct of an evaluation project. A detailed review of three major branches of evaluation theory--methods, utilization, and valuing--identifies how such theories can guide the development of efforts to evaluate priority setting and resource allocation initiatives. Evaluation theories differ in terms of their guiding question, anticipated setting or context, evaluation foci, perspective from which benefits are calculated, and typical methods endorsed. Choosing a particular theoretical approach will structure the way in which any priority setting process is evaluated. The paper suggests that explicitly considering evaluation theory makes key aspects of the evaluation process more visible to all stakeholders, and can assist in the design of effective evaluation of priority setting processes; this should iteratively serve to improve the understanding of priority setting practices themselves.

  20. High priority tank sampling and analysis report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brown, T.M.

    1998-03-05

    In July 1993, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) transmitted Recommendation 93-5 (Conway 1993) to the US Department of Energy (DOE). Recommendation 93-5 noted that there was insufficient tank waste technical information and the pace to obtain it was too slow to ensure that Hanford Site wastes could be safely stored, that associated operations could be conducted safely, and that future disposal data requirements could be met. In May 1996, the DOE issued Revision 1 of the Recommendation 93-5 Implementation Plan (DOE-RL 1996). The Implementation Plan revision presented a modified approach to achieve the original plan`s objectives. The approach concentrated on actions necessary to ensure that wastes can be safely stored, that operations can be safely conducted, and that timely characterization information for the tank waste Disposal Program could be obtained. The Implementation Plan proposed 28 High Priority tanks, which, if sampled and analyzed, were expected to provide information to answer questions regarding safety and disposal issues. The High Priority tank list was originally developed in Section 9.0 of the Tank Waste Characterization Basis (Brown et al. 1995) by integrating the needs of the various safety and disposal programs. The High Priority tank list represents a set of tanks that were expected to provide the highest information return for characterization resources expended. The High Priority tanks were selected for near-term core sampling and were not expected to be the only tanks that would provide meaningful information. Sampling and analysis of non-High Priority tanks also could be used to provide scientific and technical data to confirm assumptions, calibrate models, and measure safety related phenomenological characteristics of the waste. When the sampling and analysis results of the High Priority and other tanks were reviewed, it was expected that a series of questions should be answered allowing key decisions to be made. The first

  1. High priority tank sampling and analysis report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, T.M.

    1998-01-01

    In July 1993, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) transmitted Recommendation 93-5 (Conway 1993) to the US Department of Energy (DOE). Recommendation 93-5 noted that there was insufficient tank waste technical information and the pace to obtain it was too slow to ensure that Hanford Site wastes could be safely stored, that associated operations could be conducted safely, and that future disposal data requirements could be met. In May 1996, the DOE issued Revision 1 of the Recommendation 93-5 Implementation Plan (DOE-RL 1996). The Implementation Plan revision presented a modified approach to achieve the original plan's objectives. The approach concentrated on actions necessary to ensure that wastes can be safely stored, that operations can be safely conducted, and that timely characterization information for the tank waste Disposal Program could be obtained. The Implementation Plan proposed 28 High Priority tanks, which, if sampled and analyzed, were expected to provide information to answer questions regarding safety and disposal issues. The High Priority tank list was originally developed in Section 9.0 of the Tank Waste Characterization Basis (Brown et al. 1995) by integrating the needs of the various safety and disposal programs. The High Priority tank list represents a set of tanks that were expected to provide the highest information return for characterization resources expended. The High Priority tanks were selected for near-term core sampling and were not expected to be the only tanks that would provide meaningful information. Sampling and analysis of non-High Priority tanks also could be used to provide scientific and technical data to confirm assumptions, calibrate models, and measure safety related phenomenological characteristics of the waste. When the sampling and analysis results of the High Priority and other tanks were reviewed, it was expected that a series of questions should be answered allowing key decisions to be made. The first

  2. Setting Priorities: Personal Values, Organizational Results. Ideas into Action Guidebooks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cartwright, Talula

    2007-01-01

    Successful leaders get results. To get results, you need to set priorities. This book can help you do a better job of setting priorities, recognizing the personal values that motivate your decision making, the probable trade-offs and consequences of your decisions, and the importance of aligning your priorities with your organization's…

  3. Potential priority pollutants in sewage sludge

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eriksson, Eva; Christensen, Nina; Schmidt, Jens Ejbye

    2008-01-01

    compounds using their inherent properties and environmental fate it was shown that 99 XOCs could be classified as being hazardous with regard to the solid phase and 23 were found to be priority pollutants in the subsequent hazard assessment. The final selected priority pollutants can act as indicators when...... assessing sludge quality. They were compared with European legislations and discussed in regard for pointing out the need for mitigation such as substitution. Furthermore, the potential need for implementation of sludge treatment trains in order to meet the society's needs was addressed....

  4. Setting priorities in health care organizations: criteria, processes, and parameters of success

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Douglas K

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Hospitals and regional health authorities must set priorities in the face of resource constraints. Decision-makers seek practical ways to set priorities fairly in strategic planning, but find limited guidance from the literature. Very little has been reported from the perspective of Board members and senior managers about what criteria, processes and parameters of success they would use to set priorities fairly. Discussion We facilitated workshops for board members and senior leadership at three health care organizations to assist them in developing a strategy for fair priority setting. Workshop participants identified 8 priority setting criteria, 10 key priority setting process elements, and 6 parameters of success that they would use to set priorities in their organizations. Decision-makers in other organizations can draw lessons from these findings to enhance the fairness of their priority setting decision-making. Summary Lessons learned in three workshops fill an important gap in the literature about what criteria, processes, and parameters of success Board members and senior managers would use to set priorities fairly.

  5. 32 CFR 728.3 - General restrictions and priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... AND DENTAL CARE FOR ELIGIBLE PERSONS AT NAVY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT FACILITIES General § 728.3 General... domiciliary care. Routine dental care, other than dental prosthesis or orthodontia, may be rendered on a space...) Priorities. When care cannot be rendered to all eligible beneficiaries, the priorities in the following chart...

  6. 29 CFR 4044.11 - Priority category 1 benefits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... priority category 1 with respect to that participant is the present value of that annuity. ... 29 Labor 9 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Priority category 1 benefits. 4044.11 Section 4044.11 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION PLAN TERMINATIONS ALLOCATION OF...

  7. Priority issues affecting operators' and suppliers' liens: the Saskatchewan perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Milani, M.W.

    1996-01-01

    Priority issues in contractual obligations in the petroleum industry were discussed from the perspective of Saskatchewan. In Saskatchewan, the priority issues relative to builders' and suppliers' liens are similar to those of Alberta, but there are some subtle differences, which were addressed. Priority issues claimed by suppliers and operators with respect to Saskatchewan properties were given special attention

  8. Evaluating Environment, Erosion and Sedimentation Aspects in Coastal Area to Determine Priority Handling (A Case Study in Jepara Regency, northern Central Java, Indonesia)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wahyudi, S. I.; Adi, H. P.

    2018-04-01

    Many areas of the northern coastal in Central Java, Indonesia, have been suffering from damage. One of the areas is Jepara, which has been experiencing this kind of damage for 7.6 kilometres from total 72 kilometres long beach. All damages are mostly caused by coastal erosion, sedimentation, environment and tidal flooding. Several efforts have been done, such as replanting mangroves, building revetment and groins, but it still could not mitigated the coastal damage. The purposes of this study are to map the coastal damages, to analyze handling priority and to determine coastal protection model. The method used are by identifying and plotting the coastal damage on the map, assessing score of each variable, and determining the handling priority and suitable coastal protection model. There are five levels of coastal damage used in this study, namely as light damage, medium, heavy, very heavy, and extremely heavy. Based on the priority assessment of coastal damage, it needs to be followed up by designing in detail and implementing through soft structure for example mangrove, sand nourishes and hard structure, such as breakwater, groins and revetment.

  9. Final priority; National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research--Disability and Rehabilitation Projects and Centers Program--Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers. Final priority.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-06-19

    The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services announces a priority for a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Technologies to Support Successful Aging with Disability under the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects and Centers Program administered by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). The Assistant Secretary may use this priority for a competition in fiscal year (FY) 2013 and later years. We take this action to focus research attention on areas of national need. We intend to use this priority to improve outcomes for individuals with disabilities.

  10. Priority Setting for Improvement of Cervical Cancer Prevention in Iran

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Majidi, A.; Ghiasvand, R.; Hadji, M.

    2016-01-01

    , ICC has low incidence in Iran and many other Muslim countries. There is no organized cervical screening in these countries. Therefore, ICC is usually diagnosed in advanced stages with poor prognosis in these countries. We performed a priority setting exercise and suggested priorities for prevention...... of ICC in this setting. Methods: We invited experts and researchers to a workshop and asked them to list important suggestions for ICC prevention in Iran. After merging similar items and removing the duplicates, we asked the experts to rank the list of suggested items. We used a strategy grid and Go......-zone analysis to determine final list of priorities for ICC prevention in Iran. Results: From 26 final items suggested as priorities for prevention of ICC, the most important priorities were developing national guidelines for cervical screening and quality control protocol for patient follow-up and management...

  11. Optimization of continuous ranked probability score using PSO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seyedeh Atefeh Mohammadi

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Weather forecast has been a major concern in various industries such as agriculture, aviation, maritime, tourism, transportation, etc. A good weather prediction may reduce natural disasters and unexpected events. This paper presents an empirical investigation to predict weather temperature using continuous ranked probability score (CRPS. The mean and standard deviation of normal density function are linear combination of the components of ensemble system. The resulted optimization model has been solved using particle swarm optimization (PSO and the results are compared with Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno (BFGS method. The preliminary results indicate that the proposed PSO provides better results in terms of root-mean-square deviation criteria than the alternative BFGS method.

  12. The MAP, M/G1,G2/1 queue with preemptive priority

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bong Dae Choi

    1997-01-01

    Full Text Available We consider the MAP, M/G1,G2/1 queue with preemptive resume priority, where low priority customers arrive to the system according to a Markovian arrival process (MAP and high priority customers according to a Poisson process. The service time density function of low (respectively: high priority customers is g1(x (respectively: g2(x. We use the supplementary variable method with Extended Laplace Transforms to obtain the joint transform of the number of customers in each priority queue, as well as the remaining service time for the customer in service in the steady state. We also derive the probability generating function for the number of customers of low (respectively, high priority in the system just after the service completion epochs for customers of low (respectively, high priority.

  13. 1991 Acceptance priority ranking

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-12-01

    The Standard Contract for Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and/or High- Level Radioactive Waste (10 CFR Part 961) that the Department of Energy (DOE) has executed with the owners and generators of civilian spent nuclear fuel requires annual publication of the Acceptance Priority Ranking (APR). The 1991 APR details the order in which DOE will allocate Federal waste acceptance capacity. As required by the Standard Contract, the ranking is based on the age of permanently discharged spent nuclear fuel (SNF), with the owners of the oldest SNF, on an industry-wide basis, given the highest priority. the 1991 APR will be the basis for the annual allocation of waste acceptance capacity to the Purchasers in the 1991 Annual Capacity Report (ACR), to be issued later this year. This document is based on SNF discharges as of December 31, 1990, and reflects Purchaser comments and corrections, as appropriate, to the draft APR issued on May 15, 1991

  14. Diseases of livestock in the Pacific Islands region: setting priorities for food animal biosecurity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brioudes, Aurélie; Warner, Jeffrey; Hedlefs, Robert; Gummow, Bruce

    2015-03-01

    Most Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) have developing economies and face a critical shortage of veterinarians with limited financial resources allocated to their animal disease surveillance programmes. Thus, animal health authorities have to set priorities for better focusing their scarce resources. The main objective of this study was to identify animal diseases perceived to be of importance by decision makers within selected PICTs, at the regional and national levels, to ensure better targeting of animal health resources. A second objective was to investigate whether the targeted surveillance programmes resulting from this rationalized approach would also benefit the local communities engaged in livestock production. A multi-criteria prioritization process was developed, involving local experts, to score and rank 132 animal diseases based on their priority at the regional and national levels for four PICTs: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, which form part of a regional Food Animal Biosecurity Network. In parallel interviews with farmers and field animal health and production workers were conducted to assess their perception of animal diseases. The list of the top-twenty ranked diseases for the Pacific Islands region shows a mix of endemic zoonotic diseases (such as leptospirosis ranked first; brucellosis third; tuberculosis sixth; and endoparasites and ectoparasites, respectively eleventh and thirteenth) with exotic diseases (such as HPAI ranked second, FMD fifth, and rabies ninth). There were different disease ranking lists for each of the four targeted PICTs, confirming different strategies of disease prevention and control may be required for each country, rather than a regional approach. Interviewed animal health and production workers were unfamiliar with most of the prioritized diseases and a majority acknowledged that they would not be able to recognize clinical signs if outbreaks were to occur in their area

  15. Setting priorities for reducing risk and advancing patient safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaffey, Ann D

    2016-04-01

    We set priorities every day in both our personal and professional lives. Some decisions are easy, while others require much more thought, participation, and resources. The difficult or less appealing priorities may not be popular, may receive push-back, and may be resource intensive. Whether personal or professional, the urgency that accompanies true priorities becomes a driving force. It is that urgency to ensure our patients' safety that brings many of us to work each day. This is not easy work. It requires us to be knowledgeable about the enterprise we are working in and to have the professional skills and competence to facilitate setting the priorities that allow our organizations to minimize risk and maximize value. © 2016 American Society for Healthcare Risk Management of the American Hospital Association.

  16. Emergency planning and management in health care: priority research topics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyd, Alan; Chambers, Naomi; French, Simon; Shaw, Duncan; King, Russell; Whitehead, Alison

    2014-06-01

    Many major incidents have significant impacts on people's health, placing additional demands on health-care organisations. The main aim of this paper is to suggest a prioritised agenda for organisational and management research on emergency planning and management relevant to U.K. health care, based on a scoping study. A secondary aim is to enhance knowledge and understanding of health-care emergency planning among the wider research community, by highlighting key issues and perspectives on the subject and presenting a conceptual model. The study findings have much in common with those of previous U.S.-focused scoping reviews, and with a recent U.K.-based review, confirming the relative paucity of U.K.-based research. No individual research topic scored highly on all of the key measures identified, with communities and organisations appearing to differ about which topics are the most important. Four broad research priorities are suggested: the affected public; inter- and intra-organisational collaboration; preparing responders and their organisations; and prioritisation and decision making.

  17. Resilience in post-Katrina New Orleans, Louisiana: a preliminary study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glandon, Douglas M; Muller, Jocelyn; Almedom, Astier M

    2008-12-01

    Much scholarly and practitioner attention to the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans, Louisiana has focused on the failures of government disaster prevention and management at all levels, often overlooking the human strength and resourcefulness observed in individuals and groups among the worst-affected communities. This preliminary study sought to investigate human resilience in the city of New Orleans, State of Louisiana, eighteen months after Hurricane Katrina struck the Mississippi delta region. The Sense of Coherence scale, short form (SOC-13) was administered to a sample of 41 residents of Lower Ninth Ward and adjacent Wards who had been displaced by Hurricane Katrina but were either living in or visiting their home area during March 2007. Study participants were recruited through the local branch of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a nation-wide grassroots organization whose mission is to promote the housing rights of low and moderate-income individuals and families across the USA and in several other countries. Those who had returned to their homes had significantly higher SOC scores compared to those who were still displaced (p<0.001). Among the latter, those who were members of ACORN scored significantly higher than non-members (p<0.005), and their SOC-13 scores were not significantly different from the scores of study participants who had returned home (including both members and non-members of ACORN). The findings of this preliminary study concur with previous reports in the literature on the deleterious impact of displacement on individual and collective resilience to disasters. Relevant insight gleaned from the qualitative data gathered during the course of administering the SOC-13 scale compensate for the limitations of the small sample size as they draw attention to the importance of the study participants' sources of social support. Possible avenues for further research are outlined.

  18. Research priorities in mesothelioma: A James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stephens, R J; Whiting, C; Cowan, K

    2015-08-01

    In the UK, despite the import and use of all forms of asbestos being banned more than 15 years ago, the incidence of mesothelioma continues to rise. Mesothelioma is almost invariably fatal, and more research is required, not only to find more effective treatments, but also to achieve an earlier diagnosis and improve palliative care. Following a debate in the House of Lords in July 2013, a package of measures was agreed, which included a James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership, funded by the National Institute for Health Research. The partnership brought together patients, carers, health professionals and support organisations to agree the top 10 research priorities relating to the diagnosis, treatment and care of patients with mesothelioma. Following the established James Lind Alliance priority setting process, mesothelioma patients, current and bereaved carers, and health professionals were surveyed to elicit their concerns regarding diagnosis, treatment and care. Research questions were generated from the survey responses, and following checks that the questions were currently unanswered, an interim prioritisation survey was conducted to identify a shortlist of questions to take to a final consensus meeting. Four hundred and fifty-three initial surveys were returned, which were refined into 52 unique unanswered research questions. The interim prioritisation survey was completed by 202 responders, and the top 30 questions were taken to a final meeting where mesothelioma patients, carers, and health professionals prioritised all the questions, and reached a consensus on the top 10. The top 10 questions cover a wide portfolio of research (including assessing the value of immunotherapy, individualised chemotherapy, second-line treatment and immediate chemotherapy, monitoring patients with pleural thickening, defining the management of ascites in peritoneal mesothelioma, and optimising follow-up strategy). This list is an invaluable resource, which should be

  19. [The Danish debate on priority setting in medicine - characteristics and results].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pornak, S; Meyer, T; Raspe, H

    2011-10-01

    Priority setting in medicine helps to achieve a fair and transparent distribution of health-care resources. The German discussion about priority setting is still in its infancy and may benefit from other countries' experiences. This paper aims to analyse the Danish priority setting debate in order to stimulate the German discussion. The methods used are a literature analysis and a document analysis as well as expert interviews. The Danish debate about priority setting in medicine began in the 1970s, when a government committee was constituted to evaluate health-care priorities at the national level. In the 1980s a broader debate arose in politics, ethics, medicine and health economy. The discussions reached a climax in the 1990s, when many local activities - always involving the public - were initiated. Some Danish counties tried to implement priority setting in the daily routine of health care. The Council of Ethics was a major player in the debate of the 1990s and published a detailed statement on priority setting in 1996. With the new century the debate about priority setting seemed to have come to an end, but in 2006 the Technology Council and the Danish Regions resumed the discussion. In 2009 the Medical Association called for a broad debate in order to achieve equity among all patients. The long lasting Danish debate on priority setting has entailed only very little practical consequences on health care. The main problems seem to have been the missing effort to bundle the various local initiatives on a national level and the lack of powerful players to put results of the discussion into practice. Nevertheless, today the attitude towards priority setting is predominantly positive and even politicians talk freely about it. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  20. Priorities for research in miscarriage: a priority setting partnership between people affected by miscarriage and professionals following the James Lind Alliance methodology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prior, Matthew; Bagness, Carmel; Brewin, Jane; Coomarasamy, Arri; Easthope, Lucy; Hepworth-Jones, Barbara; Hinshaw, Kim; O'Toole, Emily; Orford, Julie; Regan, Lesley; Raine-Fenning, Nick; Shakespeare, Judy; Small, Rachel; Thornton, Jim; Metcalf, Leanne

    2017-08-23

    To identify and prioritise important research questions for miscarriage. A priority setting partnership using prospective surveys and consensus meetings following methods advocated by the James Lind Alliance. UK. Women and those affected by miscarriage working alongside healthcare professionals. In the initial survey, 1093 participants (932 women who have experienced miscarriage, 8 partners, 17 family members, friends or colleagues, 104 healthcare professionals and eight charitable organisations) submitted 3279 questions. A review of existing literature identified a further 64. Non-questions were removed, and the remaining questions were categorised and summarised into 58 questions. In an interim electronic survey, 2122 respondents chose their top 10 priorities from the 58 summary questions. The 25 highest ranked in the survey were prioritised at a final face-to-face workshop. In summary, the top 10 priorities were ranked as follows: research into preventative treatment, emotional aspects in general, investigation, relevance of pre-existing medical conditions, emotional support as a treatment, importance of lifestyle factors, importance of genetic and chromosomal causes, preconception tests, investigation after different numbers of miscarriage and male causal factors. These results should be the focus of future miscarriage research. Presently, studies are being conducted to address the top priority; however, many other priorities, especially psychological and emotional support, are less well researched areas. We hope our results will encourage both researchers and funders to focus on these priorities. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  1. Promoting community participation in priority setting in district health systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kamuzora, Peter; Maluka, Stephen; Ndawi, Benedict

    2013-01-01

    Community participation in priority setting in health systems has gained importance all over the world, particularly in resource-poor settings where governments have often failed to provide adequate public-sector services for their citizens. Incorporation of public views into priority setting...... is perceived as a means to restore trust, improve accountability, and secure cost-effective priorities within healthcare. However, few studies have reported empirical experiences of involving communities in priority setting in developing countries. The aim of this article is to provide the experience...... of implementing community participation and the challenges of promoting it in the context of resource-poor settings, weak organizations, and fragile democratic institutions....

  2. Determining priorities of current and long-range pollution control projects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Clark, E O

    1977-01-01

    The dilemma facing corporations of setting priorities on pollution control projects is reviewed and procedural guidelines outlined. The management must support those assigned to analyze priorities so that they have the opportunity to experiment and make quantitative studies, to evaluate their results, and to make independent recommendations. Priority is then given to the problems of air, noise, water, and land pollution in accordance with the company's environmental record. Each of the four categories, however, has its own legal, technical, and financial aspects that require further priority analysis. Each company must adopt and publish a regularly updated environmental policy that will have public visibility. (DCK)

  3. Energy-related indoor environmental quality research: A priority agenda

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fisk, W.J.; Brager, G.; Burge, H.; Cummings, J.; Levin, H.; Loftness, V.; Mendell, M.J.; Persily, A.; Taylor, S.; Zhang, J.S.

    2002-08-01

    A multidisciplinary team of IEQ and energy researchers has defined a program of priority energy-related IEQ research. This paper describes the methods employed to develop the agenda, and 35 high priority research and development (R&D) project areas related to four broad goals: (1) identifying IEQ problems and opportunities; (2) developing and evaluating energy-efficient technologies for improving IEQ; (3) developing and evaluating energy-efficient practices for improving IEQ; and (4) encouraging or assisting the implementation of technologies or practices for improving IEQ. The identified R&D priorities reflect a strong need to benchmark IEQ conditions in small commercial buildings, schools, and residences. The R&D priorities also reflect the need to better understand how people are affected by IEQ conditions and by the related building characteristics and operation and maintenance practices. The associated research findings will provide a clearer definition of acceptable IEQ that is required to guide the development of technologies, practices, standards, and guidelines. Quantifying the effects of building characteristics and practices on IEQ conditions, in order to provide the basis for development of energy efficient and effective IEQ control measures, was also considered a priority. The development or advancement in a broad range of IEQ tools, technologies, and practices are also a major component of the priority research agenda. Consistent with the focus on ''energy-related'' research priorities, building ventilation and heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and processes are very prominent in the agenda. Research related to moisture and microbiological problems, particularly within hot and humid climates, is also prominent within the agenda. The agenda tends to emphasize research on residences, small commercial buildings, and schools because these types of buildings have been underrepresented in prior research. Most of

  4. Emergent Literacy in Thai Preschoolers: A Preliminary Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yampratoom, Ramorn; Aroonyadech, Nawarat; Ruangdaraganon, Nichara; Roongpraiwan, Rawiwan; Kositprapa, Jariya

    To investigate emergent literacy skills, including phonological awareness when presented with an initial phoneme-matching task and letter knowledge when presented with a letter-naming task in Thai preschoolers, and to identify key factors associated with those skills. Four hundred twelve typically developing children in their final kindergarten year were enrolled in this study. Their emergent reading skills were measured by initial phoneme-matching and letter-naming tasks. Determinant variables, such as parents' education and teachers' perception, were collected by self-report questionnaires. The mean score of the initial phoneme-matching task was 4.5 (45% of a total of 10 scores). The mean score of the letter-naming task without a picture representing the target letter name was 30.2 (68.6% of a total of 44 scores), which increased to 38.8 (88.2% of a total of 44 scores) in the letter-naming task when a picture representing the target letter name was provided. Both initial phoneme-matching and letter-naming abilities were associated with the mother's education and household income. Letter-naming ability was also influenced by home reading activities and gender. This was a preliminary study into emergent literacy skills of Thai preschoolers. The findings supported the importance of focusing on phonological awareness and phonics, especially in the socioeconomic disadvantaged group.

  5. Priority Settings in patients with Chronic Diseases and Cancer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arreskov, Anne Beiter; Graungaard, Anette Hauskov; Søndergaard, Jens

    Priority setting in patients with cancer and comorbidities Background and aim As both the cancer incidence and the number of patients diagnosed with chronic diseases are increasing, a growing population of cancer survivors will also deal with comorbid chronic diseases. The period after completed...... to comorbidities. Some studies show that participation in regular follow-up consultations concerning comorbid chronic diseases and lifestyle are lower among cancer survivors than non-cancer patients. This could be explained by changes in the patient’s priority setting or in the doctor’s priority and attempt...... to spare the patient for further treatment burden, perhaps resulting in comorbidities falling down the agenda. The overall purpose is to explore patients’ and doctors’ priority settings of comorbidities in patients who have been diagnosed with non-metastatic cancer. Method: The study will consist of three...

  6. Energy priorities and options for the European Community

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Audland, C.J.

    1984-01-01

    The paper discusses the energy priorities and options for the European Community. Reasons for the recent improvement in the efficiency of energy use are briefly discussed, as well as the outlook for 1990, priorities for the future, solid fuels. natural gas, electricity and nuclear energy. Energy policy considerations in the United Kingdom are also mentioned. (U.K.)

  7. An Emergency Medicine Research Priority Setting Partnership to establish the top 10 research priorities in emergency medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Jason; Keating, Liza; Flowerdew, Lynsey; O'Brien, Rachel; McIntyre, Sam; Morley, Richard; Carley, Simon

    2017-07-01

    Defining research priorities in a specialty as broad as emergency medicine is a significant challenge. In order to fund and complete the most important research projects, it is imperative that we identify topics that are important to all clinicians, society and to our patients. We have undertaken a priority setting partnership to establish the most important questions facing emergency medicine. The top 10 questions reached through a consensus process are discussed. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  8. Setting healthcare priorities in hospitals: a review of empirical studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barasa, Edwine W; Molyneux, Sassy; English, Mike; Cleary, Susan

    2015-04-01

    Priority setting research has focused on the macro (national) and micro (bedside) level, leaving the meso (institutional, hospital) level relatively neglected. This is surprising given the key role that hospitals play in the delivery of healthcare services and the large proportion of health systems resources that they absorb. To explore the factors that impact upon priority setting at the hospital level, we conducted a thematic review of empirical studies. A systematic search of PubMed, EBSCOHOST, Econlit databases and Google scholar was supplemented by a search of key websites and a manual search of relevant papers' reference lists. A total of 24 papers were identified from developed and developing countries. We applied a policy analysis framework to examine and synthesize the findings of the selected papers. Findings suggest that priority setting practice in hospitals was influenced by (1) contextual factors such as decision space, resource availability, financing arrangements, availability and use of information, organizational culture and leadership, (2) priority setting processes that depend on the type of priority setting activity, (3) content factors such as priority setting criteria and (4) actors, their interests and power relations. We observe that there is need for studies to examine these issues and the interplay between them in greater depth and propose a conceptual framework that might be useful in examining priority setting practices in hospitals. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine © The Author 2014; all rights reserved.

  9. Priority Determination for Higher Education Strategic Planning Using Balanced Scorecard, FAHP and TOPSIS (Case study: XYZ University)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yudatama, Uky; Sarno, Riyanarto

    2016-01-01

    The process of strategic planning is needed by a higher education in some cases, especially in preparing to face the challenges and competition. The results of strategic planning will help the higher education to provide a framework for achieving a competitive advantage as well as determine the direction of future policy in accordance with the desired objectives. In recent decades, the Balanced Scorecard has been applied in the field of information technology as a very popular tool and is used extensively, because it is a model that can explain between information technologies with "Business Objectives" in a comprehensive manner. This study uses 4 perspectives in the Balanced Scorecard and 7 standards in higher education quality assessment as sub-criteria. Fuzzy AHP and Fuzzy TOPSIS are used to determine the priority as making strategic policy recommendations in a higher education. The final result of this research shows the score of Customer Perspective 0.35365 is higher than other perspective, while the score in Research and Student Affairs gains significant score when compared with the others, namely 0.69753948 is also higher. This means that both of them get very serious attention as a strategic planning basis for policy making.

  10. Final priority; National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research--Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects and Centers Program--Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers. Final priority.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-06-14

    The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services announces a priority for a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Universal Interfaces and Information Technology Access under the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects and Centers Program administered by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). The Assistant Secretary may use this priority for a competition in fiscal year (FY) 2013 and later years. We take this action to focus research attention on areas of national need. We intend to use this priority to improve outcomes for individuals with disabilities.

  11. Differences of wells scores accuracy, caprini scores and padua scores in deep vein thrombosis diagnosis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gatot, D.; Mardia, A. I.

    2018-03-01

    Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) is the venous thrombus in lower limbs. Diagnosis is by using venography or ultrasound compression. However, these examinations are not available yet in some health facilities. Therefore many scoring systems are developed for the diagnosis of DVT. The scoring method is practical and safe to use in addition to efficacy, and effectiveness in terms of treatment and costs. The existing scoring systems are wells, caprini and padua score. There have been many studies comparing the accuracy of this score but not in Medan. Therefore, we are interested in comparative research of wells, capriniand padua score in Medan.An observational, analytical, case-control study was conducted to perform diagnostic tests on the wells, caprini and padua score to predict the risk of DVT. The study was at H. Adam Malik Hospital in Medan.From a total of 72 subjects, 39 people (54.2%) are men and the mean age are 53.14 years. Wells score, caprini score and padua score has a sensitivity of 80.6%; 61.1%, 50% respectively; specificity of 80.65; 66.7%; 75% respectively, and accuracy of 87.5%; 64.3%; 65.7% respectively.Wells score has better sensitivity, specificity and accuracy than caprini and padua score in diagnosing DVT.

  12. NIH Toolbox Cognitive Function Battery (CFB): Composite Scores of Crystallized, Fluid, and Overall Cognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akshoomoff, Natacha; Beaumont, Jennifer L.; Bauer, Patricia J.; Dikmen, Sureyya; Gershon, Richard; Mungas, Dan; Slotkin, Jerry; Tulsky, David; Weintraub, Sandra; Zelazzo, Philip; Heaton, Robert K.

    2014-01-01

    The NIH Toolbox Cognitive Function Battery (CFB) includes 7 tests covering 8 cognitive abilities considered to be important in adaptive functioning across the lifespan (from early childhood to late adulthood). Here we present data on psychometric characteristics in children (N = 208; ages 3–15 years) of a total summary score and composite scores reflecting two major types of cognitive abilities: “crystallized” (more dependent upon past learning experiences) and “fluid” (capacity for new learning and information processing in novel situations). Both types of cognition are considered important in everyday functioning, but are thought to be differently affected by brain health status throughout life, from early childhood through older adulthood. All three Toolbox composite scores showed excellent test-retest reliability, robust developmental effects across the childhood age range considered here, and strong correlations with established, “gold standard” measures of similar abilities. Additional preliminary evidence of validity includes significant associations between all three Toolbox composite scores and maternal reports of children’s health status and school performance. PMID:23952206

  13. Effects of measurement method and transcript availability on inexperienced raters' stuttering frequency scores.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakraborty, Nalanda; Logan, Kenneth J

    To examine the effects of measurement method and transcript availability on the accuracy, reliability, and efficiency of inexperienced raters' stuttering frequency measurements. 44 adults, all inexperienced at evaluating stuttered speech, underwent 20 min of preliminary training in stuttering measurement and then analyzed a series of sentences, with and without access to transcripts of sentence stimuli, using either a syllable-based analysis (SBA) or an utterance-based analysis (UBA). Participants' analyses were compared between groups and to a composite analysis from two experienced evaluators. Stuttering frequency scores from the SBA and UBA groups differed significantly from the experienced evaluators' scores; however, UBA scores were significantly closer to the experienced evaluators' scores and were completed significantly faster than the SBA scores. Transcript availability facilitated scoring accuracy and efficiency in both groups. The internal reliability of stuttering frequency scores was acceptable for the SBA and UBA groups; however, the SBA group demonstrated only modest point-by-point agreement with ratings from the experienced evaluators. Given its accuracy and efficiency advantages over syllable-based analysis, utterance-based fluency analysis appears to be an appropriate context for introducing stuttering frequency measurement to raters who have limited experience in stuttering measurement. To address accuracy gaps between experienced and inexperienced raters, however, use of either analysis must be supplemented with training activities that expose inexperienced raters to the decision-making processes used by experienced raters when identifying stuttered syllables. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Exploring Content Validity of Shore Handwriting Screening and Newly Developed Score Sheet With Pre-Kindergarten Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denise K. Donica

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Background: Limited tools exist to measure handwriting readiness skills of pre-kindergarten students. This study was a preliminary exploration of content validity of the Shore Handwriting Screening (SHS and the newly developed Score Sheet with the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition (BOT-2 in 4- and 5-year-old pre-kindergarten students. Because socioeconomic status (SES is known to impact handwriting skills, data from two different socioeconomic groups were collected. Method: Students from a Lower SES group (n = 36 and a Higher SES group (n = 14 completed the SHS and fine motor composite of the BOT-2. Pearson’s correlation was used to compare scores on the two assessments within the two groups. Results: SHS overall percentage scores were compared to standard scores and composite scores of the BOT-2. SHS scores displayed moderate to high correlation with fine manual control portions of the BOT-2 for the Lower SES group and low to moderate correlation for the same portion in the Higher SES group. Conclusion: SHS and the Score Sheet correlate to fine and visual-motor skill subtests on the fine manual control portions of the BOT-2, which supports the need for further research on the reliability and validity of the Score Sheet for use in practice.

  15. Setting the top 10 research priorities to improve the health of people with Type 2 diabetes: a Diabetes UK-James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finer, S; Robb, P; Cowan, K; Daly, A; Shah, K; Farmer, A

    2018-07-01

    To describe processes and outcomes of a priority setting partnership to identify the 'top 10 research priorities' in Type 2 diabetes, involving people living with the condition, their carers, and healthcare professionals. We followed the four-step James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership process which involved: gathering uncertainties using a questionnaire survey distributed to 70 000 people living with Type 2 diabetes and their carers, and healthcare professionals; organizing the uncertainties; interim priority setting by resampling of participants with a second survey; and final priority setting in an independent group of participants, using the nominal group technique. At each step the steering group closely monitored and guided the process. In the first survey, 8227 uncertainties were proposed by 2587 participants, of whom 18% were from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups. Uncertainties were formatted and collated into 114 indicative questions. A total of 1506 people contributed to a second survey, generating a shortlist of 24 questions equally weighted to the contributions of people living with diabetes and their carers and those of healthcare professionals. In the final step the 'top 10 research priorities' were selected, including questions on cure and reversal, risk identification and prevention, and self-management approaches in Type 2 diabetes. Systematic and transparent methodology was used to identify research priorities in a large and genuine partnership of people with lived and professional experience of Type 2 diabetes. The top 10 questions represent consensus areas of research priority to guide future research, deliver responsive and strategic allocation of research resources, and improve the future health and well-being of people living with, and at risk of, Type 2 diabetes. © 2018 The Authors. Diabetic Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Diabetes UK.

  16. Project SFR 1 SAR-08. Update of priority of FEPs from Project SAFE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gordon, Anna; Loefgren, Martin; Lindgren, Maria

    2008-03-01

    -08. Two major events giving rise to priority upgrades are permafrost and glaciation. Also for EFEPs, the extended time period of the safety assessment, which lays ground for climatic changes, influence their assigned priority. The EFEPs considered to be of potential importance for scenario selection were sorted for use either in setting up of the main scenario and less probable scenarios or in setting up of residual scenarios. To provide a link between safety functions and EFEPs, the EFEPs of potential importance for the main scenario and less probable scenarios were mapped to diagonal elements of the SAR-08 repository and geosphere interaction matrices. From these diagonal elements, the scenario selection team can go further on to events and processes in off-diagonal elements that may affect the safety functions. It was found that the methodology adapted for scenario selection in SAR-08 requires an iterative process and much communication between the main authors of this report and the scenario selection team, as similar initial and boundary conditions need to be considered when prioritising interactions and when evaluating the performance of safety functions. Finally it is concluded that there exist no major inconsistency between the SAR-08 FEPs and the SFR FEPs presented in the SKI report 'Encyclopaedia of Features, Events and Processes (FEPs) for the Swedish SFR and Spent Fuel Repositories - Preliminary Version' (2002)

  17. Project SFR 1 SAR-08. Update of priority of FEPs from Project SAFE

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gordon, Anna (Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co., Stockholm (SE)); Loefgren, Martin; Lindgren, Maria (Kemakta Konsult AB, Stockholm (SE)) (eds.)

    2008-03-15

    -08. Two major events giving rise to priority upgrades are permafrost and glaciation. Also for EFEPs, the extended time period of the safety assessment, which lays ground for climatic changes, influence their assigned priority. The EFEPs considered to be of potential importance for scenario selection were sorted for use either in setting up of the main scenario and less probable scenarios or in setting up of residual scenarios. To provide a link between safety functions and EFEPs, the EFEPs of potential importance for the main scenario and less probable scenarios were mapped to diagonal elements of the SAR-08 repository and geosphere interaction matrices. From these diagonal elements, the scenario selection team can go further on to events and processes in off-diagonal elements that may affect the safety functions. It was found that the methodology adapted for scenario selection in SAR-08 requires an iterative process and much communication between the main authors of this report and the scenario selection team, as similar initial and boundary conditions need to be considered when prioritising interactions and when evaluating the performance of safety functions. Finally it is concluded that there exist no major inconsistency between the SAR-08 FEPs and the SFR FEPs presented in the SKI report 'Encyclopaedia of Features, Events and Processes (FEPs) for the Swedish SFR and Spent Fuel Repositories - Preliminary Version' (2002)

  18. Project SFR 1 SAR-08. Update of priority of FEPs from Project SAFE

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gordon, Anna [Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co., Stockholm (SE); Loefgren, Martin; Lindgren, Maria [Kemakta Konsult AB, Stockholm (SE); eds.

    2008-03-15

    -08. Two major events giving rise to priority upgrades are permafrost and glaciation. Also for EFEPs, the extended time period of the safety assessment, which lays ground for climatic changes, influence their assigned priority. The EFEPs considered to be of potential importance for scenario selection were sorted for use either in setting up of the main scenario and less probable scenarios or in setting up of residual scenarios. To provide a link between safety functions and EFEPs, the EFEPs of potential importance for the main scenario and less probable scenarios were mapped to diagonal elements of the SAR-08 repository and geosphere interaction matrices. From these diagonal elements, the scenario selection team can go further on to events and processes in off-diagonal elements that may affect the safety functions. It was found that the methodology adapted for scenario selection in SAR-08 requires an iterative process and much communication between the main authors of this report and the scenario selection team, as similar initial and boundary conditions need to be considered when prioritising interactions and when evaluating the performance of safety functions. Finally it is concluded that there exist no major inconsistency between the SAR-08 FEPs and the SFR FEPs presented in the SKI report 'Encyclopaedia of Features, Events and Processes (FEPs) for the Swedish SFR and Spent Fuel Repositories - Preliminary Version' (2002)

  19. 78 FR 26560 - Proposed Priority-National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research-Rehabilitation...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-07

    ... in nonrural areas (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011b), and rural vocational rehabilitation clients with... priorities, we designate the type of each priority as absolute, competitive preference, or invitational...)). Competitive preference priority: Under a competitive preference priority, we give competitive preference to an...

  20. Concordance of Motion Sensor and Clinician-Rated Fall Risk Scores in Older Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elledge, Julie

    2017-12-01

    As the older adult population in the United States continues to grow, developing reliable, valid, and practical methods for identifying fall risk is a high priority. Falls are prevalent in older adults and contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality rates and rising health costs. Identifying at-risk older adults and intervening in a timely manner can reduce falls. Conventional fall risk assessment tools require a health professional trained in the use of each tool for administration and interpretation. Motion sensor technology, which uses three-dimensional cameras to measure patient movements, is promising for assessing older adults' fall risk because it could eliminate or reduce the need for provider oversight. The purpose of this study was to assess the concordance of fall risk scores as measured by a motion sensor device, the OmniVR Virtual Rehabilitation System, with clinician-rated fall risk scores in older adult outpatients undergoing physical rehabilitation. Three standardized fall risk assessments were administered by the OmniVR and by a clinician. Validity of the OmniVR was assessed by measuring the concordance between the two assessment methods. Stability of the OmniVR fall risk ratings was assessed by measuring test-retest reliability. The OmniVR scores showed high concordance with the clinician-rated scores and high stability over time, demonstrating comparability with provider measurements.

  1. Hardware Locks with Priority Ceiling Emulation for a Java Chip-Multiprocessor

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Strøm, Torur Biskopstø; Schoeberl, Martin

    2015-01-01

    According to the safety-critical Java specification, priority ceiling emulation is a requirement for implementations, as it has preferable properties, such as avoiding priority inversion and being deadlock free on uni-core systems. In this paper we explore our hardware supported implementation...... of priority ceiling emulation on the multicore Java optimized processor, and compare it to the existing hardware locks on the Java optimized processor. We find that the additional overhead for priority ceiling emulation on a multicore processor is several times higher than simpler, non-premptive locks, mainly...

  2. Increasing Capacity of Intersections with Transit Priority

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanxi Hao

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Dedicated bus lane (DBL and transit signal priority (TSP are two effective and low-cost ways of improving the reliability of transits. However, these strategies reduce the capacity of general traffic. This paper presents an integrated optimization (IO model to improve the performance of intersections with dedicated bus lanes. The IO model integrated geometry layout, main-signal timing, pre-signal timing and transit priority. The optimization problem is formulated as a Mix-Integer-Non-Linear-Program (MINLP that can be transformed into a Mix-Integer-Linear-Program (MILP and then solved by the standard branch-and-bound technique. The applicability of the IO model is tested through numerical experiment under different intersection layouts and traffic demands. A VISSIM micro simulation model was developed and used to evaluate the performance of the proposed IO model. The test results indicate that the proposed model can increase the capacity and reduce the delay of general traffic when providing priority to buses.

  3. Priority setting for health in emerging markets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glassman, Amanda; Giedion, Ursula; McQueston, Kate

    2013-05-01

    The use of health technology assessment research in emerging economies is becoming an increasingly important tool to determine the uses of health spending. As low- and middle-income countries' gross domestic product grows, the funding available for health has increased in tandem. There is growing evidence that comparative effectiveness research and cost-effectiveness can be used to improve health outcomes within a predefined financial space. The use of these evaluation tools, combined with a systematized process of priority setting, can help inform national and global health payers. This review of country institutions for health technology assessment illustrates two points: the efforts underway to use research to inform priorities are widespread and not confined to wealthier countries; and many countries' efforts to create evidence-based policy are incomplete and more country-specific research will be needed. Further evidence shows that there is scope to reduce these gaps and opportunity to support better incorporation of data through better-defined priority-setting processes.

  4. Fast meldable priority queues

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brodal, Gerth Stølting

    1995-01-01

    We present priority queues that support the operations Find-Min, Insert, MakeQueue and Meld in worst case time O(1) and Delete and DeleteMin in worst case time O(log n). They can be implemented on the pointer machine and require linear space. The time bounds are optimal for all implementations wh...

  5. Matrix of Priorities for the Management of Visitation Impacts on the Geosites of Araripe UNESCO Global Geopark (NE Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduardo S. Guimarães

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available In order to safeguard the material and immaterial heritage and to foster delightful experiences for visitors, this investigation aimed to define a Matrix of Priorities for management of Visitation Impacts Management on the Geosites of Araripe UNESCO Global Geopark. With a quantitative approach involving the revision of documents, the methods used in this paper determined what the demands for visitation are as well as the impacts of these demands. We identified the offers for activities and occurrences in the geosites. Using this model, we calculated the following variables: (i evident impacts, (ii management profile, (iii visitor demand and (iv activity zone. We also classified the recommended management actions and presented the priority matrix. We classified the geosites of Ponte de Pedra, Riacho do Meio and Cachoeira de Missão Velha as requiring immediate or priority management action, in view of the high impacts of visitation evidenced. The geosites of Pedra Cariri, Floresta Petrificada and Parque dos Pterossauros were classified as programmed action, highlighting the difficulty of accessing them and the low demand for visitation. The geosites Pontal de Santa Cruz, Colina do Horto and Batateiras presented the best scores and require feedback action. It is emphasized that the deepening the investigations is required in order to produce and interpret the data complexity that guides the management of a dynamic territory such as a UNESCO Global Geopark.

  6. Establishing research priorities for patient safety in emergency medicine: a multidisciplinary consensus panel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plint, Amy C; Stang, Antonia S; Calder, Lisa A

    2015-01-01

    Patient safety in the context of emergency medicine is a relatively new field of study. To date, no broad research agenda for patient safety in emergency medicine has been established. The objective of this study was to establish patient safety-related research priorities for emergency medicine. These priorities would provide a foundation for high-quality research, important direction to both researchers and health-care funders, and an essential step in improving health-care safety and patient outcomes in the high-risk emergency department (ED) setting. A four-phase consensus procedure with a multidisciplinary expert panel was organized to identify, assess, and agree on research priorities for patient safety in emergency medicine. The 19-member panel consisted of clinicians, administrators, and researchers from adult and pediatric emergency medicine, patient safety, pharmacy, and mental health; as well as representatives from patient safety organizations. In phase 1, we developed an initial list of potential research priorities by electronically surveying a purposeful and convenience sample of patient safety experts, ED clinicians, administrators, and researchers from across North America using contact lists from multiple organizations. We used simple content analysis to remove duplication and categorize the research priorities identified by survey respondents. Our expert panel reached consensus on a final list of research priorities through an in-person meeting (phase 3) and two rounds of a modified Delphi process (phases 2 and 4). After phases 1 and 2, 66 unique research priorities were identified for expert panel review. At the end of phase 4, consensus was reached for 15 research priorities. These priorities represent four themes: (1) methods to identify patient safety issues (five priorities), (2) understanding human and environmental factors related to patient safety (four priorities), (3) the patient perspective (one priority), and (4) interventions for

  7. Cyclic delivery scheduling to customers with different priorities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katarzyna Zofia Gdowska

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: In this paper a cyclic delivery scheduling problem for customers with different priorities is presented. Shops, which are provided with deliveries, are occasionally located in places which are crucial for the proper flow of traffic. In such places coordination of deliveries is crucial; therefore it allows to completely eliminate the phenomenon of the simultaneous arrivals of suppliers. Methods: In this paper the cyclic delivery scheduling problem for customers with different priorities was presented. To this theoretical problem a mix integer programming model was developed. Specific approach to the cyclic delivery scheduling problem is inspired by timetabling problem for urban public transport. Results: Mixed integer programming model was employed for solving four cases of cyclic delivery scheduling problem for customers with different priorities. When the value of the synchronization priority assigned to a single customer raised then the total number of synchronizations in the whole network decreased. In order to compare solutions a synchronization rate was utilized. A simple factor was utilized - the proportion of number of synchronizations of deliveries to a given customer to the total number of synchronizations obtained for the whole network. When the value of synchronization priority raised then the value of synchronization rate of this customer improved significantly. Conclusions: The mixed integer programming model for the cyclic delivery scheduling problem for customers with different priorities presented in this paper can be utilized for generating schedules of serving customers located in places where only one delivery can be received and unloaded at one go and where there is no space for other suppliers to wait in a queue. Such a schedule can be very useful for organizing deliveries to small shops united in a franchising network, since they operate in a way that is very similar to the network presented in this paper

  8. Exploring Citizen Infrastructure and Environmental Priorities in Mumbai, India

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sperling, Joshua; Romero-Lankao, Patricia; Beig, Gufran

    2016-06-01

    Many cities worldwide seek to understand local policy priorities among their general populations. This study explores how differences in local conditions and among citizens within and across Mumbai, India shape local infrastructure (e.g. energy, water, transport) and environmental (e.g. managing pollution, climate-related extreme weather events) policy priorities for change that may or may not be aligned with local government action or global environmental sustainability concerns such as low-carbon development. In this rapidly urbanizing city, multiple issues compete for prominence, ranging from improved management of pollution and extreme weather to energy and other infrastructure services. To inform a broader perspective of policy priorities for urban development and risk mitigation, a survey was conducted among over 1200 citizens. The survey explored the state of local conditions, the challenges citizens face, and the ways in which differences in local conditions (socio-institutional, infrastructure, and health-related) demonstrate inequities and influence how citizens perceive risks and rank priorities for the future design and implementation of local planning, policy, and community-based efforts. With growing discussion and tensions surrounding the new urban sustainable development goal, announced by the UN in late September 2015, and a new global urban agenda document to be agreed upon at 'Habitat III', issues on whether sustainable urbanization priorities should be set at the international, national or local level remain controversial. As such, this study aims to first understand determinants of and variations in local priorities across one city, with implications discussed for local-to-global urban sustainability. Findings from survey results indicate the determinants and variation in conditions such as age, assets, levels of participation in residential action groups, the health outcome of chronic asthma, and the infrastructure service of piped

  9. A semiquantitative MRI-Score can predict loss of lung function in patients with cystic fibrosis: Preliminary results

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schaefer, Juergen F.; Schmidt, Katharina; Teufel, Matthias; Fleischer, Sabrina; Gatidis, Sergios; Schaefer, Susanne; Nikolaou, Konstantin; Tsiflikas, Ilias [University Hospital of Tuebingen, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Tuebingen (Germany); Hector, Andreas; Graepler-Mainka, Ute; Riethmueller, Joachim; Hartl, Dominik [University Children' s Hospital of Tuebingen, Department of Paediatrics I, Tuebingen (Germany)

    2018-01-15

    To evaluate the applicability of a semiquantitative MRI scoring system (MR-CF-S) as a prognostic marker for clinical course of cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease. This observational study of a single-centre CF cohort included a group of 61 patients (mean age 12.9 ± 4.7 years) receiving morphological and functional pulmonary MRI, pulmonary function testing (PFT) and follow-up of 2 years. MRI was analysed by three raters using MR-CF-S. The inter-rater agreement, correlation of score categories with forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV{sub 1}) at baseline, and the predictive value of clinical parameters, and score categories was assessed for the whole cohort and a subgroup of 40 patients with moderately impaired lung function. The inter-rater agreement of MR-CF-S was sufficient (mean intraclass correlation coefficient 0.92). MR-CF-S (-0.62; p < 0.05) and most of the categories significantly correlated with FEV{sub 1}. Differences between patients with relevant loss of FEV{sub 1} (>3%/year) and normal course were only significant for MR-CF-S (p < 0.05) but not for clinical parameters. Centrilobular opacity (CO) was the most promising score category for prediction of a decline of FEV{sub 1} (area under curve: whole cohort 0.69; subgroup 0.86). MR-CF-S is promising to predict a loss of lung function. CO seems to be a particular finding in CF patients with an abnormal course. (orig.)

  10. Supporting the Co-operative Organisation of Rational Energy Use (SCORE). Romania Country Document

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-10-01

    Energy efficiency improvements in the various end-use sectors constitute a very substantial saving potential, which presently is insufficiently addressed in Central and Eastern Europe. For that reason the SCORE concept has been initiated. SCORE stands for 'Supporting the Cooperative Organisation of Rational Energy Use'. SCORE is a Netherlands society to society programme, aiming at assisting the social transformation in the Central and Eastern European countries through projects and actions aiming at improvements in environmental protection and energy end-use sectors. SCORE is managed by the Netherlands Agency for Energy and the Environment (Novem) in partnership with local agencies in Central and Eastern Europe. The SCORE Country Document is based on: Survey on the existing policies and measures for energy efficiency, identified barriers, and the priorities for energy efficiency improvement in the country. The survey was carried out among some of the most important actors in this area by interviews, supported by filling in a questionnaire in a common format. Review of the existing strategic and regulatory documents and policy papers, different information sources like studies, reports, Internet sites. In chapter 2 the qualitative and quantitative situation in the field of energy supply and consumption is presented. In chapter 3 several topics will be addressed to provide insight into the national energy efficiency and climate change policy, a review, of the actors, with their tasks and responsibilities, the domestic programmes and initiatives as well as the foreign assistance programmes and initiatives. Chapter 4 includes the bottlenecks and problems identified to improve the energy efficiency situation in Romania. In chapter 5 some remarks are made on the criteria for SCORE projects

  11. Health Priorities in French-Speaking Swiss Cantons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Philippe Chastonay

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available In Switzerland, the federal authorities, the cantons, and the communes share the responsibility of healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion policies. Yet, the cantons are in most health matters independent in their decisions, thus defining as a matter of fact their own health priorities. We examined and analysed the content of the disease prevention and health promotion plans elaborated during the last decade in six French-speaking cantons with different political contexts and resources, but quite similar population health data, in order to identify the set health priorities. The plans appear significantly inhomogeneous in their structure, scope and priorities. Most of the formal documents are short, in the 16 to 40 pages range. Core values such as equity, solidarity and sustainability are explicitly put forward in 2/6 cantonal plans. Priority health issues shared by all 6 cantons are “physical activity/sedentariness” and “nutrition/food.” Mental health is explicitly mentioned in 5 cantonal plans, whereas tobacco and alcohol consumptions are mentioned 4 times. Less attention has been given to topics that appear as major public health challenges at present and in the future in Switzerland, eg, ageing of the population, rise of social inequalities, increase of vulnerable populations. Little attention has also been paid to issues like domestic violence or healthy work environments. Despite some heterogeneity, there is a common base that should make inter-cantonal collaborations possible and coordination with national strategies easily feasible.

  12. ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY IN THE CONDITIONS OF PRIORITY DEVELOPMENT AREAS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. V. Gruzdeva

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This article presents an analysis of the most important issues in priority development areas, including the commitment of the Kamchatka region in which such territory is focused primarily on the development of tourism. The relevance of the article due to the increase in the activity of creation of territories of operahouse development in Russia.Goal/objectives. The purpose of this article is to identify both advantages and disadvantages of priority development areas as a mechanism of economic development. To achieve this goal, the author formulated and solved two tasks – analysis of theoretical questions of development of territories of priority development and evaluation of a practical example of creating such a site.Methodology. The theoretical basis of the research was normative legal acts devoted to the question of priority development areas and strategic documents of the Kamchatka region. As a methodological basis of applied methods: analysis, synthesis, analogy, comparison, induction and deduction.Results. Found that despite the existing shortcomings and limitations, the creation of territories of priority development is an eff ective tool for the development of entrepreneurship.Conclusions/significance. Creation within the country's territory, favorable for attracting long-term investment, is a widespread global practice to attract large companies. In Russia, this tool is relatively new, but is already actively used for the development of entrepreneurial activities in troubled regions.This tool provides its residents with sufficient opportunities to gain competitive advantage, accordingly, is a critical study of all questions of implementation and follow-up work of priority development areas, given companies' business activities both within and outside the area.

  13. Setting health priorities in a community: a case example

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fábio Alexandre Melo do Rego Sousa

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To describe the methodology used in the process of setting health priorities for community intervention in a community of older adults. METHODS Based on the results of a health diagnosis related to active aging, a prioritization process was conceived to select the priority intervention problem. The process comprised four successive phases of problem analysis and classification: (1 grouping by level of similarity, (2 classification according to epidemiological criteria, (3 ordering by experts, and (4 application of the Hanlon method. These stages combined, in an integrated manner, the views of health team professionals, community nursing and gerontology experts, and the actual community. RESULTS The first stage grouped the identified problems by level of similarity, comprising a body of 19 issues for analysis. In the second stage these problems were classified by the health team members by epidemiological criteria (size, vulnerability, and transcendence. The nine most relevant problems resulting from the second stage of the process were submitted to expert analysis and the five most pertinent problems were selected. The last step identified the priority issue for intervention in this specific community with the participation of formal and informal community leaders: Low Social Interaction in Community Participation. CONCLUSIONS The prioritization process is a key step in health planning, enabling the identification of priority problems to intervene in a given community at a given time. There are no default formulas for selecting priority issues. It is up to each community intervention team to define its own process with different methods/techniques that allow the identification of and intervention in needs classified as priority by the community.

  14. Public Issue Priority Formation: Media Agenda-Setting and Social Interaction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Jian-Hua; And Others

    1993-01-01

    Presents a mathematical model to explain the public's issue priority by integrating media agenda-setting and social interaction. Finds that the public's issue priority was influenced by both media and social interaction. (RS)

  15. Translation of the Manchester Clinical Supervision Scale (MCSS) into Danish and a preliminary psychometric validation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buus, Niels; Gonge, Henrik

    2013-01-01

    for the translation of the MCSS from English into Danish and to present a preliminary psychometric validation of the Danish version of the scale. Methods included a formal translation/back-translation procedure and statistical analyses. The sample consisted of MCSS scores from 139 Danish mental health nursing staff...

  16. Priority pricing in electricity supply. An application for Israel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Beenstock, Michael; Goldin, Ephraim [Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Economics, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem (Israel)

    1997-06-01

    It is well known that in the event of a shortage in generation capacity, it is inefficient if the electricity utility cuts off customers randomly. It is preferable to set up a market in service priority in which customers who have a greater need pay more for the right not to be cut off. We use an econometric model of outage costs in Israel to calculate the menu of priority rates by season and time of day. Top priority rates range from zero, when the loss-of-load probability (LOLP) is zero, to 8 cents (US) per kWh when the LOLP is greatest

  17. Priorities for family building among patients and partners seeking treatment for infertility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duthie, Elizabeth A; Cooper, Alexandra; Davis, Joseph B; Sandlow, Jay; Schoyer, Katherine D; Strawn, Estil; Flynn, Kathryn E

    2017-04-05

    Infertility treatment decisions require people to balance multiple priorities. Within couples, partners must also negotiate priorities with one another. In this study, we assessed the family-building priorities of couples prior to their first consultations with a reproductive specialist. Participants were couples who had upcoming first consultations with a reproductive specialist (N = 59 couples (59 women; 59 men)). Prior to the consultation, couples separately completed the Family-Building Priorities Tool, which tasked them with ranking from least to most important 10 factors associated with family building. We describe the highest (top three) and lowest (bottom three) priorities, the alignment of priorities within couples, and test for differences in prioritization between men and women within couples (Wilcoxon signed rank test). Maintaining a close and satisfying relationship with one's partner was ranked as a high priority by majorities of men and women, and in 25% of couples, both partners ranked this factor as their most important priority for family building. Majorities of men and women also ranked building a family in a way that does not make infertility obvious to others as a low priority, and in 27% of couples, both partners ranked this factor as the least important priority for family building. There were also differences within couples that involved either men or women ranking a particular goal more highly than their partners. More women ranked two factors higher than did their partners: 1) that I become a parent one way or another (p = 0.015) and 2) that I have a child in the next year or two (p maintain a close relationship with my partner (p = 0.034), and 4) that I avoid side effects from treatment (p building paths should be aware that: (1) patients balance multiple priorities as a part of, or beside, becoming a parent; and (2) patients and their partners may not be aligned in their prioritization of achieving parenthood. For

  18. Setting Healthcare Priorities at the Macro and Meso Levels: A Framework for Evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barasa, Edwine W; Molyneux, Sassy; English, Mike; Cleary, Susan

    2015-09-16

    Priority setting in healthcare is a key determinant of health system performance. However, there is no widely accepted priority setting evaluation framework. We reviewed literature with the aim of developing and proposing a framework for the evaluation of macro and meso level healthcare priority setting practices. We systematically searched Econlit, PubMed, CINAHL, and EBSCOhost databases and supplemented this with searches in Google Scholar, relevant websites and reference lists of relevant papers. A total of 31 papers on evaluation of priority setting were identified. These were supplemented by broader theoretical literature related to evaluation of priority setting. A conceptual review of selected papers was undertaken. Based on a synthesis of the selected literature, we propose an evaluative framework that requires that priority setting practices at the macro and meso levels of the health system meet the following conditions: (1) Priority setting decisions should incorporate both efficiency and equity considerations as well as the following outcomes; (a) Stakeholder satisfaction, (b) Stakeholder understanding, (c) Shifted priorities (reallocation of resources), and (d) Implementation of decisions. (2) Priority setting processes should also meet the procedural conditions of (a) Stakeholder engagement, (b) Stakeholder empowerment, (c) Transparency, (d) Use of evidence, (e) Revisions, (f) Enforcement, and (g) Being grounded on community values. Available frameworks for the evaluation of priority setting are mostly grounded on procedural requirements, while few have included outcome requirements. There is, however, increasing recognition of the need to incorporate both consequential and procedural considerations in priority setting practices. In this review, we adapt an integrative approach to develop and propose a framework for the evaluation of priority setting practices at the macro and meso levels that draws from these complementary schools of thought. © 2015

  19. Setting Healthcare Priorities at the Macro and Meso Levels: A Framework for Evaluation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barasa, Edwine W.; Molyneux, Sassy; English, Mike; Cleary, Susan

    2015-01-01

    Background: Priority setting in healthcare is a key determinant of health system performance. However, there is no widely accepted priority setting evaluation framework. We reviewed literature with the aim of developing and proposing a framework for the evaluation of macro and meso level healthcare priority setting practices. Methods: We systematically searched Econlit, PubMed, CINAHL, and EBSCOhost databases and supplemented this with searches in Google Scholar, relevant websites and reference lists of relevant papers. A total of 31 papers on evaluation of priority setting were identified. These were supplemented by broader theoretical literature related to evaluation of priority setting. A conceptual review of selected papers was undertaken. Results: Based on a synthesis of the selected literature, we propose an evaluative framework that requires that priority setting practices at the macro and meso levels of the health system meet the following conditions: (1) Priority setting decisions should incorporate both efficiency and equity considerations as well as the following outcomes; (a) Stakeholder satisfaction, (b) Stakeholder understanding, (c) Shifted priorities (reallocation of resources), and (d) Implementation of decisions. (2) Priority setting processes should also meet the procedural conditions of (a) Stakeholder engagement, (b) Stakeholder empowerment, (c) Transparency, (d) Use of evidence, (e) Revisions, (f) Enforcement, and (g) Being grounded on community values. Conclusion: Available frameworks for the evaluation of priority setting are mostly grounded on procedural requirements, while few have included outcome requirements. There is, however, increasing recognition of the need to incorporate both consequential and procedural considerations in priority setting practices. In this review, we adapt an integrative approach to develop and propose a framework for the evaluation of priority setting practices at the macro and meso levels that draws from these

  20. Setting Healthcare Priorities at the Macro and Meso Levels: A Framework for Evaluation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edwine W. Barasa

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Background Priority setting in healthcare is a key determinant of health system performance. However, there is no widely accepted priority setting evaluation framework. We reviewed literature with the aim of developing and proposing a framework for the evaluation of macro and meso level healthcare priority setting practices. Methods We systematically searched Econlit, PubMed, CINAHL, and EBSCOhost databases and supplemented this with searches in Google Scholar, relevant websites and reference lists of relevant papers. A total of 31 papers on evaluation of priority setting were identified. These were supplemented by broader theoretical literature related to evaluation of priority setting. A conceptual review of selected papers was undertaken. Results Based on a synthesis of the selected literature, we propose an evaluative framework that requires that priority setting practices at the macro and meso levels of the health system meet the following conditions: (1 Priority setting decisions should incorporate both efficiency and equity considerations as well as the following outcomes; (a Stakeholder satisfaction, (b Stakeholder understanding, (c Shifted priorities (reallocation of resources, and (d Implementation of decisions. (2 Priority setting processes should also meet the procedural conditions of (a Stakeholder engagement, (b Stakeholder empowerment, (c Transparency, (d Use of evidence, (e Revisions, (f Enforcement, and (g Being grounded on community values. Conclusion Available frameworks for the evaluation of priority setting are mostly grounded on procedural requirements, while few have included outcome requirements. There is, however, increasing recognition of the need to incorporate both consequential and procedural considerations in priority setting practices. In this review, we adapt an integrative approach to develop and propose a framework for the evaluation of priority setting practices at the macro and meso levels that draws from

  1. Research Priorities for Business Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schultheis, Robert A.

    1971-01-01

    Most pressing problems representing research priorities for the business education profession do not fit into such narrow functional categories as typewriting and shorthand. Rather the problems critical to survival of our discipline in the decade ahead are more of an interdisciplinary nature. (Author)

  2. TALENT MANAGEMENT - A STRATEGIC PRIORITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matei Mirabela-Constanta

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Companies facing the new economic world, dominated by demographic, macroeconomic, and technological changes need to see talent management as a business priority in order to survive. At the same time, the world economic crisis ads pressure over managers, f

  3. Involving patients in setting priorities for healthcare improvement: a cluster randomized trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boivin, Antoine; Lehoux, Pascale; Lacombe, Réal; Burgers, Jako; Grol, Richard

    2014-02-20

    Patients are increasingly seen as active partners in healthcare. While patient involvement in individual clinical decisions has been extensively studied, no trial has assessed how patients can effectively be involved in collective healthcare decisions affecting the population. The goal of this study was to test the impact of involving patients in setting healthcare improvement priorities for chronic care at the community level. Cluster randomized controlled trial. Local communities were randomized in intervention (priority setting with patient involvement) and control sites (no patient involvement). Communities in a canadian region were required to set priorities for improving chronic disease management in primary care, from a list of 37 validated quality indicators. Patients were consulted in writing, before participating in face-to-face deliberation with professionals. Professionals established priorities among themselves, without patient involvement. A total of 172 individuals from six communities participated in the study, including 83 chronic disease patients, and 89 health professionals. The primary outcome was the level of agreement between patients' and professionals' priorities. Secondary outcomes included professionals' intention to use the selected quality indicators, and the costs of patient involvement. Priorities established with patients were more aligned with core generic components of the Medical Home and Chronic Care Model, including: access to primary care, self-care support, patient participation in clinical decisions, and partnership with community organizations (p Priorities established by professionals alone placed more emphasis on the technical quality of single disease management. The involvement intervention fostered mutual influence between patients and professionals, which resulted in a 41% increase in agreement on common priorities (95%CI: +12% to +58%, p priorities. Patient involvement can change priorities driving healthcare

  4. Setting research priorities for maternal, newborn, child health and nutrition in India by engaging experts from 256 indigenous institutions contributing over 4000 research ideas: a CHNRI exercise by ICMR and INCLEN.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arora, Narendra K; Mohapatra, Archisman; Gopalan, Hema S; Wazny, Kerri; Thavaraj, Vasantha; Rasaily, Reeta; Das, Manoj K; Maheshwari, Meenu; Bahl, Rajiv; Qazi, Shamim A; Black, Robert E; Rudan, Igor

    2017-06-01

    Health research in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) is often driven by donor priorities rather than by the needs of the countries where the research takes place. This lack of alignment of donor's priorities with local research need may be one of the reasons why countries fail to achieve set goals for population health and nutrition. India has a high burden of morbidity and mortality in women, children and infants. In order to look forward toward the Sustainable Development Goals, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the INCLEN Trust International (INCLEN) employed the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative's (CHNRI) research priority setting method for maternal, neonatal, child health and nutrition with the timeline of 2016-2025. The exercise was the largest to-date use of the CHNRI methodology, both in terms of participants and ideas generated and also expanded on the methodology. CHNRI is a crowdsourcing-based exercise that involves using the collective intelligence of a group of stakeholders, usually researchers, to generate and score research options against a set of criteria. This paper reports on a large umbrella CHNRI that was divided into four theme-specific CHNRIs (maternal, newborn, child health and nutrition). A National Steering Group oversaw the exercise and four theme-specific Research Sub-Committees technically supported finalizing the scoring criteria and refinement of research ideas for the respective thematic areas. The exercise engaged participants from 256 institutions across India - 4003 research ideas were generated from 498 experts which were consolidated into 373 research options (maternal health: 122; newborn health: 56; child health: 101; nutrition: 94); 893 experts scored these against five criteria (answerability, relevance, equity, innovation and out-of-box thinking, investment on research). Relative weights to the criteria were assigned by 79 members from the Larger Reference Group. Given India's diversity

  5. Sources of unbounded priority inversions in real-time systems and a comparative study of possible solutions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davari, Sadegh; Sha, Lui

    1992-01-01

    In the design of real-time systems, tasks are often assigned priorities. Preemptive priority driven schedulers are used to schedule tasks to meet the timing requirements. Priority inversion is the term used to describe the situation when a higher priority task's execution is delayed by lower priority tasks. Priority inversion can occur when there is contention for resources among tasks of different priorities. The duration of priority inversion could be long enough to cause tasks to miss their dead lines. Priority inversion cannot be completely eliminated. However, it is important to identify sources of priority inversion and minimize the duration of priority inversion. In this paper, a comprehensive review of the problem of and solutions to unbounded priority inversion is presented.

  6. Priority-setting in health systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Byskov, Jens

    2013-01-01

    improvements work similarly in the vast array of social and other local contextual factors. Local, fair and accountable priority setting processes are neccessary to make the best of ever shifting national level strategies and priorities. An approach is described, which can assist in the involvement......DBL - under core funding from Danish International Development Agency (Danida) 2013 WHY HAVE HEALTH SYSTEMS WHEN EFFECTIVE INTERVENTIONS ARE KNOWN? Case: A teenage mother lives in a poor sub-Saharan village next to a big lake. The area is known to have malaria transmission all year around......, and surveys in nearby villages have shown a high prevalence of intestinal helminthiasis and schistosomiasis. The HIV prevalence in similar rural settings is about 10% in her age group. She has been losing weight over the last months and now her one-year-old child feels hot and is not eating well. She has...

  7. Preliminary Data on the Ecological Requirements of the Invasive Spiny-Cheek Crayfish in the Lower Danube

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pîrvu Mălina

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Water quality and properties of the riverbed often shape the community structure of aquatic ecosystems, occasionally sustaining the expansion of non-native species. This study aims to provide preliminary data on the ecological preferences of the invasive species Orconectes limosus, its control, and the protection of the native stock is an European priority. In order to assess the species ability to colonize small river systems, relevant tributaries in the invaded Danube sector were monitored. Statistical test indicates a preference for deep and warm rivers, low water velocity and also high concentrations of calcium.

  8. Application of economic principles in healthcare priority setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bate, Angela; Mitton, Craig

    2006-06-01

    In healthcare, resources are often insufficient to meet all claims on them. In this respect, resources are considered scarce and have to be managed by prioritizing between competing claims. Economics as a discipline explicitly addresses this reality by acknowledging resource scarcity. However, the extent to which economics actually influences such prioritizing decisions in healthcare is unclear. The purpose of this paper is to review the use of economics in priority setting decision making. We outline the key principles of economics as they apply to priority setting and review the methods reported in the literature with respect to these. We find that these methods, even economic methods (e.g., those typically used in conducting economic evaluations such as cost-effectiveness analyses) do not tend to explicitly incorporate economic principles. We argue therefore that these methods, when applied to the context of priority setting, are not sufficient and that what is required is a broader framework that can incorporate the output from economic methods yet also be pragmatically applicable. We then go on to present an alternative approach - namely program budgeting and marginal analysis. Finally, we put forward our case for using program budgeting and marginal analysis in priority setting practice and set out some future research challenges.

  9. Priority pollutant analysis of MHD-derived combustion products

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parks, Katherine D.

    An important factor in developing Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) for commercial applications is environmental impact. Consequently, an effort was initiated to identify and quantify any possible undesirable minute chemical constituents in MHD waste streams, with special emphasis on the priority pollutant species. This paper discusses how priority pollutant analyses were used to accomplish the following goals at the University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI): comparison of the composition of solid combustion products collected from various locations along a prototypical MHD flow train during the firing of Illinois No. 6 and Montana Rosebud coals; comparison of solid waste products generated from MHD and conventional power plant technologies; and identification of a suitable disposal option for various MHD derived combustion products. Results from our ongoing research plans for gas phase sampling and analysis of priority pollutant volatiles, semi-volatiles, and metals are discussed.

  10. Environmental Survey preliminary report, Pinellas Plant, Largo, Florida

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1987-11-01

    The purpose of this report is to present the preliminary findings made during the Environmental Survey, conducted May 11 through 22, 1987, at the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Pinellas Plant in Largo, Florida. As a Preliminary Report, the contents are subject to revisions, which will be made in a forthcoming Interim Report, based on Albuquerque Operations Office review and comments on technical accuracy, the results of the sampling and analyses, and other information that may come to the Survey team's attention prior to issuance of the Interim Report. The Pinellas Plant is currently operated for DOE by the General Electric Company-Neutron Devices Department (GENDD). The Pinellas Survey is part of the larger DOE-wide Environmental Survey effort announced by Secretary John S. Herrington on September 18, 1985. The purpose of this effort is to identify, via ''no fault'' baseline Surveys, existing environmental problems are areas of environmental risk at DOE facilities and to rank them on a DOE-wide basis. This ranking will enable DOE to more effectively establish priorities for addressing environmental problems and allocate the resources necessary to correct these problems. Because the Survey is ''no fault'' and is not an ''audit,'' it is not designed to identify specific isolated incidents of noncompliance or to analyze environmental management practices. Such incidents and/or management practices will, however, be used in the Survey as a means of identifying existing and potential environmental problems. 55 refs., 37 figs., 37 tabs

  11. 40 CFR 60.16 - Priority list.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... PERFORMANCE FOR NEW STATIONARY SOURCES General Provisions § 60.16 Priority list. Prioritized Major Source... and Resins: Polyethylene 19. Charcoal Production 20. Synthetic Rubber (a) Tire manufacture (b) SBR...

  12. Exploring stakeholders' views of medical education research priorities: a national survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dennis, Ashley A; Cleland, Jennifer A; Johnston, Peter; Ker, Jean S; Lough, Murray; Rees, Charlotte E

    2014-11-01

    Setting research priorities is important when exploring complex issues with limited resources. Only two countries (Canada and New Zealand) have previously conducted priority-setting exercises for medical education research (MER). This study aimed to identify the views of multiple stakeholders on MER priorities in Scotland. This study utilised a two-stage design to explore the views of stakeholders across the medical education continuum using online questionnaires. In Stage 1, key informants outlined their top three MER priorities and justified their choices. In Stage 2, participants rated 21 topics generated in Stage 1 according to importance and identified or justified their top priorities. A combination of qualitative (i.e. framework analysis) and quantitative (e.g. exploratory factor analysis) data analyses were employed. Views were gathered from over 1300 stakeholders. A total of 21 subthemes (or priority areas) identified in Stage 1 were explored further in Stage 2. The 21 items loaded onto five factors: the culture of learning together in the workplace; enhancing and valuing the role of educators; curriculum integration and innovation; bridging the gap between assessment and feedback, and building a resilient workforce. Within Stage 2, the top priority subthemes were: balancing conflicts between service and training; providing useful feedback; promoting resiliency and well-being; creating an effective workplace learning culture; selecting and recruiting doctors to reflect need, and ensuring that curricula prepare trainees for practice. Participant characteristics were related to the perceived importance of the factors. Finally, five themes explaining why participants prioritised items were identified: patient safety; quality of care; investing for the future; policy and political agendas, and evidence-based education. This study indicates that, across the spectrum of stakeholders and geography, certain MER priorities are consistently identified. These

  13. Priority Questions and Horizon Scanning for Conservation: A Comparative Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kark, Salit; Sutherland, William J.; Shanas, Uri; Klass, Keren; Achisar, Hila; Dayan, Tamar; Gavrieli, Yael; Justo-Hanani, Ronit; Mandelik, Yael; Orion, Nir; Pargament, David; Portman, Michelle; Reisman-Berman, Orna; Safriel, Uriel N.; Schaffer, Gad; Steiner, Noa; Tauber, Israel; Levin, Noam

    2016-01-01

    Several projects aimed at identifying priority issues for conservation with high relevance to policy have recently been completed in several countries. Two major types of projects have been undertaken, aimed at identifying (i) policy-relevant questions most imperative to conservation and (ii) horizon scanning topics, defined as emerging issues that are expected to have substantial implications for biodiversity conservation and policy in the future. Here, we provide the first overview of the outcomes of biodiversity and conservation-oriented projects recently completed around the world using this framework. We also include the results of the first questions and horizon scanning project completed for a Mediterranean country. Overall, the outcomes of the different projects undertaken (at the global scale, in the UK, US, Canada, Switzerland and in Israel) were strongly correlated in terms of the proportion of questions and/or horizon scanning topics selected when comparing different topic areas. However, some major differences were found across regions. There was large variation among regions in the percentage of proactive (i.e. action and response oriented) versus descriptive (non-response oriented) priority questions and in the emphasis given to socio-political issues. Substantial differences were also found when comparing outcomes of priority questions versus horizon scanning projects undertaken for the same region. For example, issues related to climate change, human demography and marine ecosystems received higher priority as horizon scanning topics, while ecosystem services were more emphasized as current priority questions. We suggest that future initiatives aimed at identifying priority conservation questions and horizon scanning topics should allow simultaneous identification of both current and future priority issues, as presented here for the first time. We propose that further emphasis on social-political issues should be explicitly integrated into future

  14. A Comparative Study of Glasgow Coma Scale and Full Outline of Unresponsiveness Scores for Predicting Long-Term Outcome After Brain Injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McNett, Molly M; Amato, Shelly; Philippbar, Sue Ann

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this study was to compare predictive ability of hospital Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores and scores obtained using a novel coma scoring tool (the Full Outline of Unresponsiveness [FOUR] scale) on long-term outcomes among patients with traumatic brain injury. Preliminary research of the FOUR scale suggests that it is comparable with GCS for predicting mortality and functional outcome at hospital discharge. No research has investigated relationships between coma scores and outcome 12 months postinjury. This is a prospective cohort study. Data were gathered on adult patients with traumatic brain injury admitted to urban level I trauma center. GCS and FOUR scores were assigned at 24 and 72 hours and at hospital discharge. Glasgow Outcome Scale scores were assigned at 6 and 12 months. The sample size was n = 107. Mean age was 53.5 (SD = ±21, range = 18-91) years. Spearman correlations were comparable and strongest among discharge GCS and FOUR scores and 12-month outcome (r = .73, p coma scores performed best for both tools, with GCS discharge scores predictive in multivariate models.

  15. Identifying national freshwater ecosystem priority areas

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Nel, JL

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available This presentation highlights the use of systematic conservation planning to identify priority areas for managing the health of freshwater ecosystems and their associated biodiversity and ecosystem services....

  16. Political priorities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ren, Jingzheng

    2016-01-01

    …THE POLITICAL LEADERS of the local government of Chongqing, China, vigorously promote a low-carbon economy and sustainable development to mitigate environmental pollution. Accordingly, research grants focused on this issue were supported by the government, and our group obtained a grant for a pr......…THE POLITICAL LEADERS of the local government of Chongqing, China, vigorously promote a low-carbon economy and sustainable development to mitigate environmental pollution. Accordingly, research grants focused on this issue were supported by the government, and our group obtained a grant...... for a project about industrial park planning and design.…In my view, political priorities based on correct decision-making and market requirements are beneficial for researchers....

  17. McMaster-Toronto Arthritis Patient Preference Disability Questionnaire sensitivity to change in low back pain: influence of shifts in priorities.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katherine Sanchez

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To assess the sensitivity to change of the McMaster Toronto Arthritis Patient Preference Disability Questionnaire (MACTAR in chronic low back pain (CLBP and shifts in patients' priorities of disabling activities over time. METHODS: A prospective longitudinal survey of 100 patients (38 males with CLBP in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Evaluation at baseline and 6 months by the MACTAR, Quebec Back Pain Disability Questionnaire (QUEBEC, Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HAD, Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ, Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ, and pain and handicap visual analogue scales (VASs. Patients' perceived improvement or worsening of condition was assessed at 6 months. Effect size (ES and Standardized response mean (SRM and effect size (ES were used to evaluate sensitivity to change of the MACTAR. RESULTS: The MACTAR SRM and ES values (SRM = 0.25; ES = 0.37 were among the highest for the instruments evaluated. For patients considering their condition as improved, the SRM was 0.66 and the ES 1. The 3 disability domains, classified by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF, most often cited as priorities at baseline remained the most cited at follow-up: mobility (40.9% of patients; community, social and civic life (22.7%; and domestic life (22.4%. At 6 months, 48 patients shifted their priorities, for a decrease in MACTAR SRM and ES values for patients considering their condition improved and an increase in these values for those considering their condition deteriorated. CONCLUSIONS: Although the MACTAR has similar sensitivity to change as other outcome measures widely used in CLBP, shifts in patient priorities over time are common and influence scores and sensitivity to change.

  18. 32 CFR 245.21 - ESCAT air traffic priority list.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false ESCAT air traffic priority list. 245.21 Section 245.21 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (CONTINUED) MISCELLANEOUS PLAN FOR THE EMERGENCY SECURITY CONTROL OF AIR TRAFFIC (ESCAT) ESCAT Air Traffic Priority List (EATPL) § 245.21 ESCAT air traffic...

  19. 12 CFR 360.3 - Priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... include wages or salaries of employees of the association; (3) Claims for wages and salaries, including... proved to the satisfaction of the receiver shall have priority in the following order: (1) Administrative... reasonable expenses incurred by employees which were authorized and reimbursable under a pre-existing expense...

  20. High priority tank sampling and analysis report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, T.M.

    1998-01-01

    In July 1993, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Board issued Recommendation 93-5 (Conway 1993) which noted that there was insufficient tank waste technical information and the pace to obtain it was too slow to ensure that Hanford Site wastes could be safely stored, that associated operations could be conducted safely, and that future disposal data requirements could be met. In response, the US Department of Energy, in May 1996, issued Revision 1 of the Recommendation 93-5 Implementation Plan (DOE-RL 1996). The Implementation Plan presented a modified approach to achieve the original plan's objectives, concentrating on actions necessary to ensure that wastes can be safely stored, that operations can be safely conducted, and that timely characterization information for the tank waste Disposal Program could be obtained. The Implementation Plan proposed 28 High Priority tanks for near term core sampling and analysis, which along with sampling and analysis of other non-High Priority tanks, could provide the scientific and technical data to confirm assumptions, calibrate models, and.measure safety related phenomenology of the waste. When the analysis results of the High Priority and other-tank sampling were reviewed, it was expected that a series of 12 questions, 9 related to safety issues and 3 related to planning for the disposal process, should be answered allowing key decisions to be made. This report discusses the execution of the Implementation Plan and the results achieved in addressing the questions. Through sampling and analysis, all nine safety related questions have been answered and extensive data for the three disposal planning related questions have been collected, allowing for key decision making. Many more tanks than the original 28 High Priority tanks identified in the Implementation Plan were sampled and analyzed. Twenty-one High Priority tanks and 85 other tanks were core sampled and used to address the questions. Thirty-eight additional tanks were auger

  1. Multilevel processor-sharing algorithm for M/G/1 systems with priorities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yassouridis, A.; Koller, R.

    1983-01-01

    The well-known multilevel processor-sharing algorithm for M/G/1 systems without priorities is extended to M/G/1 systems with priority classes. The average response time t/sub j/(x) and the average waiting time w/sub j/(x) for a j-class job, which requires a total service of x sec, are analytically calculated. Some figures demonstrate how the priority classes and the total number of different levels affect the behaviour of the functions t/sub j/(x) and w/sub j/(x). In addition, the foreground-background algorithm with priorities, which is not yet covered in the literature, is treated as a special case of the multilevel processor-sharing algorithm. 8 references.

  2. Priority classes and weighted constrained equal awards rules for the claims problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Szwagrzak, Karol

    2015-01-01

    . They are priority-augmented versions of the standard weighted constrained equal awards rules, also known as weighted gains methods (Moulin, 2000): individuals are sorted into priority classes; the resource is distributed among the individuals in the first priority class using a weighted constrained equal awards...... rule; if some of the resource is left over, then it is distributed among the individuals in the second priority class, again using a weighted constrained equal awards rule; the distribution carries on in this way until the resource is exhausted. Our characterization extends to a generalized version...

  3. Best Practices and Processes for Choosing Research Priorities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Briscoe, M. G.

    2015-12-01

    Individuals, teams, departments, organizations, funding agencies, committees, and others all need to select desirable research priorities from many possible alternatives. One cannot do everything, one cannot afford everything, so what to select? Essays and reports since Weinberg (1963) have suggested criteria for choosing science topics. Popper et al (2000) reviewed and summarized all that had gone before in the subject of setting priorities; their main conclusions were that the underlying principles were the promotion of excellence and relevance. Sea Change (2015) from the NRC/OSB focused on four criteria. From most important to least important, they were transformative science, societal impacts, readiness, and partnership potential; these four criteria embodied the essence of the suggestions from Weinberg on, framed with the pragmatism of ORPISS (2007). Getting to the final set of priorities from many candidates involves a sequence of formal or informal processes, only the last of which is the application of the selected, weighted criteria. As developed by professional prioritization experts, the best-practice steps and processes are: Collection of input candidates from the community. Clustering and parsing/rephrasing of the input to eliminate redundancy and repetition and develop statements at a useful level of specificity. (NOTE:there is no counting of input to see how many times a particular topic was mentioned. The goal is diversity in the input, not a popularity contest.) Development of the selection criteria, and weighting the chosen criteria. Application of the selection criteria to the clustered/adjusted candidates. Finally, two more best practices: Do continuing sanity checks, to avoid losing sight of the goals of the effort. Resist the temptation to just sit around a table and talk about it to arrive at the priorities, which depends too much on who the specific members of the prioritization team are, and provides no transparency or explanation of why

  4. Posterior Urethroplasty Complexity and Prognosis Can be Described by a Novel Method: Posterior Urethral Stenosis Score.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Lin; Lv, Xiangguo; Jin, Chongrui; Guo, Hailin; Shu, Huiquan; Fu, Qiang; Sa, Yinglong

    2018-02-01

    To develop a standardized PU-score (posterior urethral stenosis score), with the goal of using this scoring system as a preliminary predictor of surgical complexity and prognosis of posterior urethral stenosis. We retrospectively reviewed records of all patients who underwent posterior urethral surgery at our institution from 2013 to 2015. The PU-score is based on 5 components, namely etiology (1 or 2 points), location (1-3 points), length (1-3 points), urethral fistula (1 or 2 points), and posterior urethral false passage (1 point). We calculated the score of all patients and analyzed its association with surgical complexity, stenosis recurrence, intraoperative blood loss, erectile dysfunction, and urinary incontinence. There were 144 patients who underwent low complexity urethral surgery (direct vision internal urethrotomy, anastomosis with or without crural separation) with a mean score of 5.1 points, whereas 143 underwent high complexity urethroplasty (anastomosis with inferior pubectomy or urethrorectal fistula repair, perineal or scrotum skin flap urethroplasty, bladder flap urethroplasty) with a mean score of 6.9 points. The increase of PU-score was predictive of higher surgical complexity (P = .000), higher recurrence (P = .002), more intraoperative blood loss (P = .000), and decrease of preoperative (P = .037) or postoperative erectile function (P = .047). However, no association was observed between PU-score and urinary incontinence (P = .213). The PU-score is a novel and meaningful scoring system that describes the essential factors in determining the complexity and prognosis for posterior urethral stenosis. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  5. Research Priorities for NCD Prevention and Climate Change: An International Delphi Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colagiuri, Ruth; Boylan, Sinead; Morrice, Emily

    2015-10-16

    Climate change and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are arguably the greatest global challenges of the 21st Century. However, the confluence between them remains under-examined and there is little evidence of a comprehensive, systematic approach to identifying research priorities to mitigate their joint impact. Consequently, we: (i) convened a workshop of academics (n = 25) from the Worldwide Universities Network to identify priority areas at the interface between NCDs and climate change; (ii) conducted a Delphi survey of international opinion leaders in public health and relevant other disciplines; and (iii) convened an expert panel to review and advise on final priorities. Three research areas (water security; transport; conceptualising NCD harms to support policy formation) were listed among the top 10 priorities by >90% of Delphi respondents, and ranked among the top 12 priorities by >60% of respondents who ranked the order of priority. A fourth area (reducing the carbon footprint of cities) was ranked highest by the same >60% of respondents. Our results are consistent with existing frameworks on health and climate change, and extends them by focusing specifically on NCDs. Researching these priorities could progress understanding of climate change and NCDs, and inform global and national policy decisions for mitigating associated harms.

  6. Research Priorities for NCD Prevention and Climate Change: An International Delphi Survey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruth Colagiuri

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Climate change and non-communicable diseases (NCDs are arguably the greatest global challenges of the 21st Century. However, the confluence between them remains under-examined and there is little evidence of a comprehensive, systematic approach to identifying research priorities to mitigate their joint impact. Consequently, we: (i convened a workshop of academics (n = 25 from the Worldwide Universities Network to identify priority areas at the interface between NCDs and climate change; (ii conducted a Delphi survey of international opinion leaders in public health and relevant other disciplines; and (iii convened an expert panel to review and advise on final priorities. Three research areas (water security; transport; conceptualising NCD harms to support policy formation were listed among the top 10 priorities by >90% of Delphi respondents, and ranked among the top 12 priorities by >60% of respondents who ranked the order of priority. A fourth area (reducing the carbon footprint of cities was ranked highest by the same >60% of respondents. Our results are consistent with existing frameworks on health and climate change, and extends them by focusing specifically on NCDs. Researching these priorities could progress understanding of climate change and NCDs, and inform global and national policy decisions for mitigating associated harms.

  7. 76 FR 396 - Product Change-Priority Mail-Non-Published Rates

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-04

    ... POSTAL SERVICE Product Change--Priority Mail--Non-Published Rates AGENCY: Postal Service TM . ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: Postal Service notice of filing of a request with the Postal Regulatory... States Postal Service Concerning Priority Mail--Non-Published Rates and Notice of Filing Materials Under...

  8. Global research priorities for interpersonal violence prevention: a modified Delphi study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mikton, Christopher R; Tanaka, Masako; Tomlinson, Mark; Streiner, David L; Tonmyr, Lil; Lee, Bandy X; Fisher, Jane; Hegadoren, Kathy; Pim, Joam Evans; Wang, Shr-Jie Sharlenna; MacMillan, Harriet L

    2017-01-01

    To establish global research priorities for interpersonal violence prevention using a systematic approach. Research priorities were identified in a three-round process involving two surveys. In round 1, 95 global experts in violence prevention proposed research questions to be ranked in round 2. Questions were collated and organized according to the four-step public health approach to violence prevention. In round 2, 280 international experts ranked the importance of research in the four steps, and the various substeps, of the public health approach. In round 3, 131 international experts ranked the importance of detailed research questions on the public health step awarded the highest priority in round 2. In round 2, "developing, implementing and evaluating interventions" was the step of the public health approach awarded the highest priority for four of the six types of violence considered (i.e. child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, armed violence and sexual violence) but not for youth violence or elder abuse. In contrast, "scaling up interventions and evaluating their cost-effectiveness" was ranked lowest for all types of violence. In round 3, research into "developing, implementing and evaluating interventions" that addressed parenting or laws to regulate the use of firearms was awarded the highest priority. The key limitations of the study were response and attrition rates among survey respondents. However, these rates were in line with similar priority-setting exercises. These findings suggest it is premature to scale up violence prevention interventions. Developing and evaluating smaller-scale interventions should be the funding priority.

  9. Conclusions on severe accident research priorities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klein-Heßling, W.; Sonnenkalb, M.; Jacquemain, D.; Clément, B.; Raimond, E.; Dimmelmeier, H.; Azarian, G.; Ducros, G.; Journeau, C.; Herranz Puebla, L.E.; Schumm, A.; Miassoedov, A.; Kljenak, I.; Pascal, G.; Bechta, S.; Güntay, S.; Koch, M.K.; Ivanov, I.; Auvinen, A.; Lindholm, I.

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Estimation of research priorities related to severe accident phenomena. • Consideration of new topics, partly linked to the severe accidents at Fukushima. • Consideration of results of recent projects, e.g. SARNET, ASAMPSA2, OECD projects. - Abstract: The objectives of the SARNET network of excellence are to define and work on common research programs in the field of severe accidents in Gen. II–III nuclear power plants and to further develop common tools and methodologies for safety assessment in this area. In order to ensure that the research conducted on severe accidents is efficient and well-focused, it is necessary to periodically evaluate and rank the priorities of research. This was done at the end of 2008 by the Severe Accident Research Priority (SARP) group at the end of the SARNET project of the 6th Framework Programme of European Commission (FP6). This group has updated this work in the FP7 SARNET2 project by accounting for the recent experimental results, the remaining safety issues as e.g. highlighted by Level 2 PSA national studies and the results of the recent ASAMPSA2 FP7 project. These evaluation activities were conducted in close relation with the work performed under the auspices of international organizations like OECD or IAEA. The Fukushima-Daiichi severe accidents, which occurred while SARNET2 was running, had some effects on the prioritization and definition of new research topics. Although significant progress has been gained and simulation models (e.g. the ASTEC integral code, jointly developed by IRSN and GRS) were improved, leading to an increased confidence in the predictive capabilities for assessing the success potential of countermeasures and/or mitigation measures, most of the selected research topics in 2008 are still of high priority. But the Fukushima-Daiichi accidents underlined that research efforts had to focus still more to improve severe accident management efficiency

  10. A Fair Contention Access Scheme for Low-Priority Traffic in Wireless Body Area Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shagufta Henna

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Recently, wireless body area networks (WBANs have attracted significant consideration in ubiquitous healthcare. A number of medium access control (MAC protocols, primarily derived from the superframe structure of the IEEE 802.15.4, have been proposed in literature. These MAC protocols aim to provide quality of service (QoS by prioritizing different traffic types in WBANs. A contention access period (CAPwith high contention in priority-based MAC protocols can result in higher number of collisions and retransmissions. During CAP, traffic classes with higher priority are dominant over low-priority traffic; this has led to starvation of low-priority traffic, thus adversely affecting WBAN throughput, delay, and energy consumption. Hence, this paper proposes a traffic-adaptive priority-based superframe structure that is able to reduce contention in the CAP period, and provides a fair chance for low-priority traffic. Simulation results in ns-3 demonstrate that the proposed MAC protocol, called traffic- adaptive priority-based MAC (TAP-MAC, achieves low energy consumption, high throughput, and low latency compared to the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, and the most recent priority-based MAC protocol, called priority-based MAC protocol (PA-MAC.

  11. Clinically meaningful scores on pain catastrophizing before and after multidisciplinary rehabilitation: a prospective study of individuals with subacute pain after whiplash injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Whitney; Wideman, Timothy H; Sullivan, Michael J L

    2014-03-01

    Pain catastrophizing has emerged as a significant risk factor for problematic recovery after musculoskeletal injury. As such, there has been an increased focus on interventions that target patients' levels of catastrophizing. However, it is not presently clear how clinicians might best interpret scores on catastrophizing before and after treatment. Thus, the purpose of this study was to provide preliminary guidelines for the clinical interpretation of scores on pain catastrophizing among individuals with subacute pain after musculoskeletal injury. A sample of 166 occupationally disabled individuals with subacute pain due to a whiplash injury participated in this study. Participants completed a 7-week standardized multidisciplinary rehabilitation program aimed at fostering functional recovery. Participants completed the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) upon program commencement and completion. One year later, participants indicated their pain severity and involvement in employment activities. Separate receiver operating characteristic curve analyses were conducted to determine absolute pretreatment and posttreatment and percent change scores on the PCS that were best associated with clinically important levels of pain and employment status at the follow-up. An absolute pretreatment PCS score of 24 best identified patients according to follow-up clinical outcomes. Posttreatment PCS scores of 14 and 15 best identified patients with high follow-up pain intensity ratings and those who did not return to work, respectively. PCS reductions of approximately 38% to 44% were best associated with return to work and low pain intensity ratings at follow-up. The results indicate scores on catastrophizing before and after treatment that are clinically meaningful. These results may serve as preliminary guidelines to assess the clinical significance of interventions targeting pain catastrophizing in patients with subacute pain after musculoskeletal injury.

  12. PROMIS®-29 v2.0 profile physical and mental health summary scores.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hays, Ron D; Spritzer, Karen L; Schalet, Benjamin D; Cella, David

    2018-03-22

    The PROMIS-29 v2.0 profile assesses pain intensity using a single 0-10 numeric rating item and seven health domains (physical function, fatigue, pain interference, depressive symptoms, anxiety, ability to participate in social roles and activities, and sleep disturbance) using four items per domain. This paper describes the development of physical and mental health summary scores for the PROMIS-29 v2.0. We conducted factor analyses of PROMIS-29 scales on data collected from two internet panels (n = 3000 and 2000). Confirmatory factor analyses provided support for a physical health factor defined by physical function, pain (interference and intensity), and ability to participate in social roles and activities, and a mental health factor defined primarily by emotional distress (anxiety and depressive symptoms). Reliabilities for these two summary scores were 0.98 (physical health) and 0.97 (mental health). Correlations of the PROMIS-29 v2.0 physical and mental health summary scores with chronic conditions and other health-related quality of life measures were consistent with a priori hypotheses. This study develops and provides preliminary evidence supporting the reliability and validity of PROMIS-29 v2.0 physical and mental health summary scores that can be used in future studies to assess impacts of health care interventions and track changes in health over time. Further evaluation of these and alternative summary measures is recommended.

  13. The Theory of Dynamic Public Transit Priority with Dynamic Stochastic Park and Ride

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chengming Zhu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Public transit priority is very important for relieving traffic congestion. The connotation of dynamic public transit priority and dynamic stochastic park and ride is presented. Based on the point that the travel cost of public transit is not higher than the travel cost of car, how to determine the level of dynamic public transit priority is discussed. The traffic organization method of dynamic public transit priority is introduced. For dynamic stochastic park and ride, layout principle, scale, and charging standard are discussed. Traveler acceptability is high through the analysis of questionnaire survey. Dynamic public transit priority with dynamic stochastic park and ride has application feasibility.

  14. What are the dietary treatment research priorities for inflammatory bowel disease? A short report based on a priority setting partnership with the James Lind Alliance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lomer, M C; Hart, A L; Verjee, A; Daly, A; Solomon, J; Mclaughlin, J

    2017-12-01

    Treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) involves a multidisciplinary approach comprising medical management and sometimes surgery. Although diet is central to IBD management, the optimal diet for patients with IBD is uncertain. A UK collaborative partnership within the James Lind Alliance was set up between patients, clinicians and other stakeholders to develop research priorities in IBD. The aim of this short report is to provide a comprehensive summary of the research priority findings relating to diet in the treatment of IBD. The James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership process was used to develop research priorities in IBD. In brief, patients, clinicians and other stakeholders were invited to provide up to five treatment uncertainties in IBD. These uncertainties were collated, revised and ranked, leading to a final top 10 research questions in IBD. A total of 1671 uncertainties from 531 participants were collected and refined to exclude duplicates leaving 1253 uncertainties. Of these, 348 were categorised as diet-related and grouped according to topic. There were 206 uncertainties related to how diet can be used to treat IBD or alleviate symptoms. Seventy-two percent of diet-related questions came from patients. One broadly diet-related and two diet-specific treatment uncertainties were included in the top 10 research priorities for IBD. Dietary treatment options in the management of IBD are important research priorities. Almost three-quarters of diet related questions came from patients, who were particularly interested in how diet can impact disease activity and symptom control. © 2017 The British Dietetic Association Ltd.

  15. The priority queue as an example of hardware/software codesign

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Høeg, Flemming; Mellergaard, Niels; Staunstrup, Jørgen

    1994-01-01

    The paper identifies a number of issues that are believed to be important for hardware/software codesign. The issues are illustrated by a small comprehensible example: a priority queue. Based on simulations of a real application, we suggest a combined hardware/software realization of the priority...

  16. TOP PRIORITI QMS PRINCIPLES FOR ACHIEVING BUSINESS EXCELLENCE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aleksandar Vujović

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available The main target of this paper is to select top priority principles of QMS for achieving business excellence. This could be done from the standpoint of significant of principles. That means that. organization should make more attention to this principles in the way for making excellent results. This paper has been developed as a tendency of researchers in the Center for quality-Faculty of mechanical engineering in Podgorica to establish a model for improvement of business processes performances based on quality management system through comparison with top organizational performances characterized by criteria i.e. particularities of the business excellence model. Correlation of principles of the quality management system with QMS principles has been established to that effect. Weight coefficients have been also determined for each principle individually. Thereby key principles were identified, namely priorities in terms of achieving business excellence i.e. areas (principles were given priorities, that is to say principles that play the biggest part in achieving business excellence.

  17. Setting health research priorities using the CHNRI method: VI. Quantitative properties of human collective opinion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoshida, Sachiyo; Rudan, Igor; Cousens, Simon

    2016-06-01

    Crowdsourcing has become an increasingly important tool to address many problems - from government elections in democracies, stock market prices, to modern online tools such as TripAdvisor or Internet Movie Database (IMDB). The CHNRI method (the acronym for the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative) for setting health research priorities has crowdsourcing as the major component, which it uses to generate, assess and prioritize between many competing health research ideas. We conducted a series of analyses using data from a group of 91 scorers to explore the quantitative properties of their collective opinion. We were interested in the stability of their collective opinion as the sample size increases from 15 to 90. From a pool of 91 scorers who took part in a previous CHNRI exercise, we used sampling with replacement to generate multiple random samples of different size. First, for each sample generated, we identified the top 20 ranked research ideas, among 205 that were proposed and scored, and calculated the concordance with the ranking generated by the 91 original scorers. Second, we used rank correlation coefficients to compare the ranks assigned to all 205 proposed research ideas when samples of different size are used. We also analysed the original pool of 91 scorers to to look for evidence of scoring variations based on scorers' characteristics. The sample sizes investigated ranged from 15 to 90. The concordance for the top 20 scored research ideas increased with sample sizes up to about 55 experts. At this point, the median level of concordance stabilized at 15/20 top ranked questions (75%), with the interquartile range also generally stable (14-16). There was little further increase in overlap when the sample size increased from 55 to 90. When analysing the ranking of all 205 ideas, the rank correlation coefficient increased as the sample size increased, with a median correlation of 0.95 reached at the sample size of 45 experts (median of the rank

  18. Research priorities for shoulder surgery: results of the 2015 James Lind Alliance patient and clinician priority setting partnership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rangan, Amar; Upadhaya, Sheela; Regan, Sandra; Toye, Francine; Rees, Jonathan L

    2016-04-11

    To run a UK based James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership for 'Surgery for Common Shoulder Problems'. This was a nationally funded and conducted process. It was organised from a musculoskeletal research centre and Biomedical Research Unit in Oxford. UK shoulder patients, carers and clinicians, involved in treating patients with shoulder pain and shoulder problems that might require surgery. These were national electronic and paper surveys capturing treatment uncertainties that are important to shoulder patients, carers and clinicians. The outcomes relevant to this study were the survey results and rankings. The process took 18 months to complete, with 371 participants contributing 404 in scope questions. The James Lind process then produced a final 10 research priorities and uncertainties that relate to the scope of 'Surgery for Common Shoulder Problems'. The final top 10 UK research priorities have been produced and are now being disseminated to partner organisations and funders to guide funding of shoulder research for the next 5-10 years on topics that are important to patients, their carers and clinicians. 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/

  19. D-score: a search engine independent MD-score.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaudel, Marc; Breiter, Daniela; Beck, Florian; Rahnenführer, Jörg; Martens, Lennart; Zahedi, René P

    2013-03-01

    While peptides carrying PTMs are routinely identified in gel-free MS, the localization of the PTMs onto the peptide sequences remains challenging. Search engine scores of secondary peptide matches have been used in different approaches in order to infer the quality of site inference, by penalizing the localization whenever the search engine similarly scored two candidate peptides with different site assignments. In the present work, we show how the estimation of posterior error probabilities for peptide candidates allows the estimation of a PTM score called the D-score, for multiple search engine studies. We demonstrate the applicability of this score to three popular search engines: Mascot, OMSSA, and X!Tandem, and evaluate its performance using an already published high resolution data set of synthetic phosphopeptides. For those peptides with phosphorylation site inference uncertainty, the number of spectrum matches with correctly localized phosphorylation increased by up to 25.7% when compared to using Mascot alone, although the actual increase depended on the fragmentation method used. Since this method relies only on search engine scores, it can be readily applied to the scoring of the localization of virtually any modification at no additional experimental or in silico cost. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  20. The Theory of Dynamic Public Transit Priority with Dynamic Stochastic Park and Ride

    OpenAIRE

    Zhu, Chengming; Chen, Yanyan; Ma, Changxi

    2014-01-01

    Public transit priority is very important for relieving traffic congestion. The connotation of dynamic public transit priority and dynamic stochastic park and ride is presented. Based on the point that the travel cost of public transit is not higher than the travel cost of car, how to determine the level of dynamic public transit priority is discussed. The traffic organization method of dynamic public transit priority is introduced. For dynamic stochastic park and ride, layout principle, scal...

  1. 1988 Delphi survey of nursing research priorities for New York State.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shortridge, L; Doswell, W; Evans, M E; Levin, R F; Millor, G K; Carter, E

    1989-09-01

    In order to inform decisions about nursing research and health care policy, the Council on Nursing Research of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) conducted a Delphi survey to identify the priorities for nursing research in New York state. The Delphi technique is a method of eliciting judgements from experts for the purpose of short-term forecasting and planning. The survey was conducted by mail in three rounds during 1988. Round I required participants to identify three primary research priorities for the nursing profession. In Round II participants ranked the 37 most frequently identified categories from Round I. The highest 16 categories from Round II were ranked by participants in Round III to provide the final 10 nursing research priority categories for New York state. All members of the New York State Nurses Association holding a minimum of a master's degree in nursing were invited to participate. The response rates were: Round I, 34% (N = 872); Round II, 38% (N = 985); Round III 37% (N = 974). Of the 10 nursing research priority categories identified in the final round, 5 relate to nurses, 2 relate to nursing, and 3 relate to clients. None of the high-risk conditions or populations with whom nurses work appear in the top 10, and only 2 of these are ranked in the top 15 priority categories. These priority categories will be used by the NYSNA Council on Nursing Research to influence its future agenda and activities. They can be used by the nursing profession and others for planning, policy making, and establishing nursing research funding priorities.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

  2. Speciation and determination of priority metals in sediments of Oyun ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This work was carried out to determine the concentrations, bioavailability and mobility of priority metals in sediments of Oyun River, Sango, Ilorin, Nigeria. The river sediments were sampled at six selected locations and the samples were analyzed for some certain priority metals to determine the concentration, speciation and ...

  3. Montessori Early Childhood Teacher Perceptions of Family Priorities and Stressors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Epstein, Ann

    2015-01-01

    Teachers of young children work closely with families. One component of teacher-family partnerships is teachers' understanding of family priorities and stressors. This study examines Montessori Early Childhood (ages three through six) teacher perceptions of family priorities and stressors through an analysis of responses to two parallel surveys.…

  4. Evaluating the impacts of priority dispatch in the European electricity market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oggioni, G.; Murphy, F.H.; Smeers, Y.

    2014-01-01

    This paper compares the impact of the Nodal Pricing and European Market Coupling organizations on different economic agents of the power system under two main wind policies. Under the “priority dispatch” policy, Transmission System Operators (TSOs) must accommodate all wind energy produced, which thus has the priority over energy produced by conventional plants; in the “no priority dispatch” policy, TSOs can decide not to inject all potential wind power in the grid in order to limit congestion problems. The effects of these two wind policies are measured by developing simple stochastic programming models that consider cases with different wind penetration levels, existing capacities and endogenous investments, as well as assumptions on the EU-ETS. Our computational experiments show that, when there is “priority dispatch”, Nodal Pricing and Market Coupling evolve in a similar way as long as wind penetration is not too high. In contrast, a significant increase of wind penetration causes the collapse of the Market Coupling organization while Nodal Pricing continues to perform well. On the other hand, “no priority dispatch” removes most of the problems resulting from Market Coupling, which still exhibits a slightly lower efficiency than Nodal Pricing. These outcomes do not depend on the contextual assumptions (fixed capacities vs. investment; EU-ETS vs. non EU-ETS) that characterize the several cases analyzed. This suggests that our policy conclusions are robust. Furthermore, our models overestimate the flexibility of conventional plants, which means that these conclusions would likely be reinforced with a more detailed model. - Highlights: • We compare “priority dispatch (PD)” and “no priority dispatch (NPD)” policies under EU rules. • We compare Nodal Pricing (NP) and Market Coupling (MC) architectures for power markets. • Both wind priority policies are more efficient in NP than MC. • The PD policy crashes MC when wind penetration is

  5. Physiotherapy Research Priorities in Switzerland: Views of the Various Stakeholders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nast, Irina; Tal, Amir; Schmid, Stefan; Schoeb, Veronika; Rau, Barbara; Barbero, Marco; Kool, Jan

    2016-09-01

    Research priorities, defined by multiple stakeholders, can proximally facilitate the coordination of research projects and national and international cooperation and distally further improve the quality of physiotherapy practice. The aim of this study was therefore to establish physiotherapy research priorities in Switzerland considering multiple stakeholders' opinions. A mixed methods design was chosen. For a qualitative identification of physiotherapy research topics, 18 focus group discussions and 23 semi-structured interviews/written commentaries were conducted. For the quantitative analysis, 420 participants prioritized research topics using a two-round Delphi questionnaire survey. The following stakeholder groups were surveyed in the German-speaking, French-speaking and Italian-speaking regions of Switzerland: physiotherapy researchers, practitioners and educators, representatives of patient organizations, public health organizations, health insurers, physicians, nurses, occupational therapists and other health professionals, as well as physical educators. The top five overall physiotherapy research priorities identified were as follows: physiotherapy treatment, physiotherapy assessment and diagnosis, prevention, physiotherapist-patient interaction and physiotherapy professional education at the bachelor level. With regard to diagnostic groups, the highest priorities were placed on musculoskeletal disorders, neurology, orthopaedics, geriatrics and ergonomics/occupational health. Consensus was moderate to high, and only few differences between stakeholder groups were revealed. Research directly related to physiotherapy treatment is of highest priority. It should focus on diagnostic groups related to chronicity in anticipation of demographic changes. Multidisciplinary networks for research and practice, alongside sound coordination of research projects, should increase the impact of physiotherapy research. An accurate dissemination of research priorities

  6. An empirical Bayes safety evaluation of tram/streetcar signal and lane priority measures in Melbourne.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naznin, Farhana; Currie, Graham; Sarvi, Majid; Logan, David

    2016-01-01

    Streetcars/tram systems are growing worldwide, and many are given priority to increase speed and reliability performance in mixed traffic conditions. Research related to the road safety impact of tram priority is limited. This study explores the road safety impacts of tram priority measures including lane and intersection/signal priority measures. A before-after crash study was conducted using the empirical Bayes (EB) method to provide more accurate crash impact estimates by accounting for wider crash trends and regression to the mean effects. Before-after crash data for 29 intersections with tram signal priority and 23 arterials with tram lane priority in Melbourne, Australia, were analyzed to evaluate the road safety impact of tram priority. The EB before-after analysis results indicated a statistically significant adjusted crash reduction rate of 16.4% after implementation of tram priority measures. Signal priority measures were found to reduce crashes by 13.9% and lane priority by 19.4%. A disaggregate level simple before-after analysis indicated reductions in total and serious crashes as well as vehicle-, pedestrian-, and motorcycle-involved crashes. In addition, reductions in on-path crashes, pedestrian-involved crashes, and collisions among vehicles moving in the same and opposite directions and all other specific crash types were found after tram priority implementation. Results suggest that streetcar/tram priority measures result in safety benefits for all road users, including vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. Policy implications and areas for future research are discussed.

  7. Model Checking Timed Automata with Priorities using DBM Subtraction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    David, Alexandre; Larsen, Kim Guldstrand; Pettersson, Paul

    2006-01-01

    In this paper we describe an extension of timed automata with priorities, and efficient algorithms to compute subtraction on DBMs (difference bounded matrices), needed in symbolic model-checking of timed automata with priorities. The subtraction is one of the few operations on DBMs that result...... in a non-convex set needing sets of DBMs for representation. Our subtraction algorithms are efficient in the sense that the number of generated DBMs is significantly reduced compared to a naive algorithm. The overhead in time is compensated by the gain from reducing the number of resulting DBMs since...... this number affects the performance of symbolic model-checking. The uses of the DBM subtraction operation extend beyond timed automata with priorities. It is also useful for allowing guards on transitions with urgent actions, deadlock checking, and timed games....

  8. Development and preliminary validation of the spondyloarthritis research consortium of Canada magnetic resonance imaging sacroiliac joint structural score

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Maksymowych, Walter P; Wichuk, Stephanie; Chiowchanwisawakit, Praveena

    2015-01-01

    on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada (SPARCC) SIJ Structural Score (SSS). METHODS: The SSS method for assessment of structural lesions is based on T1-weighted spin echo MRI, validated lesion definitions, slice selection according to well-defined anatomical...... in scores, and was highest for fat metaplasia when both ICC and SDC values were compared. CONCLUSION: The new SPARCC MRI SSS method can detect structural changes in the SIJ with acceptable reliability over a 1-2-year timeframe, and should be further validated in patients with SpA....

  9. Setting priorities in primary health care - on whose conditions? A questionnaire study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arvidsson Eva

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In Sweden three key criteria are used for priority setting: severity of the health condition; patient benefit; and cost-effectiveness. They are derived from the ethical principles established by the Swedish parliament 1997 but have been used only to a limited extent in primary care. The aim of this study was to describe and analyse: 1 GPs', nurses', and patients' prioritising in routine primary care 2 The association between the three key priority setting criteria and the overall priority assigned by the GPs and nurses to individual patients. Methods Paired questionnaires were distributed to all patients and the GPs or nurses they had contact with during a 2-week period at four health centres in Sweden. The staff registered the health conditions or health problem, and the planned intervention. Then they estimated the severity of the health condition, the expected patient benefit, and the cost-effectiveness of the planned intervention. Both the staff and the patients reported their overall prioritisation of the patient. In total, 1851 paired questionnaires were collected. Results Compared to the medical staff, the patients assigned relatively higher priority to acute/minor conditions than to preventive check-ups for chronic conditions. Severity of the health condition was the priority setting criterion that had the strongest association with the overall priority for the staff as a whole, but for the GPs it was cost-effectiveness. Conclusions The challenge for primary care providers is to balance the patients' demands with medical needs and cost-effectiveness. Transparent priority setting in primary care might contribute to a greater consensus between GPs and nurses on how to use the key priority setting criteria.

  10. Setting research priorities across science, technology, and health sectors: the Tanzania experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Haan, Sylvia; Kingamkono, Rose; Tindamanyire, Neema; Mshinda, Hassan; Makandi, Harun; Tibazarwa, Flora; Kubata, Bruno; Montorzi, Gabriela

    2015-03-12

    Identifying research priorities is key to innovation and economic growth, since it informs decision makers on effectively targeting issues that have the greatest potential public benefit. As such, the process of setting research priorities is of pivotal importance for favouring the science, technology, and innovation (STI)-driven development of low- and middle-income countries. We report herein on a major cross-sectoral nationwide research priority setting effort recently carried out in Tanzania by the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) in partnership with the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED) and the NEPAD Agency. The first of its type in the country, the process brought together stakeholders from 42 sub-sectors in science, technology, and health. The cross-sectoral research priority setting process consisted of a 'training-of-trainers' workshop, a demonstration workshop, and seven priority setting workshops delivered to representatives from public and private research and development institutions, universities, non-governmental organizations, and other agencies affiliated to COSTECH. The workshops resulted in ranked listings of research priorities for each sub-sector, totalling approximately 800 priorities. This large number was significantly reduced by an expert panel in order to build a manageable instrument aligned to national development plans that could be used to guide research investments. The Tanzania experience is an instructive example of the challenges and issues to be faced in when attempting to identify research priority areas and setting an STI research agenda in low- and middle-income countries. As countries increase their investment in research, it is essential to increase investment in research management and governance as well, a key and much needed capacity for countries to make proper use of research investments.

  11. Setting priorities in primary health care--on whose conditions? A questionnaire study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arvidsson, Eva; André, Malin; Borgquist, Lars; Andersson, David; Carlsson, Per

    2012-11-26

    In Sweden three key criteria are used for priority setting: severity of the health condition; patient benefit; and cost-effectiveness. They are derived from the ethical principles established by the Swedish parliament 1997 but have been used only to a limited extent in primary care. The aim of this study was to describe and analyse: 1) GPs', nurses', and patients' prioritising in routine primary care 2) The association between the three key priority setting criteria and the overall priority assigned by the GPs and nurses to individual patients. Paired questionnaires were distributed to all patients and the GPs or nurses they had contact with during a 2-week period at four health centres in Sweden. The staff registered the health conditions or health problem, and the planned intervention. Then they estimated the severity of the health condition, the expected patient benefit, and the cost-effectiveness of the planned intervention. Both the staff and the patients reported their overall prioritisation of the patient. In total, 1851 paired questionnaires were collected. Compared to the medical staff, the patients assigned relatively higher priority to acute/minor conditions than to preventive check-ups for chronic conditions. Severity of the health condition was the priority setting criterion that had the strongest association with the overall priority for the staff as a whole, but for the GPs it was cost-effectiveness. The challenge for primary care providers is to balance the patients' demands with medical needs and cost-effectiveness. Transparent priority setting in primary care might contribute to a greater consensus between GPs and nurses on how to use the key priority setting criteria.

  12. M/M/1 RETRIAL QUEUEING SYSTEM WITH VACATION INTERRUPTIONS UNDER PRE-EMPTIVE PRIORITY SERVICE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muthu Ganapathi Subramanian Annasamy

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Consider a single server retrial queueing system with pre-emptive priority service and vacation interruptions in which customers arrive in a Poisson process with arrival rate λ1 for low priority customers and λ2 for high priority customers. Further it is assume that the service times follow an exponential distribution with parameters μ1 and μ2 for low and high priority customers respectively. The retrial is introduced for low priority customers only. The server goes for vacation after exhaustively completing the service to both types of customers.  The vacation rate follows an exponential distribution with parameter α. The concept of vacation interruption is used in this paper that is the server comes from the vacation into normal working condition without completing his vacation period subject to some conditions. Let k be the maximum number of waiting spaces for high priority customers in front of the service station. The high priority customers will be governed by the pre-emptive priority service. We assume that the access from orbit to the service facility is governed by the classical retrial policy. This model is solved by using Matrix geometric Technique. Numerical  study  have been done for Analysis of Mean number of low priority customers in the orbit (MNCO, Mean number of high priority customers in the queue(MPQL,Truncation level (OCUT,Probability of server free and Probabilities  of server busy with low and high priority customers and probability of server in vacation for various values of λ1 , λ2 , μ1 , μ2, α and σ  in elaborate manner and also various particular cases of  this model have been discussed.

  13. A checklist for health research priority setting: nine common themes of good practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viergever, Roderik F; Olifson, Sylvie; Ghaffar, Abdul; Terry, Robert F

    2010-12-15

    Health research priority setting processes assist researchers and policymakers in effectively targeting research that has the greatest potential public health benefit. Many different approaches to health research prioritization exist, but there is no agreement on what might constitute best practice. Moreover, because of the many different contexts for which priorities can be set, attempting to produce one best practice is in fact not appropriate, as the optimal approach varies per exercise. Therefore, following a literature review and an analysis of health research priority setting exercises that were organized or coordinated by the World Health Organization since 2005, we propose a checklist for health research priority setting that allows for informed choices on different approaches and outlines nine common themes of good practice. It is intended to provide generic assistance for planning health research prioritization processes. The checklist explains what needs to be clarified in order to establish the context for which priorities are set; it reviews available approaches to health research priority setting; it offers discussions on stakeholder participation and information gathering; it sets out options for use of criteria and different methods for deciding upon priorities; and it emphasizes the importance of well-planned implementation, evaluation and transparency.

  14. 78 FR 5330 - Proposed Priorities and Definitions-NIDRR DRRP-Community Living and Participation, Health and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-25

    ... outcomes for transition-aged youth with disabilities. (vii) Vocational rehabilitation (VR) practices that... priorities, we designate the type of each priority as absolute, competitive preference, or invitational...)). Competitive preference priority: Under a competitive preference priority, we give competitive preference to an...

  15. Communitarian claims and community capabilities: furthering priority setting?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mooney, Gavin

    2005-01-01

    Priority setting in health care is generally not done well. This paper draws on ideas from Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum and adds some communitarian underpinnings to provide a way of improving on current uses of program budgeting and marginal analysis (PBMA) in priority setting. The paper suggests that shifting to a communitarian base for priority setting alters the distribution of property rights over health service decision making and increases the probability that recommendations from PBMA exercises will be implemented. The approach is built on a paradigm which departs from three tenets of welfarism as it is normally conceived: (i) individuals qua individuals seek to maximise their individual utility/well-being; (ii) individuals want to do this; and (iii) it is the values of individuals qua individuals that count. Some of the problems of PBMA, as it has been applied to date, are highlighted. It is argued that these are due largely to a lack of 'credible commitment'. Bringing in the community and communitarian values to PBMA priority setting exercises can help to overcome some of the barriers to getting PBMA recommendations implemented. The approach has the merit of reflecting Sen's concept of capabilities (but extending that to a community level). It avoids the often consequentialist base of a conventional welfarist framework, and it allows community values as opposed to individual values to come to the fore. How to elicit communitarian values is explored.

  16. Strategies for implementing transit priority

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2005-11-01

    Increased urbanization in Canada has placed pressure on an eroding, ageing infrastructure and raised concerns about declining air quality. In addition to reducing emissions, well-designed transit systems can reduce traffic and improve road safety. This paper presented a set of transit best practices which addressed the need to improve supply, influence demand, and make operational improvements with the least environmental impact. The objective of this paper was to gather the best implementation strategies for urban roads from municipalities across Canada, and to focus on solutions that can be applied to bus and streetcar systems to make better use of shared facilities. Bus bulbs, signal priority, queue jumps and green waves were recommended, as well as dedicated lanes and exclusive transit facilities. Advances in technology were reviewed, as well as the use of intelligent transportation systems to improve transit with little or no impact on other road users. Case studies were presented from various municipalities across Canada. Various stages of project development, design and construction, operations and maintenance strategies for the various projects were reviewed. The most successful installations were found to be in cities that have established a clear policy on transit improvements. It was suggested that defining the need for priority and determining where it can be implemented is central to the development of a strategic program. Dedicated programs looking at transit priority were recommended, and risks arising from integrating new infrastructure were reviewed. It was suggested that the range of stakeholders involved, and the internal organization of the implementing authority bore a significant impact on overall cost and schedule of transit projects. It was concluded that appropriate planning is needed to control risks. 20 refs., 3 figs

  17. Montessori Early Childhood Teacher Perceptions of Family Priorities and Stressors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ann Epstein

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Teachers of young children work closely with families. One component of teacher-family partnerships is teachers’ understanding of family priorities and stressors. This study examines Montessori early childhood (ages three through six teacher perceptions of family priorities and stressors through an analysis of responses to two parallel surveys.  Eighty teachers (37% of those who received the survey and forty-nine family members (representing a 55% response rate completed the survey.  Significant differences were found between teachers’ perceptions of four (of seven family priorities and families’ actual responses. Teachers ranked “making academic progress” as the most important of seven possible family priorities. However, families stated that “developing kindness” is the most important priority for their young children. No significant differences were found when comparing teacher rankings of family stressors with actual family responses. Montessori early childhood teachers ranked “not having enough time” as the most stressful of six possible stressors. Families confirmed that time pressures cause them the most stress. Maria Montessori’s recommendations for teachers and families are summarized. Recommendations for building stronger family partnerships in the context of Montessori’s philosophy, for example on-going self-reflection, are provided.             Keywords: Montessori, teacher-family partnerships, early childhood teacher perceptions

  18. Extension of the lod score: the mod score.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clerget-Darpoux, F

    2001-01-01

    In 1955 Morton proposed the lod score method both for testing linkage between loci and for estimating the recombination fraction between them. If a disease is controlled by a gene at one of these loci, the lod score computation requires the prior specification of an underlying model that assigns the probabilities of genotypes from the observed phenotypes. To address the case of linkage studies for diseases with unknown mode of inheritance, we suggested (Clerget-Darpoux et al., 1986) extending the lod score function to a so-called mod score function. In this function, the variables are both the recombination fraction and the disease model parameters. Maximizing the mod score function over all these parameters amounts to maximizing the probability of marker data conditional on the disease status. Under the absence of linkage, the mod score conforms to a chi-square distribution, with extra degrees of freedom in comparison to the lod score function (MacLean et al., 1993). The mod score is asymptotically maximum for the true disease model (Clerget-Darpoux and Bonaïti-Pellié, 1992; Hodge and Elston, 1994). Consequently, the power to detect linkage through mod score will be highest when the space of models where the maximization is performed includes the true model. On the other hand, one must avoid overparametrization of the model space. For example, when the approach is applied to affected sibpairs, only two constrained disease model parameters should be used (Knapp et al., 1994) for the mod score maximization. It is also important to emphasize the existence of a strong correlation between the disease gene location and the disease model. Consequently, there is poor resolution of the location of the susceptibility locus when the disease model at this locus is unknown. Of course, this is true regardless of the statistics used. The mod score may also be applied in a candidate gene strategy to model the potential effect of this gene in the disease. Since, however, it

  19. Occupational health research priorities in Malaysia: a Delphi study

    OpenAIRE

    Sadhra, S; Beach, J; Aw, T; Sheikh-Ahmed, K

    2001-01-01

    OBJECTIVES—As part of a consultancy project on occupational health, the Delphi method was used to identify research priorities in occupational health in Malaysia.
METHODS—Participation was sought from government ministries, industry, and professional organisations, and university departments with an interest in occupational and public health. Two rounds of questionnaires resulted in a final list of priorities, with noticeable differences between participants depending on whether they worked i...

  20. Web server for priority ordered multimedia services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Celenk, Mehmet; Godavari, Rakesh K.; Vetnes, Vermund

    2001-10-01

    In this work, our aim is to provide finer priority levels in the design of a general-purpose Web multimedia server with provisions of the CM services. The type of services provided include reading/writing a web page, downloading/uploading an audio/video stream, navigating the Web through browsing, and interactive video teleconferencing. The selected priority encoding levels for such operations follow the order of admin read/write, hot page CM and Web multicasting, CM read, Web read, CM write and Web write. Hot pages are the most requested CM streams (e.g., the newest movies, video clips, and HDTV channels) and Web pages (e.g., portal pages of the commercial Internet search engines). Maintaining a list of these hot Web pages and CM streams in a content addressable buffer enables a server to multicast hot streams with lower latency and higher system throughput. Cold Web pages and CM streams are treated as regular Web and CM requests. Interactive CM operations such as pause (P), resume (R), fast-forward (FF), and rewind (RW) have to be executed without allocation of extra resources. The proposed multimedia server model is a part of the distributed network with load balancing schedulers. The SM is connected to an integrated disk scheduler (IDS), which supervises an allocated disk manager. The IDS follows the same priority handling as the SM, and implements a SCAN disk-scheduling method for an improved disk access and a higher throughput. Different disks are used for the Web and CM services in order to meet the QoS requirements of CM services. The IDS ouput is forwarded to an Integrated Transmission Scheduler (ITS). The ITS creates a priority ordered buffering of the retrieved Web pages and CM data streams that are fed into an auto regressive moving average (ARMA) based traffic shaping circuitry before being transmitted through the network.

  1. Environmental Survey preliminary report, Pinellas Plant, Largo, Florida

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1987-11-01

    The purpose of this report is to present the preliminary findings made during the Environmental Survey, conducted May 11 through 22, 1987, at the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Pinellas Plant in Largo, Florida. As a Preliminary Report, the contents are subject to revisions, which will be made in a forthcoming Interim Report, based on Albuquerque Operations Office review and comments on technical accuracy, the results of the sampling and analyses, and other information that may come to the Survey team's attention prior to issuance of the Interim Report. The Pinellas Plant is currently operated for DOE by the General Electric Company-Neutron Devices Department (GENDD). The Pinellas Survey is part of the larger DOE-wide Environmental Survey effort announced by Secretary John S. Herrington on September 18, 1985. The purpose of this effort is to identify, via no fault'' baseline Surveys, existing environmental problems are areas of environmental risk at DOE facilities and to rank them on a DOE-wide basis. This ranking will enable DOE to more effectively establish priorities for addressing environmental problems and allocate the resources necessary to correct these problems. Because the Survey is no fault'' and is not an audit,'' it is not designed to identify specific isolated incidents of noncompliance or to analyze environmental management practices. Such incidents and/or management practices will, however, be used in the Survey as a means of identifying existing and potential environmental problems. 55 refs., 37 figs., 37 tabs.

  2. 76 FR 17808 - Final Vehicle Safety Rulemaking and Research Priority Plan 2011-2013

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-31

    ... [Docket No. NHTSA-2009-0108] Final Vehicle Safety Rulemaking and Research Priority Plan 2011- 2013 AGENCY... availability. SUMMARY: This document announces the availability of the Final NHTSA Vehicle Safety and Fuel.... This Priority Plan is an update to the Final Vehicle Safety Rulemaking and Research Priority Plan 2009...

  3. Identifying priority areas for ecosystem service management in South African grasslands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Egoh, Benis N; Reyers, Belinda; Rouget, Mathieu; Richardson, David M

    2011-06-01

    Grasslands provide many ecosystem services required to support human well-being and are home to a diverse fauna and flora. Degradation of grasslands due to agriculture and other forms of land use threaten biodiversity and ecosystem services. Various efforts are underway around the world to stem these declines. The Grassland Programme in South Africa is one such initiative and is aimed at safeguarding both biodiversity and ecosystem services. As part of this developing programme, we identified spatial priority areas for ecosystem services, tested the effect of different target levels of ecosystem services used to identify priority areas, and evaluated whether biodiversity priority areas can be aligned with those for ecosystem services. We mapped five ecosystem services (below ground carbon storage, surface water supply, water flow regulation, soil accumulation and soil retention) and identified priority areas for individual ecosystem services and for all five services at the scale of quaternary catchments. Planning for individual ecosystem services showed that, depending on the ecosystem service of interest, between 4% and 13% of the grassland biome was required to conserve at least 40% of the soil and water services. Thirty-four percent of the biome was needed to conserve 40% of the carbon service in the grassland. Priority areas identified for five ecosystem services under three target levels (20%, 40%, 60% of the total amount) showed that between 17% and 56% of the grassland biome was needed to conserve these ecosystem services. There was moderate to high overlap between priority areas selected for ecosystem services and already-identified terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity priority areas. This level of overlap coupled with low irreplaceability values obtained when planning for individual ecosystem services makes it possible to combine biodiversity and ecosystem services in one plan using systematic conservation planning. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All

  4. DRD4 long allele carriers show heightened attention to high-priority items relative to low-priority items.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorlick, Marissa A; Worthy, Darrell A; Knopik, Valerie S; McGeary, John E; Beevers, Christopher G; Maddox, W Todd

    2015-03-01

    Humans with seven or more repeats in exon III of the DRD4 gene (long DRD4 carriers) sometimes demonstrate impaired attention, as seen in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and at other times demonstrate heightened attention, as seen in addictive behavior. Although the clinical effects of DRD4 are the focus of much work, this gene may not necessarily serve as a "risk" gene for attentional deficits, but as a plasticity gene where attention is heightened for priority items in the environment and impaired for minor items. Here we examine the role of DRD4 in two tasks that benefit from selective attention to high-priority information. We examine a category learning task where performance is supported by focusing on features and updating verbal rules. Here, selective attention to the most salient features is associated with good performance. In addition, we examine the Operation Span (OSPAN) task, a working memory capacity task that relies on selective attention to update and maintain items in memory while also performing a secondary task. Long DRD4 carriers show superior performance relative to short DRD4 homozygotes (six or less tandem repeats) in both the category learning and OSPAN tasks. These results suggest that DRD4 may serve as a "plasticity" gene where individuals with the long allele show heightened selective attention to high-priority items in the environment, which can be beneficial in the appropriate context.

  5. A preliminary survey of the National Wetlands Inventory as mapped for the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hampton, N.L.; Rope, R.C.; Glennon, J.M.; Moor, K.S.

    1995-02-01

    Approximately 135 areas within the boundaries of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) have been mapped as wetland habitat as part of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) National Wetlands Inventory (NWI). A preliminary survey of these wetlands was conducted to examine their general characteristics and status, to provide an estimation of relative ecological importance, to identify additional information needed to complete ecological characterization of important INEL wetlands, and to identify high priority wetland areas on the INEL. The purpose of the survey was to provide information to support the preparation of the Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (ER ampersand WM) Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Information characterizing general vegetation, hydrology, wildlife use, and archaeology was collected at 105 sample sites on the INEL. Sites representing NWI palustrine, lacustrine, and riverine wetlands (including manmade), and areas unmapped or unclassified by the NWI were included in the sample. The field information was used to develop a preliminary ranking of relative ecological importance for each wetland visited during this survey. Survey limitations are identified

  6. Information and shared decision-making are top patients' priorities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bronstein Alexander

    2006-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The profound changes in medical care and the recent stress on a patient-centered approach mandate evaluation of current patient priorities. Methods Hospitalized and ambulatory patients at an academic medical center in central Israel were investigated. Consecutive patients (n = 274 indicated their first and second priority for a change or improvement in their medical care out of a mixed shortlist of 6 issues, 3 related to patient-physician relationship (being better informed and taking part in decisions; being seen by the same doctor each time; a longer consultation time and 3 issues related to the organizational aspect of care (easier access to specialists/hospital; shorter queue for tests; less charges for drugs. Results Getting more information from the physician and taking part in decisions was the most desirable patient choice, selected by 27.4% as their first priority. The next choices – access and queue – also relate to more patient autonomy and control over that of managed care regulations. Patients studied were least interested in continuity of care, consultation time or cost of drugs. Demographic or clinical variables were not significantly related to patients' choices. Conclusion Beyond its many benefits, being informed by their doctor and shared decision making is a top patient priority.

  7. Perioperative leadership: managing change with insights, priorities, and tools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, David L

    2014-07-01

    The personal leadership of the perioperative director is a critical factor in the success of any change management initiative. This article presents an approach to perioperative nursing leadership that addresses obstacles that prevent surgical departments from achieving high performance in clinical and financial outcomes. This leadership approach consists of specific insights, priorities, and tools: key insights include self-understanding of personal barriers to leadership and accuracy at understanding economic and strategic considerations related to the OR environment; key priorities include creating a customer-centered organization, focusing on process improvement, and concentrating on culture change; and key tools include using techniques (e.g., direct engagement, collaborative leadership) to align surgical organizations with leadership priorities and mitigate specific perioperative management risks. Included in this article is a leadership development plan for perioperative directors. Copyright © 2014 AORN, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Final priority; technical assistance to improve state data capacity--National Technical Assistance Center to improve state capacity to accurately collect and report IDEA data. Final priority.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-20

    The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services announces a priority under the Technical Assistance to Improve State Data Capacity program. The Assistant Secretary may use this priority for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2013 and later years. We take this action to focus attention on an identified national need to provide technical assistance (TA) to States to improve their capacity to meet the data collection and reporting requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). We intend this priority to establish a TA center to improve State capacity to accurately collect and report IDEA data (Data Center).

  9. Setting practical conservation priorities for birds in the Western Andes of Colombia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ocampo-Peñuela, Natalia; Pimm, Stuart L

    2014-10-01

    We aspired to set conservation priorities in ways that lead to direct conservation actions. Very large-scale strategic mapping leads to familiar conservation priorities exemplified by biodiversity hotspots. In contrast, tactical conservation actions unfold on much smaller geographical extents and they need to reflect the habitat loss and fragmentation that have sharply restricted where species now live. Our aspirations for direct, practical actions were demanding. First, we identified the global, strategic conservation priorities and then downscaled to practical local actions within the selected priorities. In doing this, we recognized the limitations of incomplete information. We started such a process in Colombia and used the results presented here to implement reforestation of degraded land to prevent the isolation of a large area of cloud forest. We used existing range maps of 171 bird species to identify priority conservation areas that would conserve the greatest number of species at risk in Colombia. By at risk species, we mean those that are endemic and have small ranges. The Western Andes had the highest concentrations of such species-100 in total-but the lowest densities of national parks. We then adjusted the priorities for this region by refining these species ranges by selecting only areas of suitable elevation and remaining habitat. The estimated ranges of these species shrank by 18-100% after accounting for habitat and suitable elevation. Setting conservation priorities on the basis of currently available range maps excluded priority areas in the Western Andes and, by extension, likely elsewhere and for other taxa. By incorporating detailed maps of remaining natural habitats, we made practical recommendations for conservation actions. One recommendation was to restore forest connections to a patch of cloud forest about to become isolated from the main Andes. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

  10. Priority image transmission in wireless sensor networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nasri, M.; Helali, A.; Sghaier, H.; Maaref, H.

    2011-01-01

    The emerging technology during the last years allowed the development of new sensors equipped with wireless communication which can be organized into a cooperative autonomous network. Some application areas for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are home automations, health care services, military domain, and environment monitoring. The required constraints are limited capacity of processing, limited storage capability, and especially these nodes are limited in energy. In addition, such networks are tiny battery powered which their lifetime is very limited. During image processing and transmission to the destination, the lifetime of sensor network is decreased quickly due to battery and processing power constraints. Therefore, digital image transmissions are a significant challenge for image sensor based Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Based on a wavelet image compression, we propose a novel, robust and energy-efficient scheme, called Priority Image Transmission (PIT) in WSN by providing various priority levels during image transmissions. Different priorities in the compressed image are considered. The information for the significant wavelet coeffcients are transmitted with higher quality assurance, whereas relatively less important coefficients are transmitted with lower overhead. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme prolongs the system lifetime and achieves higher energy efficiency in WSN with an acceptable compromise on the image quality.

  11. Multiserver Queue with Guard Channel for Priority and Retrial Customers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kazuki Kajiwara

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper considers a retrial queueing model where a group of guard channels is reserved for priority and retrial customers. Priority and normal customers arrive at the system according to two distinct Poisson processes. Priority customers are accepted if there is an idle channel upon arrival while normal customers are accepted if and only if the number of idle channels is larger than the number of guard channels. Blocked customers (priority or normal join a virtual orbit and repeat their attempts in a later time. Customers from the orbit (retrial customers are accepted if there is an idle channel available upon arrival. We formulate the queueing system using a level dependent quasi-birth-and-death (QBD process. We obtain a Taylor series expansion for the nonzero elements of the rate matrices of the level dependent QBD process. Using the expansion results, we obtain an asymptotic upper bound for the joint stationary distribution of the number of busy channels and that of customers in the orbit. Furthermore, we develop an efficient numerical algorithm to calculate the joint stationary distribution.

  12. Energy secretary's priorities include San Francisco area research projects

    CERN Multimedia

    Widener, A

    2003-01-01

    "Bay Area research labs got a big boost Monday when the Secretary of Energy unveiled his priorities for major research projects his agency hopes to fund over the next two decades. Among the agency's 28 top priorities are a major computer expansion and an experiment examining the expanding universe that could be housed at Lawrence Berkeley Lab and a powerful X-ray laser planned for the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center" (1 page).

  13. Adaptive Priority-Based Downlink Scheduling for WiMAX Networks

    OpenAIRE

    Wu, Shih-Jung; Huang, Shih-Yi; Huang, Kuo-Feng

    2012-01-01

    Supporting quality of service (QoS) guarantees for diverse multimedia services are the primary concerns for WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) networks. A scheduling scheme that satisfies QoS requirements has become more important for wireless communications. We propose a downlink scheduling scheme called adaptive priority-based downlink scheduling (APDS) for providing QoS guarantees in IEEE 802.16 networks. APDS comprises two major components: priority assignment and resource allocation. Different service-...

  14. A checklist for health research priority setting: nine common themes of good practice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Terry Robert F

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Health research priority setting processes assist researchers and policymakers in effectively targeting research that has the greatest potential public health benefit. Many different approaches to health research prioritization exist, but there is no agreement on what might constitute best practice. Moreover, because of the many different contexts for which priorities can be set, attempting to produce one best practice is in fact not appropriate, as the optimal approach varies per exercise. Therefore, following a literature review and an analysis of health research priority setting exercises that were organized or coordinated by the World Health Organization since 2005, we propose a checklist for health research priority setting that allows for informed choices on different approaches and outlines nine common themes of good practice. It is intended to provide generic assistance for planning health research prioritization processes. The checklist explains what needs to be clarified in order to establish the context for which priorities are set; it reviews available approaches to health research priority setting; it offers discussions on stakeholder participation and information gathering; it sets out options for use of criteria and different methods for deciding upon priorities; and it emphasizes the importance of well-planned implementation, evaluation and transparency.

  15. The Zhongshan Score

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Lin; Guo, Jianming; Wang, Hang; Wang, Guomin

    2015-01-01

    Abstract In the zero ischemia era of nephron-sparing surgery (NSS), a new anatomic classification system (ACS) is needed to adjust to these new surgical techniques. We devised a novel and simple ACS, and compared it with the RENAL and PADUA scores to predict the risk of NSS outcomes. We retrospectively evaluated 789 patients who underwent NSS with available imaging between January 2007 and July 2014. Demographic and clinical data were assessed. The Zhongshan (ZS) score consisted of three parameters. RENAL, PADUA, and ZS scores are divided into three groups, that is, high, moderate, and low scores. For operative time (OT), significant differences were seen between any two groups of ZS score and PADUA score (all P RENAL showed no significant difference between moderate and high complexity in OT, WIT, estimated blood loss, and increase in SCr. Compared with patients with a low score of ZS, those with a high or moderate score had 8.1-fold or 3.3-fold higher risk of surgical complications, respectively (all P RENAL score, patients with a high or moderate score had 5.7-fold or 1.9-fold higher risk of surgical complications, respectively (all P RENAL and PADUA scores. ZS score could be used to reflect the surgical complexity and predict the risk of surgical complications in patients undergoing NSS. PMID:25654399

  16. Publishing priorities of biomedical research funders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collins, Ellen

    2013-01-01

    Objectives To understand the publishing priorities, especially in relation to open access, of 10 UK biomedical research funders. Design Semistructured interviews. Setting 10 UK biomedical research funders. Participants 12 employees with responsibility for research management at 10 UK biomedical research funders; a purposive sample to represent a range of backgrounds and organisation types. Conclusions Publicly funded and large biomedical research funders are committed to open access publishing and are pleased with recent developments which have stimulated growth in this area. Smaller charitable funders are supportive of the aims of open access, but are concerned about the practical implications for their budgets and their funded researchers. Across the board, biomedical research funders are turning their attention to other priorities for sharing research outputs, including data, protocols and negative results. Further work is required to understand how smaller funders, including charitable funders, can support open access. PMID:24154520

  17. Strategic priorities of Iranian companies: an application of mission statement content analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Shahriar AZIZI; Vahid MAKIZADEH

    2014-01-01

    The mission statement describes the strategic priorities of a company. It determines the roadmap for strategic decision in the corporation. Research on mission statement elements is an interesting field because it clarifies the strategic priorities of the company. This paper aims to analyze these priorities among 48 large Iranian companies active in four selected industries based on David’s (1989) nine-element model. These components include customer, market, general image, product, technolog...

  18. Performance indicators related to points scoring and winning in international rugby sevens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Higham, Dean G; Hopkins, Will G; Pyne, David B; Anson, Judith M

    2014-05-01

    evaluate team performances and plan more effective tactical approaches to competition.There is greater match-to-match variability in performance indicator values within than between international rugby sevens teams.The priorities for a rugby sevens team's technical and tactical preparation should reflect the magnitudes of the relationships between performance indicators, points scoring and the likelihood of winning.

  19. Re-Scoring the Game’s Score

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gasselseder, Hans-Peter

    2014-01-01

    This study explores immersive presence as well as emotional valence and arousal in the context of dynamic and non-dynamic music scores in the 3rd person action-adventure video game genre while also considering relevant personality traits of the player. 60 subjects answered self-report questionnai......This study explores immersive presence as well as emotional valence and arousal in the context of dynamic and non-dynamic music scores in the 3rd person action-adventure video game genre while also considering relevant personality traits of the player. 60 subjects answered self......-temporal alignment in the resulting emotional congruency of nondiegetic music. Whereas imaginary aspects of immersive presence are systemically affected by the presentation of dynamic music, sensory spatial aspects show higher sensitivity towards the arousal potential of the music score. It is argued...

  20. Priority effects are weakened by a short, but not long, history of sympatric evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zee, Peter C; Fukami, Tadashi

    2018-01-31

    Priority effects, or the effects of species arrival history on local species abundances, have been documented in a range of taxa. However, factors determining the extent to which priority effects affect community assembly remain unclear. Using laboratory populations of the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens , we examined whether shared evolutionary history affected the strength of priority effects. We hypothesized that sympatric evolution of populations belonging to the same guild would lead to niche differentiation, resulting in phenotypic complementarity that weakens priority effects. Consistent with this hypothesis, we found that priority effects tended to be weaker in sympatrically evolved pairs of immigrating populations than in allopatrically evolved pairs. Furthermore, priority effects were weaker under higher phenotypic complementarity. However, these patterns were observed only in populations with a relatively short history of sympatric evolution, and disappeared when populations had evolved together for a long time. Together, our results suggest that the evolutionary history of organismal traits may dictate the strength of priority effects and, consequently, the extent of historical contingency in the assembly of ecological communities. © 2018 The Author(s).

  1. Research priorities in mental health occupational therapy: A study of clinician perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hitch, Danielle; Lhuede, Kate

    2015-10-01

    The evidence to support mental health occupational therapy has proliferated in the early years of this century, but this growth has tended to be organic rather than targeted. Previous efforts to identify research priorities in this area of practice are either out dated, or encompass discrete areas of practice. The aim of this study was to identify priority areas for research in mental health occupational therapy from clinician's perspectives. A Policy Delphi method was used to enable occupational therapists to define and differentiate their perspectives on research priorities. Forty-two occupational therapists took part in the first two rounds of this method, with 69% (n = 29) going on to complete the third and final round of data collection. A Likert scale was used to rate the importance of each priority, and descriptive quantitative analysis undertaken to identify those most consistently identified as being highly important. Four research priorities were identified as being highly important in this study: (i) working in an occupationally focussed way; (ii) consumer experience of therapy groups; (iii) identifying factors which increase consumer engagement in occupation; and (iv) engaging patients on the inpatient unit in meaningful and positive occupation. Two of the priority areas are already the subject of substantial evidence bases, but there has been far less research into consumer experiences of groups and occupational engagement in acute settings. Collaboration between research teams and greater consumer inclusion are recommended for the future. This study provides an updated indication of research priorities for mental health occupational therapy in Australia. © 2015 Occupational Therapy Australia.

  2. A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial of Multifaceted Educational Intervention for Mild Cognitive Impairment Among Elderly Malays in Kuala Lumpur

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sa’ida Munira Johari

    2014-06-01

    Conclusion: A 12-month educational intervention on nutritional, lifestyle, and cognitive exercise significantly improved nutritional status, knowledge, and attitude score. The study lacked power to demonstrate a statistically significant positive effect on cognitive functioning; thus, the preliminary findings should be confirmed in a larger trial.

  3. College Math Assessment: SAT Scores vs. College Math Placement Scores

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foley-Peres, Kathleen; Poirier, Dawn

    2008-01-01

    Many colleges and university's use SAT math scores or math placement tests to place students in the appropriate math course. This study compares the use of math placement scores and SAT scores for 188 freshman students. The student's grades and faculty observations were analyzed to determine if the SAT scores and/or college math assessment scores…

  4. The FOUR score and GCS as predictors of outcome after traumatic brain injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McNett, Molly; Amato, Shelly; Gianakis, Anastasia; Grimm, Dawn; Philippbar, Sue Ann; Belle, Josie; Moran, Cristina

    2014-08-01

    The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is a routine component of a neurological exam for critically ill traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients, yet has been criticized for not accurately depicting verbal status among intubated patients or including brain stem reflexes. Preliminary research on the Full Outline of UnResponsiveness (FOUR) Scale suggests it overcomes these limitations. Research is needed to determine correlations with patient outcomes. The aims of this study were to: (1) examine correlations between 24 and 72 h FOUR and GCS scores and functional/cognitive outcomes; (2) determine relationship between 24 and 72 h FOUR scores and mortality. Prospective cohort study. Data gathered on adult TBI patients at a Level I trauma center. FOUR scores assigned at 24, 72 h. Functional outcome measured by functional independence measure scores at rehabilitation discharge; cognitive status measured by Weschler Memory Scale scores 3 months post-injury. n = 136. Mean age 53.1. 72 h FOUR and GCS scores correlated with functional outcome (r s = 0.34, p = 0.05; r s = 0.39, p = 0.02), but not cognitive status. Receiver operating characteristic curves were comparable for FOUR and GCS at 24 and 72 h for functional status (24 h FOUR, GCS = 0.625, 0.602, respectively; 72 h FOUR, GCS = 0.640, 0.688), cognitive status (24 h FOUR, GCS = 0.703, 0.731; 72 h FOUR, GCS = 0.837, 0.674), and mortality (24 h FOUR, GCS = 0.913, 0.935; 72 h FOUR, GCS = 0.837, 0.884). FOUR is comparable to GCS in terms of predictive ability for functional status, cognitive outcome 3 months post-injury, and in-hospital mortality.

  5. Evaluating priority setting success in healthcare: a pilot study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Upshur Ross

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In healthcare today, decisions are made in the face of serious resource constraints. Healthcare managers are struggling to provide high quality care, manage resources effectively, and meet changing patient needs. Healthcare managers who are constantly making difficult resource decisions desire a way to improve their priority setting processes. Despite the wealth of existing priority setting literature (for example, program budgeting and marginal analysis, accountability for reasonableness, the 'describe-evaluate-improve' strategy there are still no tools to evaluate how healthcare resources are prioritised. This paper describes the development and piloting of a process to evaluate priority setting in health institutions. The evaluation process was designed to examine the procedural and substantive dimensions of priority setting using a multi-methods approach, including a staff survey, decision-maker interviews, and document analysis. Methods The evaluation process was piloted in a mid-size community hospital in Ontario, Canada while its leaders worked through their annual budgeting process. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to analyze the data. Results The evaluation process was both applicable to the context and it captured the budgeting process. In general, the pilot test provided support for our evaluation process and our definition of success, (i.e., our conceptual framework. Conclusions The purpose of the evaluation process is to provide a simple, practical way for an organization to better understand what it means to achieve success in its priority setting activities and identify areas for improvement. In order for the process to be used by healthcare managers today, modification and contextualization of the process are anticipated. As the evaluation process is applied in more health care organizations or applied repeatedly in an organization, it may become more streamlined.

  6. 78 FR 29785 - Priority Mail Pricing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-21

    ... POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket No. R2013-7; Order No. 1714] Priority Mail Pricing AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Commission is noticing a recently-filed Postal... that after the price change, the unused pricing authority available for the Special Services class will...

  7. Global health trials methodological research agenda:results from a priority setting exercise

    OpenAIRE

    Blazeby, Jane; Nasser, Mona; Soares-Weiser, Karla; Sydes, Matthew R.; Zhang, Junhua; Williamson, Paula R

    2018-01-01

    BackgroundMethodological research into the design, conduct, analysis and reporting of trials is essential to optimise the process. UK specialists in the field have established a set of top priorities in aid of this research. These priorities however may not be reflected in the needs of similar research in low to middle income countries (LMICs) with different healthcare provision, resources and research infrastructure. The aim of the study was to identify the top priorities for methodological ...

  8. Social welfare in one-sided matchings: Random priority and beyond

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Filos-Ratsikas, Aris; Frederiksen, Søren Kristoffer Stiil; Zhang, Jie

    2014-01-01

    We study the problem of approximate social welfare maximization (without money) in one-sided matching problems when agents have unrestricted cardinal preferences over a finite set of items. Random priority is a very well-known truthful-in-expectation mechanism for the problem. We prove...... that the approximation ratio of random priority is Theta(n^{-1/2}) while no truthful-in-expectation mechanism can achieve an approximation ratio better than O(n^{-1/2}), where n is the number of agents and items. Furthermore, we prove that the approximation ratio of all ordinal (not necessarily truthful......-in-expectation) mechanisms is upper bounded by O(n^{-1/2}), indicating that random priority is asymptotically the best truthful-in-expectation mechanism and the best ordinal mechanism for the problem....

  9. The quality improvement attitude survey: Development and preliminary psychometric characteristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunagan, Pamela B

    2017-12-01

    To report the development of a tool to measure nurse's attitudes about quality improvement in their practice setting and to examine preliminary psychometric characteristics of the Quality Improvement Nursing Attitude Scale. Human factors such as nursing attitudes of complacency have been identified as root causes of sentinel events. Attitudes of nurses concerning use of Quality and Safety Education for nurse's competencies can be most challenging to teach and to change. No tool has been developed measuring attitudes of nurses concerning their role in quality improvement. A descriptive study design with preliminary psychometric evaluation was used to examine the preliminary psychometric characteristics of the Quality Improvement Nursing Attitude Scale. Registered bedside clinical nurses comprised the sample for the study (n = 57). Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Cronbach's alpha reliability. Total score and individual item statistics were evaluated. Two open-ended items were used to collect statements about nurses' feelings regarding their experience in quality improvement efforts. Strong support for the internal consistency reliability and face validity of the Quality Improvement Nursing Attitude Scale was found. Total scale scores were high indicating nurse participants valued Quality and Safety Education for Nurse competencies in practice. However, item-level statistics indicated nurses felt powerless when other nurses deviate from care standards. Additionally, the sample indicated they did not consistently report patient safety issues and did not have a feeling of value in efforts to improve care. Findings suggested organisational culture fosters nurses' reporting safety issues and feeling valued in efforts to improve care. Participants' narrative comments and item analysis revealed the need to generate new items for the Quality Improvement Nursing Attitude Scale focused on nurses' perception of their importance in quality and

  10. Evaluating healthcare priority setting at the meso level: A thematic review of empirical literature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waithaka, Dennis; Tsofa, Benjamin; Barasa, Edwine

    2018-01-01

    Background: Decentralization of health systems has made sub-national/regional healthcare systems the backbone of healthcare delivery. These regions are tasked with the difficult responsibility of determining healthcare priorities and resource allocation amidst scarce resources. We aimed to review empirical literature that evaluated priority setting practice at the meso (sub-national) level of health systems. Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google scholar databases and supplemented these with manual searching for relevant studies, based on the reference list of selected papers. We only included empirical studies that described and evaluated, or those that only evaluated priority setting practice at the meso-level. A total of 16 papers were identified from LMICs and HICs. We analyzed data from the selected papers by thematic review. Results: Few studies used systematic priority setting processes, and all but one were from HICs. Both formal and informal criteria are used in priority-setting, however, informal criteria appear to be more perverse in LMICs compared to HICs. The priority setting process at the meso-level is a top-down approach with minimal involvement of the community. Accountability for reasonableness was the most common evaluative framework as it was used in 12 of the 16 studies. Efficiency, reallocation of resources and options for service delivery redesign were the most common outcome measures used to evaluate priority setting. Limitations: Our study was limited by the fact that there are very few empirical studies that have evaluated priority setting at the meso-level and there is likelihood that we did not capture all the studies. Conclusions: Improving priority setting practices at the meso level is crucial to strengthening health systems. This can be achieved through incorporating and adapting systematic priority setting processes and frameworks to the context where used, and making considerations of both process

  11. An Active Queue Management for QoS Guarantee of the High Priority Service Class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Hyun Jong; Shim, Jae Chan; Kim, Hwa-Suk; Cho, Kee Seong; Choi, Seong Gon

    In this paper, we propose the active queue management mechanism (Active-WRED) for guaranteeing the quality of the high priority service class (VoIP or IPTV) in the multi-class traffic service environment. In the congestion situation, this mechanism increases the drop probability of the low priority traffic and reduces the drop probability of the high priority traffic; therefore it can guarantee the quality of the high priority service class from the poor quality by the packet loss.

  12. 7 CFR 1710.119 - Loan processing priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... and Basic Policies § 1710.119 Loan processing priorities. (a) Generally loans are processed in... in effect at the time the facilities were originally constructed; (3) To finance the capital needs of...

  13. Research priorities for coordinating management of food safety and water quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crohn, David M; Bianchi, Mary L

    2008-01-01

    Efforts to exclude disease organisms from farms growing irrigated lettuce and leafy vegetables on California's central coast are conflicting with traditionally accepted strategies to protect surface water quality. To begin resolving this dilemma, over 100 officials, researchers, and industry representatives gathered in April 2007 to set research priorities that could lead to effective co-management of both food safety and water quality. Following the meeting, research priorities were refined and ordered by way of a Delphi process completed by 35 meeting participants. Although water quality and food safety experts conceptualized the issues differently, there were no deep disagreements with respect to research needs. Top priority was given to investigating the fate of pathogens potentially present on farms. Intermediate priorities included characterizing the influence of specific farm management practices on food safety and improving our understanding of vector processes. A scientific subdiscipline focusing on competing risks is needed to characterize and resolve conflicts between human and environmental health.

  14. PRIORITIES OF REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY: THE ISSUES OF DIAGNOSTICS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. I. Kudryavtseva

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Methods of eliciting priority ecological problems are analyzed in the article. The problem of air pollution is considered to be the foreground issue for both the Ural Federal District and Russia; that was due substantiated. An extended technique of setting priorities for air pollutants and techniques for integral ecological and social assessment of air pollution acuteness extent in the region have been offered; calculations for the Ural Federal District have been made according to the techniques mentioned.

  15. Pharmacists' perceptions of advancing public health priorities through medication therapy management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Casserlie LM

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Background: Public health priorities can be addressed by pharmacists through channels such as medication therapy management (MTM to optimize patient and population outcomes. However, no studies have specifically assessed pharmacists’ perceptions of addressing public health priorities through MTM. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess pharmacists’ opinions regarding the feasibility and appropriateness of addressing seven areas of public health priority through MTM services to impact public health in direct patient care settings. Methods: An anonymous 37-question electronic survey was conducted to evaluate Ohio pharmacists’ opinions of advancing seven public health priorities identified from Healthy People 2020 (family planning, preconception care, smoking cessation, immunizations, nutrition/biometric wellness assessments, point-of-care testing, fall prevention through MTM activities; to identify potential barriers; and to collect demographic information. The cross-sectional survey was sent to a random sample of 500 pharmacists registered with the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy. Results: Seventy-six pharmacists responded to the survey, resulting in a 16% response rate. On average, it took respondents 5-10 minutes to complete the survey. The majority of respondents thought that each of the seven public health priorities were “important” or “very important” to patient health; the most commonly identified areas included smoking cessation, immunizations, and fall prevention (97.5%. When asked to indicate which of the seven areas they thought they could potentially have a role to provide services through MTM, on average pharmacists picked 4 of the priority areas. Only 6.6% indicated there was no role for pharmacists to provide MTM services for any of the listed categories. Staffing, time, and reimbursement represented the most commonly perceived barriers for pharmacists in providing MTM services. Fifty-seven percent indicated

  16. 5. Interrelationships, functional packages and priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-05-01

    The basic societal functions (BSFs) do not exist in isolation. Many of the functions are dependent and/or interdependent on one another and/or on the components that comprise the BSFs. Dependency occurs when goods and/or services are required for a function, subfunction, or a component of a function. Interdependency occurs when the same component (commodity, service, or process) is required by more than one BSF or component(s) of a BSF. Insufficiencies of functions that are interdependent are more likely to render a society dysfunctional than are those that are not interdependent. Combinations of functions from different BSF form functional packages. In times of disaster and limited resources, subfunctions, elements, and subelements, etc. must be prioritised in terms of their relative importance for the continuation of the most essential services. Priorities must be established so that when resources are scarce, nonessential services may be temporarily discontinued and similarly, priorities must be determined for re-establishment of services as needed resources become available.

  17. Pay It Forward: High School Video-based Instruction Can Disseminate CPR Knowledge in Priority Neighborhoods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Del Rios, Marina; Han, Josiah; Cano, Alejandra; Ramirez, Victor; Morales, Gabriel; Campbell, Teri L; Hoek, Terry Vanden

    2018-03-01

    The implementation of creative new strategies to increase layperson cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation may improve resuscitation in priority populations. As more communities implement laws requiring CPR training in high schools, there is potential for a multiplier effect and reach into priority communities with low bystander-CPR rates. We investigated the feasibility, knowledge acquisition, and dissemination of a high school-centered, CPR video self-instruction program with a "pay-it-forward" component in a low-income, urban, predominantly Black neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois with historically low bystander-CPR rates. Ninth and tenth graders followed a video self-instruction kit in a classroom setting to learn CPR. As homework, students were required to use the training kit to "pay it forward" and teach CPR to their friends and family. We administered pre- and post-intervention knowledge surveys to measure knowledge acquisition among classroom and "pay-it-forward" participants. Seventy-one classroom participants trained 347 of their friends and family, for an average of 4.9 additional persons trained per kit. Classroom CPR knowledge survey scores increased from 58% to 93% (p pay-it-forward cohort saw an increase from 58% to 82% (p pay-it-forward" component can disseminate CPR knowledge beyond the classroom. Because schools are centrally-organized settings to which all children and their families have access, school-based interventions allow for a broad reach that encompasses all segments of the population and have potential to decrease disparities in bystander CPR provision.

  18. Pay It Forward: High School Video-based Instruction Can Disseminate CPR Knowledge in Priority Neighborhoods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Josiah; Cano, Alejandra; Ramirez, Victor; Morales, Gabriel; Campbell, Teri L.; Hoek, Terry Vanden

    2018-01-01

    Introduction The implementation of creative new strategies to increase layperson cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation may improve resuscitation in priority populations. As more communities implement laws requiring CPR training in high schools, there is potential for a multiplier effect and reach into priority communities with low bystander-CPR rates. Methods We investigated the feasibility, knowledge acquisition, and dissemination of a high school-centered, CPR video self-instruction program with a “pay-it-forward” component in a low-income, urban, predominantly Black neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois with historically low bystander-CPR rates. Ninth and tenth graders followed a video self-instruction kit in a classroom setting to learn CPR. As homework, students were required to use the training kit to “pay it forward” and teach CPR to their friends and family. We administered pre- and post-intervention knowledge surveys to measure knowledge acquisition among classroom and “pay-it-forward” participants. Results Seventy-one classroom participants trained 347 of their friends and family, for an average of 4.9 additional persons trained per kit. Classroom CPR knowledge survey scores increased from 58% to 93% (p CPR educational intervention with a “pay-it-forward” component can disseminate CPR knowledge beyond the classroom. Because schools are centrally-organized settings to which all children and their families have access, school-based interventions allow for a broad reach that encompasses all segments of the population and have potential to decrease disparities in bystander CPR provision. PMID:29560076

  19. Exploring a Source of Uneven Score Equity across the Test Score Range

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huggins-Manley, Anne Corinne; Qiu, Yuxi; Penfield, Randall D.

    2018-01-01

    Score equity assessment (SEA) refers to an examination of population invariance of equating across two or more subpopulations of test examinees. Previous SEA studies have shown that score equity may be present for examinees scoring at particular test score ranges but absent for examinees scoring at other score ranges. No studies to date have…

  20. Setting Priorities for Space Research: Opportunities and Imperatives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dutton, John A.; Abelson, Philip H.; Beckwith, Steven V. W.; Bishop, William P.; Byerly, Radford, Jr.; Crowe, Lawson; Dews, Peter; Garriott, Owen K.; Lunine, Jonathan; Macauley, Molly K.

    1992-01-01

    This report represents the first phase of a study by a task group convened by the Space Studies Board to ascertain whether it should attempt to develop a methodology for recommending priorities among the various initiatives in space research (that is, scientific activities concerned with phenomena in space or utilizing observations from space). The report argues that such priority statements by the space research community are both necessary and desirable and would contribute to the formulation and implementation of public policy. The report advocates the establishment of priorities to enhance effective management of the nation's scientific research program in space. It argues that scientific objectives and purposes should determine how and under what circumstances scientific research should be done. The report does not take a position on the controversy between advocates of manned space exploration and those who favor the exclusive use of unmanned space vehicles. Nor does the report address questions about the value or appropriateness of Space Station Freedom or proposals to establish a permanent manned Moon base or to undertake a manned mission to Mars. These issues lie beyond the charge to the task group.

  1. Another procedure for the preliminary ordering of loci based on two point lod scores.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curtis, D

    1994-01-01

    Because of the difficulty of performing full likelihood analysis over multiple loci and the large numbers of possible orders, a number of methods have been proposed for quickly evaluating orders and, to a lesser extent, for generating good orders. A new method is proposed which uses a function which is moderately laborious to compute, the sum of lod scores between all pairs of loci. This function can be smoothly minimized by initially allowing the loci to be placed anywhere in space, and only subsequently constraining them to lie along a one-dimensional map. Application of this approach to sample data suggests that it has promise and might usefully be combined with other methods when loci need to be ordered.

  2. 45 CFR 1620.3 - Establishing priorities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... should address the need for outreach, training of the recipient's employees, and support services. (c... IN USE OF RESOURCES § 1620.3 Establishing priorities. (a) The governing body of a recipient must... the cases and matters which may be undertaken by the recipient. (b) The procedures adopted must...

  3. Tracking SMME research in South Africa’s priority sectors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian Rogerson

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available The National Industrial Policy Framework and the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa emphasize the importance of promoting select ‘priority sectors’. This paper provides a review of existing research concerning SMME development in the three priority sectors of tourism, business process outsourcing and offshoring (BPO & O and, creative industries. The paper argues for the importance of undertaking sector-differentiated research on SMME development in South Africa in order to complement other research which is focussed on sector development as a whole.

  4. Top 10 research priorities in head and neck cancer: Results of an Alberta priority setting partnership of patients, caregivers, family members, and clinicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lechelt, Leah A; Rieger, Jana M; Cowan, Katherine; Debenham, Brock J; Krewski, Bernie; Nayar, Suresh; Regunathan, Akhila; Seikaly, Hadi; Singh, Ameeta E; Laupacis, Andreas

    2018-03-01

    The epidemiology, etiology, and management of head and neck cancer are evolving. Understanding the perspectives and priorities of nonresearchers regarding treatment uncertainties is important to inform future research. Using the James Lind Alliance approach, patients, caregivers, and clinicians responded to a survey regarding their unanswered questions about treating and managing head and neck cancer. Distinct uncertainties were extracted from responses and sorted into themes. Uncertainties already answered in the literature were removed. Those remaining were ranked by patients and clinicians to develop a short list of priorities, which were discussed at a workshop and reduced to the top 10. One hundred sixty-one respondents posed 818 uncertainties, culminating in 77 for interim ranking and 27 for discussion at a workshop. Participants reached consensus on the top 10, which included questions on prevention, screening, treatment, and quality of life. Nonresearchers can effectively collaborate to establish priorities for future research in head and neck cancer. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  5. SARS and hospital priority setting: a qualitative case study and evaluation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Upshur Ross EG

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Priority setting is one of the most difficult issues facing hospitals because of funding restrictions and changing patient need. A deadly communicable disease outbreak, such as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS in Toronto in 2003, amplifies the difficulties of hospital priority setting. The purpose of this study is to describe and evaluate priority setting in a hospital in response to SARS using the ethical framework 'accountability for reasonableness'. Methods This study was conducted at a large tertiary hospital in Toronto, Canada. There were two data sources: 1 over 200 key documents (e.g. emails, bulletins, and 2 35 interviews with key informants. Analysis used a modified thematic technique in three phases: open coding, axial coding, and evaluation. Results Participants described the types of priority setting decisions, the decision making process and the reasoning used. Although the hospital leadership made an effort to meet the conditions of 'accountability for reasonableness', they acknowledged that the decision making was not ideal. We described good practices and opportunities for improvement. Conclusions 'Accountability for reasonableness' is a framework that can be used to guide fair priority setting in health care organizations, such as hospitals. In the midst of a crisis such as SARS where guidance is incomplete, consequences uncertain, and information constantly changing, where hour-by-hour decisions involve life and death, fairness is more important rather than less.

  6. SARS and hospital priority setting: a qualitative case study and evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bell, Jennifer A H; Hyland, Sylvia; DePellegrin, Tania; Upshur, Ross E G; Bernstein, Mark; Martin, Douglas K

    2004-12-19

    Priority setting is one of the most difficult issues facing hospitals because of funding restrictions and changing patient need. A deadly communicable disease outbreak, such as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Toronto in 2003, amplifies the difficulties of hospital priority setting. The purpose of this study is to describe and evaluate priority setting in a hospital in response to SARS using the ethical framework 'accountability for reasonableness'. This study was conducted at a large tertiary hospital in Toronto, Canada. There were two data sources: 1) over 200 key documents (e.g. emails, bulletins), and 2) 35 interviews with key informants. Analysis used a modified thematic technique in three phases: open coding, axial coding, and evaluation. Participants described the types of priority setting decisions, the decision making process and the reasoning used. Although the hospital leadership made an effort to meet the conditions of 'accountability for reasonableness', they acknowledged that the decision making was not ideal. We described good practices and opportunities for improvement. 'Accountability for reasonableness' is a framework that can be used to guide fair priority setting in health care organizations, such as hospitals. In the midst of a crisis such as SARS where guidance is incomplete, consequences uncertain, and information constantly changing, where hour-by-hour decisions involve life and death, fairness is more important rather than less.

  7. Priority of road maintenance management based on halda reading range on NAASRA method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Surbakti, M.; Doan, A.

    2018-02-01

    The road pavement, constantly experiencing stress-strain due to traffic load through it, can cause damage to the pavement. Therefore, early detection and repair of the damage will be able to prevent more severe damage that can develop into pavement failure. A road condition survey is one of the earliest attempts to detect the initial damage of a pavement. In this case the driving comfort is the most important part for the driver in assessing road conditions that are affected by the level of road surface roughness. To determine the level of roughness of the road, one of the methods developed is the measurement using the NAASRA method. In this method the roughness of the road is an accumulation of the average unevenness of the road, with the general setting on halda of 100 m. However, with this 100-meter setting, in some places the final value of the roughness value is too large or too small so that it will result in the priority of the road maintenance. This is what underlies roughness research by comparing halda settings at 50 m and 200 m different from the general settings above.This study uses the International Roughness Index (IRI) method in determining the level of road stability concerning driving discomfort. IRI score obtained from direct survey in field by using Roughometer-NAASRA.The final result shows that there is a significant difference between the reading of halda which is set at 100 m reading with halda set with 50 and 200 meter readings. This may lead to differences in handling priorities, which may impact on the sustainability of road network maintenance management (Sustainaible Road Management)

  8. Using Facebook in a Healthy Lifestyle Intervention: Feasibility and Preliminary Efficacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ling, Jiying; Robbins, Lorraine B; Zhang, Nanhua; Kerver, Jean M; Lyons, Haley; Wieber, Nicole; Zhang, Mi

    2018-02-01

    The purpose of this pilot quasi-experimental study was to examine the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of using Facebook in a 10-week lifestyle intervention with Head Start caregiver-preschooler dyads to improve healthy behaviors and reduce body mass index. Sixty-nine dyads participated with 39 in the intervention group. Average preschooler attendance rate for the Head Start center-based program was 77%, and caregiver participation rate was 87%. About 94% of the caregivers were satisfied with the program, and 97% would recommend the program to others and/or participate again. The intervention decreased preschoolers' body mass index z score (Cohen's d = -.30) and screen time ( d = -.21), and increased their fruit and vegetable intake ( d = .40) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity ( d = .42). The intervention increased caregivers' fruit and vegetable intake ( d = .40). The intervention is feasible, and preliminary efficacy is encouraging, but further investigation using a rigorous study design is warranted.

  9. Systematic reviews addressing identified health policy priorities in Eastern Mediterranean countries: a situational analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    El-Jardali, Fadi; Akl, Elie A; Karroum, Lama Bou; Kdouh, Ola; Akik, Chaza; Fadlallah, Racha; Hammoud, Rawan

    2014-08-20

    Systematic reviews can offer policymakers and stakeholders concise, transparent, and relevant evidence pertaining to pressing policy priorities to help inform the decision-making process. The production and the use of systematic reviews are specifically limited in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The extent to which published systematic reviews address policy priorities in the region is still unknown. This situational analysis exercise aims at assessing the extent to which published systematic reviews address policy priorities identified by policymakers and stakeholders in Eastern Mediterranean region countries. It also provides an overview about the state of systematic review production in the region and identifies knowledge gaps. We conducted a systematic search of the Health System Evidence database to identify published systematic reviews on policy-relevant priorities pertaining to the following themes: human resources for health, health financing, the role of the non-state sector, and access to medicine. Priorities were identified from two priority-setting exercises conducted in the region. We described the distribution of these systematic reviews across themes, sub-themes, authors' affiliations, and countries where included primary studies were conducted. Out of the 1,045 systematic reviews identified in Health System Evidence on selected themes, a total of 200 systematic reviews (19.1%) addressed the priorities from the Eastern Mediterranean region. The theme with the largest number of systematic reviews included was human resources for health (115) followed by health financing (33), access to medicine (27), and role of the non-state sector (25). Authors based in the region produced only three systematic reviews addressing regional priorities (1.5%). Furthermore, no systematic review focused on the Eastern Mediterranean region. Primary studies from the region had limited contribution to systematic reviews; 17 systematic reviews (8.5%) included primary

  10. Systematic reviews addressing identified health policy priorities in Eastern Mediterranean countries: a situational analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background Systematic reviews can offer policymakers and stakeholders concise, transparent, and relevant evidence pertaining to pressing policy priorities to help inform the decision-making process. The production and the use of systematic reviews are specifically limited in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The extent to which published systematic reviews address policy priorities in the region is still unknown. This situational analysis exercise aims at assessing the extent to which published systematic reviews address policy priorities identified by policymakers and stakeholders in Eastern Mediterranean region countries. It also provides an overview about the state of systematic review production in the region and identifies knowledge gaps. Methods We conducted a systematic search of the Health System Evidence database to identify published systematic reviews on policy-relevant priorities pertaining to the following themes: human resources for health, health financing, the role of the non-state sector, and access to medicine. Priorities were identified from two priority-setting exercises conducted in the region. We described the distribution of these systematic reviews across themes, sub-themes, authors’ affiliations, and countries where included primary studies were conducted. Results Out of the 1,045 systematic reviews identified in Health System Evidence on selected themes, a total of 200 systematic reviews (19.1%) addressed the priorities from the Eastern Mediterranean region. The theme with the largest number of systematic reviews included was human resources for health (115) followed by health financing (33), access to medicine (27), and role of the non-state sector (25). Authors based in the region produced only three systematic reviews addressing regional priorities (1.5%). Furthermore, no systematic review focused on the Eastern Mediterranean region. Primary studies from the region had limited contribution to systematic reviews; 17 systematic reviews

  11. Protecting Our Priorities: 2010 Annual Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 2010

    2010-01-01

    What does "protecting our priorities" mean in an era when economic realities require that institutions of higher education trim their budgets while also providing critical education and training to more and more students--those "human resources" whose skills will be the key to any economic turnaround? This is a question WICHE…

  12. Ratio analysis and Piotroski scoring system in the automobile industry in Croatia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morana Mesarić

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available To gain insight into operational efficiency, sustainable profitability, the ability to fulfil commitments, use of funds borrowed or investment risk or operational self-sufficiency, it is necessary to conduct analyses of financial statements usually known as ratio analysis. The paper provides analyses of five Croatian general distributors of the automobile industry. Ratios used in the analyses are those used in the Piotroski f-scoring analyses, which are famous for assessing financial capacities of enterprises on the stock exchange market. Based on ratios used in Piotroski scoring systems the assessment of five enterprises, as well as the sector as a whole was carried out. The analysis covers the period 2007-2012. That is the period of the rise, falling and recovery of the automotive industry throughout the world as well as the rise, falling and recession of the whole economy including the automobile market. In general, the sector itself is financially unstable and consequently risk exposed. Results are used for preliminary analyses and prediction of the future financial strength of the auto industry in Croatia.

  13. An Analysis of QoS in ZigBee Network Based on Deviated Node Priority

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Md. Jaminul Haque Biddut

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available ZigBee is an IEEE 802.15.4 standardized communication protocol. It forms a flawless Wireless Sensor Network (WSN standard for interoperability at all levels of the network, particularly the application level which most closely touches the user. A large number of devices from different vendors can work seamlessly. These devices act as a network and send huge data traffic to the Coordinator. End devices at different zones have different roles in communication with each other. There has been a lack in executing their requests in a synchronized way based on task priority. This lack leads to massive data traffic loss and degrades the Quality of Service (QoS. One of the challenges is to analyze the QoS parameters in ZigBee network that help to detect the overall network performance. The contribution of this paper is twofold; first, a ZigBee Network is implemented based on node priority. It demonstrates a method to generate a new priority of devices with respect to their existing priority and zones’ priority as well. Second, the QoS is analyzed based on the new priority status for tasks preference purposes. The outcome of this paper shows that the QoS of the network is more conspicuous than non-priority based network.

  14. Scoring of radiation-induced micronuclei in cytokinesis-blocked human lymphocytes by automated image analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Verhaegen, F.; Seuntjens, J.; Thierens, H.

    1994-01-01

    The micronucleus assay in human lymphocytes is, at present, frequently used to assess chromosomal damage caused by ionizing radiation or mutagens. Manual scoring of micronuclei (MN) by trained personnel is very time-consuming, tiring work, and the results depend on subjective interpretation of scoring criteria. More objective scoring can be accomplished only if the test can be automated. Furthermore, an automated system allows scoring of large numbers of cells, thereby increasing the statistical significance of the results. This is of special importance for screening programs for low doses of chromosome-damaging agents. In this paper, the first results of our effort to automate the micronucleus assay with an image-analysis system are represented. The method we used is described in detail, and the results are compared to those of other groups. Our system is able to detect 88% of the binucleated lymphocytes on the slides. The procedure consists of a fully automated localization of binucleated cells and counting of the MN within these cells, followed by a simple and fast manual operation in which the false positives are removed. Preliminary measurements for blood samples irradiated with a dose of 1 Gy X-rays indicate that the automated system can find 89% ± 12% of the micronuclei within the binucleated cells compared to a manual screening. 18 refs., 8 figs., 1 tab

  15. Factors associated with IQ scores in long-term survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robison, L.L.; Nesbit, M.E. Jr.; Sather, H.N.; Meadows, A.T.; Ortega, J.A.; Hammond, G.D.

    1984-01-01

    To identify factors which might be associated with intellectual function following treatment for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 50 long-term survivors were studied using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised. All patients were diagnosed between 1972 and 1974 and were treated on a single clinical trial protocol with identical induction and maintenance chemotherapy plus central nervous system prophylaxis that included cranial radiation. The mean full scale IQ score for the group was 95 (SEM 2.0), with mean verbal IQ of 94.4 and mean performance IQ of 96.9. Factors which were found to be closely associated with a lower IQ score included female sex (in both verbal IQ and full-scale IQ), longer duration of chemotherapy (in performance IQ), and younger age at the time of radiation (in both verbal IQ and full-scale IQ). The age at the time of radiation was found to be significantly correlated with discrepancy between verbal and performance IQ, with younger age being associated with verbal IQ scores higher than performance IQ scores. When analyses were performed within specific subgroups of patients defined by sex and age at the time of radiation, dose of cranial radiation, concomitant intrathecal methotrexate therapy, and duration of therapy were all found to be correlated with a lower level of intellectual function. These preliminary findings provide direction for future studies to help identify high-risk patients

  16. 15 CFR 700.16 - Changes or cancellations of priority ratings and rated orders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... Commerce and Foreign Trade (Continued) BUREAU OF INDUSTRY AND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NATIONAL SECURITY INDUSTRIAL BASE REGULATIONS DEFENSE PRIORITIES AND ALLOCATIONS SYSTEM Industrial Priorities § 700...

  17. DecreaseKeys are Expensive for External Memory Priority Queues

    OpenAIRE

    Eenberg, Kasper; Larsen, Kasper Green; Yu, Huacheng

    2016-01-01

    One of the biggest open problems in external memory data structures is the priority queue problem with DecreaseKey operations. If only Insert and ExtractMin operations need to be supported, one can design a comparison-based priority queue performing $O((N/B)\\lg_{M/B} N)$ I/Os over a sequence of $N$ operations, where $B$ is the disk block size in number of words and $M$ is the main memory size in number of words. This matches the lower bound for comparison-based sorting and is hence optimal fo...

  18. Public engagement in setting healthcare priorities: a ranking exercise in Cyprus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farmakas, Antonis; Theodorou, Mamas; Galanis, Petros; Karayiannis, Georgios; Ghobrial, Stefanos; Polyzos, Nikos; Papastavrou, Evridiki; Agapidaki, Eirini; Souliotis, Kyriakos

    2017-01-01

    In countries such as Cyprus the financial crisis and the recession have severely affected the funding and priority setting of the health care system. There is evidence highlighting the importance of population' preferences in designing priorities for health care settings. Although public preferences have been thorough analysed in many countries, there is a research gap in terms of simultaneously investigating the relative importance and the weight of differing and competing criteria for determining healthcare priority settings. The main objective of the study was tο investigate public preferences for the relative utility and weight of differing and competing criteria for health care priority setting in Cyprus. The 'conjoint analysis' technique was applied to develop a ranking exercise. The aim of the study was to identify the preferences of the participants for alternative options. Participants were asked to grade in a priority order 16 hypothetical case scenarios of patients with different disease and of diverse socio-economic characteristics awaiting treatment. The sample was purposive and consisted of 100 Cypriots, selected from public locations all over the country. It was revealed that the "severity of the disease" and the " age of the patient" were the key prioritization criteria. Participants assigned the smallest relative value to the criterion " healthy lifestyle" . More precisely, participants older than 35 years old assigned higher relative importance to " age" , while younger participants to the " severity of the disease". The " healthy lifestyle" criterion was assigned to the lowest relative importance to by all participants. In Cyprus, public participation in health care priority setting is almost inexistent. Nonetheless, it seems that the public's participation in this process could lead to a wider acceptance of the healthcare system especially as a result of the financial crisis and the upcoming reforms implemented such as the establishment of the

  19. Health promotion through sport: international sport federations' priorities, actions and opportunities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mountjoy, Margo; Costa, A; Budgett, R; Dvorak, J; Engebretsen, L; Miller, S; Moran, J; Foster, J; Carr, J

    2018-01-01

    To identify areas of priority and activity for international sportsfederations (IFs) with respect to athlete health and safety, and global health. Results serve to direct the work of the Association of Summer Olympic IF Medical and Scientific Consultative Group, the International Olympic Committee and to influence IFs' planning and priorities. The 28 IFs participating in the Summer Olympic Games (2016) were asked to rank the relative importance of 11 health-related topics and to report their activities or research initiatives on 27 identified topics using an electronic survey. A comparison with a similar survey (2012) was made. The response rate was 100%. In general, the ' fight against doping ' had the highest priority followed by 'image as a safe sport '. The topics with the lowest importance ratings were ' increasing the number of elite athletes ', and ' health of the general population '. Despite ranking ' health of your athletes ,' as a top priority, IFs are not addressing all aspects of athlete health. In comparison with 2012, there was a significant decrease in priority for IFs is ' health of the general population '. Despite the widespread knowledge of the importance of the promotion of physical activity (sport) on global health, the decreasing priority and programming of the IFs on physical activity promotion is concerning. Although IFs have prioritised the protection of the health of elite athletes, there are gaps in programming demonstrating that IFs are missing important areas of athlete health. Improving recreational athlete health programming could also benefit population health as well as improve IF fan base and sport participation. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  20. Priorities and Practices of Career and Technical Education Directors in Indiana

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herrin, Cory D.

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the importance and priority of practices for directors of career and technical education in the state of Indiana. An analysis was prepared to determine the rankings and correlations of importance and priorities of 50 leadership practices as well as 11 categories of practices for the career…

  1. Quantitative analysis of a fault tree with priority AND gates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yuge, T.; Yanagi, S.

    2008-01-01

    A method for calculating the exact top event probability of a fault tree with priority AND gates and repeated basic events is proposed when the minimal cut sets are given. A priority AND gate is an AND gate where the input events must occur in a prescribed order for the occurrence of the output event. It is known that the top event probability of such a dynamic fault tree is obtained by converting the tree into an equivalent Markov model. However, this method is not realistic for a complex system model because the number of states which should be considered in the Markov analysis increases explosively as the number of basic events increases. To overcome the shortcomings of the Markov model, we propose an alternative method to obtain the top event probability in this paper. We assume that the basic events occur independently, exponentially distributed, and the component whose failure corresponds to the occurrence of the basic event is non-repairable. First, we obtain the probability of occurrence of the output event of a single priority AND gate by Markov analysis. Then, the top event probability is given by a cut set approach and the inclusion-exclusion formula. An efficient procedure to obtain the probabilities corresponding to logical products in the inclusion-exclusion formula is proposed. The logical product which is composed of two or more priority AND gates having at least one common basic event as their inputs is transformed into the sum of disjoint events which are equivalent to a priority AND gate in the procedure. Numerical examples show that our method works well for complex systems

  2. Biodiversity, Urban Areas, and Agriculture: Locating Priority Ecoregions for Conservation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taylor Ricketts

    2003-12-01

    Full Text Available Urbanization and agriculture are two of the most important threats to biodiversity worldwide. The intensities of these land-use phenomena, however, as well as levels of biodiversity itself, differ widely among regions. Thus, there is a need to develop a quick but rigorous method of identifying where high levels of human threats and biodiversity coincide. These areas are clear priorities for biodiversity conservation. In this study, we combine distribution data for eight major plant and animal taxa (comprising over 20,000 species with remotely sensed measures of urban and agricultural land use to assess conservation priorities among 76 terrestrial ecoregions in North America. We combine the species data into overall indices of richness and endemism. We then plot each of these indices against the percent cover of urban and agricultural land in each ecoregion, resulting in four separate comparisons. For each comparison, ecoregions that fall above the 66th quantile on both axes are identified as priorities for conservation. These analyses yield four "priority sets" of 6-16 ecoregions (8-21% of the total number where high levels of biodiversity and human land use coincide. These ecoregions tend to be concentrated in the southeastern United States, California, and, to a lesser extent, the Atlantic coast, southern Texas, and the U.S. Midwest. Importantly, several ecoregions are members of more than one priority set and two ecoregions are members of all four sets. Across all 76 ecoregions, urban cover is positively correlated with both species richness and endemism. Conservation efforts in densely populated areas therefore may be equally important (if not more so as preserving remote parks in relatively pristine regions.

  3. Identifying research priorities for patient safety in mental health: an international expert Delphi study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murray, Kevin; Thibaut, Bethan; Ramtale, Sonny Christian; Adam, Sheila; Darzi, Ara; Archer, Stephanie

    2018-01-01

    Objective Physical healthcare has dominated the patient safety field; research in mental healthcare is not as extensive but findings from physical healthcare cannot be applied to mental healthcare because it delivers specialised care that faces unique challenges. Therefore, a clearer focus and recognition of patient safety in mental health as a distinct research area is still needed. The study aim is to identify future research priorities in the field of patient safety in mental health. Design Semistructured interviews were conducted with the experts to ascertain their views on research priorities in patient safety in mental health. A three-round online Delphi study was used to ascertain consensus on 117 research priority statements. Setting and participants Academic and service user experts from the USA, UK, Switzerland, Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore were included. Main outcome measures Agreement in research priorities on a five-point scale. Results Seventy-nine statements achieved consensus (>70%). Three out of the top six research priorities were patient driven; experts agreed that understanding the patient perspective on safety planning, on self-harm and on medication was important. Conclusions This is the first international Delphi study to identify research priorities in safety in the mental field as determined by expert academic and service user perspectives. A reasonable consensus was obtained from international perspectives on future research priorities in patient safety in mental health; however, the patient perspective on their mental healthcare is a priority. The research agenda for patient safety in mental health identified here should be informed by patient safety science more broadly and used to further establish this area as a priority in its own right. The safety of mental health patients must have parity with that of physical health patients to achieve this. PMID:29502096

  4. Threats from urban expansion, agricultural transformation and forest loss on global conservation priority areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moilanen, Atte; Di Minin, Enrico

    2017-01-01

    Including threats in spatial conservation prioritization helps identify areas for conservation actions where biodiversity is at imminent risk of extinction. At the global level, an important limitation when identifying spatial priorities for conservation actions is the lack of information on the spatial distribution of threats. Here, we identify spatial conservation priorities under three prominent threats to biodiversity (residential and commercial development, agricultural expansion, and forest loss), which are primary drivers of habitat loss and threaten the persistence of the highest number of species in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and for which spatial data is available. We first explore how global priority areas for the conservation of vertebrate (mammals, birds, and amphibians) species coded in the Red List as vulnerable to each threat differ spatially. We then identify spatial conservation priorities for all species vulnerable to all threats. Finally, we identify the potentially most threatened areas by overlapping the identified priority areas for conservation with maps for each threat. We repeat the same with four other well-known global conservation priority area schemes, namely Key Biodiversity Areas, Biodiversity Hotspots, the global Protected Area Network, and Wilderness Areas. We find that residential and commercial development directly threatens only about 4% of the global top 17% priority areas for species vulnerable under this threat. However, 50% of the high priority areas for species vulnerable to forest loss overlap with areas that have already experienced some forest loss. Agricultural expansion overlapped with ~20% of high priority areas. Biodiversity Hotspots had the greatest proportion of their total area under direct threat from all threats, while expansion of low intensity agriculture was found to pose an imminent threat to Wilderness Areas under future agricultural expansion. Our results

  5. Use of demand for and spatial flow of ecosystem services to identify priority areas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verhagen, Willem; Kukkala, Aija S; Moilanen, Atte; van Teeffelen, Astrid J A; Verburg, Peter H

    2017-08-01

    Policies and research increasingly focus on the protection of ecosystem services (ESs) through priority-area conservation. Priority areas for ESs should be identified based on ES capacity and ES demand and account for the connections between areas of ES capacity and demand (flow) resulting in areas of unique demand-supply connections (flow zones). We tested ways to account for ES demand and flow zones to identify priority areas in the European Union. We mapped the capacity and demand of a global (carbon sequestration), a regional (flood regulation), and 3 local ESs (air quality, pollination, and urban leisure). We used Zonation software to identify priority areas for ESs based on 6 tests: with and without accounting for ES demand and 4 tests that accounted for the effect of ES flow zone. There was only 37.1% overlap between the 25% of priority areas that encompassed the most ESs with and without accounting for ES demand. The level of ESs maintained in the priority areas increased from 23.2% to 57.9% after accounting for ES demand, especially for ESs with a small flow zone. Accounting for flow zone had a small effect on the location of priority areas and level of ESs maintained but resulted in fewer flow zones without ES maintained relative to ignoring flow zones. Accounting for demand and flow zones enhanced representation and distribution of ESs with local to regional flow zones without large trade-offs relative to the global ES. We found that ignoring ES demand led to the identification of priority areas in remote regions where benefits from ES capacity to society were small. Incorporating ESs in conservation planning should therefore always account for ES demand to identify an effective priority network for ESs. © 2016 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

  6. Gore's Controversial Priorities for Higher Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gose, Ben

    2000-01-01

    Evaluates presidential candidate Al Gore's priorities for higher education, noting criticism by some educators of his emphasis on benefits for the middle class and the large number of specific proposals he has offered, including the College Opportunity Tax Cut, 21st Century Teachers' Corps, 401(j) Educational Savings Accounts, the National Tuition…

  7. 7 CFR 1777.13 - Project priority.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... joint financing committed to the proposed project is: (i) Twenty percent or more private, local, or.... (See definition in § 1777.4). The proposed project will provide water and/or waste disposal services to... 7 Agriculture 12 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Project priority. 1777.13 Section 1777.13 Agriculture...

  8. Statistical analysis to assess automated level of suspicion scoring methods in breast ultrasound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galperin, Michael

    2003-05-01

    A well-defined rule-based system has been developed for scoring 0-5 the Level of Suspicion (LOS) based on qualitative lexicon describing the ultrasound appearance of breast lesion. The purposes of the research are to asses and select one of the automated LOS scoring quantitative methods developed during preliminary studies in benign biopsies reduction. The study has used Computer Aided Imaging System (CAIS) to improve the uniformity and accuracy of applying the LOS scheme by automatically detecting, analyzing and comparing breast masses. The overall goal is to reduce biopsies on the masses with lower levels of suspicion, rather that increasing the accuracy of diagnosis of cancers (will require biopsy anyway). On complex cysts and fibroadenoma cases experienced radiologists were up to 50% less certain in true negatives than CAIS. Full correlation analysis was applied to determine which of the proposed LOS quantification methods serves CAIS accuracy the best. This paper presents current results of applying statistical analysis for automated LOS scoring quantification for breast masses with known biopsy results. It was found that First Order Ranking method yielded most the accurate results. The CAIS system (Image Companion, Data Companion software) is developed by Almen Laboratories and was used to achieve the results.

  9. Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of Persian Achilles tendon Total Rupture Score.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ansari, Noureddin Nakhostin; Naghdi, Soofia; Hasanvand, Sahar; Fakhari, Zahra; Kordi, Ramin; Nilsson-Helander, Katarina

    2016-04-01

    To cross-culturally adapt the Achilles tendon Total Rupture Score (ATRS) to Persian language and to preliminary evaluate the reliability and validity of a Persian ATRS. A cross-sectional and prospective cohort study was conducted to translate and cross-culturally adapt the ATRS to Persian language (ATRS-Persian) following steps described in guidelines. Thirty patients with total Achilles tendon rupture and 30 healthy subjects participated in this study. Psychometric properties of floor/ceiling effects (responsiveness), internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, standard error of measurement (SEM), smallest detectable change (SDC), construct validity, and discriminant validity were tested. Factor analysis was performed to determine the ATRS-Persian structure. There were no floor or ceiling effects that indicate the content and responsiveness of ATRS-Persian. Internal consistency was high (Cronbach's α 0.95). Item-total correlations exceeded acceptable standard of 0.3 for the all items (0.58-0.95). The test-retest reliability was excellent [(ICC)agreement 0.98]. SEM and SDC were 3.57 and 9.9, respectively. Construct validity was supported by a significant correlation between the ATRS-Persian total score and the Persian Foot and Ankle Outcome Score (PFAOS) total score and PFAOS subscales (r = 0.55-0.83). The ATRS-Persian significantly discriminated between patients and healthy subjects. Explanatory factor analysis revealed 1 component. The ATRS was cross-culturally adapted to Persian and demonstrated to be a reliable and valid instrument to measure functional outcomes in Persian patients with Achilles tendon rupture. II.

  10. Priority of areas for agricultural radiovulnerability mapping

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rochedo, Elaine R.R.; Igreja, Eduardo, E-mail: elainerochedo@gmail.com, E-mail: eduigreja@gmail.com [Instituto Militar de Engenharia (IME), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Programa de Engenharia Nuclear; Wasserman, Maria Angelica V., E-mail: mwasserman@ien.gov.br [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Perez, Daniel V., E-mail: chpd@cnps.embrapa.br [Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria (EMBRAPA), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Solos; Rochedo, Pedro R.R., E-mail: rochedopedro@gmail.com [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Programa de Planejamento Energetico; Silva, Diogo N.G., E-mail: diogongs@gmail.com [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho

    2013-07-01

    The methodology for classifying areas according to soil properties for the vulnerability to a {sup 137}Cs contamination is of high importance to the preparedness related to nuclear and/or radiological accidents that lead to release of radionuclides to the environment with the consequent contamination of agricultural areas. The priority of research for agricultural areas should then focus on the surrounding areas of nuclear power plant that have higher probability of public exposure through the ingestion pathway. The objective of this work was to create a rank order for priority of areas to be mapped based on EMBRAPA database on soil properties. The 16 municipalities previously selected to define parameters for dose assessment simulations related to the Brazilian Nuclear Power Plants, located in the district of Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, have been investigated in order to create this rank order to direct the research on radio vulnerability mapping, considering their relevance to public exposure based on their agricultural productivity. The two aspects selected in this study account for the maximum loss of income and to the collective doses that can be averted due to the banning of agricultural products. These quantities are inputs to optimization analysis. The priority defined shall then guide research on both the adequate values for the transfer factors and on the agricultural countermeasures suitable to each area according to the cause(s) of their vulnerability and their typical agricultural crops. (author)

  11. Priority of areas for agricultural radiovulnerability mapping

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rochedo, Elaine R.R.; Igreja, Eduardo; Perez, Daniel V.; Rochedo, Pedro R.R.; Silva, Diogo N.G.

    2013-01-01

    The methodology for classifying areas according to soil properties for the vulnerability to a 137 Cs contamination is of high importance to the preparedness related to nuclear and/or radiological accidents that lead to release of radionuclides to the environment with the consequent contamination of agricultural areas. The priority of research for agricultural areas should then focus on the surrounding areas of nuclear power plant that have higher probability of public exposure through the ingestion pathway. The objective of this work was to create a rank order for priority of areas to be mapped based on EMBRAPA database on soil properties. The 16 municipalities previously selected to define parameters for dose assessment simulations related to the Brazilian Nuclear Power Plants, located in the district of Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, have been investigated in order to create this rank order to direct the research on radio vulnerability mapping, considering their relevance to public exposure based on their agricultural productivity. The two aspects selected in this study account for the maximum loss of income and to the collective doses that can be averted due to the banning of agricultural products. These quantities are inputs to optimization analysis. The priority defined shall then guide research on both the adequate values for the transfer factors and on the agricultural countermeasures suitable to each area according to the cause(s) of their vulnerability and their typical agricultural crops. (author)

  12. An Assessment Methodology for Emergency Vehicle Traffic Signal Priority Systems

    OpenAIRE

    McHale, Gene Michael

    2002-01-01

    Emergency vehicle traffic signal priority systems allow emergency vehicles such as fire and emergency medical vehicles to request and receive a green traffic signal indication when approaching an intersection. Such systems have been around for a number of years, however, there is little understanding of the costs and benefits of such systems once they are deployed. This research develops an improved method to assess the travel time impacts of emergency vehicle traffic signal priority system...

  13. MAPPING OF POTENTIAL AGRICULTURE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRIORITY AGROINDUSTRY IN KEPULAUAN MERANTY REGENCY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Septina Elida

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The agricultural sector has an important role for rural communities in moving its economy. Therefore, that agricultural potential should be utilized as much as possible for socialwelfare. This study aimed to analyze the potential of agricultural commodities and priority of the factors that determine superioragroindustrybased potensial of agricultural commodities. This study usedsurvey, which was conduct in the Meranti IslandsDistrict from January to May 2016.Respondents involving stakeholders from experts, government agencies and community leaders. The analysis was the Hirarchi Analytical Process (AHP. The results showedthat the potential of agricultural commodities which was develope in Meranti Islands District were sago, coconut and rubber. Determinants: 1 Natural resources (climate, rainfall and land suitability, the priority factor were the land suitability and climate. 2 Human resources (formal education and skills, the priority factor was skill, 3 capital (land, seeds, tools, technology, and ease of cultivation, the priority factor were land, seeds, ease of cultivation. 4 Socio-economic and cultural (ethnic, contribution to GDP, the priority factor was the contribution to the GDP.Superior agroindustriesthat has be developed in the District of Meranti Islands based agricultural potential was agroindustrial sago and coconut. Determinants: 1. The technical aspects (raw materials, capital, technology and infrastructure, the priority factor were the raw material and capital. 2 Economical aspects (price, market, downstream prospects, and the contribution to the GDP, the priority factor are market and downstream prospects. 3 Socio-economic and cultural aspects (education and labor absorption, the priority factor in Agroindustry sago was education, whereas in the palm agro-industry was labor absorption. 

  14. IMPORTANCE OF MULTIPLE CRITERIA FOR PRIORITY SETTING OF HIV/AIDS INTERVENTIONS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tromp, Noor; Prawiranegara, Rozar; Siregar, Adiatma; Sunjaya, Deni; Baltussen, Rob

    2015-01-01

    This study describes the views of various stakeholders on the importance of different criteria for priority setting of HIV/AIDS interventions in Indonesia. Based on a general list of criteria and a focus group discussion with stakeholders (n = 6), a list was developed of thirty-two criteria that play a role in priority setting in HIV/AIDS control in West-Java province. Criteria were categorized according to the World Health Organization's health system goals and building block frameworks. People living with HIV/AIDS (n = 49), healthcare workers (HCW) (n = 41), the general population (n = 43), and policy makers (n = 22) rated the importance of thirty-two criteria on a 5-point Likert-scale. Thereafter, respondents ranked the highest rated criteria to express more detailed preferences. Stakeholders valued the following criteria as most important for the priority setting of HIV/AIDS interventions: an intervention's impact on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, reduction of stigma, quality of care, effectiveness on individual level, and feasibility in terms of current capacity of the health system (i.e., HCW, product, information, and service requirements), financial sustainability, and acceptance by donors. Overall, stakeholders' preferences for the importance of criteria are similar. Our study design outlines an approach for other settings to identify which criteria are important for priority setting of health interventions. For Indonesia, these study results may be used in priority setting processes for HIV/AIDS control and may contribute to more transparent and systematic allocation of resources.

  15. Setting priorities for the evolution of the market design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-01-01

    This report, which examines the forces that will influence the evolution of the Ontario electric power market over the next 4 or 5 years, is intended for market participants and other stakeholders. It sets priorities for the next phase of market development. Some of the market rules that need more work were identified and participants and stakeholders were invited to present their comments on whether the list accurately reflects the critical market development issues that need to be addressed after market opening. The report also discusses criteria that can be used to evaluate market design changes and their relative priorities. The list of potential high priority issues include: the energy forward market; the capacity reserve market; locational marginal pricing; a capability for full assignment of physical bilateral contracts; the export of operating reserve; moving to real time bidding; encouraging dispatchability and demand side responsiveness; transmission expansion; and, introducing markets in ancillary services. This list includes the main market design issues that need to be addressed over the next several years. 1 fig., 2 tabs

  16. Vision-related research priorities and how to finance them.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCarty, Catherine A

    2012-01-01

    A number of organizations have employed a consultative process with the vision community to engage relevant parties in identifying needs and opportunities for vision research. The National Eye Institute in the US and the European Commission are currently undergoing consultation to develop priorities for vision research. Once these priorities have been established, the challenge will be to identify the resources to advance these research agendas. Success rates for Federal funding for research have decreased recently in the USA, UK, and Australia. Researchers should consider various potential funding sources for their research. The universal consideration for funding is that the reason for funding should align with the mission of the funding organization. In addition to Federal research organizations that fund investigator-initiated research, other potential funding sources include nongovernmental organizations, for-profit companies, individual philanthropy, and service organizations. In addition to aligning with organizational funding priorities, researchers need to consider turn-around time and total funds available including whether an organization will cover institutional indirect costs. Websites are useful tools to find information about organizations that fund research, including grant deadlines. Collaboration is encouraged.

  17. Representation of global and national conservation priorities by Colombia's Protected Area Network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forero-Medina, German; Joppa, Lucas

    2010-10-12

    How do national-level actions overlap with global priorities for conservation? Answering this question is especially important in countries with high and unique biological diversity like Colombia. Global biodiversity schemes provide conservation guidance at a large scale, while national governments gazette land for protection based on a combination of criteria at regional or local scales. Information on how a protected area network represents global and national conservation priorities is crucial for finding gaps in coverage and for future expansion of the system. We evaluated the agreement of Colombia's protected area network with global conservation priorities, and the extent to which the network reflects the country's biomes, species richness, and common environmental and physical conditions. We used this information to identify priority biomes for conservation. We find the dominant strategy in Colombia has been a proactive one, allocating the highest proportion of protected land on intact, difficult to access and species rich areas like the Amazon. Threatened and unique areas are disproportionately absent from Colombia's protected lands. We highlight six biomes in Colombia as conservation priorities that should be considered in any future expansion of Colombia's protected area network. Two of these biomes have less than 3% of their area protected and more than 70% of their area transformed for human use. One has less than 3% protected and high numbers of threatened vertebrates. Three biomes fall in both categories. Expansion of Colombia's Protected Area Network should consider the current representativeness of the network. We indicate six priority biomes that can contribute to improving the representation of threatened species and biomes in Colombia.

  18. Priority setting for orphan drugs: an international comparison.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenberg-Yunger, Zahava R S; Daar, Abdallah S; Thorsteinsdóttir, Halla; Martin, Douglas K

    2011-04-01

    To describe the process of priority setting for two orphan drugs - Cerezyme and Fabrazyme - in Canada, Australia and Israel, in order to understand and improve the process based on stakeholder perspectives. We conducted qualitative case studies of how three independent drug advisory committees made decisions relating to the funding of Cerezyme and Fabrazyme. Interviews were conducted with 22 informants, including committee members, patient groups and industry representatives. (1) DESCRIPTION: Orphan drugs reimbursement recommendations by expert panels were based on clinical evidence, cost and cost-effectiveness analysis. (2) EVALUATION: Committee members expressed an overall preference for the current drug review process used by their own committee, but were concerned with the fairness of the process particularly for orphan drugs. Other informants suggested the inclusion of other relevant values (e.g. lack of alternative treatments) in order to improve the priority setting process. Some patient groups suggested the use of an alternative funding mechanism for orphan drugs. Priority setting for drugs is not solely a technical process (involving cost-effective analysis, evidence-based medicine, etc.). Understanding the process by which reimbursement decisions are made for orphan drugs may help improve the system for future orphan drugs. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Histologic scoring indices for evaluation of disease activity in Crohn's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novak, Gregor; Parker, Claire E; Pai, Rish K; MacDonald, John K; Feagan, Brian G; Sandborn, William J; D'Haens, Geert; Jairath, Vipul; Khanna, Reena

    2017-07-21

    histological indices fulfilled the inclusion criteria.Inter-rater reliability was assessed in one study. For the Naini and Cortina Score, estimates of correlation were 'almost perfect', ranging from r = 0.94 to 0.96. The methodological quality of this study with respect to reliability was 'good'.With respect to validity, correlation estimates between various histological scoring systems and Crohn's disease activity as measured by objective markers of inflammation (including C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, fecal calprotectin and fecal lactoferrin); endoscopic disease activity scores; clinical disease activity scores; and quality of life questionnaires were reported. Comparisons between histologic scoring indices and endoscopic scoring indices ranged from no correlation to 'substantial' (r = 0.779). The methodological quality of the studies that explored validity ranged form 'poor' to 'good'.Responsiveness data were available in seven studies. After subjects were administered a treatment of known efficacy, statistically significant change in the index score was demonstrated in five studies with respect to six indices. Two studies failed to indicate whether there was statistically significant change in the index score post-treatment. With regard to methodological quality, six of the studies were rated as 'poor' and one of the studies was rated as 'fair'.Feasibility was assessed by one study. The Naini and Cortina Score was shown to be simple to use and feasible for every given case. Currently there is no fully validated histological scoring index for evaluation of Crohn's disease activity. Development of a validated histological scoring index for Crohn's disease is a clinical and research priority.

  20. Factors explaining priority setting at community mental health centres: a quantitative analysis of referral assessments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grepperud, Sverre; Holman, Per Arne; Wangen, Knut Reidar

    2014-12-14

    Clinicians at Norwegian community mental health centres assess referrals from general practitioners and classify them into three priority groups (high priority, low priority, and refusal) according to need where need is defined by three prioritization criteria (severity, effect, and cost-effectiveness). In this study, we seek to operationalize the three criteria and analyze to what extent they have an effect on clinical-level priority setting after controlling for clinician characteristics and organisational factors. Twenty anonymous referrals were rated by 42 admission team members employed at 14 community mental health centres in the South-East Health Region of Norway. Intra-class correlation coefficients were calculated and logistic regressions were performed. Variation in clinicians' assessments of the three criteria was highest for effect and cost-effectiveness. An ordered logistic regression model showed that all three criteria for prioritization, three clinician characteristics (education, being a manager or not, and "guideline awareness"), and the centres themselves (fixed effects), explained priority decisions. The relative importance of the explanatory factors, however, depended on the priority decision studied. For the classification of all admitted patients into high- and low-priority groups, all clinician characteristics became insignificant. For the classification of patients, into those admitted and non-admitted, one criterion (effect) and "being a manager or not" became insignificant, while profession ("being a psychiatrist") became significant. Our findings suggest that variation in priority decisions can be reduced by: (i) reducing the disagreement in clinicians' assessments of cost-effectiveness and effect, and (ii) restricting priority decisions to clinicians with a similar background (education, being a manager or not, and "guideline awareness").

  1. WebScore: An Effective Page Scoring Approach for Uncertain Web Social Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shaojie Qiao

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available To effectively score pages with uncertainty in web social networks, we first proposed a new concept called transition probability matrix and formally defined the uncertainty in web social networks. Second, we proposed a hybrid page scoring algorithm, called WebScore, based on the PageRank algorithm and three centrality measures including degree, betweenness, and closeness. Particularly,WebScore takes into a full consideration of the uncertainty of web social networks by computing the transition probability from one page to another. The basic idea ofWebScore is to: (1 integrate uncertainty into PageRank in order to accurately rank pages, and (2 apply the centrality measures to calculate the importance of pages in web social networks. In order to verify the performance of WebScore, we developed a web social network analysis system which can partition web pages into distinct groups and score them in an effective fashion. Finally, we conducted extensive experiments on real data and the results show that WebScore is effective at scoring uncertain pages with less time deficiency than PageRank and centrality measures based page scoring algorithms.

  2. Blind Pose Prediction, Scoring, and Affinity Ranking of the CSAR 2014 Dataset.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martiny, Virginie Y; Martz, François; Selwa, Edithe; Iorga, Bogdan I

    2016-06-27

    The 2014 CSAR Benchmark Exercise was focused on three protein targets: coagulation factor Xa, spleen tyrosine kinase, and bacterial tRNA methyltransferase. Our protocol involved a preliminary analysis of the structural information available in the Protein Data Bank for the protein targets, which allowed the identification of the most appropriate docking software and scoring functions to be used for the rescoring of several docking conformations datasets, as well as for pose prediction and affinity ranking. The two key points of this study were (i) the prior evaluation of molecular modeling tools that are most adapted for each target and (ii) the increased search efficiency during the docking process to better explore the conformational space of big and flexible ligands.

  3. Temporal priority effects on competition are not consistent among intermountain grassland species

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuo, Shengpeng; Li, Hongli; Ma, Yongqing; Callaway, Ragan M.

    2016-08-01

    Previous work indicates that priority effects exist, but mechanisms are not well understood. So we explored shifts in competitive outcomes and intensities as a potential general mechanism. In a standard greenhouse experiment the temporal priority effects of the target species Pseudoroegneria spicata and its competitive responses to five receptor species, i.e., Bromus ciliatus, Bromus marginatus, Coreopsis tinctoria, Senecio atratus, and Solidago canadensis were evaluated. P. spicata adults with a high root: shoot ratio had a significant inhibitory priority effect on B. ciliatus, B. marginatus, and C. tinctoria. Compared with the target species, under later and simultaneous sowing, B. ciliatus, B. marginatus, C. tinctoria, and S. atratus exhibited an increasing trend in terms of competition. However, S. canadensis did not display priority effects. In addition, the gram per gram competitive effect of P. spicata depended on the receptor species in the following order: B. marginatus > B. ciliatus > C. tinctoria > S. atratus. There were positive relationships between the relative interaction indices and the root: shoot ratios in B. ciliatus, B. marginatus, and C. tinctoria, thereby suggesting that the early germination or emergence of P. spicata may reduce the root: shoot ratios of these receptors. The results of this study indicate that priority effects occurred in early colonizers with high root: shoot ratios and greater competitive capacities.

  4. Transit-Based Emergency Evacuation with Transit Signal Priority in Sudden-Onset Disaster

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ciyun Lin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This study presents methods of transit signal priority without transit-only lanes for a transit-based emergency evacuation in a sudden-onset disaster. Arterial priority signal coordination is optimized when a traffic signal control system provides priority signals for transit vehicles along an evacuation route. Transit signal priority is determined by “transit vehicle arrival time estimation,” “queuing vehicle dissipation time estimation,” “traffic signal status estimation,” “transit signal optimization,” and “arterial traffic signal coordination for transit vehicle in evacuation route.” It takes advantage of the large capacities of transit vehicles, reduces the evacuation time, and evacuates as many evacuees as possible. The proposed methods were tested on a simulation platform with Paramics V6.0. To evaluate and compare the performance of transit signal priority, three scenarios were simulated in the simulator. The results indicate that the methods of this study can reduce the travel times of transit vehicles along an evacuation route by 13% and 10%, improve the standard deviation of travel time by 16% and 46%, and decrease the average person delay at a signalized intersection by 22% and 17% when the traffic flow saturation along an evacuation route is 0.81.0, respectively.

  5. Hybrid task priority-based motion control of a redundant free-floating space robot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cheng ZHOU

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a novel hybrid task priority-based motion planning algorithm of a space robot. The satellite attitude control task is defined as the primary task, while the least-squares-based non-strict task priority solution of the end-effector plus the multi-constraint task is viewed as the secondary task. Furthermore, a null-space task compensation strategy in the joint space is proposed to derive the combination of non-strict and strict task-priority motion planning, and this novel combination is termed hybrid task priority control. Thus, the secondary task is implemented in the primary task’s null-space. Besides, the transition of the state of multiple constraints between activeness and inactiveness will only influence the end-effector task without any effect on the primary task. A set of numerical experiments made in a real-time simulation system under Linux/RTAI shows the validity and feasibility of the proposed methodology. Keywords: Base attitude control, Hybrid task-priority, Motion planning, Multiple constraints, Redundant space robot

  6. Heart valve surgery: EuroSCORE vs. EuroSCORE II vs. Society of Thoracic Surgeons score

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Sharoz Rabbani

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Background This is a validation study comparing the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE II with the previous additive (AES and logistic EuroSCORE (LES and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ (STS risk prediction algorithm, for patients undergoing valve replacement with or without bypass in Pakistan. Patients and Methods Clinical data of 576 patients undergoing valve replacement surgery between 2006 and 2013 were retrospectively collected and individual expected risks of death were calculated by all four risk prediction algorithms. Performance of these risk algorithms was evaluated in terms of discrimination and calibration. Results There were 28 deaths (4.8% among 576 patients, which was lower than the predicted mortality of 5.16%, 6.96% and 4.94% by AES, LES and EuroSCORE II but was higher than 2.13% predicted by STS scoring system. For single and double valve replacement procedures, EuroSCORE II was the best predictor of mortality with highest Hosmer and Lemmeshow test (H-L p value (0.346 to 0.689 and area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC curve (0.637 to 0.898. For valve plus concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG patients actual mortality was 1.88%. STS calculator came out to be the best predictor of mortality for this subgroup with H-L p value (0.480 to 0.884 and ROC (0.657 to 0.775. Conclusions For Pakistani population EuroSCORE II is an accurate predictor for individual operative risk in patients undergoing isolated valve surgery, whereas STS performs better in the valve plus CABG group.

  7. Setting health research priorities using the CHNRI method: III. Involving stakeholders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sachiyo Yoshida

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Setting health research priorities is a complex and value–driven process. The introduction of the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI method has made the process of setting research priorities more transparent and inclusive, but much of the process remains in the hands of funders and researchers, as described in the previous two papers in this series. However, the value systems of numerous other important stakeholders, particularly those on the receiving end of health research products, are very rarely addressed in any process of priority setting. Inclusion of a larger and more diverse group of stakeholders in the process would result in a better reflection of the system of values of the broader community, resulting in recommendations that are more legitimate and acceptable.

  8. System of Strategic Priorities and Indicators of Ecologically Sustainable Subsoil Use

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    Lebedev Yuriy

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The system of strategic priorities and indicators of ecologically sustainable subsoil use is based on a fundamental basis - biotic regulation and it has a systematic character defined by conceptual, ideological, political and economic levels of management. It also possesses strict priorities and is based on interrelated ecological, economic and social factors, it reflects space-time dynamics of development and subsoil use. The indicators of ecologically sustainable subsoil use are indicators that characterize the change of natural, social and economic environment at different times; they provide qualitative and quantitative characteristic of subsoil use problem. The majority of existing sets of indicators of sustainable subsoil use doesn’t give a complete picture, is weakly connected with each other and no priorities are distinguished among them.

  9. Identification and quantification of priority species from coal combustion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Furimsky, E.; Zheng, L.; Hlavacek, T. [Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology, Ottawa, ON (Canada). Energy Research Laboratories

    1996-07-01

    The objective is to quantify and characterize emissions from pulverized coal combustion of seven coals and the circulating fluidized bed combustion of four coals. The species of particular interest are sulphur, nitrogen, chlorine, arsenic, mercury, lead, cadmium, potassium, and sodium. The Facility for Analysis of Chemical Thermodynamics (F{asterisk}A{asterisk}C{asterisk}T) method is used to predict type and amount of priority species. Prediction is made for combustion with and without the presence of limestone. The results show that the combustion technology used influences the amount of priority species emitted. 16 tabs., 3 apps.

  10. Priority Selection Within National Innovation Strategy in Global Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prokopenko Olha

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with global experience in analysing the priorities based on their importance for country development and on national and international criteria using algorithm for the selection process. The main aspects of the process of development and implementation of international technology strategies were considered. The authors prove that through the analysis of innovation systems at macro level decision about the priorities in optimization with the aim to improve regulations in science, technology and innovation is provided. The main techniques and decisions were considered based on foresight-studies. Authors propose to create informative and analytical system for the foresight aims.

  11. Creating a Research Agenda and Setting Research Priorities for Clinical Nurse Specialists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foster, Jan; Bautista, Cynthia; Ellstrom, Kathleen; Kalowes, Peggy; Manning, Jennifer; Pasek, Tracy Ann

    The purpose of this article is to describe the evolution and results of the process for establishing a research agenda and identification of research priorities for clinical nurse specialists, approved by the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (NACNS) membership and sanctioned by the NACNS Board of Directors. Development of the research agenda and identification of the priorities were an iterative process and involved a review of the literature; input from multiple stakeholders, including individuals with expertise in conducting research serving as task force members, and NACNS members; and feedback from national board members. A research agenda, which is to provide an enduring research platform, was established and research priorities, which are to be applied in the immediate future, were identified as a result of this process. Development of a research agenda and identification of research priorities are a key method of fulfilling the mission and goals of NACNS. The process and outcomes are described in this article.

  12. Packet models revisited: tandem and priority systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M.R.H. Mandjes (Michel)

    2004-01-01

    textabstractWe examine two extensions of traditional single-node packet-scale queueing models: tandem networks and (strict) priority systems. Two generic input processes are considered: periodic and Poisson arrivals. For the two-node tandem, an exact expression is derived for the joint distribution

  13. Priority and Negotiation Based Dynamic Spectrum Allocation Scheme for Multiple Radio Access Network Operators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Hoon; Hyon, Taein; Lee, Yeonwoo

    Most of previous works have presented the dynamic spectrum allocation (DSA) gain achieved by utilizing the time or regional variations in traffic demand between multi-network operators (NOs). In this paper, we introduce the functionalities required for the entities related with the spectrum sharing and allocation and propose a spectrum allocation algorithm while considering the long-term priority between NOs, the priority between multiple class services, and the urgent bandwidth request. To take into account the priorities among the NOs and the priorities of multiple class services, a spectrum sharing metric (SSM) is proposed, while a negotiation procedure is proposed to treat the urgent bandwidth request.

  14. Water management in cities of the future using emission control strategies for priority hazardous substances.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eriksson, E; Revitt, D M; Ledin, A; Lundy, L; Holten Lützhøft, H C; Wickman, T; Mikkelsen, P S

    2011-01-01

    Cities of the future face challenges with respect to the quantity and quality of water resources, and multiple managerial options need to be considered in order to safeguard urban surface water quality. In a recently completed project on 'Source control options for reducing emissions of Priority Pollutants' (ScorePP), seven emission control strategies (ECSs) were developed and tested within a semi-hypothetical case city (SHCC) to evaluate their potential to reduce the emission of selected European priority hazardous substances (PHSs) to surface waters. The ECSs included (1) business-as-usual, (2) full implementation of relevant European (EU) directives, (3) ECS2 in combination with voluntary options for household, municipalities and industry, (4) ECS2 combined with industrial treatment and best available technologies (BAT), (5) ECS2 in combination with stormwater and combined sewer overflow treatment, (6) ECS2 in combination with advanced wastewater treatment, and (7) combinations of ECS3-6. The SHCC approach was chosen to facilitate transparency, to allow compensating for data gaps and to decrease the level of uncertainty in the results. The selected PHSs: cadmium (Cd), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), nonylphenol (NP) and pentabromodiphenyl ether (PBDE) differ in their uses and environmental fate and therefore accumulate in surface waters to differing extents in response to the application of alternative ECS. To achieve the required reduction in PHS levels in urban waters the full implementation of existing EU regulation is prioritised and feasible combinations of managerial and technological options (source control and treatment) can be highly relevant for mitigating releases.

  15. Life History of Aggression scores are predicted by childhood hyperactivity, conduct disorder, adult substance abuse, and low cooperativeness in adult psychiatric patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofvander, Björn; Ståhlberg, Ola; Nydén, Agneta; Wentz, Elisabet; degl'Innocenti, Alessio; Billstedt, Eva; Forsman, Anders; Gillberg, Christopher; Nilsson, Thomas; Rastam, Maria; Anckarsäter, Henrik

    2011-01-30

    The prevention of aggressive behaviours is a core priority for psychiatric clinical work, but the association between the diagnostic concepts used in psychiatry and aggression remains largely unknown. Outpatients referred for psychiatric evaluations of childhood-onset neuropsychiatric disorders (n=178) and perpetrators of violent crimes referred to pre-trial forensic psychiatric investigations (n=92) had comprehensive, instrument-based, psychiatric assessments, including the Life History of Aggression (LHA) scales. Total and subscale LHA scores were compared to the categorical and dimensional diagnoses of childhood and adult DSM-IV axis I and II mental disorders, general intelligence (IQ), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), and personality traits according to the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Overall, the two groups had similar LHA scores, but the offender group scored higher on the Antisocial subscale. Higher total LHA scores were independently associated with the hyperactivity facet of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), childhood conduct disorder, substance-related disorders, and low scores on the Cooperativeness character dimension according to the TCI. IQ and GAF-scores were negatively correlated with the LHA subscale Self-directed aggression. Autistic traits were inversely correlated with aggression among outpatients, while the opposite pattern was noted in the forensic group. The findings call for assessments of aggression-related behaviours in all psychiatric settings. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. 76 FR 78250 - Final Priority; Safe and Healthy Students Discretionary Grant Programs

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-16

    ... raised concerns not directly related to the proposed priority. Analysis of Comments and Changes: An analysis of the comments and of any changes in the priority since publication of the notice of proposed.... Specifically, the commenters stated that there are many cases of emotional and behavioral problems, substance...

  17. A Comparison of Two Scoring Methods for an Automated Speech Scoring System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xi, Xiaoming; Higgins, Derrick; Zechner, Klaus; Williamson, David

    2012-01-01

    This paper compares two alternative scoring methods--multiple regression and classification trees--for an automated speech scoring system used in a practice environment. The two methods were evaluated on two criteria: construct representation and empirical performance in predicting human scores. The empirical performance of the two scoring models…

  18. NCACO-score: An effective main-chain dependent scoring function for structure modeling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dong Xiaoxi

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Development of effective scoring functions is a critical component to the success of protein structure modeling. Previously, many efforts have been dedicated to the development of scoring functions. Despite these efforts, development of an effective scoring function that can achieve both good accuracy and fast speed still presents a grand challenge. Results Based on a coarse-grained representation of a protein structure by using only four main-chain atoms: N, Cα, C and O, we develop a knowledge-based scoring function, called NCACO-score, that integrates different structural information to rapidly model protein structure from sequence. In testing on the Decoys'R'Us sets, we found that NCACO-score can effectively recognize native conformers from their decoys. Furthermore, we demonstrate that NCACO-score can effectively guide fragment assembly for protein structure prediction, which has achieved a good performance in building the structure models for hard targets from CASP8 in terms of both accuracy and speed. Conclusions Although NCACO-score is developed based on a coarse-grained model, it is able to discriminate native conformers from decoy conformers with high accuracy. NCACO is a very effective scoring function for structure modeling.

  19. Does present use of cardiovascular medication reflect elevated cardiovascular risk scores estimated ten years ago? A population based longitudinal observational study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Straand Jørund

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background It is desirable that those at highest risk of cardiovascular disease should have priority for preventive measures, eg. treatment with prescription drugs to modify their risk. We wanted to investigate to what extent present use of cardiovascular medication (CVM correlates with cardiovascular risk estimated by three different risk scores (Framingham, SCORE and NORRISK ten years ago. Methods Prospective logitudinal observational study of 20 252 participants in The Hordaland Health Study born 1950-57, not using CVM in 1997-99. Prescription data obtained from The Norwegian Prescription Database in 2008. Results 26% of men and 22% of women aged 51-58 years had started to use some CVM during the previous decade. As a group, persons using CVM scored significantly higher on the risk algorithms Framingham, SCORE and NORRISK compared to those not treated. 16-20% of men and 20-22% of women with risk scores below the high-risk thresholds for the three risk scores were treated with CVM, while 60-65% of men and 25-45% of women with scores above the high-risk thresholds received no treatment. Among women using CVM, only 2.2% (NORRISK, 4.4% (SCORE and 14.5% (Framingham had risk scores above the high-risk values. Low education, poor self-reported general health, muscular pains, mental distress (in females only and a family history of premature cardiovascular disease correlated with use of CVM. Elevated blood pressure was the single factor most strongly predictive of CVM treatment. Conclusion Prescription of CVM to middle-aged individuals by large seems to occur independently of estimated total cardiovascular risk, and this applies especially to females.

  20. Positioning and Priorities of Growth Management in Construction Industrialization: Chinese Firm-Level Empirical Research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jingxiao Zhang

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to quantitatively evaluate the growth phase, position, and priorities of the industrialization policy management of the construction industry at firm level. The goal is to integrate quantitative dynamics into the policy-making process for sustainable policy development in future China. This research proposes an integrated framework, including growth management model and industrial policy evaluation method, to identify the challenges of construction industrialization and policy management. The research applies the mixed system method, which includes entropy method and average score method, to analyze the growth stage and major impact indexes targeting 327 survey samples. The empirical results show that the proposed conceptual framework and policy evaluation method could effectively determine the growth position and directions of the construction industrialization. For verification purpose, the study uses the local industry data from Shaanxi Province, China. The calculation results substantiate that the construction industry is in the middle section of the third growth phase. The comparison of the results from statistical methods shows that the local construction industry still needs substantial effort in policy management to improve its sustainable industrialization level. As countermeasures, the policy priorities should concentrate on: (1 enhancing effective cooperation among universities, research institutions and enterprises; (2 improving actions towards technology transfer into productivity; and (3 encouraging market acceptance of construction industrialization. This research complements the existing literature of policy evaluation of construction industrialization. Moreover, it provides theoretical and operational steps on industry policy evaluation and growth management framework, with accurate and ample data analysis on firm-level survey. Researchers and policy makers can use this research for further

  1. University Students' Value Priorities and Emotional Empathy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myyry, Liisa; Helkama, Klaus

    2001-01-01

    Presents a comparison of the Schwartz typology of values and the Spranger-Allport-Vernon typology. Investigates the differences among students in business, social science, and technology in emotional empathy and the relationships of value priorities and emotional empathy in different fields. Includes references. (CMK)

  2. 34 CFR 642.34 - Priorities for funding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... personnel, may select one or more of the following subjects as training priorities: (1) Basic skills instruction in reading, mathematics, written and oral communication, and study skills. (2) Counseling. (3...) Tutorial programs. (10) Retention and graduation strategies. (11) Support services for persons of limited...

  3. The trials methodological research agenda: results from a priority setting exercise

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background Research into the methods used in the design, conduct, analysis, and reporting of clinical trials is essential to ensure that effective methods are available and that clinical decisions made using results from trials are based on the best available evidence, which is reliable and robust. Methods An on-line Delphi survey of 48 UK Clinical Research Collaboration registered Clinical Trials Units (CTUs) was undertaken. During round one, CTU Directors were asked to identify important topics that require methodological research. During round two, their opinion about the level of importance of each topic was recorded, and during round three, they were asked to review the group’s average opinion and revise their previous opinion if appropriate. Direct reminders were sent to maximise the number of responses at each round. Results are summarised using descriptive methods. Results Forty one (85%) CTU Directors responded to at least one round of the Delphi process: 25 (52%) responded in round one, 32 (67%) responded in round two, 24 (50%) responded in round three. There were only 12 (25%) who responded to all three rounds and 18 (38%) who responded to both rounds two and three. Consensus was achieved amongst CTU Directors that the top three priorities for trials methodological research were ‘Research into methods to boost recruitment in trials’ (considered the highest priority), ‘Methods to minimise attrition’ and ‘Choosing appropriate outcomes to measure’. Fifty other topics were included in the list of priorities and consensus was reached that two topics, ‘Radiotherapy study designs’ and ‘Low carbon trials’, were not priorities. Conclusions This priority setting exercise has identified the research topics felt to be most important to the key stakeholder group of Directors of UKCRC registered CTUs. The use of robust methodology to identify these priorities will help ensure that this work informs the trials methodological research agenda, with

  4. Setting and changing feature priorities in visual short-term memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalogeropoulou, Zampeta; Jagadeesh, Akshay V; Ohl, Sven; Rolfs, Martin

    2017-04-01

    Many everyday tasks require prioritizing some visual features over competing ones, both during the selection from the rich sensory input and while maintaining information in visual short-term memory (VSTM). Here, we show that observers can change priorities in VSTM when, initially, they attended to a different feature. Observers reported from memory the orientation of one of two spatially interspersed groups of black and white gratings. Using colored pre-cues (presented before stimulus onset) and retro-cues (presented after stimulus offset) predicting the to-be-reported group, we manipulated observers' feature priorities independently during stimulus encoding and maintenance, respectively. Valid pre-cues reliably increased observers' performance (reduced guessing, increased report precision) as compared to neutral ones; invalid pre-cues had the opposite effect. Valid retro-cues also consistently improved performance (by reducing random guesses), even if the unexpected group suddenly became relevant (invalid-valid condition). Thus, feature-based attention can reshape priorities in VSTM protecting information that would otherwise be forgotten.

  5. 34 CFR 361.29 - Statewide assessment; annual estimates; annual State goals and priorities; strategies; and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... service and outcome goals and the time within which these goals may be achieved for individuals in each... section and achieve the goals and priorities identified in paragraph (c) of this section, including— (1... achievement of the goals and priorities; (C) To the extent to which the goals and priorities were not achieved...

  6. Research priorities for conservation and natural resource management in Oceania's small-island developing states.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weeks, R; Adams, V M

    2018-02-01

    For conservation science to effectively inform management, research must focus on creating the scientific knowledge required to solve conservation problems. We identified research questions that, if answered, would increase the effectiveness of conservation and natural resource management practice and policy in Oceania's small-island developing states. We asked conservation professionals from academia, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations across the region to propose such questions and then identify which were of high priority in an online survey. We compared the high-priority questions with research questions identified globally and for other regions. Of 270 questions proposed by respondents, 38 were considered high priority, including: What are the highest priority areas for conservation in the face of increasing resource demand and climate change? How should marine protected areas be networked to account for connectivity and climate change? What are the most effective fisheries management policies that contribute to sustainable coral reef fisheries? High-priority questions related to the particular challenges of undertaking conservation on small-island developing states and the need for a research agenda that is responsive to the sociocultural context of Oceania. Research priorities for Oceania relative to elsewhere were broadly similar but differed in specific issues relevant to particular conservation contexts. These differences emphasize the importance of involving local practitioners in the identification of research priorities. Priorities were reasonably well aligned among sectoral groups. Only a few questions were widely considered answered, which may indicate a smaller-than-expected knowledge-action gap. We believe these questions can be used to strengthen research collaborations between scientists and practitioners working to further conservation and natural resource management in this region. © 2017 The Authors. Conservation Biology

  7. Evaluation and Selection of Best Priority Sequencing Rule in Job Shop Scheduling using Hybrid MCDM Technique

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiran Kumar, Kalla; Nagaraju, Dega; Gayathri, S.; Narayanan, S.

    2017-05-01

    Priority Sequencing Rules provide the guidance for the order in which the jobs are to be processed at a workstation. The application of different priority rules in job shop scheduling gives different order of scheduling. More experimentation needs to be conducted before a final choice is made to know the best priority sequencing rule. Hence, a comprehensive method of selecting the right choice is essential in managerial decision making perspective. This paper considers seven different priority sequencing rules in job shop scheduling. For evaluation and selection of the best priority sequencing rule, a set of eight criteria are considered. The aim of this work is to demonstrate the methodology of evaluating and selecting the best priority sequencing rule by using hybrid multi criteria decision making technique (MCDM), i.e., analytical hierarchy process (AHP) with technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The criteria weights are calculated by using AHP whereas the relative closeness values of all priority sequencing rules are computed based on TOPSIS with the help of data acquired from the shop floor of a manufacturing firm. Finally, from the findings of this work, the priority sequencing rules are ranked from most important to least important. The comprehensive methodology presented in this paper is very much essential for the management of a workstation to choose the best priority sequencing rule among the available alternatives for processing the jobs with maximum benefit.

  8. Setting health research priorities using the CHNRI method: I. Involving funders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Igor Rudan

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available In 2007 and 2008, the World Health Organization's Department for Child and Adolescent Health and Development commissioned five large research priority setting exercises using the CHNRI (Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative method. The aim was to define research priorities related to the five major causes of child deaths for the period up to the year 2015. The selected causes were childhood pneumonia, diarrhoea, birth asphyxia, neonatal infections and preterm birth/low birth weight. The criteria used for prioritization in all five exercises were the “standard” CHNRI criteria: answerability, effectiveness, deliverability, potential for mortality burden reduction and the effect on equity. Having completed the exercises, the WHO officers were left with another question: how “fundable” were the identified priorities, i.e. how attractive were they to research funders?

  9. Analysis and study of a handoff scheme with multiple priority strategies

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    李波; 吴成柯; 椋本介士; 福田明

    2000-01-01

    A handoff scheme with the combination of channel reservation and preemptive priority in integrated voice/data cellular mobile systems is proposed. In the scheme, calls are divided into three different classes: handoff voice calls, originating voice calls, and data calls. An access strategy with the combination of channel reservation and preemptive priority is provided to a handoff voice call. Furthermore, in order to improve the system capacity for the total voice traffic, preemptive priority is also given to partial originating voice calls. The system is modeled by a two-dimensional Markov chain. Both the iteration method and the approximate method are used to calculate and analyze some of the most important performance measures of the system. It is shown that our scheme can provide better quality of services for mobile subscribers.

  10. Testing measurement invariance of the schizotypal personality questionnaire-brief scores across Spanish and Swiss adolescents.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Javier Ortuño-Sierra

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Schizotypy is a complex construct intimately related to psychosis. Empirical evidence indicates that participants with high scores on schizotypal self-report are at a heightened risk for the later development of psychotic disorders. Schizotypal experiences represent the behavioural expression of liability for psychotic disorders. Previous factorial studies have shown that schizotypy is a multidimensional construct similar to that found in patients with schizophrenia. Specifically, using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-B, the three-dimensional model has been widely replicated. However, there has been no in-depth investigation of whether the dimensional structure underlying the SPQ-B scores is invariant across countries. METHODS: The main goal of this study was to examine the measurement invariance of the SPQ-B scores across Spanish and Swiss adolescents. The final sample was made up of 261 Spanish participants (51.7% men; M = 16.04 years and 241 Swiss participants (52.3% men; M = 15.94 years. RESULTS: The results indicated that Raine et al.'s three-factor model presented adequate goodness-of-fit indices. Moreover, the results supported the measurement invariance (configural and partial strong invariance of the SPQ-B scores across the two samples. Spanish participants scored higher on Interpersonal dimension than Swiss when latent means were compared. DISCUSSION: The study of measurement equivalence across countries provides preliminary evidence for the Raine et al.'s three-factor model and of the cross-cultural validity of the SPQ-B scores in adolescent population. Future studies should continue to examine the measurement invariance of the schizotypy and psychosis-risk syndromes across cultures.

  11. Towards deep inclusion for equity-oriented health research priority-setting: A working model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pratt, Bridget; Merritt, Maria; Hyder, Adnan A

    2016-02-01

    Growing consensus that health research funders should align their investments with national research priorities presupposes that such national priorities exist and are just. Arguably, justice requires national health research priority-setting to promote health equity. Such a position is consistent with recommendations made by the World Health Organization and at global ministerial summits that health research should serve to reduce health inequalities between and within countries. Thus far, no specific requirements for equity-oriented research priority-setting have been described to guide policymakers. As a step towards the explication and defence of such requirements, we propose that deep inclusion is a key procedural component of equity-oriented research priority-setting. We offer a model of deep inclusion that was developed by applying concepts from work on deliberative democracy and development ethics. This model consists of three dimensions--breadth, qualitative equality, and high-quality non-elite participation. Deep inclusion is captured not only by who is invited to join a decision-making process but also by how they are involved and by when non-elite stakeholders are involved. To clarify and illustrate the proposed dimensions, we use the sustained example of health systems research. We conclude by reviewing practical challenges to achieving deep inclusion. Despite the existence of barriers to implementation, our model can help policymakers and other stakeholders design more inclusive national health research priority-setting processes and assess these processes' depth of inclusion. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. 78 FR 27038 - Final Priorities; National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research-Rehabilitation...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-09

    ... settings, including the community, rehabilitation service- delivery institutions, vocational rehabilitation...) Vocational rehabilitation (VR) practices that contribute to improved employment outcomes for individuals with... or more priorities, we designate the type of each priority as absolute, competitive preference, or...

  13. Priority Setting in Indigenous Health: Why We Need an Explicit Decision Making Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael E. Otim

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Indigenous Australians have significantly poorer health outcomes than the non-Indigenous population worldwide. The Australian government has increased its investment in Indigenous health through the "Closing the Health Gap" initiative. Deciding where to invest scarce resources so as to maximize health outcomes for Indigenous peoples may require improved priority setting processes. Current government practice involves a mix of implicit and explicit processes to varying degrees at the macro and meso decision making levels. In this article, we argue that explicit priority setting should be emphasized in Indigenous health, as it can ensure that the decision making process is accountable, systematic, and transparent. Following a review of the literature, we outline four key issues that need to be considered for explicit priority setting: developing an Indigenous health "constitution," strengthening the evidence base, selecting mechanisms for priority setting, and establishing appropriate incentives and institutional structure. We then summarize our findings into a checklist that can help a decision makers ensure that explicit priority setting is undertaken in Indigenous health. By addressing these key issues, the benefits of an explicit approach, which include increased efficiency, equity, and use of evidence, can be realized, thereby maximizing Indigenous health outcomes.

  14. Impacts of National Decarbonization Targets for Subnational Societal Priorities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, W.; Iyer, G.

    2017-12-01

    Carbon mitigation has well-recognized linkages with other environmental and socioeconomic priorities, such as air pollution, economic development, employment, etc. While climate change is a global issue, many other societal priorities are local concerns. Since local efforts form the pillars of achieving co-benefits and avoiding dis-benefits at the national level, it is critical to go beyond national-level analyses and focus on the synergies and tradeoffs at the subnational level. Here we use the United States as an example to evaluate the impacts of mid-century national-level deep decarbonization target for state-level societal priorities. Based on the Global Change Assessment Model with state-level details for the US (GCAM-USA), we design two mid-century scenarios: A Reference scenario that assumes the U.S. undertakes no additional climate mitigation policy, and a Deep Decarbonization Scenario that assumes the U.S. achieves the NDC goal through 2025 (26-28% reduction relative to 2005 levels) and then follows a straight-line trajectory to 80% reductions in economy-wide GHG emissions by 2050 relative to 2005. We then compare these two scenarios for a variety of metrics of carbon mitigation and other societal priorities in 2050. We highlight two findings. First, the synergies and tradeoffs of carbon mitigation with other societal goals at the subnational level can be quite different from the national level. For example, while deep decarbonization could improve national energy security by reducing the overall dependence on energy imports, it may exacerbate energy independence goals for some states by increasing inter-state electricity imports. Second, achieving national-level decarbonization target could result in unequal regional impacts across states. We find uneven geographic impacts for air pollution (more co-reductions occur in the eastern states), economic costs (energy prices increase more in the northeastern states) and employment (jobs increase in the western

  15. A Survey of viewpoints of nurses employed in treatment and teaching centers of Kashan and suburb about continuing medical education (CME Priorities in 2010

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S Behrouzifar

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Needs’ assessment is the first stage in designing Continuing Medical Education (CME Programs. To obtain clients’ satisfaction with services of nurses as the largest group providing health and treatment services, designing and executing educational programs related to their needs is necessary. This study was conducted to determine CME priorities of nursing graduates employed in treatment and teaching centers of Kashan and suburb. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 238 nurses. Separate questionnaires were designed for different hospital wards. Every educational subject was scored on a Likert scale ranging from zero to ten. Data were extracted, classified and analyzed in SPSS using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: In general (9.18±1.44, surgical (9.40±1.63 and emergency wards (9.32±1.79, the most important need identified was cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In intensive care units (ICU, dialysis units and pediatrics and neonatal ICU wards, identified items included deep vein thrombosis (DVT and pulmonary embolism (9.02±1.53, bone metabolic diseases (9.91±0.28, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (9.29±0.91 and asphyxia (9.78±0.41, respectively with the greatest mean scores. Conclusion: From viewpoint of studied nurses, the most important CME priorities were learning clinical skills about managing patients with unstable conditions and correct utilization of medical equipments which are related to their everyday practice. It is necessary that CME planners and policy makers to pay attention to nurses’ CME needs which are different across various wards.

  16. Determining service improvement priority in a zoological park

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronald Sukwadi

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: The objective of this research is to determine the service improvement priority based on tourist judgements and experiences on service quality in a zoological park. Design/methodology/approach: A powerful integrated model was developed to acquire accurate critical service attributes and their priority ranks that can promote tourist satisfaction and tourist loyalty. Drawing on relevant literature, a model was proposed based on tourists’ perspective by integrating structural equation model (SEM with SERVQUAL and refined Kano models. Findings and Originality/value: Based on the analysis of data through some quantitative tools, the study helped in prioritizing the critical service attributes, which, if adopted, improved, and implemented, could lead to satisfaction of tourists. This will help a zoological park to propose more efficient and value-added improvement policies of the service Research limitations/implications: The primary limitation in the scope its sample. Because the study involved only one Zoological Park in Indonesia, the results cannot be generalized across a national wide spectrum. Originality/value: The study was the first to successfully apply an integrated model in tourism sector, which has previously not been used. The study has hopefully opened up an area of research and methodology that could provide considerable further benefits for researchers interested in this topic. Moreover, the integrated model has proven to be useful in determining the priority rank of critical service quality attributes.

  17. Quantification of clinical scores through physiological recordings in low-responsive patients: a feasibility study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wieser Martin

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Clinical scores represent the gold standard in characterizing the clinical condition of patients in vegetative or minimally conscious state. However, they suffer from problems of sensitivity, specificity, subjectivity and inter-rater reliability. In this feasibility study, objective measures including physiological and neurophysiological signals are used to quantify the clinical state of 13 low-responsive patients. A linear regression method was applied in nine patients to obtain fixed regression coefficients for the description of the clinical state. The statistical model was extended and evaluated with four patients of another hospital. A linear mixed models approach was introduced to handle the challenges of data sets obtained from different locations. Using linear backward regression 12 variables were sufficient to explain 74.4% of the variability in the change of the clinical scores. Variables based on event-related potentials and electrocardiogram account for most of the variability. These preliminary results are promising considering that this is the first attempt to describe the clinical state of low-responsive patients in such a global and quantitative way. This new model could complement the clinical scores based on objective measurements in order to increase diagnostic reliability. Nevertheless, more patients are necessary to prove the conclusions of a statistical model with 12 variables.

  18. Research priorities for nursing and midwifery in Southern Ireland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCarthy, G; Savage, E; Lehane, E

    2006-06-01

    To identify research priorities for nursing and midwifery in the Southern Health Board area in Ireland for the immediate and long term. Ten focus groups were conducted over a 2-month period with 70 nurses and midwives working in clinical, managerial and educational roles participating. Based on focus group findings and a literature review a multi-item Likert type questionnaire was constructed and administered to 520 nurses and midwives (response rate 95%n=494). Research priorities were identified as: (1) impact of staff shortages on retention of RNs/RM's (80%); (2) quality of life of chronically ill patients (76%); (3) stress and bullying in the workplace (76%); (4) assessment and management of pain (75%); (5) skill mix and staff burnout (73%); (6) cardio-pulmonary resuscitation decision making (72%); (7) coordination of care between hospital and primary care settings (69%); (8) medication errors (67%); and (9) promoting healthy lifestyles (64%). Respondents also indicated that these priorities warranted immediate attention. Implications for practice include the need for: (1) emphasis on quality pain control; (2) recognition and exploration of the ethical issues relating to resuscitation; and (3) management of the context within which clinical care is given.

  19. Vision-related research priorities and how to finance them

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catherine A McCarty

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available A number of organizations have employed a consultative process with the vision community to engage relevant parties in identifying needs and opportunities for vision research. The National Eye Institute in the US and the European Commission are currently undergoing consultation to develop priorities for vision research. Once these priorities have been established, the challenge will be to identify the resources to advance these research agendas. Success rates for Federal funding for research have decreased recently in the USA, UK, and Australia. Researchers should consider various potential funding sources for their research. The universal consideration for funding is that the reason for funding should align with the mission of the funding organization. In addition to Federal research organizations that fund investigator-initiated research, other potential funding sources include nongovernmental organizations, for-profit companies, individual philanthropy, and service organizations. In addition to aligning with organizational funding priorities, researchers need to consider turn-around time and total funds available including whether an organization will cover institutional indirect costs. Websites are useful tools to find information about organizations that fund research, including grant deadlines. Collaboration is encouraged.

  20. Priorities for energy efficiency measures in agriculture

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Visser, de C.L.M.

    2013-01-01

    This report provides research gaps and priorities for energy efficiency measures in agriculture across Europe, based on the analysis of the Coordination and Support Action AGREE (Agriculture & Energy Efficiency) funded by the 7th research framework of the EU (www.agree.aua.gr). The analysis from

  1. 15 CFR 700.5 - Special priorities assistance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Special priorities assistance. 700.5 Section 700.5 Commerce and Foreign Trade Regulations Relating to Commerce and Foreign Trade (Continued) BUREAU OF INDUSTRY AND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NATIONAL SECURITY INDUSTRIAL BASE REGULATIONS...

  2. Detection and Automated Scoring of Dicentric Chromosomes in Nonstimulated Lymphocyte Prematurely Condensed Chromosomes After Telomere and Centromere Staining

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    M' kacher, Radhia [Laboratoire de Radiobiologie et Oncologie, Commissariat à l' Energie Atomique, Fontenay-aux-Roses (France); El Maalouf, Elie [Laboratoire de Radiobiologie et Oncologie, Commissariat à l' Energie Atomique, Fontenay-aux-Roses (France); Laboratoire Modélisation Intelligence Processus Systèmes (MIPS)–Groupe TIIM3D, Université de Haute-Alsace, Mulhouse (France); Terzoudi, Georgia [Laboratory of Radiobiology & Biodosimetry, National Center for Scientific Research Demokritos, Athens (Greece); Ricoul, Michelle [Laboratoire de Radiobiologie et Oncologie, Commissariat à l' Energie Atomique, Fontenay-aux-Roses (France); Heidingsfelder, Leonhard [MetaSystems, Altlussheim (Germany); Karachristou, Ionna [Laboratory of Radiobiology & Biodosimetry, National Center for Scientific Research Demokritos, Athens (Greece); Laplagne, Eric [Pole Concept, Paris (France); Hempel, William M. [Laboratoire de Radiobiologie et Oncologie, Commissariat à l' Energie Atomique, Fontenay-aux-Roses (France); Colicchio, Bruno; Dieterlen, Alain [Laboratoire Modélisation Intelligence Processus Systèmes (MIPS)–Groupe TIIM3D, Université de Haute-Alsace, Mulhouse (France); Pantelias, Gabriel [Laboratory of Radiobiology & Biodosimetry, National Center for Scientific Research Demokritos, Athens (Greece); Sabatier, Laure, E-mail: laure.sabatier@cea.fr [Laboratoire de Radiobiologie et Oncologie, Commissariat à l' Energie Atomique, Fontenay-aux-Roses (France)

    2015-03-01

    Purpose: To combine telomere and centromere (TC) staining of premature chromosome condensation (PCC) fusions to identify dicentrics, centric rings, and acentric chromosomes, making possible the realization of a dose–response curve and automation of the process. Methods and Materials: Blood samples from healthy donors were exposed to {sup 60}Co irradiation at varying doses up to 8 Gy, followed by a repair period of 8 hours. Premature chromosome condensation fusions were carried out, and TC staining using peptide nucleic acid probes was performed. Chromosomal aberration (CA) scoring was carried out manually and automatically using PCC-TCScore software, developed in our laboratory. Results: We successfully optimized the hybridization conditions and image capture parameters, to increase the sensitivity and effectiveness of CA scoring. Dicentrics, centric rings, and acentric chromosomes were rapidly and accurately detected, leading to a linear-quadratic dose–response curve by manual scoring at up to 8 Gy. Using PCC-TCScore software for automatic scoring, we were able to detect 95% of dicentrics and centric rings. Conclusion: The introduction of TC staining to the PCC fusion technique has made possible the rapid scoring of unstable CAs, including dicentrics, with a level of accuracy and ease not previously possible. This new approach can be used for biological dosimetry in radiation emergency medicine, where the rapid and accurate detection of dicentrics is a high priority using automated scoring. Because there is no culture time, this new approach can also be used for the follow-up of patients treated by genotoxic therapy, creating the possibility to perform the estimation of induced chromosomal aberrations immediately after the blood draw.

  3. Setting research priorities in tobacco control: a stakeholder engagement project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindson, Nicola; Richards-Doran, Dan; Heath, Laura; Hartmann-Boyce, Jamie

    2017-12-01

    The Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group (TAG) conducts systematic reviews of the evidence for tobacco cessation and prevention interventions. In 2016 TAG conducted a priority-setting, stakeholder engagement project to identify where further research is needed in the areas of tobacco control and smoking cessation. The project comprised two surveys and a workshop. A range of stakeholders participated, including members of the public (smokers and ex-smokers), clinicians, researchers, research funders, health-care commissioners and public health organizations. The first survey phase identified unanswered research questions in the field of tobacco control. The second phase asked participants to rank these, with overall rankings calculated by combining scores across participants. The workshop allowed attendees to discuss prioritization of topics and questions in more depth. Workshop discussions were transcribed and analysed thematically, and a final voting activity at the close of the workshop allowed participants to choose topics to prioritize and to de-prioritize. A total of 304 stakeholders (researchers, health professionals, smokers and ex-smokers, guideline developers, research funders and policymakers, representing 28 countries) identified 183 unanswered research questions. These were categorized into 15 research categories. A total of 175 participants prioritized categories and questions in the second survey phase, with 'electronic cigarettes'; 'addressing inequalities'; and 'mental health and other substance abuse' prioritized as the top three categories. Forty-three stakeholders attended the workshop and discussed reasons for and against category prioritization. Prioritized research categories largely mirrored those in the survey stage, although 'treatment delivery' also emerged as a key category. Five cross-cutting themes emerged: efficacy; relative efficacy; cost effectiveness; addressing inequalities; and different types of evidence. There are many unanswered

  4. Results of the staff survey: your priorities

    CERN Multimedia

    Staff Association

    2014-01-01

    This is the first in a series of articles which will give some details about the results of the Staff Association staff survey To know your priorities and the evolution of your concerns over the last decade we study how, in each of our latest three surveys, you chose from a list of 15 items the five most important and classified them by assigning them a priority, from the most important to the fifth most important. The list of fifteen items, and a short description, follows. Career evolution (classification, level of recruitment, advancement, promotion) Salary level Family policy (recognition of partners, allowances, school fees, kindergarten, nursery, crèche, parental leave) Health insurance Non-residence and international indemnity Annual salary adjustment (cost variation index) Contract policy (duration, recruitment, award of IC, conditions of the beginning and ending of the contract) Motivation at work (interest, team, supervision, mobility, reward scheme) Pensions (retirement, disability, o...

  5. Quality improvement and emerging global health priorities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mensah Abrampah, Nana; Syed, Shamsuzzoha Babar; Hirschhorn, Lisa R; Nambiar, Bejoy; Iqbal, Usman; Garcia-Elorrio, Ezequiel; Chattu, Vijay Kumar; Devnani, Mahesh; Kelley, Edward

    2018-01-01

    Abstract Quality improvement approaches can strengthen action on a range of global health priorities. Quality improvement efforts are uniquely placed to reorient care delivery systems towards integrated people-centred health services and strengthen health systems to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC). This article makes the case for addressing shortfalls of previous agendas by articulating the critical role of quality improvement in the Sustainable Development Goal era. Quality improvement can stimulate convergence between health security and health systems; address global health security priorities through participatory quality improvement approaches; and improve health outcomes at all levels of the health system. Entry points for action include the linkage with antimicrobial resistance and the contentious issue of the health of migrants. The work required includes focussed attention on the continuum of national quality policy formulation, implementation and learning; alongside strengthening the measurement-improvement linkage. Quality improvement plays a key role in strengthening health systems to achieve UHC. PMID:29873793

  6. Assessing health-related resiliency in HIV+ Latin women: Preliminary psychometric findings.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gladys J Jimenez-Torres

    Full Text Available HIV-associated vulnerabilities-especially those linked to psychological issues-and limited mental health-treatment resources have the potential to adversely affect the health statuses of individuals. The concept of resilience has been introduced in the literature to shift the emphasis from vulnerability to protective factors. Resilience, however, is an evolving construct and is measured in various ways, though rarely among underserved, minority populations. Herein, we present the preliminary psychometric properties of a sample of HIV-seropositive Puerto Rican women, measured using a newly developed health-related resilience scale.The Resilience Scales for Children and Adolescents, an instrument with solid test construction properties, acted as a model in the development (in both English and Spanish of the HRRS, providing the same dimensions and most of the same subscales. The present sample was nested within the Hispanic-Latino longitudinal cohort of women (HLLC, that is part of the NeuroAIDS Research Program at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR, Medical Sciences Campus (MSC. Forty-five consecutively recruited, HIV+ women from the HLLC completed a demographic survey, the HRRS, and the Beck Depression Inventory-I, Spanish version.The results demonstrate excellent overall internal consistency for the total HRRS score (α = 0.95. Each of the dimensional scores also evidenced acceptable internal consistency (α ≥ 0.88. All the dimensional and subscale content validity indices were above the 0.42 cut-off. Analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between the HRRS total score and BDI-I-S (r(45 = -0.453, p < 0.003.Albeit preliminary in nature, the present study provides support for the HRRS as a measure to assess resilience among individuals living with chronic medical conditions. Minority populations, especially non-English speaking ones, are understudied across the field of medicine, and when efforts are made to include these patient

  7. A systematic review of stated preference studies reporting public preferences for healthcare priority setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitty, Jennifer A; Lancsar, Emily; Rixon, Kylie; Golenko, Xanthe; Ratcliffe, Julie

    2014-01-01

    There is current interest in incorporating weights based on public preferences for health and healthcare into priority-setting decisions. The aim of this systematic review was to explore the extent to which public preferences and trade-offs for priority-setting criteria have been quantified, and to describe the study contexts and preference elicitation methods employed. A systematic review was performed in April 2013 to identify empirical studies eliciting the stated preferences of the public for the provision of healthcare in a priority-setting context. Studies are described in terms of (i) the stated preference approaches used, (ii) the priority-setting levels and contexts, and (iii) the criteria identified as important and their relative importance. Thirty-nine studies applying 40 elicitation methods reported in 41 papers met the inclusion criteria. The discrete choice experiment method was most commonly applied (n = 18, 45.0 %), but other approaches, including contingent valuation and the person trade-off, were also used. Studies prioritised health systems (n = 4, 10.2 %), policies/programmes/services/interventions (n = 16, 41.0 %), or patient groups (n = 19, 48.7 %). Studies generally confirmed the importance of a wide range of process, non-health and patient-related characteristics in priority setting in selected contexts, alongside health outcomes. However, inconsistencies were observed for the relative importance of some prioritisation criteria, suggesting context and/or elicitation approach matter. Overall, findings suggest caution in directly incorporating public preferences as weights for priority setting unless the methods used to elicit the weights can be shown to be appropriate and robust in the priority-setting context.

  8. Research priority setting in Barrett's oesophagus and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Britton, James; Gadeke, Lisa; Lovat, Laurence; Hamdy, Shaheen; Hawkey, Chris; McLaughlin, John; Ang, Yeng

    2017-11-01

    The incidence of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and Barrett's oesophagus is increasing. Barrett's oesophagus is the main precursor to oesophageal adenocarcinoma, which has a poor prognosis. In view of the vast potential burden of these diseases on patients and health-care resources, there is a real need to define and focus research efforts. This priority setting exercise aimed to produce a list of the top ten uncertainties in the field that reflect the priorities of patients and health-care providers. We adopted the robust and transparent methodologies previously outlined by the James Lind Alliance. This qualitative approach firstly involves an ideas gathering survey that, once distilled, generates a longlist of research uncertainties. These uncertainties are then prioritised via an interim ranking survey and a final workshop to achieve consensus agreement. The initial 629 uncertainties, generated from a survey of 170 individual respondents (47% professional, 53% non-professional) and one workshop, were narrowed down to the final top ten uncertainties of priority for future research. These priorities covered a range of issues, including a need for improved patient risk stratification, alternative diagnostic and surveillance tests, efficacy of a dedicated service for Barrett's oesophagus, cost-effectiveness and appropriateness of current surveillance, advances in development of non-drug treatments for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, safety of long-term drug treatment, and questions regarding the durability and role of different endoscopic therapies for dysplastic Barrett's oesophagus. This is the first patient-centred assessment of priorities for researchers in this chronic disease setting. We hope that recognition and dissemination of these results will shape the future direction of research and translate into meaningful gains for patients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. National priorities list sites: Delaware, 1992

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-12-01

    The publication provides general Superfund background information and descriptions of activities at each State National Priorities List (NPL) site. It clearly describes what the problems are, what EPA and others participating in site cleanups are doing, and how the nation can move ahead in solving these serious problems. Compiles site summary fact sheets on each State site being cleaned up under the Superfund Program

  10. National priorities list sites: Oklahoma, 1992

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-12-01

    The publication provides general Superfund background information and descriptions of activities at each State National Priorities List (NPL) site. It clearly describes what the problems are, what EPA and others participating in site cleanups are doing, and how the nation can move ahead in solving these serious problems. Compiles site summary fact sheets on each State site being cleaned up under the Superfund Program

  11. National priorities list sites: Wisconsin, 1992

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-12-01

    The publication provides general Superfund background information and descriptions of activities at each State National Priorities List (NPL) site. It clearly describes what the problems are, what EPA and others participating in site cleanups are doing, and how the nation can move ahead in solving these serious problems. Compiles site summary fact sheets on each State site being cleaned up under the Superfund Program

  12. National priorities list sites: Wyoming, 1992

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-12-01

    The publication provides general Superfund background information and descriptions of activities at each State National Priorities List (NPL) site. It clearly describes what the problems are, what EPA and others participating in site cleanups are doing, and how the nation can move ahead in solving these serious problems. Compiles site summary fact sheets on each State site being cleaned up under the Superfund Program

  13. Development of maintenance composite priority index for buildings in Palestine: A pilot case study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Issa, Amjad; Awad, Riyad

    2017-11-01

    The current building maintenance practices in Palestine are not based on scientific systematic methods. Most of the municipalities use one criterion to define the maintenance priorities, which is the "worst-first" criterion. Therefore, the current practices in defining buildings maintenance plans are not dealing with the known phases that are generally followed, including those in establishing building inventories, building condition survey, detailed visual inspection, identification of the proper maintenance and rehabilitation measures, and setting priorities. Accordingly, the recent preparation of the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Manual for Palestinian municipalities is an important step to guide them towards preparing and implementing their O&M priority-based plans, considering scare resources. During the course of preparation of the Manual, the proposed procedures were applied at ten pilot municipalities. This study aims to explore the outcome of the implementation of the 2014/2015 O&M buildings maintenance priorities at these municipalities through the development of maintenance composite priority index (PI). The new proposed priority index is a scientific tool that will identify the priority of maintenance buildings through using a systematic procedure instead of first worst one. To achieve this, analyses of the outcome of a questionnaire designed to collect relevant information from these municipalities was conducted. The maintenance priority index for buildings is calculated considering different indicators among them building status (condition), classification and importance of the building, number of beneficiaries (users), safety aspects (severity level in the building), and people complaints. The main component of the PI is the building condition index (BCI) which forms about 40% of the total weight. The physical inspection, which is the main input for calculating the BCI, is conducted on two levels; the primary level, and the secondary level. The

  14. Soetomo score: score model in early identification of acute haemorrhagic stroke

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Moh Hasan Machfoed

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Aim of the study: On financial or facility constraints of brain imaging, score model is used to predict the occurrence of acute haemorrhagic stroke. Accordingly, this study attempts to develop a new score model, called Soetomo score. Material and methods: The researchers performed a cross-sectional study of 176 acute stroke patients with onset of ≤24 hours who visited emergency unit of Dr. Soetomo Hospital from July 14th to December 14th, 2014. The diagnosis of haemorrhagic stroke was confirmed by head computed tomography scan. There were seven predictors of haemorrhagic stroke which were analysed by using bivariate and multivariate analyses. Furthermore, a multiple discriminant analysis resulted in an equation of Soetomo score model. The receiver operating characteristic procedure resulted in the values of area under curve and intersection point identifying haemorrhagic stroke. Afterward, the diagnostic test value was determined. Results: The equation of Soetomo score model was (3 × loss of consciousness + (3.5 × headache + (4 × vomiting − 4.5. Area under curve value of this score was 88.5% (95% confidence interval = 83.3–93.7%. In the Soetomo score model value of ≥−0.75, the score reached the sensitivity of 82.9%, specificity of 83%, positive predictive value of 78.8%, negative predictive value of 86.5%, positive likelihood ratio of 4.88, negative likelihood ratio of 0.21, false negative of 17.1%, false positive of 17%, and accuracy of 83%. Conclusions: The Soetomo score model value of ≥−0.75 can identify acute haemorrhagic stroke properly on the financial or facility constrains of brain imaging.

  15. Reproductive management of dairy herds in New Zealand: attitudes, priorities and constraints perceived by farmers managing seasonal-calving, pasture-based herds in four regions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brownlie, T S; Weir, A M; Tarbotton, I; Morton, J M; Heuer, C; McDougall, S

    2011-01-01

    To examine attitudes, priorities, and constraints pertaining to herd reproductive management perceived by farmers managing seasonal-calving, pasture-based dairy herds in four regions of New Zealand, and to explore how these varied with demographic and biophysical factors. Key decision makers (KDM) on 133 dairy herds in four dairy regions (Waikato, Taranaki, and north and south Canterbury) were interviewed between May and July 2009. They were asked to provide demographic and biophysical data about the farm, and to rate their attitude in relation to their own personality traits, management issues and priorities, and likely constraints affecting reproductive performance in their herds. Associations between demographic factors and attitudes, priorities and constraints were analysed using univariable and multivariable proportional-odds regression models. Farms in the regions studied in the South Island were larger, had larger herds and more staff than farms in the regions studied in the North Island. The farms in the South Island were more likely to be owned by a corporation, managed by younger people or people who had more education, and the herds were more likely to be fed a higher percentage of supplementary feed. The majority of KDM rated the current genetics, milksolids performance and reproductive performance of their herds as high or very high, and >70% believed that the reproductive performance had remained the same or improved over the preceding 3 years. Despite this, improving reproductive performance was the most highly rated priority for the next 3 years. The constraints considered most likely to have affected reproductive performance in the last 2 years were anoestrous cows, protracted calving periods, and low body condition scores; those considered least likely were artificial breeding and heat detection. Of the variables examined related to attitudes, priorities and likely constraints, there were significant differences between region for 10/40, and with

  16. Overview of the remedial action priority system (RAPS)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Whelan, G.; Steelman, B.L.; Strenge, D.L.; Droppo, J.G.

    1986-01-01

    To provide DOE with a better management tool for prioritizing funding allocations for further site investigations and possible remediations, Pacific Northwest Laboratory developed a more objective, physics-based risk assessment methodology called the Remedial Action Priority System (RAPS). This methodology uses empirically, analytically, and semianalytically based mathematical algorithms and a pathways analysis to predict the potential for contaminant transport from a hazardous waste disposal site to local populations. Four major pathways for contaminant migration are considered in the RAPS methodology: groundwater, overland, surface water, and atmospheric. Using the predications of contaminant transport, simplified exposure assessments are performed for important receptors. The risks associated with the sites can then be calculated relative to other sites for each pathway and for all pathways together. The RAPS methodology addresses many of the typical limitations associated with other ranking systems; it considers: (1) more site information and constituent characteristics associated with the transport pathways; (2) chemical and radioactive wastes; (3) the potential direction of contaminant movement; (4) contaminant retention (e.g., dispersion and decay/degradation), where applicable; (5) population distributions; (6) various routes of exposure (e.g., inhalations, ingestion, and external exposure); (7) contaminant toxicities; (8) duration of exposure of the surrounding population; and (9) contaminant arrival time to sensitive receptors. Because RAPS is based on more site information and constituent characteristics, the scoring system of the RAPS methodology also reduces the subjectivity associated with prioritizing hazardous waste sites. The RAPS methodology requires minimum user knowledge of risk assessment and a minimum amount of input data

  17. Realization of anthropology priority at educational process of junior waldorf school.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luparenko S.E.

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available This article is dedicated to the investigation of the peculiarities of realization of anthropology priority at educational process of junior Waldorf school. The specific features of Waldorf educational forms and methods are determined. They are integrated approach to educational process, personal-oriented approach to child. The common and distinctive features between traditional and Waldorf approaches in child's understanding, in peculiarities of realization of anthropology priority at educational process are revealed.

  18. Health technology assessment: research trends and future priorities in Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nielsen, Camilla Palmhøj; Funch, Tina Maria; Kristensen, Finn Børlum

    2011-07-01

    To provide an overview of health services research related to health technology assessment (HTA) and to identify research priorities from a European perspective. Several methods were used: systematic review of articles indexed with the MeSH term 'technology assessment' in PubMed from February 1999-2009; online survey among experts; and conference workshop discussions. Research activity in HTA varies considerably across Europe. The research was categorised into six areas: (1) the breadth of analysis in HTA (such as economic, organizational and social aspects); (2) HTA products developed to meet the needs of policy-makers (such as horizon scanning, mini-HTA, and core HTA); (3) handling life-cycle perspectives in relation to technologies; (4) topics that challenge existing methods and for which HTA should be developed to address the themes more comprehensively (such as public health interventions and organizational interventions); (5) development of HTA capacity and programmes; and (6) links between policy and HTA. An online survey showed that the three areas that were given priority were the relationship between HTA and policy-making (71%), the impact of HTA (62%) and incorporating patient aspects in HTA (50%). Policy-makers highlighted HTA and innovation processes as their main research priority (42%). Areas that the systematic review identified as future priorities include issues within the six existing research areas such as disinvestment, developing evidence for new technologies, assessing the wider effects of technology use, and determining how HTA affects decision-making. In addition, relative effectiveness and individualized treatments are areas of growing interest. The research priorities identified are important for obtaining high quality and cost-effective health care in Europe. Managing the introduction, use and phasing out of technologies challenges health services throughout Europe, and these processes need to be improved to successfully manage future

  19. The robust corrective action priority-an improved approach for selecting competing corrective actions in FMEA based on principle of robust design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutrisno, Agung; Gunawan, Indra; Vanany, Iwan

    2017-11-01

    In spite of being integral part in risk - based quality improvement effort, studies improving quality of selection of corrective action priority using FMEA technique are still limited in literature. If any, none is considering robustness and risk in selecting competing improvement initiatives. This study proposed a theoretical model to select risk - based competing corrective action by considering robustness and risk of competing corrective actions. We incorporated the principle of robust design in counting the preference score among corrective action candidates. Along with considering cost and benefit of competing corrective actions, we also incorporate the risk and robustness of corrective actions. An example is provided to represent the applicability of the proposed model.

  20. 77 FR 37025 - Final Priority: Disability Rehabilitation Research Project-Burn Model Systems Centers

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-06-20

    ... populations that experience inequitable treatment and poor outcomes in the vocational rehabilitation process..., competitive preference, or invitational through a notice in the Federal Register. The effect of each type of... the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(3)). Competitive preference priority: Under a competitive preference...